How modern humans co-existed with Neanderthals

By Mark Waghorn via SWNS

Modern humans co-existed with Neanderthals in Europe for up to 3,000 years, according to new research.

Analysis of dozens of artefacts shows they overlapped in France and northern Spain for much longer than previously thought.

Distinctive stone knives suggest they shared primitive technologies and may even have interbred.

Computer modeling found the two species lived side by side for between 1,400 and 2,900 years.

Lead author Igor Djakovic, a PhD student at Leiden University, The Netherlands, said it is the first evidence of direct encounters "at any regional scale."

Despite their stocky frames and heavy brows, Neanderthals were remarkably like us and occupied Europe for more than 300,000 years.

This is about 200,000 years longer than Homo sapiens roamed Earth. Evidence of them vanishes around 28,000 years ago.

Mr. Djakovic said: "It indicates our understanding of the timing of these occupations may not be suffering from substantial gaps in the record.

"Whether or not this co-existence featured some form of direct interaction, however, remains to be resolved."

Recent fossil evidence suggests modern humans and Neanderthals may have co-existed for as long as 5,000 to 6,000 years.

But there is currently little evidence for their co-existence at a local level. It is difficult to establish when the two species first appeared and disappeared in these areas.

The international team scanned a dataset of 66 Neanderthal and modern human relics from 17 archaeological sites well as an additional ten Neanderthal specimens.

The researchers used complex statistical equations to estimate the date ranges and the populations responsible.

It enabled them to infer the earliest and latest times humans might have been present - filling in missing portions of the archaeological record.

They found Neanderthal artefacts first appeared between 45,343 and 44,248 years ago, and disappeared between 39,894 and 39,798 years ago.

The date of the Neanderthal extinction, based on directly-dated Neanderthal remains, was between 40,870 and 40,457 years ago.

Modern humans were estimated to first appear between 42,653 and 42,269 years ago - suggesting a co-existence of 1,400 to 2,900 years.

Mr Djakovic said: "This is largely consistent with previous estimates, and reaffirms the duration of co-existence between these groups during the early western European Upper Palaeolithic."

Between 40 and 50,000 years ago, the demographic landscape of Europe is transformed as Neanderthals are replaced by modern humans and disappeared from the fossil record.

Recent evidence from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and south-eastern France indicates the first arrivals occurred at least 45,000 years ago - and possibly as far back as 54,000 years.

Mr Djakovic: "At a continental scale, this would suggest a possible overlap of upwards of 14,000 years between these human species.

"Yet, little is known about the nature, timing, and specific geographic areas of interaction between Neandertals and Homo sapiens during this critical period in human evolutionary history.

"For example, genetic data has shown there to be notable variation in the presence of recent Neanderthal ancestry in early modern humans in Europe.

"Although the sample size is limited it is interesting to note that no late European Neanderthals have yet exhibited evidence of a recent modern human ancestor.

"One possible explanation for this pattern is that, at least in some regions, the first modern humans to colonise Europe may not have directly encountered Neanderthals."

Up to two percent of DNA carried by Europeans is inherited from Neanderthals who interbred with their ancient ancestors.

Mr Djakovic said: "Taken together, these observations strengthen the proposition that the initial Upper Palaeolithic in this region likely involved a period of co-existence
between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens."

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.