The jawbone of a human who lived between 42,000 and 37,000 years ago showed some Neanderthal features. 
 
 One of the earliest modern humans in Europe had a surprisingly recent Neanderthal ancestor, revealing the two species likely interbred there, according to a new study. 
 
 The Neanderthal relative was so close to the modern human on the family tree that it could have been the equivalent of a great-great-grandparent, the research suggests. 
 
 The finding is revising scientists' understanding of when and where humans and Neanderthals interbred, as it suggests humans had sex with Neanderthals more recently than was previously known. 
 
 The new analysis focuses on a jawbone from Oase 1, an early modern human found in Peștera cu Oase ("Cave with Bones") in southwestern Romania in 2002. Anatomically modern humans populated Europe between 45,000 and 35,000 years ago. Oase 1 lived sometime between 42,000 and 37,000 years ago, making him one of Europe's earliest modern humans. [See Photos of Humanity's Closest Relative] 
 
 DNA extracted from the Oase 1 jawbone showed one of its human ancestors interbred with a Neanderthal. Credit: MPI f. Evolutionary Anthropology/Paabo 
 
 The researchers chose to study Oase 1 because the jaw showed some Neanderthal characteristics. The skull of another early human, Oase 2, found nearby also appeared to have Neanderthal traits. 
 
 The large spans of Neanderthal-like segments in Oase 1's genome indicate that one of his human ancestors interbred with a Neanderthal less than 200 years before he lived. 
 
 "One of Oase 1's fourth- to sixth-degree relatives was a Neanderthal," study co-author Qiaomei Fu, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Medical School Department of Genetics, told Live Science. 
 
 Evidence of interbreeding 
 
 The new finding builds on work led by Svante Pääbo, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and Harvard University's David Reich, which, in 2010, resulted in the first Neanderthal genome ever sequenced. The landmark study answered the long-standing question of whether Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis interbred before humanity's closest relatives went extinct about 35,000 years ago. It showed that interbreeding likely did happen, with Neanderthals contributing roughly 1 to 4 percent of the genomes of all humans living today outside of sub-Saharan Africa. 
 
 In the new analysis, an international team of researchers, including Pääbo and Reich, found that 6 to 9.4 percent of Oase 1's nuclear DNA (located inside a cell's nucleus) was derived from Neanderthals — a higher percentage than has been found in any other modern human genome sequenced so far. 
 
 "The Oase 1 genome has several big Neanderthal-like segments, which is a quite lucky and unexpected thing," Fu said. 
 
 The Neanderthal contribution to the Oase 1 genome is between 2.3- and 3.6-fold larger than the Neanderthal DNA found in the genomes of populations living today outside sub-Saharan Africa and those of four other early modern humans from Russia and Luxembourg whose genomes have been sequenced. One of those ancient humans is even older than Oase 1, Fu said. 
 
 Where the action happened 
 
 The size of Neanderthal segments in human DNA suggest that the two species mated 37,000 to 86,000 years ago. But where and how often they did so have remained a mystery. 
 
 East Asians and Native Americans have more Neanderthal DNA than Europeans, suggesting that more interbreeding happened with the ancestors of eastern non-Africans than with Europeans, the authors wrote in their paper, published today (June 22) in the journal Nature. Until now, there's been little genetic evidence that early humans interbred with Neanderthals once they got to Europe. 
 
 "Analyses of present-day genomes have not yielded any evidence that Neanderthals mixed with modern humans in Europe, despite the fact that Neanderthals were numerous there and cultural interactions between the two groups have been proposed," Fu said. 
 
 However, the new study is changing that: The proximity of a Neanderthal to Oase 1 on the family tree suggests the two species continued interbreeding long after humans first left Africa and entered the Near East. Humans and Neanderthals were mating "later as well, and probably in Europe," the authors wrote. 
 
 However, Oase 1 didn't leave much of a mark on Europe. He shared more gene variants with present-day East Asians and Native Americans than with Europeans, even though he lived in Europe, the researchers said. 
 
 "He may have been a member of an initial early modern human population that interbred with Neanderthals but did not contribute much to later European populations," Fu said. 
 
