Svante Paabo (a Swedish paleogeneticist who won the Nobel prize in medicine) discovered that only a small amount of Neanderthal DNA is found in people of European descent.
Modelling research suggests that Neanderthals lived with humans in France and Spain for as long as 2,900 years. This gave them ample time to learn from each other and even to breed, according to Thursday’s modelling.
Although the study published in Scientific Reports did not prove that humans had interacted directly with Neanderthals 42,000 years ago (as previously demonstrated by genetic research), it was published in Scientific Reports.
Svante Paabo (a Swedish paleogeneticist who won the Nobel prize in medicine) discovered that only a small amount of Neanderthal DNA is found in people of European descent.
Igor Djakovic is a doctoral student at Leiden University, the Netherlands, and the lead author of the new study. He said that we know humans and Neanderthals “met” in Europe, but have no idea where exactly this happened.
It is still not clear when exactly this occurred, but fossil evidence suggests that Neanderthals and modern humans walked the Earth simultaneously for thousands of years.
The Leiden-led team examined radiocarbon dating of 56 artifacts, 28 for Neanderthals and 28 for humans — at 17 locations in France and northern Spain to find out more.
These artifacts contained bones and distinctive stone knives that were thought to have been made in the area by the last Neanderthals.
Bayesian modeling was used by the researchers to reduce the possible date ranges.
“Never really went extinct”
They then used optimal linear estimation (a new method they adapted from biological conservation science) to determine the most accurate time period for the last Neanderthals in the area.
Djakovic stated that the “underlying assumption” behind this technique is that it is unlikely we will ever find the last member of an extinct species.
He said that, “For example,” we won’t find the last woolly Rhino, and added that “our understanding is always broken down into fragments.”
Modelling revealed that Neanderthals died in the region between 40,870 & 40,457 years ago. Modern humans appeared first around 42,500 years earlier.
The study concluded that the two species co-existed in the area for 1,400 to 2,900 years.
Djakovic stated that there is evidence of a “diffusion” of ideas between humans and Neanderthals during this period.
He said that the period was “associated with significant transformations in how people are producing material culture,” such tools and ornaments.
He also said that there was a “quite serious” change in artifacts made by Neanderthals. They began to look more like human-made objects.
The new timeline may further support a leading theory about the end of Neanderthals, which is that they mated with humans.
Djakovic stated that Neanderthals could have been “effectively absorbed into our gene pool” by breeding with a larger human population.
“When you add that to what we now know — that most people on Earth have Neanderthal DNA – you can argue that they never went extinct in a certain way.”
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