Intermingling between races wasn't something uncommon back in the day, so researchers find out. Having a mixed race heritage of this ancient teenage girl might suggest that in general, racism wasn't really a thing back then, or at least that's how I see it.
After the unearthing of a Neanderthal-Denisovan fossil, UK scientists are using groundbreaking techniques to learn more of the species’ complex bonds with humans.
Katerina Douka and Tom Higham, researchers of the project Finder, used the new technology called Zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry in order to identify whether there were human bones from 1,500 bone samples. With the help of Samantha Brown, an Australian master's student, they were able to identify one.
However, their technique only allowed them to determine whether a bone sample was human or not, but not the species it belonged to so the sample was taken to Svante Pääbo. The results were intriguing to say the least.
Exactly half the sample consisted of Neanderthal DNA. The other half was made up of Denisovan DNA. At first, the researchers assumed that the sample was contaminated. “I thought they must have screwed up something,” says Pääbo.
But re-testing confirmed the finding: the Oxford team had discovered the 90,000-year-old remains of a hybrid daughter of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father. She was nicknamed Denny.
Read more of the article by Robin McKie on The Guardian.
(Image credit: John Bavaro/early-man.com)