Adam Benton, University of Liverpool assoc. prof. at first doubtful, finally admits modern Euros have high % Neanderthal DNA

Adam Benton, associate prof. at the University of Liverpool and Editor of Filthy Monkey Men admits race realists may have a point

Adam Benton is a self-styled paleo-anthropology expert and blogger on human origins.  His blog often critical of organized religion and mocking of anti-Darwinists, is Filthy Monkey Men.

Subspeciest.com Editor Eric Dondero and Contributing Editor Paesur Bay had an exchange with Adam Benton on Twitter on May 14.  Benton generally takes an anti-Race Realist view, believing that Homo sapiens have the least DNA variation of all modern primate species.

First year college students in biology or evolutionary sciences often repeat the mantra from their left-leaning professors, there’s more genetic variation with populations such as Africans, than there is between populations.

After repeated queries, Benton conceded that modern European ethnics could be as high as 6% Neanderthal DNA.  Ph.D candidate Benton agreed with the standard line of 2 to 4%, but then added that it could be “a bit higher,” than 4%, possibly by 1 to 2%.

Estimates of Neanderthal DNA in modern Eurasians may be rising

Anthropologist George Dvorsky noted in Gizmodo.com, 2017, that geneticists keep revising the Neanderthal % in modern humans upwards:

[Max Plank Institute’s Kay] “Prüfer and [Svante] Pääbo say that, based on the new high-quality genome, modern populations carry between 1.8 to 2.6 percent Neanderthal DNA—that’s higher than the previous estimates of about 1.5 to 2.1 percent. More specifically, East Asians have about 2.3 to 2.6 percent Neanderthal DNA, while people from western Europe and Asia have retained about 1.8 to 2.4 percent DNA.”

According to the Smithsonian, 1-4% is generally accepted as the standard for Neanderthal DNA admixture in modern Eurasians.  In a 2020 study, geneticists led by Princeton’s Joshua Akey have suggested a traceable amount of Neanderthal DNA in Africans.  But most recently, Akey and others have had to walk that back.  A tiny percentage, 0.02% of Neanderthal may be present in modern north Africans as a result of back-breeding from Bronze age and beyond European colonizers.

Benton’s exchange with Dondero and Paesur Bay:

Comical ignorance. Here's Paabo saying Melanesians are 7.5% #Neanderthal. They all say it lately. Yeah, this is a collector's item…https://t.co/fbLfrLH63i

And yes, on the level of genes (non-trivial to genetics) non-Africans are over 50% #Neanderthal pic.twitter.com/hIzbGzmu3q

— Know Yourself (@PaesurBiey) May 14, 2019