ABSTRACT
Out of Africa Theory .................................................................. 250 29.15 Summary .................................................................................... 250
29.1 SCOPE
Once it was known that both Neanderthals and modern humans must have encountered one another in Europe and the Middle East some 40,000 years ago, many anthropologists have speculated that the two species might have
interbred and had children who were part Neanderthal and part modern human. Whether it ever happened or not seemed like a question that could never be answered. However, the discovery of DNA sequencing offered new hope. To get to the point where the human-Neanderthal interbreeding problem could be tackled using their DNA, it was first necessary to develop the technology of testing ancient bones. Neanderthal bones were many tens of thousands of years old. DNA tends to decompose over time so there was a question of whether it was even possible. The technology for successfully sequencing such old DNA did not exist and needed to be invented. Fortunately, there was a pioneering scientist with the goal of someday comparing Neanderthal and Homo sapien DNA, namely Svante Pääbo (Figure 29.1). This chapter is as much about his story as about the question of human-Neanderthal interbreeding. In fact, his excellent book Neanderthal Man. – In Search of Lost Genomes is the dominant source for the material in this chapter.
