Neanderthals and humans likely mixed and mingled during a narrow time frame 45,000 years ago, scientists reported Thursday. Researchers analyzed ancient genes to pinpoint the time period, which is slightly more recent than previous estimates for the mating. Modern humans emerged in Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago and eventually spread to Europe, Asia and beyond. Somewhere along the way, they met and mated with Neanderthals, leaving a lasting fingerprint on our genetic code. Scientists don't know exactly when or how the two groups entangled. But ancient bone fragments and genes are helping scientists figure that out. “Genetic data from these samples really helps us paint a picture in more and more detail,” said study co-author Priya Moorjani at the University of California Berkeley. The research published Thursday in the journals Science and Nature. To pin down the timeline, researchers peeked at some of the oldest human genes from the skull of a woman, called Zlatý kůň or Golden horse for a hill in the Czech Republic where it was found. They also examined bone fragments from an early human population in Ranis, Germany, about 140 miles (230 kilometers) away. They found snippets of Neanderthal DNA that placed the mating at around 45,000 years ago. In Nigeria's lithium boom, many mines are illegal and children do much of the work In a separate study, researchers tracked signs of Neanderthal in our genetic code over 50,000 years. They found Neanderthal genes related to immunity and metabolism that may have helped early humans survive and thrive outside of Africa. We still carry Neanderthals' legacy in our DNA. Modern-day genetic quirks linked to skin color, hair color and even nose shape can be traced back to our extinct former neighbors. And our genetic code also contains echoes from another group of extinct human cousins called Denisovans. Future genetic studies can help scientists detangle exactly what — and who — we're made of, said Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian’s Human Origins program who was not involved with the new research. “Out of many really compelling areas of scientific investigation, one of them is: well, who are we?” Potts said.

Bones found in an Israeli quarry are from a branch of the human evolutionary tree and are 120,000 to 140,000 years old, scientists reported Thursday. A team of anthropologists spent years analyzing the fragments of a skull, lower jaw bone and tooth that were uncovered in Nesher Ramla in 2010, comparing them to hundreds of fossils around the world from different eras. The researchers determined that the fossils likely came from a hominin group closely related to Neanderthals and sharing many of their features, such as the shape of the lower jaw. The scientists also believe that there are enough similarities to link this group to other populations found in prior cave excavations in Israel dating to around 400,000 years ago. Also read: Weird ‘living fossil’ fish lives 100 years, pregnant for 5 “The teeth have some unique features that enable us to draw a line between these populations,” said Tel Aviv University dental anthropologist Rachel Sarig, a co-author of the paper published Thursday in the journal Science. This group probably inhabited the region from around 400,000 to 100,000 years ago, said Tel Aviv University physical anthropologist Israel Hershkovitz, another co-author. He said the remains found at Nesher Ramla are likely from “some of the last survivors of a once very dominant group in the Middle East.” Prior research has shown that homo sapiens – modern humans – also lived in the region at the same time. Many scientists believe that the arrival of homo sapiens in Europe presaged the decline of Neanderthals there, but the story may have been different in the Levant region — the crossroads between North Africa and Eurasia. Also read: Researchers discover fossils of new species in Arizona The new findings add to research showing that homo sapiens and Neanderthal-like groups overlapped in the Middle East over a significant amount of time, probably tens of thousands of years. There were likely cultural and genetic exchanges between the groups, the paper authors suggest. “The Neanderthal story can no longer be told as a European story only. It’s a much more complicated story,” said Hershkovitz. Sheela Athreya, a Texas A&M University paleoanthropologist who was not involved in the study, said the new research “gives us a lot to think about in terms of the history of population groups in this region, and how they may have interacted with populations in other regions, in Europe and North Africa.” Also read: Scientists find possible evidence of chromosomes, DNA preserved in dinosaur fossils The Nesher Ramla fossils “look like something on a lineage heading toward Neanderthal,” said Eric Delson, a paleoanthropologist at Lehman College in New York who was not involved in the study. He characterized the findings as “fossils of what appears to be an intermediate variety — this group may be predecessors to Neanderthals in this area.”