tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/neanderthals-8482/articles
Neanderthals – The Conversation
2024-03-26T12:50:05Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/195056
2024-03-26T12:50:05Z
2024-03-26T12:50:05Z
Why did modern humans replace the Neanderthals? The key might lie in our social structures
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502800/original/file-20230101-16-hk5jco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C16%2C2705%2C1674&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rock art showing a hunter-gatherer ritual dance; Kondoa, Tanzania</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Longrich</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Why did humans take over the world while our closest relatives, the <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/who-were-the-neanderthals.html#:%7E:text=The%20best%2Dknown%20Neanderthals%20lived,is%20around%20130%2C000%20years%20old.">Neanderthals</a>, became extinct? It’s possible we were just smarter, but there’s surprisingly little evidence that’s true.</p>
<p>Neanderthals had <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24290-7">big brains</a>, language and <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.aba3831">sophisticated tools</a>. They made <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aap7778">art</a> and <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0914088107">jewellery</a>. They were smart, suggesting a curious possibility. Maybe the crucial differences weren’t at the individual level, but in our societies.</p>
<p>Two hundred and fifty thousand years ago, Europe and western Asia were <a href="https://theconversation.com/war-in-the-time-of-neanderthals-how-our-species-battled-for-supremacy-for-over-100-000-years-148205">Neanderthal lands</a>. <em>Homo sapiens</em> inhabited <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.aao6266">southern Africa</a>. Estimates vary but perhaps <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1199113">100,000 years ago</a>, modern humans migrated out of Africa. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2022466118">Forty thousand</a> years ago Neanderthals disappeared from Asia and Europe, replaced by humans. Their slow, inevitable <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0903446106">replacement</a> suggests humans had some advantage, but not what it was.</p>
<p>Anthropologists once saw Neanderthals as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21918">dull-witted brutes</a>. But recent archaeological finds show they rivalled us in intelligence. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502739/original/file-20221230-14-cx4yog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502739/original/file-20221230-14-cx4yog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502739/original/file-20221230-14-cx4yog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502739/original/file-20221230-14-cx4yog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502739/original/file-20221230-14-cx4yog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502739/original/file-20221230-14-cx4yog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502739/original/file-20221230-14-cx4yog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Neanderthal hand axes, Aisne, France.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Metropolitan Museum of art</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Neanderthals <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-handful-of-prehistoric-geniuses-launched-humanitys-technological-revolution-171511">mastered fire before we did</a>. They were deadly hunters, taking big game like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.11.019">mammoths</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/1099-1212(200009/10)10:5%3C379::AID-OA558%3E3.0.CO;2-4">woolly rhinos</a>, and small animals like <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4419-8219-3_10">rabbits and birds</a>. </p>
<p>They gathered <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.02.009">plants</a>, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1016868108">seeds</a> and <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0024026">shellfish</a>. Hunting and foraging all those species demanded deep understanding of nature. </p>
<p>Neanderthals also had a sense of beauty, making beads and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/aug/02/tinted-cave-stalagmites-are-neanderthal-art-say-archaeologists">cave paintings</a>. They were spiritual people, <a href="https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.207">burying their dead with flowers</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2090183-neanderthals-built-mystery-underground-circles-175000-years-ago/">Stone circles</a> found inside caves may be Neanderthal shrines. Like modern hunter-gatherers, Neanderthal lives were probably steeped in superstition and magic; their skies full of gods, the caves inhabited by ancestor-spirits.</p>
<p>Then there’s the fact <em>Homo sapiens</em> and Neanderthals <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1006340">had children together</a>. We weren’t that different. But we met Neanderthals many times, over many millennia, always with the same result. They disappeared. We remained.</p>
<h2>The hunter-gatherer society</h2>
<p>It may be that the key differences were less at the individual level than at the societal level. It’s impossible to understand humans in isolation, any more than you can understand a honeybee without considering its colony. We prize our individuality, but our survival is tied to larger social groups, like a bee’s fate depends on the colony’s survival. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cave dwellers gathered around a campfire" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501921/original/file-20221219-24-ujgcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501921/original/file-20221219-24-ujgcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501921/original/file-20221219-24-ujgcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501921/original/file-20221219-24-ujgcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501921/original/file-20221219-24-ujgcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501921/original/file-20221219-24-ujgcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501921/original/file-20221219-24-ujgcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Neanderthals lived in smaller groups.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/cave-dwellers-gathered-around-campfire-208334998">Esteban De Armas/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Modern hunter-gatherers provide our best guess at how early humans and Neanderthals lived. People like the Namibia’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Harmless-People-Elizabeth-Marshall-Thomas/dp/067972446X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=UARD13U3IN5L&keywords=harmless+people&qid=1671374437&s=books&sprefix=harmless+people%2Cstripbooks%2C77&sr=1-1">Khoisan</a> and Tanzania’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hadza-Hunter-Gatherers-Tanzania-Origins-Behavior/dp/0520253426">Hadzabe</a> gather families into <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/abs/kung-bushman-bands/A2D674BE115E1A10399BD4CE7EFA1EC9">wandering bands of ten to 60 people</a>. The bands combine into a loosely organised tribe of a thousand people or more.</p>
<p>These tribes lack hierachical structures, but they’re linked by shared language and religion, marriages, kinships and friendships. Neanderthal societies may have been similar but with one crucial difference: smaller social groups. </p>
<h2>Tight-knit tribes</h2>
<p>What points to this is evidence that Neanderthals had <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-06-genetic-diversity-neanderthals-principal-extinction.html">lower genetic diversity</a>.</p>
<p>In small populations, genes are easily lost. If one person in ten carries a gene for curly hair, then in a ten-person band, one death could remove the gene from the population. In a band of fifty, five people would carry the gene – multiple backup copies. So over time, small groups tend to lose genetic variation, ending up with fewer genes.</p>
<p>In 2022, DNA was recovered from <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05283-y">bones and teeth</a> of 11 Neanderthals found in a cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia. Several individuals were related, including a father and a daughter – they were from a single band. And they showed low genetic diversity.</p>
<p>Because we inherit two sets of chromosomes – one from our mother, one from our father – we carry two copies of each gene. Often, we have two different versions of a gene. You might get a gene for blue eyes from your mother, and one for brown eyes from your father. </p>
<p>But the Altai Neanderthals often had one version of each gene. As the study reports, that low diversity suggests they lived in small bands – probably averaging just 20 people.</p>
<p>It’s possible Neanderthal anatomy favoured small groups. Being robust and muscular, Neanderthals were heavier than us. So each Neanderthal needed more food, meaning the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24290-7">land could support</a> fewer Neanderthals than <em>Homo sapiens</em>. </p>
<p>And Neanderthals may have mainly <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2109315119">eaten meat</a>. Meat-eaters would get fewer calories from the land than people who ate meat and plants, again leading to smaller populations.</p>
<h2>Group size matters</h2>
<p>If humans lived in bigger groups than Neanderthals it could have given us advantages.</p>
<p>Neanderthals, strong and skilled with <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/01/neanderthal-spears-threw-pretty-well/581218/">spears</a> were likely good fighters. Lightly built humans probably countered by <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-019-0990-3#:%7E:text=The%20multiple%20findings%2C%20such%20as,is%20more%20than%2020%2C000%20years">using bows</a> to attack at range. </p>
<p>But even if Neanderthals and humans were equally dangerous in battle, if humans also had a numeric advantage they could bring more fighters and absorb more losses.</p>
<p>Big societies have other, subtler advantages. Larger bands have more brains. More brains to solve problems, remember lore about animals and plants, and techniques for crafting tools and sewing clothing. Just as big groups have higher genetic diversity, they’ll have higher diversity of ideas.</p>
<p>And more people means more connections. Network connections increase exponentially with network size, following <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe%27s_law">Metcalfe’s Law</a>. A 20-person band has 190 possible connections between members, while 60 people have 1770 possible connections. </p>
<p>Information flows through these connections: news about people and movements of animals; toolmaking techniques; and words, songs and myths. Plus the group’s behaviour becomes increasingly complex.</p>
<p>Consider ants. Individually, ants aren’t smart. But interactions between millions of ants lets colonies make elaborate nests, forage for food and kill animals many times an ant’s size. Likewise, human groups do things no one person can – design buildings and cars, write elaborate computer programmes, fight wars, run companies and countries. </p>
<p>Humans aren’t unique in having big brains (whales and elephants have these) or in having huge social groups (zebras and wildebeest form huge herds). But we’re unique in combining them. </p>
<p>To <a href="https://allpoetry.com/No-man-is-an-island">paraphrase poet John Dunne</a>, no man – and no Neanderthal – is an island. We’re all part of something larger. And throughout history, humans formed larger and larger social groups: bands, tribes, cities, nation states, international alliances. </p>
<p>It may be then that an ability to build large social structures gave <em>Homo sapiens</em> the edge, against nature, and other hominin species.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195056/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas R. Longrich does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Neanderthals and humans may have been equally smart and skilled, but some evidence points to humans living in larger groups.
Nicholas R. Longrich, Senior Lecturer in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences at the University of Bath, University of Bath
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/222762
2024-02-06T18:06:12Z
2024-02-06T18:06:12Z
How long did Neanderthals and modern humans co-exist in Europe? Evidence is growing it may have been at least 10,000 years
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573551/original/file-20240205-21-v9koj7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C0%2C1222%2C775&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A human bone fragment from the new excavations at Ranis in Germany.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tim Schüler TLDA. </span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea that two different human species, <em>Homo sapiens</em> (us) and Neanderthals, co-existed in western Eurasia 50–40,000 years ago has long captured the imagination of academics and the public alike.</p>
<p>It is therefore not surprising that this time period – the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition – has been a focus of research for many archaeologists, physical anthropologists and, more recently, geneticists. </p>
<p>Various scenarios have been explored over the years, from those positing tens of thousands of years of co-existence between the two groups of humans, to those seeing a much more rapid replacement of Neanderthals by <em>H. sapiens</em> – whether through the active or coincidental displacement of our cousins, or through outcompeting them for resources. </p>
<p>Both positions allow for the occasional interbreeding that has resulted in a little bit of Neanderthal being present in many of us, <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(16)30247-0.pdf">especially those of European and East Asian ancestry</a>.</p>
<p>However, there are many challenges to exploring this distant time. Human skeletal remains are comparatively rare, with many of the best-known fossils having been excavated under less than ideal conditions in the 19th and early 20th centuries.</p>
<p>When skeletal remains are found, there are often questions over their precise relationship to other archaeological remains at the same site – such as stone and bone tools, animal remains and other finds. Connections between a particular species of human and finds from an excavation have often been assumed, only to be later found <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1709235114">spurious in a number of instances</a>.</p>
<h2>Major revisions</h2>
<p>The transition period of 50–40,000 years ago is within the lower limits of radiocarbon dating – a technique that only works on organic remains up to about 50,000 years old. This means the smallest amounts of more recent contamination from the burial environment, or from museum conservation materials, can make dating finds from these sites extremely challenging. </p>
<p>This has resulted in major revisions to the chronology of early human occupation over the past decade, shifting some dates on Neanderthal and modern human remains <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2022466118">by many thousands of years</a>. </p>
<p>This is obviously crucial to the debate, since it is impossible to speak of overlap or replacement without a robust chronology. There is also the matter of spatial scale. Does the persistence of Neanderthals after 40,000 years ago in southern Iberia, for example, represent a lengthy period of overlap and co-existence, or a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jqs.3252">“last stand”</a> at the margins of the continent, expressly avoiding contact with the newcomers?</p>
<p>The most recent entry into the fray comes from the cave of Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, east-central Germany, wonderfully situated at the base of a 16th-century Renaissance castle with earlier medieval origins. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Ilsenhohle caves beneath the castle of Ranis." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573553/original/file-20240205-19-z1mrgq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573553/original/file-20240205-19-z1mrgq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573553/original/file-20240205-19-z1mrgq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573553/original/file-20240205-19-z1mrgq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573553/original/file-20240205-19-z1mrgq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573553/original/file-20240205-19-z1mrgq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573553/original/file-20240205-19-z1mrgq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The cave site of Ilsenhöhle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Tim Schüler TLDA</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An international, multidisciplinary team has identified human (<em>H. sapiens</em>) remains from both early 20th-century and more recent excavations in the cave, dating them to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06923-7">around 45,000 years ago</a>. The authors say that, when combined with <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abj9496">early dates of <em>H. sapiens</em> in France</a> and a variety of dates for Neanderthals being present at 45,000 years around Europe, this allows a potential period of overlap between the two species lasting some 10,000 years.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02318-z">In a companion paper</a>, the researchers reported the results of their analysis of stable oxygen isotopes (different chemical forms of an element) that came from teeth belonging to mammals in the horse family (equids). These teeth came from the same sediment levels as the human remains. The results place the people in a particularly cold snap around 45–43,000 years ago. </p>
<p>The <em>H. sapiens</em> remains are associated with what was previously considered an ambiguous stone tool industry (a particular way of making tools) called the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician">Lincombian–Ranisian–Jerzmanowician</a> (LRJ). But it has been unclear whether these were made by Neanderthals or modern humans. </p>
<h2>Mystery toolmakers</h2>
<p>Other transitional Middle-Upper Palaeolithic stone tool industries have a long history of the same problem – we’re not sure who made them. Most notable is the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chatelperronian-stage">Châtelperronian</a> of southern France and northern Spain: do the Neanderthal remains accompanying some of these “modern-looking” tool industries mean they were the toolmakers, or is the association fortuitous?</p>
<p>This debate continues apace, with a possible <em>H. sapiens</em> newborn child’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/ilium">ilium</a> having recently been identified in a Châtelperronian assemblage at the Grotte du Renne in Arcy-sur-Cure, central France. Here, only Neanderthal remains <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-39767-2">had previously been identified</a>.</p>
<p>Most caves with Palaeolithic deposits saw intermittent occupation, often by both Neanderthals and <em>H. sapiens</em>, over millennia. Materials can easily become mixed together and so, short of finding tools buried in a modern human grave, it is difficult to say who made them. Ranis does seem to have an advantage in this regard, though, as the levels containing the human remains and the LRJ tools were sealed together by a rockfall.</p>
<p>However, even here a cautionary note should be sounded. The dates for the levels under consideration still span several millennia, during which there may well have been short-term visits by both camps.</p>
<h2>New archaeological techniques</h2>
<p>The results from Ranis, as well as contributing important new data to our understanding of the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition, highlight the contributions of recent developments in archaeological science.</p>
<p>Far from unearthing a complete skeleton or skull that traditionally would have heralded an important new hominin fossil, Ranis yielded only a few small fragments of bone that were recognisable as human. Some other small bone fragments were identified as belonging to hominins (the wider human family) using a technique known as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8473418/#:%7E:text=The%20word%20proteome%20was%20created,of%20the%20organism%20than%20genomics.">proteomics</a> – the study of protein structures that are unique to genera and sometimes to species. This technique was also applied to the site’s fauna <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02303-6">in another companion paper</a>.</p>
<p>Then, relatively high-precision radiocarbon dates were obtained for both the sediment level and the human remains themselves. The precision of these dates was further improved through statistical modelling.</p>
<p>But most importantly for the question at hand, ancient DNA analysis – in this case, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) – confirmed the identification as <em>H. sapiens</em>. The mtDNA results link Ranis with other <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_Upper_Paleolithic">Initial Upper Palaeolithic</a> human remains at Zlatý kůň in the Czech Republic and the Grotta di Fumane in Italy. </p>
<p>As the authors of the Ranis study note, an intriguing twist to the tale is that recent genetic studies suggest the <em>H. sapiens</em> conducting these early forays into Europe appear to have themselves been <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05726-0">replaced by other <em>H. sapiens</em> populations</a> later in the Upper Palaeolithic.</p>
<p>So, the focus on the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition and its replacement of one hominin population by another may have to be extended to consider similar, subsequent events that have remained far less visible, because they all involved <em>H. sapiens</em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222762/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rick Schulting does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A new discovery is shedding more light on the overlap between the two species of human, despite the challenges of exploring this distant time
Rick Schulting, Professor of Scientific and Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Oxford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/216553
2023-11-09T08:30:08Z
2023-11-09T08:30:08Z
Skulls in Ukraine reveal early modern humans came from the East
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556301/original/file-20231023-21-v0px95.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C10%2C1823%2C941&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Location of the Buran Kaya III (1), Zlatý Kůň (2), Fournol (3), Serinyà (4), Krems-Wachtberg (5) and Věstonice (6) archeological sites, whose remains were were analysed in the study. Also shown are one of the analysed skull fragments and pierced beads discovered with the bone fragments from the Buran Kaya III site, as well as the Venus statuettes from Věstonice, Willendorf and the Dame de Brassempouy (from right to left).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">E-M. Geigl</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>How did our species, <em>Homo sapiens</em>, arrive in Western Europe? Published in <em>Nature Ecology & Evolution</em>, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02211-9">our new study</a> analyses two skull fragments dating back between 37,000 and 36,000 years to conclude that our ancestors came from Eastern Europe and migrated westwards. These two individuals interbred with Neanderthals and with the very first European <em>Homo sapiens</em>, who arrived around 45,000 years ago and were thought to have become extinct following a major climatic catastrophe.</p>
<p>Together with lithic tools and pierced mammoth ivory beads, small skull fragments of <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0020834">the two skulls found in 2009 at an archaeological site in the Crimea</a>, Buran Kaya III, bear witness to the presence of anatomically modern humans in Eastern Europe. Working with French and Ukrainian archaeologists, we were able to put in place a sampling protocol that took special precautions to prevent the fragments from being contaminated by modern human DNA and identify their ancient DNA.</p>
<p>The resulting analysis enabled us to generate a broad, up-to-date model of population movements, interactions and replacements as they settled in Europe during the Upper Palaeolithic, the period from around -40,000 to -12,000 years ago characterised by the expansion of anatomically modern humans around the world. These individuals are the oldest representatives of Western Europeans to have established themselves permanently in Europe and to have left traces in the genomes of present-day Europeans.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555326/original/file-20231023-29-gkr3o5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555326/original/file-20231023-29-gkr3o5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555326/original/file-20231023-29-gkr3o5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555326/original/file-20231023-29-gkr3o5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555326/original/file-20231023-29-gkr3o5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555326/original/file-20231023-29-gkr3o5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555326/original/file-20231023-29-gkr3o5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555326/original/file-20231023-29-gkr3o5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">(A) Mammoth ivory pierced bead discovered in the layer of (B) bone fragment analysed in the current study.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">L. Crépin/E.-M. Geigl</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is estimated they settled in the region after the ice age that took place from 40,000 to 38,000 years ago. In addition to extremely low temperatures, the latter period was also marked by <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep45940">the eruption of a super-volcano</a> in the Phlegrean Fields region near Naples, which left south-eastern and eastern Europe covered in ash. Up to this day, researchers believe that <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0065839">the ensuing ecological crisis</a> wiped out both the last Neanderthal populations and the first populations of <em>sapiens</em> humans of the early Upper Palaeolithic. The latter were the descendants of the <em>Homo sapiens</em> populations that came from Africa around 60,000 years ago and left <a href="https://academic.oup.com/gbe/article/14/4/evac045/6563828">archaeological remains in Europe</a> from around 45,000 years ago, possibly even earlier.</p>
<p>Archaeologically, this was the period of transition between the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Paleolithic-Period">Middle Palaeolithic</a> (250,000 to 30,000 years ago) and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Paleolithic-Period">Upper Palaeolithic</a> (about 50,000–40,000 years ago until about 10,000 years ago), as the lithic industry of the last Neanderthals was replaced by that of the first <em>Homo sapiens</em>. Their skeletal remains are rare, but the few that were found in archaeological sites in the Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria have had their genomes partially deciphered.</p>
<p>Present-day Europeans bear <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03335-3">no trace of the genomes</a> of these first <em>sapiens</em> Europeans, unlike the human populations that lived in Europe after the ecological crisis of 40,000 years ago, some of whose genomes have been sequenced.</p>
<h2><em>Homo sapiens</em> from interbreeding</h2>
<p>Although the information obtained from the two skull fragments from the Buran Kaya III site is fragmentary, we were able to compare it against the 740,000 genetic variations shared with the genomes of other ancient individuals, a sufficient number to detect their affinities and shared ancestry.</p>
<p>Our palaeogenomic analysis of these two fragments, which are thought to be 700 years apart from one another, revealed that these individuals were part of the second wave of European settlement by <em>H. sapiens</em> that occurred after the ecological crisis. Both individuals are descendants of distant interbreeding with Neanderthals. Our study also showed that the more recent individual bore traces of interbreeding with individuals from the first wave of settlement thought to have been exterminated by the -40,000 year ice age, represented by the Zlatý Kůň individual (-45,000 years). We were therefore able to conclude that the first <em>H. sapiens</em> were not completely replaced and some must have survived the ecological crisis.</p>
<p>The genomes of individuals from Buran Kaya III also revealed a genetic link with contemporary and much later Caucasian populations, in line with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S004724842030169X">similarities identified by archaeologists</a> between lithic tools found in the southern Caucasus and those found at Buran Kaya III at the same period. This link indicates the direction of the migration of Buran Kaya III’s ancestors in Europe: from the Middle East via the Caucasus to the territory of present-day Ukraine.</p>
<h2>Links with fossils found in France</h2>
<p>The strongest genetic link has been identified between the genomes of individuals from Buran Kaya III and those from south-west France (see Fournol archaeological site dating back -29,000 years BC) and north-east Spain (Serinyà, -27,000 years BC) and, to a lesser extent, those from Austria (Krems-Wachtberg, -30,500 years BC) and the Czech Republic (Dolní Věstonice, -31,000 years BC) who lived 5000 to 7000 years later. These individuals, close to those from Buran Kaya III, were part of the population associated with the Classical Gravettian period, which produced the female ivory statuettes known as the “Gravettian Venuses” found in France, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. The famous Venus “Dame de Brassempouy” from the French department of Landes was sculpted at this time.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The Venus of Brassempoy" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555355/original/file-20231023-23-m1ej3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555355/original/file-20231023-23-m1ej3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555355/original/file-20231023-23-m1ej3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555355/original/file-20231023-23-m1ej3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555355/original/file-20231023-23-m1ej3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555355/original/file-20231023-23-m1ej3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555355/original/file-20231023-23-m1ej3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Venus of Brassempouy, known in French as the Dame de Brassempouy_ or the <em>Dame à la capuche</em>).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jean-Gilles Berizzi/Wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This genetic link between individuals from Buran Kaya III and those hailing from the Gravettian culture suggests the former were ancestors of the latter and were already practising a culture that can be described as proto-Gravettian. The genetic ties indicate that these populations spread from east to west. Moreover, the lithic tools produced by Crimean individuals have been attributed by Ukrainian archaeologists, in particular <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003552114000879">Alexandr Yanevich</a> to the Gravettian complex, but this attribution has been rejected by other archaeologists, mainly because of their early date and their location to the east, far from the classic “Gravettian” culture that was produced in central and western Europe between -34,000 and -26,000 years ago, i.e., 5,000 to 7,000 years later and 3,000 km further east. Our genetic results prove the Ukrainian archaeologists right: the individuals from Buran Kaya III were the ancestors of the Western Europeans, producers of the Gravettian culture and artists of the famous Gravettian Venuses.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The <a href="https://anr.fr/ProjetIA-17-EURE-0013">“Génétique et epigénétique nouvelle ecole”</a> project is supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR), which funds project-based research in France. Its mission is to support and promote the development of fundamental and applied research in all disciplines, and to strengthen the dialogue between science and society. For more information, visit the <a href="https://anr.fr/">ANR website</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216553/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eva-Maria Geigl has received funding from CNRS, EUR G.E.N.E. (ANR-17-EURE-0013 ; IdEx #ANR-18-IDEX-0001 l'Université de Paris ; Programme d'Investissements d'Avenir)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thierry Grange has received funding from the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (DGE20111123014), Région Ile-de-France (11015901), CNRS, EUR G.E.N.E. (ANR-17-EURE-0013 ; IdEx #ANR-18-IDEX-0001 l'Université de Paris ; Programme d'Investissements d'Avenir).</span></em></p>
Genetic analysis of two skull fragments dating back almost 40,000 years shows that our species colonised Europe from the east and interbred with our Neanderthal cousins.
