The end of the Neanderthals

[Beebo Brink]

Rethinking Neanderthals

Research suggests they fashioned tools, buried their dead, maybe cared for the sick and even conversed. But why, if they were so smart, did they disappear?

www.smithsonianmag.com

 

[Beebo Brink]

Human lineages get more interesting with every new archeological discovery.

Some of Europe's Oldest-Known Modern Humans Are Distantly Related to Native Americans

Genome sequencing shows some individuals share family ties with surprising populations, and all boast plenty of Neanderthal relatives

www.smithsonianmag.com

Ancient human migration into Europe revealed via genome analysis

Genetic sequencing dating back 45,000 years shows intermixing with Neanderthals more common than previously thought

www.theguardian.com

Initial Upper Palaeolithic humans in Europe had recent Neanderthal ancestry - Nature

Genome-wide data for the three oldest known modern human remains in Europe, dated to around 45,000 years ago, shed light on early human migrations in Europe and suggest that mixing with Neanderthals was more common than is often assumed.

www.nature.com

 

[Beebo Brink]

Genealogy is my wife's hobby, and I'm fascinated by human origins, so we both love taking DNA tests to compare results and build a more detailed picture of our personal history. Over the years we've tried National Geographic, Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA and most recently 23andMe.

The 23andMe results arrived this past week, delivering the first Neanderthal report I've ever had. Given my history of relatives from Spain and the Basque country, I was expecting at least some Neanderthal DNA, and I wasn't disappointed. It's not a large amount, just about 2%, but that's more than most who have taken the same test from this company (more than 76% of the customer base).

So the Neanderthals are gone but echoes of their lineage can still be heard. To my amusement, I have a Neanderthal DNA variant that may be responsible for "having difficulty discarding rare-used possessions". Nailed it.

 

[Beebo Brink]

And speaking of Neanderthal ancestry:

Oldest DNA from a Homo sapiens reveals surprisingly recent Neanderthal ancestry

Ancient human lineages interbred commonly in Europe, as well as the Middle East.

www.nature.com

It's an increasingly tangled history:

Everyone Has Neanderthal DNA in Their Genome, New Genetic Analysis Shows

A new kind of DNA analysis suggests that ancient humans came back to Africa and spread Neanderthal DNA around.

www.discovermagazine.com

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Genealogy is my wife's hobby, and I'm fascinated by human origins, so we both love taking DNA tests to compare results and build a more detailed picture of our personal history. Over the years we've tried National Geographic, Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA and most recently 23andMe.

The 23andMe results arrived this past week, delivering the first Neanderthal report I've ever had. Given my history of relatives from Spain and the Basque country, I was expecting at least some Neanderthal DNA, and I wasn't disappointed. It's not a large amount, just about 2%, but that's more than most who have taken the same test from this company (more than 76% of the customer base).

So the Neanderthals are gone but echoes of their lineage can still be heard. To my amusement, I have a Neanderthal DNA variant that may be responsible for "having difficulty discarding rare-used possessions". Nailed it.

I should see my % - But I know its fairly high because my entire lineage is European, including mostly central and eastern Europe. But I didn't get that gene, according to them [they've been wrong before since I shouldn't have red in my hair or curls, either, and I've both.]

 

[Beebo Brink]

I should see my % - But I know its fairly high because my entire lineage is European, including mostly central and eastern Europe. But I didn't get that gene, according to them [they've been wrong before since I shouldn't have red in my hair or curls, either, and I've both.]

I guess it depends on how you define "wrong" in DNA analysis. I can't remember any traits that were touted as definitive by a DNA company. Instead, they offered a range of likelihoods, such as I'm more likely to be afraid of heights (I am) or to be brown-eyed (I am) or to be sweaty (I'm not). A prediction of "more likely to have" some trait is never an expectation that you WILL have that trait, so I personally don't consider that to be wrong.

If anything, I was really impressed by how closely my general results match across four different DNA companies. For instance, they all peg me for about 26% Scottish and 11% Indigenous American (among many other ethnicities). Now that range may flutter around a bit (not only company-to-company, but from year to year in the same company) from 23% - 28% Scottish, but considering the time and distance, I'm pretty satisfied that "a chunk of Scottish" is in there from my father's side of my ancestry. I've even got about 1% African DNA that has consistently appeared over all results, a trace amount that would be the most prone to error. And all these reports are exactly what I could expect given my family genealogies.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

I guess it depends on how you define "wrong" in DNA analysis. I can't remember any traits that were touted as definitive by a DNA company. Instead, they offered a range of likelihoods, such as I'm more likely to be afraid of heights (I am) or to be brown-eyed (I am) or to be sweaty (I'm not). A prediction of "more likely to have" some trait is never an expectation that you WILL have that trait, so I personally don't consider that to be wrong.

If anything, I was really impressed by how closely my general results match across four different DNA companies. For instance, they all peg me for about 26% Scottish and 11% Indigenous American (among many other ethnicities). Now that range may flutter around a bit (not only company-to-company, but from year to year in the same company) from 23% - 28% Scottish, but considering the time and distance, I'm pretty satisfied that "a chunk of Scottish" is in there from my father's side of my ancestry. I've even got about 1% African DNA that has consistently appeared over all results, a trace amount that would be the most prone to error. And all these reports are exactly what I could expect given my family genealogies.

Oh, certainly - there are a few oddities between each one, but most are pretty much similar [ which leads to a whole lot -more- questions about my father - since I have my mom's dna results as a benchmark]

 

[WolfEyes]

So... basically, they were bred out of existence. Wow. That's one hell of a "bioengineered" weapon. Not that it hasn't been used in more recent times. Most never make the connection. The difference being back in Neanderthal times it wasn't being done deliberately. Modern times?

/me mutters something about "liberals" are now breeding out "conservatives" ... no wonder the supremacists are freaking out

 

[Beebo Brink]

So... basically, they were bred out of existence.

Whether or not we bred with them is probably irrelevant to their demise. If anything, they may have lasted a little longer (or at least some of their genes did) because of the cross-over. But odds are pretty good that we out-competed them for resources and territory, at the same time that they were experiencing other evolutionary pressures, such as from climate change. Once a population dips below critical mass, a few bad years of sickness and death, combined with some unfortunate mismatches in the sex balance and/or age of potential breeding members and a species just crashes.

Or we just slaughtered them. That's on brand for us, too.