A new relative of modern humans was discovered recently after experts found that a finger of a man found in a cave in southern Siberia belongs to a distinct group of Neanderthals and modern humans. Fragment of bone with a tooth was found in a cave, and extracted DNA analysis showed that the genome did not belong to any Neanderthals and homo no sapens, reports Science Daily. Researchers have established that the bone was almost 30,000 years old and that it belongs to a young girl. Group of people in part called "Sinedovan" after the cave where the fossil was found, lived in Asia in the Pleistocene. The international team of scientists led by Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute of Anthropology denosivanii shows that are related to Neanderthals and modern humans, being descended from the same ancestor. Moreover, a number of genes belonging to this group are found at the current populations of Melanesia, the researchers said.

ziare.com