Grotte Mandrin is the only known site to have been home to alternating groups of both Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis. “The Thorin population spent 50,000 years without exchanging genes with other Neanderthal populations,” Slimak said in a news release. DNA from Homo sapiens fossils from that time show that these early arrivals interbred with Neanderthals — traces of those encounters remain in present-day human populations. Archaeologists have excavated more of Thorin’s remains: 31 teeth, part of the jaw and five finger bones, so far. It’s the only known site to have been home to alternating groups of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, plus the earliest evidence of bow and arrow use outside Africa.

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Persons: Ludovic Slimak, Thorin, ”, Slimak, “, Mandrin, ” Slimak, Ludovic, sapiens, Chris Stringer, wasn’t, ” Stringer, ” It’s, Grotte Mandrin Organizations: CNN, France’s National, for Scientific Research, Paul Sabatier University, Genomics Locations: Rhône, Toulouse, Western Europe, Europe, Grotte, Malataverne, France, Thorin’s, Africa