Eva-Maria Geigl, Directrice de recherche CNRS, Université Paris Cité
Thierry Grange, Directeur Scientifique Adjoint CNRS INSB Génétique Génomique Bioinformatique, Université Paris Cité
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/215313
2023-10-12T14:08:36Z
2023-10-12T14:08:36Z
A tooth that rewrites history? The discovery challenging what we knew about Neanderthals – podcast
<p>For generations, Neanderthals have been a source of fascination for scientists. This species of ancient hominim inhabited the world for around 500,000 years until they suddenly disappeared around 40,000 years ago. Today, the cause of their extinction remains a mystery.</p>
<p>Archaeologist Ludovic Slimak and his team have spent three decades excavating caves, studying ancient artefacts and delving into the world of Neanderthals – and they’ve recently published <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/454664/the-naked-neanderthal-by-slimak-ludovic/9780241617663">provocative new findings</a>. In this week’s episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast, we speak to Slimak about how Neanderthals lived, what happened to them, and why their extinction might hold profound insights into the story of our own species, <em>Homo Sapiens</em>.</p>
<iframe src="https://embed.acast.com/60087127b9687759d637bade/6527acacd40c9700124997d2" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="190px"></iframe>
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<p>Neanderthals migrated to Europe around 400,000 years ago from Africa, the birthplace of humanity. Until now, the general consensus among archaeologists has been that <em>Homo Sapiens</em> were a lot slower to leave Africa, only migrating to Europe approximately 42,000 years ago and in one wave that coincided with the extinction of Neanderthals.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ludovic-slimak-1315718">Slimak</a>, an archaeologist at Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier in France, has published <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/europes-first-humans-may-have-arrived-in-three-waves-180982107/">controversial</a> new work that challenges this.</p>
<p>In 2022, he published <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abj9496">research from</a> the Mandrin Grotte in the Rhône valley in southern France, which suggested he’d found a <em>Homo Sapiens</em> tooth within Neanderthal sediment layers. He explains:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We began to work in the middle of these layers that were dated at 54,000 years, and then we began to find incredibly modern Homo Sapiens technologies sandwiched between very classic Neanderthal technologies.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0277444">Slimak’s subsequent research</a> suggests that, rather than a single wave of <em>Homo Sapiens</em> migration from west Asia to Europe, there were in fact three waves, the last of which happened around 42,000 years ago. These findings are provocative: they would rewrite the timeline to suggest that <em>Homo Sapiens</em> arrived in Europe about 10,000 years earlier than previously thought, and so co-existed with Neanderthals for much longer. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-earliest-modern-humans-in-europe-mastered-bow-and-arrow-technology-54-000-years-ago-200609">The earliest modern humans in Europe mastered bow-and-arrow technology 54,000 years ago</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<h2>What tools reveal</h2>
<p>To understand the factors that led to the extinction of Neanderthals and the survival and dominance of <em>Homo Sapiens</em>, Slimak has also compared the tools crafted by both species during the period they co-inhabited Europe. His hypothesis is that examining the evolution of these tools and how they’re made might provide clues into the differing fates of the two human species. </p>
<p>During <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.add4675">a three-year study</a>, he compared flint tools found in Lebanon’s Ksar ‘Akil cave to those in France. Slimak noticed a striking similarity in the flint points atop spears crafted by <em>Homo Sapiens</em>, even those produced tens of thousands of years apart. He explains: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you take <em>Homo Sapiens</em> tools or weapons technology, after you’ve seen a hundred of these tools, they are precisely the same. So, we have a process of standardisation, of production in series that is very specific to our species. But now, if you take Neanderthal tools … each of them will be different from the others. That is systematic among all Neanderthal societies.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Slimak argues that <em>Homo Sapiens</em>’ disposition for systematisation and standardisation might have conferred an evolutionary advantage during that period. It wasn’t a matter of <em>Homo Sapiens</em> wiping out other human species such as Neanderthals. Rather, their efficient ways may have played an pivotal role in their survival.</p>
<p>To find out more, listen to the full episode of <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-conversation-weekly/view">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast. A transcript of this <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/2877/The_Conversation_Weekly_podcast_Neanderthals_transcript.pdf?1698061926">episode is now available</a>. </p>
<p><em>This episode was written and produced by Mend Mariwany, with assistance from Katie Flood. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is the executive producer of the show.</em></p>
<p><em>You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Listen to <em>The Conversation Weekly</em> via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215313/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ludovic Slimak does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
What could the extinction of Neanderthals tell us about our own species? An archaeologist explains in The Conversation Weekly podcast.
Mend Mariwany, Producer, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206688
2023-06-08T09:46:43Z
2023-06-08T09:46:43Z
Q&A with Ludovic Slimak, the archeologist who wants to rewrite the history of early humans in Europe
<p><em>The French archaeologist Ludovic Slimak has spent the past 30 years rummaging fields and caves from the Horn of Africa to the Artic Circle, and, of course, his beloved Rhône Valley in France. For the past year and a half, his team of 45 researchers have been on a roll, publishing paper after paper on early humanity’s history between 54,000 and 42,000 years ago. All in the scientific community recognises his work’s ambition, but some also regard it as controversial. The Conversation caught up with him by phone to his home in the Pyrenees mountains. He talked Homo sapiens, flints and responded to his critics.</em></p>
<p><strong>Natalie Sauer: In early May, you published a potentially groundbreaking paper claiming that Homo sapiens had not colonised Europe in one, but three distinct waves between 54,000 and 42,000 years ago. According to this viewpoint, each migratory wave yielded its own archeological culture: the Neronian (54,000 years ago), the Châtelperronian (between 45 and 46,000 years ago) and the Proto-Aurignacian (42,000 years ago). Could you start off by unpacking the study’s findings, and then situate it within the context of your research in recent years?</strong></p>
<p>Ludovic Slimak: The <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0277444">paper of 3 May</a> explains that what we thought to be the first wave of colonisation of Sapiens from the Neart East to Europe was in fact the last of three waves. In the process, Homo sapiens interacted intermittently with the Neanderthals over thousands of years. It’s a large view of continental Europe till the Eastern Mediterranean coast, which claims that we have missed something huge and what we saw in the Rhône Valley is only the visible tip of misunderstandings on the early Sapiens’ presence in the continent.</p>
<p>These findings could not have been possible without the other papers we have published in the past year and a half. The first one, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abj9496">“The Modern Human Incursion in Neanderthal Territories”</a>, shows that we find Homo sapiens in the Rhône Valley as early as 54,000 years ago, while we thought that for all continental Europe, Homo sapiens would have come by 45 to 42,000 years ago. We published another major paper, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add4675">“Bow and arrow technology of the first modern humans in Europe”</a>, that gives the technical and cultural context of these societies. Again, we claim the bow and arrow technology emerged 40,000 years earlier in Eurasia than was previously estimated.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530861/original/file-20230608-25-r1mlll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530861/original/file-20230608-25-r1mlll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530861/original/file-20230608-25-r1mlll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530861/original/file-20230608-25-r1mlll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530861/original/file-20230608-25-r1mlll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530861/original/file-20230608-25-r1mlll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530861/original/file-20230608-25-r1mlll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flint points from Grotte Mandrin in France and Ksar Akil in Lebanon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Drawings and measurements by Laure Metz and Ludovic Slimak</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>You reached those conclusions of the first paper by comparing flints between Grotte Mandrin, France, and Ksar Akil, Lebanon, and chancing upon one very special molar.</strong></p>
<p>Yes, we researched thousands of lithics that came from both the Rhône Valley and the Levantine region in the eastern Mediterranean coast, the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/quaternary-of-the-levant/palaeolithic-sequence-of-ksar-akil-lebanon/9042343BB5CA3F8E2D3C82F55ED92676">Ksar Akil site</a>. </p>
<p>When I opened the boxes of artefacts from Ksar Akil in Harvard, I realised suddenly that it was precisely what I call the Neronian in the Rhône Valley. All the technical process, all the phases of production of this point, were precisely the same in both sites, in the same chronology. It is the similar phases in tool technologies from both regions that led me to believe they were spread from the Near East to Europe during three distinct waves of colonisation. This precise community of knowledges and traditions induced that the Neronian was in fact the archeological indication of a very early migration of Sapiens in Europe, far before expected and I published these conclusions in 2017.</p>
<p>Some years later we then analyzed and published the 9 hominin teeth we found over 30 years in Mandrin. They come from different phases of occupations of the cave spanning 42,000 to 120,000 years. At this age, all these teeth should have only been from Neanderthals. But this was not the case. Then one day in 2020, as Clément Zanolli from the French research centre CNRS was halfway through reviewing the data of the collection, the figures from a broken molar jumped out at him: “Oh, this tooth is fascinating,” he thought, “It’s not Neanderthal. It’s an archaic homo sapiens, an ancient of Homo sapiens.”</p>
<p>To confirm this hunch, our team used a very high resolution, micro-CT scan, and then ran statistics on the teeth. According to Clément Zanolli, we are a hundred percent sure that it’s a homo sapiens and not a random Homo sapiens – an archaic Homo sapiens.</p>
<p><strong>Let’s turn to the Grotte Mandrin, one of the key witnesses of Sapiens’ early colonisation of Europe. Could you describe it for us? And as an archaeologist, could you tell us about the first time you stepped into it and what your impressions were?</strong></p>
<p>Well, we call it Grotte Mandrin, which means cave. But it’s not a cave, it’s a rock shelter. This accounts for its very good preservation. When you are in a cave, you usually struggle with preservation. But in this case… It’s a vaulted rock shelter that opens to the north that overhangs the Rhône Valley. And what is very important from an archaeological perspective in the Rhône Valley is its very strong, cold, Northern wind - the Mistral. </p>
<p>The Mistral was already blowing in the time period I research. Back then, the climate in Europe was Polar, so there were no trees and very little vegetation. When the Mistral blew, it took the sand and the silt from the river in the Rhône Valley and cast it in the rock shelter, depositing it year after year.</p>
<p>I like to say it’s like Pompeii but instead of a catastrophic event, we have sand and silt. And instead of one event, we have 12 events: 12 major archeological periods in the site that range from a climatically very warm period, the last interglacial, to the extinction of Neanderthal 42,000 years ago. </p>
<p>The first time I went there was in 1998. I was a 25-year old young man, and had been invited by the team that had just began to work there. I wanted to devote my PhD to this collection, which stood out because all other archeological sites in the region had been excavated 50 or 100 years before with pickaxes. This coarse excavation method, which was commonly deployed back then, had two effects: on the one hand, it prevented archaeologists from landing upon finer artefacts, such as flint arrowheads and all tiny flint byproducts, essential to understand these ancient crafts. On the other, it also blended distinct materials that had nothing to do together.</p>
<p>The Mandrin site, by contrast, was something untouched and unique - unique from anything I had seen before and anything I have seen since.</p>
<p><strong>Your research suggests Neanderthals and Sapiens coexisted intermittently for thousands of years. What do you believe their relations were like?</strong></p>
<p>In the first wave dating back to 54,000 years ago, what we see in Grotte Mandrin is that the Sapiens population must have stayed for one generation, something like 40 years. They are in Neanderthal territories, but they won’t stay there for 12,000 years. After that, we will have other Neanderthals. The question of their relation is something fascinating, because when you have a look at the DNA of any early Sapiens in Europe, we see that all these early Sapiens have Neanderthal DNA. But if we focus on the last Neanderthals, we realise that there’s not a single Neanderthal with a recent Homo Sapiens DNA. </p>
<p>What happened? Why do we have all Sapiens in Europe with Neandertal DNA and not a single Neandertal have Sapiens DNA? So we know from Claude Lévi-Strauss’ <em>Elementary Structures of Kinship</em> that the question of the reproduction of societies is not a question of love. It’s a question of exchanges and alliances between populations. So that means that when two groups meet, it’s very important for them to exchange genes. And we know from DNA how they do it, it’s universal for both Neanderthal and Sapiens: through female mobility. That means: “My sister will go in your group, but your sister will come in my group”. And like that, we will build an alliance - we call this patri-locality. But if your sister comes in my group, my sister will have to come in yours. I can’t have your sister in exchange of flint or 10 horses. </p>
<p>What I explain in <a href="https://shs.hal.science/halshs-03432987/"><em>I Love You, Me Neither</em></a>, is that in the case of the Sapiens and Neanderthals, it’s: “You give me your sister, but I don’t give you mine”. This is rare, but it happens. One possible instance when we see this is when there’s a total war between populations, and one group is going to seek to destroy another group. But in fact, it’s not really a genocide, because when that happens, traditionally what they do is that they keep the children and the women, and then they have children with these women. </p>
<p>Another scenario could have been that these two populations had very good relations, where you’re happy when you see fresh blood coming because you are very tiny group, very isolated, and suddenly you see a new group and say: “Oh, there’s fresh blood coming” - and that’s very good news. </p>
<p>And the two populations certainly tried to exchange genes, but we know from DNA that Sapiens and Neanderthal were separated by 300,000 to 500,000 years of genetic distinction and what we call their inter-fecondity was very partial. This means that if they had children, for example, those children could be boys, sterile or not able to survive. So I would say it’s very likely that the two populations met and tried to exchange genes in Europe, but that only worked very partially.</p>
<p><strong>Given that Sapiens boasted technical superiority, notably bows and arrows, why do you think they took so long to take root in Europe?</strong></p>
<p>Well, I don’t know if Homo Sapiens enjoys a technical superiority over Neanderthals, but their tools are certainly more efficient. Objectively, the bow and arrow is more efficient than a spear on many points, and we know that by all data from ethnography. </p>
<p>But I think the question of weapon is not at all the question of why a population is able to stay on a territory. And I think that the main question when a population arrives on a territory is: “What other social relations will I be able to build?” </p>
<p>We are not dealing with a total war between Neanderthal and Sapiens. I think we are dealing with interrelations between humanities that did not work out at the end.</p>
<p>I would also like to add that while Sapiens’ tools may be more efficient, Neanderthals’ are more singular. If you take crafts from Homo Sapiens, for example, 100 tools or 100 flints from 50 to 100,000 years ago, the 10,000 tools or flints after will be exactly the same. The population has a very clear project in their mind and regardless of the natural geologies, the environment, the climate, they reproduce the same thing. But if you take a Neanderthal tool in comparison, and then you analyze a million after that in the same layer, in the same societies, they are all completely different. Each tool is a specific creation. There’s an incredible creativity among Neanderthals. And there’s also a total absence of standardization that we find in our ancestors and in our contemporary societies.</p>
<p>Ultimately, what this shows and what I try to show in my two last books, <em><a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/454664/the-naked-neanderthal-by-slimak-ludovic/9780241617663">The naked Neanderthal</a></em> and <em><a href="https://www.odilejacob.fr/catalogue/sciences-humaines/archeologie-paleontologie-prehistoire/dernier-neandertalien_9782415004927.php">The Last Neanderthal</a></em>, is that we have projected all our fantasies on that humanity, saying: “Look, we have been racist, in fact, Neanderthals are just like us”. But the 30 years I have spent in caves and the millions of flints I have seen tell a different story. It’s not at all a humanity that is like us. </p>
<p><strong>While your scientific colleagues recognise your research as ambitious, not everyone is convinced. You said that there was 100% certainty about the identification of that broken molar, but others will say that it could also be an shaped tooth of a young Neanderthal. Likewise, some are sceptical that the sophisticated tools that we found in the Grotte Mandrin, the Châtelperronian tools, were the handicraft of modern humans and not the Neanderthals. What is your answer to them?</strong></p>
<p>The French historian, Emmanuel Todd, once said he was very disappointed when he was young because he thoughts ideas went on to die in intellectual fights. You know, you have a huge fight and an idea will win and the other will die. In the end, he realised the idea dies with the person who carries it. </p>
<p>So we won’t change the ideas of the person who worked for 40 years or 50 years on the question. You know, the structures of the upper Paleolithic (between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago) were last defined by the abbey Breuil in 1906 and so there was no major change for 120 years. I’m not waiting for all researchers to say: “Well, it’s fantastic you changed everything”. </p>
<p>What is very important to respond to, for example, is the objection that the research is not clear and only based on one tooth. Well, no, it’s not only one tooth, it’s millions of flints. </p>
<p>And even if we did not have any hominin remains, we would be able to identify these artefacts as Sapiens’. Like, for example, for the Aurignacians (35,000 years ago) or the Proto-Aurignacians (42,000 years ago), we did not have any teeth for years. Now I think we have two or three for all Europe and in the Levant we have two or three very isolated teeth, but before we find these teeth everybody was happy and was saying: “Well, it’s clear it’s absolutely homo Sapiens because we have this connection with the Near East.”</p>
<p>As for what the paper of the three waves tried to explain, we must see that as a very general overview, and at the scale of the Western Eurasia - not something at the scale of the Rhône Valley or of one tooth. It’s a major historical event and we must see it at this scale.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206688/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ludovic Slimak ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>
Meet the archeologist who is overhauling our understanding of early human history.
Ludovic Slimak, Archéologue, penseur et chercheur au CNRS, Université de Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205656
2023-06-04T20:04:25Z
2023-06-04T20:04:25Z
‘Good soup is one of the prime ingredients of good living’: a (condensed) history of soup, from cave to can
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527416/original/file-20230522-23-9krgn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5455%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hot soup on a cold day brings warmth and comfort so simple that we don’t think too much about its origins. But its long history runs from the Stone Age and antiquity through to modernity, encompassing the birth of the restaurant, advances in chemistry, and a famous pop art icon. </p>
<p>The basic nature of soup has a fundamental appeal that feels primordial – because it is. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.academia.edu/12384834/2015_Speth_When_Did_Humans_Learn_to_Boil_">Archaeologists</a> speculate the first soup might have been made by Neanderthals, boiling animal bones to extract fat essential for their diet and drinking the broth. Without the fats, their high intake of lean animal meats could have led to protein poisoning, so stone age soup was an important complement to primeval nutrition.</p>
<p>The fundamental benefit of these bone broths is confirmed by archaeological discoveries around the world, ranging from a gelatin broth in <a href="https://www.archaeology.org/issues/317-1811/trenches/7056-trenches-egypt-giza-livestock-bones">Egypt’s Giza plateau</a>, to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11981666">Shaanxi Province</a> in China. </p>
<p>The widespread distribution of archaeological finds is a reminder soup not only has a long history, but is also a global food. </p>
<p>Today, our idea of soup is more refined, but the classic combination of stock and bread is embedded in the Latin root of the verb <em>suppāre</em>, meaning “to soak”. </p>
<p>As a noun, <em>suppa</em> became <em>soupe</em> in Old French, meaning bread soaked in broth, and <em><a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED41830/track?counter=1&search_id=24326280">sowpes</a></em> in Middle English. This pairing was also an economical way of reclaiming stale bread and thickening a thin broth.
Wealthier households might have toasted fresh bread for the dish, but less prosperous diners used up stale bread that was too hard to chew unless softened in the hot liquid.</p>
<h2>From rustic to creamy</h2>
<p>New ideas about science and digestion in 17th century France promoted <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340977432_The_Transformative_Influence_of_La_Varenne's_Le_Cuisinier_Francois_1651_on_French_Culinary_Practice">natural flavours</a> and thick, rustic preparations gave way to the creamy and velvety smooth soups we know today. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527415/original/file-20230522-21-dcc0ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People line up for soup" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527415/original/file-20230522-21-dcc0ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527415/original/file-20230522-21-dcc0ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527415/original/file-20230522-21-dcc0ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527415/original/file-20230522-21-dcc0ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527415/original/file-20230522-21-dcc0ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527415/original/file-20230522-21-dcc0ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527415/original/file-20230522-21-dcc0ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Soup Kitchen, Antonio de Puga, ca. 1630.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Museo de Arte de Ponce</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>New versions of the liquid food were developed by early modern European chefs, such as the <a href="https://archive.org/details/lenouveaucuisini01mass/page/138/mode/2up">seafood bisque</a>, extracting flavour from the shells of crustaceans.</p>
<p>The first restaurant as we understand them today opened in Paris in 1765, and was immortalised for a <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9785063s/f167.item.r=sante">simple broth</a>, a clear soup made from bone broth and fresh herbs. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.rebeccalspang.org/invention-of-the-restaurant">Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau</a>, the original French restaurateur, created a new type of public space where weary diners could regain their lost appetites and soothe their delicate nerves at all hours. </p>
<p>It may appear to be a contradiction that the first restaurant specifically catered to clients who had lost their appetites, yet it seems perfectly natural soup was the cure.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/revolutionary-broth-the-birth-of-the-restaurant-and-the-invention-of-french-gastronomy-165507">Revolutionary broth: the birth of the restaurant and the invention of French gastronomy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Easy and affordable</h2>
<p>Soup was not destined to be limited to fancy restaurants or the long simmering stock pots of peasants. Modern science made it convenient and less expensive for home cooks. </p>
<p>In 1897, a chemist at the Campbell soup company, John Dorrance, developed a <a href="https://www.campbellsoupcompany.com/about-us/our-story/campbell-history/">condensed canned soup</a> that dramatically reduced the water content. The new method halved the cost of shipping and made canned soup an affordable meal anyone could prepare. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527409/original/file-20230522-17-ts8u8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painting of men at a table" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527409/original/file-20230522-17-ts8u8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527409/original/file-20230522-17-ts8u8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527409/original/file-20230522-17-ts8u8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527409/original/file-20230522-17-ts8u8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527409/original/file-20230522-17-ts8u8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527409/original/file-20230522-17-ts8u8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527409/original/file-20230522-17-ts8u8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lunch (The Soup, Version II), Albin Egger-Lienz, 1910.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Leopold Museum, Vienna</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This revolutionary achievement was recognised at the 1900 Paris Exposition, winning an award for product excellence. Winning the prize was an achievement considering the competition at the world fair. The other technological advances exhibited at the turn of the century included the diesel engine, “talking” films, dry cell batteries and the Paris Metro.</p>
<p>The bronze medallion from 1900 still appears on the iconic red and white label, made famous by pop artist Andy Warhol’s <a href="https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/andy-warhol-campbells-soup-cans-1962/">32 Campbell Soup Cans</a> (1962). </p>
<p>In his work, Warhol appropriated images from consumer culture and the media ordinary people would instantly recognise, from Coca-Cola bottles to Marilyn Monroe. In his famous soup painting, 32 canvases – one for each flavour of soup – are lined up like cans on a supermarket shelf. </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://warhol.netx.net/portals/warhol-exhibitions/#asset/108496">interpretations</a> consider this a commentary on the link between art and consumerism, emphasising the ordinary quality of the everyday object. The artist may also have been influenced by his personal eating habits – he claimed he had <a href="https://whitney.org/collection/works/5632">soup for lunch</a> every day for 20 years. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/polaroids-of-the-everyday-and-portraits-of-the-rich-and-famous-you-should-know-the-compulsive-photography-of-andy-warhol-200081">Polaroids of the everyday and portraits of the rich and famous: you should know the compulsive photography of Andy Warhol</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>‘One of the prime ingredients of good living’</h2>
<p>A steady diet of soup is not guaranteed to inspire famous art, but its appeal is universal. Soup can be humble or fancy, cutting across cultures and classes. </p>
<p>Deceptively simple, the warmth and comfort of soup provide a temporary refuge from the winter chill, comforting the diner from the inside. </p>
<p>The French chef Auguste Escoffier, famous for enshrining the five basic “<a href="https://www.escoffieronline.com/our-guide-to-escoffiers-5-mother-sauces/">mother sauces</a>” in French cuisine, raised soups to perfection in the early 20th century, developing refined preparations that remain classics today. </p>
<p>Escoffier, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Escoffier.html?id=JFIDd639wlQC&redir_esc=y">known as</a> “the king of chefs and the chef of kings”, had very <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/A_Guide_to_Modern_Cookery/KCbkcXHj7qoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=escoffier+guide+culinaire&printsec=frontcover">high standards</a> for soup, claiming “of all the items on the menu, soup is that which exacts the most delicate perfection”.</p>
<p>An Austrian apprentice of Escoffier, Louis P. De Gouy, was chef at the Waldorf Astoria for 30 years and wrote 13 cookbooks. </p>
<p>He summed up the appeal of soup in a <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_Soup_Book/1tNmDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">volume</a> dedicated to the dish with over 700 recipes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Good soup is one of the prime ingredients of good living. For soup can do more to lift the spirits and stimulate the appetite than any other one dish.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>From Neanderthal broth to pop art icon, this humble pantry staple has a rich and vibrant history, giving us both nourishment and food for thought.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205656/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Garritt C. Van Dyk does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Archaeologists speculate the first soup might have been made by Neanderthals.
Garritt C. Van Dyk, Lecturer, University of Newcastle
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205339
2023-05-11T14:45:11Z
2023-05-11T14:45:11Z
Some Neanderthals hunted bigger animals, across a larger range, than modern humans
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525479/original/file-20230510-13046-3wl703.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C0%2C4580%2C3449&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Neanderthals were evolutionary cousins to our species, Homo sapiens.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/male-neanderthal-replicate-exhibited-museum-13feb2019-1314340712">Chettaprin.P / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The region of Estremadura in Portugal was home to a band of <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/who-were-the-neanderthals.html">Neanderthals</a> – an ancient evolutionary relative of modern humans – about 95,000 years ago. They made use of the patchwork of limestone caves, crags and river valleys, leaving traces of their activities in the form of stone tools, butchered animal bones and the remnants of fireplaces.</p>
<p>Now their teeth are providing new insights on how they hunted and interacted with their landscape. I was one of an international team of researchers that compared the levels of different forms of the chemical element strontium that had been preserved within the tooth enamel of two Neanderthals from the Almonda cave system in central Portugal, dating back about 95,000 years. The results have been <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2204501120">published in the journal PNAS</a>.</p>
<p>We also analysed the tooth enamel of a human who lived about 13,000 years ago during what’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Magdalenian-culture">known as the Magdalenian period</a>, between about 17,000 and 12,000 years ago. Coupled with data recovered from the tooth enamel of a variety of local animals –- including horse, wild goat, red deer and an extinct form of rhinoceros –- our findings show that Neanderthals in the region were hunting fairly large animals across wide tracts of land. Humans living in the same location tens of thousands of years later survived on smaller creatures in an area half the size. </p>
<p>Some researchers have wondered whether differences between the subsistence strategies of modern humans and Neanderthals contributed to the disappearance of the latter around 40,000 years ago. Our study was conducted over a limited area, but wider evidence suggests that range size and prey type may well have varied between different regions.</p>
<h2>From rocks to enamel</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/38/strontium">Isotopes of the element strontium</a> in rocks gradually change over millions of years because of radioactive processes. This means they vary from place to place depending on the age of the underlying geology. As rocks weather, these <a href="https://cais.uga.edu/service/strontium-isotope-analysis/">isotopic “fingerprints” are passed into plants via sediments</a> and make their way along the food chain –- eventually passing into tooth enamel.</p>
<p>Because tooth enamel forms incrementally, it preserves a times series of those strontium isotope signals, which in turn reflect the geological origin of the food a person or animal ate over time. Using a technique <a href="https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/facilities/laser-ablation">for analysing elements</a> in archaeological samples, we were able to take thousands of strontium isotope measurements along the length of the tooth enamel, measuring variation over the two or three years it takes for the enamel to form. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Neanderthal premolar tooth from the Almonda cave system, Portugal (seen from different angles)." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525484/original/file-20230510-29-8nzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525484/original/file-20230510-29-8nzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525484/original/file-20230510-29-8nzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525484/original/file-20230510-29-8nzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525484/original/file-20230510-29-8nzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525484/original/file-20230510-29-8nzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525484/original/file-20230510-29-8nzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Neanderthal premolar tooth from the Almonda cave system, Portugal (seen from different angles).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Credit: João Zilhão</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By comparing the strontium isotopes in the teeth with sediments collected at different locations in the region, we were able to reconstruct the movements of Neanderthals and the Magdalenian human across the landscape. The geology around the Almonda caves is highly variable, making it possible to spot mobility of just a few kilometres.</p>
<p>We also looked at isotopes in the tooth enamel of animals found in the cave system. Alongside strontium, we measured oxygen isotopes, which vary seasonally from summer to winter. This enabled us to establish not only where the animals ranged across the landscape, but in which seasons they were available for hunting.</p>
<h2>Seasonal patterns</h2>
<p>We showed that the Neanderthals, who were targeting large animals, could have hunted wild goat in the summer, whereas horses, red deer and an extinct form of rhinoceros were available all year round within about 30km of the cave. The Magdalenian human showed a different pattern of subsistence, with seasonal movement of about 20km from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almonda">Almonda caves</a> to the banks of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagus">Tagus River</a>, and a diet that included rabbits, red deer, wild goat and freshwater fish. </p>
<p>We approximated the territory of the two different human groups, revealing contrasting results. The Neanderthals obtained their food over approximately 600 sq km, whereas the humans occupied a much smaller territory of about 300 sq km. They suggest that the reduction in territory size could be a shift in population density. </p>
<p>With a relatively low population, Neanderthals were free to roam further to target large prey species, such as horses, without encountering rival groups. By the Magdalenian period, an increase in population density reduced available territory, and human groups had moved down the food chain to occupy smaller territories, hunting mostly rabbits and catching fish on a seasonal basis.</p>
<p>The study illustrates how new analytical methods can deepen our understanding of archaeology and human evolution. Previously, our knowledge of the lives and behaviour of past individuals was limited to what we could infer from marks on their bones or the artefacts they used. Now, using the chemistry of bones and teeth, we can begin to reconstruct detailed individual life histories, even as far back as the Neanderthals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205339/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bethan Linscott previously received funding from the AHRC. She has not received funding from the AHRC since 2019.</span></em></p>
The analysis could help us understand behavioural differences between the two groups of humans.
