Archaic DNA Detected in West Africans

[Minimalist]

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.pre...-1.8526887

‘Ghost’ Ancestor Detected in DNA of Today’s West Africans

Yoruba and Mende have up to 19-percent genomic contribution from unidentified archaic human, who may have survived until recently. You might have a signal from it in your DNA too

The whole evolutionary process is far more complex than we ever thought.

[Bucky Ball]

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.pre...-1.8526887

‘Ghost’ Ancestor Detected in DNA of Today’s West Africans

Yoruba and Mende have up to 19-percent genomic contribution from unidentified archaic human, who may have survived until recently. You might have a signal from it in your DNA too

The whole evolutionary process is far more complex than we ever thought.

I heard that on the BBC. Interesting. They was screwing a buncha species.
I do have some archaic DNA ... at least my friends say so.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Lee Berger's exploration of the Rising Star cave system has given us a primitive ancestor who lived ~250,000 years ago, Homo naledi. Berger describes our heritage as "a braided stream", not a straight line.

[Minimalist]

I saw Berger's discussion of Naledi and the issue raised by his analogy is that most of those "rivulets" have dried up totally and it would simply be the wildest stroke of luck to find a fossil related to each possible genetic contributor to the final product.  The odds against them being identified are astronomical.  What is crystal clear is that these various species are not "separate species"* at all in the scientific definition of the term.  These were other groups of hominids, living at the same time, but having a high degree of inbreeding within the group but not to the point of speciation.  So certainly there were other groups of hominids in Africa - that's where the whole thing started - and men being men they will screw anything that moves.




*A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction.

[Chimp3]

I saw this article and was thrilled.

[Minimalist]

Yes, the greater genetic variety among Africans has been known for 10+ years now...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co...02485.html

Africans are more genetically diverse than the inhabitants of the rest of the world combined, according to a sweeping study that carried researchers into remote regions to sample the bloodlines of more than 100 distinct populations.

but this idea has got to go!

The first anatomically modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago, and all humans today are their direct descendants. The study points to an area along the Namibia-South Africa border, the homeland of the San people, as the starting point for a southwest-to-northeast migratory route that carried people through Africa and across the Red Sea into Eurasia.

Clearly the process began far earlier and the concept of "anatomically modern humans" being our modern conceit of how fucking great we are will not stand serious inquiry.

[Full Circle]

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.pre...-1.8526887

‘Ghost’ Ancestor Detected in DNA of Today’s West Africans

Yoruba and Mende have up to 19-percent genomic contribution from unidentified archaic human, who may have survived until recently. You might have a signal from it in your DNA too

The whole evolutionary process is far more complex than we ever thought.

I’m 2% Sub-Saharan African, I may be more archaic than I previously thought.