Earlier studies had hinted at the possibility that the forebears of modern humans had multiple encounters with Neanderthals, but until now hard data was lacking.

更早一些研究已经表明可能现代人的祖先有多次遭遇了尼安德特人，但直到现在还是缺乏有力数据证明。

youdao

Later studies showed that the forebears of modern humans first encountered Neanderthals after expanding out of Africa more than 50,000 years ago.

后来的研究表明，现代人的祖先首次与尼安德特人相遇是在5万多年前走出非洲之后。

youdao

This is evident from DNA studies that prove Neanderthals made a small but significant contribution to the genetics of many modern humans.

BBC: Last-stand Neanderthals queried