Upper Paleolithic

There were three waves of modern humans who migrated from the Levant into Europe between 54,000 and 42,000 years ago

Scientists studied genetic samples from more than 7,000 people and linked three genetic variants, inherited from Neanderthals

The oldest known cave engravings in France, and possibly Europe, have been discovered in the Loire Valley, with researchers uncovering designs dating back at least 57,000 years to the age of Neanderthals.

According to the findings, reported on June 21 the American journal PLOS One, the engravings, also called finger-flutings, predate the arrival of Homo sapiens to Western Europe.

A hillside dwelling overlooking the picturesque Rhone Valley in southern France proved irresistible for our ancestors, attracting both Neanderthals and modern humans long before the latter were thought to have reached that part of Europe, a new study suggests.

They used other Neanderthal skulls and previously collected data on Neanderthal eye, skin, and hair color to assist with the facial details

What makes humans unique? Scientists have taken another step toward solving an enduring mystery with a new tool that may allow for more precise comparisons between the DNA of modern humans and that of our extinct ancestors.

Scientists have found bones in a Bulgarian cave that show modern humans may have arrived in Europe thousands of years earlier than previously thought, at a time when the region had long been home to Neanderthals.

Humans have unusually globular (or round) skulls and brains compared to our ancient ancestors -- including our closest extinct cousins the Neanderthals -- and a new study provides a possible explanation as to why, reports CNN. 

Scientists say they've found the remains of a prehistoric female whose mother was a Neanderthal and whose father belonged to another extinct group of human relatives known as Denisovans.

AFP - Denny was an inter-species love child.

Her mother was a Neanderthal, but her father was Denisovan, a distinct species of primitive human that also roamed the Eurasian continent 50,000 years ago, scientists reported Wednesday in the journal Nature.