Mum’s a Neanderthal, Dad’s a Denisovan: First discovery of an ancient-human hybrid (original) (raw)
- NEWS
- 22 August 2018
- Correction 23 August 2018
Genetic analysis uncovers a direct descendant of two different groups of early humans.
A female who died around 90,000 years ago was half Neanderthal and half Denisovan, according to genome analysis of a bone discovered in a Siberian cave. This is the first time scientists have identified an ancient individual whose parents belonged to distinct human groups. The findings were published on 22 August in Nature1.
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Nature 560, 417-418 (2018)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06004-0
Updates & Corrections
- Correction 23 August 2018: This story has been corrected to indicate that European Neanderthals would have travelled east to reach the Altai Mountains, not west.
References
- Slon, V. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0455-x (2018).
Article Google Scholar - Krause, J. et al. Nature 464, 894–897 (2010).
Article PubMed Google Scholar - Fu, Q. et al. Nature 524, 216–219 (2015).
Article PubMed Google Scholar - Brown, S. et al. Sci. Rep. 6, 23559 (2016).
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