This article was originally published on Sept. 14, 2022.
The discovery of the first Neanderthal fossil in 1856 immediately raised questions about their relationship to us Homo sapiens. It would be some time before solid DNA evidence came out to suggest we interbred with them, though pre-existing skeletal analyses had suggested the possibility. Modern DNA evidence tells us that not only was there human-neanderthal interbreeding, but a substantial amount of it.
