Study: The extinction of Neanderthals occurred earlier than believed
Determining a more precise date for the extinction of Neanderthals is an important first step in better understanding their nature, as well as why modern humans took their place.
Human remains found inside a cave in Belgium and analyzed using a new technique provide data that contributes to determining the time to which the extinction of Neanderthals (Neanderthals) dates back, an issue that has occupied scientists for a long time, as it turned out that these remains are much older than previously thought.
This is because the radiocarbon technique that was previously used to date human remains discovered in the nineteenth century in the Cave of Spey in Belgium showed that these human remains date back approximately 24 thousand years. However, a new study published Monday in the scientific journal “BNAS” showed that their age ranges from The reality is between 44,200 and 40,600 years ago.
Thibaut Duvies from the Universities of Oxford and Aix-Marseille, one of the study's authors, explained that a multidisciplinary team from Belgium, Britain, and Germany devised a method for preparing samples that allows avoiding any external contamination.
The study concluded that Neanderthals "disappeared from northern Europe (...) much earlier than previously thought."
“Achieving a more precise date for the extinction of Neanderthals constitutes an important first step in better understanding their nature, as well as why modern humans took their place.
The new technique is also based on radiocarbon (radioactive variants of carbon, such as carbon-14), which is considered the best dating method, but it involves improving the way samples are processed. All living things absorb carbon from the atmosphere or from food, including carbon 14, which decays over time.
Because plants and animals stop absorbing this carbon when they die, what remains of the matter helps determine how long they lived. For bones, scientists extract the part made of collagen to analyze it for being organic
“What we did goes further,” Thibaut Davies said. The environment in which the remains were found could contaminate the samples. With this in mind, the researchers focused on molecules called amino acids that they were pretty sure were part of collagen.
"main role"
The study's authors also dated remains found at two other sites in Belgium, Fonds du Foret and Enges, and obtained similar results. "About two centuries after the discovery of the Neanderthal child at Inge, we were able to determine a reliable age for him," Davies said. He noted that "the dating of all these specimens found in Belgium was very exciting, as they played a major role in understanding and defining Neanderthals."
The study indicated that there is evidence that he may have lived in other regions for a longer period than he lived in Belgium.
"Dating is crucial in archaeology, as an understanding of the relationships between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens cannot be guaranteed without a reliable chronological framework," Davies stresses. He explained, for example, that some stone tools were attributed to Neanderthals, which was interpreted as a sign of his cognitive development. Therefore, if it turns out that Neanderthals did not live as long as was thought, these tools should be re-examined to find out whether they were actually his creation.
The study finally stated that the extinction of Neanderthals may have been due to climate factors, a high degree of kinship, or competition between species, but it is another important issue to which this study does not provide an answer.
Source: websites