Developments in new technology such as DNA sequencing have transformed our understanding of the Neanderthals, one of a group of archaic humans who occupied Europe, the Middle East and Western Asia more than 300,000 years ago. First identified by fossil remains in 1856 in a German quarry, the Neanderthals led an extremely physical existence as hunter-gatherers. They were stronger than us, adaptable as a species to huge variations in climate, with brains as large as ours and sophisticated ways of creating tools. Many of us carry some of the DNA of Neanderthals, thanks to interbreeding with homo sapiens. Although the Neanderthals today are no longer with us, their story has a lot to tell us about ourselves and our future survival on the planet. Rajan Datar is joined by Janet Kelso, a computational biologist and Group Leader of the Minerva Research Group for Bioinformatics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. She specialises in the analysis of DNA sequencing of ancient people such as Neanderthals; Katerina Harvati, the Senckenberg Professor for Paleoanthropology and Director of the Institute for Archaeological Sciences at the University of Tübingen. Her work focuses on the origins of modern humans and Neanderthal evolution; and archaeologist and writer Rebecca Wragg Sykes, Honorary Fellow in the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. Her award-winning book Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art was published in 2020. Produced by Fiona Clampin for the BBC World Service (Image: Neanderthal Female, re-created by artists Andrie and Alfons Kennis. Photo: Joe McNally/Getty Images)
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Hello, I'm Rajan Dattar and you're listening to the Forum from the BBC World Service now.
Surely one of the most exciting things about the rapid progress in technology that we're witnessing is that while on the one hand it seems to propel us into the future, some innovations provide us with incredible insights into our past.
And that's the journey I'm going to take you on Today, going back 50, 100, even 150,000 years and more back in time to when our ancestors shared this earth with other human like species.
Before technology came to our age, the people we might describe as our distant cousins, the Neanderthals, were typically seen as small, hairy beings with few language skills and limited intelligence.
But as the work of my expert guests and others has shown, we've begun to reassess what we thought we knew about these ancient humans.
Humans whose DNA is part of the genetic makeup of millions, if not billions of us around the world.
It's a field of research combining many disciplines that's changing so fast that even this discussion could soon be out of date.
But hey, we're going to press on nevertheless, and my three guests are ideally placed to tell us what we know so far about the Neanderthals.
So joining me to discuss the Neanderthals are in Leipzig, Germany, Janitz Kelso, a computational biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
She specializes in the analysis of DNA sequencing of ancient peoples such as Neanderthals.
Also in Germany is Katerina Harvati, the Senkenberg professor for Paleoanthropology and Director of the Institute for Archaeological Sciences at the University of Tubingen.
Her work focuses on the origins of modern humans and Neanderthal evolution.
And in the UK is the archaeologist and writer Rebecca Rag Sykes, Honorary Fellow in the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool.
Her book, Kindred Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art has been Translated into nearly 20 languages and counting.