Neanderthal walks into a coffee bar, says "hold the cream"

Svante Paabo announced on Darwin’s birthday that he has sequenced the Neanderthal genome. You can listen to the news conference from the Max Planck Institute here. This project took at least 2.5 years to complete the study of 200 extracts from 70 fossils and 16 sites. The fossils ranged in age from 38,000 years to 43,000 years. 



From the preliminary results, the genomic evidence is for a divergence approximately 830,000 years ago. The researchers looked with great interest at the lactose gene which is found on chromosome 2. Most Europeans have the gene which allows them to consume milk as adults. The Neanderthal DNA showed no such capacity to drink milk. However, the FOXP2 gene which is associated with speech is found in the Neanderthal. This does not specifically mean that they could speak. It does not even confirm that this gene was expressed. It does however show that there is the possiblility that they spoke.