Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art

by Rebecca Wragg Sykes

Living people with dual ancestry from Neanderthals and Denisovans seem to have ‘preferred’ the Neanderthal version of some genes involved in the skin’s defences against infections. Similarly, a gene protecting us against bacteria that cause stomach ulcers came across from both Neanderthals and Denisovans, but people carrying two Neanderthal versions have extra resistance. Eurasia presented other challenges for H. sapiens without hundreds of millennia adapting to its lower levels of UV and seasonal winter darkness. East Asians and Europeans share Neanderthal versions of keratin-related genes that make hair, nails and skin. It’s possible they were more useful than forms we’d developed in tropical environments. But on the other hand, Neanderthals had diverse hair and skin pigment, so things must have been complex.