Eerie ‘hybrid' skull belonged to ‘half human, half neanderthal girl' that died 140,000 years ago aged just 3
THAL STORY? Eerie 'hybrid' skull belonged to 'half human, half neanderthal girl' that died 140,000 years ago aged just 3
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
A SKULL unearthed nearly a century ago is now believed to have belonged to a 'half human, half neanderthal girl', according to a new study.
The girl, who experts say was just three-years-old at the time, died roughly 140,000 years ago, towards the end of the Middle Pleistocene era.
Sign up for Scottish Sun
newsletter
Sign up
3
The girl's full skeleton is largely complete, with the left side better preserved
Credit: Tel Aviv University
3
New analysis involving CT scanning suggests the remains belong to a hybrid species of ancient human, according the paper published in the journal L'Anthropologie
Credit: Tel Aviv University
Her remains were found when archaeologists unearthed several human skeletons, including seven adults and three children, while excavating Skuhl Cave just south of Haifa, Israel in 1929.
The girl's full skeleton is largely complete, with the left side better preserved.
Most of the remains were classified as early Homo sapiens; however, there remained some debate due to an unusual mix of skeletal features.
New analysis involving CT scanning suggests the remains belong to a hybrid species of ancient human, according the paper published in the journal L'Anthropologie.
Focusing on the neurocranium - the part of the skull that cups the brain, the mandible - which forms the lower part of the jaw and mouth, as well as teeth the team found characteristics of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthal.
Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had a period of about 5,400 years where both species roamed Earth at the same time.
The relationship between the two species is not wholly understood.
But they traded genes frequently during the period when their populations overlapped.
Prehistoric drawings of alien-like half-human creatures found in Amazon
The baby girl may have been a result of this interbreeding, according to the study.
Co-author Anne Dambricourt Malassé of the Institute of Human Paleontology in Paris said that she once thought such a hybridisation was not possible.
The results of their analysis, however, demonstrate that it is possible, although the child in question died very young.
'This study is maybe the first that has put the Skhul child's remains on a scientific basis,' John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who wasn't involved with the study, told New Scientist.
'The old reconstruction and associated work, literally set in plaster, did not really enable anyone to compare this child with a broader array of recent children to understand its biology.'
Although, Hawks cautioned that a DNA sample would be needed to officially confirm the study's findings.
"Human populations are variable," he added.
"And there can be a lot of variability in their appearance and physical form even without mixing with ancient groups like Neanderthals."
It wouldn't be the first time a possible ancient human hybrid had been discovered.
In 2018, scientists analysed a bone fragment excavated from a cave site in Russia and concluded it belonged to a young girl of about 13 who was the offspring of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Scientists reveal exactly what a neanderthal human hybrid would look like
It has been over 40,000 years since the last of the Neanderthals, our ancient human cousins, disappeared from the Earth. But from the shape of your nose to whether someone is an early riser, Neanderthal genes are still shaping many of our lives today. Starting from around 250,000 years ago, ancient homo sapiens and Neanderthals met, lived alongside each other, and often had children together. Now, MailOnline has asked leading paleoanthropologists to reveal what those hybrid children would have looked like. Scientists believe that hybrid children would inherit traits from both of their parents. That means hybrids might have a Neanderthal's long arms and short legs with the smaller skull of a Homo sapiens. Likewise, some of the hybrid children may have had strong Neanderthal facial features but the upright posture and long legs of a modern human. In some cases, this hybridisation process could even lead to the formation of unusual, new traits, not found in either parent. What would a hybrid look like? In a new research paper published this month, scientists revealed that a 5-year-old girl who lived 140,000 years ago was likely a Neanderthal-Homo sapiens hybrid. The girl's skull had been found in the Skhul Cave on Mount Carmel, Israel, in 1929 in the earliest known human cemetery alongside seven adults, two other children, and the bones of 16 other hominins. Originally, anthropologists classified the girl and all the bodies in the cemetery as Homo sapiens. However, when researchers re-examined the skull with CT scanning, they found that it had a mixture of both neanderthal and homo sapiens traits. Anne Dambricourt-Malassé, a paleoanthropologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and co-author of the study, told MailOnline that this girl's skeleton tells us what hybrids might have looked like. Dr Dambricourt-Malassé says that the girl had 'a powerful neck, a little higher than Homo sapiens, her forehead was less bulging.' The girl also showed a 'slight subnasal prognathism', meaning that her jaw would have jutted out much like the famous 'Habsburg chin'. 