Oldest Neanderthal DNA Found in Italian Skeleton

Charles Q. Choi
Live Science

The remains of the so-called Altamura Man, now considered a Neanderthal, encrusted with calcite formations in Altamura, Italy. Credit: Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Superintendent of the Archeology of Puglia.

The calcite-encrusted skeleton of an ancient human, still embedded in rock deep inside a cave in Italy, has yielded the oldest Neanderthal DNA ever found.
These molecules, which could be up to 170,000 years old, could one day help yield the most complete picture yet of Neanderthal life, researchers say.
Although modern humans are the only remaining human lineage, many others once lived on Earth. The closest extinct relatives of modern humans were the Neanderthals, who lived in Europe and Asia until they went extinct about 40,000 years ago. Recent findings revealed that Neanderthals interbred with ancestors of today's Europeans when modern humans began spreading out of Africa — 1.5 to 2.1 percent of the DNA of anyone living outside Africa today is Neanderthal in origin. [Image Gallery: Our Closest Human Ancestor]
In 1993, scientists found an extraordinarily intact skeleton of an ancient human amidst the stalactites and stalagmites of the limestone cave of Lamalunga, near Altamura in southern Italy — a discovery they said had the potential to reveal new clues about Neanderthals.
"The Altamura man represents the most complete skeleton of a single nonmodern human ever found," study co-author Fabio Di Vincenzo, a paleoanthropologist at Sapienza University of Rome, told Live Science. "Almost all the bony elements are preserved and undamaged."
The Altamura skeleton bears a number of Neanderthal traits, particularly in the face and the back of the skull. However, it also possesses features that usually aren't seen in Neanderthals — for instance, its brow ridges were even more massive than those of Neanderthals.These differences made it difficult to tell which human lineage the Altamura man might have belonged to. Moreover, the Altamura skeleton remains partially embedded in rock, making it difficult to analyze.
Now, new research shows that DNA from a piece of the skeleton's right shoulder blade suggests the Altamura fossil was a Neanderthal. The shape of this piece of bone also looks Neanderthal, the researchers said.
In addition, the scientists dated the skeleton to about 130,000 to 170,000 years old. This makes it the oldest Neanderthal from which DNA has ever been extracted. (These bones are not the oldest known Neanderthal fossils — the oldest ones ever found are about 200,000 years old. This isn't the oldest DNA ever extracted from a human, either; that accolade goes to 400,000-year-old DNA collected from relatives of Neanderthals.)
The bone is so old that its DNA is too degraded for the researchers to sequence the fossil's genome — at least with current technology. However, they noted that next-generation DNA-sequencing technologies might be capable of such a task, which "could provide important results on the Neanderthal genome," study co-author David Caramelli, a molecular anthropologist at the University of Florence in Italy, told Live Science.
Whereas previous fragmentary fossils of different Neanderthals provided a partial picture of what life was like for Neanderthals, the Altamura skeleton could help paint a more complete portrait of a Neanderthal — for instance, it could reveal more details about Neanderthals' genetics, anatomy, ecology and lifestyle, the researchers said.
"We have a nearly complete human fossil skeleton to describe and study in detail. It is a dream," Di Vincenzo said. "His morphology offers a rare glimpse on the earliest phase of the evolutionary history of Neanderthals and on one of the most crucial events in human evolution. He can help us better understand when — and, in particular, how — Neanderthals evolved."
The scientists detailed their findings online March 21 in the Journal of Human Evolution.

 

 

 

 

'Oldest Parisian': Neanderthal Fossil Suggests Hunting Injury

By Laura Geggel

The Tourville remains (left) alongside to the left arm bones of a female Neanderthal. Credit: Faivre J-P, Maureille B, Bayle P, Crevecoeur I, et al. (2014) Middle Pleistocene Human Remains from Tourville-la-Rivière (Normandy, France) and Their Archaeological Context. PLoS ONE 9(10): e104111. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0104111

Three arm bones from a prehistoric individual, likely a Neanderthal, were uncovered in the Seine Valley of northern France, suggesting that Neanderthals had a temporary camp along the river 200,000 years ago.
The long left arm bones, dated at 200,000 years old, are the oldest human ancestor remains ever to be discovered in Tourville-la-Rivière, about 72 miles (116 kilometers) northwest of Paris. Fossils from this time period are rare, and may help fill in gaps about the evolution of humans and their close relatives, the researchers said.
"These are the oldest fossils found near Paris. It's the oldest Parisian, if you like," study researcher Bruno Maureille, at the Université de Bordeaux in Talence, France, told the BBC.

