The world’s first known human hybrid has been identified in Israel, where archaeologists say a 140,000-year-old skeleton of a child provides the earliest evidence of interbreeding between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, Israeli and French scientists announced on Tuesday.
The fossil, unearthed decades ago in the Skhul Cave on Mount Carmel, pushes back their biological and social ties by more than 100,000 years and establishes the Levant as the cradle of humanity’s first mixed population.
“This discovery reveals the world’s earliest known human fossil showing morphological traits of both of these human groups, which until recently were considered two separate human species,” the research team said. “The current study shows that the five-year-old child’s skeleton is the result of continuous genetic infiltration from the local—and older—Neanderthal population into the Homo sapiens population.”
Neanderthals were a shorter, stronger human group that evolved in Europe, while Homo sapiens, who emerged in Africa, were taller, leaner, and more adaptable. Neanderthals had heavy brows, large noses, and no chin, while modern humans have rounder skulls, higher foreheads, and distinct chins. The two groups eventually met and interbred. Although Neanderthals disappeared about 40,000 years ago, traces of their DNA still live on in humankind.