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How are Homo heidelbergensis, Neanderthals, and Homo sapiens possibly related?

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Homo sapiens Human beings (Homo sapiens) are anatomically similar and related to the great apes but are distinguished by a more highly developed brain and a resultant capacity for articulate speech and abstract reasoning.

Many researchers consider Homo heidelbergensis to be the common ancestor of both Neanderthals and modern Homo sapiens.1

Under this taxonomic framework, the evolutionary transition from H. heidelbergensis to H. sapiens is believed to have occurred in Africa prior to 300,000 years ago. Meanwhile, populations of H. heidelbergensis that migrated out of Africa into Europe are thought to have undergone a separate diversification, eventually culminating in the evolution of Neanderthals.12

While these lineages diverged, genetic evidence confirms that limited interbreeding occurred between H. sapiens and Neanderthals between 80,000 and 50,000 years ago as modern humans expanded out of Africa. Despite this interaction, the two groups remained morphologically distinct species, with H. sapiens eventually replacing other archaic human populations.21