arch 131 Chapter Notes - Chapter 23: Anatomically Modern Human, Radiocarbon Dating, Nucleolus
Document Summary
The dna inside ancient bones are really degraded and hard to extract. In addition there is a lot of extra dna from bacteria. They are looking for the mitochondrial dna which is found outside the nucleolus. Plays no role in determining physical features. Plays a role in our ancestry - it is only inherited through the mother. Is passed down from generation to generation intact as lineages diverge. Only changes are mutations, however mutations that accumulate at a steady and slow rate. Modern humans dna differ by 8 mutations. The neanderthal dna differs from modern humans by 26 mutations. Evidence that neanderthals were a side branch of human ancestors and not our. The anatomical differences between neanderthals and modern humans are so different that people believe that are not ancestors. While some people do have one or two neanderthal features, no one has the ancestors entire package.
