Dr. Henry Gee

One was through the Sinai Peninsula, and the other was at the other end of Arabia, the Bab el-Mandeb Straits, which might have been much narrower back in those days. But one shouldn't get the impression this was a kind of mosaic exodus. They all kind of decided to go all at once. I mean, it was dribs and drabs. Some were more dribs and drabs than others over a very long period.

But as they went, they met the other hominins, the Neanderthals, the Denisovans, and who knows other ones as well. And a lot of the time, they made love, not war. So all modern humans now that do not have an exclusively African descent have about 2% Neanderthal DNA. It used to be more, but natural selection has weeded out deleterious Neanderthal mutations. And so it's about 2%.

But as they went, they met the other hominins, the Neanderthals, the Denisovans, and who knows other ones as well. And a lot of the time, they made love, not war. So all modern humans now that do not have an exclusively African descent have about 2% Neanderthal DNA. It used to be more, but natural selection has weeded out deleterious Neanderthal mutations. And so it's about 2%.

But as they went, they met the other hominins, the Neanderthals, the Denisovans, and who knows other ones as well. And a lot of the time, they made love, not war. So all modern humans now that do not have an exclusively African descent have about 2% Neanderthal DNA. It used to be more, but natural selection has weeded out deleterious Neanderthal mutations. And so it's about 2%.

But we can see evidence for this interbreeding really at the sharp end, because there's a bone of a modern human, a bit of skull of a modern human, about 45,000 years old, that's found in Romania, that had one Neanderthal great-grandparent. So you almost get into those hybridizations.

But we can see evidence for this interbreeding really at the sharp end, because there's a bone of a modern human, a bit of skull of a modern human, about 45,000 years old, that's found in Romania, that had one Neanderthal great-grandparent. So you almost get into those hybridizations.

But we can see evidence for this interbreeding really at the sharp end, because there's a bone of a modern human, a bit of skull of a modern human, about 45,000 years old, that's found in Romania, that had one Neanderthal great-grandparent. So you almost get into those hybridizations.

And these hybridizations happened, you know, they weren't often, but they happened enough to leave a strong remnant in our DNA today. So modern humans got into Europe about 45,000 years ago and drove Neanderthals to extinction within 10,000 years. Now, why they drove them to extinction is still a matter of contention.

And these hybridizations happened, you know, they weren't often, but they happened enough to leave a strong remnant in our DNA today. So modern humans got into Europe about 45,000 years ago and drove Neanderthals to extinction within 10,000 years. Now, why they drove them to extinction is still a matter of contention.

And these hybridizations happened, you know, they weren't often, but they happened enough to leave a strong remnant in our DNA today. So modern humans got into Europe about 45,000 years ago and drove Neanderthals to extinction within 10,000 years. Now, why they drove them to extinction is still a matter of contention.

What seems to be the most likely one is you've got to get away from the idea that this all happened all at once. It took several thousand years to happen. It took longer than recorded history to happen. What seems to have happened is that humans, modern humans, were slightly better at raising young to reproductive age than Neanderthals.

What seems to be the most likely one is you've got to get away from the idea that this all happened all at once. It took several thousand years to happen. It took longer than recorded history to happen. What seems to have happened is that humans, modern humans, were slightly better at raising young to reproductive age than Neanderthals.

What seems to be the most likely one is you've got to get away from the idea that this all happened all at once. It took several thousand years to happen. It took longer than recorded history to happen. What seems to have happened is that humans, modern humans, were slightly better at raising young to reproductive age than Neanderthals.

Humans were slightly less inclined to inbreed than Neanderthals. Neanderthals were very inbred. They lived in much smaller clans than modern humans. Modern humans ranged slightly further over the landscape than Neanderthals. Now, all these things at the time were probably too small to notice, but over thousands of years, these things accumulated.

Humans were slightly less inclined to inbreed than Neanderthals. Neanderthals were very inbred. They lived in much smaller clans than modern humans. Modern humans ranged slightly further over the landscape than Neanderthals. Now, all these things at the time were probably too small to notice, but over thousands of years, these things accumulated.

Humans were slightly less inclined to inbreed than Neanderthals. Neanderthals were very inbred. They lived in much smaller clans than modern humans. Modern humans ranged slightly further over the landscape than Neanderthals. Now, all these things at the time were probably too small to notice, but over thousands of years, these things accumulated.

So it got to a point where hominins have always lived in small groups, but the only way to keep up genetic variation and stop people becoming all the same is occasionally to swap mates with other groups. And what is true in all primates, as far as we know, is that Males tend to stay with the group they were born with, but females tend to move to other groups.

So it got to a point where hominins have always lived in small groups, but the only way to keep up genetic variation and stop people becoming all the same is occasionally to swap mates with other groups. And what is true in all primates, as far as we know, is that Males tend to stay with the group they were born with, but females tend to move to other groups.

So it got to a point where hominins have always lived in small groups, but the only way to keep up genetic variation and stop people becoming all the same is occasionally to swap mates with other groups. And what is true in all primates, as far as we know, is that Males tend to stay with the group they were born with, but females tend to move to other groups.

And that was true in Australopithecus. We know this from some amazing work on strontium isotopes in bones, which I won't go into. But it's also true in humans and Neanderthals. So you need that interbreeding. Clans would often meet, I guess, at times of festival to drink and swap stories and worship the great gods and also have marriage ceremonies and choose mates, and then they would move around.