Humans mated with Neandertals much earlier and more frequently than thought

Members of our species had sex with Neanderthals much earlier and more often than previously believed, according to a new study of ancient DNA. As some of the first bands of modern humans moved out of Africa, they met and mated with Neanderthals about 100,000 years ago perhaps in the Nile Valley, along the coastal hills of the Middle East, or in the Arabian Peninsula. This pushes back the earliest encounter between the two groups by tens of thousands of years and suggests that our ancestors were shaped in significant ways by swapping genes with other types of humans.

These early modern humans have since died out and are not among the ancestors of people living today but a small bit of DNA survived in a toe bone of a neanderthal woman who lived 50,00 years ago in Denisovan cave in the Altai mountains of Siberia, Russia. An analysis of her ancient genome has found inherited DNA from modern humans in Africa, including a gene that may involved speech.

This is the first genetic evidence found that shows modern humans mated with neanderthals, but what did this mating mean for us today?

The levels of DNA found suggested these mating encounters happened in one generation over a short period of time, but it was enough to pass on genes that may have been the difference between survival and extinction for modern humans. The genes that were possibly passed down could of been involved in speech, immune system, and the production of sperm - fitting the theory that interbreeding was an important source of genetic diversity that is crucial for adapting to new terrain as modern humans spread into foreign lands.

Maybe without these interactions between modern humans and neanderthals us as a human race would be a lot different.