Neanderthal love: 7,000-year link revealed in our genes
Our ancestors maintained relationships with Neanderthals for 7,000 years after leaving Africa. As reported in the weekly journal Science, this also includes intimate relationships, traces of which remain in our genes.
Upon leaving Africa approximately 60,000 years ago, our prehistoric ancestors encountered Neanderthals, with whom they maintained various relationships for seven thousand years. According to Science, these contacts also involved intimate relationships, the effects we still experience today.
When humans left Africa, they encountered other species from the Homo family that had left the continent earlier. Among them were Neanderthals, with whom our ancestors fought and formed close relationships. Evidence of this can be seen in our genetic makeup; our genome contains about 1-2 percent Neanderthal genes.
Genes tell the truth
Scientists from Germany and the USA analyzed 58 prehistoric genomes from human bones in Eurasia to determine the duration of these relationships. The research showed that the interbreeding of humans and Neanderthals began about 50,500 years ago and lasted for roughly 7,000 years until Neanderthals began to decline.
Neanderthal genes still play an important role in our bodies. They contribute to immune functions, skin pigmentation, and metabolism. Remarkably, one of the genes inherited from Neanderthals provides resistance to the coronavirus that caused COVID-19. These discoveries illustrate the long-lasting and complex relationships between our ancestors and Neanderthals and how they impacted our genetic development.
