Neanderthal/Human hybrids

            Neanderthals are thought to have disappeared approximately 39,000–41,000 years ago, but due to overlapping chronologically and geographically with modern humans' ancestors, they contributed 1–3% of the DNA of present-day people in Eurasia. In the study by Fu et al., DNA from a 37,000–42,000-year-old modern human from Peştera cu Oase, Romania was analyzed. Although the specimen contained small amounts of human DNA, an enrichment technique was used to isolate genomic sites that were distinct between Neanderthals and present-day humans. They found that  6–9% of the genome of the Oase individual was derived from Neanderthals, more than any other modern human specimen sequenced to date. Three of the chromosomal segments of Neanderthal ancestry were measured to be over 50 centimorgans in size, indicating that this individual had a Neanderthal ancestor as recently as four to six generations back. However, the Oase individual did not share more alleles with later Europeans than with East Asians, suggesting that the Oase population did not contribute substantially to later humans in Europe.