Skull Discovery Tells a Human-Neanderthal Love Story

The excavation site at Manot Cave in western Galilee. (Credit: Israel Hershkovitz, Ofer Marder & Omry Barzilai) A 55,000-year-old human skull found within a cave in Israel could be evidence that modern humans and Neanderthals were close to each other. Very close. Scientists believe anatomical features of the partial skull, found in Manot Cave in western Galilee, indicate modern humans and Neanderthals may have interbred 50,000 to 60,000 years ago in the Middle East. Scientists believe this skull could be one of the missing links between African modern humans and European hominids. "Manot clearly shows that Neanderthals and modern humans lived side by side in Israel for a long period of time," co-author Israel Hershkovitz of Tel Aviv University told