Black is the original or «normal» skin color for humans — lighter skin colors evolved in the last few tens of thousands of years as populations adapted to higher latitudes. (religion.blogs.cnn.com)
«It is fascinating to see direct evidence that these archaic species did exist (alongside us) and it's only for the last few tens of thousands of years that is unique in our history that we are alone on this planet and we have no close relatives with us anymore,» he said. (bbc.com)
Neanderthal bones found in a Spanish cave have been dated to 430,000 years ago, suggesting their ancestors left Africa nearly half a million years ago and ventured across Europe as far as southern Siberia before dying out only a few tens of thousands of years ago. (businessinsider.com)