 Follow Jennifer Abbasi on Twitter. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. ||||| A jawbone unearthed in Romania of a man who lived about 40,000 years ago is shown in this handout photo provided by Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany June 21, 2015. 
 
 WASHINGTON You may not know it, but you probably have some Neanderthal in you. For people around the world, except sub-Saharan Africans, about 1 to 3 percent of their DNA comes from Neanderthals, our close cousins who disappeared roughly 39,000 years ago. 
 
 Scientists said on Monday a jawbone unearthed in Romania, of a man who lived about 40,000 years ago, boasts the most Neanderthal ancestry ever seen in a member of our species. 
 
 The finding that also indicates that interbreeding with Neanderthals occurred much more recently than previously known. 
 
 "We show that one of the very first modern humans that is known from Europe had a Neanderthal ancestor just four to six generations back in his family tree," said geneticist Svante Pääbo of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. 
 
 "He carries more Neanderthal DNA than any other present-day or ancient modern human seen to date." 
 
 Harvard Medical School geneticist David Reich said 6 to 9 percent of this individual's genome derived from a Neanderthal ancestor. 
 
 The study, published in the journal Nature, indicates that our species interbred with Neanderthals in Europe as well, not just in the Middle East as previously thought, Pääbo said. 
 
 Previous research suggested this interbreeding occurred 50,000 to 60,000 years ago, before our species, arising in Africa, trekked into Europe, Asia and beyond. 
 
 "Modern humans arrive in Europe after 43,000 years ago, and Neanderthals went extinct by 39,000 years ago," Reich said. 
 
 The scientists said a Neanderthal was among the individual's ancestors as recently as perhaps 100 to 150 years. 
 
 Reich said genetic analysis showed the individual, a hunter-gatherer, was from a "pioneer population" that entered Europe but did not contribute much or anything at all genetically to later Europeans. 
 
 "This is interesting because it means that Europe has not been continuously occupied by the same lineages ever since the first waves of migration of modern humans into Europe," Reich said. 
 
 The robust, large-browed Neanderthals prospered across Europe and Asia from about 350,000 years ago till shortly after 40,000 years ago, disappearing in the period after Homo sapiens arrived. 
 
 Despite an outdated reputation as our dimwitted cousins, scientists say Neanderthals were highly intelligent, as shown by their complex hunting methods, likely use of spoken language and symbolic objects, and sophisticated use of fire. 
 
 The lower jawbone was found in 2002 in Oase Cave in southwestern Romania. Previous attempts to extract DNA were unsuccessful but recent technological advances facilitated the new findings. 
 
 (Editing by Bernadette Baum)
– A jawbone found in Romania more than a decade ago provides the first genetic evidence that humans and Neanderthals knocked boots in Europe before the latter disappeared between 35,000 and 40,000 years ago. Scientists who came across the bone of one of the earliest modern humans in Europe in a cave known as Pestera cu Oase noticed it had both modern human and Neanderthal traits. Now, a study of the bone's DNA—made possible by recent technological advances—explains why. "The sample is more closely related to Neanderthals than any other modern human we've ever looked at before," Harvard researcher David Reich explains in a press release. "We estimate that 6% to 9% of its genome is from Neanderthals. This is an unprecedented amount." In comparison, all people except sub-Saharan Africans share 1% to 4% of their DNA with Neanderthals today. DNA in the fossil, which is 37,000 to 42,000 years old, suggests the Oase individual had a Neanderthal ancestor four to six generations back, reports Reuters. In other words, a great-great-grandparent might've been a Neanderthal, notes LiveScience. That shows interbreeding occurred far more recently than scientists had guessed; they initially thought interbreeding took place only in the Middle East between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago. "It's an incredibly unexpected thing," Reich says. "In the last few years, we've documented interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans, but we never thought we'd be so lucky to find someone so close to that event." You aren't likely to share any DNA with the jawbone's owner, however. Reich says the hunter-gatherer was from a "pioneer population" that entered Europe but "didn't give rise to the later population." (The oldest Neanderthal DNA is some 150,000 years old.)