It has long been thought that both H. Neanderthal and H. Sapiens descended from H. Heidelbergenesis with the split on the order of 300,000 years ago. Now a new study reported in Phys.org claims that the split was much further back, around 1 million years, and that the common ancestor is not among the species that we have fossils for.

The authors reached this conclusion based on their study a large selection of fossil teeth. Teeth have long been considered as good indicators of species. The authors say "No known hominin species matches the expected dental morphology of the last common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans".

This of course also disagrees with genetic studies, so the claim will not go undisputed.

Bill Gill

C is not the speed of light in a vacuum.
C is the universal speed limit.