Bethan Linscott, Postdoctoral Researcher, Archaeological Geochemistry, University of Oxford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/196555
2023-05-02T12:14:34Z
2023-05-02T12:14:34Z
Enigmatic human fossil jawbone may be evidence of an early ‘Homo sapiens’ presence in Europe – and adds mystery about who those humans were
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522664/original/file-20230424-25-snjmo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1041%2C1616%2C9952%2C6772&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Close examination of digital and 3D-printed models suggested the fossil needs to be reclassified.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brian A. Keeling</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Homo sapiens</em>, our own species, evolved in Africa sometime between <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22336">300,000</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04275-8">200,000</a> years ago. Anthropologists are pretty confident in that estimate, based on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0237">fossil</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/325031a0">genetic</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.09.010">archaeological</a> evidence.</p>
<p>Then what happened? How modern humans spread throughout the rest of the world is one of the most active areas of research in human evolutionary studies.</p>
<p>The earliest fossil evidence of our species outside of Africa is found at <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/ancient-jawbone-suggests-our-species-left-africa-40000-years-earlier-expected">a site called Misliya cave</a>, in the Middle East, and dates to around 185,000 years ago. While additional <em>H. sapiens</em> fossils are found from around 120,000 years ago in this same region, it seems modern humans reached Europe much later.</p>
<p>Understanding when our species migrated out of Africa can reveal insights into present-day biological, behavioral and cultural diversity. While we <em>Homo sapiens</em> are the only humans alive today, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.06.008">our species coexisted</a> with different human lineages in the past, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.3998/jar.0521004.0069.202">Neandertals</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2020.48.3.003-032">Denisovans</a>. Scientists are interested in when and where <em>H. sapiens</em> encountered these other kinds of humans.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EjyT0fIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Our</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JG6YfO4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">recent</a> reanalysis of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103291">fossil jawbone from a Spanish site called Banyoles</a> is raising new questions about when our species may have migrated to Europe.</p>
<h2><em>Homo sapiens</em> fossils found in Europe</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/a-timeline-of-fossil-discoveries/">first documented discoveries</a> of human fossils were in Europe, just before Darwin’s 1859 publication of “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Darwin/On-the-Origin-of-Species">The Origin of Species</a>.” Ideas of evolution were being actively debated within European universities and scientific societies.</p>
<p>Many of the earliest fossil findings were <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/who-were-the-neanderthals.html">Neandertals</a>, a species that evolved in Europe by 250,000 years ago and became extinct around 40,000 years ago. They <a href="https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals">are also our closest evolutionary relatives</a> and, because of ancient interbreeding, the genomes of people today include Neandertal DNA. Because of their early historical presence, Neandertal fossils had a big influence on how early researchers thought about human evolution. </p>
<p>The first <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.192464099">fossil evidence of Neandertals was found in 1856</a> during quarrying activities from the Neander Tal (Neander Valley) in Germany. Paleontologists took the hint and started to search for human fossils in other caves and exposed areas that preserved ancient sediments.</p>
<p>More than a decade later, in 1868, paleontologists uncovered <em>H. sapiens</em> fossils at the <a href="https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/fossils/cro-magnon-1">site of Cro-Magnon in southern France</a>. For much of the 20th century, the 30,000-year-old Cro-Magnon fossils represented the earliest fossil evidence of our species in Europe.</p>
<p>More recently, evidence for an earlier <em>H. sapiens</em> presence in Europe has come from two sites in Eastern Europe, including a partial skull from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01443-x">Zlatý kůň Cave in Czechia</a> dating to 45,000 years ago, as well as more fragmentary remains from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2259-z">Bacho Kiro Cave in Bulgaria</a> dating to around 44,000 years ago. Ancient DNA analysis has confirmed that the fossils from these sites represent <em>H. sapiens</em>. Additional, potentially earlier, evidence is represented by a <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-suggests-modern-humans-lived-in-europe-10-000-years-earlier-than-previously-thought-in-neanderthal-territories-176648">single tooth dating to 54,000 years ago</a> from the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abj9496">Grotte Mandrin Cave in France</a>.</p>
<p>This is where the human fossil from Banyoles comes into the story.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t_ZZkzCbd3U?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A new look at an old fossil find potentially pushes back the date when <em>Homo sapiens</em> lived in Europe.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reinvestigating a ‘Neandertal’ mandible</h2>
<p>Over a century ago in 1889, a fossil human lower jaw, or mandible, was found at a quarry near the town of Banyoles, in northeastern Spain. Pere Alsius, a prominent local pharmacist, first studied the mandible, and the fossil has been curated by his family ever since.</p>
<p>A number of anthropologists have studied the fossil over time, but it has not usually been included in discussions about <em>H. sapiens</em> in Europe. Most researchers instead argued it represented a Neandertal or showed Neandertal-like features, in part because the Banyoles fossil lacks a feature considered typical and diagnostic of our own species: a bony chin on the front of the mandible.</p>
<p>Researchers did not have a good idea of how old the Banyoles mandible was, with most believing it likely dated to the Middle Pleistocene (780,000-130,000 years ago). That age made it seem too old to represent <em>H. sapiens</em>. Thus, with the absence of a chin and the presumed early date, the designation as a Neandertal seemed to make sense.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing the green and rocky terrain of Spain with fossil discovery sites indicated." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of the Iberian Peninsula indicating where the Banyoles mandible (yellow star) was found, along with Late Pleistocene Neandertal (orange triangles) and <em>H. sapiens</em> (white squares) sites.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brian A. Keeling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Based on recent modern <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4409-0_50">uranium-series</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9694-0_8">electron spin resonance</a> dating, researchers now believe the Banyoles mandible is between 45,000 and 66,000 years old. This younger estimate overlaps with the early <em>H. sapiens</em> fossils from Eastern Europe.</p>
<p>Working with Spanish paleoanthropologists and archaeologists, we took another look at what species the fossil might represent. We relied on a CT scan to virtually reconstruct damaged or missing portions of the mandible and generated a 3D model of the complete fossil. Then, we studied its overall shape and distinctive anatomical features, comparing it to <em>H. sapiens</em>, Neandertals and other earlier human species.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three side-by-side digital reconstructions of the Banyoles mandible, from side and above." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Virtual reconstruction of the 3D model of the Banyoles mandible. Highlighted piece in blue indicates a mirrored element that researchers used to fill out missing sections.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brian A. Keeling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast to earlier analyses, our results revealed that the Banyoles jawbone was most similar to <em>H. sapiens</em> fossils – not Neandertals.</p>
<p>When we examined the mandible’s bony features where muscle tendons and ligaments would have attached, it most closely resembled <em>H. sapiens</em>. We also found no unique bony features shared with the Neandertals. Additionally, when we used sophisticated 3D analysis techniques, we found that Banyoles’ overall shape was a better match with <em>H. sapiens</em> than with Neandertal individuals.</p>
<p>While nearly all of our evidence suggests this prehistoric human was indeed a member of our species, the lack of a chin remains puzzling. This feature is present in all human populations today and should be present in Banyoles if it is a member of our species.</p>
<h2>Figuring out the closest match</h2>
<p>How do we reconcile our results showing that Banyoles is a modern human with the fact that it lacks one of the most distinctive modern human features? We considered several possible scenarios.</p>
<p>When the mandible was discovered, it was still encased in a hard travertine block and only partially exposed. During initial cleaning and preparation of the specimen, it was <a href="https://helvia.uco.es/bitstream/handle/10396/16390/carandell51.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">accidentally dropped</a> and the chin region was damaged. The fossil was subsequently reconstructed, with the damaged fragments aligned in their correct anatomical position, and the current state of the fossil does seem to accurately reflect an original chinless shape. Thus, the lack of a chin in Banyoles cannot be attributed to this initial incident.</p>
<p>Could the lack of a chin in the Banyoles fossil be a result of interbreeding with Neandertals, who also lacked a chin? <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1002947">Genetic evidence</a> suggests that <em>H. sapiens</em> most likely interbred with Neandertals between 45,000 and 65,000 years ago, making this a possibility.</p>
<p>To assess this hypothesis, we compared Banyoles with an early <em>H. sapiens</em> mandible dating to about 42,000 years ago from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.2035108100">a Romanian site called Peştera cu Oase</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14558">Ancient DNA analysis</a> has revealed that the Oase individual had a Neandertal ancestor between four and six generations back, making it close to a hybrid individual. However, unlike Banyoles, this mandible shows a full chin along with some other Neandertal features. Since Banyoles shared no distinctive features with Neandertals, we ruled out the possibility of this individual representing interbreeding between Neandertals and <em>H. sapiens</em>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three different lower jaw bones side by side" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Comparison of mandibles between <em>H. sapiens</em>, at left; Banyoles, center; and a Neandertal, at right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brian A. Keeling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We’re left with two possibilities. Banyoles may represent a hybrid individual between <em>H. sapiens</em> and a non-Neandertal archaic human lineage. This scenario might account for the absence of the chin as well as the lack of any other Neandertal features in Banyoles. However, scientists haven’t identified any such non-Neandertal archaic group in the fossil record of the European <a href="https://www.geosociety.org/GSA/Education_Careers/Geologic_Time_Scale/GSA/timescale/home.aspx">Late Pleistocene</a> (129,000-11,700 years ago), making this hypothesis less likely.</p>
<p>Alternatively, Banyoles may document a previously unknown lineage of largely chinless <em>H. sapiens</em> in Europe. Possible support for this hypothesis comes from the fact that early <em>H. sapiens</em> fossils from Africa and the Middle East show a less prominent chin than do living humans. </p>
<p>Additionally, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17993">ancient DNA research</a> has shown that <em>H. sapiens</em> populations in Europe before 35,000 years ago did not contribute to the modern European gene pool. Thus, we believe the least unlikely hypothesis is that Banyoles represents an individual from one of these early <em>H. sapiens</em> populations.</p>
<p>Our study of Banyoles demonstrates how new discoveries about our evolutionary past do not solely rely on new fossil discoveries, but can also come about through applying new methodologies to previously discovered fossils. If Banyoles is really a member of our species, it would potentially represent the earliest <em>H. sapiens</em> lineage documented to date in Europe. Future ancient DNA analysis could confirm or refute this surprising result. In the meantime, <a href="https://www.morphosource.org/">the 3D model of Banyoles</a> is available for other researchers to study and form their own conclusions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196555/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Scientists had figured a fossil found in Spain more than a century ago was from a Neandertal. But a new analysis suggests it could be from a lost lineage of our species, Homo sapiens.
Brian Anthony Keeling, Doctoral Candidate in Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Rolf Quam, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/201569
2023-04-18T20:01:07Z
2023-04-18T20:01:07Z
Diseases gave us the rise of Christianity, the end of the Aztecs and public sanitation. How might future plagues change human history?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517613/original/file-20230327-27-ualse4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4439%2C3183&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elena Mozhvilo/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Every once in a while a book lands on your desk that changes the way you perceive the world you live in, a book that fundamentally challenges your understanding of human history.” So began the blurb that came with this book. Aha! I thought. The usual advertising hyperbole, a gross exaggeration. </p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/pathogenesis-9781911709053">Pathogenesis</a> <em>did</em> challenge much of my understanding of world history. Who knew that if it wasn’t for an Ebola-like pandemic in the 2nd century CE, Christianity would never have become a world religion? Or that if it weren’t for retroviruses, women would be laying eggs rather than having live births? (According to the book’s author, a retrovirus inserted DNA into our ancestor’s genome that caused the placenta to develop.)</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Book review: Pathogenesis: How germs made history – by Jonathan Kennedy (Torva)</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517614/original/file-20230327-20-1geds5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517614/original/file-20230327-20-1geds5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517614/original/file-20230327-20-1geds5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517614/original/file-20230327-20-1geds5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517614/original/file-20230327-20-1geds5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517614/original/file-20230327-20-1geds5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517614/original/file-20230327-20-1geds5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517614/original/file-20230327-20-1geds5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, this is not another book of Amazing Facts: it is a work of scholarship, with nearly 700 references and notes. At the same time, it is very readable, and even amusing at times. </p>
<p>Many books have been written about the impact of disease on civilisation. I have even written my own modest <a href="https://medium.com/@adrian.esterman/infectious-diseases-and-their-impact-on-civilisation-4eb8ac72cc5b">essay</a> on the topic. However,
Pathogenesis delves deeply into the social history of the world. </p>
<p>Jonathan Kennedy has a PhD in sociology from the University of Cambridge, and his sociological bent comes through strongly. In eight chapters, and some 350 pages, Kennedy takes us on a whirlwind tour of social history, describing how infectious diseases have shaped humanity at every stage. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/viruses-are-both-the-villains-and-heroes-of-life-as-we-know-it-169131">Viruses are both the villains and heroes of life as we know it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>‘It’s a bacterial world’</h2>
<p>Kennedy starts by describing the three great branches of living organisms, <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-peaceful-coexistence-to-potential-peril-the-bacteria-that-live-in-and-on-us-104110">bacteria</a>, <a href="https://microbiologysociety.org/why-microbiology-matters/what-is-microbiology/archaea.html">archaea</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/eukaryote">eukaryotes</a> – it is the latter that contains all complex life forms, including humans. However, fewer than 0.001% of all species are eukaryotes. </p>
<p>Bacteria, on the other hand, are the dominant life form on this planet. As Kennedy puts it, “it’s a bacterial world, and we’re just squatting here”. </p>
<p>Our own species, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/rethinking-homo-sapiens-the-story-of-our-origins-gets-dizzyingly-complicated-99760">Homo sapiens</a></em>, arose some 315,000 years ago, living for the most part in Africa. At the same time, human species such as Neanderthals and <a href="https://theconversation.com/dna-from-elusive-human-relatives-the-denisovans-has-left-a-curious-mark-on-modern-people-in-new-guinea-196113">Denisovans</a> spread out into Europe. However, about 50,000 years ago, <em>Homo sapiens</em> burst out of Africa and spread across the world, while all other human species simply vanished. There are many <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-homo-sapiens-became-the-ultimate-invasive-species/">theories</a> as to why and how this occurred – for example, perhaps <em>Homo sapiens</em> were just smarter. </p>
<p>However, Kennedy proposes his own theory. Because <em>Homo sapiens</em> lived primarily in Africa, they were exposed to many pathogens, and eventually acquired genetic changes that gave them some protection. The exodus out of Africa exposed other species to these pathogens, causing their demise. </p>
<p>He describes the <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-were-the-mysterious-neolithic-people-that-enabled-the-rise-of-ancient-egypt-heres-what-weve-learned-on-our-digs-121070">Neolithic</a> revolution, which took place about 12,000 years ago and which saw the change from hunter-gatherers to farmers. Because of their nomadic existence in small groups, hunter-gatherers tended to be relatively healthy, with an average lifespan of 72 - better than the average lifespan in some countries today! </p>
<p>It has always been assumed that this revolution was a good thing, bringing better nutrition and more leisure time. However, in Kennedy’s view, the Neolithic revolution led to the emergence of despotism, inequality, poverty and backbreaking work. He describes how settlement and the farming of domestic animals led to the emergence of zoonotic diseases – that is, <a href="https://theconversation.com/preventing-future-pandemics-starts-with-recognizing-links-between-human-and-animal-health-167617">diseases spread by animals</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517617/original/file-20230327-24-pz4erz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517617/original/file-20230327-24-pz4erz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517617/original/file-20230327-24-pz4erz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517617/original/file-20230327-24-pz4erz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517617/original/file-20230327-24-pz4erz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517617/original/file-20230327-24-pz4erz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517617/original/file-20230327-24-pz4erz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517617/original/file-20230327-24-pz4erz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Settlement and the farming of domestic animals led to the emergence of diseases spread by animals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">kallerna/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/disease-evolution-our-long-history-of-fighting-viruses-54569">Disease evolution: our long history of fighting viruses</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Plagues and social upheavals</h2>
<p>In a chapter on ancient plagues, Kennedy quotes from Monty Python’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/life-of-brian-at-40-an-assertion-of-individual-freedom-that-still-resonates-114743">The Life of Brian</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He points out that Roman cities were, in fact, “filthy, stinking and disease-ridden”, and goes on to describe the great plagues <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-3-prior-pandemics-triggered-massive-societal-shifts-146467">that weakened the Roman Empire</a>. The first was the Antonine Plague, possibly caused by smallpox. This was followed some 70 years later by the Plague of Cyprian from AD 249-262, which led to the splitting of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity. </p>
<p>Kennedy completes this chapter with a description of the Plague of Justinian, caused by bubonic plague. The massive deaths caused by this epidemic led to the demise of the Roman Empire, and the Muslim conquest of the Middle East. </p>
<p>In the period 1346–53, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/did-the-black-death-give-birth-to-modern-plagues-3820">Black Death</a> tore through North Africa and Europe, killing an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death">estimated</a> 75 million to 200 million people. Kennedy describes the devastation and huge social upheavals that resulted from this pandemic. Until then, the Roman Catholic Church dominated society. But:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>During the Black Death and subsequent plague outbreaks, people looked to the Church for comfort. All too often they didn’t find it. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517616/original/file-20230327-22-23ih7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517616/original/file-20230327-22-23ih7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517616/original/file-20230327-22-23ih7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517616/original/file-20230327-22-23ih7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517616/original/file-20230327-22-23ih7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517616/original/file-20230327-22-23ih7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517616/original/file-20230327-22-23ih7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517616/original/file-20230327-22-23ih7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Black Death killed an estimated 75–200 million people in Europe and North Africa. Hugo Simberg Black Death.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This led to the rise of Protestantism, aided by the invention of the printing press - a shortage of labour encouraged the development of such labour-saving devices. Over the next 200 years, waves of plague repeatedly hit Europe. A quarantine system was developed in Venice, and <em>cordon sanitaires</em> established, to prevent movement of people between cities - ring any bells? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/did-the-black-death-give-birth-to-modern-plagues-3820">Did the Black Death give birth to modern plagues?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Pathogens as New World killers</h2>
<p>In the period from 1500 onwards, white colonialists nearly wiped out indigenous people by infecting them. Kennedy starts with the early 16th century, when Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés led an expedition to Mexico. His arrival <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-smallpox-devastated-the-aztecs-and-helped-spain-conquer-an-american-civilization-500-years-ago-111579">introduced smallpox</a>, which resulted in the total destruction of the Aztec Empire within just two years. However, this was just the start. </p>
<p>In the early 1530s, Mexico was hit by an epidemic of <a href="https://theconversation.com/measles-new-efforts-needed-to-stop-an-old-disease-13706">measles</a> that killed 80% of its population, making it the deadliest epidemic in recorded history. Over the following decades, across the whole of the Americas, the introduction of infectious diseases from Europe resulted in a 90% fall in the population. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517624/original/file-20230327-15-s0x2ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517624/original/file-20230327-15-s0x2ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517624/original/file-20230327-15-s0x2ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517624/original/file-20230327-15-s0x2ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517624/original/file-20230327-15-s0x2ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517624/original/file-20230327-15-s0x2ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517624/original/file-20230327-15-s0x2ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517624/original/file-20230327-15-s0x2ks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hernán Cortés brought smallpox to Mexico, resulting in the total destruction of the Aztec Empire within two years, as illustrated in this 16th-century drawing of Aztec smallpox victims.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, during this period, it wasn’t just the New World that was profoundly affected by pathogens. On the west coast of Africa, explorers and would-be colonialists died in droves from <a href="https://theconversation.com/worlds-first-mass-malaria-vaccine-rollout-could-prevent-thousands-of-children-dying-169457">malaria</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/zika-dengue-yellow-fever-what-are-flaviviruses-53969">yellow fever</a>. </p>
<p>Interestingly, Kennedy starts his chapter on revolutionary plagues with the murder of <a href="https://theconversation.com/george-floyd-deserved-a-better-life-a-new-book-charts-his-trajectory-from-poverty-to-the-us-prison-industrial-complex-and-the-impact-of-his-death-182947">George Floyd</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-black-lives-matter-movement-has-provoked-a-cultural-reckoning-about-how-black-stories-are-told-149544">Black Lives Matter</a> movement, before delving deep into the history of slavery. He describes slavery in Greek and Roman times, and the booming trade in slaves in the medieval Mediterranean. </p>
<p>The association between black Africans and <a href="https://theconversation.com/slavery-is-not-a-crime-in-almost-half-the-countries-of-the-world-new-research-115596">slavery</a> only began in the 15th century. In fact, only 3% of the 12.5 million humans trafficked across the Atlantic ended up in the United States. The most common destinations of the slave ships were the European colonies in the Caribbean, where African slave labour was first used more than a century before their shipment to North America. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, in the Caribbean, slave labour from tropical West Africa toiled on sugar plantations owned by the English, Spanish, French and Dutch. Yellow fever carried by mosquitoes wiped out many of the Europeans, including military garrisons, leading to slave revolts.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-a-slave-state-how-blackbirding-in-colonial-australia-created-a-legacy-of-racism-187782">Friday essay: a slave state - how blackbirding in colonial Australia created a legacy of racism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Diseases ‘thrived’ in Dickensian habitats</h2>
<p>When Kennedy switches his focus to Britain, and the industrial revolution, he describes it as the change from a Thomas Hardy novel to one by <a href="https://theconversation.com/great-expectations-by-charles-dickens-class-prejudices-the-convict-stain-and-a-corpse-bride-159816">Charles Dickens</a>. The crowded and unsanitary conditions in working-class urban districts created new habitats, in which pathogens thrived. </p>
<p>Kennedy again evokes Monty Python to invoke the scenery of those days, reminding readers of the famous four Yorkshiremen sketch. The scene made me think of a different quote from the same sketch:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You were lucky to have a house! We used to live in one room, all hundred and twenty-six of us, no furniture. Half the floor was missing; we were all huddled together in one corner for fear of falling!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Every Epidemiology 101 course covers the story of <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/people/john-snow/">John Snow</a> (no – not the “Winter is coming” one!). <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson1/section2.html">Two decades</a> before the development of the microscope, Snow examined cholera outbreaks to discover the cause of disease and how to prevent it. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517625/original/file-20230327-14-jix57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517625/original/file-20230327-14-jix57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517625/original/file-20230327-14-jix57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517625/original/file-20230327-14-jix57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517625/original/file-20230327-14-jix57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517625/original/file-20230327-14-jix57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517625/original/file-20230327-14-jix57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517625/original/file-20230327-14-jix57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Snow proved in 1854 that cholera is a waterborne disease: a London pub is named for him.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/6699">ceridwen/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the third UK cholera outbreak in 1854, Snow famously removed London’s Broad Street water pump, to demonstrate that cholera was a waterborne disease. For those interested, there is a <a href="https://londonspubswherehistoryreallyhappened.wordpress.com/2019/03/05/john-snow/">John Snow</a> pub in London. Kennedy, of course, includes this story in his book.</p>
<p>Kennedy points out that 3.5 billion people – half of the world’s population – have no access to proper toilets, while a billion don’t have clean drinking water and 1.5 million people, mainly children, die every year from waterborne diarrhoeal diseases. </p>
<p>We still have massive <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-cholera-remains-a-public-health-threat-74444">cholera outbreaks</a>, especially in areas where normal life has been disrupted by war or natural disasters. <a href="https://theconversation.com/tuberculosis-kills-as-many-people-each-year-as-covid-19-its-time-we-found-a-better-vaccine-151590">Tuberculosis</a> still kills 1.2 million people a year, despite the availability of antibiotics. Malaria kills another 600,000. </p>
<p>Finally in this section, he briefly covers <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-hospitalisations-and-deaths-are-rising-faster-than-cases-but-that-doesnt-mean-more-severe-disease-187163">COVID</a>. He points out that not everyone in the world benefited from the medical advances that came about because of COVID, and the self-interested actions of high-income countries have deprived the poorer countries. As he puts it, “pathogens thrive on inequality and injustice”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fleas-to-flu-to-coronavirus-how-death-ships-spread-disease-through-the-ages-137061">Fleas to flu to coronavirus: how 'death ships' spread disease through the ages</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Future plagues</h2>
<p>Kennedy concludes by looking at future plagues. He points out humanity’s precarious position: we live on a planet dominated by bacteria and viruses. He believes our best chance of surviving the threat posed by pathogens will come from working collaboratively and reducing inequality both within and between countries. </p>
<p>Based on its title, I assumed this book would be about the role of pathogens in shaping civilisation. Instead, I found a social history of the world, with the odd foray into diseases and their influence on society. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and can highly recommend it to those with an interest in history, sociology and epidemiology.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201569/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrian Esterman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
This whirlwind tour of social history describes how infectious diseases have shaped humanity at every stage. It suggests reducing inequality will give us our best chance of surviving future plagues.
