JERUSALEM, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) — Israeli and French researchers have discovered the earliest physical evidence that Neanderthal ancient humans and modern humans not only co-existed but also had social interactions and interbred, Tel Aviv University said in a statement on Wednesday.
Published in the journal L’Anthropologie, the study focused on a fossil of a five-year-old child found in Skhul Cave on Mount Carmel in northern Israel.
The fossil, around 140,000 years old, shows traits of both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, which for many years were seen as two separate species.
Previous genetic studies have shown that these two groups exchanged genes, and even today, 40,000 years after the last Neanderthals disappeared, between two and six percent of the modern human genome is of Neanderthal origin.
These genetic exchanges, however, were thought to have occurred much later, between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago.
The discovery pushes back this timeline by showing a child with a skull shaped like modern humans but with a blood vessel system, lower jaw, and inner ear typical of Neanderthals.
Research shows that early Neanderthals lived in ancient Israel as early as 400,000 years ago. They encountered Homo sapiens, who began migrating out of Africa around 200,000 years ago, and these groups interbred.
The child from Skhul Cave is the oldest known fossil showing biological and social connections between these populations. The local Neanderthals eventually disappeared after being absorbed into the modern human population.
Advanced scanning and 3D modeling of the fossil’s skull and jaw helped researchers analyze the complex structures, including the brain’s blood vessels and inner ear, confirming the fossil’s hybrid traits. ■