Anthropologists discover why Asians have more Neanderthal genes

Biologists from North Carolina State University and Duke University studied the structural features of skulls

representatives of ancient and modern species of the genus Homo (humans) to find out why modern humans have traces of Neanderthal DNA. The research led to the Middle East.

DNA Reconstruction and Research Technologiesancient representatives of the genus Homo at the beginning of the 21st century showed the presence of interspecific crossing between Neanderthals and the ancestors of modern man. At the same time, scientists have found that the proportion of Neanderthal DNA in East Asians is higher than that of Europeans.

This is surprising, since the ancient Neanderthals lived mainly in Europe, and it was here that the ancestors of ancient people shared the same territory with them for a long time.

In their study, the scientists collected data oncraniofacial morphology from published literature. The complete set included facial descriptions of 13 Neanderthals, 233 prehistoric Homo sapiens, and 83 modern humans. 

Facial parameters that anthropologists used for research. Image: Steven E. Churchill et al., Biology

Anthropologists have identified six features of the formfaces that did not depend on external factors, such as, for example, climate, and at the same time differed between Neanderthals and the ancestors of modern people. Among them are the height of the forehead, the parameters of the structure of the eye sockets and nose.

The Neanderthal skull was significantly different fromHomo sapiens has a more elongated and narrow face shape, wide nostrils and large noses. The study found that two samples from the Middle East, one from the Middle Paleolithic (200 to 40 thousand years ago) and one from the Upper Paleolithic (40 to 12 thousand years ago), were equidistant from Neanderthals and early humans, occupying an intermediate position .

Map of the proposed localization of interspecific crossings between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Image: Steven E. Churchill et al., Biology

This, scientists believe, confirms the hypothesisabout the active mixing of two species precisely in the Middle East during two waves of migration of people from Africa: the first of them occurred over 100 thousand years ago, and the second began about 45 thousand years ago. Thus, interspecific mixing occurred before the settlement of Asia, with the branch that later moved east undergoing hybridization for a longer time due to interspecific crossings in the Middle East.

Neanderthals were larger than humans.Over time, several generations after they interbred with Neanderthals, the size of human faces became smaller. But the actual form of some of the facial features retained evidence of interbreeding with Neanderthals.

Stephen Churchill, study co-author and professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University

On the cover: a reconstructed appearance of a Neanderthal. Image: Chip Clark, North Carolina State University

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