Srinagar, Mar 31: An international
study has found that Europe was
populated by people from Kashmir
around 40,000 years back and that
they carry two to four percent
Neanderthal genes – an ancient
species of homosapiens.
The study, conducted by the UC Davis
Anthropology Department at the
United States of America, has found
that about four percent (ranging
from two to five percent) of all
modern humans not of African
descent have Neanderthal genes left
over from matings between the two
peoples in prehistoric times.
Referring to the study, an article in
allvoices—a global community that
shares news, videos, images and
opinions tied to news events and
people—reads that “scientists look
for genetic signatures to classify an
individual’s mtDNA (mitochondria
DNA) into different types, or
haplogroups. These haplogroups
represent major branches on the
family tree of Homo sapiens. A
30,000-year old Russian cave man
had U2 mtDNA. And people in Europe
today have U2 DNA as well as people
living in India.”
“You have numerous people with
U2e, the European version of U2
living in Europe, especially in Italy
today, and Germany as well as other
places in Europe. It’s widely
distributed throughout all of Europe
in current times. And you have
India-specific U2i mtDNA living
primarily in India, especially NW
India and Kashmir,” reads an excerpt
from the study, published by
allvoices. “So was Europe populated
by people from India, Kashmir, and
Pakistan as well as the rest of Central
Asia? Yes. And after that migration,
around 40,000 years ago moving
West into Russia and then into the
rest of Europe came another
migration from the Middle East,
when climate allowed it to open up,
around 45,000 years ago. A lot of
those cave people were mammoth
hunters or followed the animal herds
before the last ice age began. But U2
in Europe is still pretty rare in
modern populations, although it
does exist.”
Quoting another study published by
Cosmos Magazine, the study reveals
that as humans migrated out of
Africa 100,000 to 50,000 years ago,
some individuals interbred with
Neanderthal and as a result some
genetic sequences can be found in all
non-African humans.
A number of articles have in the past
six months appeared in
international media—quoting
different studies—that Neanderthal
genes have been found in some
modern humans.
“ Neanderthals were more muscular
with more body fat, a wide waist,
and also had a wide rib cage, short
limbs, stocky, short bodies, and
didn’t run very fast. The circular
bones in their inner ears that helped
to control gait, kept them from
moving fast on foot. In contrast,
Homo sapiens had larger circular
bones in their ears, allowing them to
run fast. They were tall and thin,”
reads the allvoices piece. “Basically,
homo sapiens were perfectly suited
to African climate. Neanderthals
were suited to very cold weather, for
example, the climate in ice age
Europe. Neanderthals had larger
brains and heads, but were shorter
in height and had short life spans.
But both had similar hyoid bones,
allowing for at least basic speech.”
According to excerpts, it is
archeologically a proven fact that
Neanderthal man—a long extinct
species—has lived in Kashmir.
“Archeologically one can establish
that Neanderthal man has lived in
Kashmir, Pakistan and Central Asia.
However we cannot say whether his
genes are still available in these
areas or not,” said Prof Aijaz Banday,
professor of Archaeology at the
University of Kashmir. “Unless and
until we have the DNA profile of the
people in these areas, then only it
can be properly established. That
profiling has not been done so far.
One cannot outrightly deny such
studies that Neanderthal genes are
present in Kashmir, but we can
authentically prove it only after
going for the DNA profiling.”
by ER ABID RASHID SHAH.
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