The remains of the first known ancient human hybrid, the offspring of a Neanderthal and a Denisovan, were discovered in 2012 and confirmed through ancient DNA analysis in 2018.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by peer-reviewed Nature publication (Slon et al. 2018) and corroborated by multiple independent journalistic and institutional sources including the Natural History Museum, Nature news, and Smithsonian Magazine. Details on discovery date, location, and hybrid status are consistent across all sources. [cascade flags: wikipedia_dropped_other_sources_exist | tier=silver indep_score=0.867 clusters=3 claim_tier=notable]
Sources
- The biggest scientific breakthroughs of the last 25 years—and ... (seed:science_and_space)
- https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06004-0 (corroboration)
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/meet-denisova-11-first-known-interspecies-hominin-180970114/ (corroboration)
- https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2018/august/ancient-child-from-siberia-was-neanderthal-and-denisovan-hybrid-.html (corroboration)