Infectious Diseases: How Homo Sapiens Wiped Out Neanderthals with 50,000-Year-Old Viruses!
Berlin, Germany – New groundbreaking ancient DNA evidence suggests a link between Homo sapiens and the extinction of Neanderthals due to deadly infectious diseases. Less than ten years ago, anthropologist James C Scott highlighted the lack of evidence in prehistoric archaeological records regarding the impact of epidemics on ancient societies. Recent studies analyzing microbial DNA extracted from ancient human skeletons have revealed the presence of three viruses in 50,000-year-old Neanderthal bones. These viruses – adenovirus, …