john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Honey, I bonked a Neandertal

Tue, 2009-10-27 20:48 -- John Hawks

Slashdot picks up the Svante Pääbo "Humans had sex with Neandertals" story.

Hilarity ensues.

You do not need any DNA analysis to figure that out. What do you think the troll did to the captured the princess, once he took her back to his mountain cave? And they did not call it the Stockholm syndrome if she ever was freed; it was called bergtatt (literally: taken into the mountain) or bewitched.

Mod skepticism +5...

Tags: 
introgression
Neandertal DNA
Neandertals

Neandertals

For years, I've worked on their bones. Now I'm working on their genes. Read more about the science studying these ancient people.

Denisova

From a finger bone of an ancient human came the record of a completely unexpected population. My lab is working on the science of the Denisova genome.

Acceleration

The advent of agriculture caused natural selection to speed up greatly in humans. We're uncovering some of the ways that populations have rapidly changed during the last 10,000 years.

Malapa

Just outside Johannesburg, the Malapa site is producing some of the most exciting finds in human evolution. This site is the headquarters of the Malapa Soft Tissue Project.