Three Ancient Interbreeding Waves Reframe Neanderthals as Part of Us
A Princeton team led by Joshua Akey used IBDmix to compare modern humans with Neanderthals and Denisovans, revealing three interbreeding pulses roughly 200–250k, 120k, and 50–60k years ago. The finding suggests Neanderthals weren’t simply extinct but were repeatedly absorbed into the human lineage, with about 2.5–3.7% of non-African DNA of Neanderthal origin and bidirectional gene flow between the groups, reshaping the extinction narrative with a long, complex history of contact.