The first-ever published research on Tinshemet Cave reveals that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens in the mid-Middle Paleolithic Levant not only coexisted but actively interacted, sharing technology, lifestyles,

“Most of the hominins that we see during this period of time are hybrids ,” study author Professor Yossi Zaidner told IFLScience. “They have a uniform culture because they learn from each other, but they're coming from different genetic pools or biological groups, which are mixed together here.”

Homo sapiens and Neanderthals not only interacted but shared customs, suggesting that our human ancestors had a far more complex social network of connections than previously understood. Hailed as a groundbreaking discovery in prehistoric archaeology,