Humans and Neanderthals lived together in Europe for 2,000 years!

When humans first arrived on the European continent some 42,500 years ago, the Neanderthals were still living there and would remain there for another 1,400 to 2,900 years before finally disappearing from the face of the earth. When humans moved in, the Neanderthals didn’t move out, but stayed where they were and apparently lived peacefully alongside their relatives, Homo sapien, for a couple of centuries for about 2,000 years.

This was the conclusion reached by a trio of scientists from Leiden University in the Netherlands and the University of Cambridge in the UK, who used a unique and sophisticated modeling method known as optimal linear estimation to more accurately determine when Neanderthals actually lived in western Europe. The evidence the archaeologists examined was collected from several dig sites in France and northern Spain, where human and Neanderthal artifacts have proven relatively easy to find.

Speleofacts ring structure built by Neanderthals in Bruniquel Cave, France. (Luc-Henri Fage/SSAC/ CC BY-SA 3.0 )

The results of this study just published in the journal Scientific Reports , offer no evidence that humans and Neanderthals fused their genetic material 42,500 years ago. However, previous research has proven that the human genome contains pieces of Neanderthal DNA that could only have gotten there if the two hominin species had eventually interbred. People of European descent are among those who carry Neanderthal genetic material, so at least some of this interbreeding must have occurred on European soil.

The Amazing Convergence of Humans and Neanderthals

Igor Djakovic, an archeology PhD student at Leiden University and lead author of the Scientific Reports newspaper, in an interview with French news agency AFP, concedes that humans and Neanderthals “met and integrated in Europe” at some point in the distant past, before adding that “we have no idea in which specific regions this is actually happening.” is”.

Scientists have also struggled to identify the exact years when humans and Neanderthals coexisted in Europe, and that’s exactly what the scientists in the Leiden University-led study were trying to find out.

To apply their sophisticated modeling techniques to the question, the scientists collected radiocarbon dating results associated with 56 artifacts from 17 archaeological sites across France and northern Spain. Half of these artifacts had been associated with Neanderthals, while the other half had been left by humans. The artifacts in question included skeletal remains of both species, as well as various types of tools, including distinctive stone knives believed to have been made by Neanderthals.

Distinctive stone knives believed to have been made by the last Neanderthals in France and northern Spain. This specific and standardized technology is unknown in previous Neanderthal records and may indicate a spread of technological behavior between them homo sapiens and Neanderthals immediately prior to their disappearance from the region. ( Igor Djakovic)

The idea was to cross-reference all of this legacy material, first through statistical Bayesian modeling and then through optimal linear estimation modeling, to look for signs of overlapping activity. Optimal linear estimation modeling is a technique originally developed for use in biology and has now been repurposed for the study and dating of human remains and artifacts (and in this case Neanderthal remains and artifacts as well) to relatively short time periods.

In this study, Baynesian modeling has so far only been able to narrow the potential date ranges, but an optimal linear estimate allowed the scientists to achieve much further refinement.

When the final numbers were determined, the data showed that Neanderthals became extinct in the region of France and northern Spain between 40,870 and 40,547 years ago, a time span spanning just over three hundred years. It has now been confirmed that modern humans first migrated to this part of Europe around 42,500 years ago. With some discrepancies in the approximate timeframe for human arrival, the researchers concluded that modern humans and Neanderthals inhabited the same geographic region between 1,400 and 2,900 years ago, after which Neanderthals disappeared forever.

Geographical appearance of dated occurrences for the Châtelperronian (grey circles – Neanderthal stone tools), Protoaurignacian (white squares – Homo sapiens stone tools), and directly dated Neanderthals (black skulls) in the study region between 43,400 (a) and 39,400 (f) years cal BP . (Djakovic, I., Key, A. & M. Soressi / Nature 2022 )

To hand over knowledge

Although there is no proof, it is reasonable to conclude that interbreeding between the two genetically compatible species would have occurred at this time and place. Perhaps just as significantly, according to Djakovic, there are signs that an extensive “diffusion of ideas” was taking place, meaning that there was a clash of cultures and a clash of minds that accompanied the physical encounters.

This period is associated with “major changes in the way people produce material culture,” including the way they made tools and ornaments, Djakovic explained. He and his colleagues also noted a dramatic change in the nature of the physical artifacts produced by Neanderthals, which began to closely resemble human tools and utensils.

The death of the Neanderthals has been greatly exaggerated

Recent research shows that the DNA of people of European and Asian descent consists of one to two percent Neanderthals. In Africans, Neanderthal DNA is found only in trace amounts, as Africans and Neanderthals did not come into contact with each other before the latter became extinct.

Regarding the extinction of the Neanderthals, Igor Djakovic advocates rethinking the concept.

“Combining that with what we know today – that most people on Earth have Neanderthal DNA – you could argue that in a sense they never really went extinct,” Djakovic said. Instead, he hypothesized, they were “effectively swallowed up into our gene pool,” where they continue to exert a small but real impact on human genetic development to this day.

It remains a mystery why Neanderthals were unable to breed and produce enough offspring between themselves to maintain their viability as a distinct species after human contact. Many different theories have been offered, but none are universally accepted.

Through genetic exchange with humans, however, they were able to ensure their survival in a different form. They are like a shadow in us, still preserved and never to be completely forgotten.

Picture above: A new study shows that humans and Neanderthals lived together in Europe for 2000 years. Source: athree23 / CC BY-SA 4.0

By Nathan Falde