Adrian Esterman, Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of South Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/200609
2023-03-12T16:01:33Z
2023-03-12T16:01:33Z
The earliest modern humans in Europe mastered bow-and-arrow technology 54,000 years ago
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512410/original/file-20230227-22-mtydme.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C53%2C6000%2C3377&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">To test the ballistic properties of the stone points found in the Mandrin cave, modern duplicates were created and hafted on to shafts, as they may have been 54,000 years ago. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laure Metz, Ludovic Slimak</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Based on research in France’s Mandrin cave, in February 2022 we published a study in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abj9496"><em>Science Advances</em></a> that pushed back the earliest evidence of the arrival of the first <em>Homo sapiens</em> in Europe to 54,000 years ago – 11 millennia earlier than had been previously established.</p>
<p>In the study, <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-suggests-modern-humans-lived-in-europe-10-000-years-earlier-than-previously-thought-in-neanderthal-territories-176648">we described nine fossil teeth</a> excavated from all the archeological layers in the cave. Eight were determined to be from Neanderthals, but one from one of the middle layers belonged to a paleolithic <em>Homo sapiens</em>. Based on this and other data, we determined that these early <em>Homo sapiens</em> of Europe were later replaced by Neanderthal populations.</p>
<p>The single <em>Homo sapiens</em> tooth was discovered in a remarkable and rich archeological layer that also included approximately 1,500 tiny stone blades or bladelets – some were less than 1 centimeter in length. They were all part of the “Neronian” tradition, named in 2004 by one of us, Ludovic Slimak, after the Néron cave in France’s Ardèche region. Neronian stone tools are distinctive and there were no similar points found in the layers left behind by the Neanderthals who inhabited the rock shelter before and after. They also bear striking parallels with those made by other <em>Homo sapiens</em> along the east Mediterranean coast, as exemplified at the site of Ksar Akil northeast of Beirut. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514641/original/file-20230310-16-jqp3du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People kneeling on dirt ground, excavating." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514641/original/file-20230310-16-jqp3du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514641/original/file-20230310-16-jqp3du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514641/original/file-20230310-16-jqp3du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514641/original/file-20230310-16-jqp3du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514641/original/file-20230310-16-jqp3du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514641/original/file-20230310-16-jqp3du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514641/original/file-20230310-16-jqp3du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">View of archeological excavations at the entrance of France’s Mandrin cave.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ludovic Slimak</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This month in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add4675"><em>Science Advances</em></a>, we published a study announcing that the humans who arrived in Europe some 54,000 years ago had mastered the use of bows and arrows. This discovery pushes back the origin in Eurasia of these remarkable technologies by approximately 40,000 years.</p>
<p>The emergence in prehistory of mechanically propelled weapons – spears or arrows sent on their way by throwing sticks (atlatl) or bows – is commonly perceived as one of the hallmarks of the advance of modern human populations into the European continent. However, the origin of archery has always been archeologically difficult to trace because the materials used tend to disappear from the fossil record.</p>
<h2>Archaeological invisibility</h2>
<p>Armatures – hard points made of stone, horn or bone – constitute the main evidence of weapon technologies in the European Paleolithic. Materials associated with archery – wood, fibres, leather, resins, and sinew – are perishable, however, and so are rarely preserved. This makes archaeological recognition of these technologies difficult. </p>
<p>Partially preserved archery equipment was found in Eurasia only in more recent times, between 10 and 12 millennia ago, and in frozen ground or peat bogs, as at the Stellmoor site in Germany. Based on the analysis of armatures, archery is now well documented in Africa approximately 70,000 years ago. While some flint or deer-antler armatures suggest the existence of archery from the early phases of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe more than 35,000 years ago, their shape and how they were hafted – attached to a shaft or handle – do not allow confirmation that they were propelled by a bow.</p>
<p>More recent armatures from the European Upper Paleolithic bear similarities to each other, not allowing us to clearly determine whether they were propelled by a bow or an atlatl. This makes the possible existence of archery during the European Upper Paleolithic archeologically plausible, but difficult to establish.</p>
<h2>Experimental replicas</h2>
<p>The stone points found in the Mandrin cave are both extremely light (30% weigh hardly more than a few grams) and small (almost 40% of these tiny points present a maximum width of 10mm). </p>
<p>To determine how they could have been propelled, the first step was to make experimental replicas. We then hafted the newly made points into shafts and tested how they behaved when shot with bows and spear-throwers, or by simply thrusting them. This allowed us to test their ballistic characteristics, limits and efficiency.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514642/original/file-20230310-465-u7dgwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Arrow flies while man holds bow and woman observes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514642/original/file-20230310-465-u7dgwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514642/original/file-20230310-465-u7dgwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514642/original/file-20230310-465-u7dgwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514642/original/file-20230310-465-u7dgwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514642/original/file-20230310-465-u7dgwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514642/original/file-20230310-465-u7dgwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514642/original/file-20230310-465-u7dgwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The tiny experimental points were used as arrowheads and shot by bow or atlatl, and the resulting fractures were compared with the scars found on the archeological material.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laure Metz, Slimak Ludovic</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After our experimental replicas were shot, we examined the fractures that resulted and compared them with those found on the archeological material. The fractures and scars show that they were distally hafted – attached to the split end of a shaft. Their small size and especially narrow width allow us to conclude how they were fired: only high-speed propulsion by a bow was possible, our analysis determined.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514643/original/file-20230310-22-nvcvhz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Tiny arrow point on a fingertip" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514643/original/file-20230310-22-nvcvhz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514643/original/file-20230310-22-nvcvhz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514643/original/file-20230310-22-nvcvhz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514643/original/file-20230310-22-nvcvhz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514643/original/file-20230310-22-nvcvhz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514643/original/file-20230310-22-nvcvhz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514643/original/file-20230310-22-nvcvhz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nanotechnologies of the first <em>Homo sapiens</em> in Europe. More than 1,500 points were found abandoned by these earliest modern humans during their stay in Mandrin cave. This very light point, found in the cave’s Layer E, is dated to 54,000 years old and presents diagnostic microscopic scars of its use as a weapon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laure Metz, Ludovic Slimak</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The data from the Mandrin cave and the tests that we performed enrich our knowledge of these technologies in Europe and now allow us to push back the age of archery in Europe by more than 40,000 years. </p>
<p>Our study also sheds light on the weaponry of these Neanderthal populations, who were contemporaries of the Neronian modern humans. Neanderthals did not develop mechanically propelled weapons and continued to use their traditional weapons based on the use of massive stone-tipped spears that were thrust or thrown by hand, and thus requiring close contact with the game they hunted. The traditions and technologies mastered by these two populations were thus distinct, illustrating a remarkable objective technological advantage for modern populations during their expansion into Europe. </p>
<p>Not only do these discoveries profoundly reshape our knowledge of Neanderthals and modern humans in Western Europe, but they also raise many questions about the structure and organization of these different populations on the continent. Technical choices are not solely the result of the cognitive capacities of differing hominin populations, but may also have depended on the weight of traditions within these Neanderthal and modern human populations.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>To deepen one’s understanding the complex question of the relationship between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals during the first migration to the European continent, the reader can turn to Ludovic Slimak’s book <a href="https://www.odilejacob.fr/catalogue/sciences-humaines/archeologie-paleontologie-prehistoire/neandertal-nu_9782738157232.php">“Néandertal nu”</a> (Odile Jacob 2022), soon available from Penguin books as <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/454664/the-naked-neanderthal-by-slimak-ludovic/9780241617663">“The Naked Neanderthal”</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200609/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>
In 2022 we detailed the discovery of 1,500 stone points in France’s Madrin cave. Experiments now show that they could were used as arrowheads, pushing back evidence of archery in Eurasia by 40,000 years.
Laure Metz, Archéologue et chercheuse en anthropologie, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU)
Jason E. Lewis, Lecturer of Anthropology and Assistant Director of the Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)
Ludovic Slimak, CNRS Permanent Member, Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/194113
2023-01-17T12:31:12Z
2023-01-17T12:31:12Z
Neanderthals: the oldest art in the world wasn’t made by Homo sapiens
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502905/original/file-20230103-16-hy1of1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C8%2C5414%2C3628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Maltravieso Cave replica with Neanderthals four fingers hand-prints, Caceres, Spain</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/caceres-spain-may-27th-2018-maltravieso-1101242564">WH_Pics/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the most hotly debated questions in the history of Neanderthal research has been whether they created art. In the past few years, the consensus has become that they did, sometimes. But, like their relations at either end of the hominoid evolutionary tree, chimpanzees and <em>Homo sapiens</em>, Neanderthals’ behaviour varied culturally from group to group and over time. </p>
<p>Their art was perhaps more abstract than the stereotypical figure and animal cave paintings <em>Homo Sapiens</em> made after the Neanderthals disappeared about 30,000 years ago. But archaeologists are beginning to appreciate how creative Neanderthal art was in its own right. </p>
<p><em>Homo sapiens</em> are thought to have evolved in Africa from at least 315,000 years ago. Neanderthal populations in Europe have been traced back at least 400,000 years. </p>
<p>As early as <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1112261109">250,000 years ago</a>, Neanderthals were mixing minerals such as <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40853224_Pigments_gravures_parures_les_comportements_symboliques_controverss_de_Nandertaliens">haematite (ochre) and manganese</a> with fluids to make red and black paints – presumably to <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0914088107">decorate the body and clothing</a>.</p>
<h2>It’s human nature</h2>
<p>Research by <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/october/researcher-sequenced-neanderthal-genome-awarded-nobel-prize.html">Palaeolithic archaeologists in the 1990s</a> radically changed the common view of Neanderthals as dullards. We now know that, far from trying to keep up with the <em>Homo sapiens</em>, they had a nuanced behavioural evolution of their own. Their large brains earned their evolutionary keep.</p>
<p>We know from <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229209943_UTh_ages_constraining_the_Neanderthal_footprint_at_Vrtop_Cave_Romani">finding remains in underground caves</a>, including footprints and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature18291">evidence of tool use</a> and pigments in places where neanderthals had no obvious reason to be that they appear to have been inquisitive about their world. </p>
<p>Why were they straying from the world of light into the dangerous depths where there was no food or drinkable water? We can’t say for sure, but as this sometimes involved creating art on cave walls it was probably meaningful in some way rather than just exploration.</p>
<p>Neanderthals lived in <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-ever-genetic-analysis-of-a-neanderthal-family-paints-a-fascinating-picture-of-a-close-knit-community-192595">small, close-knit groups</a> that were highly nomadic. When they travelled, they carried embers with them to light small fires at the rock shelters and river banks where they camped. They used tools to whittle their spears and butcher carcasses. We should think of them as family groups, held together by constant negotiations and competition between people. Although organised into small groups it was really a world of individuals.</p>
<p>The evolution of Neanderthals’ visual culture over time suggests their social structures were changing. They increasingly used pigments and ornaments to decorate their bodies. As I elaborate in my book, <a href="https://thamesandhudson.com/homo-sapiens-rediscovered-the-scientific-revolution-rewriting-our-origins-9780500252635">Homo Sapiens Rediscovered</a>, Neanderthals adorned their bodies perhaps as competition for group leadership became more sophisticated. Colours and ornaments conveyed messages about strength and power, helping individuals convince their contemporaries of their strength and suitability to lead.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502907/original/file-20230103-24-hj5fp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502907/original/file-20230103-24-hj5fp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502907/original/file-20230103-24-hj5fp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502907/original/file-20230103-24-hj5fp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502907/original/file-20230103-24-hj5fp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502907/original/file-20230103-24-hj5fp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502907/original/file-20230103-24-hj5fp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502907/original/file-20230103-24-hj5fp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Red pigment washed into the concavities of a bright stalactite drapery in Ardales Cave.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Pettitt and cave art dating team</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then, at least 65,000 years ago, Neanderthals used red pigments to paint marks on the walls of deep caves in Spain. In Ardales cave near to Malaga in southern Spain they coloured the concave sections of bright white stalactites. </p>
<p>In Maltravieso cave in Extremadura, western Spain, they drew around their hands. And in La Pasiega cave in Cantabria in the north, one Neanderthal made a rectangle by pressing pigment-covered fingertips repeatedly to the wall. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502364/original/file-20221221-19-6ol6n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502364/original/file-20221221-19-6ol6n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502364/original/file-20221221-19-6ol6n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502364/original/file-20221221-19-6ol6n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502364/original/file-20221221-19-6ol6n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502364/original/file-20221221-19-6ol6n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1119&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502364/original/file-20221221-19-6ol6n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1119&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502364/original/file-20221221-19-6ol6n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1119&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of several dozen hand stencils left in Maltravieso Cave. In the case of this hand the Neanderthal who left it would have had to lie on the floor as it was created on a ceiling barely 30cm high.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Pettitt and cave art dating team</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We can’t guess the specific meaning of these marks, but they suggest that Neanderthal people were becoming more imaginative. </p>
<p>Later still, about 50,000 years ago, came <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0068572">personal ornaments</a> to accessorise the body. These were restricted to animal body parts – pendants made of carnivore teeth, shells and bits of bone. These necklaces were similar to those worn around the same time by <em>Homo sapiens</em>, probably reflecting a simple shared communication that each group could understand. </p>
<p>Did Neanderthal visual culture differ from that of <em>Homo sapiens</em>? I think it probably did, although not in sophistication. They were producing non-figurative art tens of millennia before the arrival of <em>Homo sapiens</em> in Europe, showing that they had independently created it. </p>
<p>But it differed. We have as yet no evidence that Neanderthals produced figurative art such as paintings of people or animals, which from at least 37,000 years ago was widely produced by the <em>Homo sapiens</em> groups that would eventually replace them in Eurasia. </p>
<p>Figurative art is not a badge of modernity, nor the lack of it an indication of primitiveness. Neanderthals used visual culture in a different way to their successors. Their colours and ornaments strengthened messages about each other through their own bodies rather than depictions of things.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502908/original/file-20230103-70116-wdtrg3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502908/original/file-20230103-70116-wdtrg3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502908/original/file-20230103-70116-wdtrg3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502908/original/file-20230103-70116-wdtrg3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502908/original/file-20230103-70116-wdtrg3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502908/original/file-20230103-70116-wdtrg3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502908/original/file-20230103-70116-wdtrg3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In many cases hand stencils were left on parts of cave walls and ceilings that were difficult to access, such as these in El Castillo cave, with Paul Pettitt showing the position of the hands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Pettitt and cave art dating team</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It may be significant that our own species didn’t produce images of animals or anything else until after the Neanderthals, Denisovans and other human groups had become extinct. Nobody had use for it in the biologically mixed Eurasia of 300,000 to 40,000 years ago. </p>
<p>But in Africa a variation on this theme was emerging. Our early ancestors were using their own pigments and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21998386/">non-figurative marks</a> to begin referring to shared emblems of social groups such as repeated clusters of lines – specific patterns. </p>
<p>Their art appears to have been less about individuals and more about communities, using shared signs such as those engraved onto lumps of ochre in Blombos cave in South Africa, like tribal designs. Ethnicities were emerging, and groups – held together by social rules and conventions – would be the inheritors of Eurasia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194113/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Pettitt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
It makes sense that a world of individuals used art to explore identity.
Paul Pettitt, Professor in the Department of Archaeology, Durham University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/195621
2023-01-16T06:05:46Z
2023-01-16T06:05:46Z
Most humans haven’t evolved to cope with the cold, yet we dominate northern climates – here’s why
<p>Humans are a tropical species. We have lived in warm climates for most of our evolutionary history, which might explain why so many of us spend winter huddled under a blanket, clutching a hot water bottle and dreaming of summer. </p>
<p>Indeed all living apes are found in the tropics. The oldest known fossils from the human lineage (hominins) come <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242882028_erratum_A_new_hominid_from_the_Upper_Miocene_of_Chad_Central_Africa">from central</a> and <a href="https://afanporsaber.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/First-hominid-from-the-Miocene-Lukeino-Formation-Kenya.pdf">eastern Africa</a>. The hominins who dispersed northwards into higher latitudes had to deal with, for the first time, freezing temperatures, shorter days that limited foraging time, snow that <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/688579">made hunting more difficult</a> and icy wind chill that <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8889744/">exacerbated heat loss</a> from their bodies.</p>
<p>Given our limited adaptation to the cold, why is it that our species has come to dominate not only our warm ancestral lands but every part of the globe? The answer lies in our ability to developed intricate cultural solutions to the challenges of life.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman warming her hands with cat next to space heater" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503268/original/file-20230105-16-nc2xj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C32%2C5426%2C3590&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503268/original/file-20230105-16-nc2xj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503268/original/file-20230105-16-nc2xj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503268/original/file-20230105-16-nc2xj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503268/original/file-20230105-16-nc2xj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503268/original/file-20230105-16-nc2xj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503268/original/file-20230105-16-nc2xj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many humans dread the cold of winter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/using-heater-home-winter-woman-warming-1254492208">Mariia Boiko/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The earliest signs of hominins living in northern Europe are from <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0088329">Happisburgh in Norfolk</a>, eastern England, where 900,000-year-old footprints and stone tools have been found. At that time, Happisburgh was dominated by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379118306863">coniferous forest with cold winters</a>, similar to southern Scandinavia today. There is little evidence the Happisburgh hominins stayed at the site for long, which suggests they didn’t have time to adapt physically.</p>
<p>It’s still a bit of a mystery how these hominins survived the tough conditions that were so different from their ancestral African homelands. There are no caves in the region, nor evidence of shelters. Artefacts from Happisburgh are simple, suggesting no complex technology. </p>
<p>Evidence for <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1018116108">deliberate campfires</a> at this time is contentious. Tools for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S004724841830085X">tailoring fitted, weather-proof clothes</a> don’t appear in western Europe until almost 850,000 years later. Many animals migrate to avoid seasonal cold, but the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040618211005957">Happisburgh hominins</a> would have had to travel about 800km south to make a meaningful difference. </p>
<p>It’s hard to imagine hominins surviving those ancient Norfolk winters without fire or warm clothing. Yet the fact the hominins were <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349378194_Robert_Hosfield_2020_The_earliest_Europeans_a_year_in_the_life_seasonal_survival_strategies_in_the_Lower_Palaeolithic_Oxford_Oxbow_9781785707612_paperback_2499">so far north</a> means they must have found a way to survive the cold, so who knows what archaeologists will find in the future.</p>
<h2>The Boxgrove hunters</h2>
<p>Sites from more recent settlements, such as Boxgrove in West Sussex, southern England, offer more clues about how ancient hominins survived northern climates. The <a href="https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0047248498902159?token=48DA622354AFEC0B8C72215EF2C86FDA79B04E2CDAE4C0CCF7A7AC9B53BBEB11E037CD9D8FC4332CA359D90C29C3DE44&originRegion=eu-west-1&originCreation=20230111163106">Boxgrove site</a> dates to nearly 500,000 years ago, when the climate deteriorated towards one of the coldest periods in human history. </p>
<p>There is good evidence these <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344449964_The_Horse_Butchery_Site_A_High_Resolution_Record_of_Lower_Palaeolithic_Hominin_Behaviour_at_Boxgrove_UK_Spoil_Heap_Monograph">hominins hunted animals</a>, from cut marks on bones, to a horse shoulder blade probably pierced by a wooden spear. These finds fit with studies of people who live as foragers today which show people in colder regions <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21745624/">depend on animal prey</a> more than their warm climate counterparts. Meat is rich in the calories and fats needed to weather the cold.</p>
<p>A fossilised hominin shin bone from Boxgrove is robust compared to living humans, suggesting it belonged to a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248499902956">tall, stocky hominin</a>. <a href="https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb10306637?page=,1">Larger bodies</a> with <a href="http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/biogeog/ALLE1877.htm">relatively short limbs</a> reduce heat loss by minimising surface area. </p>
<p>The best silhouette for avoiding heat loss is a sphere, so animals and humans in cold climates get as close to that shape as possible. There is also <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1018116108">clearer evidence</a> for campfires by this period.</p>
<h2>Cold climate specialists</h2>
<p>The Neanderthals, who lived in Eurasia about 400,000-40,000 years ago, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/%28SICI%291096-8644%28199710%29104%3A2%3C245%3A%3AAID-AJPA10%3E3.0.CO%3B2-%23?casa_token=GmiJYkVpGKIAAAAA%3AQSP13Bbwjsu0aobHAfeDxi55J_cVtKkdOTHpuxIbGyPW8XAoS7zxEQ8fRyWI2-ujhAe_8zAky-7qZ3Z">inhabited glacial climates </a>. Compared to their predecessors in Africa, and to us, they had <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ajpa.1330370605?casa_token=sc2wsJKUV7EAAAAA:7yhJUPYMfEc0_1aV5lLEUJEwmXLj3qCw7djjmmnyz-cIkPZ6pEa_9DnoLAKP_8YPalM2zQMgkyrW-7J9">short, strong limbs</a>, and wide, muscular bodies suited to producing and retaining heat. </p>
<p>Yet the Neanderthal protruding face and beaky nose are the opposite of what we might expect to be adaptive in an ice age. Like <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379117308211">Japanese macaques</a> living in cold areas and <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2006.3629">lab rats</a> raised in cold conditions, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248417300921">living humans from cold climates</a> tend to have relatively high, narrow noses and broad, flat cheekbones. </p>
<p><a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2018.0085">Computer modelling</a> of ancient skeletons suggests Neanderthal noses were more efficient than those of earlier, warm-adapted species at conserving heat and moisture. It seems the internal structure is as important as overall nose size. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Musk ox standing in the snow." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503266/original/file-20230105-14-yxyovj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503266/original/file-20230105-14-yxyovj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503266/original/file-20230105-14-yxyovj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503266/original/file-20230105-14-yxyovj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503266/original/file-20230105-14-yxyovj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503266/original/file-20230105-14-yxyovj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503266/original/file-20230105-14-yxyovj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Musk ox are well adapted for cold weather.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/muskox-looking-your-eyes-standing-snow-1079290970">Fitawoman/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even with their cold-adapted physique, Neanderthals were still hostage to their tropical ancestry. For example, they lacked the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/4570677/Parasitic_lice_help_to_fill_in_the_gaps_of_early_hominid_history">thick fur</a> of other mammals in glacial Europe, such as woolly rhinos and musk oxen. Instead, Neanderthals developed complex culture to cope. </p>
<p>There is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/evan.21894">archaeological evidence</a> they made clothes and shelters from animal skins. Evidence of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3021051/">cooking</a> and use of fire to make <a href="https://pure.tudelft.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/82720614/Kozowyk2020_Article_UnderstandingPreservationAndId.pdf">birch pitch glue</a> for the manufacture of tools show sophisticated Neanderthal control of fire.</p>
<p>More controversially, some <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003552120300832">archaeologists say</a> early Neanderthal bones from the 400,000-year-old site of Sima de los Huesos in northern Spain show seasonal damage from slowing down their metabolisms to hibernate. The authors argue these bones show cycles of interrupted growth and healing. </p>
<p>Only a few species of primate hibernate such as some lemurs in Madagascar and the <a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jzo.12104">African lesser bushbaby</a>, as well as <a href="https://rdcu.be/c3hVi">the pygmy slow loris</a> in norther Vietnam. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A lesser bushbaby seen feeding on tree resin on a safari at night in South Africa" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503267/original/file-20230105-24-zrjt92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503267/original/file-20230105-24-zrjt92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503267/original/file-20230105-24-zrjt92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503267/original/file-20230105-24-zrjt92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503267/original/file-20230105-24-zrjt92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503267/original/file-20230105-24-zrjt92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503267/original/file-20230105-24-zrjt92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lesser bushbabies are one of the few primates that hibernate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/lesser-bushbaby-seen-feeding-on-tree-1892296174">Rudi Hulshof/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This might give you the idea that humans can hibernate too. But most species that hibernate <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.12137">have small bodies</a>, with some exceptions like bears. Humans may be too big to hibernate.</p>
<h2>Jack of all trades</h2>
<p>The earliest fossils in the <em>Homo sapiens</em> lineage date from 300,000 years ago, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22335">from Morocco</a>. But we didn’t spread out of Africa <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03244-5">until about 60,000 years ago</a>, colonising all parts of the globe. This makes us relative newcomers in most habitats we now inhabit. Over the intervening thousands of years, people living in freezing cold places have adapted biologically to their environment but on a small scale. </p>
<p>One well-known example of this adaptation is that in areas with low sunlight, <em>Homo sapiens</em> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10896812/">developed light skin tones</a>, which are better at synthesising vitamin D. The genomes of living Inuit people from Greenland demonstrate physiological adaptation to a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26383953/">fat-rich marine diet</a>, beneficial in the cold. </p>
<p>More direct evidence comes from DNA from a single 4,000-year-old permafrost-preserved hair from Greenland. The hair hints at <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08835">genetic changes</a> that led to stocky body shape that maximised heat production and retention, like the hominin we only have one shin bone from the Boxgrove site. </p>
<p>Our tropical legacy means we would still be unable to live in cold places without developing ways of coping with the temperatures. Take, for example, the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26974873">traditional Inuit parka</a>, which provides better insulation than the modern Canadian army winter uniform. </p>
<p>This human ability to adapt behaviourally was <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0394-4">crucial to our evolutionary success</a>. Even <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-47202-8">compared to other primates</a>, humans show less physical climatic adaptation. Behavioural adaptation is quicker and more flexible than biological adaptation. Humans are the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11303338/">ultimate adapters</a>, thriving in nearly every possible ecological niche.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195621/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Hate winter? The answer may lie in our evolutionary history.
