Kashmiris populated Europe 40,000 years back
Archeologically Proven That Neanderthal Man Lived In Valley
Faheem Aslam
Source - http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2011/Apr/1/kashmiris-populated-europe-40-000-years-back-study-44.asp
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.”