Archaeologists Unearth the Lost World of MOUNTAIN Neanderthals

Homo neanderthalensis—often considered by some scholars to be a subspecies of modern humans under the name ‘Homo sapiens neanderthalensis’—was a late archaic human lineage that split from the ancestors of modern humans no earlier than 500,000 years ago. By around 40,000 years ago, Neanderthals had largely disappeared from Europe and western Asia.

However, some of the last surviving Neanderthals may have not lived in Europe but in the remote mountains of Iran or Afghanistan. In fact, Neanderthals were roaming all over the Persian Empire sometime between 40,000 to 70 thousand years ago before disappearing from the archaeological record.

SOURCES:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles...
https://archaeologymag.com/2024/05/45...
https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/...
Transcript