'Her smile showed a dental arch with the canines and incisors aligned and end-to-end, the upper and lower teeth touched,' says Dr Dambricourt-Malassé. Her spine shows that she would have had a more upright position than a Neanderthal, who typically walked with a curved back. However, the girl's jaw, spine, and pelvis all bear features that appear to be more Neanderthal in their origin. Overall, the girl might not look radically different to a modern human, but there would be noticeable differences in their features. New facial features In addition to having a mixture of traits from both parents, some researchers believe that interbreeding might have given rise to entirely new characteristics. In animals, hybrids often pick up new features that aren't present in either parent. For example, hybrids between Russian and Chinese mice often have huge heads, while coyote-wolf hybrids grow strange extra teeth or unusual 'gaps' in their bones. Likewise, Professor Israel Hershkovitz, an anthropologist from Tel Aviv University and a leading expert on human interbreeding, told MailOnline that this happens with humans as well. Professor Hershkovitz says: 'A good example is the bony ridge above the orbits [the eye socket], which is unique to the Skhul people.' This was 'not rounded but straight and continuous, protruding forward like a visor.' What would a hybrid look like after multiple generations? The so-called 'Skhul 1 Child' is extremely rare because Dr Dambricourt-Malassé and her co-authors believe she is the direct offspring of a Neanderthal and Homo sapiens. However, most examples of interbreeding show evidence of a gradual mixing over a much longer period of time. Professor Hershkovitz says: 'You have to distinguish between first-generation hybrid and long-running process. In the first case, Professor Hershkovitz says the hybrid will look much like their father or mother, with a few traits from the other parent. Hybrids formed over potentially thousands of years of inbreeding, meanwhile, will 'generally possess the shape of either the Neanderthal or Homo sapiens but will still show some traits of the other population.' According to many researchers, this is why we find examples of hybrids that exhibit a mosaic of traits from both human species. These hybrids would usually have some mixture of traits from both lineages. João Zilhão, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Barcelona, told MailOnline: 'Based on the fossils we have, in some cases it was body proportions, in other cases it was the morphology of bones in the cranium, in other cases it was the shape of the mandible, in still others the shape or the tissue composition of the dentition [teeth]. One example of such a hybrid is the 'Lapedo child', whose remains were found in Portugal's Lapedo valley in 1998. The child's heavy limbs and stocky build resembled those of a Neanderthal, but their chin and other features were unmistakably from Homo sapiens. Using novel dating methods, subsequent research has shown that this child probably died sometime between 27,780 and 28,550 years ago. This was extremely unusual since Neanderthals were supposed to have died out 40,000 years ago. That means this hybrid population was keeping Homo sapiens and Neanderthal genes alive over 10,000 years after the last 'pure' Neanderthals had vanished. Two separate species? According to Dr Zilhão, a co-author on the study, this shows that the two species must have been interbreeding far more frequently than most scientists were ready to consider. Dr Zilhão says: 'All the genetically 'modern' specimens from the time of contact that have been genomically sequenced have been shown to have 'pure' Neandertals in their family history dating back no more than four to six generations. 'At least 45 per cent of the specifically 'Neandertal' part of the Neandertals' genome is still found among present-day humans. 'You can compute yourself what the odds are that such facts can be explained other than by interbreeding being the rule rather than the exception.' Scientists believe that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals had two major periods of overlap and interbreeding. The first occurred around 250,000 years ago in what is now the modern-day Levant and lasted nearly 200,000 years. Followed by a second, shorter period of overlap of a few thousand years from about 45,000 years ago when Homo sapiens arrived in Europe. Over that time, some scientists think that the two species became extremely interconnected. Professor Hershkovitz believes that in the Levant, there were no 'pure' populations, only a population that looked like Neanderthals but had some Homo sapiens genes and a population that looked like Homo sapiens but retained some Neanderthal genes. Perhaps more controversially, Dr Zilhão and a few other scientists now argue that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals were not really distinct species all along. Dr Zilhão says: 'This shows that Neanderthals were Homo sapiens too. They were a West Eurasian variety, or race if you wish, of Homo sapiens.' A close relative of modern humans, Neanderthals went extinct 40,000 years ago The Neanderthals were a close human ancestor that mysteriously died out around 40,000 years ago. The species lived in Africa with early humans for millennia before moving across to Europe around 300,000 years ago. They were later joined by humans, who entered Eurasia around 48,000 years ago. These were the original 'cavemen', historically thought to be dim-witted and brutish compared to modern humans. In recent years though, and especially over the last decade, it has become increasingly apparent we've been selling Neanderthals short. A growing body of evidence points to a more sophisticated and multi-talented kind of 'caveman' than anyone thought possible. It now seems likely that Neanderthals had told, buried their dead, painted and even interbred with humans. They used body art such as pigments and beads, and they were the very first artists, with Neanderthal cave art (and symbolism) in Spain apparently predating the earliest modern human art by some 20,000 years. They are thought to have hunted on land and done some fishing. However, they went extinct around 40,000 years ago following the success of Homo sapiens in Europe.
