Latest news with #humanancestors
Daily Mail
30-06-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Scientist reveal what extinct cavemen would have looked like today
Our ancient ancestors died out thousands of years ago, leaving behind nothing but fossils, a few scattered artefacts, and lingering traces in our DNA. For the last 40,000 years, Homo sapiens have been the only human species walking the Earth but what would cavemen like Neanderthals and Denisovans look like today if they had survived. has asked the experts to find out what the world might be like if they had survived. Surprisingly, they say that our distant evolutionary cousins might not be all that different to modern humans today. However, they might have had a hard time fitting in with our fast-paced, highly social societies. Dr April Noel, a Paleolithic archaeologist from the University of Victoria, told 'The idea that Neanderthals were hunched over, dim-witted individuals with no thought beyond their next meal is no longer tenable. 'At the same time, the idea that you could just slap a hat on a Neanderthal and you would not think twice about sitting next to him on the tube is also out the window.' What would they look like? Neanderthals and Denisovans are our closest ancient human relatives. The Neanderthals emerged around 400,000 years ago when they branched off from our common ancestors. Denisovans, meanwhile, are a far more elusive species of ancient humans who split from the Neanderthal evolutionary line around 430,000 years ago. If they had remained as separate species rather than going extinct, Neanderthals and Denisovans might look much the same as they did in the distant past. From the abundant fossil records, we know that Neanderthals were a little shorter than us on average, with shorter legs and wider hips. Neanderthals were very muscular and rugged, with large bodies and even larger heads. Their skulls show that they have room for a bigger brain than modern humans and would have been distinguished by a massive brow ridge and small foreheads. However, experts say they still would be clearly recognizable as fellow humans. Professor John Hawks, an anthropologist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told 'We don't know of any physiological traits that make Neanderthals distinct, that is, traits that don't overlap. 'Almost every physical trait in Neanderthals overlaps in its variation with ours today, at least to some extent.' That means they wouldn't look like lumbering cavemen or women, but rather like a slightly different variation of humans. Denisovans, meanwhile, are a little more of a mystery. It was only this month that scientists identified the first Denisovan skull, and besides this, there are only small fragments of bone to go on. Based on the newly identified skull, experts believe that Denisovans would have had a wide face with heavy, flat cheeks, a wide mouth, and a large nose. These bones also show that Denisovans would have been exceptionally large and muscular people, much stronger than more slender Homo sapiens. Not all that different However, experts say that Homo sapiens, Denisovans, and Neanderthals might not have remained that distinct for long. These human species interbred widely during the periods they overlapped, and many modern humans carry at least some Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA. If these species hadn't vanished, they might have continued to interbreed and further intermix our genes. Dr Hugo Zeberg, an expert on gene flow from Neanderthals and Denisovans into modern humans from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, told 'In a way they never went extinct. We merged! 'Probably the relatively low amount of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA in present humans reflects the fact that modern humans [Homo sapiens] were more numerous. 'But with more chances of encounters, we might have more archaic DNA present in the gene pool of modern humans.' We're still learning about how ancient genes influence modern humans, so it's hard to say what effects this mixing might produce. But Dr Zeberg points out that Denisovan genes are responsible for 'high altitude adaptation for Tibetans and some influence on lip shape in Latin American populations.' Similarly, Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens hybrids would likely have a mixture of the traits of both species such as larger heads, longer limbs, and narrower hips. Over time, some scientists believe Denisovans, Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens might have merged into a single human species with a mixture of all the traits. Dr Bence Viola, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Toronto, told 'I think it would have been impossible for Denisovans and Neanderthals to retain sufficient genetic isolation to remain a separate population. 'We know that they interbred with modern humans whenever they came into contact, and so the more contact there is, the more mixing happens – so they would have become a part of us.' Would they fit in? We don't currently know very much about how Denisovans lived, but research now shows Neanderthals might have struggled to fit in with modern society. One of the leading theories for why Homo sapiens survived while other species dropped off is that modern humans essentially 'tamed' ourselves. Modern humans developed genes that allowed us to become more sociable, develop larger social networks, and work with our fellow humans. Dr Noel says: 'Unlike their modern human contemporaries, Neanderthals lived in small, fairly isolated groups. 