Ancient humans interbred with mysterious species
Scientists have found that ancient humans mated with a mysterious species around 700,000 years ago
The study the researchers recently published states that the unknown population must have separated from others at least a million years before then
Anthropologist Alan Rogers, the lead author of the study, says that this is proof that ancient human populations did a lot more interbreeding than previously believed
The study was published in the journal Science Advances
The interbreeding event detailed in the study allegedly occurred in Eurasia
It is being hailed as the earliest known example of interbreeding between ancient humans
The researchers approached their study by first comparing DNA from ancient humans and modern humans
They focused on the relationship between modern-day Europeans and Africans, and Neanderthals and Denisovans
The sequencing on the Neanderthal genome ended in 2010
By then, the scientists were able to gather that the Neanderthals had mated with modern humans around 40,000-60,000 years ago
In 2018, researchers published a study on how Homo sapiens inherited Denisovans’ genes
Denisovans disappeared around 50,000 years ago
Rogers’ study shows that “neandersovans” mated with a predecessor species 744,000 years ago
Rogers and his team coined the term “neandersovans” to refer to the ancestors of both Neanderthals and Denisovans
The researchers say that the predecessors the neandersovans mated belonged to a “superarchaic” group
The group, composed of 50,000 people at most, reportedly lived in Eurasia
The study implies that humans traveled from Africa to Eurasia thrice
The first being 1.9 million years ago, the second being 700,000 years ago, and the last being only 50,000 years ago
The scientists call those involved in the first wave of migration “superarchaics”
The problem is that Rogers and his colleagues don’t know where to categorize this newly found superarchaic population
Many DNA testing companies nowadays tell customers whether they have Neanderthal or Denisovan DNA
Africans usually have zero while Europeans or Asians have around 1 to 2% Neanderthal DNA
Neanderthals are archaic humans who became extinct around 40,000 years ago
This species, which has been described as modern humans’ closest extinct human relative, lived in Western Asia and Europe
They were short and stocky, but had brains as large or even larger than our own today
They were first found in 1829, but they weren’t recognized as Neanderthals at the time
Melanesian groups have 4 to 6% Denisovan DNA, while other populations have low or undetectable traces of it
Denisovans are archaic humans who were related to Neanderthals but are known to have lived only in Asia
Scientists still do not know exactly how deeply the two ancient human species are related
This is partly due to the fact that not many fossils of Denisovans have been found
What is clear is that the two species did interbreed
Despite the availability of DNA testing today, knowing if one has Neanderthal or Denisovan DNA offers very limited information to consumers, especially with regard to health