Europe was first inhabited by Neanderthals 400,000 years ago. According to current theories, the species went extinct around 40,000 years ago, right around the time when Homo sapiens arrived from Africa on the continent. An interesting new study indicates that our species may have arrived much earlier than the Neanderthals and coexisted with them for more than 10,000 years before they were extinct.
Chris Stringer, of the Natural History Museum in London, argues that these results undermine the current theory that humans surpassed Neanderthals quickly. In his opinion, they did not ‘overtake’ the Earth overnight. According to him, ‘sometimes Neanderthals had the advantage, sometimes modern humans did, so things were more finely balanced.’
Archaeologists found fossils at Grotte Mandrin in France while excavating. The excavation took them further back in time. Neanderthal remains can be found in the lowest layers, which date back 20,000 years. However, they also found a child’s tooth dating back more than 54,000 years in the same layer. They also found stone tools that did not appear to be Neanderthal in origin.
Evidence indicates that this early human group lived on the site for about 2,000 years before abandoning it. The Neanderthals return a few thousand years later and occupy the site until modern humans return some 44,000 years ago. ‘We have this ebb and flow,’ says Prof Stringer. In the end, the Neanderthals returned after the modern humans disappeared.
Additionally, modern child’s teeth were found in the same layer, which confirms the relationship between the stone tools and the teeth from the modern age. There had been similar tools found in the past in other locations, including the Rhone valley and Lebanon, but scientists didn’t know what species of human-made them.
According to some researchers, some of the smaller tools found at the site may have been arrowheads. The discovery suggests that early modern humans used the advanced weaponry of bows and arrows to defeat the Neanderthals 54,000 years ago. If confirmed, this would be quite a discovery. However, even if that were the case, it would have only been a temporary advantage, since the Neanderthals came back.
Then what gave us the advantage in the long run if it wasn’t our species eradicating them instantly? Science has put forth many theories: our ability to create art, language, and perhaps a stronger brain. According to Prof Stringer, ‘we were more organized. Networking was better, the social groups were larger, knowledge was better stored, and we built on it’.
According to Prof Stringer, the idea of long-term interaction between humans and Neanderthals is in accordance with the fact that modern humans contain some Neanderthal DNA, which suggests that the two species interbred over time. It’s unclear whether they exchanged partners peacefully or grabbed another female. They could have adopted orphaned Neanderthal babies’, he said. According to him, all of those things could have happened, but more DNA will provide us with more information about what happened at the end of the Neanderthal era.
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