Thus, there must have been a long lag between when this group branched off
the modern human family tree, roughly 200,000 years ago, and when they left their genetic mark in the Altai Neanderthal, about 100,000 years ago, before themselves being lost to extinction.
Not exact matches
The new tooth also contains DNA unlike that of Neandertals or
modern humans, suggesting that Denisovans interbred with an even more mysterious branch of the
human family tree — one that is either unknown to science, or known only from fossils without preserved DNA.
By comparing mutations from enough people, researchers can construct
family trees with roots that reach back to the earliest
modern humans.