The mountains where Neanderthals forever changed human genetics
Strange Maps
OCTOBER 3, 2024
The genomes of most modern humans contain up to 4% Neanderthal DNA. Scientists have now determined where much of that exchange likely happened: the Zagros Mountains in Iran. Around 28,000 years ago, give or take a millennium or two, the Neanderthals let out their last breath. The deathbed of our cousin species may have been Gibraltar. The natural fortress, pinned to southern Spain’s Mediterranean coast, was one of the final refuges of the Neanderthals.
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