Caveman Bones, 7,000 Years Old, Said To Yield Oldest DNA Of Modern Humans
By: Charles Choi, LiveScience Contributor
Published: 06/28/2012 12:04 PM EDT on LiveScience
What may be the oldest fragments of the modern human genome found yet have now been revealed — DNA from the 7,000-year-old bones of two cavemen unearthed in Spain, researchers say.
These findings suggest the cavemen there were not the ancestors of the people found in the region today, investigators added.
Scientists have recently sequenced the genomes of our closest extinct relatives, the Neanderthals and the Denisovans. When it came to our lineage, the oldest modern human genomes recovered yet came from Ötzi the Iceman, a 5,300-year-old mummy found in the Alps in 1991. Researchers have salvaged DNA from even older human cells, but this comes from the mitochondria that generate energy for our bodies, and not from the nucleus where our chromosomes are housed. (Mitochondrial DNA is passed down only by mothers.)
Now researchers have rescued fragments of genomes from the remains of two cavemen unearthed in northern Spain.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...6pLid%3D174863
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Originally Posted by Dilloduck
Just keep their isosceles stained fingers off the bones. We know all we need to know.
