Neanderthals are almost TWICE as old as first thought: DNA suggests extinct human species emerged 700,000 years ago

[mystery-ak]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3233727/Neanderthals-TWICE-old-thought-DNA-suggests-extinct-human-species-emerged-700-000-years-ago.html

Neanderthals are almost TWICE as old as first thought: DNA suggests extinct human species emerged 700,000 years ago

    Geneticists obtained the oldest DNA ever sequenced from a human species
    It confirmed fossils in a cave in Spain belonged to an early Neanderthal
    Scientists believe Neanderthals first emerged in Europe 400,000 years ago
    DNA suggests the species is 300,000 years older than previously thought

By Richard Gray for MailOnline

Published: 05:47 EST, 14 September 2015 | Updated: 11:18 EST, 14 September 2015



They are one of our closest human relatives and dominated Europe and much of Asia for hundreds of thousands of years, but Neanderthals may be far older than previously thought.

A new study by geneticists has revealed a collection of fossilised bones discovered in a cave in northern Spain belonged to an early member of the Neanderthal family.

It is the oldest partial genome from early human fossils ever to be sequenced and pushes back the date for the origins of the Neanderthal branch of our evolutionary tree by up to 300,000 years.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3233727/Neanderthals-TWICE-old-thought-DNA-suggests-extinct-human-species-emerged-700-000-years-ago.html#ixzz3llKZwOmK