Sidrón Cave

The Sidrón Cave (Spanish: Cueva de El Sidrón) is an ancient cave in Piloña municipality, Asturias, northwestern Spain, where Paleolithic rock art and Neanderthal remains have been found. It is approximately 600 meters in length.[1]

In 1994, Neanderthal remains were inadvertently uncovered inside the cave. Archaeologists have since recovered the remains of at least 12 individuals: three men, three adolescent boys, three women, and three infants.[2] Neanderthal ancient mtDNA was partially sequenced in HVR region for three distinct Neanderthals from El Sidrón cave (441, 1253, and 1351c).[3][4] 1253 and 1351c have the same mutations at position A-911, G-977 in exon 7 of FOXP2 gene, known as the "language gene", as present-day people.[5]

Neanderthal Y chromosome

The first sequencing of the Neanderthal Y chromosome was successfully completed from a specimen from Sidrón Cave.[6] Based on this sample, researchers estimate that Neanderthals diverged from humans around 590,000 years ago.[6] The Sidrón Cave Y chromosome has never been identified before and is not found in modern humans.[6] The Sidrón Cave Y chromosome coded for several minor histocompatibility antigen genes that differed from humans.[6]

See also

References

  1. "El Sidrón Site - Biology Online". Biology Online. 2007-11-13. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  2. "Bones at El Sidrón Give Glimpse Into Life of Neanderthals". The New York Times. 2010-12-20. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  3. "Neandertals have the same mutations in FOXP2, the language gene, as modern humans &laquo". Anthropology.net. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
  4. Lalueza-Fox; et al. (January 2005). "Neandertal Evolutionary Genetics: Mitochondrial DNA Data from the Iberian Peninsula". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 22 (4): 1077–1081. doi:10.1093/molbev/msi094.
  5. Krause et al., "The Derived FOXP2 Variant of Modern Humans Was Shared with Neandertals," Current Biology (2007), doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.10.008
  6. 1 2 3 4 Mendez, Fernando L. (April 7, 2016). "The Divergence of Neandertal and Modern Human Y Chromosomes". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 98: 728–734. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2016.02.023.

External links

Coordinates: 43°23′01″N 5°19′44″W / 43.38361°N 5.32889°W / 43.38361; -5.32889


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