Summary
New research suggests humans and Neanderthals interbred around 45,000 years ago, refining earlier estimates.
Genetic analysis of ancient human remains from the Czech Republic and Germany revealed Neanderthal DNA, aiding in pinpointing the timeline.
A separate study highlights how Neanderthal genes related to immunity and metabolism helped early humans adapt outside Africa.
Modern humans still carry Neanderthal genetic traits, influencing skin color, hair color, and nose shape. Future studies aim to further unravel humanity’s genetic history and connections to extinct relatives like Denisovans.
This summer, it was discovered that there is a possible link to our inheriting Neanderthal genes and autism. Not everyone has the same genes that humans got from Neanderthals, but certain Neanderthal genes seem to be more common in people with autism.
https://news.clemson.edu/study-implicates-neanderthal-dna-in-autism-susceptibility/
That actually fits in my view of things. Neanderthals were obsessive engineers. They were not much on innovation when it came to tools, but they focused so much on perfecting the tools they did innovate that having certain autistic traits like an obsessive focus on specific tasks is pretty useful. Homo Sapiens were definitely better innovators, but Neanderthal tools were so perfectly engineered that only the most expert of flint knappers can replicate their expert functionality.
I know stone tools look simple, but they absolutely are not.
We also know from that other study this summer that two groups of Neanderthals stayed in their respective cave system 10 days away from each other, for 50 000 years, and never interbred. People from the end of that 50 000 year period had the same gene pool as those from the beginning, and none from the neighbour group. 50 000 years of no one walking 10 days to clap cheeks. Until the extravert Sapiens jocks walked in and adopted an introvert Neanderthal to pull out of their cave and fuck for, apparently, some 5 000+ years, shortly before Neanderthal extinction (or assimilation of the hot ones into Sapiens I should say).
That article pondered the difference in world views between the two, but yeah, autism works too.
or assimilation of the hot ones into Sapiens I should say
Why the hot ones only? Having a warrior brute around sounds sensible too. Or just a refugee family of neanderthals who’s children interbred with the sapiens after a generation.
I think violence is a very valid theory in the process of interbreading, given how humans tend to be a violent species. But the fact that children resulted out of that interbreeding that were aloud to interbreed themselves speakers for at least some level of peacefully integration.