The bones, found in September 2010, consist of a humerus, radius and ulna from a left arm. Based on their size, the bones probably belonged to an adult or older adolescent, the researchers said. [The 10 Biggest Mysteries of the First Humans]
The left humerus shows a curious injury that may indicate signs of muscle damage near the shoulder, possibly from doing a repetitive action, such as throwing or hammering, said study researcher Erik Trinkaus, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis.
Trinkaus and his colleagues examined the humerus in detail, finding that it measures 9.1 inches (23.2 centimeters) and has a bony crest 1.6 inches (4 cm) long. Computer tomography scans suggest the crest may be evidence of an injury to the deltoid muscle at the owner's shoulder.
The individual may have gotten the injury from throwing a spear while hunting, even though all of the spears anthropologists have found from that time period are large and heavy, Trinkaus said.
If the injury is indicative of overuse from throwing, the newly found humerus would provide evidence that early humans and their relatives may have thrown spears 200,000 years ago, he said.
That interpretation is "controversial" but plausible, said Brian Richmond, a curator of anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who was not involved in the study. "It looks like the bone kind of grew out [from the arm], probably from some damage where the muscle was attached to it," Richmond told Live Science.
It's unclear what caused the injury, but "they're arguing that this may be due to repetitive use, possibly throwing," Richmond said.
The guess isn't a bad one, he said. Humans are unusually good at throwing, whereas other animals, such as chimpanzees and apes, can't throw as accurately or as fast people can. "We seem to have an anatomy that's well designed for that," Richmond said. "And that anatomy probably goes back to as far as the Neanderthals."
The Neanderthals are the closest extinct relatives of modern humans, and went extinct about 40,000 years ago. There's evidence that human ancestors and relatives were capable hunters 200,000 years ago, so it's plausible that the individual was injured from repetitively throwing something, such as a hunting weapon, Richmond said.
"It's a provocative idea that as far back as 200,000 years ago, we see [bone] stress that may have resulted from repetitive throwing," he said. "It raises interesting questions about just how these early humans hunted."
Live Science

Ancient Skulls Reveal 'Mixed' Neanderthal-Like Lineage

By Charles Q. Choi

A hominin skull (dubbed Skull 17) from the Sima de los Huesos cave site in Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain. Credit: © Javier Trueba / Madrid Scientific Films

A key first step in Neanderthal evolution may have been the development of front teeth that could act like a "third hand," researchers now say.

These new findings are based on 17 hominin skulls showing a mix of traits from Neanderthals and more primitive human lineages, dating back some 430,000 years. The specimens likely belonged to a hominin group within the Neanderthal lineage but perhaps not direct Neanderthal ancestors. (Hominins include modern humans and extinct ancestors and close relatives of the human lineage.)
The mix of traits suggests the defining features of the Neanderthal body may have evolved separately in stages instead of evolving together gradually, scientists added.
These findings also reveal that, evolutionarily speaking, "Neanderthals have very deep roots, as deep as 430,000 years," lead study author Juan-Luis Arsuaga, a paleontologist at and director of the Joint Center for Evolution and Human Behavior in Madrid, told Live Science. "Modern humans, on the contrary, have roots only 200,000 years deep. It seems that modern humans evolved later." [See Photos of the Hominin Fossils and Spanish Cave Site]
Stocky Neanderthals
Modern humans, Homo sapiens, are the only living members of the human lineage, Homo. Scientists think that lineage arose in Africa about 2 million years ago, relatively soon after the beginning of the ice age, also known as the Pleistocene Epoch. The closest-known extinct relatives of modern humans were the Neanderthals, who lived in Europe and Asia until they disappeared about 40,000 years ago.
About 400,000 to 500,000 years ago, in the heart of the Pleistocene, archaic humans split off from other groups living during that period in Africa and East Asia; these archaic humans settled in Eurasia, where they evolved characteristics that would come to define the Neanderthal lineage. Later, between about 100,000 to 200,000 years ago, modern humans evolved in Africa.
Neanderthals were generally shorter and stockier than modern humans, built like weightlifters or wrestlers. Neanderthal skulls also famously had large brows and jaws, as well as big noses and sloping foreheads and chins. They also usually had larger brains than modern humans, with long, flat brainpans.
Still, Neanderthals remained closely related enough with modern humans for the two to interbreed — in fact, about 1.5 to 2.1 percent of the DNA of any modern human outside Africa is Neanderthal in origin. Recent findings revealed that Neanderthals interbred with ancestors of modern humans when modern humans began spreading out of Africa perhaps about 40,000 to 80,000 years ago. However, some research suggests the migration began earlier.
How to make a Neanderthal
It has remained uncertain why the physical form of Neanderthals diverged so much from that of other human groups over a relatively short amount of time.
"For decades, the nature of the evolutionary process that gave rise to Neanderthals has been discussed," study co-author Ignacio Martinez at the University of Alcalá in Spain said in a statement. "An important question in these debates was whether the 'Neanderthalization process' involved all regions of the skull from the beginning, or if, on the contrary, there were various stages in this process that affected different parts of the skull at different times."
To help solve the mystery of how Neanderthals evolved, scientists analyzed fossils unearthed from the Sima de los Huesosor "Pit of Bones," an underground cave in the Atapuerca Mountains in northern Spain. The pit lies about 100 feet (30 meters) below the surface, at the bottom of a 42-foot (13 m) vertical shaft. Researchers suggest the bones there may have been washed into the cave by rain or floods, or possibly even intentionally buried there. [See Photos of Other Fossils Found in Sima de los Huesos Cave]
Researchers first discovered human fossils in the cave in 1976, and have continuously excavated at the site since 1984. "After 30 years, we have recovered nearly 7,000 human fossils corresponding to all skeletal regions of at least 28 individuals," Martinez said in a statement. "This extraordinary collection includes 17 fragmentary skulls, many of which are very complete."
The Sima fossils could provide a key snapshot of what the skulls of archaic humans in Europe were like during the early stages of the Neanderthal lineage.
"The finding of 17 generally very complete skulls is in itself one of the greatest discoveries in paleoanthropology ever," Arsuaga said.
Skulls with mixed traits
These ancient skulls displayed a mix of Neanderthal and more primitive traits. This "mosaic pattern" of traits seen in the Sima fossils suggests Neanderthals evolved their defining features in stages at different times, not with gradual, steady changes happening together over the entire skull.

