At https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/human-evolution/dna-has-an-expiration-date-but-proteins-are-revealing-secrets-about-our-ancient-anetors we never-thought-possible … DNA has an expiration date because it gradually degrades. It is calculated to completely disappear after about 7 million years. Not very long in the uniformitarian timescale. This is problematical for research into early human evolution as degradation spoils the broth. However, a new technique is being applied in order to get around the hurdle of ever diminishing DNA reliability. This is known as paleoproteomios – the study of ancient proteins. Protein survives longer, it seems, and although only a few studies have been done to date we can expect more and more to be done in the future. The fact proteome was extracted from a mammoth dated around 43,000 years ago, roughly the time of the Laschamp event, was a breakthrough that later, was used on a tooth from an extinct ape. Now, in 2025, it was used on an extinct rhinoceros, suggesting the methodology will become widespread.
As far as human evolution is concerned proteomes revealed Homo antecessor, thought at the time to be a human ancestor living around 800,000 years ago, turned out to have had defferent proteins to those of Neanderthals and modern humans. They are now classified as a separate branch of the human evolutionary tree rather than a direct ancestor.
Over at https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/08/mysterious-skull-sealed-in-rock/ … a fossilised skull found in a cave in Greece may belong to a now extinct human species that lived alongside Neanderthals in Europe during the Middle Pleistocene period. The skull was embedded in the cave wall, ensconced in layers of calcite formed by dripping mineral rich water. This process preserved the skull. It is currently dated at around 300,000 years ago – using uranium-thorium dating methodology. Yet, the skull is not consistent with either Neanderthals or modern humans. It may be a relation of Homo heidelbergensius, a little known group.