Neanderthals may have survived longer than thought

NEANDERTHALS may have survived in southern Europe until as recently as 24,000 years ago, making it much more likely that they interacted with the ancestors of people living today.

Stone tools discovered in a cave in Gibraltar suggest that the extinct species lived there until at least 28,000 years ago, and possibly for another 4,000 years.

The evidence indicates that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals co-existed in Europe for several thousand years, considerably longer than had been thought.

Previously, it was believed Neanderthals had died out by 30,000 years ago — only about 2,000 years after early modern humans arrived in Europe from Africa.

If it turns out that Neanderthals really were living 24,000 years ago, claims that the two species interbred would be cast in new light.

Experts are strongly divided over whether there was any genetic mixing between early modern humans and Neanderthals.

The only evidence of interbreeding so far has been the Lagar Velho child, a 24,500-year-old skeleton discovered in Portugal.

Many scientists flatly reject the find because the specimen dates to several thousand years after Neanderthals were assumed to have vanished.

Neanderthals may have first occupied western Europe and Asia 500,000 years ago, long before Homo sapiens emigrated out of Africa.

They looked distinctly different from Homo sapiens, being short and powerfully built with short limbs, heavy brow ridges, flat chins, and faces that projected outwards.

Although they made tools, they were not as technologically advanced or socially sophisticated as Homo sapiens.

Scientists believe one reason for their disappearance is that they could not compete with the new arrivals in a world where food was scarce and the climate hostile.