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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() First | Previous | Next | Last | | Index | Home Slide 57 of 109 The table above shows the sequence differences found between modern humans and the four Neandertal remains analyzed to date. On average, the Neandertal sequences differed from the modern human sequence by 25 base pairs. By comparison, the average variation among modern humans is only 8 base pairs, all the base pairs of which are at different loci than the Neandertal differences. The analysis of the second sample was extremely important, since it was dated at 29,000 years ago - only 1000 years before the last Neandertal disappeared. If Neanderthals and humans had interbred, one should have expected to see this in the last remnants of the Neandertals. In addition, since the Neandertal fossils were separated geographically by over 2,500 km, it shows that Neandertals were a homogeneous species. The researchers conclusion: "Neanderthals were not our ancestors" - a quote from the authors of the first study. In fact, the differences between modern humans and Neandertals were so great that calculations indicated that the last common ancestor (according to evolutionary theory) must have existed 550,000 to 690,000 years ago (first study) and 365,000 to 853,000 years ago (second study). References
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Last Modified June 21, 2006