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This happened a mere 5,000 generations ago... (before the separate admixture with European and Melanasian Homo Sapiens). Were the Denisovans as different from
by ilove_banh_mi 8y ago
This happened a mere 5,000 generations ago... (before the separate admixture with European and Melanasian Homo Sapiens).
Were the Denisovans as different from Neanderthals as Sapiens were from either branch? †
Reading the branch/tree diagram it looks like only Europeans mixed it up with the Neanderthals, after splitting from Asians, and only Asians with the Denisovans, also after the split. Meanwhile Africans never encountered or mixed with either of those ancient hominid branches. Our ancestor branches and genome are so varied and rich!
† "Denisovans and Neanderthals split from Homo sapiens around 744,000 years ago and diverged from each other 300 generations after that."
- danieltillett 8y agoThat is not quite right - Asians actually have more Neanderthal genes than Europeans. The current best hypothesis is that there have been multiple Neanderthal/SSA hybridization events and that some occurred post the split between Europeans and East Asians (the first occurred in the near East and later events occurred in East Asia).