Photo: Neandertal DNA Partially Mapped, Studies Show

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Two modern humans are silhouetted inside the mouth of the Vindija cave in Croatia. Neandertal fossils such as this jawbone (inset) found inside the cave have been providing scientists with clues to the split between the extinct species Homo neandertalis and our direct ancestors.

Now two high-tech DNA studies of the Croatian bones are opening doors to a genetic "library" for Neandertals to help unravel the human evolutionary path.

Cave photograph courtesy Johannes Krause, Max-Planck-Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology; fossil jaw photograph courtesy AP Photo/Croatian Academy of Sciences via NIU

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