A diagram of a Neanderthal living in a cave.
Using advanced DNA extraction techniques, researchers have measured the genetic information of prehistoric humans from the soil of caves and found that Neanderthal humans were twice on the verge of extinction before they regained their population and finally became completely extinct about 40,000 years ago.
Genetic information from several caves in Spain and Russia, measured by an international collaborative research team, shows that they reflect information about Neanderthals spanning a period of time between 200,000 and 50,000 years ago.
Benjamin Vernot, a population geneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, who led the study, said the genetic information shows that Neanderthals in Eurasia lived between 135,000 and 100,000 years ago. Neanderthals in Eurasia experienced two near-extinction crises 135,000 and 100,000 years ago, respectively.
The study estimates that this may have been caused by environmental factors such as a colder climate. However, the situation seems to have improved after the two crises, allowing the remaining Neanderthals to survive and recover their population.
The amazing thing about this study is the advanced DNA testing technology. In the absence of human remains or other archaeological remains, the researchers were able to detect prehistoric human DNA only from the soil of the cave.
The study analyzed soil from a cave in northern Spain, and from caves in Denisova and Chagyrskaya, Siberia.
Among them, Denisova Cave is probably the best known site where Neanderthal footprints were found. Not only were there Neanderthals, but judging from a finger bone test found ten years ago, belonging to another then-unknown human species, it was a major discovery at the time. Scientists named them Denisovans. In addition, the genes of a mixed race of people have been found in this cave.
Scientists are not yet clear about the specific history of the development of these races, only that it is unlikely that the arrival of Neanderthals led to the destruction of the original race there.
The study was published April 15 in the journal Science.
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