Laura Buck, Senior Lecturer in Evolutionary Anthropology, Liverpool John Moores University
Kyoko Yamaguchi, Senior Lecturer in Human Genetics, Liverpool John Moores University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/191594
2023-01-05T20:37:46Z
2023-01-05T20:37:46Z
Human and Neanderthal brains have a surprising ‘youthful’ quality in common, new research finds
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488715/original/file-20221007-18-5lkprh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C64%2C3847%2C2781&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Neanderthal skull</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Petr Student/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many believe our particularly large brain is what makes us human – but is there more to it? The brain’s shape, as well as the shapes of its component parts (lobes) may also be important.</p>
<p>Results of a study we <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01933-6">published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution</a> show that the way the different parts of the human brain evolved separates us from our primate relatives. In a sense, our brains never grow up. We share this “Peter Pan syndrome” with only one other primate – the Neanderthals.</p>
<p>Our findings provide insight into what makes us human, but also further narrow any distinction between ourselves and our extinct, heavy-browed cousins.</p>
<h2>Tracking the evolution of the brain</h2>
<p>Mammalian brains have four distinct regions or lobes, each with particular functions. The frontal lobe is associated with reasoning and abstract thought, the temporal lobe with preserving memory, the occipital lobe with vision, and the parietal lobe helps to integrate sensory inputs.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A colourful diagram of the human brain, showing frontal lobes at the front and occipital lobe at the back" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488712/original/file-20221007-14-wbmoxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The four main parts of the brain form the cerebral cortex.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We investigated whether the brain’s lobes evolved independently of each other, or whether evolutionary change in any one lobe appears to be necessarily tied to changes in others – that is, evidence the evolution of the lobes is “integrated”.</p>
<p>In particular, we wanted to know how human brains might differ from other primates in this respect.</p>
<p>One way to address this question is to look at how the different lobes have changed over time among different species, measuring how much shape change in each lobe correlates with shape change in others.</p>
<p>Alternatively, we can measure the degree to which the brain’s lobes are integrated with each other as an animal grows through different stages of its life cycle.</p>
<p>Does a shape change in one part of the growing brain correlate with change in other parts? This can be informative because evolutionary steps can often be retraced through an animal’s development. A common example is the brief appearance of gill slits in early human embryos, reflecting the fact we can trace our evolution back to fish.</p>
<p>We used both methods. Our first analysis included 3D brain models of hundreds of living and fossil primates (monkeys and apes, as well as humans and our close fossil relatives). This allowed us to map brain evolution over time.</p>
<p>Our other digital brain data set consisted of living ape species and humans at different growth stages, allowing us to chart integration of the brain’s parts in different species as they mature. Our brain models were based on CT scans of skulls. By digitally filling the brain cavities, you can get a good approximation of the brain’s shape.</p>
<h2>A surprising result</h2>
<p>The results of our analyses surprised us. Tracking change over deep time across dozens of primate species, we found humans had particularly high levels of brain integration, especially between the parietal and frontal lobes.</p>
<p>But we also found we’re not unique. Integration between these lobes was similarly high in Neanderthals too.</p>
<p>Looking at changes in shape through growth revealed that in apes, such as the chimpanzee, integration between the brain’s lobes is comparable to that of humans until they reach adolescence.</p>
<p>At this point, integration rapidly falls away in the apes, but continues well into adulthood in humans.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A chart mapping brain integration in evolution" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487918/original/file-20221003-14932-k7g16f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Left: a chart shows the degree of integration between the brain’s lobes, with cooler colours indicating higher integration. Right: translucent skulls of a human, Neanderthal, chimp and gorilla, showing the digitally reconstructed brains within.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gabriele Sansalone and Marina Melchionna</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Neanderthals were sophisticated people</h2>
<p>So what does this all mean? Our result suggest what distinguishes us from other primates is not just that our brains are <em>bigger</em>. The evolution of the different parts of our brain is more deeply integrated, and, unlike any other living primate, we retain this right through into adult life.</p>
<p>A greater capacity for learning is typically associated with juvenile life stages. We suggest this Peter Pan syndrome played a powerful role in the evolution of human intelligence.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-did-humans-first-start-to-speak-how-language-evolved-in-africa-194372">When did humans first start to speak? How language evolved in Africa</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There’s another important implication. It’s increasingly clear that Neanderthals, long characterised as brutish dullards, were adaptable, capable and sophisticated people.</p>
<p>Archaeological findings continue to mount support for their development of sophisticated technologies, from the earliest known evidence of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-61839-w">string, to the manufacture of tar</a>. Neanderthal cave art shows they indulged in <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aap7778">complex symbolic thought</a>.</p>
<h2>Us and them</h2>
<p>Our results further blur any dividing line between us and them. This said, many remain convinced some innately superior intellectual quality gave us humans a competitive advantage, allowing us to drive our “inferior” cousins to extinction.</p>
<p>There are many reasons why one group of people may dominate, or even eradicate others. Early Western scientists sought to identify cranial features linked to their own “greater intelligence” to explain world domination by Europeans. Of course, we now know skull shape had nothing to do with it. </p>
<p>We humans may ourselves have come perilously close to extinction <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002929707606454">70,000 years ago</a>.</p>
<p>If so, it’s not because we weren’t smart. If we had gone extinct, perhaps the descendants of Neanderthals would today be scratching their heads, trying to figure out just how their “superior” brains gave them the edge.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/first-ever-genetic-analysis-of-a-neanderthal-family-paints-a-fascinating-picture-of-a-close-knit-community-192595">First-ever genetic analysis of a Neanderthal family paints a fascinating picture of a close-knit community</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191594/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Wroe receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the University of New England.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pasquale Raia receives funding from the University of Naples Federico II. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriele Sansalone does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The way human brains develop is special – but not quite as special as you’d like to think, if we consider Neanderthals as well.
Stephen Wroe, Professor, University of New England
Gabriele Sansalone, PostDoc fellow, Institute of Marine Sciences
Pasquale Raia, Professor of Paleontology and Paleoecology, University of Naples Federico II
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/196045
2022-12-26T20:51:44Z
2022-12-26T20:51:44Z
The earliest humans swam 100,000 years ago, but swimming remains a privileged pastime
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500869/original/file-20221213-18915-uqt6df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=516%2C19%2C5852%2C3298&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Todd Quackenbush/unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of my life’s aims is to swim in as many lakes, rivers, pools and oceans as I possibly can, to use my liberty and swimming skills as freely as I can. I love the feeling of being in a large, fresh body of water, its soft immersive, vast or deep buoyancy. </p>
<p>I’ve swum in a freshwater lagoon near Acapulco in Mexico, with the guide reassuring us there were no crocodiles in the water that day. I’ve swum in a busy London indoor pool noisy with swimmers thrashing about and in Australia’s only <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-morning-thalassa-the-calm-salt-therapy-of-sydneys-womens-pool-171386">women’s pool</a>. I’ve swum in the <em>Weisser See</em> lake on the outskirts of Berlin, the same lake that my grandmother swam in, before fleeing Germany. At Jaffa’s Alma/al-Manshiyah Beach, in Tel Aviv, I’ve looked up from the sea to the Mahmoudiya Mosque’s minaret. </p>
<p>I’ve marvelled at finding myself in waters so far from home. It turns out that my ability to swim makes me part of an elite.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: Shifting Currents: A world history of swimming – Karen Eva Carr (University of Chicago Press)</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Karen Eva Carr opens <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/59249547-shifting-currents">Shifting Currents</a> with the startling information that today worldwide – for all Earth’s many rivers, creeks, lakes, ponds, seas and oceans, to say nothing of built pools, canals and theme parks – the majority of people can’t swim. People might bathe and wash their clothes in rivers and lakes, or undertake ritual ablutions in bathhouses, but the vast majority must keep their feet on the ground. </p>
<p>Yet the earliest humans from over 100,000 years ago taught themselves how to swim, for food and for pleasure. There is a long history of human swimming for utility and leisure, amply recorded in pictures from the earliest cave drawings and folk narratives.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500629/original/file-20221213-1598-moof54.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500629/original/file-20221213-1598-moof54.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500629/original/file-20221213-1598-moof54.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500629/original/file-20221213-1598-moof54.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500629/original/file-20221213-1598-moof54.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500629/original/file-20221213-1598-moof54.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500629/original/file-20221213-1598-moof54.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500629/original/file-20221213-1598-moof54.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This year the OECD <a href="https://www.oecd.org/australia/swimming-skills-around-the-world-0c2c8862-en.htm">reported</a> that only one in four people in low-income countries can swim. Low to <a href="https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/352679/majority-worldwide-cannot-swim-women.aspx">middle-income</a> countries report more non-swimmers than swimmers, and a majority of those not able to swim are girls and women. </p>
<p>Access to natural waterways has decreased world-wide through the privatisation of foreshores and beaches, and the building of dams, roads, ports, the development of wetlands, and larger cities. </p>
<p>It takes time to learn to swim, is especially difficult as an adult to learn, and do-or-die – it’s impossible to fake. </p>
<p>It hasn’t always been the case that worldwide most people could not swim, though as Carr’s world history shows, swimming abilities have shifted over time, along with weather patterns and across geographies. People have migrated, conquered, traded, competed and shared stories that celebrated entering the water or warned of its dangers and need for sacred respect. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-morning-thalassa-the-calm-salt-therapy-of-sydneys-womens-pool-171386">Friday essay: morning thalassa – the calm, salt therapy of Sydney's women's pool</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Neanderthals swam</h2>
<p>The earliest humans swam. Neanderthals living in Italy about 100,000 years ago swam confidently. Their ear bones show they suffered from swimmer’s ear from diving 3–4 metres to retrieve clamshells they then shaped into tools.</p>
<p>During the last major <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/ice-age-geology">Ice Age</a> of 23,000 years ago, when glaciers reached south to England, northern Germany, Poland and northern Russia, swimming, if it had been present, was abandoned. Over the next tens of thousands of years, people didn’t swim. </p>
<p>Across the continent of Eurasia, people turned to farming wheat and millet for bread, and began to eat less fish, a food that is rich in vitamin D. In order to absorb more sunlight, and produce sufficient vitamin D necessary to good health, these populations developed genetically lighter skin. Some of these lighter skinned white people then migrated south and their descendants, the Greeks, Romans, Scythians and Iranians continued to be non-swimmers right through to the end of the Bronze Age, even in places that had remained warm during the Ice Age.</p>
<p>Thousands more years passed, and <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/179/">then rock paintings at Tassili n’ Ajjer in southern Algeria</a> show depictions of people moving in a horizontal posture with their arms outstretched. Quite possibly they are swimming.</p>
<p>By 8000 BCE, in the Cave of Swimmers in western Egypt, small red figures swim. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500872/original/file-20221213-21602-moof54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A cave painting showing swimmers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500872/original/file-20221213-21602-moof54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500872/original/file-20221213-21602-moof54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500872/original/file-20221213-21602-moof54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500872/original/file-20221213-21602-moof54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500872/original/file-20221213-21602-moof54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500872/original/file-20221213-21602-moof54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500872/original/file-20221213-21602-moof54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A painting of swimmers in the Cave of the Swimmers, Wadi Sura, Western Desert, Egypt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another 5000 years pass, and Egyptian hieroglyphic texts and imagery are replete with representations of swimming. Egyptian kings swam, as did poor Egyptians. Many Egyptian girls and women swam, and quite possibly Cleopatra swam. Mark Antony could swim. </p>
<p>Swimming was common throughout the continent of Africa, and stories about swimming for fun and pleasure along with hunting and foraging, are found in many traditional tales. In the Ethiopian story of <a href="https://www.ethiopianfolktales.com/en/oromia/169-two-jealous-wives">“Two Jealous wives”</a>, the twin babies thrown into the river are quickly rescued by swimmers. A humorous West African tale tells of a stingy woman who eagerly jumps into the river to swim after a stray bean. </p>
<p>Overarm is the oldest swimming stroke depicted. In Egyptian, Hittite, and early Greek and Roman images people are shown swimming, alternating their arms and sometimes using a flutter kick with straight legs, the same stroke we’re routinely taught in Australia. Greek and Roman swimmers are not shown putting their faces in the water, and breaststroke is absent from ancient imagery and stories. </p>
<p>Only in Plato’s <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/phaedrus-9780140449747">Phaedrus</a> is there a mention of backstroke, suggesting that a man “swimming on his back against the current” is behaving foolishly. Sidestroke is used when swimmers need to push canoes or carry something aloft through the water. </p>
<p>Assyrians created possibly the earliest flotation devices, habitually using a <em>mussuk</em> made from goat skin to help them stay afloat in the fast-moving rivers of eastern Syria and norther Iraq.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500883/original/file-20221213-14-e43yrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500883/original/file-20221213-14-e43yrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500883/original/file-20221213-14-e43yrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500883/original/file-20221213-14-e43yrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500883/original/file-20221213-14-e43yrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500883/original/file-20221213-14-e43yrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500883/original/file-20221213-14-e43yrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500883/original/file-20221213-14-e43yrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An ancient Egyptian kohl spoon in the shape of a swimmer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Louvre/Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In ancient Eurasia swimming was linked to multiple and opposing myths about racial superiority. When associated with a darker skin colour, populations who swam were especially dehumanised. By the first century BCE for instance, North Chinese writers were racialising swimming, associating Southern Chinese peoples’ familiarity with ocean swimming and eating of fish to their darker skin colour. </p>
<p>North China was part of the northern Eurasian non-swimming “zone”, and for these northern-hemisphere non-swimmers, water was sacred, dangerous, sometimes magical, and not to be polluted by human bodies. </p>
<p>The Greek historian Herodotus remarked that Persians took great care to, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>never urinate or spit into a river, nor even wash their hands in one; nor let other people do it; instead, they greatly revere rivers. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Cultural difference expressed through swimming is present throughout the historical narratives as one people observes another and mark themselves as different, depending on how well, or not, the other culture swims. It is also often a marker of class. Wealthier Greek and Roman women sometimes took up swimming. Augustus’ great-granddaughter, Agripper the Younger, was a strong swimmer. When she was stabbed during an assassination attempt on her son, she escaped by swimming across a lake, her attackers unable to follow. </p>
<p>Not all cultures swam in the ancient world. Across Europe and northern Asia, in Mesopotamia (Syria, Iraq and Kuwait) and Southwest Asia, people did not swim, were afraid of the water, and the real and imagined creatures of the seas and lakes. Carr’s history explores the reasons for this non-swimming through a wealth of archaeological, text-based and pictorial sources. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-histories-by-herodotus-53748">Guide to the classics: The Histories, by Herodotus</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Sexuality and slavery</h2>
<p>Carr shows that it’s not only warm weather that decides whether a community will swim or not, but other cultural and political factors. She describes her history as also a study of whiteness and white culture. The part that swimming plays in world history is not neutral.</p>
<p>Swimming was often associated with sexuality and promiscuity. Ovid, for instance, frequently evokes swimming as an erotic prelude to rape in the Metamorphoses. A medieval tale from Central Asia tells of Alexander the Great and a companion hiding behind a rock to spy on women swimming naked. In many tales and images, the sight of women and girls swimming semi-clothed or naked is linked to shame and titillation. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-ovids-metamorphoses-and-reading-rape-65316">Guide to the classics: Ovid's Metamorphoses and reading rape</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500877/original/file-20221213-26-srnvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500877/original/file-20221213-26-srnvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500877/original/file-20221213-26-srnvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500877/original/file-20221213-26-srnvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500877/original/file-20221213-26-srnvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500877/original/file-20221213-26-srnvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500877/original/file-20221213-26-srnvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500877/original/file-20221213-26-srnvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Reinhard Weguelin, Water Nymph, 1900.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Swimming is closely bound up in the history of patriarchy. Trial by water for suspected witches and the ducking of women and girls as punishment, was practised in Europe for centuries – even up until the 1700s when wealthier Europeans and European-Americans were learning how to swim.</p>
<p>Slavery’s connection to swimming cultures emerges with Muslim slave traders, who associated Central African nakedness with promiscuity and likened the ability to swim to animal behaviour. Across the continents of Africa and the Americas, later medieval and later European explorers also invoked people’s swimming skills as a justification for their enslavement.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, slave-holders expected the African and Native American slaves to swim in the course of their work. Slaves dived to clean ships, served as lifeguards for white swimmers, swam when tracking escaped slaves, and salvaged lost goods from shipwrecks. Enslaved Native Americans worked as pearl divers in the Americas. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500873/original/file-20221213-21-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A drawing of men diving." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500873/original/file-20221213-21-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500873/original/file-20221213-21-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500873/original/file-20221213-21-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500873/original/file-20221213-21-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500873/original/file-20221213-21-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500873/original/file-20221213-21-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500873/original/file-20221213-21-kq7mqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">J. Wesley Van der Voort, Pearl Divers at Work, 1883.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Washington/Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Amidst this economic and educational history of inequity worldwide, swimming could be described as the pastime of the elite, and certainly Carr believes it has become so. </p>
<p>Carr’s fascinating history is very well structured, with chapters clearly titled for readers who might want to dip into certain epochs or themes. It is weakest in the modern-day analyses, drawing too-ready conclusions about contemporary situations. (For instance, Carr’s analysis of the reasons for the 2005 Cronulla Riots doesn’t mention the Howard government’s anti-migration stance or Islamophobia post-9/11.) </p>
<p>Australian First Nations and Pacifika histories are also only sketched in. Nevertheless, this ambitious work achieves its aims of being a fascinating and highly informative world history, written for the lay reader with an interest in this rich topic, and beautifully illustrated with mono and colour images, an index and chronology.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-wauba-debar-an-indigenous-swimmer-from-tasmania-who-saved-her-captors-126487">Hidden women of history: Wauba Debar, an Indigenous swimmer from Tasmania who saved her captors</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196045/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Messer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Neanderthals living in Italy swam confidently and In early Egyptian, Greek and Roman images people are shown swimming overarm. But today, only one in four people in low income countries can swim.
Jane Messer, Honorary Associate Professor in Creative Writing and Literature, Macquarie University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/196113
2022-12-08T19:24:21Z
2022-12-08T19:24:21Z
DNA from elusive human relatives the Denisovans has left a curious mark on modern people in New Guinea
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499706/original/file-20221208-16-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=301%2C139%2C3309%2C2283&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Derek R. Audette/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>An encounter with a mysterious and extinct human relative – the Denisovans – has left a mark on the immune traits of modern Papuans, in particular those living on New Guinea Island.</p>
<p>This is a new discovery we describe <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010470">in a study published in PLoS Genetics</a> today. It further suggests that our modern human diversity didn’t just evolve – some parts of it we got from other, extinct human groups.</p>
<h2>DNA from our evolutionary cousins</h2>
<p>Humans are the only living species of the <em>Homo</em> genus. But until 50,000 years ago, our ancestors coexisted – and sometimes interacted – with multiple other <em>Homo</em> groups across the globe. Most of them we know only by <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jqs.3137">sparse archaeological remains</a>, which offer tantalising glimpses of our evolutionary cousins.</p>
<p>But for two groups there is something else: DNA. Thanks to technological advances, scientists have retrieved DNA from fossils and sequenced it. As a result, we now have complete genome sequences of the best-known archaic hominins, the <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.1188021">Neanderthals</a>, and a far more elusive group, <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/nature09710">Denisovans</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fresh-clues-to-the-life-and-times-of-the-denisovans-a-little-known-ancient-group-of-humans-110504">Fresh clues to the life and times of the Denisovans, a little-known ancient group of humans</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Although many Neanderthal fossils have been unearthed all over Europe since they were first identified in the 1860s, the number of known Denisovan fossils fits in the palm of a hand – literally! </p>
<p>The genome sequence we have comes from the smallest bone of a pinky finger. It belonged to the 60,000-year-old remains of a teenage girl from a cave in Siberia, the largest known Denisovan fossil until recently. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499709/original/file-20221208-16-4pofku.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The outline of a skeleton finger on a dark surface with a small, orange bone sitting atop one knuckle" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499709/original/file-20221208-16-4pofku.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499709/original/file-20221208-16-4pofku.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499709/original/file-20221208-16-4pofku.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499709/original/file-20221208-16-4pofku.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499709/original/file-20221208-16-4pofku.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499709/original/file-20221208-16-4pofku.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499709/original/file-20221208-16-4pofku.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A museum replica of the Denisovan finger bone used to extract ancient DNA.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Denisova_Phalanx_distalis.jpg">Thilo Parg/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Traces of ancestors</h2>
<p>These genome sequences have transformed the way we think about our extinct relatives. For one, they quickly demonstrated that as humans expanded outside Africa, we had sex – and children – with these other populations.</p>
<p>Traces of their genomes linger in individuals alive today, transmitted across hundreds of generations.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/evolutionary-study-suggests-prehistoric-human-fossils-hiding-in-plain-sight-in-southeast-asia-157587">Evolutionary study suggests prehistoric human fossils 'hiding in plain sight' in Southeast Asia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the case of Neanderthals, these traces are in all individuals of non-African ancestry today. In the case of Denisovans, we find small traces of their genome in people from all over Asia – especially in Papua New Guinea, and in the island nations of Southeast Asia, where individuals may owe up to 4–5% of their genome to these ancestors. </p>
<p>But identifying these fragments of DNA in our genomes is only the beginning. </p>
<h2>The DNA makes a difference</h2>
<p>The real challenge is to find the biological consequences of this DNA for the people who carry it – which, it bears remembering, is the vast majority of humans. Our specific research question was to pinpoint the molecular processes that might be affected by its presence.</p>
<p>Studies of Neanderthal DNA have shown that genetic variants inherited from them <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab304">can alter the levels</a> at which some human genes are expressed, for example. We also know Neanderthals have contributed to <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0002929715004863">our immune systems</a> (including differences in how people respond to infection with COVID-19), and to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24582-y">variation in skin and hair colour</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-teeth-can-tell-about-the-lives-and-environments-of-ancient-humans-and-neanderthals-104923">What teeth can tell about the lives and environments of ancient humans and Neanderthals</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But it has never been clear whether Denisovan DNA has left similar trends in modern humans. </p>
<p>In 2019, <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(19)30218-1">a study revealed</a> the genomic coordinates where Denisovan DNA might be found within the genome of Papuan individuals – that is, the indigenous people of New Guinea Island – alive today.</p>
<p>This led us to begin looking into these regions, to understand the cellular and biological processes that might be affected by Denisovan DNA. We took a hybrid approach to this question, making computational predictions first, and following up with laboratory-based experiments to validate our findings.</p>
<p>In addition, we took advantage of the known Neanderthal DNA within these people to highlight any Denisovan-specific contribution. This gave us a more integrated understanding of how encounters with these relatives left potential biological and evolutionary consequences in modern humans.</p>
<h2>A unique Denisovan contribution</h2>
<p>We noticed that in Papuans, Denisovan and Neanderthal genetic variants both occasionally occur within parts of the genome responsible for modulating the expression levels of nearby genes.</p>
<p>However, only Denisovan variants are consistently predicted to occur and affect elements controlling the expression levels of immune-related genes.</p>
<p>So, these different sources of DNA might contribute to the genetic and phenotypic diversity within Papuans in different ways.</p>
<p>To validate our predictions, we designed an experiment comparing five Denisovan sequences against their modern human counterpart, and tested their ability to actually affect gene expression levels inside a particular kind of immune cell known as a lymphocyte.</p>
<p>In two of the five cases, the Denisovan variants did have a measurably different impact on the gene expression levels than their modern human counterpart. And they impact genes known to be important players in the response to infectious microbes, including viruses. </p>
<p>The fact that Denisovans, but not Neanderthals, seem to have contributed to the immune systems of present-day Papuans, tells us something about these ancient people, too.</p>
<p>Although little is known about how widely through Asia Denisovans lived, it suggests their immune system changed to adapt to the infectious diseases of their environment.</p>
<p>When humans moved in <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6397/88">60,000 years ago</a>, these bits of DNA likely contributed to our success in settling this part of the world.</p>
<p>While our study is the first to elucidate the contribution of Denisovan DNA within modern human genetic diversity, there are still exciting questions to address. In particular, it is not clear whether the overall contributions of Denisovan and Neanderthal genetic variants consistently differ from each other.</p>
<p>It is also important to note we tested genetic variants in immune cells under resting conditions. This means the same or other genetic variants might have different effects out in the environment – this will be an important question for studies in the future.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/first-ever-genetic-analysis-of-a-neanderthal-family-paints-a-fascinating-picture-of-a-close-knit-community-192595">First-ever genetic analysis of a Neanderthal family paints a fascinating picture of a close-knit community</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196113/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Irene Gallego Romero receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Leakey Foundation, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, the Royal Society of New Zealand and the French National Research Agency</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Davide Vespasiani does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Humanity carries traces of other populations in our DNA – and a new study shows how one of these ancestors has influenced the immune systems of modern Papuans.
