DNA from a Neanderthal bone fragment in Crimea, dated to around 45,900-45,300 years ago, reveals genetic links between European and Siberian Neanderthals and suggests a migration corridor along 55°N.
Nobel Prize winner Svante Pääbo discusses his work in paleogenetics, including sequencing the Neanderthal genome, discovering the Denisovans, and his theories on why Homo sapiens survived while Neanderthals went extinct, attributing it to our larger population size.
The article discusses the existence of over 20 early human species that coexisted with Homo sapiens, their potential reasons for extinction (climate change, competition, interbreeding), and the current understanding of human evolution.
This study uses ecological niche modeling to reconstruct the palaeodistribution of Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans during Marine Isotope Stage 5, identifying the Zagros Mountains as a potential contact and interbreeding zone.
