The story of our ancestors' love with extinct people

The last mating between Neanderthals was extinct with modern people taking place from 47,000 to 65,000 years ago.

It is possible that mating between modern ancestors and Neanderthals has helped today's people have a strong immune system.

Illustration of a Neanderthal. It is very possible to engage in ancestral mating
Modern people and Neanderthals have helped people today have strong immune systems.  

Modern people have lived together with many other strains, including Neanderthals on earth. Anthropologists affirmed that Neanderthal has the closest relationship to humans. They existed about 30,000 years ago when modern people appeared about 200,000 years ago. The Neanderthals went extinct about 30,000 years ago.

After analyzing European DNA and Neanderthals, Sriram Sankararaman, a Harvard Medical University researcher in the United States, and colleagues found that modern and Neanderthals had made their last mating from 47,000 to 65,000 years ago. This is the time when our ancestors left Africa, the cradle of modern people, to reach other continents, Livescience reported.

'In the future, maybe we will better understand our ancestors' adaptation process when they come to new lands. Our research shows the great ability of genetics in studying historical events , 'said Sankararaman.

In 2010, scientists completed the Neanderthal gene mapping from DNA they took from fossil bones. The genetic map shows the ancestors of modern humans who mated with Neanderthals. Many recent studies show that Neanderthal genes account for 1 to 4% of the total number of genes in human DNA. It is very likely that cross-breeding phenomenon helps modern people today inherit the strong immune system of Neanderthals.