Neanderthals: our closest, and only interbred, relative
A cold-adapted cousin whose DNA is still inside most living humans
Quick facts
- When
- About 400,000 to 40,000 years ago
- Where
- Europe and southwestern to central Asia
- Overlap with Homo sapiens
- 30,000 to 50,000 years, in western Asia
- Neanderthal DNA today
- Up to 1 to 4% in non-African modern humans
What happened
Neanderthals lived across Europe and southwestern to central Asia from about 400,000 to 40,000 years ago, and the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program calls them our closest extinct human relative. They had a large mid-face, angled cheekbones, and a large nose suited to warming and humidifying cold, dry air, on bodies shorter and stockier than a modern human's, and brains just as large as ours, often larger relative to their heavier build. They made sophisticated tools, controlled fire, built shelters, wore clothing, hunted large animals, and sometimes made symbolic objects; there is evidence they deliberately buried their dead, occasionally with grave offerings such as flowers. Neanderthals and Homo sapiens shared a common ancestor between about 700,000 and 300,000 years ago, and the two species inhabited the same parts of western Asia for 30,000 to 50,000 years, a period during which genetic evidence shows they interbred before Neanderthals disappeared from the fossil record entirely by about 40,000 years ago.
Why it matters
Neanderthals are not a footnote to human evolution; they are family. The Smithsonian's own genetic research finds that non-African modern humans carry up to 1 to 4 percent Neanderthal DNA today, and humans living as recently as 40,000 years ago carried even more, up to 6 to 9 percent, meaning a piece of this other species survived by becoming part of us.
How we know
The Smithsonian's Homo neanderthalensis species page gives the date range, location, physical and behavioral traits, burial evidence, the common-ancestor estimate, and the 30,000 to 50,000 year overlap with Homo sapiens in western Asia. A companion Smithsonian page on ancient DNA gives the specific interbreeding percentages, citing the peer-reviewed research (Fu et al., 2015) behind them.
Sources
- Smithsonian Institution. Homo neanderthalensis (Smithsonian Human Origins Program) (2024) · Reputable sourcehumanorigins.si.edu · The domain "humanorigins.si.edu" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Green et al.. A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome (Science, 2010, via PubMed Central) (2010) · Peer-reviewed (author-declared)pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov · Cited as a "journal" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Smithsonian Institution. Ancient DNA and Neanderthals (Smithsonian Human Origins Program) (2024) · Reputable sourcehumanorigins.si.edu · The domain "humanorigins.si.edu" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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