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Homo Sapiens Subspecies Existed 400,000 Years Ago on Earth – Scientists Baffled
by Alexander Light
HumansAreFree.com
In a paper in the journal Nature, scientists reported December 4th that they had retrieved ancient human DNA from a fossil dating back about 400,000 years.
Why is this amazing? Firstly because the previous record was of 100,000 years and secondly because the retrieved DNA does not belong to a forerunner of Neanderthals, as previously thought.
The fossil, a thigh bone found in Spain, closely resembles the DNA of a cryptic subspecies of Homo Sapiens, known as Denisovans.
Until now, the oldest remnants of Denisovans have been discovered in a cave in Siberia and have been dated to be 41,000 year old. The DNA was retrieved from a finger bone fragment of a juvenile female.
JAVIER TRUEBA, MADRID SCIENTIFIC FILMS
The Amazing Discovery Baffles the Scientists
The fossil was excavated in the 1990s from a deep cave in a well-studied site in northern Spain called Sima de los Huesos (‘pit of bones’).
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Every Day is Earth Day
Source: http://www.riseearth.com/2015/03/homo-sapiens-subspecies-existed-400000.html
