Berlin Germany.- is possible that humans and Neanderthals coexist in Europe more than 5,000 years, ample time for the two species were known and mingle, according to new research.
Using new techniques for determining carbon dates and mathematical models, researchers examined 200 samples found in 40 sites from Spain to Russia, according to a study published Wednesday in the science journal Nature. The researchers concluded that traces of Neanderthal culture survived until about 41,030 or 39.260 years ago.
Although this date the disappearance of Neanderthals earlier than originally thought, the findings support the idea that lived with humans who entered Europe about 45,000 or 43.000 years ago.
“I think we now have a first line of robust while shedding new light on some key elements about possible interactions between Neanderthals and modern humans, “said Thomas Higham, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford who led the study.
Although it is known that genes of Neanderthals survived in the DNA of many modern humans to date, suggesting that there was some kind of mixture, scientists have not yet understood the implications of this contact and the reasons why Neanderthals disappeared.
“These results confirm a chronological overlap that already suspected long ago between the late Neanderthals and early modern humans in Europe, “Jean-Jacques Hublin, director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, who was not involved in the study.
In addition to reducing said time span for the coexistence of the two species to between 2,600 and 5.400 years, Higham and colleagues also believe that both species stayed away.
“What we see is that there is a spatial overlap (in the places where they settled), “Higham said.
This is puzzling because there is evidence that the last Neanderthals were influenced culturally by modern humans. Samples from some Neanderthal sites include artifacts that resemble those introduced to Europe by humans who migrated from Africa.
This would suggest the possibility that Neanderthals adopt certain habits and human technologies, even as they were taken from their territory.
“I think at the end were overcome skills” Higham said.
By Frank jordas / AP
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