'If there was an accident that killed a number of their hunters or some other crisis occurred, they did not always have others to reach out to. As a result, their numbers would drop below what you need to be sustainable.' Dr Noel points out that research into Neanderthal genes suggests they were less cognitively flexible, had greater difficulties processing language, and lacked genes related to self-awareness, creativity, and behaviors intended to benefit others. 'In the highly connected world we all live in, I think Neanderthals would have been left behind, or at least, left out,' says Dr Noel. In a world where Neanderthals lived alongside other human species, this could really change the way society was structured. Professor Spikins says that while modern humans became 'tamer, more playful and more friendly to each other,' those changes came alongside 'being a bit easily led'. She adds: 'If Neanderthals were better at not "following the herd" and more of those tendencies were present, I bet much of our world would be different; they might not be easily swayed by social media!' How would the world be different? If Neanderthals and Denisovans hadn't gone extinct thousands of years ago, the world might be a very different place. From the evidence we have of these ancient species, we know that they lived in much smaller communities and had a far more limited impact on the land. In fact, Dr Zeberg points out that modern humans appear to be unique in the way that we modify the world around us through agriculture and large cities. One strange consequence of this is that a world where Homo sapiens are not dominant might mean a world without pets. There is no evidence that Neanderthals and Denisovans attempted to nurture relationships with animals through domestication - that means no horses, cats, dogs or even modern agricultural species like cattle and sheep. But with more of our relative anti-social genes, humanity may also have avoided some of its more destructive tendencies. Professor Spikins says: 'If Neanderthals had been the ones to survive, we might not have the problem we have with climate change, as their tendency to be more isolated within their separate groups might have limited how technology spread and got used, and how much the environment got exploited.'
Fox News
21-06-2025
- Science
- Fox News
Mysterious 'dragon man' skull found in the 1930s finally identified
A mysterious human skull found in the 1930s has been identified as an existing species after once being thought to be a new species all together, according to researchers. The studies — posted in the journals Cell and Science — have identified the 146,000-year-old skull known as "dragon man" has been categorized as a Denisovan. The researchers revealed that the Denisovans were discovered by their genomes and proteins to identify them. However, the reason it took so long to identify was that the attempts to extract DNA from a tooth failed. Researchers also tried extracting DNA from the Harbin cranium as well, which also failed. When those methods failed, researchers turned to using dental calculus, which uses calcified dental plaque. The calcified dental plaque could hold and protect DNA due to its dense crystalline structure that resists degradation in various environments. Researchers used bleach on the dental plaque in order to eliminate any possible modern-day DNA. Once extracted, researchers began to compare the genetic material discovered to previous samples. The researchers found that the "dragon man" was not a new species but was a Denisovan and the very first intact specimen to date. According to the researchers, Denisovans coexisted with modern-day humans and are closely related to Neanderthals. The "dragon man" was discovered in mysterious circumstances when a Chinese laborer working on a bridge over the Songhua River found it. The man kept the Harbin cranium well hidden as he was instructed to hide it from the Japanese army. The skull was donated shortly before his death in 2018, after which his family relocated the skull and gave it to the Geoscience Museum, Hebei GEO University professor Qiang Ji. While there are limitations to this study, the researchers said there is still so much to learn moving forward. It was called "dragon man" because it was found in the Heilongjiang province of China, which translates to Black Dragon River. Fox News Digital's Julia Musto contributed to this story.
New York Times
18-06-2025
- Science
- New York Times
Mysterious Ancient Humans Now Have a Face
When Qiaomei Fu discovered a new kind of human 15 years ago, she had no idea what it looked like. There was only a fragment of a pinkie bone to go on. The fossil chip, found in a Siberian cave called Denisova, looked as if it might have come from a 66,000-year-old relative of today's humans, or maybe a Neanderthal. But Dr. Fu, then a graduate student at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, and her colleagues found DNA in the fossil that told a different story. The bone had belonged to a girl who was part of a third human lineage never seen before. They named her people the Denisovans. In the years since, Dr. Fu has helped to discover more Denisovan DNA: in teeth and bone fragments from the Denisova cave, in the sediment of a cave floor in Tibet and even in people living today in Asia and the Pacific — evidence of interbreeding tens of thousands of years ago. But without clues from a skeleton or a skull, the physical appearance of these humans remained a mystery, said Dr. Fu, now a geneticist at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing. 'After 15 years, people want to know, who are the Denisovans?' Now she can put a face to the name. Dr. Fu and her colleagues announced Wednesday that a skull found in China contains both Denisovan DNA and Denisovan protein. 'This moment is special to me,' Dr. Fu said. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
