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News Release 10-242

Genome of Extinct Siberian Cave-dweller Linked to Modern-day Humans

Sequencing of ancient DNA reveals new hominin population that is neither Neanderthal nor modern human

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Photo of the excavation site and the words Photo Gallery.

See the remains of the new hominin up close in this photo gallery.

Credit: Lisa Raffensperger, National Science Foundation

 

In 2007 TIME magazine named Svante Pääbo one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Here he discusses mapping the Neanderthal genome with the editors of Edge.org.

Credit: Edge Foundation, Inc.

 

Photo of southern Siberia's Altai Mountains.

There are several archeological sites in the region of southern Siberia's Altai Mountains that may date up to 500,000 years ago. Some scientists claim there are sites that may even date to 800,000 years ago.

Credit: Bence Viola, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology


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a branching tree depicting the genetic relationships among ancestral humans.

Sequencing and analysis of genetic material extracted from Neanderthals recovered at Vindija Cave in Croatia showed that modern non-Africans--Han Chinese, French Europeans and Papua New Guineans--have inherited 1-4 percent of their genes from Neanderthals, probably due to interbreeding that occurred in the ancestral population of all non-Africans in the Levant or in north Africa. Now, scientists have also discovered that Denisovans contributed 4-6 percent of their genetic material to the genomes of present-day New Guineans, thus identifying a second gene flow event.

Credit: David Reich, Harvard Medical School


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