Are you a morning person? You may be a Neanderthal descendant. A new paper in Genome Biology and Evolution, published by Oxford University Press, finds that genetic material from Neanderthal ancestors may have contributed to the propensity of some people today to be “early risers,” the sort of people who are more comfortable getting up and … Read more
DNA of 10,000-Year-Old Luzio Unravels the Mystery of the Sambaqui Builders’ Disappearance A new DNA study reveals that Luzio, the oldest human skeleton found in São Paulo state (Brazil), was a descendant of the ancestral population that settled the Americas at least 16,000 years ago and gave rise to all present-day Indigenous peoples, such as … Read more
Ancient genomes show that the farming lifestyle in northwestern Africa was ignited by oversea-migrants from Iberia 7,400 years ago A genomic analysis of ancient human remains from Morocco in northwest Africa revealed that food production was introduced by Neolithic European and Levantine migrants and then adopted by local groups. A research team from Sweden, Spain … Read more
3,000-Year-Old Bone in Southeastern Alaska Reveals Prehistoric Woman’s Genetic Connection to Native American People A 3,000-year-old bone unearthed from a cave in southeastern Alaska is not from a bear, as originally thought, but from one of our own — a woman. And new research reveals that her genetics are essentially the same as the Native … Read more
The mysterious Picts of Scotland revealed through DNA analysis Ancient DNA reveals that the Picts, the “painted people” of Scotland who fought off the Romans, weren’t an enigmatic group that migrated from faraway lands. Instead, the Picts had local roots and were related to other Iron Age people in Britain, a new study finds. An analysis of … Read more
Neanderthals were not driven to extinction by lack of intelligence, but interbreeding, study shows They are often depicted as dim-witted evolutionary losers, but Neanderthals were not driven to extinction by their lack of brains, a new study suggests. Instead, it is more likely that they disappeared 40,000 years ago because of interbreeding and assimilation with … Read more