Finding Neandertal ancestors in the human family tree was shocking enough when researchers announced it in 2010. Now the implications for modern-day people carrying surviving Neandertal DNA may prove ...

DNA and stone tool comparisons suggest Eastern European Neandertals trekked 3,000 kilometers to Siberia, where they left a genetic and cultural mark.

If your image of a Neandertal is of a crude, uncaring, brute, think again. Teeth and jaw fossils found last year in southeastern France not only reinforce perceptions about how our Neandertal ...

The scientists initially focused on the DNA in the mitochondria which is small and particularly easy to retrieve. In 2008, they published the first fully decoded mitochondrial genome of a Neandertal.

When Neandertals were first discovered nearly 170 years ago, the conceptual gap between their lineage and that of modern humans seemed vast. Initially scientists prejudicially believed that the ...

Analyses of anatomy, DNA and cultural remains have yielded tantalizing insights into the inner lives of our mysterious extinct cousins On a clear day in Gibraltar, looking out of Gorham's Cave, you ...

Paleoanthropologists used to pray that they would unearth big troves of intact Neandertal skeletons and well-preserved artifacts that they could comb for clues to the origins of the human race. But ...

Re-examination of a circa 100,000-year-old archaic early human skull found 35 years ago in Northern China has revealed the surprising presence of an inner-ear formation long thought to occur only in ...

Many of us are inherently interested in our ancestry—who are we and where did we come from? Stories centered on “the missing link” tend to draw public attention (spoiler alert: there is no one missing ...

This August marks the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the first Neandertal fossil in the Neander Valley near Dusseldorf, Germany. Ever since that time, paleontologists and anthropologists have ...

The researchers identified regions with Neandertal ancestry in over 300 individuals. They assessed sharing of segments, inferred gene flow, and looked at variation to identify candidates for positive ...

Neandertals, historically, have gotten a bad rap (which they do not deserve!). In her 2020 book, Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death, and Art, Rebecca Wragg Sykes reflects on the Neandertal legacy, ...