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When did Neanderthals first encounter modern humans in the Levant?

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Neanderthal Artist's rendering of Homo neanderthalensis, who ranged from western Europe to Central Asia for some 100,000 years before dying out approximately 30,000 years ago.

The oldest fossil evidence indicating that Neanderthals and early modern humans (H. sapiens) inhabited the same location contemporaneously in the Levant is a human skull discovered in a cave in western Galilee, Israel, dated to 55,000 years ago. This discovery suggests that the two groups may have first encountered one another at that time.12

While fossil records from sites such as Tabūn, Skhūl, and Qafzeh document an alternating occupation of the region spanning tens of thousands of years, there is no definitive evidence of direct temporal coexistence prior to this period. It is believed that these groups practiced a form of ecological separation, with Neanderthals moving into the region from the north during cold phases and early modern humans advancing from Africa during warmer intervals.31