28,000-year-old Neanderthal-and-human 'Lapedo child' lived tens of thousands of years after our closest relatives went extinct

Skeleton of a Neanderthal-human hybrid emerging from the ground of a rock shelter.

The skeleton of a child with both Neanderthal and modern-human features has been dated to around 28,000 years ago, according to new research that used a new chemical method to pull off the feat.

The new dates, which range from 25,830 to 26,600 B.C., change what archaeologists initially thought about the burial rituals surrounding the "Lapedo child" in what is now Portugal.