Neandertal DNA
Lactase and the Neandertals
New research shows that a common gene variant that may explain some lactase persistence in East Asia is introgressed from Neandertals.
A hard ceiling on modern human dispersal
Neandertal DNA in some of the oldest modern human genomes establishes a short timeline of 50,000 years for the out-of-Africa founder event.
Top 10 discoveries about ancient people from DNA in 2024
New resolution is emerging of some events in ancient human populations, and a clearer view of some parts of the genome.
A look at the Neanderthal from Altamura
The exceptional skeleton encased in calcite has started to yield insights about early Neanderthals.
Late Neandertals: more diverse than most scientists thought
The new “Thorin” genome from Grotte Mandrin represents a previously-unknown Neanderthal deep history.
Vagrant birds and ancient human habitats
People killed the Carolina parakeet. An inquiry into their historic population range helps illustrate the challenges of understanding ancient human populations.
Tracing the signature of African-to-Neandertal gene flow
A new study of African genetic variation yields a more accurate picture of the genetic exchanges between ancient Africans and Neandertals 250,000 years ago.
Interaction and mixture: big picture and small
From the level of function of a single gene up to the movements of entire populations, our evolution was built from mixture.
When did human chromosome 2 fuse?
More and more, it looks like this event happened shortly before a million years ago, in the common ancestors of Neandertal, Denisovan, and African ancestral humans.
What color were Neandertals?
Even with whole genomes, scientists can't say very precisely what pattern of skin, hair, and eye pigmentation was in ancient populations like the Neandertals.
Explaining the X chromosome hole in Neandertal ancestry
Natural selection reduced the variation on human X chromosomes in populations with the most Neandertal and Denisovan mixture. It may have been meiotic drive.
Many people have a little Neandertal in the brain. Does it matter?
Research has started to show the ways that introgressed genes from Neandertals affect brain shape in living people.
Solving the mystery of the Red Deer Cave people
New DNA evidence is revealing the genetic relationships of ancient groups from southern China, showing how they were connected to living people across the region.
Top 10 discoveries about ancient people from DNA in 2022
Research on ancient genomes has moved way beyond population mixture into broader questions about how ancient people lived and interacted with their environments.
The Nesher Ramla site: a third way between Neandertals and modern humans?
Fragments representing people who lived just before Skhūl and Qafzeh seem outside the expectations for these “early modern humans” or for Neandertals.
Zlatý kůň and the Neandertal heritage of first Europeans
A skull from Czechia represents an individual from one of the earliest European modern human populations to encounter Neandertals.
Research highlight: Accurate depiction of uncertainty in ancient DNA research: The case of Neandertal ancestry in Africa
An article in the Journal of Social Archaeology looking at how researchers shaped public perceptions of Neandertal DNA heritage in living people.
Neandertals got 6% of their genomes from Africa
An analysis by Melissa Hubisz and coworkers finds that mtDNA is not all that Neandertals received from our African ancestors
How much Neandertal DNA do today's African peoples have?
New research shows that today's populations in Africa have around one third the Neandertal ancestry as people in Eurasia.
Lecture: Who were the ancestors of the Neandertals?
Looking at what we know about Neandertal origins and how our understanding has changed in the last decade.
Should we be surprised if Neandertals, Denisovans, and modern humans didn’t form stable hybrid zones?
A geneticist asks why we don't see more persisting hybrid populations, and I find an answer in the theory of population source-sink dynamics.
How much sex did it take for Neandertal DNA to enter modern populations?
Addressing a widespread misconception about what geneticists are really measuring when they look at population mixture.
Another Denisovan from Denisova Cave
A review of the 2015 work identifying the Denisova 8 specimen by Susanna Sawyer and coworkers.
What is the ‘braided stream’ analogy for human evolution?
A discussion of the way that reticulation has manifested across human evolution, with reference to an essay by Clive Finlayson.
The FoxP2 protein sequence from Neandertals and Denisovans is shared by many people today
A study of sequence variation shows a possible selected change among living people, but many still have a form shared with Neandertals and Denisovans.
My reactions on the publication of the first draft Neandertal genome
Publication of the first draft of a Neandertal genome reveals that these ancient humans are among the ancestors of people living today.
A mysterious mitochondrial sequence from Denisova Cave, Russia
A small fragment of finger bone with a DNA sequence that represents a previously-unknown form of hominin.
