Scientists Date Remains of Ancient Child that Resembles Both Humans, Neanderthals

This photo provided by João Zilhão shows forearm bone fragments belonging to an ancient child that appeared to have features from both humans and Neanderthals. (João Zilhão via AP)
This photo provided by João Zilhão shows forearm bone fragments belonging to an ancient child that appeared to have features from both humans and Neanderthals. (João Zilhão via AP)
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Scientists Date Remains of Ancient Child that Resembles Both Humans, Neanderthals

This photo provided by João Zilhão shows forearm bone fragments belonging to an ancient child that appeared to have features from both humans and Neanderthals. (João Zilhão via AP)
This photo provided by João Zilhão shows forearm bone fragments belonging to an ancient child that appeared to have features from both humans and Neanderthals. (João Zilhão via AP)

Scientists have dated the skeleton of an ancient child that caused a stir when it was first discovered because it carries features from both humans and Neanderthals.
The child's remains were discovered 27 years ago in a rock shelter called Lagar Velho in central Portugal. The nearly complete skeleton was stained red, and scientists think it may have been wrapped in a painted animal skin before burial.
When the humanlike child was discovered, scientists noted that some of their attributes — including body proportions and jawbone — looked Neanderthal. The researchers suggested that the child was descended from populations in which humans and Neanderthals mated and mixed. That was a radical notion at the time, but advances in genetics have since proven those populations existed — and people today still carry Neanderthal DNA.
But trying to figure out when exactly the child lived has been difficult. Small roots had grown through the bones and contamination — from plants or other sources — made it impossible for scientists to use traditional carbon dating to measure the child's age. They instead dated the charcoal and animal bones around the skeleton to between 27,700 and 29,700 years ago.
Techniques have improved, and researchers reported Friday in the journal Science Advances that they were able to date the skeleton by measuring part of a protein that's found primarily in human bones, The Associated Press reported.
Examining part of a crushed arm, they revealed that the earlier estimate was in the ballpark: the skeleton was from between 27,700 and 28,600 years ago.
“Being able to successfully date the child felt like giving them back a tiny piece of their story, which is a huge privilege,” said Bethan Linscott, a study author now at the University of Miami, in an email.
She noted the initial discovery was more than a skeleton — it was also the grave of a young child. When dating the bones, she couldn’t help but wonder who loved the child, what made them laugh and what their world looked like in the short four years they walked the planet.
Paul Pettitt, an archaeologist at Durham University in England who was not involved with the new research said in an email that the study is an example of how dating methods are becoming more effective and helping scientists better understand the past.
The study of where humans came from is important “for the same reason we keep the portraits of our parents and grandparents,” said study author João Zilhão from the University of Lisbon.
“It's a way of remembering,” he said.



Bull Sharks Linger in Warming Sydney Waters

A man watches large waves on Bondi Beach in Sydney on July 2, 2025, as large swells and high winds hit the east coast of Australia. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)
A man watches large waves on Bondi Beach in Sydney on July 2, 2025, as large swells and high winds hit the east coast of Australia. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)
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Bull Sharks Linger in Warming Sydney Waters

A man watches large waves on Bondi Beach in Sydney on July 2, 2025, as large swells and high winds hit the east coast of Australia. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)
A man watches large waves on Bondi Beach in Sydney on July 2, 2025, as large swells and high winds hit the east coast of Australia. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)

Bull sharks are lingering off Sydney's beaches for longer periods each year as oceans warm, researchers said Friday, predicting they may one day stay all year.

The predators are migratory, swimming north in winter when Sydney's long-term ocean temperatures dip below 19 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit) to bask in the balmier waters off Queensland.

A team of scientists looked at 15 years of acoustic tracking of 92 tagged migratory sharks in an area including Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbour.

Records show the sharks now spend an average of 15 days longer off Sydney's coast in summer than they did in 2009, said James Cook University researcher Nicolas Lubitz.

"If they're staying longer, it means that people and prey animals have a longer window of overlap with them."

Shark attacks are rare in ocean-loving Australia, and most serious bites are from three species: bull sharks, great whites, and tiger sharks, according to a national database.

There have been more than 1,200 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which over 250 resulted in death.

Researchers found an average warming of 0.57C in Bondi for the October-May period between 2006 and 2024, said the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science of The Total Environment.

Over a longer period, remotely sensed summer sea-surface temperatures in the area rose an average 0.67C between 1982 and 2024, they said.

"If this trend persists, which it likely will, it just means that these animals are going to spend more and more time towards their seasonal distributional limit, which currently is southern and central New South Wales," Lubitz said.

"So it could be that a few decades from now, maybe bull sharks are present year-round in waters off Sydney," he added.

"While the chances of a shark bite, and shark bites in Australia in general, remain low, it just means that people have to be more aware of an increased window of bull shark presence in coastal waters off Sydney."

Climate change could also change breeding patterns, Lubitz said, with early evidence indicating juvenile sharks were appearing in rivers further south.

There was some evidence as well that summer habitats for great whites, which prefer colder waters, were decreasing in northern New South Wales and Queensland, he said.

Tagged sharks trigger an alarm when they swim within range of a network of receivers dotted around parts of the Australian coast, giving people real-time warnings on a mobile app of their presence at key locations.