We Now Know Exactly Where In The World Humans And Neanderthals Hooked Up [View all]

Our species wildly interbred with Neanderthals – and we now know where.

Tom Hale
Senior Journalist

Edited
by
Katy Evans

It’s a well-established (and slightly uncomfortable) fact that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals interbred with one another. Recent research looked into when this inter-species kanoodling occurred and now another new piece of research has investigated where exactly it happened.

Scientists took a close look at the geographical distribution of both species in Southwest Asia and Southeast Europe around the time we know they hooked up during the Late Pleistocene.

This revealed a clear location where the two human species overlapped with each other and likely interbred: the Zagros Mountains, a long mountain range on the Persian Plateau that stretches across the modern-day borders of Iran, northern Iraq, and southeastern Turkey.

The Zagros Mountains would have been an ideal place for the two species to rendezvous. The region has a diverse range of biodiversity and topography capable of supporting large stable human populations. Plus, it could have welcomed humans from other parts of the planet during the Pleistocene climatic shifts, acting as a corridor connecting the cooler Palearctic realm with the warmer Afrotropical realm.

The location also neatly lines up with the archeological record and genetic evidence. The Zagros Mountains region is rich in archaeological sites containing the remains of both Neanderthals and prehistoric Homo sapiens.

More:
https://www.iflscience.com/we-now-know-exactly-where-in-the-world-humans-and-neanderthals-hooked-up-75850