Neanderthals and early humans may have interbred over a vast area

We are getting a clearer sense of where and how often Homo sapiens and Neanderthals interbred, and it turns out the behaviour was much more common than we first thought

Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals Interbred Across a Vast Region

Recent research suggests that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals likely interbred over a wide area spanning western Europe to Asia.

It has long been known that early humans and Neanderthals mated, which explains why most non-African populations today carry about 2% Neanderthal DNA. This interbreeding also led to the replacement of Neanderthal Y chromosome lineages with those from Homo sapiens.

However, the exact locations and scale of these encounters have remained uncertain. We do know that Neanderthal ancestors left Africa around 600,000 years ago, spreading into Europe and western Asia. Meanwhile, the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens leaving Africa comes from skeletal remains in present-day Israel and Greece, dating back roughly 200,000 years.

These timelines provide a framework for understanding when and where interbreeding between the two species likely took place, offering new insights into human evolutionary history.