A child’s tooth unearthed in a French cave has revealed the first evidence of humans – Homo sapiens – living in Western Europe.
The discovery of the molar at Grotte Mandrin near Malataverne in the Rhône valley of southern France, along with hundreds of stone tools dated to around 54,000 years ago, suggests that early humans lived in Europe around 10,000 years ago. years earlier than archaeologists previously thought.
Furthermore, the Homo sapiens tooth was sandwiched between layers of Neanderthal remains, showing that the two groups of humans coexisted in the region. These findings challenge the narrative that the arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe triggered the extinction of Neanderthals, who lived in Europe and parts of Asia for about 300,000 years before disappearing.
“We often think that the arrival of modern humans in Europe led to the rapid disappearance of Neanderthals, but this new evidence suggests that both the appearance of modern humans in Europe and the disappearance of Neanderthals are much more complex than that,” said co-author of the paper. study, Chris Stringer, professor and research leader in human evolution at the Natural History Museum in London.
This is the first time archaeologists have found evidence of alternating groups of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals living in the same place, and they alternated rapidly, even abruptly, at least twice, according to the study published in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday. -market.
Previously, the arrival of the first humans to Europe was dated to between 43,000 and 45,000 years ago, according to remains found in Italy and Bulgaria – not long before traces of the last surviving Neanderthals, dated to 40,000 to 42,000 years ago. , be found. This time period has led many to think that the arrival of Homo sapiens and the disappearance of Neanderthals were inexorably linked.
Humans and Neanderthals, who we know from genetic analysis, met and had babies, resulting in Neanderthal traits in our DNA overlapping for a much longer period in Europe, this study suggests.
Clues of ancient stone tools
Did humans and Neanderthals live together in this French cave overlooking the Rhône valley? The researchers have no concrete evidence of interaction between the two groups.
The tools found in the layers representing the occupations of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals are distinct in style and show no sign that they taught each other the techniques of carving or chipping stone.
The stone tools associated with humans, known as Neronian tools, are smaller than those used by Neanderthals, known as Mousterian tools.
But the authors believe it is likely that the two groups met in the vicinity, even if direct contact did not occur in this particular cave.
The hundreds of stone tools found at the site suggest that the rock shelter was heavily occupied by both groups of humans – and was not just a place for an occasional stopover.
Surprisingly, the team was able to determine that the period between the relocation of Neanderthals and the first modern humans who moved into the cave 56,000 years ago was just one year. The researchers did this by mapping and analyzing soot deposits from human-made fires in the cave.
“Soot is deposited on the roof of the stone shelter, and when there was a period when no one lived there, there is no soot deposition,” Stringer explained.
The study’s lead author, Ludovic Slimak, a researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research and the University of Toulouse, who has worked at the site for 30 years, said he believed the two groups must have exchanged knowledge in some way.
Since the beginning of their occupation, Slimak said, modern humans have been using stone from hundreds of kilometers away, as shown by stone tools found in the cave. That knowledge likely came from indigenous Neanderthals, Slimak explained.
“The territory seems to be immediately well known to Homo sapiens, and they immediately already know where the flint stone sources are that are very localized,” he said.
“How exactly was the interaction? We just don’t know. We have no idea if it was a good relationship or a bad relationship. Was it an exchange between the groups or did they have scouts (Neanderthals) to show them and guide them?”
The researchers dated the site’s layers using radiocarbon and luminescence techniques, which measure the last time mineral grains in the rock were exposed to sunlight. The layer that contains the Homo sapiens child’s tooth extends from 56,800 to 51,700 years ago. In different layers, scientists discovered another eight teeth that belonged to Neanderthals.
Unraveling human history is a complicated endeavor, but it is widely accepted that modern humans originated in Africa and made their first successful migration to the rest of the world in a single wave, between 50,000 and 70,000 years ago.
Different ancient hominids existed and coexisted before Homo sapiens emerged as the sole survivor, and there was interbreeding between different groups of early humans.
Some of these groups – such as the Neanderthals – are easily identified through the fossil record and archaeological remains, but others – such as the Denisovans – have been largely identified by their genetic legacy.
DNA could bring history to life
Marie-Hélène Moncel, director of research at the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris, said the discovery of just one modern human tooth is not enough to definitively delay the arrival dates of Homo sapiens in Europe. She said other fossilized human remains are needed to be sure of the findings in this article.
“The teeth are not enough, we must find postcranial or cranial remains to be sure,” said Moncel, who was not involved in the research.
It is possible that DNA – directly from teeth or through innovative new techniques that allow DNA found in sediments to be sequenced – could bring the story to life and tell us how the pioneering group of modern humans related to those who arrived later and later. whether the Neanderthals who lived in the cave had the same origins.
DNA may show evidence of crossbreeding between the two groups. In the Bacho Kiro cave in Bulgaria, where the oldest evidence of Homo sapiens in Europe was previously found, the DNA of these early modern humans was about 3% Neanderthal.
Teeth are preserved well in the fossil record, and their ridges and ridges are a bit like fingerprints to archaeologists, giving clues about ancestry and behavior. The tooth’s shape and internal structure strongly suggest it belonged to a modern human child, even if the tooth was damaged, the researchers said.
Source: CNN Brasil
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