Neanderthal rethink follows new analysis of old bones

Neanderthal bones from the Vindija cave in Croatia have been dated using an a more reliable radiocarbon dating technique, which has suggested they are more than 40,000 years old. Previous dating put the bones at around 28,000 years old, which raised the possibility they belonged to a late-surviving group of Neanderthals that may have overlapped – and interacted or even mated with – modern humans. Early human bones with a similar age have also been found at Vindija, as have mid-Palaeolithic tools and other archaeological artefacts.