DNA From an Extinct Human

摘要

A chance discovery by quarry workers who blasted their way irtto a limestone cave one summer day in 1856 'is making scientific history once again. The unusual skeleton they found in die cave's rubble soon became the first recognized example of a now-vanished type of human. Named Nean-dertal, after the Neander Tal (Neander Valley) in Germany where it was found, the skeleton was dramatic proof that humans evolved, just like all other living things. Ever since, researchers have fiercely debated what these ancient beings were like, how they lived, and whether they are ancestors of modem humans or an evolutionary dead end.