Reconstructing Contact and Potential Interbreeding Geographical Zone for Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans

Abstract Whilst the admixture of the Neanderthal and anatomically modern human is precisely proven, due to the shortage of fossils and absence of appropriate DNA, the timing and geography of it, are the subjects of questions. In this study, we applied ecological niche modelling (maximum entropy approach) and GIS to reconstruct Neanderthal and modern human palaeodistribution and identify their contact and potential interbreeding zone during the marine isotope stage 5. We used climatic variables characterising environmental conditions of marine isotope stage 5 ca. 120 to 80 thousand years ago (Kyr) along with topography and coordinates of Neanderthal and modern human archaeological sites to build each species palaeodistribution. Overlapping the models showed that Zagros Mountains was a contact and potential interbreeding zone for the two sub-human species. We believe that Zagros Mountains acted as a corridor connected the Palearctic/Afro-Arabian realms, facilitated northward dispersal of anatomically modern human and southward dispersal of Neanderthal during marine isotope stage 5. Our analyses are comparable with archaeological and genetic evidence collected during the last decades.