The Best of Neanderthal Archaeology (Featuring Ancient DNA 🧬🧬🧬)!

Neanderthals are not ancestors to modern humans, but more like ancient cousins. Archaeology is teaching us much about them through multiple modalities.

The much-maligned Neanderthals are underappreciated in terms of their intelligence, socialization, and ability to travel and settle down in stable communities. In fact, the Neanderthals live on is all of us (except for a lot of Sub-Saharan Africans it seems), and we also contributed to their gene pool while they were around. In today’s episode, we review some of the biggest findings regarding the Neanderthals in recent years, including:
• Ancient DNA studies of Neanderthal remains and DNA studies of modern humans which found the degree to which they intermingled
• Comparisons of gravesites of modern humans and Neanderthals when they lived in close proximity 55,000-120,000 years ago in what is today Israel
• Analysis of bones carvings by Neanderthals suggesting they had some concept of representational art

Timestamps
00:00: Overview of the Neanderthals
15:11: Impact of modern humans in Neanderthal DNA
21:27: Graves of early humans vs. Neanderthals
28:07: Ancient carved bear bone – Neanderthal Art?

Links & Resources
• Recurrent gene flow between Neanderthals and modern humans over the past 200,000 years: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi1768
• Neandertal burial practices in Western Asia: How different are they from those of the early Homo sapiens?: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003552124000682
• A Middle Palaeolithic incised bear bone from the Dziadowa Skała Cave, Poland: the oldest marked object north of the Carpathian Mountains: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440324000372

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#archeology #archaelogy #neanderthals #prehistoric