Ancient Skull Reveals a Time When Humans and Neanderthals Lived Together

An ancient skull is telling researchers a bit more about a unique period in prehistory. The partial skull, and the tools surrounding it, reveal a bit more about a time from 55,000 to 27,000 years ago when both humans and Neanderthals lived at the same time.

The latest findings were discovered in the Manot Cave, a natural limestone formation. The cave had been sealed for about 15,000 years until recently, a bulldozer clearing land for development uncovered it. After investigating the cave, the scientists found the partial skull sitting on a small rock shelf.

Actually figuring out how old the skull was, though, was a whole other challenge. The skull was already moved from the layer where it was presumably deposited, which meant that the researchers had to look for clues to tell them where it belonged in the setting of the archaeological record in the cave.

In the end, the scientists found that the skull was 54.7 thousand years old with a technique known as the uranium-thorium method. Worried about errors, the scientists then decided this was true to within 5.5 thousand years on either side.

To narrow down the dating further, the researchers carefully applied radiocarbon dating to charcoal remains. This revealed the timing of human occupation through the whole cave. Using these methods, the researchers determined the skull to be around 55,000 years old.

The findings don't just give a time period for occupation; they also provide evidence that humans and Neanderthals might have interbred sometime during the human trek out of Africa, most likely as the former passed through the Middle East before spreading out north and east. The skull is the first ever evidence of a human residing in the region at the same time of Neanderthals.

The findings are published in the journal Nature.

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