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October 28, 2008
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Neanderthals hung on tough, study finds
Sept. 13, 2006
Special to World Science
Neanderthals didn’t give up on existence easily, suggests a new study
that tracked their last stand at the tip of Europe. Neanderthal settle around a campfire in an artist's conception. (Courtesy NASA) Send us a comment
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The human relatives survived in the continent for several millennia after the modern humans
arrived there, according to excavations from what scientists said seems to have been their last refuge.
That would suggest they didn’t immediately succumb after
modern humans encroached,
but hung in there longer than expected.
The findings indicate
Neanderthals, Homo neanderthalensis,
lived on in Gibraltar, a rocky outcrop off the Spanish coast, until 28,000 years ago, and perhaps as recently as 24,000 years ago, they added.
The research, by Clive Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum and colleagues, appears online this week in the research journal
Nature.
Modern humans are believed to have reached western Europe at least 32,000 years ago.
The new findings come from Gorham’s Cave in Gibraltar, where stone tools were discovered more than 50 years ago.
Dating of more recently uncovered artifacts, including a series of hearth places all created at the same
spot in the cave, now show how long-lasting was the Neanderthal settlement, according to Finlayson and colleagues. People
dwelling
there would have had access to diverse plants and animals, sandy plains, woodlands, wetlands and coastline—a
wealth of resources that researchers say probably helped the
human relatives persist.
“The last Neanderthals were participants in one of the most dramatic events in the story of human evolution,” wrote Eric Delson of Lehman College, N.Y., and Katerina Harvati of the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, in a commentary accompanying the paper.
“At a time of increasing climatic instability and environmental deterioration, they would have had to
[survive] in ever-smaller groups” in harsh refuges on the Mediterranean coast,
competing for resources with modern humans pressing on their
lands.
“These conditions are widely thought to have led to the Neanderthals’ extinction within a relatively short time after the colonization of Europe by modern humans,” they noted.
Now it seems, they added, that “a group of Neanderthals survived extinction in this part of southern Iberia until at least 28,000 years ago—thousands of years after anatomically modern humans had firmly established themselves as the inheritors of the European continent.”
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Neanderthals apparently didn’t give up on existence easily, suggests a new study, which traces their last stand at the tip of Europe. The Neanderthals survived in the continent for several millennia after the arrival of modern humans, according to excavations from what scientists said seems to have been their last refuge. The discovery suggests that they may not have immediately succumbed after the encroachment of modern humans but hung in there for longer than expected, according to the researchers. The findings suggest Neanderthals, Homo neanderthalensis, may have survived in Gibraltar, a rocky outcrop off the Spanish coast, until 28,000 years ago, and perhaps as recently as 24,000 years ago, they added. The research, by Clive Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum and colleagues, appears online this week in the research journal Nature. Modern humans arrived in western Europe at least 32,000 years ago. This suggests that the two hominin species shared the landscape for several thousand years, the researchers wrote. Hominins are a subfamily of the hominids that includes our species and some extinct relatives, along with gorillas and chimps The new findings come from Gorham’s Cave in Gibraltar, where stone tools were discovered more than 50 years ago. Dating of more recently uncovered artifacts, including a series of hearth places all created at the same location within the cave, now show just how long-lasting was the Neanderthal settlement, according to Finlayson and colleagues. People living there would have had access to diverse plants and animals, sandy plains, woodlands, wetlands and coastline—an environmental richness that probably helped the Neanderthals persist. “The last Neanderthals were participants in one of the most dramatic events in the story of human evolution,” wrote Eric Delson of Lehman College, N.Y., and Katerina Harvati of the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, in a commentary accompanying the research paper in the journal. “At a time of increasing climatic instability and environmental deterioration, they would have had to have survived in ever-smaller groups” in harsh refuges on the Mediterranean coast, “competing for access to resources with modern humans pressing on their territory.” “These conditions are widely thought to have led to the Neanderthals’ extinction within a relatively short time after the colonization of Europe by modern humans,” they noted. Now it seems, they added, that “a group of Neanderthals survived extinction in this part of southern Iberia until at least 28,000 years ago — thousands of years after anatomically modern humans had firmly established themselves as the inheritors of the European continent.”