Boy's skeleton reinforces theory about sexual relations between humans and Neanderthals 1

Boy’s skeleton reinforces theory about sexual relations between humans and Neanderthals

Studies on the origin of the human race and its ancestors are always on the agenda of scientists. Discoveries made through archaeology help scholars understand where we came from, and some of them are revolutionary.

One of the pieces of evidence found that could support a theory was a child’s skeleton. The bones of the Menino de Lapedo, a boy of approximately 4 years old, were found in 1998, in the Lapedo Valley, a region of Portugal located 150 km from Lisbon.

According to the study, the body was buried in that location around 29 thousand years ago.

Boy's skeleton reinforces theory about sexual relations between humans and Neanderthals 4
Virtual reconstruction of the Boy of Lapedo. Image: National Archaeological Museum of Portugal/BBC

Humans and Neanderthals

In addition to being an important discovery due to its age, the skeleton was impressive due to its characteristics. Archaeologist João Zilhão, who led the team of scientists, spoke about the details of the bones in an interview with the BBC.

There was something strange about the child’s anatomy. When we found the jawbone, we knew it was a modern human, but when we exposed the complete skeleton […]we saw that he had the body proportions of a Neanderthal.

The bones found brought to light great evidence about the union of the human species with the Neanderthals. Zilhão stated that:

The only thing that could explain this combination of characteristics is that the child was, in fact, evidence that Neanderthals and modern humans interbred.

New hypothesis

Boy's skeleton reinforces theory about sexual relations between humans and Neanderthals 5Boy's skeleton reinforces theory about sexual relations between humans and Neanderthals 6
Skeleton found by scientists. Image: National Archaeology Museum of Portugal/BBC

With the discovery in 1998, scientists began to work with two hypotheses, one of which was completely contrary to what was thought until then.

Previously, human evolution theorists viewed the human and Neanderthal species as completely distinct, with no possibility of interbreeding.

However, the new idea suggests that the child was not just the result of a cross between a human and a Neanderthal, but that this was something that was common between the two species, which maintained sexual relations with each other.

Finally, João Zilhão commented on the characteristics of the Lapedo Boy resemble many humans living in the same region as your community lived.

“If so many millennia after the time of contact, people living in this part of the world still show anatomical evidence of this ancestral Neanderthal population, it must be because interbreeding did not happen just once, it was the norm.”

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