Did Early Humans Interbreed? These Scientists Made a Map to Prove It

Neanderthals and Denisovans likely shared offspring when climate change, during that time period, connected their populations.

By Matt Hrodey
Aug 16, 2023 6:15 PMAug 16, 2023 6:14 PM
A Neanderthal skull and rendering
A Neanderthal skull and rendering. (Credit: LegART/Shutterstock)

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Neanderthals, the best understood species of archaic human, often lived in limestone caves that preserved their bones well after death. As a result, archaeologists have found many more of those bones than those belonging to the Denisovan species, a less understood but still important type of early human.

After all, we know that the two interbred, and a new study has attempted to explain how it happened. Conditions were best, the paper states, when the glaciers receded and warm weather allowed temperate forests to connect the species’ two worlds, which otherwise remained relatively separate.

Where Did the Early Humans Live?

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