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Neanderthals and modern humans both lived 40,000 years ago in Asturias
- translated from Spanish/not authored by me
“The latest dates from La Güelga—a pit in Los Picos de Europa-reveal that Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted in the area ~40 kyBP. This information is provided by a study conducted by researchers at the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), who have analysed archaeological deposits from the area’s highest rock shelter.
As the scientific community had expected, the Cantabrian region is one of the few peninsular areas where Neanderthals, Homo neanderthalensis, and modern humans, Homo sapiens came to coexist 40 kyBP. Researchers at UNED, in collaboration with the University of Oxford (United Kingdom), analysed sediments from La Güelga, a cavity in the massif of Los Picos de Europa (Asturias), which is home to a large collection of fossils dating to the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic (~150-10 kyBP)…
What is singular about the analysed deposits are the distributions as scientists have detected levels with materials attributed to anatomically modern humans—with Aurignacian technology between strata with materials produced by Neanderthals—Mousterian and Châtelperronian tools. Mousterian deposits have been dated to ~55-45 kyBP, while upper levels with evidence relating to both the Aurignacian and Châtelperronian still remain undated.
A Palaeolithic Sandwich
“It would be a sort of sandwich in which the slices of bread would correspond to layers with tools used by Neanderthals and the infill would be layers with technological remains made by modern humans”, explains Jorda. A ‘sandwich’ that would…confirm the coexistence of both species in the Cantabrian zone. “For a time modern humans occupied the same cavity, before and after it was inhabited by Neanderthal groups”, summarises the researcher.
Scientists at the University of Oxford have used ultrafiltration to remove contamination before proceeding to radiocarbon dating of the remains. This novel method, used in other research by the same team, can age fossils because the dates that are obtained in applying this technique provide greater accuracy through eliminating the maximum contamination” (read more in Spanish).
(Source: madrimasd.org)
