40,000 years ago, the Cro-Magnoid people – the first people who had a skeleton that looked anatomically modern – entered Europe, coming from Africa.  A group of geneticists, coordinated by Guido Barbujani and David Caramelli of the Universities of Ferrara and Florence, shows that a Cro-Magnoid individual who lived in Southern Italy 28,000 years ago was a modern European, genetically as well as anatomically.The Cro-Magnoid people long coexisted in Europe with other humans, the Neandertals, whose anatomy and DNA were clearly different from ours. However, obtaining a reliable sequence of Cro-Magnoid DNA was technically challenging.
“The risk in the study of ancient individuals is to attribute to the fossil specimen the DNA left there by archaeologists or biologists who manipulated it”, Barbujani says. “To avoid that, we followed all phases of the retrieval of the fossil bones and typed the DNA sequences of all people who had any contacts with them.”
The results demonstrate for the first time that the anatomical differences between Neandertals and Cro-Magnoids were associated with clear genetic differences. The Neandertal people, who lived in Europe for nearly 300,000 years, are not the ancestors of modern Europeans.
Seems the first modern humans in Europe almost certainly did not share sex with nearby Neanderthals.
Â
I find this really disappointing as I have recently been convinced that some of my red headed acquaintances (they found the red hair gene in Neanderthals) might have Neanderthal blood and that would explain their fascinating and somewhat unique personalities. Another dream has died! ;-(
Hmmm. I have often been called a knuckle–dragger. Hmmm maybe it’s a racial attack against me? Thanks science! 🙂
Nothing personal! I am one of those people who like the idea of having monkey cousins and neanderthal relatives and friends. If we did mix genes then we would have some insights (walking around) into what they were actually like .
Hey, as a caucasian neanderthal, I dig being ….well, a post modern relic of the distant past!
Europeans not having sex with Neanderthals, man that’s a shame. They must have been busy with the monkeys. I see where the Europeans are giving monkey’s rights once only given humans. Look out monkeys! http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080716/NEWS07/807160417/