Humans & Neanderthals may have co-existed in Northern Israel

Archaeological evidence leads to believe that both warring sub-species may have lived peacefully in Nahal Me’arot in Northern Israel.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

It may be known for modern- day conflict, but 80,000 years ago the Holy Land may have been the only place where early homo sapiens and neanderthals lived peacefully, new archeological findings suggest.

RECONSTRUCTIONS OF Neanderthals, Rheinischeslandes

RECONSTRUCTIONS OF Neanderthals, Rheinischeslandes

Archeologists working on Mount Carmel’s Nahal Me’arot, UNESCO’s most recently declared World Heritage Site, found evidence that the genealogical relatives lived side by side and perhaps even interbred, according to a report in The Times of London.

“If that interbreeding did take place, it must have been here,”said Daniel Kaufman, an archeologist working at the site.

Genetic research showing Neanderthal genes make up 1 to 4 percent of European genes supports the notion of peaceful interbreeding between the two subspecies.

Earlier theories speculated that the relationship was the result of rape between the constantly warring groups.

Archeologists have found tools of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals at the Israeli site.

View original Jerusalem Post publication at: http://www.jpost.com/Sci-Tech/Article.aspx?id=286213