Aberdeen
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Yet more complications re the story of ancient humans. Scientists haven't yet been able to discover a lot about the Denisovians, an ancient type of humans similar to Neanderthals who have left traces of themselves among some modern populations in Asia, particularly New Guinea. The few samples of ancient Denisovians that have been found so far are all from Siberia, I believe. And now a paper has been presented to the English Royal Society stating that scientists have found Denisovian remains that contain DNA from a previously completely unknown type of early human. Here's the article.
"Updated genome sequences from two extinct relatives of modern humans suggest that these ‘archaic’ groups bred with humans and with each other more extensively than was previously known. The ancient genomes, one from a Neanderthal and one from a member of an archaic human group called the Denisovans, were presented on 18 November at a meeting on ancient DNA at the Royal Society in London. The results suggest that interbreeding went on between the members of several ancient human-like groups in Europe and Asia more than 30,000 years ago, including an as-yet-unknown human ancestor from Asia. “What it begins to suggest is that we’re looking at a Lord of the Rings-type world — that there were many hominid populations,” says Mark Thomas, an evolutionary geneticist at University College London who was at the meeting but was not involved in the work. The first published Neanderthaland Denisovan genome sequences revolutionized the study of ancient human history, not least because they showed that these groups bred with anatomically modern humans, contributing to the genetic diversity of many people alive today."
And here's the link.
www.nature.com/news/mystery-humans-spiced-up-ancients-sex-lives-1.14196
"Updated genome sequences from two extinct relatives of modern humans suggest that these ‘archaic’ groups bred with humans and with each other more extensively than was previously known. The ancient genomes, one from a Neanderthal and one from a member of an archaic human group called the Denisovans, were presented on 18 November at a meeting on ancient DNA at the Royal Society in London. The results suggest that interbreeding went on between the members of several ancient human-like groups in Europe and Asia more than 30,000 years ago, including an as-yet-unknown human ancestor from Asia. “What it begins to suggest is that we’re looking at a Lord of the Rings-type world — that there were many hominid populations,” says Mark Thomas, an evolutionary geneticist at University College London who was at the meeting but was not involved in the work. The first published Neanderthaland Denisovan genome sequences revolutionized the study of ancient human history, not least because they showed that these groups bred with anatomically modern humans, contributing to the genetic diversity of many people alive today."
And here's the link.
www.nature.com/news/mystery-humans-spiced-up-ancients-sex-lives-1.14196
Well, "almost facts".