Two re-analyses of hominid skeletal material from sites dated to the transition between Middle and Upper Paleolithic in Europe reported in the journal Nature on Thursday have added to the debate over when early modern humans first arrived and spread into Europe, and how much of the creative invention which marks the Upper Paleolithic can be attributed to Neanderthals.
Early modern humans in Europe. Replicas are (left to right): St C�saire Neanderthal (France, about 38,000 years old), the Kent's Cavern maxilla (about 42,500 years old) and Mladec 1 early modern human (Czech Republic, about 35,000 years old).The Upper Paleolithic period in Europe began about 45,000 years ago, and it is generally blamed on the entrance into Europe of early modern humans from Africa. The new arrivals brought a suite of stone and bone tools and by 40,000 years ago, that suite included a whole range of ideas and artifacts that archaeologists recognize as behavioral modernity, including the use of projectile points, collaborative hunting techniques, and personal ornamentation.
In a handful of sites (the Ch�telperronian, Uluzzian and Szeletian cultures in different parts of Europe), these types of behaviors are found in association with Neanderthals. Because the sites appeared to predate the arrival of African humans into Europe, a debate about the source of those behaviors arose. Did the Neanderthals invent modern behaviors or their own, or did they copy/borrow/imitate their new African neighbors? The new research at Kent's Cavern in the UK and Grotta del Cavallo in Italy establishes the presence of African modern humans in Europe some time before the dates of these cultures.
The research will not as yet put to bed the ideas concerning Neanderthal innovations: for one thing, the dates on many of the Ch�telperronian, Uluzzian and Szeletian sites are problematic, but it does add to the growing research on this interesting time in our prehistory.
Higham T, Compton T, Stringer C, Jacobi R, Shapiro B, Trinkaus E, Chandler B, Groning F, Collins C, Hillson S et al. 2011. The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe. Nature advance online publication.
Benazzi S, Douka K, Fornai C, Bauer CC, Kullmer O, Svoboda J, Pap I, Mallegni F, Bayle P, Coquerelle M et al. 2011. Early dispersal of modern humans in Europe and implications for Neanderthal behaviour. Nature advance online publication.
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