Philip Perry | Big Think
It sounds unseemly. Our early ancestors were having trysts with members of lots of other hominin species. 20% or more of the Neanderthal genome may be found in a large swath of modern humans today. If you suffer from seasonal allergies for instance, you may be part Neanderthal. More recently, we’ve found Denisovan genes are still present as well. This archaic hominin was discovered in 2008.
Two tiny fossils, a molar and a pinky bone the size of a coffee bean, were excavated from Denisova cave in Siberia. The pinky bone was from a young girl, somewhere between the ages of five and seven. Scientists believe based on the genetic information found that she had brown skin, eyes, and hair.
