150,000-Year-Old Skeleton Fused in Cave Walls Contains the Oldest Neanderthal DNA on Record

By | May 12, 2016

In Lamalunga, near the Italian city of Altamura, lies a sinkhole that holds a fascinating historical secret -- the skeleton of a man who died 150,000 years ago.

The skeleton on the cave walls is now a Holy Grail of sorts for anthropologists and archaeologists, as it contains the oldest Neanderthal DNA on record.
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The bones were found in 1993, but they had already been in the limestone cave for over 100,000 years by that point. Stalactites were formed as water dripped, fusing the bones to the wall.
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This is an important find for researchers because the Altamura Man's DNA is still well preserved and it's the oldest sample of Neanderthal DNA ever sequenced! .

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