Neanderthals bred with early humans ! 100,000 YEARS ! earlier than first thought ! Scientists discover skeleton

According to a recent study, Neanderthals mated with our modern ancestors 100,000 years earlier than previously believed.

A five-year-old child who lived 140,000 years ago had parents from both species, according to experts.

Ninety years ago, their fossil—likely a female—was discovered in the Skhul Cave on Mount Carmel in modern-day northern Israel.

 

The remaining bones underwent a battery of sophisticated examinations, including a CT scan of the skull, by a team from Tel Aviv University and the French Centre for Scientific Research.

 

Lead author Professor Israel Hershkovitz stated, "Genetic research over the past decade have indicated that these two populations exchanged genes."

 

"Even now, 40,000 years after the last Neanderthals vanished, two to 6% of our genome is Neanderthal in origin."However, these gene exchanges occurred between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago, which is a very long time ago. We are talking about a 140,000-year-old human fossil here.

In our work, we demonstrate that the child's skull has a lower jaw, an inner ear structure typical of Neanderthals, and an intracranial blood supply system, despite having a general shape similar to that of Homo sapiens, particularly in the curvature of the skull vault.

 According to the scientists, the discovery makes the remains the oldest human fossil yet discovered that exhibits traits from both Neanderthals and modern humans.

 According to a recent study conducted by Professor Hershkovitz, Neanderthals inhabited what is now Israel as long as 400,000 years ago.

 According to the latest research, scientists came across early humans who started migrating out of Africa around 200,000 years ago.