Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted for nearly 3000 years

Our closest relatives, Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted in Europe for a while until the Neanderthals disappeared from the scene about 40,000 years ago. It is certain that there were contacts – also of a sexual nature – because traces of the Neanderthal genome can be found in the modern genome of modern humans. However, it is not entirely clear how long the two human species coexisted and in which regions this was the case.

A study by scientists from the Universities of Leiden (the Netherlands) and Cambridge (UK) published in the journal Scientific Reports sheds new light on this. The team led by archaeologists Igor Djakovic and Marie Soressi analyzed 28 Neanderthals and modern human artifacts at 17 sites in France and northern Spain, among others. There were also ten samples of Neanderthal remains from the same region that some of the youngest directly dated Neanderthal fossils in Europe come from. Improved radiocarbon dating methods allowed the material to be examined more closely.

Using statistical probability models, the researchers then inferred the earliest and latest plausible times when the two populations could have lived in the locations where they were found. According to these estimates, Neanderthal artifacts first appeared in the region between 45,343 and 44,248 years ago and disappeared between 39,894 and 39,798 years ago. Directly dated Neanderthal fossils trace their extinction between 40,870 and 40,457 years ago. The first appearance of modern humans is estimated at 42,653 to 42,269 years. It follows that the two human species coexisted in France and northern Spain for about 1400 to 2900 years, until the Neanderthals became extinct.

The study complements an earlier study that showed that Neanderthal and modern human populations overlap on a continental scale for a total of more than 5,000 years. Of the gay sapiens, modern man, appeared 46,000 years ago in present-day Bulgaria; the Neanderthals lived in France 41,000 years ago, explains Djakovic. Until now, however, it was unclear in which specific parts of Europe they could have lived side by side. The new study now sheds light on France and northern Spain.

It also reveals interesting geographic patterns, according to a statement from Leiden University: The data suggests that groups of modern humans first arrived in the southern parts of the studied region, while Neanderthals lived in the northern parts of the region. This coincides with the statement that the gay sapiens along the Mediterranean coast to what is now France. The smaller and more precisely crafted artifacts of Proto-Aurignacian culture attributed to modern humans spread from south to north, gradually replacing the coarser artifacts of the Châtelperron culture – the last Neanderthal culture in Western Europe.

Previous studies had already postulated that the Châtelperron culture of the Neanderthals was influenced by techniques of the gay sapiens was affected. The new study cannot answer the question of whether and to what extent the similarities found can actually be attributed to a cultural exchange between these two populations. “But the possible coexistence of the groups that produced these artifacts is certainly significant,” the scientists write. Exactly how Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted remains to be elucidated.

What is certain, however, is that earlier assumptions have long since been disproved by more recent research — for example, that Neanderthals were quickly displaced by the immigration of modern humans some 40,000 years ago. The process of their disappearance was longer and more complex than originally thought. And as Djakovic points out, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish the two human species from archaeological data. It’s not that Neanderthals were ever thought to be incapable of the same things as modern humans. (i.e)