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WE KNOW WE HAD SEX WITH NEANDERTHALS, AND WE KNOW A LOT ABOUT IT. It's amazing that, even 40,000+ years later, we can flesh out a great deal of detail about this event - all from the study of ancient DNA. First of all, it wasn't an event - it happened quite a few times, and in multiple places in Eurasia. Because Neanderthal Y (male) chromosomes no longer show up, researchers can tell that male hybrids rarely survived or they were infertile. This is likely because Neanderthal populations were sparse, and inbreeding had seriously compromised their genetics. Early on, the Neanderthal Y began to be replaced by the healthier Homo sapiens one. The same fate appears to have befallen Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA (which is only passed from mothers to their daughters). For probably the same reasons, it was gradually replaced by Homo sapiens mtDNA sometime between 270,000 and 100,000 years ago. We can also tell that Neanderthals almost certainly gave us the dangerous form of genital warts, and we gave them herpes. The genetics suggest that Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans were mostly monogamous, but Neanderthals perhaps a little less so. It appears that all three cultures were largely patrilineal, that is, women generally left their family home to go with their partners. To me, it's MIND-BLOWING what we're learning from the study of ancient DNA - things we would never know otherwise. You can find more on this in the Paleo Human Mysteries series on YouTube. Here's the related article: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210112-heres-what-sex-with-neanderthals-was-like