Modern humans and Neanderthals have a lot in common.
Modern humans, Homo Sapiens, and Neanderthals lived at the same time. For a long time, researchers believed that Homo Sapiens had displaced Neanderthals.
The latest genetic research, however, showed that Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals had a lot of contact. The two human species even interbred.
There were three major mixtures:
The first mixture 250 to 200 thousand years before Christ
The second mixture 100 thousand years before Christ
The third mixture 60 to 50 thousand years before Christ
According to the study, 10 percent of Neanderthal genes ended up in Homo Sapiens in the first two mixtures. How many Homo Sapiens genes ended up in the Neanderthal population remains unclear.
When the third mixture took place, Homo Sapiens were already in the majority. There were five times more Homo Sapiens than Neanderthals. This fact also played a decisive role. The Neanderthals mixed with Homo Sapiens and perished.
Although the Neanderthals have disappeared, they have not become completely extinct. Their genes live on in today’s humans.
Source
Liming Li, Troy J. Comi, Rob F. Bierman, Joshua M. Akey, Share on Recurrent gene flow between Neanderthals and modern humans over the past 200,000 years, Science, 12 Jul 2024, Vol 385, Issue 6.
Tomislav Veić, Photo of Neanderthal Family, Archive of the Krapina Neanderthal Museum.