Irene Gallego Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Genetics, The University of Melbourne
Davide Vespasiani, Post-doctoral researcher, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/195346
2022-11-30T16:34:51Z
2022-11-30T16:34:51Z
Recently found ‘Neanderthal footprints’ in the South of Spain could be 275,000 years old
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497273/original/file-20221124-26-56qlx4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1353%2C665&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">General view of the site with hominid footprints on the beach of Matalascañas, Huelva (Spain).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">E. Mayoral</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-83413-8">A little over a year ago</a> we reported on a large area at the foot of the Asperillo cliff, on the coast of the Doñana Natural Area in Huelva, Spain. There, along with numerous animal footprints, other footprints had been found – those of hominids.</p>
<p>Until then, the only time reference that allowed the age of the site to be established was the dating of one of the dunes that covered the surface to around 106,000 years ago (Upper Pleistocene). As with most of the hominid footprints found worldwide, we dated them in line with the environment in which they were found. For this reason, our first hypothesis when trying to attribute the new found footprints was that they belonged to Neanderthals, who lived in the Upper Pleistocene.</p>
<p>However, in the course of the investigation, we sampled the surface where the footprints were found, which had never been dated before, and the dunes above. It turned out to be about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22524-2">295,800</a> years old (Middle Pleistocene): this is to say, much earlier than previously thought. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492552/original/file-20221031-12-h5sd8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5551%2C3700&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492552/original/file-20221031-12-h5sd8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5551%2C3700&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492552/original/file-20221031-12-h5sd8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492552/original/file-20221031-12-h5sd8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492552/original/file-20221031-12-h5sd8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492552/original/file-20221031-12-h5sd8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492552/original/file-20221031-12-h5sd8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492552/original/file-20221031-12-h5sd8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the hominid footprints analysed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">E. Mayoral</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Drastic climate change</h2>
<p>The new dating placed the footprints in a new geographical and environmental context. The European continent was about to undergo drastic climate change 300,000 years ago. Relatively warm conditions were changing to much colder conditions, a precursor to a an ice age. At that time, the sea level on the European continent was on average about 60 metres below its present level, which implies that the Huelva coastline would be 20 to 25 kilometres offshore from its present position.</p>
<p>In other words, the coastal plain was very extensive and probably created by the delta of the river. It was probably covered by water during the wet seasons and totally or partially exposed during the dry seasons. </p>
<p>Over this shallow and saline lake environment, made of polygonal ground and microbial covers, that hominids and other fauna trampled. Today, the same kind of polygonal covers are found in extensive areas of marshland in both hot desert and tropical climates.</p>
<p>More or less extensive vegetated areas would be found in the non-flooded areas of this wide coastal plain. Around them, there would be a significant development of dune systems that would move landward from the coast.</p>
<h2>New suspects?</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493771/original/file-20221107-3575-p16p0y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493771/original/file-20221107-3575-p16p0y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493771/original/file-20221107-3575-p16p0y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493771/original/file-20221107-3575-p16p0y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493771/original/file-20221107-3575-p16p0y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493771/original/file-20221107-3575-p16p0y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493771/original/file-20221107-3575-p16p0y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493771/original/file-20221107-3575-p16p0y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">E. Mayoral</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493774/original/file-20221107-23-l5mafa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493774/original/file-20221107-23-l5mafa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493774/original/file-20221107-23-l5mafa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493774/original/file-20221107-23-l5mafa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493774/original/file-20221107-23-l5mafa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493774/original/file-20221107-23-l5mafa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=641&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493774/original/file-20221107-23-l5mafa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=641&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493774/original/file-20221107-23-l5mafa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=641&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493773/original/file-20221107-17-kklkvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493773/original/file-20221107-17-kklkvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493773/original/file-20221107-17-kklkvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493773/original/file-20221107-17-kklkvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493773/original/file-20221107-17-kklkvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493773/original/file-20221107-17-kklkvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493773/original/file-20221107-17-kklkvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493773/original/file-20221107-17-kklkvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493772/original/file-20221107-19-mk4jl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493772/original/file-20221107-19-mk4jl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493772/original/file-20221107-19-mk4jl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493772/original/file-20221107-19-mk4jl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493772/original/file-20221107-19-mk4jl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493772/original/file-20221107-19-mk4jl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493772/original/file-20221107-19-mk4jl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493772/original/file-20221107-19-mk4jl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493775/original/file-20221107-3705-othd3d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493775/original/file-20221107-3705-othd3d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493775/original/file-20221107-3705-othd3d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493775/original/file-20221107-3705-othd3d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493775/original/file-20221107-3705-othd3d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493775/original/file-20221107-3705-othd3d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493775/original/file-20221107-3705-othd3d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493775/original/file-20221107-3705-othd3d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">General view of the site at Matalascañas beach, Huelva, and various hominid footprints discovered there.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">E. Mayoral</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The environmental context and the landscape have changed in relation to the initial interpretation. The question, therefore, became whether our understanding of who produced these footprints should also change. The answer is to be found in the palaeontological record. </p>
<p>Hominid fossils belonging to the Middle Pleistocene <a href="https://theconversation.com/por-que-nos-fascinan-los-neandertales-105136">are thought to be from the Neanderthal lineage</a>: <em>Homo neanderthalensis</em> and <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em>. However, their remains are still very scarce, fragmentary and geographically dispersed. Worse still, footprints are even scarcer than skeletal remains. In the entire European Middle Pleistocene, only four sites have provided traces from this period: Terra Amata, in France (380,000 years old), Roccamonfina, in Italy (345,000 years old, attributed to <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em>), Biache-Vaast, in France (236,000 years old, <em>Homo neanderthalensis</em>) and Theopetra, in Greece (130,000 years old, <em>Homo neanderthalensis</em>).</p>
<p>On the other hand, it must be considered that the formal characteristics of the footprint are not only the result of the anatomy of the foot, but also of other factors such as biomechanical characteristics, the type of substrate and the processes that gave rise to the fossil. Therefore, the footprints studied must be well preserved and reflect several anatomical features (arch impression of the toes), which is rarely the case in places like this site in Huelva.</p>
<p>To confirm which hominid group the footprints belong to, we would need to compare their anatomical characteristics with the known skeletal record for the Middle Pleistocene. </p>
<p>Almost all the foot fossils known for this period <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeological_site_of_Atapuerca#Sima_de_los_Huesos_(1983_to_present)">come from the Sima de Los Huesos site (Atapuerca, Spain)</a> and are associated with individuals related to Neanderthals. Making a more precise attribution would be difficult, as there are many debates about the evolution of this lineage, but also about the taxonomic definition of <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em>.</p>
<p>Different models for the evolution of the Neanderthal lineage have been proposed, but this question is still far from being resolved, given the paucity of the fossil record and the new and more complicated evolutionary picture provided by the latest ancient DNA studies. Moreover, not all anatomical traits evolved at the same rate and polymorphisms probably occurred in different traits at different rates of occurrence.</p>
<p>Despite these uncertainties, the Doñana site proves to be a crucial record for understanding human occupations in Europe during the Pleistocene. Our recent dating opens up a broader horizon of possibilities. For example, we may be looking at the remains of very early Neanderthal hominids or their more directly related ancestors, <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195346/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Las personas firmantes no son asalariadas, ni consultoras, ni poseen acciones, ni reciben financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y han declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado anteriormente.</span></em></p>
The first Neanderthal footprints from the Iberian Peninsula discovered last year may have belonged to other members of the genus ‘Homo’.
Eduardo Mayoral Alfaro, Catedrático de Paleontología, Universidad de Huelva
Ana Santos, Assistant lecturer, Universidad de Oviedo
Antonio Rodríguez Ramírez, profesor titular del departamento de Geodinámica y Paleontología, Universidad de Huelva
Asier Gomez-Olivencia, Paleontologist. Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow at the Department of Geology, Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
Ignacio Díaz-Martínez, Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología, Universidad Nacional de Rio Negro
Jérémy Duveau, Chercheur associé, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)
Jorge Rivera Silva, Doctor en Ciencias Físicas. Técnico del Servicio de Radioisótopos, Centro de Investigación CITIUS, Universidad de Sevilla
Juan Antonio Morales, Catedrático de Estratigrafía, Universidad de Huelva
Ricardo Díaz-Delgado, Laboratorio de SIG y Teledetección (LAST-EBD), Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC)
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/195127
2022-11-23T14:45:31Z
2022-11-23T14:45:31Z
The real Paleo diet: new archaeological evidence changes what we thought about how ancient humans prepared food
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496973/original/file-20221123-18-3r33xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/wild-caveman-sitting-near-bonfire-vector-1373148815">Kit8.net/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We humans can’t stop playing with our food. Just think of all the different ways of serving potatoes – entire books have been written about potato recipes alone. The restaurant industry was born from our love of flavouring food in new and interesting ways.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.143">My team’s analysis</a> of the oldest charred food remains ever found show that jazzing up your dinner is a human habit dating back at least 70,000 years. </p>
<p>Imagine ancient people sharing a meal. You would be forgiven for picturing people tearing into raw ingredients or maybe roasting meat over a fire as that is the stereotype. But our new study showed both Neanderthals and <em>Homo sapiens</em> had complex diets involving several steps of preparation, and took effort with seasoning and using plants with bitter and sharp flavours. </p>
<p>This degree of culinary complexity has never been documented before for Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers. </p>
<p>Before our study, the earliest known plant food remains in south-west Asia were from a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1801071115">hunter-gatherer site</a> in Jordan roughly dating to 14,400 years ago, reported in 2018.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496976/original/file-20221123-18-83lk07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496976/original/file-20221123-18-83lk07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496976/original/file-20221123-18-83lk07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496976/original/file-20221123-18-83lk07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496976/original/file-20221123-18-83lk07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496976/original/file-20221123-18-83lk07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496976/original/file-20221123-18-83lk07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scanning Electron Microscope images of carbonised food remains. Left: The bread-like food found in Franchthi Cave. Right: Pulse-rich food fragment from Shanidar Cave with wild pea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ceren Kabukcu</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We examined food remains from two late Paleolithic sites, which cover a span of nearly 60,000 years, to look at the diets of early hunter gatherers. Our evidence is based on fragments of prepared plant foods (think burnt pieces of bread, patties and porridge lumps) found in two caves. To the naked eye, or under a low-power microscope, they look like <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440321002053?via%3Dihub">carbonised crumbs or chunks</a>, with fragments of fused seeds. But a powerful scanning electron microscope allowed us to see details of plant cells.</p>
<h2>Prehistoric chefs</h2>
<p>We found carbonised food fragments in <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207805&ust=1669201080000000&usg=AOvVaw0aOuYECeSFcUvc9mjYPYgj&hl=en&source=gmail">Franchthi Cave</a> (Aegean, Greece) dating to about 13,000-11,500 years ago. At Franchthi Cave we found one fragment from a finely-ground food which might be bread, batter or a type of porridge in addition to pulse seed-rich, coarse-ground foods. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/barker348">Shanidar Cave</a> (Zagros, Iraqi Kurdistan), associated with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003552118300797?via%3Dihub">early modern humans</a> around 40,000 years ago and <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.207&ust=1669201080000000&usg=AOvVaw2S-06APcMlB03PTkE4h3NC&hl=en&source=gmail">Neanderthals around 70,000 years</a> ago, we also found ancient food fragments. This included wild mustard and terebinth (wild pistachio) mixed into foods. We discovered wild grass seeds mixed with pulses in the charred remains from the Neanderthal layers. Previous studies at Shanidar found traces of grass seeds in the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1016868108">tartar on Neanderthal teeth</a>.</p>
<p>At both sites, we often found ground or pounded pulse seeds such as bitter vetch (<em>Vicia ervilia</em>), grass pea (<em>Lathyrus spp</em>) and wild pea (<em>Pisum spp</em>). The people who lived in these caves added the seeds to a mixture that was heated up with water during grinding, pounding or mashing of soaked seeds.</p>
<p>The majority of wild pulse mixes were characterised by bitter tasting mixtures. In <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00334-011-0302-6">modern cooking</a>, these pulses are often soaked, heated and de-hulled (removal of the seed coat) to reduce their bitterness and toxins. The ancient remains we found suggest humans have been doing this for tens of thousands of years. But the fact seed coats weren’t completely removed hints that these people wanted to retain a little of the bitter flavour. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496977/original/file-20221123-20-sdj04n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496977/original/file-20221123-20-sdj04n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496977/original/file-20221123-20-sdj04n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496977/original/file-20221123-20-sdj04n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496977/original/file-20221123-20-sdj04n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496977/original/file-20221123-20-sdj04n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496977/original/file-20221123-20-sdj04n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">View of Shanidar Cave in Zagros, Iraqi Kurdistan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Hunt</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What previous studies showed</h2>
<p>The presence of wild mustard, with its distinctive sharp taste, is a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s003340200006">seasoning well documented in the Aceramic period</a> (the beginning of village life in the south-west Asia, 8500BC) and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/private-pantries-and-celebrated-surplus-storing-and-sharing-food-at-neolithic-catalhoyuk-central-anatolia/3BAA8477B1B7E87B54D3D3EE79584327">later Neolithic sites</a> in the region. Plants such as wild almonds (bitter), terebinth (tannin-rich and oily) and wild fruits (sharp, sometimes sour, sometimes tannin-rich) are pervasive in plant remains from south-west Asia and Europe during the later Paleolithic period (40,000-10,000 years ago). Their inclusion in dishes based on grasses, tubers, meat, fish, would have lent a special flavour to the finished meal. So these plants were eaten for tens of thousands of years across areas thousands of miles apart. These dishes may be the origins of human culinary practices. </p>
<p>Based on the evidence from plants found during this time span, there is no doubt both Neanderthals and early modern humans diets included a variety of plants. Previous studies found food residues trapped in tartar on the teeth of Neanderthals from Europe and south-west Asia which show they cooked and ate <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1016868108">grasses and tubers</a> such as wild barley, and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00114-012-0942-0">medicinal plants</a>. The remains of carbonised plants remains show they gathered <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0305440304001694">pulses</a> and <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaz7943">pine nuts</a>. </p>
<p>Plant residues found on grinding or pounding tools from the European later Palaeolithic period suggest <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1505213112">early modern humans crushed</a> and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/earliest-evidence-for-clay-hearths-aurignacian-features-in-klisoura-cave-1-southern-greece/FB720B41A572CAB4C26D75FC85F0AF67">roasted wild grass seeds</a>. Residues from an Upper Palaeolithic site in the Pontic steppe, in eastern Europe, shows ancient people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102999">pounded tubers</a> before they ate them. Archaeological evidence from South Africa as early as 100,000 years ago indicates <em>Homo sapiens</em> used crushed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1173966">wild grass seeds</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496978/original/file-20221123-22-ztb31l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496978/original/file-20221123-22-ztb31l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496978/original/file-20221123-22-ztb31l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496978/original/file-20221123-22-ztb31l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496978/original/file-20221123-22-ztb31l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496978/original/file-20221123-22-ztb31l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496978/original/file-20221123-22-ztb31l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496978/original/file-20221123-22-ztb31l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Neanderthal hearth found at Shanidar Cave.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Graeme Barker</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While both Neanderthals and early modern humans ate plants, this does not show up as consistently in the stable isotope evidence from skeletons, which tells us about the main sources of <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0903821106">protein in diet</a> over the lifetime of a person. Recent studies suggest Neanderthal populations in Europe were <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2109315119">top-level carnivores</a>. Studies show <em>Homo sapiens</em> seem to have had a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0903821106">greater diversity</a> in their diet than Neanderthals, with a higher proportion of plants. But we are certain our evidence on the early culinary complexity is the start of many finds from early hunter-gatherer sites in the region.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195127/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ceren Kabukcu acknowledges funding from the Leverhulme Trust (Early Career Fellowship, ECF–284). She is currently employed as a Research Associate funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung. The research at Shanidar Cave, with a team led by Graeme Barker, has received funding from the Leverhulme Trust (Research Grant RPG–2013–105), Rust Family Foundation, British Academy, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Society of Antiquaries, McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge and Natural Environment Research Council’s Oxford Radiocarbon Dating Facility (grant NF/2016/2/14) and the Templeton Trust. </span></em></p>
New study shows Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had a taste for sharp and bitter food.
Ceren Kabukcu, Research Associate in Archaeology, University of Liverpool
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/194576
2022-11-16T17:18:36Z
2022-11-16T17:18:36Z
8 billion people: how different the world would look if Neanderthals had prevailed
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495428/original/file-20221115-15-h87geb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C32%2C5312%2C3525&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Neanderthal reproduction in Trento Museum of Natural History</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/realistic-prehistoric-early-man-neanderthal-reproduction-1023415276">Luca Lorenzelli/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In evolutionary terms, the human population has rocketed in seconds. The news that it has now reached 8 billion seems inexplicable when you think about our history. </p>
<p>For 99% of the last million years of our existence, people rarely came across other humans. There were <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0216742">only around 10,000 Neanderthals</a> living at any one time. Today, there are around 800,000 people in the same space that was occupied by one Neanderthal. What’s more, since humans live in social groups, the next nearest Neanderthal group was probably well over 100km away. Finding a mate <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03005-y">outside your own family</a> was a challenge.</p>
<p>Neanderthals were more inclined to stay in their family groups and were warier of new people. If they had outcompeted our own species (<em>Homo sapiens</em>), the density of population would likely be far lower. It’s hard to imagine them building cities, for example, given that they were genetically disposed to being less friendly to those beyond their immediate family.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495425/original/file-20221115-25-17r8tp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495425/original/file-20221115-25-17r8tp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495425/original/file-20221115-25-17r8tp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495425/original/file-20221115-25-17r8tp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495425/original/file-20221115-25-17r8tp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495425/original/file-20221115-25-17r8tp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495425/original/file-20221115-25-17r8tp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495425/original/file-20221115-25-17r8tp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Based on estimates by the History Database of the Global Environment and the UN.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2022/03/Annual-World-Population-since-10-thousand-BCE-2048x1441.png">Max Roser</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The reasons for our dramatic population growth may lie in the early days of Homo sapiens more than 100,000 years ago. <a href="https://universitypress.whiterose.ac.uk/site/chapters/m/10.22599/HiddenDepths.f/">Genetic and anatomical differences</a> between us and extinct species such as Neanderthals made us more similar to domesticated animal species. Large herds of cows, for example, can better tolerate the stress of living in a small space together than their wild ancestors who lived in small groups, spaced apart. These genetic differences changed our attitudes to people outside our own group. We became more tolerant. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495426/original/file-20221115-23-uyy52b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495426/original/file-20221115-23-uyy52b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495426/original/file-20221115-23-uyy52b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495426/original/file-20221115-23-uyy52b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495426/original/file-20221115-23-uyy52b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495426/original/file-20221115-23-uyy52b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495426/original/file-20221115-23-uyy52b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Similarities between modern humans and domesticated dogs, in contrast to archaic humans (here Neanderthal) and wild wolves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185306">Theofanopoulou C PLoS ONE 12(10): e0185306</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As <em>Homo sapiens</em> were more likely to interact with groups outside their family, they created a more diverse genetic pool which reduced health problems. Neanderthals at <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-38571-1">El Sidrón in Spain</a> showed 17 genetic deformities in only 13 people, for example. Such mutations were virtually nonexistent in <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aao1807">later populations of our own species</a>.</p>
<p>But larger populations also increase the spread of disease. Neanderthals might have typically lived shorter lives than modern humans, but their relative isolation will have protected them from the infectious diseases that sometimes wiped out whole populations of <em>Homo sapiens</em>. </p>
<h2>Putting more food on the table</h2>
<p>Our species may also have had 10%-20% <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25524-4">faster rates of reproduction</a> than earlier species of human. But having more babies only increases the population if there is enough food for them to eat. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://evolutionaryanthropology.duke.edu/sites/evolutionaryanthropology.duke.edu/files/file-attachments/Hare_Survival%20of%20friendliest_Annu%20Rev%20Psych_2017.pdf">genetic inclination for friendliness</a> took shape around 200,000 years ago. From this time onwards, there is archaeological evidence of the raw materials to make tools being moved around the landscape more widely.</p>
<p>From 100,000 years ago, we created networks along which new types of hunting weapons and jewellery such as shell beads could spread. <a href="https://universitypress.whiterose.ac.uk/site/chapters/m/10.22599/HiddenDepths.i/">Ideas were shared widely and there were seasonal aggregations</a> where <em>Homo sapiens</em> got together for rituals and socialising. People had friends to depend on in different groups when they were short of food. </p>
<p>And we may have also needed more emotional contact and new types of relationship outside our human social worlds. In an alternative world where Neanderthals thrived, it may be less likely that humans would have <a href="https://universitypress.whiterose.ac.uk/site/chapters/m/10.22599/HiddenDepths.h/">nurtured relationships with animals</a> through domestication. </p>
<h2>Dramatic shifts in environment</h2>
<p>Things might also have been different had environments not generated so many sudden shortfalls, such as <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10816-020-09503-5">steep declines in plants and animals</a>, on many occasions. If it wasn’t for these chance changes, Neanderthals may have survived. </p>
<p>Sharing resources and ideas between groups allowed people to live more efficiently off the land, by distributing more effective technologies and giving each other food at times of crisis. This was probably one of the main reasons why our species <a href="https://universitypress.whiterose.ac.uk/site/chapters/m/10.22599/HiddenDepths.i/">thrived</a> when the climate changed while others died. <em>Homo sapiens</em> were better adapted to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10816-020-09503-5">weather variable and risky conditions</a>. This is partly because our species could depend on networks in times of crisis. </p>
<p>During the height of the last ice age around 20,000 years ago, temperatures across Europe were 8-10°C degrees lower than today, with those in Germany being more like northern Siberia is now. Most of northern Europe was covered in ice for six-to-nine months of the year. </p>
<p>Social connections provided the means by which inventions could spread between groups to help us adapt. These included spear throwers to make hunting more efficient, fine needles to make fitted clothing and keep people warmer, food storage, and hunting with domesticated wolves. As a result, more people survived nature’s wheel of fortune. </p>
<p><em>Homo sapiens</em> were generally <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-00154-4">careful not to overconsume resources</a> like deer or fish, and were likely more aware of their lifecycles than much earlier species of human might have been. For example, people in British Columbia, Canada, only took males when they fished for salmon. </p>
<p>In some cases, however, these lifecyles were hard to see. During the last ice age, animals such as mammoths, which roamed over huge territories invisible to human groups, went extinct. There are more than a hundred depictions of mammoths at Rouffignac in France dating to the time of their disappearance, which <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1751696X.2020.1718309?journalCode=rtam20">suggests people grieved this loss</a>. But it is more likely mammoths would have survived if it wasn’t for the rise of <em>Homo sapiens</em>, because there would have been fewer Neanderthals to hunt them.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495423/original/file-20221115-25-840202.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495423/original/file-20221115-25-840202.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495423/original/file-20221115-25-840202.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495423/original/file-20221115-25-840202.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495423/original/file-20221115-25-840202.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495423/original/file-20221115-25-840202.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495423/original/file-20221115-25-840202.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Depiction of a mammoth at Rouffignac Cave in France.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grotte_de_Rouff_mammut.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Too clever for our own good</h2>
<p>Our liking for each other’s company and the way spending time together fosters our creativity was the making of our species. But it came at a price.</p>
<p>The more technology humankind develops, the more our use of it harms the planet. Intensive farming is draining our soils of nutrients, overfishing is wrecking the seas, and the greenhouse gases we release when we produce the products we now rely on are driving extreme weather. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/gallery/2015/apr/01/over-population-over-consumption-in-pictures">Overexploitation</a> wasn’t inevitable but our species was the first to do it.</p>
<p>We can hope that visual evidence of the destruction in our natural world will change our attitudes in time. We have changed quickly when we needed to throughout our history. There is, after all, no planet B. But if Neanderthals had survived instead of us, we would never have needed one.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194576/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Penny Spikins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Neanderthals were wiped out by chance changes in the environment. The rise of Homo sapiens wasn’t inevitable.
