There鈥檚 a little bit of Neanderthal in all of us. That鈥檚 not meant as an insult.
New research is shedding light on our ancient cousins and how their legacy lives with us today. Genetic sequencing is helping unravel the threads that bind us to our inner Neanderthal.
Akron artist Nancy Luken is one of around 12 million people worldwide who鈥檝e had their DNA sequenced by the company 23andMe. Her ancestry is charted online.
She reads the list of northern European forebears, 鈥�38% British and Irish, 26% French and German.鈥�
Looking further back, "there鈥檚 Scandinavian, Eastern European, it looks like Ukrainian."
The site also lists a far distant ancestor, a . Despite the stereotypes, she was thrilled.
鈥淚 felt a little special,鈥� Luken said.
A Link To The Past
Actually, it鈥檚 not that special. Everyone has , around 2% for people from Europe and Asia, less for Africans.
We know that because in 2010, an took on the formidable task of sequencing DNA taken from 40,000 year-old bone fragments belonging to three Neanderthal individuals and comparing it to modern humans.
, a researcher at the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard, was part of the effort. He said our met and mated with Neanderthals, and we carry remnants of that encounter.
鈥淭here鈥檚 more Neanderthal DNA on the planet today than there ever was because it鈥檚 all living in us!鈥�
His colleague , now at UCLA, helped to around 55,000 years ago. He said overall, their genes didn鈥檛 fit.
鈥淥n the whole, Neanderthal DNA was bad for us,鈥� said Sankararaman, and he said our genome spent generations trying to get rid of it.
Sankararaman said Neanderthal DNA in some populations is associated with type 2 diabetes. A shows that a major risk factor for severe COVID is .
, however, have found that Neanderthal DNA in ways that us 55,000 years ago.
But Sankararaman discovered what he calls "deserts" in our genome that don鈥檛 contain any Neanderthal DNA, especially genes involved in reproduction, and that control speech and language.
鈥淭hose deserts of Neanderthal ancestry are really interesting places in our genome because they might point us to places which are important for uniquely human functions," he said.
He cautions not to draw too many conclusions about Neanderthal DNA since it only makes up a small proportion of individual genes.
Getting To Know Our Cousins
The fact that we carry it at all opens a window into the distant past.
is an archaeologist at Kenyon College in Gambier who studies Neanderthals. He said they were anatomically different than us. A quick test you can do to see if you鈥檙e a Neanderthal is to slap your forehead.
鈥淚f you can do that and you hit something, you know you鈥檙e a modern human,鈥� Hardy said.
Neanderthals had huge brow ridges, but no forehead to speak of, although their brains were actually larger than ours. They were heavily built, stocky and barrel-chested.
But Hardy made a discovery at a cave in France that shows Neanderthals were both dexterous and could count. It was a . Hardy said the three-stranded cord with fibers twisted in opposite directions has loads of implications.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e got the idea of sets and numbers, that鈥檚 basic numeracy, understanding basic numbers, basic math,鈥� Hardy said.
Having string also implies that Neanderthals could have made rope, bags, nets, mats, and Hardy said, even outfit boats.
New discoveries in Spain show Neanderthals were experimenting with long before our ancestors arrived.
For Hardy, this adds up to a new appreciation of Neanderthal culture.
鈥淲e鈥檙e dealing a , but they can鈥檛 be acting that differently,鈥� he said.
The Lives Of Human Hybrids
Archeologist Rebecca Wragg Sykes is the author of the book .
She said thinking about the lives of these women from so long ago helps us imagine the outcomes of sex with Neanderthals.
raised babies that were different than either parent, 鈥渟o that suggests that they鈥檙e not complete social outcasts and those hybrid babies aren鈥檛 being killed, at least some of them aren鈥檛," Sykes said.
Still, Neanderthals died out around 10,000 years after modern humans arrived, and we鈥檒l likely never know why.
Although a little bit of them lives on in all of us.
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