2015/04/14

CNN April 13, 2015: Neanderthal who fell into a well gives scientists oldest DNA sample

)About 150,000 years ago -- give or take 20,000 -- a guy fell into a well. Last month he made science history.

The Altamura Man became the oldest Neanderthal to have his DNA extracted by researchers. It took them more than 20 years to get around to doing it.

Scientists in southern Italy have known about him since 1993, when spelunkers spied his skull staring blankly back at them from its nook in the Lamalunga cave, deep under the town of Altamura.

The cave explorers told researchers at the University of Bari what they'd found, according to their report published in March in the Journal of Human Evolution and Phys.org. more