In Neanderthal DNA, Signs of a Mysterious Human Migration<br />Years ago, Dr. Krause and his colleagues started their search for ancient Neanderthal genes in a fossil by looking for mitochondrial DNA.<br />“You could have just walked out.”<br />In a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications, Dr. Krause and his colleagues report<br />that Africans did indeed walk out — over 270,000 years ago.<br />After years of investigation, however, Dr. Krause still did not understand why the nuclear DNA<br />and mitochondrial DNA of Neanderthals seemed to have different histories.<br />The 430,000-year-old fossils at Sima de los Huesos — Neanderthals with Denisovanlike genes — capture the early stage of that split.
