In our DNA there are traces of a completely unknown hominid species
We are the fruit of an intricate genetic mosaic, to which is added a mysterious lineage of humans that has left its signature in the DNA of modern humans.
A 2013 study (https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2013.14196) reveals that our genetic makeup is the result of crossbreeding between modern humans, Neanderthals, Denisovans and a fourth mysterious, completely unknown archaic lineage.
The analyzes suggest that our genetic makeup is the result of crossbreeding that occurred in Europe and Asia about 30 thousand years ago between four human lineages, one of which, in addition to that of modern humans, the Neanderthals and the Denisovans, is completely unknown to the experts.
Neanderthals are an extinct group of humans who lived between 130,000 and 30,000 years ago. Despite their reputation as crude and primitive cave dwellers, recent discoveries have shown that they were humans endowed with a very refined culture and advanced skills in some areas on par with modern humans, such as tool making, although perhaps they had a less articulated social life.
The Denisovans, however, are a much more mysterious human group. These early humans lived in Siberia and likely derived from an independent detachment from the family tree that produced the Neanderthals about 300 thousand years ago. However, very little is known about their appearance and how they lived.
Probably these three human groups met and mated, generating offspring resulting from crossbreeding between the three lineages.
Denisovan genes appear in the genetic makeup of modern Pacific Islander populations and populations from Southeast Asia and southern China.
Neanderthal genes, however, appear in about 4 percent of modern Eurasians, suggesting that the two species interbred after modern humans left Africa. For reasons completely unknown, Homo Sapiens is the only survivor among the human lineages.
Added to this genetic mosaic is a mysterious fourth lineage of humans that has left its signature in the DNA of modern humans.
The study has prompted lively debate within the scientific community, with speculation about the identity of this unknown archaic population of humans. The lineage could be related to Homo Heidelbergensis, a species that left Africa around half a million years ago, then generating Neanderthals in Europe.