Penny Spikins, Professor of the Archaeology of Human Origins, University of York
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/194603
2022-11-15T16:01:40Z
2022-11-15T16:01:40Z
8 billion people: how evolution made it happen
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495362/original/file-20221115-21-3tgb8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C60%2C4054%2C2646&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One in 8 billion</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-japanese-woman-metro-station-767552608">oneinchpunch/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>November 15 2022 marks a milestone for our species, as the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/desa/world-population-reach-8-billion-15-november-2022">global population hits 8 billion</a>. Just 70 years ago, within a human lifetime, there were only 2.5 billion of us. In AD1, fewer than one-third of a billion. So how have we been so successful? </p>
<hr>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/8-billion-people-how-evolution-made-it-happen-194603&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Humans are not especially fast, strong or agile. Our senses are rather poor, even in comparison to domestic livestock and pets. Instead, large brains and the complex social structures they underpin are the secrets of our success. They have allowed us to change the rules of the evolutionary game that governs the fate of most species, enabling us to shape the environment in our favour.</p>
<p>But there have been many unintended consequences, and now we have <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health">raised the stakes so high</a> that human-driven climate change has put <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/what-is-the-sixth-mass-extinction-and-what-can-we-do-about-i">millions of species</a> at risk of extinction. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495193/original/file-20221114-22-f76u9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495193/original/file-20221114-22-f76u9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495193/original/file-20221114-22-f76u9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495193/original/file-20221114-22-f76u9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495193/original/file-20221114-22-f76u9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495193/original/file-20221114-22-f76u9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495193/original/file-20221114-22-f76u9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The golden toad (Incilius periglenes) is an extinct amphibian that was once abundant in a small area north of Monteverde, Costa Rica. Amphibians have extremely high rates of extinction in response to climate change and habitat fragmentation.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Understanding population growth</h2>
<p>Legend has it the king of Chemakasherri, which is in modern day India, loved to play chess and challenged a travelling priest to a game. The king asked him what prize he would like if he won. The priest only wanted some rice. But this rice had to be counted in a precise way, with a single grain on the first square of the board, two on the second, four on the third, and so on. This seemed reasonable, and the wager was set. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495192/original/file-20221114-22-ilquxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495192/original/file-20221114-22-ilquxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495192/original/file-20221114-22-ilquxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495192/original/file-20221114-22-ilquxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495192/original/file-20221114-22-ilquxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495192/original/file-20221114-22-ilquxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495192/original/file-20221114-22-ilquxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495192/original/file-20221114-22-ilquxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A chessboard with each square containing twice the number of rice grains as the one before. K = a thousand, M = a million, G = a billion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When the king lost, he told his servants to reward his guest as agreed. The first row of eight squares held 255 grains, but by the end of the third row, there were over 16.7 million grains. The king offered any other prize instead: even half his kingdom. To reach the last square he would need <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_and_chessboard_problem">18 quintillion grains of rice</a>. That’s about 210 billion tonnes.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/71yuH365Rug?wmode=transparent&start=158" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The king learned about exponential growth the hard way.</p>
<h2>In the beginning</h2>
<p>Our genus – Homo – had modest beginnings at square one around <a href="https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/homo-habilis/">2.3 million years ago</a>. We originated in <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/667692">tiny, fragmented populations</a> along the east African rift valley. Genetic and fossil evidence suggests <em>Homo sapiens</em> and our cousins the Neanderthals evolved from a common ancestor, <a href="https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-heidelbergensis">possibly <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em> </a>. <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em> had a <a href="https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/larger-brains/">brain slightly smaller</a> than modern humans. <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/science-shows-why-youre-smarter-than-a-neanderthal-1885827/">Neanderthals had larger brains than us</a>, but the regions devoted to thinking and social interactions were less well developed. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495184/original/file-20221114-25-xiheee.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495184/original/file-20221114-25-xiheee.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495184/original/file-20221114-25-xiheee.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=173&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495184/original/file-20221114-25-xiheee.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=173&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495184/original/file-20221114-25-xiheee.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=173&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495184/original/file-20221114-25-xiheee.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=217&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495184/original/file-20221114-25-xiheee.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=217&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495184/original/file-20221114-25-xiheee.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=217&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Facial reconstruction of Homo heidelbergensis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em> started travelling more widely, populations started to change from one another. The African lineage led to <em>Homo sapiens</em>, while migration into Europe <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/neanderthals-spread-across-europe-asia-gets-new-%20twist-from-ancient-dna">around 500,000 years ago</a> created the Neanderthals and Denisovans. </p>
<p>Scientists debate the extent to which later migrations of <em>Homo sapiens</em> out of Africa (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/31/science/neanderthal-dna-%20africa.html#:%7E:text=The%20ancestors%20of%20humans%20and,the%20Near%20East%20and%20Siberia.">between 200,000</a> and <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2018/january/humans-left-africa-40-000-years-earlier-than-we-%20thought.html">60,000 years ago</a>) displaced the Neanderthals or <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/what-happened-to-the-neanderthals-68245020/">interbred with them</a>. Modern humans who <a href="https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals">live outside Africa</a> typically have around 2% Neanderthal DNA. It is close to zero in people from African backgrounds.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495186/original/file-20221114-17805-by6ujo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495186/original/file-20221114-17805-by6ujo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495186/original/file-20221114-17805-by6ujo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495186/original/file-20221114-17805-by6ujo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495186/original/file-20221114-17805-by6ujo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495186/original/file-20221114-17805-by6ujo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495186/original/file-20221114-17805-by6ujo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495186/original/file-20221114-17805-by6ujo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reconstruction of Homo neanderthalensis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If unchecked, all populations with more births than deaths grow exponentially. Our population does not double in each generation because the average number of children per couple is fewer than four. However, the pace of growth has been accelerating at an unprecedented rate. Those of us alive today are <a href="https://www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-lived-on-earth/">7% of all the humans</a> who ever existed since the origin of our species. </p>
<h2>Why aren’t all species booming?</h2>
<p>Biological intervention normally puts the brakes on population growth. Predator populations increase as their prey becomes more abundant, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-25436-2">keeping numbers in check</a>. Viruses and other disease agents sweep through populations and decimate them. Habitats become overcrowded. Or rapidly changing environments can <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/3-billion-to-zero-what-happened-to-the-passenger-pigeon/">turn the tables on once successful species and groups</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495198/original/file-20221114-25-pk2jzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495198/original/file-20221114-25-pk2jzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495198/original/file-20221114-25-pk2jzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495198/original/file-20221114-25-pk2jzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495198/original/file-20221114-25-pk2jzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495198/original/file-20221114-25-pk2jzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495198/original/file-20221114-25-pk2jzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thomas Malthus was famous for his 1798 essay ‘On the Principle of Population’.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Charles Darwin, like the <a href="https://www.economicsonline.co.uk/managing_the_economy/what-is-the-malthusian-theory-of-%20population.html/">18th-century scholar Thomas Malthus</a> before him, thought there might be a hard limit on human numbers. Malthus believed our growing population would eventually outpace our ability to produce food, leading to mass starvation. But he did not foresee 19th and 20th-century revolutions in agriculture and transport, or 21st-century advances in <a href="https://blogs.bath.ac.uk/iprblog/2018/03/16/escaping-the-malthusian-trap-technology-and-regulation-to-%20feed-the-world/">genetic technology</a> that allowed us to keep making more food, however patchily, across the globe. </p>
<p>Our intelligence and ability to make tools and develop technologies helped us survive most of the threats our ancestors faced. <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/ancient-native-americans-were-among-world-s-first-coppersmiths">Within about 8,500 years</a> humans went from the first metal tools to AI and space exploration. </p>
<h2>The catch</h2>
<p>We are now kicking an increasingly heavy can down the road. The <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/world-population-prospects-2019.html">UN estimates</a> that by 2050 there will be nearly 10 billion of us. One consequence of these vast numbers is that small changes in our behaviour can have <a href="https://populationconnection.org/resources/population-and-%20climate/#:%7E:text=Population%20growth%2C%20along%20with%20increasing,especially%20in%20low%2Dreso%20urce%20regions.">huge effects on climate and habitats</a> across the globe. The rising energy demands of each person today are on average <a href="https://ourfiniteworld.com/2012/03/12/world-energy-consumption-since-1820-in-charts/">twice what they were in 1900</a>. </p>
<p>But what of our cousins, the Neanderthals? It turns out, in one sense, their fate was less dire than we might suppose. One measure of evolutionary success is the number of copies of your DNA that are dispersed. By this measure Neanderthals are more successful today than ever. When Neanderthal populations were last distinct from <em>Homo sapiens</em> (<a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/who-were-the-%20neanderthals.html#:%7E:text=The%20most%20recent%20fossil%20and,DNA%20of%20humans%20alive%20today">around 40,000 years ago</a>) there were fewer than 150,000 of them. Even assuming a conservative average of 1% Neanderthal DNA in modern humans, there is at least 500 times as much in circulation today than at the time of their “extinction”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194603/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Wills receives funding from BBSRC, NERC, The Leverhulme Trust and The John Templeton Foundation</span></em></p>
Only insects populations can compare to rising human numbers.
Matthew Wills, Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at the Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/193764
2022-11-03T15:51:51Z
2022-11-03T15:51:51Z
Neanderthals: how a carnivore diet may have led to their demise
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493286/original/file-20221103-24-3lijt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C60%2C5716%2C3768&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">3D rendering of an Neanderthal man</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/prehistoric-early-man-neanderthal-3d-rendering-1746110927">RaveeCG/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine that you have an unhealthy interest in your neighbours’ lives. Unable to ask them directly, you rifle through their rubbish bins. You find the bones of cooked chickens and try and work out what else they eat.</p>
<p>This is a bit like how archaeologists <a href="https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/12696/1/Buck%20&%20Stringer,%202014_Submission.pdf">study the diets</a> of extinct humans such as the Neanderthals and early homo sapiens. This is about more than satisfying curiosity. Understanding our ancestors’ diets <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/human-evolution/news/2017/mar/neanderthal-behaviour-diet-and-disease-inferred-ancient-dna-dental-calculus">may reveal critical clues</a> about their evolutionary success or failure.</p>
<p>A recent study <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2109315119">which analysed zinc</a> from the tooth of a Neanderthal from Spain reveals they were mainly carnivores, wherever they lived. This discovery helps explain why they became extinct. </p>
<p>Neanderthals dominated <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/who-were-the-neanderthals.html">Europe and western Asia</a> during the last 200,000 years of the Ice Age, while homo sapiens were developing in Africa. Their remains and characteristic stone tools are abundant across Europe and the near East, and in smaller numbers as far east as Tadjikistan (which shares a border with China).</p>
<p>The Neanderthals lived in the heartlands of the <a href="https://www.cms.int/sites/default/files/publication/fact_sheet_eurasian_steppe_climate_change.pdf">Eurasian steppes</a> (the largest grassland in the world, extending from Hungary to China), an area not rich in nutritional vegetables. But <a href="https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeum/catalog/book/868?lang=en">surveys of their campsites</a> have revealed they ate nuts, fruits, mushrooms, shellfish and other food that can be easily gathered. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493239/original/file-20221103-24-103iha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493239/original/file-20221103-24-103iha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493239/original/file-20221103-24-103iha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493239/original/file-20221103-24-103iha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493239/original/file-20221103-24-103iha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493239/original/file-20221103-24-103iha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493239/original/file-20221103-24-103iha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cutmarks left by stone tools on this wing bone of a velvet scoter (sea duck), show that.
smaller animals were part of Neanderthals’ diet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Neanderthals were a species <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/human-evolution/news/2022/feb/unique-foot-posture-neanderthals-reflects-their-body-mass-and-high-mechanical-stress">constantly on the move</a> who needed a high calorie diet. The butchered remains of horse, reindeer, bison and mammoths that Neanderthals left on their campsites reveal they <a href="https://dro.dur.ac.uk/17856/1/17856.pdf">hunted the most dangerous animals</a> in their world. But that doesn’t tell us whether their diets varied from group to group across their massive range.</p>
<h2>Low carb diet</h2>
<p>For the last two decades, advances in <a href="https://www.penn.museum/research/project.php?pid=30">molecular biology</a> have deepened archaeologists’ understanding of early human diets. The cool conditions in northern Europe, such as France and Germany, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228431102_Biogeochemical_data_from_well_preserved_200_ka_collagen_and_skeletal_remains">help preserve collagen</a> in fossil bone. With a technique called <a href="https://www.crowcanyon.org/stable-isotope-analysis/">stable isotope analysis</a> we can recover minute amounts of carbon and nitrogen from the collagen in early human bones, and find out where the protein they ate came from. Isotopes are groups of atoms belonging to the same element but have different mass. Studies of these bones’ isotopes have shown Neanderthals in northern Europe got <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0903821106">80-90% of their protein</a> from animals. That’s up there with the wolves and hyenas. In the arid southern parts of Europe we’re not so lucky. Collagen in fossil bone easily disintegrates in warmer climates, taking with it the clues to southern Neanderthals’ diets.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493237/original/file-20221103-19-myadsi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C2%2C932%2C789&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493237/original/file-20221103-19-myadsi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493237/original/file-20221103-19-myadsi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493237/original/file-20221103-19-myadsi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493237/original/file-20221103-19-myadsi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=638&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493237/original/file-20221103-19-myadsi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=638&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493237/original/file-20221103-19-myadsi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=638&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The impact from a spear on this pelvic bone of an adult fallow deer shows Neanderthals were hunting with bayonet-style spears around 120,000 years ago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But over the last year archaeologists have found that traces of zinc in Neanderthal bones also preserve information about the diet of the ancient person who they belong to. </p>
<p>Studies over the last few years of zinc isotopes show they have huge potential for unlocking clues about the evolution of life such as the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29869832/">rise of eukaryotes</a>, a group of organism which humans belong to, and the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-02212-z">complexity of marine food</a> webs.</p>
<h2>Expert hunters</h2>
<p>The zinc level in carnivores’ bones is lower than those <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8175341/">of their prey</a>. The difference is not affected by age, sex or decay over time. Zinc ratios can be measured from samples as small as 1mg of bone. Even these tiny amounts allow an accurate assessment of an animal’s place in the food chain when they were alive. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493240/original/file-20221103-18-qqiknd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493240/original/file-20221103-18-qqiknd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493240/original/file-20221103-18-qqiknd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493240/original/file-20221103-18-qqiknd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493240/original/file-20221103-18-qqiknd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493240/original/file-20221103-18-qqiknd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493240/original/file-20221103-18-qqiknd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Somewhere between 50,000-60,000 years ago Neanderthals used small handaxes such as this to butcher mammoths at Lynford in eastern England.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark White</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The recent study’s analysis of zinc from the tooth enamel of a Neanderthal, who lived and died around 150,000 years ago in the Spanish Pyrenees, gives new insights into the diet of ancient humans. Zinc isotopes were analysed from 43 teeth of 12 animal species living in a grassland around the Los Moros I cave in Catalonia, Spain. These included carnivores such as wolf, hyena and dhole (also known as mountain wolf), omnivorous cave bears, and herbivores including ibex, red deer, horse and rabbit. The results brought to life a food web of the Pleistocene steppe, a system of interlocking food chains from plants up to the top carnivores. The zinc in the Neanderthal’s tooth had by far the lowest zinc value in the food web, revealing they were a top level carnivore.</p>
<p>The bone heaps on <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0596-1">Neanderthal campsites</a> show they hunted big animals in large numbers. These heaps appear even in areas of the landscape where humans would be at a disadvantage, such as at the edge of water courses. Imagine trying to bayonet an adult bison or horse. Both <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/15-facts-about-bison.htm">weigh almost a tonne</a>. The new isotope study reveals Neanderthals’ main survival strategy was to hunt whatever animals could be found wherever they were in the world. Small animals and vegetables probably amounted to little more than side dishes. Their game plan was to shoot first, and answer questions later.</p>
<h2>Broader diets made us more resilient</h2>
<p>Isotopes taken from sites across Europe from remains of the <em>Homo sapiens</em> groups who inherited Pleistocene Eurasia from the Neanderthals <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.111155298">reveal they had broader dietary</a> range. Plants, birds and fish were main courses for these early humans. The Pleistocene was a the grassland-steppe ecosystem that dominated Siberia during the Pleistocene and disappeared 10,000 years ago. It had a remarkably unstable climate and changed from <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2003.1436">dry grasslands and wet tundras to coniferous woodlands</a>, constantly shaking up the variety and number of large herbivores grazing there. So an omnivorous diet would have made these people far more resilient than those who relied on big game hunting. We don’t know much about what happened to Neanderthals when big game populations collapsed. If reindeer failed to show, what could they do? But with rapid progress in biomolecular science, I doubt we will have to wait long to find out.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193764/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Pettitt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Zinc in their bones reveal that these early humans were top of the food chain.
Paul Pettitt, Professor in the Department of Archaeology, Durham University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/192595
2022-10-19T19:05:47Z
2022-10-19T19:05:47Z
First-ever genetic analysis of a Neanderthal family paints a fascinating picture of a close-knit community
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489930/original/file-20221017-17-4qvy1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C1243%2C718&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Neanderthal father and his daughter.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tom Björklund</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Our closest evolutionary relatives, the Neanderthals (<em>Homo neanderthalensis</em>), were once spread across Europe and as far east as the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia.</p>
<p>Yet more than 160 years since the first Neanderthal fossils were unearthed in Europe, little is known about the group size or social organisation of Neanderthal communities.</p>
<p>Using ancient DNA, a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05283-y">new study</a> provides a snapshot of a Neanderthal community frozen in time.</p>
<p>With our colleagues, we show a group of Neanderthals living in the Altai foothills around 54,000 years ago consisted of perhaps 10 to 20 individuals. Many of them were closely related – including a father and his young daughter.</p>
<h2>The easternmost Neanderthals</h2>
<p>The first genetic clues to Neanderthals were obtained <a href="https://www.cell.com/fulltext/S0092-8674(00)80310-4">25 years ago</a> from a fragment of mitochondrial DNA, which is found in cell structures called mitochondria rather than in the cell nucleus.</p>
<p>Subsequent mitochondrial DNA studies and genome-wide nuclear data from 18 individuals have sketched the broad brushstrokes of Neanderthal history, revealing the existence of many genetically distinct groups between about 430,000 and 40,000 years ago.</p>
<p>Our new study is the first to analyse ancient DNA from the teeth and bones of multiple Neanderthals who lived at around the same time. The fossils came from archaeological excavations of Okladnikov Cave in the mid-1980s and Chagyrskaya Cave since 2007.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489936/original/file-20221017-12-8falkc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map showing locations of the caves and a photo of one of them" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489936/original/file-20221017-12-8falkc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489936/original/file-20221017-12-8falkc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489936/original/file-20221017-12-8falkc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489936/original/file-20221017-12-8falkc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489936/original/file-20221017-12-8falkc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489936/original/file-20221017-12-8falkc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489936/original/file-20221017-12-8falkc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Neanderthal DNA was sequenced from fossil remains found at Chagyrskaya Cave (photo) and Okladnikov Cave in southern Siberia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maciej Krajcarz (map) and Richard Roberts (photo)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These caves were used by Neanderthals as hunting camps. The remains of animals such as bison and horses are abundant, and more than 80 Neanderthal fossils were also found in Chagyrskaya Cave – one of the largest such collections anywhere in the world.</p>
<p>Both sites also contain <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1918047117">distinctive stone tools</a> that bear a striking resemblance to artefacts found at Neanderthal sites in central and eastern Europe.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/stone-tools-reveal-epic-trek-of-nomadic-neanderthals-129886">Stone tools reveal epic trek of nomadic Neanderthals</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Family ties</h2>
<p>To paint a detailed picture of the genetic makeup and relatedness of these Neanderthals, we analysed mitochondrial DNA (which is passed down the female line), Y-chromosomes (passed from father to son) and genome-wide data (inherited from both parents) for 17 Neanderthal fossils – the most ever sequenced in a single study.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489916/original/file-20221017-25-a1wd6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A range of bones and teeth on a dark background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489916/original/file-20221017-25-a1wd6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489916/original/file-20221017-25-a1wd6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489916/original/file-20221017-25-a1wd6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489916/original/file-20221017-25-a1wd6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489916/original/file-20221017-25-a1wd6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489916/original/file-20221017-25-a1wd6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489916/original/file-20221017-25-a1wd6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Neanderthal teeth and bones from Chagyrskaya Cave (A, B) and Okladnikov Cave (C) included in our study. The white bar in each panel is 1 cm in length.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bence Viola</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The teeth and bones came from 13 individuals: 11 from Chagyrskaya Cave and two from Okladnikov Cave. Seven of the Neanderthals were male and six were female. Eight were adults and five were children or adolescents.</p>
<p>Among them were the remains of a Neanderthal father and his teenage daughter, as well as a pair of second-degree relatives – a young boy and an adult female, perhaps his cousin, aunt or grandmother.</p>
<p>Although the nearby site of <a href="https://theconversation.com/fresh-clues-to-the-life-and-times-of-the-denisovans-a-little-known-ancient-group-of-humans-110504">Denisova Cave</a> was inhabited by Neanderthals from as early as 200,000 years ago, the Chagyrskaya and Okladnikov Neanderthals are more closely related to European Neanderthals than to the earlier ones at Denisova Cave.</p>
<p>This finding is consistent with a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2004944117">previous genomic study</a> of a Chagyrskaya Neanderthal and the presence of distinctive stone tools at Chagyrskaya and Okladnikov Caves that closely resemble those found at Neanderthal sites in Europe.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490089/original/file-20221017-7429-yw50nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A graph showing relations among the various species" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490089/original/file-20221017-7429-yw50nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490089/original/file-20221017-7429-yw50nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490089/original/file-20221017-7429-yw50nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490089/original/file-20221017-7429-yw50nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490089/original/file-20221017-7429-yw50nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490089/original/file-20221017-7429-yw50nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490089/original/file-20221017-7429-yw50nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Phylogenetic tree of mitochondrial DNA sequences showing the evolutionary relationships among the Chagyrskaya (blue) and Okladnikov (orange) Neanderthals included in our study, Neanderthals from Denisova Cave and Europe, and present-day humans from Africa, East Asia and Europe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also found the Chagyrskaya Neanderthals share several heteroplasmies – a special kind of mitochondrial DNA variant that typically persists for less than three generations.</p>
<p>Taken together with the evidence for their close family connections, these indicate the Chagyrskaya Neanderthals must have lived – and died – at around the same time.</p>
<h2>On the brink of extinction</h2>
<p>Our analyses also revealed this Neanderthal community had extremely low genetic diversity – consistent with a group size of just 10 to 20 people.</p>
<p>This is much smaller than the genetic diversity recorded for any ancient or present-day human community, and is more like that found among endangered species at risk of extinction, such as <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/mountain-gorilla">mountain gorillas</a>.</p>
<p>The Chagyrskaya Neanderthals were not a community of hermits, however. We discovered their mitochondrial DNA diversity was much higher than their Y-chromosome diversity, which can be explained by the predominance of female (rather than male) migration between Neanderthal communities.</p>
<p>Did these migrations involve Denisovans, who occupied Denisova Cave repeatedly from at least 250,000 years ago to around 50,000 years ago?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dirty-secrets-sediment-dna-reveals-a-300-000-year-timeline-of-ancient-and-modern-humans-living-in-siberia-161585">Dirty secrets: sediment DNA reveals a 300,000-year timeline of ancient and modern humans living in Siberia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Denisovans are a sister group to Neanderthals and they interbred at least once. This happened around 100,000 years ago, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06004-0">producing a daughter</a> from a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father.</p>
<p>Yet even though Denisovans were present at Denisova Cave at around the same time as the Neanderthals living at Chagyrskaya and Okladnikov Caves, we found no evidence for Denisovan gene flow into these Neanderthals in the 20,000 years leading up to their demise.</p>
<h2>Kindred spirits</h2>
<p>In recent years, multiple lines of evidence have shown Neanderthals possessed <a href="https://theconversation.com/neanderthals-were-no-brutes-research-reveals-they-may-have-been-precision-workers-103858">technical skills</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-discovered-that-neanderthals-could-make-art-92127">cognitive capabilities</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01487-z">symbolic behaviours</a> as impressive as those of our ancient <em>Homo sapiens</em> ancestors.</p>
<p>Our genetic insights add a new social dimension to this picture. They provide a rare glimpse into the close-knit family structure of a Neanderthal community eking out an existence on the eastern frontier of their geographic range, close to the time when their species finally died out.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192595/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard 'Bert' Roberts receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurits Skov does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Ancient DNA from Neanderthal fossils in southern Siberia reveals a small community with close family ties – including a father and his teenage daughter.
Laurits Skov, Postdoctoral research associate, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Richard 'Bert' Roberts, Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH), University of Wollongong
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/191913
2022-10-07T12:22:44Z
2022-10-07T12:22:44Z
Our ‘Homo sapiens’ ancestors shared the world with Neanderthals, Denisovans and other types of humans whose DNA lives on in our genes
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488681/original/file-20221007-12-xnxe5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C11%2C2320%2C1616&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hundreds of thousands of years ago, our *Homo sapiens* ancestors shared the landscape with multiple other hominins.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-exhibit-hall-includes-more-than-75-skulls-including-two-news-photo/129710842">The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the <a href="https://www.livescience.com/how-many-human-species.html">first modern humans arose</a> in East Africa sometime between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago, the world was very different compared to today. Perhaps the biggest difference was that we – meaning people of our species, <em>Homo sapiens</em> – were only one of several types of humans (or <a href="https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/hominid-and-hominin-whats-the-difference/">hominins</a>) that simultaneously existed on Earth.</p>
<p>From the well-known <a href="https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals">Neanderthals</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/fresh-clues-to-the-life-and-times-of-the-denisovans-a-little-known-ancient-group-of-humans-110504">more enigmatic Denisovans</a> in Eurasia, to the diminutive <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hobbits-were-extinct-much-earlier-than-first-thought-56922">“hobbit” <em>Homo floresiensis</em></a> on the island of Flores in Indonesia, to <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-was-part-of-the-team-that-found-the-homo-naledi-childs-skull-how-we-did-it-171153"><em>Homo naledi</em> that lived in South Africa</a>, multiple hominins abounded.</p>
<p>Then, between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago, <a href="https://flexbooks.ck12.org/cbook/ck-12-college-human-biology-flexbook-2.0/section/7.6/primary/lesson/neanderthals-and-other-archaic-humans-chumbio/">all but one type of these hominins disappeared</a>, and for the first time we were alone.</p>
<p>Until recently, one of the mysteries about human history was whether our ancestors interacted and mated with these other types of humans before they went extinct. This fascinating question was the subject of great and often contentious <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Neanderthal-love-Scientists-split-over-how-much-2626826.php">debates among scientists for decades</a>, because the data needed to answer this question simply didn’t exist. In fact, it seemed to many that the data would never exist.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_Urs-74AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Svante Pääbo</a>, however, paid little attention to what people thought was or was not possible. His persistence in developing tools to extract, sequence and interpret ancient DNA enabled sequencing the genomes of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1188021">Neanderthals</a>, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09710">Denisovans</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14558">early modern humans</a> who lived over 45,000 years ago.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2022/press-release/">For developing this new field of paleogenomics</a>, Pääbo was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This honor is not only well-deserved recognition for Pääbo’s triumphs, but also for evolutionary genomics and the insights it can contribute toward a more comprehensive understanding of human health and disease.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488774/original/file-20221007-24-40vkma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diagram of human lineages diverging and interbreeding over time" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488774/original/file-20221007-24-40vkma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488774/original/file-20221007-24-40vkma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488774/original/file-20221007-24-40vkma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488774/original/file-20221007-24-40vkma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488774/original/file-20221007-24-40vkma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488774/original/file-20221007-24-40vkma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488774/original/file-20221007-24-40vkma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A simplified model of human evolution showing how humans are related to Neanderthals and Denisovans. Arrows between different branches show mating that occurred. Events that happened further back in time are closer to the top of the image.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joshua Akey</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mixing and mating, revealed by DNA</h2>
<p>Genetic studies of living people over the past several decades revealed the general contours of human history. Our species arose in Africa, dispersing out from that continent around 60,000 years ago, ultimately spreading to nearly all habitable places on Earth. Other types of humans existed as modern humans migrated throughout the world, but the genetic data showed little evidence that modern humans mated with other hominins.</p>
<p>Over the past decade, however, the study of ancient DNA, recovered from fossils up to around <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/oldest-ancient-human-dna-details-dawn-of-neandertals/">400,000 years old</a>, has revealed startling new twists and turns in the story of human history. </p>
<p>For example, the Neanderthal genome provided the data necessary to definitively show that humans and Neanderthals mated. Non-African people alive today inherited about <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5772775/">2% of their genomes</a> from Neanderthal ancestors, thanks to this kind of interbreeding.</p>
<p>In one of the biggest surprises, when Pääbo and his colleagues sequenced ancient DNA obtained from a small finger bone fragment that was assumed to be Neanderthal, it turned out to be an entirely <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09710">unknown type of human, now called Denisovans</a>. <a href="https://nautil.us/the-human-family-tree-it-turns-out-is-complicated-238239/">Humans and Denisovans also mated</a>, with the highest levels of Denisovan ancestry present today – between 4% and 6% – in individuals of Oceanic ancestry.</p>
<p>Strikingly, ancient DNA from a 90,000-year-old female revealed that she had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06004-0">a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father</a>. Although there are still many unanswered questions, the picture emerging from analyses of ancient and modern DNA is that not only did multiple hominins overlap in time and space, but that matings were relatively common.</p>
<h2>Archaic genes you carry today</h2>
<p>Estimating the proportion of ancestry that modern individuals have from Neanderthals or Denisovans is certainly interesting. But ancestry proportions provide limited information about the consequences of these ancient matings.</p>
<p>For instance, does DNA inherited from Neanderthals and Denisovans influence biological functions that occur within our cells? Does this DNA influence traits like eye color or susceptibility to disease? Were DNA sequences from our evolutionary cousins ever beneficial, helping humans adapt to new environments?</p>
<p>To answer these questions, we need to identify the bits of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA scattered throughout the genomes of modern individuals.</p>
<p>In 2014, <a href="https://akeylab.princeton.edu">my group</a> and <a href="https://reich.hms.harvard.edu">David Reich’s group</a> independently published the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1245938">first maps of</a> <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12961">Neanderthal sequences</a> that survive in the DNA of modern humans. Today, roughly 40% of the Neanderthal genome has been recovered not by sequencing ancient DNA recovered from a fossil, but indirectly by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.027">piecing together the Neanderthal sequences</a> that persist in the genomes of contemporary individuals.</p>
<p>Similarly, in 2016 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad9416">my group</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.037">David Reich’s group</a> published the first comprehensive catalogs of DNA sequences in modern individuals inherited from Denisovan ancestors. Surprisingly, when we analyzed the Denisovan sequences that persist in people today, we discovered they came from two distinct Denisovan populations, and therefore at least <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2018.02.031">two separate waves of matings occurred between Denisovans and modern humans</a>. </p>
<p>The analysis of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA in modern humans reveals that some of their sequence was harmful and rapidly got purged from human genomes. In fact, the initial fraction of Neanderthal ancestry in humans who lived approximately 45,000 years ago was around 10%. That amount rapidly declined over a small number of generations to the 2% <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1814338116">observed in contemporary individuals</a>.</p>
<p>The removal of deleterious archaic sequences also created large regions of the human genome that are significantly depleted of both Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestry. These deserts of archaic hominin sequences are interesting because they may help identify genetic changes that contribute to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK210023/">uniquely modern human traits</a>, such as our capacity for language, symbolic thought and culture, although there is debate about just <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0424">how unique these traits are to modern humans</a>. </p>
<p>In contrast, there are also sequences inherited from Neanderthals and Denisovans that were advantageous, and helped modern humans adapt to new environments as they dispersed out of Africa. Neanderthal versions of several immune-related genes have risen to high frequency in several non-African populations, which likely <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-neanderthal-dna-helps-humanity-20160526/">helped humans fend off exposure to new pathogens</a>. Similarly, a version of the <em>EPAS1</em> gene, which contributes to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/sex-with-extinct-humans-passed-high-altitude-gene-to-tibetans">high-altitude adaptation</a> in Tibetan populations, was inherited from Denisovans.</p>
<p>It is also becoming clear that DNA sequences inherited from Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestors contribute to the burden of disease in present day individuals. Neanderthal sequences have been shown to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2818-3">influence both susceptibility to</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2026309118">protection against severe COVID-19</a>. Archaic hominin sequences have also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.027">been shown to influence</a> susceptibility to depression, Type 2 diabetes and celiac disease among others. Ongoing studies will undoubtedly reveal more about how Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestry contributes to human disease.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488685/original/file-20221007-17489-agxzvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="photo of man holding a human skull and looking at the face" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488685/original/file-20221007-17489-agxzvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488685/original/file-20221007-17489-agxzvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488685/original/file-20221007-17489-agxzvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488685/original/file-20221007-17489-agxzvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488685/original/file-20221007-17489-agxzvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488685/original/file-20221007-17489-agxzvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488685/original/file-20221007-17489-agxzvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Svante Pääbo’s work built the foundation of the new field of paleogenomics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/svante-paabo-director-of-the-max-planck-institute-for-news-photo/1243699506">Jens Schluete via Getty Images News</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I was a graduate student when the <a href="https://www.genome.gov/11006929/2003-release-international-consortium-completes-hgp">Human Genome Project</a> was nearing completion a little over two decades ago. I was drawn to genetics because I found it fascinating that, by analyzing the DNA of present-day individuals, you could learn aspects about a population’s history that occurred tens of thousands of years ago.</p>
<p>Today, I am just as fascinated by the stories contained in our DNA, and the work of Svante Pääbo and his colleagues has enabled these stories to be told in a way that simply was not possible before.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191913/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Akey receives funding from NIH. </span></em></p>
Ancient DNA helps reveal the tangled branches of the human family tree. Not only did our ancestors live alongside other human species, they mated with them, too.
