The teenage girl’s ancient mother

When Viviane Slon analyzed the DNA found in the bone’s mitochondria, she was already in for a big surprise. As we may recall from our genetics or biology online classes, mitochondria are a type of cellular structure that contains DNA that a child inherits from his or her mother. With that said, Slon’s discovery indicated that the teenage girl descended from a female Neanderthal.

In an interview with National Geographic in 2018, Slon described her learning experiences as “very exciting.” According to her, it only got more interesting when she and her team began looking at the nuclear DNA. Our background in biology class tells us that this nuclear DNA material is being passed down through both the female and male lines. Needless to say, Slon and her team were prompted to learn more about the paternal ancestor of the teenage girl.