The results showed a mix of features. The skull vault curved like that of Homo sapiens. But the intracranial blood supply system, lower jaw, and inner ear structure resembled Neanderthals.

“This discovery reveals the world’s earliest known human fossil showing morphological traits of both of these human groups,” the researchers said. They added that the skeleton is “the result of continuous genetic infiltration from the local—and older—Neanderthal population into the Homo sapiens population.”

Prof. Hershkovitz noted that modern genetic studies confirm Neanderthal DNA still exists in humans today. “Even today, 40,000 years after the last Neanderthals disappeared, part of our genome—2 to 6 percent—is of Neanderthal origin,” he said. “But these gene exchanges took place much later, between 60,000 to 40,000 years ago. Here, we are dealing with a human fossil that is 140,000 years old.”