The 'Panel of Hands' stencils in the El Castillo Cave, Spain, are believed older than 40,800 years. Credit:AP/File

Their disappearance followed the arrival of Homo sapiens, ancestors of people living today, from Africa.

Evidence shows that the two kinds of humans interbred, and up to four per cent of the DNA of modern Europeans and Asians is believed to have been inherited from Neanderthals.

The bones uncovered from the Goyet caves near Namur in Belgium bore cut marks, pits and notches signifying butchery, said researchers writing in the journal Scientific Reports.

It appears to have been a thorough process.