Can we blame our Neanderthal Ancestors for Multiple Sclerosis?

Am I Yumnaya? Have you heard about these ancient paleo-lithic people? Did anyone else catch The Daily podcast on Jan 31, 2024?

Carl Zimmer -a science journalist from the New York Times- came on to talk about how scientists can now extract whole genomes from fossils, they are able to reconstruct what  these ancient people looked like including

Their immune systems. 

 

The theory is that these dairy loving, animal keeping nomads developed super strong immune systems in order to cope with all the diseases that animals tend to bring with them. If you like me, have a super strong immune system that is prone to attacking itself – some scientists are making the case that we might be descendants of the super tribe of Neanderthals that took over large swathes of the Northern hemisphere. 

These headers were strong and whether through disease or warfare – they took over whatever population they came to. The people who lived by stone henge – killed by the Yumnaya. They are also referred to as the Pit Grave culture because they would place their dead in the supine position, (laying flat (face up) cover them in ochre  (a red pigment). This proves that they were smart and had rituals around how they lived. They also used wooden horse chariots.

This new science of reconstructing ancient DNA has opened up many possibilities for how to treat the illnesses. Maybe they will be able to identify the genes that trigger diseases like multiple sclerosis. 

 

These types of discoveries are interesting, but they don’t really help us whose immune systems have already messed up our bodies. The positive that I choose to take away from this  is that when I despair over having Multiple Sclerosis and hefting my rollator out of my trunk.  It will bring me comfort that what I should be doing is galloping across the Northern European plaines on horseback with my herd of livestock. That’s a nice little day dream instead of feeling sad.