A reexamination of ancient human bones from Romania reveals more
evidence that humans and Neandertals interbred. Erik Trinkaus,
Ph.D., Washington University Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor in
Arts & Sciences, and colleagues radiocarbon-dated and analyzed
the shapes of human bones from Romania's Pe¨tera Muierii (Cave
of the Old Woman). The fossils, discovered in 1952, add to the
small number of early modern human remains from Europe known to
be more than 28,000 years old. Results were published in the
current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Science. The team found that the fossils were 30,000 years old
and principally have the diagnostic skeletal features of modern
humans. They also found that the remains had other features
known, among potential ancestors, primarily among the preceding
Neandertals, providing more evidence there was mixing of humans
and Neandertals as modern humans dispersed across Europe about
35,000 years ago. Their analysis of one skeleton's shoulder
blade also shows th