Lead study author Juan-Luis Arsuaga, professor of paleontology at the Complutense University of Madrid, looks at a hominin specimen at the Spanish cave site Sima de los Huesos.
Credit: © Javier Trueba / Madrid Scientific Films

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Specifically, the Sima fossils possessed Neanderthal teeth, jaw and facial features. In contrast, the nearby braincase still displayed features associated with more-primitive ancient humans. This work suggests facial changes were the first step in Neanderthal evolution.
Critically, many of the Neanderthal-like features in the Sima fossils were related to chewing. "It seems these modifications had to do with an intensive use of the frontal teeth," Arsuaga said in a statement. "The incisors show a great wear, as if they had been used as a 'third hand,' typical of Neanderthals."
All in all, the physical features of the Sima fossils suggest these hominins were part of the Neanderthal lineage, "although not necessarily direct ancestors to the classic Neanderthals," Arsuaga said in a statement. Indeed, other ancient humans in Europe from the Middle Pleistocene do not exhibit the suite of Neanderthal-like features seen in the Sima fossils, suggesting more than one evolutionary lineage appears to have coexisted on that continent at the time.
Extreme variations in climate during the Pleistocene may explain why the physical form of the Neanderthal lineage diverged so quickly from that of other human groups. Those environmental changes led to glaciers and other barriers that separated human groups from each other, and this isolation may have driven the groups to genetically diverge, the scientists noted.

http://www.livescience.com/46415-hominin-skulls-reveal-neanderthal-evolution.html

Neanderthals were not less intelligent than modern humans, scientists find

Researchers say there is no evidence that modern humans' cognitive superiority led to demise of Neanderthals


Ian Sample, science correspondent
         

Neanderthal and modern human skulls. Photograph: Sabena Jane Blackbird/Alamy

Scientists have concluded that Neanderthals were not the primitive dimwits they are commonly portrayed to have been.
The view of Neanderthals as club-wielding brutes is one of the most enduring stereotypes in science, but researchers who trawled the archaeological evidence say the image has no basis whatsoever.
They said scientists had fuelled the impression of Neanderthals being less than gifted in scores of theories that purport to explain why they died out while supposedly superior modern humans survived.
Wil Roebroeks at Leiden University in the Netherlands said: "The connotation is generally negative. For instance, after incidents with the Dutch Ajax football hooligans about a week ago, one Dutch newspaper piece pleaded to make football stadiums off-limits for such 'Neanderthals'."
The Neanderthals are believed to have lived between roughly 350,000 and 40,000 years ago, their populations spreading from Portugal in the west to the Altai mountains in central Asia in the east. They vanished from the fossil record when modern humans arrived in Europe.
The reasons for the demise of the Neanderthals have long been debated in the scientific community, but many explanations assume that modern humans had a cognitive edge that manifested itself in more cooperative hunting, better weaponry and innovation, a broader diet, or other major advantages.
Roebroeks and his colleague, Dr Paola Villa at the University of Colorado Museum in Boulder, trawled through the archaeological records to look for evidence of modern human superiority that underpinned nearly a dozen theories about the Neanderthals' demise and found that none of them stood up.
"The explanations make good stories, but the only problem is that there is no archaeology to back them up," said Roebroeks.
Villa said part of the misunderstanding had arisen because researchers compared Neanderthals with their successors, the modern humans who lived in the Upper Palaeolithic, rather than the humans who lived at the same time. That is like saying people in the 19th century were less intelligent than those in the 21st because they didn't have laptops and space travel.
"The evidence for cognitive inferiority is simply not there," said Villa. "What we are saying is that the conventional view of Neanderthals is not true." The study is published in the journal Plos One.
So what did kill off our equally intelligent extinct cousins? Roebroecks said that the reasons must have been complex, and that recent genetic studies that have decoded the Neanderthal genome might reveal some clues. Those studies show that Neanderthals lived in small, fragmented groups, and interbred to some extent with modern humans. Some of their inbred male offspring were infertile. The arrival of modern humans may simply have swamped and assimilated them.
"Stereotypes help people to order their world, but the stereotype of the primitive Neanderthal is now gradually eroding, at least in scientific circles," said Roebroecks.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/apr/30/neanderthals-not-less-intelligent-humans-scientists