Modern Man (i.e. Cro-Magnon) wandered out of Africa and spread about the world but the twist in this research shows they met up with Neanderthal Man as they spread. Therefore, some progenitor of Man left Africa before the Cro-Mags to start the Neanderthal line ... or how exactly did that go? (Science Daily: Neanderthal inheritance helped humans adapt to life outside of Africa)
As the ancestors of modern humans made their way out of Africa to other parts of the world many thousands of years ago, they met up and in some cases had children with other forms of humans, including the Neanderthals and Denisovans. Scientists know this because traces of those meetings remain in the human genome. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on November 10 find more evidence that those encounters have benefited humans over the years.
- Science Daily
Based on that description, the Neanderthals and Denisovans were already in Europe, etc so that's the piece which is now unclear because that means more than one migration out of Africa. Either that or the out-migration was continuous and maybe some groups got separated to evolve into Neanderthals or something of that nature.
I might just have a wee bit of reading to do now.
Read the article for the genetic tracers the researchers used to determine which gene sequences from Neanderthals and Denisovans still exist in the Cro-Mag genome. The conclusion was some of the genes turned out to be beneficial and that's why we see traces today. What we don't see is how the Neanderthals got to Europe or somewhere along the migration path in the first place.
Generally speaking, the genes humans got from Neanderthals or Denisovans are important for our interactions with the environment. The evidence suggests that hybridization with archaic humans as our ancient ancestors made their way out of Africa "was an efficient way for modern humans to quickly adapt to the new environments they were encountering."
The researchers say they'd now like to learn more about how these genes influenced humans' ability to survive and what implications they might have for disease. They are also interested in expanding their analysis to include geographically diverse populations in other parts of the world, including Africa.
As the ancestors of modern humans made their way out of Africa to other parts of the world many thousands of years ago, they met up and in some cases had children with other forms of humans, including the Neanderthals and Denisovans. Scientists know this because traces of those meetings remain in the human genome. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on November 10 find more evidence that those encounters have benefited humans over the years.
- Science Daily
Based on that description, the Neanderthals and Denisovans were already in Europe, etc so that's the piece which is now unclear because that means more than one migration out of Africa. Either that or the out-migration was continuous and maybe some groups got separated to evolve into Neanderthals or something of that nature.
I might just have a wee bit of reading to do now.
Read the article for the genetic tracers the researchers used to determine which gene sequences from Neanderthals and Denisovans still exist in the Cro-Mag genome. The conclusion was some of the genes turned out to be beneficial and that's why we see traces today. What we don't see is how the Neanderthals got to Europe or somewhere along the migration path in the first place.
Generally speaking, the genes humans got from Neanderthals or Denisovans are important for our interactions with the environment. The evidence suggests that hybridization with archaic humans as our ancient ancestors made their way out of Africa "was an efficient way for modern humans to quickly adapt to the new environments they were encountering."
The researchers say they'd now like to learn more about how these genes influenced humans' ability to survive and what implications they might have for disease. They are also interested in expanding their analysis to include geographically diverse populations in other parts of the world, including Africa.
- Science Daily
There's an old concept in genetics of 'hybrid vigor' and the example most often quoted is that of Polynesian people who have many races in their backgrounds. They are thought to be among the healthiest, most beautiful people on the planet and that's what hybrid vigor gives. The opposite of hybrid vigor is going to Arkansas for continuous inbreeding until you wind up with Mike Huckabee.
The hybrid vigor came in part from Neanderthals but that shows a big hole in my learning since I don't know how the hell they got to Europe first.
The Eden story still works for this but it gets mighty strange when you have two kinds of humans coming out of there. Eden is the Rockhouse symbol of Africa so the story will have to stretch substantially for this but it works that way. At least one previous article on Ithaka has reported on genome research which has proven humans did radiate out of Africa rather than popping up all over. Eden works for that if you get stretchy with it but the previous migration of pre-Neanderthals (?) needs yet more stretch.
I know this one is going to bug me. It's not one to resolve right this minute but the Neanderthals and Denisovans seem to have reached Europe in some magical way so I know that's going to gnaw.
Ed: thanks for setting it to gnaw me too!
Think of it as a public service thing.
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