10 things we learned about our human ancestors in 2020

[left-of-center2012]

Early humans left behind clues — footprints, chiseled rocks, genetic material and more — that can reveal our species survived and spread across Earth. These ancient people weren't so different from us; they traveled far and wide, hooked up with one another and even mined for natural resources (in this case, the reddish mineral ochre). Here are 10 things we learned about our human ancestors in 2020.

1. Mystery lover
Early humans (Homo sapiens) didn't sleep with just one other. About 1 million years ago, H. sapiens had several rendezvous with another mystery species, and our species still carries some of these genes today, a study in the journal PLOS Genetics found.
It's possible this mystery species was Homo erectus, but we may never know for sure because H. erectus went extinct about 110,000 years ago, and scientists don't have any of this species' DNA.

2. Oldest known human DNA belongs to cannibal
The oldest known human DNA belongs to Homo antecessor, a species that may have practiced cannibalism. And at 800,000 years old, it's a record breaker.
Scientists found the remains of six H. antecessor individuals in Spain in 1994, but it wasn't until this year that a team of researchers extracted DNA from one of these individual's teeth, using the proteins found in the enamel to determine the segment of DNA that coded them. The team then compared this DNA sequence with recent human tooth samples, and determined that H. antecessor is not a close relation. Rather, it was likely a sister species of an ancestor that led to modern humans.

full article at:
https://www.livescience.com/human-ancestors-discoveries-2020.html

[Duppers]

1. Very interesting surprises in that list.

One I particularly like:

"First Americans may have arrived to the continent 30,000 years ago"

I remember a heated discussion some yrs ago here on DU about changing the name of Columbus Day. I've always bristled regarding the claim that he "discovered" the N. American continent. Bullshit! It was as if "indigenous populations" never existed - that only Europeans counted!