Deeply divergent archaic mitochondrial genome provides lower time boundary for African gene flow into Neanderthals

Abstract

Ancient DNA keeps expanding our understanding of complex genetic relationships between Pleistocene hominins. Here, Posth and colleagues analyse the mitochondrial genome of an archaic human that diverged from other Neanderthals ∼270,000 years ago, providing the minimum age for an African introgression into Neanderthals.