BELIEFS AND CURIOSITIES · DNA AND FOSSILS

Many kinds of humans

Different human species shared the world

Several human species lived at the same times. Some also had offspring with each other.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Image of Many humanities — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · AI-GENERATED IMAGE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction; not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

History and context

Neanderthals, Denisovans and Homo sapiens did not occupy successive rungs of a ladder. Their populations separated, met again and left descendants; other insular and mosaic lineages, such as Homo floresiensis, Homo luzonensis or Homo naledi, break any straight-line narrative even further.

The most surprising effect is inside millions of living people: part of their DNA comes from Pleistocene encounters. But genetics, biological species and cultural identity are not equivalent, and the branches of the diagram keep changing with every find.

Evidence and interpretation

Ancient genomes support several episodes of gene flow. The exact position of numerous fossils and the boundaries between species remain debated.

Catalogue facts

Scale: Middle and Upper Pleistocene
Evidence: Fossils, archaeology and ancient DNA
Key idea: Coexistence and admixture; not linear progress
Limit: Taxonomic categories remain under revision

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

An encounter recorded in a single individual

A small bone fragment from Denisova Cave allowed the identification in 2018 of a daughter of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father. The find does not simply represent inherited percentages across many generations: it documents first-generation offspring between the two groups. The power of genetics contrasts with how little we know of their daily life. It does not preserve their names, language or social relationship. Biological kinship proves a reproductive encounter; it does not authorise writing a biography or an alliance between communities.

Research · Max Planck Society · Ancient encounters between Neandertals and Denisovans, 2018Access recorded: September 5, 2026.

Sources and references

Find out more

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