> ... it confirms the rough timing of the split between the ancestors of modern humans and the ancestors of Neanderthals and Denisovans, which took place about 550,000-600,000 years ago. The Neanderthals and Denisovans became a distinct population about 400,000 years ago.
The sequence also provides a clearer estimate of the amount of Neanderthal DNA that shows up in modern human populations: 1.5 to 2.1 percent. And it confirms that it got there via interbreeding ...