The relationship between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens is a point of fascination for both scientists and those interested in human history. Studies have shown that Neanderthals and H. sapiens mixed socially and biologically for thousands of years, and that we even still have Neanderthal genetic material in our bodies today.
When it comes to Neanderthal and H. sapiens interbreeding, the earliest known evidence of that occurring was the “Lapedo Valley Child,” a skeleton found in Portugal, dated at around 28,000 years old — that was until a new groundbreaking discovery out of Israel that drastically changes this timeline.
The new study, published in L’Anthropologie, discusses a five-year-old child’s skull that showed both Neanderthal and H. sapiens traits. Shockingly, this child’s skull is 140,000 years old, making it the earliest known evidence of Neanderthal and H. sapiens interbreeding, eclipsing the age of the Lapedo Valley Child by over 100,000 years.
"The fossil we studied is the earliest known physical evidence of mating between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. In 1998, a skeleton child was discovered in Portugal that showed traits of both of these human groups. But that skeleton, nicknamed the ‘Lapedo Valley Child,’ dates back to 28,000 years ago — more than 100,000 years after the Skhul Child,” said Israel Hershkovitz, professor at Tel Aviv University, in a press release.
Read More: Brutes and Brains: What We Know About Neanderthal Brain Size
Rewriting the History of Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens
The child’s skull was found in Skhul Cave on Mount Carmel around 90 years ago. For a long time, scientists believed the skeletons found in Skhul Cave were just a different kind of ancient human ancestor. However, this new study suggests that the skeletons are actually the earliest known evidence of Neanderthal and H. sapiens interbreeding.
Neanderthals are often thought of as a European group that mainly evolved in Europe before migrating elsewhere across the continents. Their presence in Israel was long believed to have occurred after the European glaciers advanced around 70,000 years ago.
The same research group that discovered the Skhul Cave child’s mixed origins has rewritten history before, having previously found that Neanderthals were actually present in Israel as early as 400,000 years ago. The child’s skull confirms that Neanderthal and H. sapiens populations in Israel were socially and genetically mingling for centuries longer than previously believed before the Neanderthals eventually disappeared.
How Do We Identify Neanderthal Traits?
A series of advanced tests were used to identify both Neanderthal and H. sapiens traits in the Skhul Cave skull. Using micro-CT technology, researchers scanned the skull to make a 3D model. With the created model, they were then able to perform a morphological analysis of the skull and compare their results to the morphologies of various ancient human populations.
What they found during both their comparative analyses and in examining the 3D model was evidence of both Neanderthal and H. sapiens traits.
“In our study, we show that the child’s skull, which in its overall shape resembles that of Homo sapiens – especially in the curvature of the skull vault — has an intracranial blood supply system, a lower jaw, and an inner ear structure typical of Neanderthals,” said Hershkovitz in the press release.
Based on their findings, researchers now know that the child’s skull represents years of genetic infiltration by Neanderthals into H. sapiens populations. The confirmation of the Skhul Cave skeleton as having both Neanderthal and H. sapiens ancestry complicates the story of these two ancient human groups and suggests that they were intertwined with each other tens of thousands of years earlier than science was previously aware.
Read More: Reconstructing the World Where Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals First Got Together
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