First love child of human and Neanderthal found?

Previous genetic studies have determined the DNA of people with European and Asian ancestry to be 1 to 4 per cent Neanderthal,’Discovery News’ reported.

In the present study,the researchers focused on the individual’s jaw,which was unearthed at a rock-shelter called in the Monti Lessini region of Italy. Both Neanderthals and modern humans inhabited Europe at the time.

“From the morphology of the lower jaw,the face of the Mezzena individual would have looked somehow intermediate between classic Neanderthals,who had a rather receding lower jaw (no chin),and the modern humans,who present a projecting

lower jaw with a strongly developed chin,” co-author of the study Silvana Condemi from University of Ai-Marseille said.

Researchers led by Condemi studied the remains using DNA analysis and 3D imaging and then compared those results with the same features from humans.

Interestingly,the genetic analysis found that the individual’s mitochondrial DNA is Neanderthal.

Since this DNA is transmitted from a mother to her child,the researchers concluded that it was a “female Neanderthal who mated with male Homo sapiens.”

Researchers found that,although the hybridisation between the two hominid species likely took place,the Neanderthals continued to uphold their own cultural traditions.

It suggests that the two populations did not simply meet,mate and merge into a single group.

Previous fossil studies have indicated that modern humans were living in a southern Italy cave as early as 45,000 years ago,the report said. Neanderthal culture and purebred Neanderthals all died out 35,000-30,000 years ago. The study was published in the journal PLoS ONE.