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The story of human evolution is full of ancient trysts. Genes from fossils have shown that the ancestors of many living people mated with Neanderthals and with Denisovans, a mysterious… Click to show full abstract
The story of human evolution is full of ancient trysts. Genes from fossils have shown that the ancestors of many living people mated with Neanderthals and with Denisovans, a mysterious group of extinct humans who lived in Asia. Now, a flurry of papers suggests the ancestors of all three groups mixed at least twice with even older "ghost" lineages of unknown extinct hominins. Taken together, the studies build a strong case that even before modern humans left Africa 60,000 years ago or so, it was not uncommon for different human ancestors to meet and mate.
Journal Title: Science
Year Published: 2020
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