Getting Neanderthal dna from cave dirt

Angela

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Would it be possible to get it from cremation ashes I wonder? Think of all the European ancient dna we could get for crucial periods.

See:
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/04/14/science.abf1667

"[h=2]Abstract[/h]Bones and teeth are important sources of Pleistocene hominin DNA, but are rarely recovered at archaeological sites. Mitochondrial DNA has been retrieved from cave sediments, but provides limited value for studying population relationships. We therefore developed methods for the enrichment and analysis of nuclear DNA from sediments, and applied them to cave deposits in western Europe and southern Siberia dated to between approximately 200,000 and 50,000 years ago. We detect a population replacement in northern Spain approximately 100,000 years ago, accompanied by a turnover of mitochondrial DNA. We also identify two radiation events in Neanderthal history during the early part of the Late Pleistocene. Our work lays the ground for studying the population history of ancient hominins from trace amounts of nuclear DNA in sediments."
 
Would it be possible to get it from cremation ashes I wonder? Think of all the European ancient dna we could get for crucial periods.

See:
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/04/14/science.abf1667

"Abstract

Bones and teeth are important sources of Pleistocene hominin DNA, but are rarely recovered at archaeological sites. Mitochondrial DNA has been retrieved from cave sediments, but provides limited value for studying population relationships. We therefore developed methods for the enrichment and analysis of nuclear DNA from sediments, and applied them to cave deposits in western Europe and southern Siberia dated to between approximately 200,000 and 50,000 years ago. We detect a population replacement in northern Spain approximately 100,000 years ago, accompanied by a turnover of mitochondrial DNA. We also identify two radiation events in Neanderthal history during the early part of the Late Pleistocene. Our work lays the ground for studying the population history of ancient hominins from trace amounts of nuclear DNA in sediments."

Do you have an idea, what the authors mean with "population replacement in northern Spain approximately 100,000 years ago"? The thing is, that 100 k ago, Homo sapiens didn't arrive in Europe yet.
 
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Real Expert: I read through a summary of the paper on Prof. Vernot's twitter post and he indicated the earlier Neanderthals were more similar to Altai and then over time the Neanderthals there became more similar to what is often referred to the as the More "Classic Neanderthals".
 
Real Expert: I read through a summary of the paper on Prof. Vernot's twitter post and he indicated the earlier Neanderthals were more similar to Altai and then over time the Neanderthals there became more similar to what is often referred to the as the More "Classic Neanderthals".

Thanks for your reply.
 
Do you have an idea, what the authors mean with "population replacement in northern Spain approximately 100,000 years ago"? The thing is, that 100 k ago, Homo sapiens didn't arrive in Europe yet.

Schöningen 300.000 years ago?
Sima de los Huesos 400.000 years ago was not Neanderthal yet, but pretty close.

Neandertahl findings older than 130.000 years are very rare, but afaik oldest Neanderthal findings are in Europe.
 

Remains of nine Neanderthals found in cave south of Rome

... Italian archaeologists have unearthed the bones of nine Neanderthals who were allegedly hunted and mauled by hyenas in their den about 100km south-east of Rome.

Scientists from the Archaeological Superintendency of Latina and the University of Tor Vergata in Rome said the remains belong to seven adult males and one female, while another are those of a young boy.
Experts believe the individuals lived in different time periods. Some bones could be as old as 50,000 to 68,000 years, whereas the most ancient remains are believed to be 100,000 years old.

The Neanderthal remains, which include skullcaps and broken jawbones, were found in the Guattari cave, which had already gained notoriety for the presence of fossils of these distant human cousins, which were found by chance in 1939. Since then, no further human remains had been uncovered in Guattari...

https://www.theguardian.com/science...nine-neanderthals-found-in-cave-south-of-rome
 

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