Scientists have extracted DNA taking back up to 170,000 years from an intact, Neanderthal skeleton

ITALIAN scientists who first found the intact bones 20 years ago have finally unearthed one of the oldest-ever Neanderthal skeletons.

Intact ... The so-called ‘Altamura Man’ has become the oldest Neanderthal to have his DNA extracted by researchers, who have been trying to free the skeleton for more than 20 years from the rock it is embedded in, deep inside an Italian cave. Picture: Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Superintendent of the Archeology of Puglia

ITALIAN scientists have unearthed one of the oldest-ever Neanderthal skeletons, estimated to be between 130,000 and 170,000 years old.

The so-called “Altamura Man” has become the oldest Neanderthal to have his DNA extracted by researchers, who have been trying to free the skeleton for more than 20 years from the rock it is embedded in, deep inside an Italian cave.

Scientists first found the intact skeleton of an ancient human in 1993, nestled among the stalactites and stalagmites of the limestone cave of Lamalunga, near Altamura in southern Italy, Live Science reports.

Despite the discovery being made more than two decades ago, a new study has evaluated the DNA from a piece of its right shoulder blade, and found that the fossil was in fact a Neanderthal. However, despite looking intact, the bone is too old to allow scientists to perform a genome sequence.

An illustration of a Homo sapien (right) and a Neanderthal. Picture. Supplied

Study co-author David Caramelli, a molecular anthropologist at the University of Florence in Italy, said that “next generation DNA-sequencing technologies … could provide important results on the Neanderthal genome”.

Because of its intact nature, the Altamura Man can provide a more clear picture of the life led by Neanderthals, particularly in relation to genetics, anatomy, ecology and lifestyle.

“We have a nearly complete human fossil skeleton to describe and study in detail. It is a dream,” said co-author Fabio Di Vincenzo, a palaeoanthropologist at Sapienza University of Rome.

“His morphology offers a rare glimpse on the earliest phase of the evolutionary history of Neanderthals and on one of the most crucial events in human evolution. He can help us better understand when — and, in particular, how — Neanderthals evolved.”

Neanderthals are the closest relatives of modern humans, and roamed Asia and Europe until their extinction about 40,000 years ago.

Relative ... This is a replica of a Neanderthal man at the Neanderthal museum in Mettmann, western Germany. Between 1 per cent and 4 per cent of genes in people from Europe and Asia trace back to Neanderthals. Picture: AP Photo/Heinz Ducklau

Modern humans — Homo sapiens — as we know them emerged about 300,000 years ago from Africa, and lived for many years alongside the Neanderthals, often breeding with them.

According to live science, the last sexual relationships between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens occurred 47,000 years ago — meaning that 1.5 to 2.1 per cent of the DNA of anyone living outside Africa today is Neanderthal in origin.

In 2010, scientists completed the first sequence of the Neanderthal genome using extracts from fossils, which revealed that modern humans occasionally successfully bred with Neanderthals. This suggests that people outside Africa — where the modern human originated — had more Neanderthal genes than Africans.