A groundbreaking study has shattered the conventional timeline of human-Neanderthal interactions. The prevailing belief was that Homo sapiens ancestors first mingled with Neanderthals in Eurasia after a massive exodus from Africa about 75,000 years ago. However, the startling revelations from this research expose a far more ancient narrative, one that traces back over 250,000 years, suggesting that early human DNA flowed into Neanderthals long before our anticipated migrations.
Early Species Interbreeding
A team of geneticists led by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine has revealed that interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans in Eurasia started much earlier than had previously been believed.
The conventional view is that interbreeding only occurred sometime after humans migrated to Eurasia from Africa in large numbers beginning about 75,000 years ago. But this new study found that Neanderthals were already carrying sections of human DNA in their genomes by this time, from encounters with their human cousins that likely took place more than 250,000 years ago.
As the geneticists explain in an article appearing in the journal Current Biology , these interactions must have taken place in Eurasia, since there is no record of Neanderthals ever having lived in sub-Saharan Africa, which is where the human DNA detected in the Neanderthal genome came from.
“We found this reflection of ancient interbreeding where genes flowed from ancient…
