Modern human ancestors and Neanderthals mated during a 7,000-year-long ‘pulse,’ 2 new studies reveal

By Kristina Killgrove – Live Science

An analysis of genomes from some of the earliest modern humans to live in Europe reveals their ancestors interbred with Neanderthals in one period between 43,000 and 50,000 years ago.

Neanderthals and modern humans interbred for several millennia, shortly after the ancestors of all non-Africans moved into Eurasia, according to two new studies. Although these Homo sapiens populations got an evolutionary advantage from the new Neanderthal genes, not everyone who mingled with Neanderthals made it, and some modern human lineages went extinct.