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Neandertal DNA

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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.

Painting from 1883 of stone age dancers feasting around a fire
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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.

When did human chromosome 2 fuse?
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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.

Fifteen Neandertal faces of varied ages and complexions
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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.

A fluorescence image of chromosomes in cells undergoing meiosis
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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.

Anatomical model of a brain
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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.

Two reconstructed partial skulls side by side representing the Red Deer Cave people
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The 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.

A researcher wearing protective mask, hair net, and gloves is reaching toward an archaeological profile with a test tube.
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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.

Archaeologists working on a large, terraced excavation area under a white canopy.
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Fossil profile: Zlatý kůň and the Neandertal heritage of early Upper Paleolithic Europeans

A skull from Czechia represents an individual from one of the earliest European modern human populations to encounter Neandertals.

Zlatý kůň cranium with information
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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.

Cover page of "Accurate depiction of uncertainty in ancient DNA research"