DNA grants a glimpse of Neanderthal family life

DNA grants a glimpse of Neanderthal family life
The Neanderthals studied are believed to have lived in groups of 20 individuals. (Image: Getty)
The Economist
Fresh from his award last month of a Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for his work on the DNA of early human species, Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo (or, more accurately, he and his team) have just published in Nature one of the biggest genetic studies yet of Neanderthals.These Neanderthals lived 50,000 years ago in the Altai mountains of Russia. The remains under study – 17 bone and tooth samples belonging to 13 individuals – came from two caves about 100 kilometres apart. One called Chagyrskaya yielded 11 individua...

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