Nahal Me'arot (Israel) : Neanderthals, humans may have co-existed
Source - http://www.jpost.com/Sci-Tech/Article.aspx?ID=286213&R=R1
Archaeological evidence shows that the warring sub-species may have lived peacefully in Nahal Me'arot in North Israel.
PHOTO: COURTESY
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 archaeological findings suggest.
Archaeologists working in Northern Israel'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 London Times.
“If that interbreeding did take place, it must have been here,” the Times quoted Daniel Kaufman, an archaeologist working at the site, as saying.
Genetic research showing Neanderthal genes make up 1-4 percent of European genes supports the notion of peaceful interbreeding between the two sub-species.
Earlier theories speculated that the relationship was the result of rape between the constantly-warring groups.
Archaeologists have found tools of both Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals at the Israeli site.