When Humans and Neanderthals Split [View All]

[n2doc]

nalysis by Jennifer Viegas
Wed Jun 23, 2010 09:28 AM ET

While DNA evidence suggests humans and Neanderthals mated way back when, the two groups did represent distinct species at the time. The question is: when did they last share a common ancestor?

A new study on dental fossils indicates Neanderthals and our own species, Homo sapiens, shared a common ancestor at least one million years ago, which is more than 500,000 years earlier than previously thought.

A million years is a drop in the evolutionary bucket, however, which perhaps helps to explain why we share so many features and behaviors in common with the red headed, meat loving, music producing Neanderthals.

Aida Gómez Robles, a researcher at the University of Granada, analyzed the teeth of virtually all hominid species that existed over the past 4 million years. Using quantitative methods, she determined that Neanderthal features existed in ancient European populations.

more

http://news.discovery.com/human/when-humans-and-neanderthals-split.html