Human-Neanderthal Hybrid Child Lived Only 5 Years, Scientists Discover

Scientists have uncovered new evidence that reshapes the understanding of human evolutionary history. Analysis of a fossilised child’s skull discovered in Israel indicates that modern humans (Homo sapiens) and Neanderthals interbred approximately 140,000 years ago, much earlier than previously estimated. The discovery is considered significant as it represents the oldest known evidence of hybridisation between the two ancient human species. The fossil, a skull belonging to a child aged around five years, was found in Skhul Cave on Mount Carmel, Israel, and was analysed by a research team from Tel Aviv University and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). The researchers stated that the fossil, originally discovered around 90 years ago, is the oldest human fossil exhibiting combined characteristics of both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. The findings reinforce previous studies indicating interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals. The research also suggests that the migration of modern human ancestors out of Africa likely occurred far earlier than previously thought. Furthermore, Homo sapiens migration is believed to have taken place in multiple waves over hundreds of thousands of years, rather than as a single dispersal event. According to the study published in 2024, traces of Neanderthal DNA had previously only been found in Homo sapiens who lived within the last 50,000 years. This implies that the hybrid group which produced the Skhul Cave fossil was not a direct ancestor of modern humans who later spread across the globe. ‘Genetic studies over the past decade have shown that the two groups exchanged genes,’ said Israel Hershkovitz of Tel Aviv University. ‘To this day, 40,000 years after the last Neanderthals disappeared, 2 to 6 percent of our genome comes from Neanderthals. However, that exchange occurred much later, between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago. This fossil is 140,000 years old.’ The researchers concluded that the fossil was the offspring of Neanderthal and Homo sapiens parents because it possesses a unique combination of traits: a rounded skull typical of modern humans, but a jaw and ear structure more characteristic of Neanderthals. Neanderthals are a hominin species that evolved in Europe. Previously, it was thought they only migrated to the region now known as Israel around 70,000 years ago. However, Hershkovitz and his team found evidence that Neanderthals had inhabited the area as early as 400,000 years ago. The two species are believed to have encountered each other at the Nesher Ramla archaeological site in Israel around 200,000 years ago, with some subsequently interbreeding. ‘The fossil we studied is the earliest evidence of interbreeding between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens,’ Hershkovitz said. A previous discovery of a hybrid child fossil was made in Portugal in 1998. That skull, known as the ‘Lapedo Child’, is estimated to be around 28,000 years old, approximately 100,000 years younger than the fossil from Skhul Cave.