In a recent excavation at Abrigo do Lagar Velho in Portugal, Duarte et al (1999) unearthed what was later to be recognized as early human skeletal remains which pointed to interbreeding between Neanderthal and Modern Humans during the mid - upper Palaeolithic transition. The morphology of the remains, belonging to a child of approximately 3-4 years old, indicates a Neanderthal typology in post-cranial features, and more modern cranial features. The find has been cited as evidence of hybridization between the two traditionally separate human lines, and offers an explanation to the question of Neanderthal extinction. (Trinkaus 1999) Anthropologists are now offered a line of evidence pointing to the contemopranity of Moderns and Neanderthals in parts of Europe and assumptions can be made about their contact:

"The discoverers...are making a ground-breaking claim, that the skeleton shows traces of both Neanderthal and modern human ancestry, evidence that modern humans did not simply extinguish the Neanderthals, as many researchers had come to think. Instead the two kinds of human were so alike that in Portugal, at least, they intermingl

http://www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/danny/anthropology/sci.anthropology.paleo/archive/september-1995/0106.html

1998 Why anatomically modern people did not disperse from Africa 100,000 years ago. In Takera Akazawa, Kenichi Aoki and Ofer Bar-Yosef, editors, Neanderthals and Modern Humans in Western Asia, New York,: Plenum Press, pp. 509-521.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Modern Humans, Middle East, Erik Trinkaus, Neander Valley, Trinkaus They're, Neanderthals Europe, Neanderthals Firstly, Lagar Velho, Thorne Wolpoff1992, RM Harding's, modern humans, press pp, human evolution, modern human, university press, abrigo lagar, abrigo lagar velho, university press pp, erik trinkaus, lagar velho, lagar velho portugal, upper palaeolithic, middle east, trinkaus editor emergence, modern humans western,
Approximate Word count = 2031
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)