Researchers report strong evidence of an interbreeding event between Neanderthals and modern humans occurring around 100,000 years ago, much earlier than any previously documented. The evidence suggests early modern humans left Africa and mixed with now-extinct members of the human family, before the migration 'out of Africa' around 65,000 years ago. It is also evidence of breeding in the 'opposite' direction from that already known, that is, modern human DNA in a Neanderthal genome.

Source: Neanderthals mated with modern humans much earlier than previously thought, study finds