Neanderthals Likely Lived in Small, Isolated Groups, Scientists Say

Noted: A subsequent study, however, asserted that Neanderthals and modern humans rarely mated with each other, if ever, and that their similar genomes were simply the result of having a common ancestor. ?We don?t know where, and we don?t know when, and we don?t know how often,? John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said in reference to interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans. Some scientists want to believe it was essentially an unrepeated ?one-night stand,? he added, while others want to believe that ?every time they met they couldn?t keep their hands off each other.?