Scottish Sun
7 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
‘Sunday scaries' is real health threat ‘increasing your risk of heart attack', experts warn
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) CALL it "Sunday scaries" or "Monday blues", dreading the start of a new week can trigger long-term stress and take a toll on your heart health, scientists warn. The anxiety isn't just workplace related - retirees also displayed signs of heightened stress on Mondays after they'd stopped working. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 Feeling stressed on Mondays doesn't stop when you retire, researchers found Credit: Getty Researchers from the University of Hong Kong dubbed this the "Anxious Monday" effect. It suggests dysregulation of the body's stress management system - which is known to drive heart disease - is linked to the start of the week, regardless of work status, researchers said. Previous research has shown a 19 per cent increase in heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths on Mondays, the study authors also pointed out. They believe spikes in Monday heart attacks were unlikely to be random. Lead author Professor Tarani Chandola from the department of sociology, faculty of social sciences at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), said: 'Mondays act as a cultural 'stress amplifier'. 'For some older adults, the week's transition triggers a biological cascade that lingers for months. "This isn't about work - it's about how deeply ingrained Mondays are in our stress physiology, even after careers end." Feelings of stress and anxiety are linked to cardiovascular disease through a key biological mechanism called hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation. The HPA axis is the body's main way of responding to stress and results in the release of cortisol - known as the stress hormone - in the body. HPA axis dysregulation is characterised by excessive levels of cortisol production, which has previously been linked to a higher risk of heart disease and death, researchers explained. Feeling stressed Watch our 4-minute at-home yoga workout scientifically proven to reduce anxiety and tension It's also known to contribute to hypertension, insulin resistance, and immune dysfunction. The study team set out to examine whether "HPA-axis dysregulation is greater on Mondays than on other days, and whether this association is greater for working compared to non-working adults", they wrote in the Journal of Affective Disorders. They assessed data from over 3,500 older adults taking part in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, including hair samples that showed cortisol levels in participants' bodies. People who reported feeling more anxious on Mondays had 23 per cent higher cortisol levels in their hair samples than those who felt anxious on other days. This was also seen among retirees, challenging assumptions that workplace stress alone explains "Monday blues". When stress is something to worry about For many of us, stress can be a part of our daily life - to the point that we don't pick up on red flags until it's too late. Stress can affect you physically and mentally, as well as causing changes to your behaviour, the NHS notes. You may experience some of the following signs when struggling with stress: Headaches or dizziness Muscle tension or pain Stomach problems Chest pain or a faster heartbeat Sexual problems Difficulty concentrating Struggling to make decisions Feeling overwhelmed Constantly worrying Being forgetful Being irritable and snappy Sleeping too much or too little Eating too much or too little Avoiding certain places or people Drinking or smoking more If stress is taking a toll on your life, that's a sign to seek help for it. Try talking about your feelings to a friend, family member or health professional. You could also contact Samaritans, call: 116 123 or email: jo@ if you need someone to talk to If you need more support, you can get free talking therapies like cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) on the NHS. You can refer yourself directly to an NHS talking therapies service without a referral from a GP. Source: NHS Researchers concluded: 'This study found strong evidence for an association between reporting anxiety on Mondays and HPA-axis dysregulation. 'The anxious Monday association with HPA-axis dysregulation measured subsequently was evident among both working and nonworking older adults, with no reduction in the association among those not at work." The findings suggest social patterns - not just job demands - embed themselves in human physiology, with lasting health risks, researchers said. Previous studies have pointed to higher stress hormone levels among people on weekdays versus weekends, but the latest research is the first to pinpoint Mondays as uniquely disruptive. Researchers hope addressing Monday-specific stressors could pave the way for new strategies to combat heart disease. "Hospitals and clinics need to plan for increased CVD events on Mondays," they also suggested. "Most people should adapt to their feelings of Monday anxiety over their working life course. "However, for some people, there is a lack of adaptation to Monday anxiety, and this does not appear to diminish when they stop working."
Scottish Sun
18 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Win a copy of Notes On Infinity by Austin Taylor in this week's Fabulous book competition
Scroll down to enter DEEPLY POIGNANT Win a copy of Notes On Infinity by Austin Taylor in this week's Fabulous book competition Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) WHEN Zoe and Jack meet in a chemistry class at Harvard, it's not just their brains that prove a good match. The pair's work sees them stumble across a new anti-ageing drug that could change the world, and fame and fortune beckon. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 10 lucky Fabulous readers will win a copy of this new novel in this week's book competition But an accusation threatens everything they've worked for. . . If you liked Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow, you'll love this! 10 lucky Fabulous readers will win a copy of this new novel in this week's book competition. To win a copy, enter using the form below by 11:59pm on July 26, 2025. For full terms and conditions, click here.
