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Neanderthals and Humans May Have Shared a Common Culture for 20,000 Years

Remains from a cave in Türkiye suggest Neanderthals and modern humans may have exchanged ideas and traditions.

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As we live through an era of rapid expansion in our understanding of our distant ancestors, the Neanderthals, we’re learning they may not have been so distant after all. According to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, evidence from Üçağızlı II Cave in southern Türkiye suggests that Neanderthals and modern humans may have shared a common culture for as long as 20,000 years.

Ancient DNA has been telling us for years that Homo sapiens (us) and Neanderthals (our cousins) interbred after modern humans left Africa. What we didn’t........

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