We’ve known for some time now that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, also known as archaic humans, interbred before Neanderthals went extinct around 40,000 years ago. In fact, in some ways, Neanderthals never went extinct because modern humans are still made up of around 3 percent Neanderthal DNA.
But many questions still linger around where these two groups got together and what their interbreeding might have looked like.
Previous research has highlighted a key migration point for H. sapiens after they left Africa.
Modern humans first landed on the Persian Plateau between 60,000 and 70,000 years ago but didn’t spread into the rest of Europe and Asia until around 45,000 years ago.
Now, new research published last month in Scientific Reports has reconstructed the places where H. sapiens and Neanderthals came together and interbred between 120,000 and 180,000 years ago.
Mapping Homo Sapien and Neanderthal Meeting Points
Using modeling that included areas where both H. sapiens and Neanderthal specimens have been found, as well as areas that during this time provided an amenable climate for both populations, researchers were able to pinpoint areas where the two groups would likely have interbed, says study author Saman H. Guran, a research associate at the Stiftung Neanderthal Museum, in Mettmann, Germany.
Researchers looked at around 20 sites with modern human remains and around 20 sites with Neanderthal remains and then used computer modeling to evaluate where each species would have been most likely to live at that time, considering things like precipitation, weather, and abundance of caves.
Read More: The Neanderthal Timeline Shows They Thrived for 400,000 Years, Then Disappeared
Finding Clues in Precipitation and Shelter
By looking at precipitation, researchers can evaluate what that world might have looked like in terms of survival.
“With a certain amount of precipitation, what types of vegetation would have survived, and what type of vegetation could support the types of animals that lived there? says Luca Pagani, an anthropologist at the University of Padova in Padova, Italy, who was not involved in this study but authored the previously mentioned Persian Plateau paper. "Could the overall ecosystem support Neanderthal or human populations?”
This region has many rock shelters as well that both groups might have lived in during this time period. Both species were known to inhabit caves at that time for shelter, which we know because their remains are often found in caves.
Read More: Did Neanderthals Really Live in Caves? A Closer Look
Where Did Humans and Neanderthals Interbreed?
“The Zagros mountains (a mountain range located in Iran) came up in our modeling as the best area where these two species had contact with each other during this period 120,000 to 180,000 years ago,” says Guran.
Climate, says Guran, would have had a strong effect on human migration and distribution. The Zagros mountains were the southernmost area that Neanderthals would have ventured into as they spread from Europe to Asia, which researchers know from physical evidence.
“We also looked at climate fluctuation from this period to know that Neanderthals would have used this opportunity to migrate to this more southern region,” says Guran.
Researchers concluded that the Zagros mountains were a habitat that was viable for both groups, says Pagani. Still, other areas that are highlighted on the map, but aren’t spoken about as much in the study, could also have been amendable to both groups.
“I agree with the results and it’s great that Zagros is identified as one of the areas of interaction, but there are other areas from their research that could serve equally well. Their results also agree with what was found concerning the whereabouts of modern humans outside of Africa between 60 and 40 thousand years ago from a genetic perspective,” says Pagani.
This makes the Zagros mountains a particularly interesting place that could have been home to both species all those years ago.
Read More: How Much Neanderthal DNA Do Humans Have?
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
Stanford.edu. Stanford scientists link Neanderthal extinction to human diseases
Nature Communications. The Persian plateau served as hub for Homo sapiens after the main out of Africa dispersal
Scientific Reports. Reconstructing contact and a potential interbreeding geographical zone between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans
Research associate at the Stiftung Neanderthal Museum, in Mettmann, Germany. Saman H. Guran
Anthropologist at the University of Padova in Padova, Italy. Luca Pagani
Sara Novak is a science journalist based in South Carolina. In addition to writing for Discover, her work appears in Scientific American, Popular Science, New Scientist, Sierra Magazine, Astronomy Magazine, and many more. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia. She's also a candidate for a master’s degree in science writing from Johns Hopkins University, (expected graduation 2023).
