Lee's Blog

Yay! I was not convinced by the mDNA evidence. Indeed, I think I even commented on that here, although I can’t easily look back on this iPhone. But now the evidence is in: non-African populations (by which they mean populations that moved out of Africa in the past 50,000 years or so) are 1%-4% Neandertal. They are not extinct! We have met the Neandertals, and they is us!

Update: I should clarify that I was not convinced by the mitochondrial DNA absence of evidence.

No living human being has been found with mDNA sufficiently different from the rest of us to suggest that he or she has Neandertal mDNA. But all that proves is that no Neandertal female left descendants that have continued down to the present in the purely female line. When you consider how few varieties of mDNA there are among the billions of people now living, that must be true of the vast majority of women who were living at that time, Neandertal or sapiens. It does not prove that no Neandertal woman has descendants of any kind living today.

Just as mDNA is passed in the maternal line, the Y-chromosome is passed in the paternal line, and there are no known cases of men today who carry a Y-chromosome that is suspected of being a Neandertal chromosome. But that just proves that no Neandertal man has descendants in the purely male line, which is equally true of the vast majority of men living in that time.

But again, I’m thrilled to learn that I’m part Neandertal.