Neanderthals lived in Europe and Asia before disappearing about 40,000 years ago, around the time H. sapiens moved into Europe from Africa. The research, released Thursday by the journals Science and Science Advances , focused on determining the ages of previously known artifacts. Previous studies had estimated an age of 45,000 to 50,000 years old, too young to rule out a link to H. sapiens. That is some 20,000 to 40,000 years older than comparable artifacts in Africa or western Asia that are attributed to H. sapiens. The finding shows Neanderthals shared symbolic thinking with H. sapiens, and suggests the two species were “indistinguishable” in terms of overall mental ability, the researchers wrote.

Source: National Post February 22, 2018 19:05 UTC