An international research team has identified the world's earliest known evidence of Neanderthal interbreeding with modern humans in a 140,000-year-old child's skeleton discovered in Israel's Skhul Cave. The study, published in l'Anthropologie, reveals the first physical proof that these two human populations were mating over 100,000 years earlier than previously documented.
The five-year-old child's remains, found about 90 years ago on Mount Carmel, display a unique combination of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthal anatomical features. Led by Professor Israel Hershkovitz from Tel Aviv University and Anne Dambricourt-Malassé from the French National Centre for Scientific Research, the analysis used advanced micro-CT scanning to create detailed 3D models of the skull and jaw.
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Revolutionary Analysis Reveals Dual Heritage
The sophisticated examination revealed that while the child's skull resembles Homo sapiens in overall shape, particularly in the curvature of the skull vault, it possesses distinctively Neanderthal features including the intracranial blood supply system, lower jaw structure, and inner ear anatomy. This remarkable combination provides the earliest fossil evidence of biological and social relations between these two human populations.
"Genetic studies over the past decade have shown that these two groups exchanged genes," explains Professor Hershkovitz. "Even today, 40,000 years after the last Neanderthals disappeared, part of our genome - 2 to 6 percent - is of Neanderthal origin. But these gene exchanges took place much later, between 60,000 to 40,000 years ago."
The discovery significantly predates the famous Lapedo Valley Child from Portugal, previously considered the earliest evidence of such interbreeding at 28,000 years old. This Israeli find pushes back the timeline by more than 100,000 years, fundamentally altering our understanding of early human evolution patterns.
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Cast of Skhul 1 skull showing mixed morphological features. (Israel Hershkovitz/Tel Aviv University)
Rewriting Human Migration History
This research connects to Professor Hershkovitz's previous groundbreaking 2021 study published in Science, which demonstrated that early Neanderthals lived in the Land of Israel as early as 400,000 years ago. These "Nesher Ramla Homo" populations encountered Homo sapiens groups migrating from Africa around 200,000 years ago, leading to the interbreeding documented in the Skhul Cave child.
The findings suggest that local Neanderthal populations were gradually absorbed into the expanding Homo sapiens population through continuous genetic infiltration over thousands of years. This process mirrors the later absorption of European Neanderthals but occurred much earlier in the Middle East.
The study demonstrates that traditionally attributed Homo sapiens fossils from both Skhul Cave and nearby Qafzeh Cave may actually represent hybrid populations resulting from extensive interbreeding. This discovery transforms our understanding of human migration patterns and the complex relationships between different hominin groups in prehistoric times.
Top image: The entrance to Skhul Cave on Mount Carmel, Israel, where the 140,000-year-old hybrid child fossil was discovered, providing the earliest evidence of Neanderthal-Homo sapiens interbreeding. Inset; Skhul 1 skull. Source: Hanay/CC BY-SA 4.0 Inset; Tel Aviv University
By Gary Manners
References
Bastien Bouvier, Anne Dambricourt Malassé, Marcel Otte, Michael Levitzky, Israël Hershkovitz. A new analysis of the neurocranium and mandible of the Skhūl I child: Taxonomic conclusions and cultural implications. L\'Anthropologie, 2025; 129 (3): 103385 DOI: 10.1016/j.anthro.2025.103385
Hershkovitz, I. & Dambricourt-Malassé, A. 2025. Earliest Evidence of Neanderthal–Homo sapiens Interbreeding Found in Israel. l'Anthropologie. Available at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/08/250821094434.htm
