--- title: Early Human Sex: Neanderthals Hooked Up Earlier Than Thought description: Neanderthals and humans may be different species, but that doesn't mean they didn't occasionally mate. canonical: https://time.com/4227132/neanderthals-humans-interbreeding/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-17T18:37:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:24.031Z article:section: Science og:title: Neanderthals and Humans Hooked Up Earlier Than We Previously Thought og:description: They don't have any descendants still living og:url: https://time.com/4227132/neanderthals-humans-interbreeding/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8b6e40b8cb9353b/69887e03f887dc618ae94a9d/neanderthal-museum-france.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: FRANCE-CULTURE-SCIENCES-NEANDERTHAL og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Neanderthals and Humans Hooked Up Earlier Than We Previously Thought twitter:description: They don't have any descendants still living twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8b6e40b8cb9353b/69887e03f887dc618ae94a9d/neanderthal-museum-france.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Neanderthals and Humans Hooked Up Earlier Than We Previously Thought  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 17, 2016 6:37 PM UTC  A model representing a Neanderthal man on display at the National Museum of Prehistory in Dordogne, France in 2008. A model representing a Neanderthal man on display at the National Museum of Prehistory in Dordogne, France in 2008.Pierre Andrieu—AFP/Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 17, 2016 6:37 PM UTC Neanderthals and humans may be different species, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t occasionally mate. New research shows that Neanderthals and modern humans may have interbred tens of thousands of years earlier than previously thought. The [research](http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature16544), published in the journal _Nature_, suggests that the two species may have met in the Middle East somewhere between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf as far back as 120,000 years ago. The interbreeding resulted in gene flow from modern humans to the Neanderthals, according to the research. The resulting population is thought to have died off in the Atalai Mountains at the intersection of Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan.  The new research suggests that the meeting of the two species occurred far earlier than when humans left Africa in the migration that resulted in humans populating the far reaches of the globe. That migration, which occurred 65,000 years ago, allowed humans to reach Europe and Asia. But a smaller group of humans may have left Africa much earlier, the new study suggests. That group doesn’t have any living descendants. **Read More:** [Here’s Proof That the First Modern Humans Were Chinese](http://time.com/4071342/earliest-humans-china/) The study, conducted by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, relies on DNA tests of the remains of several Neanderthals. The tests suggest that the interbreeding may be unique to the Atalai Neanderthals. The study’s researchers found no evidence that Neanderthals in Europe mixed with humans. 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