Annotated Bibliography on Interbreeding Between Humans and Neanderthals

Based on the research and studies that have been done, there is absolute evidence of the relationship that exists between the Neanderthals and human beings. Neanderthals are known to be the species or subspecies of the archaic humans that went extinct about 40000 years ago and are in the genus Homo. These extinct creatures are known to share 99.7% of their DNA with the humans hence bringing a very close relation. The role of this essay is to elucidate and give a proof of the relationship that exists between the Neanderthals and the humans as a result of the interbreeding that happened when the two met many years ago. The result that comes forth, therefore, shows that the Neanderthals should be considered to be the subspecies of the modern humans.

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Bolus, Michael. "Dispersals of Early Humans: Adaptations, Frontiers, and New Territories." (2015). Print.

According to scientists, modern human and Neanderthals were interbreeding much earlier than was previously thought as is explained in this article. A prove for this is when an examination of the traces of human DNA that were found in a Neanderthal shows that the act began with the extinct relatives about 100000 years ago. The ancient remains found in a remote cave in the Altai Mountains in Siberia of a female Neanderthal are the source of the revelations concerning the sex lives of our ancestors given in this article. The DNA plays a role in our bodies in the immune system and the propensity to diseases. Based on the genetic analysis done, the portions of the human DNA that lie within her genome reveals of this interspecies mingling.

Discover, Magazine. "Were Humans and Neanderthals Swapping Dna Earlier Than We Thought?" D-brief. (2016): 2016-2. Print.

Based on the research done that included 35 people from the Bismarck Archipelago of Northern Island Melanesia in Papua New Guinea, it was found out that the people had both Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestry. The research explains that the presence of three sets of Neanderthal that are distinct provides an indication that interbreeding was happening on multiple occasions between the modern humans and the Neanderthals. All groups share the same set which is an indication that breeding occurred between a common ancestor of Melanesians, Europeans and East Asians and the Neanderthals. The previous sequencing of the remains of the mitochondrial DNA showed Denisovian DNA. However, researchers have been able to recover both mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA in which it provides more information on an individual ancestry. The DNA was obtained from fie sample, and they found out that all provided an indication of the sharing of the alleles. The mutation rate of the DNA nuclear together with the fossils aged approximately 400000 years gives further indication that a common ancestor of both the Neanderthals and Homo sapiens must be dating back to 550,000 and 765,000 years ago.

Georgopoulus, Ioannis. "More on Ancient Skull from Galilee Cave Offers Clues to First Modern Europeans." The Archaeology News Network. (2015): 2015-1. Print.

This article provides a further explanation that there was interbreeding between the modern humans and the European Neanderthals. The researchers claim that when a comparison is made between the Neanderthal genome with that of modern humans. A curious pattern is found since 1% to 3% of the DNA of the Asians and the Europeans of the present day have inherited from the Neanderthals. However, an observation is made that the Africans have not inherited any. The suggestion given here is that there were rare encounters in the Arabian Peninsula after the modern humans swept out of Africa but before they spread widely. There was a complication of the picture by a bone found in Siberias Denisova Cave. The researchers found this complication when they did the sequencing of a bone of a finger of an ancient girl from the cave. Here they made a discovery of a new type of human, the Denisovans who have a close relation with the Neanderthals but also mated with the ancestors of Melanesians of today. New surprises, however, came with every ancient genome. There is a show of mating that happened between the people of the Denisovan girl and the present-day Melanesians and also Asians of the mainland. This happened after the encounter of the modern humans with the Neanderthals 50,000 to 65,000 years ago.

3QuarksDaily, , and Azra Raza. "Evidence Mounts for Interbreeding Bonanza in Ancient Human Species." 3quarksdaily. (2016): 2016-2. Print.

This article gives evidence that is conclusive concerning the mating of the humans and the Neanderthals. It highlights that this evidence came from the analysis of a draft of a Neanderthal genome that was gathered from the remains found in Croatia. It is said that the two populations may have met 50000 to 60000 years ago in the Middle East as the humans that were getting out of Africa encountered resident Neanderthals. It is also thought that their interbreeding may have happened in Eastern Europe more recently. From a DNA from a skeleton of a 40000-year-old human, a suggestion is made by Romania that the individual may have had a great-great Neanderthal grandparent. Meanwhile, a contention is also made by other researchers that the ancestors of East Asians had a Neanderthal affair for the second time which left them with a slightly more Neanderthal inheritance than what the Europeans have. An explanation of the latest discovery that emerged after performing a female Neanderthal genome re-analysis is also given in this article. The genome sequence of this female is complete and much accurate than those that were obtained from the samples of the Neanderthals which contains stretches of the DNA of Homo sapiens. This serves a s a prove for the encounters earlier happened in the Middle East.

DeSilva, Jeremy. "Interpreting Evidence: an Approach to Teaching Human Evolution in the Classroom." The American Biology Teacher. 66.4 (2004): 257-267. Print.

According to a study based on this article, DNA study shows that most humans have a little Neanderthal in them. It is at least 1 to 4 percent of the genetic makeup of a person. A conclusion is made by a study team by doing a comparison of genomes five living humans from Southern Africa, Papua New Guinea, China, France and western Africa against the rough draft of a Neanderthal genome. The results from this study show that the Neanderthal DNA is 99.7% identical to modern human DNA versus a 98.8% for modern humans and chimps for instance according to the study. Adding to these, it is found that all the modern ethnic groups other than the Africans do carry the traces of Neanderthal DNA in their genomes.

In conclusion, the research and the studies made concerning the relationship between the Neanderthals and the humans provide an absolute proof and indication that the two are related. DNA studies show that humans have some traces of the Neanderthals in them which it enhances the relationship between the two. It can, therefore, be said that the Neanderthals are the subspecies of the modern humans.

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Bolus, Michael. "Dispersals of Early Humans: Adaptations, Frontiers, and New Territories." (2015). Print.

DeSilva, Jeremy. "Interpreting Evidence: an Approach to Teaching Human Evolution in the Classroom." The American Biology Teacher. 66.4 (2004): 257-267. Print.

Discover, Magazine. "Were Humans and Neanderthals Swapping Dna Earlier Than We Thought?" D-brief. (2016): 2016-2. Print.

Europeans." The Archaeology News Network. (2015): 2015-1. Print.

3QuarksDaily, , and Azra Raza. "Evidence Mounts for Interbreeding Bonanza in Ancient Human Species." 3quarksdaily. (2016): 2016-2. Print.

Georgopoulus, Ioannis. "More on Ancient Skull from Galilee Cave Offers Clues to First Modern

Finlayson, Clive. Neanderthals and Modern Humans: An Ecological and Evolutionary Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print.