Joshua Akey, Professor at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/191899
2022-10-04T23:15:56Z
2022-10-04T23:15:56Z
What’s next for ancient DNA studies after Nobel Prize honors groundbreaking field of paleogenomics
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488157/original/file-20221004-14-rupej6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=360%2C291%2C4414%2C3088&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers need to be careful not to contaminate ancient samples with their own DNA.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/female-scientist-filling-pipette-trays-at-fume-hood-royalty-free-image/1374565126">Caia Image via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the first time, a Nobel Prize recognized the field of anthropology, the study of humanity. Svante Pääbo, a pioneer in the study of ancient DNA, or aDNA, was awarded the 2022 <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2022/summary/">prize in physiology or medicine</a> for his breathtaking achievements sequencing DNA extracted from ancient skeletal remains and reconstructing early humans’ genomes – that is, all the genetic information contained in one organism.</p>
<p>His accomplishment was once only the stuff of Jurassic Park-style science fiction. But Pääbo and many colleagues, working in large multidisciplinary teams, <a href="https://theconversation.com/nobel-prize-svante-paabos-ancient-dna-discoveries-offer-clues-as-to-what-makes-us-human-191805">pieced together the genomes</a> of our distant cousins, the famous Neanderthals and the more elusive Denisovans, whose existence was not even known until their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/science/23ancestor.html">DNA was sequenced</a> from a tiny pinky bone of a child <a href="https://theconversation.com/fresh-clues-to-the-life-and-times-of-the-denisovans-a-little-known-ancient-group-of-humans-110504">buried in a cave in Siberia</a>. Thanks to interbreeding with <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-teenager-the-first-known-person-with-parents-of-two-different-species-101965">and among</a> these early humans, their genetic traces <a href="https://theconversation.com/neanderthals-died-out-40-000-years-ago-but-there-has-never-been-more-of-their-dna-on-earth-189021">live on in many of us today</a>, shaping our bodies and our disease vulnerabilities – for example, to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2026309118">COVID-19</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="5Fzpd" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/5Fzpd/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The world has learned a startling amount about <a href="https://theconversation.com/six-recent-discoveries-that-have-changed-how-we-think-about-human-origins-190274">our human origins</a> in the last dozen years since Pääbo and teammates’ groundbreaking discoveries. And the field of paleogenomics has rapidly expanded. Scientists have now sequenced <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-sequenced-the-oldest-ever-dna-from-million-year-old-mammoths-155485">mammoths that lived a million years ago</a>. Ancient DNA has addressed questions ranging from the origins of the <a href="https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/ancient-dna-native-americans/">first Americans</a> to the domestication of <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/genetic-sequencing-pinpoints-the-origins-of-the-domestic-horse-180978926/">horses</a> and <a href="https://bigthink.com/the-past/ancient-dogs/">dogs</a>, the spread of <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-dna-is-revealing-the-origins-of-livestock-herding-in-africa-114387">livestock herding</a> and our bodies’ adaptations – or lack thereof – to <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2331213-evolution-of-lactose-tolerance-probably-driven-by-famine-and-disease/">drinking milk</a>. Ancient DNA can even shed light on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2120786119">social questions</a> of marriage, kinship and mobility. Researchers can now sequence DNA not only from the remains of ancient humans, animals and plants, but even from their <a href="https://theconversation.com/digging-deep-dna-molecules-in-ancient-dirt-offer-a-treasure-trove-of-clues-to-our-past-172489">traces left in cave dirt</a>.</p>
<p>Alongside this growth in research, people have been grappling with <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-dna-unearths-fascinating-secrets-but-what-about-the-ethics-85186">concerns about the speed</a> with which skeletal collections around the world have been sampled for aDNA, leading to broader conversations about <a href="https://theconversation.com/rights-of-the-dead-and-the-living-clash-when-scientists-extract-dna-from-human-remains-94284">how research should be done</a>. Who should conduct it? Who may benefit from or be harmed by it, and who gives consent? And how can the field become more equitable? As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3QKcZMoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">archaeologist</a> who partners with geneticists to study <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-dna-helps-reveal-social-changes-in-africa-50-000-years-ago-that-shaped-the-human-story-175436">ancient African history</a>, I see both challenges and opportunities ahead.</p>
<h2>Building a better discipline</h2>
<p>One positive sign: Interdisciplinary researchers are working to establish <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-scholars-have-created-global-guidelines-for-ancient-dna-research-169284">basic common guidelines</a> for research design and conduct.</p>
<p>In North America, scholars have worked to address inequities by designing programs that <a href="https://www.singconsortium.org/">train future generations of Indigenous geneticists</a>. These are now expanding to other historically underrepresented communities in the world. In museums, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1822038116">best practices for sampling</a> are being put into place. They aim to minimize destruction to ancestral remains, while gleaning the most new information possible.</p>
<p><iframe id="ucxNW" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ucxNW/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>But there is a long way to go to develop and enforce community consultation, ethical sampling and data sharing policies, especially in more resource-constrained parts of the world. The divide <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2022.880170">between the developing world and rich industrialized nations</a> is especially stark when looking at where <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1qwXOKV5uoQntgBsxQrxS01YHpbs&ll=-3.81666561775622e-14%2C6.726945455479381&z=1">ancient DNA labs</a>, funding and research publications are concentrated. It leaves fewer opportunities for scholars from parts of Asia, Africa and the Americas to be trained in the field and lead research. </p>
<p>The field faces structural challenges, such as the relative lack of funding for archaeology and cultural heritage protection in lower income countries, worsened by a <a href="https://theconversation.com/archaeology-is-changing-slowly-but-its-still-too-tied-up-in-colonial-practices-133243">long history of extractive research practices</a> and looming <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01280-1">climate change and site destruction</a>. These issues strengthen the regional bias in paleogenomics, which helps explain why some parts of the world – such as Europe – are so well-studied, while Africa – the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-dna-increases-the-genetic-time-depth-of-modern-humans-84716">cradle of humankind</a> and the <a href="https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-019-1740-1">most genetically diverse continent</a> – is relatively understudied, with shortfalls in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/03/africa-humanity-heritage-archaeologist">archaeology</a>, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-022-00051-6">genomics</a> and <a href="https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/with-ancient-human-dna-africas-deep-history-is-coming-to-light">ancient DNA</a>.</p>
<h2>Making public education a priority</h2>
<p>How paleogenomic findings are interpreted and communicated to the public <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-019-0961-8">raises other concerns</a>. Consumers are regularly bombarded with advertisements for personal ancestry testing, <a href="https://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/goodbye-lederhosen-hello-kilt-how-a-dna-test-changed-one-mans-identity-forever/">implying that genetics and identity are synonymous</a>. But lived experiences and decades of scholarship show that biological ancestry and socially defined identities <a href="https://theconversation.com/genetic-ancestry-tests-dont-change-your-identity-but-you-might-98663">do not map so easily onto one another</a>.</p>
<p>I’d argue that scholars studying aDNA have a responsibility to work with educational institutions, like schools and museums, to communicate the meaning of their research to the public. This is particularly important because people with political agendas – <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-ancient-dna-gets-politicized-180972639/">even elected officials</a> – <a href="https://theconversation.com/white-supremacists-believe-in-genetic-purity-science-shows-no-such-thing-exists-146763">try to manipulate findings</a>.</p>
<p>For example, white supremacists have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/us/white-supremacists-science-genetics.html">erroneously equated lactose tolerance with whiteness</a>. It’s a falsehood that would be laughable to many livestock herders from Africa, one of the multiple <a href="https://www.the-scientist.com/daily-news/origins-of-lactase-persistence-in-africa-37810">centers of origin</a> for genetic traits enabling people to digest milk.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308159/original/file-20191221-11900-1i8iio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308159/original/file-20191221-11900-1i8iio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308159/original/file-20191221-11900-1i8iio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308159/original/file-20191221-11900-1i8iio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308159/original/file-20191221-11900-1i8iio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308159/original/file-20191221-11900-1i8iio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=635&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308159/original/file-20191221-11900-1i8iio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=635&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308159/original/file-20191221-11900-1i8iio9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=635&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 2010 excavation in the East Gallery of Denisova Cave, where the ancient hominin species known as the Denisovans was discovered.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bence Viola. Dept. of Anthropology, University of Toronto</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Leaning in at the interdisciplinary table</h2>
<p>Finally, there’s a discussion to be had about how <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-dna-is-a-powerful-tool-for-studying-the-past-when-archaeologists-and-geneticists-work-together-111127">specialists in different disciplines should work together</a>.</p>
<p>Ancient DNA research has grown rapidly, sometimes without sufficient conversations happening beyond the genetics labs. This oversight has provoked a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-03773-6">backlash</a> from archaeologists, anthropologists, historians and linguists. Their disciplines have generated decades or even centuries of research that shape ancient DNA interpretations, and their labor makes paleogenomic studies possible.</p>
<p>As an archaeologist, I see the aDNA “revolution” as usefully disrupting our practice. It prompts the archaeological community to reevaluate <a href="https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/south-africa-repatriation/">where ancestral skeletal collections come from and should rest</a>. It challenges us to publish archaeological data that is sometimes only revealed for the first time in the supplements of paleogenomics papers. It urges us to grab a seat at the table and help drive projects from their inception. We can design research grounded in archaeological knowledge, and may have longer-term and stronger ties to museums and to local communities, whose partnership is key to doing research right.</p>
<p>If archaeologists embrace this moment that Pääbo’s Nobel Prize is spotlighting, and lean in to the sea changes rocking our field, it can change for the better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191899/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Prendergast does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Thousands of ancient genomes have been sequenced to date. A Nobel Prize highlights tremendous opportunities for aDNA, as well as challenges related to rapid growth, equity and misinformation.
Mary Prendergast, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Rice University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/191805
2022-10-03T19:09:41Z
2022-10-03T19:09:41Z
Nobel prize: Svante Pääbo’s ancient DNA discoveries offer clues as to what makes us human
<p>The <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2022/press-release/">Nobel prize</a> in physiology or medicine for 2022 has been awarded to Svante Pääbo from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, “for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution”. </p>
<p>In other words, Pääbo has been awarded the prestigious prize for having sequenced the genomes of our extinct relatives, the Neanderthals and Denisovans, and for the fact that these discoveries have resulted in novel insights into human evolution. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1576867617536503808"}"></div></p>
<p>Pääbo is widely regarded as having pioneered the field of <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.86.6.1939?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed">ancient DNA</a>, a research area dedicated to the recovery and analysis of DNA from historic and prehistoric remains.</p>
<p>Although Pääbo did his PhD in medical science at Uppsala University in Sweden in <a href="https://fof.se/artikel/2005/7/han-laser-forntidens-dna/">the early 1980s</a>, he also studied Egyptology when he was at Uppsala. It was a logical next step that he took tools from molecular biology, garnered from his expertise in medical science, to better understand human prehistory. </p>
<h2>Extracting DNA from ancient bones</h2>
<p>Beginning in the 1980s, Pääbo studied <a href="https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/16/20/9775/2378566">ancient DNA</a> in material ranging from mummified humans to <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.86.6.1939">extinct ground sloths</a>. This work was <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC309938/pdf/nar00065-0302.pdf">technically challenging</a> because ancient DNA is significantly degraded and can be contaminated.</p>
<p>In the decade that followed, he developed a series of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8020612/">methods and guidelines</a> to recover and interpret authentic DNA and to minimise the risk of contamination from modern sources, especially from contemporary humans.</p>
<p>In the early 1990s, there was significant excitement in the field about the possibility of recovering <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.7973705">DNA from dinosaurs</a>. However, based on his knowledge of how DNA <a href="https://www.cell.com/fulltext/S0092-8674(00)80306-2">degrades over time</a>, Pääbo remained sceptical that DNA could survive such a long time. He was later proven right.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/six-recent-discoveries-that-have-changed-how-we-think-about-human-origins-190274">Six recent discoveries that have changed how we think about human origins</a>
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<p>For many of his colleagues, it was clear that Pääbo’s goal was always to recover Neanderthal DNA. But he took his time and carefully developed the methods for recovering and authenticating ancient DNA until these methods were mature enough to accomplish this objective.</p>
<p>Finally, in 1997, Pääbo and his colleagues published the first Neanderthal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867400803104">DNA sequences</a>. In 2010 this was followed by the entire <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1188021">Neanderthal genome</a> (that is, all the genetic information stored in the DNA of one Neanderthal).</p>
<p>Only a few years later, the group also published the genome from a previously unknown type of human, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1224344">the Denisovans</a>, distantly related to Neanderthals. This sequencing was based on a 40,000-year-old fragment of bone discovered in the Denisova cave in Siberia.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A depiction of a Neanderthal family wandering through the jungle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487855/original/file-20221003-12-wwstjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487855/original/file-20221003-12-wwstjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487855/original/file-20221003-12-wwstjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487855/original/file-20221003-12-wwstjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487855/original/file-20221003-12-wwstjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487855/original/file-20221003-12-wwstjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487855/original/file-20221003-12-wwstjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pääbo’s discoveries show us that gene sequences from our extinct relatives influence the physiology of modern-day humans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tribe-huntergatherers-wearing-animal-skin-holding-1595953543">Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By virtue of being able to compare these with human genomes, one of the most important findings of Pääbo’s work has been that many modern humans carry a small proportion of DNA from Neanderthals and Denisovans. Modern humans picked up these snippets of DNA through hybridisation, when modern and archaic humans mixed, as modern humans expanded across Eurasia during the last ice age.</p>
<p>For example, particular Neanderthal genes affect how our immune system <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2026309118">reacts to infections</a>, including COVID-19. The Denisovan version of a gene called EPAS1, meanwhile, helps people survive at high altitudes. It’s common among modern-day Tibetans.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/neanderthals-died-out-40-000-years-ago-but-there-has-never-been-more-of-their-dna-on-earth-189021">Neanderthals died out 40,000 years ago, but there has never been more of their DNA on Earth</a>
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<p>At the same time, in comparing the genomes of Neanderthals and Denisovans with those of modern humans, Pääbo and his colleagues have been able to highlight genetic mutations that <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24679537/">are not shared</a>.
A large proportion of these are connected to how the brain develops.</p>
<p>By revealing genetic differences that distinguish living humans from our extinct ancestors, Pääbo’s influential discoveries provide the basis for exploring what makes us uniquely human.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Love Dalén receives funding from the Swedish Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anders Götherström receives funding from the Swedish Research Council. </span></em></p>
The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for 2022 has been awarded to Svante Pääbo, whose discoveries have been pivotal to the way we understand our evolutionary history.
Love Dalén, Professor in Evolutionary Genetics, Centre for Palaeogenetics, Stockholm University
Anders Götherström, Professor in Molecular Archaeology, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/190274
2022-09-21T16:39:22Z
2022-09-21T16:39:22Z
Six recent discoveries that have changed how we think about human origins
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485592/original/file-20220920-3640-v1n0aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C34%2C5734%2C3794&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Neanderthal adult male, based on 40,000 year-old remains found at Spy in Belgium.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-march-11-2018-neanderthal-1130172149">IR Stone/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Scientific study of human evolution historically reassured us of a comforting order to things. It has painted humans as as cleverer, more intellectual and caring than our ancestral predecessors. </p>
<p>From <a href="http://blog.wbkolleg.unibe.ch/wp-content/uploads/Sommer2006_MirrorMirrorNeanderthals.pdf">archaeological reconstructions of Neanderthals</a> as stooped, hairy and brutish, to “cavemen” movies, our ancient ancestors got a bad press. </p>
<p>Over the last five years discoveries have upended this unbalanced view. In my recent book, <a href="https://universitypress.whiterose.ac.uk/site/books/m/10.22599/HiddenDepths/">Hidden Depths: The Origins of Human Connection</a>, I argue that this matters for how we see ourselves today and so how we imagine our futures, as much as for our understanding of our past. </p>
<p>Six revelations stand out.</p>
<p><strong>1. There are more human species than we ever imagined</strong> </p>
<p>Species such as <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_longi">Homo Longi</a></em> have only been identified as recently as 2018. There are now <a href="https://www.livescience.com/how-many-human-species.html">21 known species of human</a>. </p>
<p>In the last few years we have realised that our <em>Homo sapiens</em> ancestors may have met as many as eight of these different types of human, from robust and stocky species including Neanderthals and their close relatives Denisovans, to the short (less than 5ft tall) and small-brained humans such as <em><a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/homo-naledi-your-most-recently-discovered-human-relative.html">Homo naledi</a></em>. </p>
<p>But <em>Homo sapiens</em> weren’t the inevitable evolutionary destination. Nor do they fit into any simple linear progression or <a href="https://www.sapiens.org/biology/evolution-march-of-progress/">ladder of progress</a>. <em>Homo naledi</em>‘s brain may have been smaller than that of a chimpanzee but there is evidence they were culturally complex and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLJVHgCZmzI">mourned their dead</a>.</p>
<p>Neanderthals <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01506-z">created symbolic art</a> but they weren’t the same as us. Neanderthals had many different <a href="https://www.sapiens.org/biology/neanderthal-anatomy/">biological adaptations</a>, which may <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/dec/20/early-humans-may-have-survived-the-harsh-winters-by-hibernating">have included hibernation</a>. </p>
<p><strong>2. Hybrid humans are part of our history</strong></p>
<p>Hybrid species of human, once seen by experts as science fiction, may have played a key role in our evolution. Evidence of the importance of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01875-z">hybrids</a> comes from genetics. The trail is not only in the DNA of our own species (which often includes important genes inherited from Neanderthals) but also skeletons of hybrids. </p>
<p>One example is “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/24/denisovan-neanderthal-hybrid-denny-dna-finder-project">Denny</a>,” a girl with a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06004-0">Neanderthal mother and Denisovan father</a>. Her bones were found in a cave in Siberia. </p>
<p><strong>3. We got lucky</strong></p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01787-y">evolutionary past</a> is messier than scientists used to think. Have you ever been troubled with backache? Or stared jealously after your dog as it lolloped across an uneven landscape? </p>
<p>That should have been enough to show you we are far from perfectly adapted. We have known for some time that evolution cobbles together solutions in response to an ecosystem which may already have changed. However, many of the changes in our human evolutionary lineage maybe the result of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S004724841630152X?via%3Dihub">chance</a>. </p>
<p>For example, where isolated populations have a characteristic, such as some aspect of their appearance, which doesn’t make much difference to their survival and this form continues to change in descendants. Features of Neanderthals’ faces (such as their pronounced brows) or body (including large rib cages) might have resulted simply from genetic drift. </p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/evan.21883">Epigenetics</a>, which is where genes are only activated in specific environments, complicate things too. Genes might predispose someone to depression or schizophrenia for example. Yet they may only develop the condition if triggered by things that happen to them.</p>
<p><strong>4. Our fate is intertwined with nature</strong></p>
<p>We may like to imagine ourselves as masters of the environment. But it is
increasingly clear ecological changes moulded us. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abc8975">origins of our own species</a> coincided with major shifts in climate as we became more distinct from other species at these points in time. All other species of human seem to have <a href="https://www.cell.com/one-earth/fulltext/S2590-3322(20)30476-0?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2590332220304760%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">died out</a> as a result of climate change. </p>
<p>Three major human species <em>Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis</em>, and <em>Homo neanderthalensis</em> died out with major shifts in climate such as the Adams event. This was a temporary breakdown of Earth’s magnetic field 42,000 years ago, which coincided with the <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/ancient-relic-points-turning-point-earths-history-42000-years-ago#">extinction of the Neanderthals</a>. </p>
<p><strong>5. Kindness is an evolutionary advantage</strong></p>
<p>Research has uncovered new reasons to feel hopeful about future human societies. Scientists used to believe the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/39331079/EMERGENT_WARFARE_IN_OUR_EVOLUTIONARY_PAST">violent parts of human nature</a> gave us a leg up the evolution ladder. </p>
<p>But evidence has emerged of the <a href="https://universitypress.whiterose.ac.uk/site/chapters/m/10.22599/HiddenDepths.c/">caring side</a> of human nature and its contribution to our success. Ancient skeletons show remarkable signs of survival from illness and injuries, which would have been difficult if not impossible without help. </p>
<p>The trail of human compassion extends back one and a half million years ago. Scientist have traced medical knowledge to at least the time of the Neanderthals. </p>
<p>Altruism has many <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379118305389">important survival benefits</a>. It enabled older community members to pass on important knowledge. And medical care kept skilled hunters alive. </p>
<p><strong>6. We’re a sensitive species</strong></p>
<p>Evolution made us more emotionally exposed than we like to imagine. Like <a href="https://universitypress.whiterose.ac.uk/site/chapters/m/10.22599/HiddenDepths.h/">domestic dogs</a>, with whom we share many genetic adaptations, such as greater tolerance for outsiders, and sensitivity to social cues, human hypersociability has come with a price: emotional vulnerabilities. </p>
<p>We are more sensitive to how people around us feel, and more vulnerable to social influences, we’re more <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.582090/full">prone to emotional disorders</a>, to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32561254/">loneliness</a> and to <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/depressions-evolutionary/">depression</a> than our predecessors. Our complex feelings may not always be pleasant to live with, but they are part of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10816-020-09503-5">key transformations</a> which created large, connected communities. Our emotions are essential to human collaborations. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485641/original/file-20220920-9768-9z7s5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485641/original/file-20220920-9768-9z7s5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485641/original/file-20220920-9768-9z7s5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485641/original/file-20220920-9768-9z7s5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485641/original/file-20220920-9768-9z7s5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485641/original/file-20220920-9768-9z7s5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485641/original/file-20220920-9768-9z7s5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A socialised wolf enjoying affectionate contact.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:He_can_stand_stroking,_too..._(27205424372).jpg">Vilmos Vincze / Wikimedia Commons:</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is a far less reassuring view of our place in the world than the one we had even five years ago. But seeing ourselves as selfish, rational and entitled to a privileged place in nature hasn’t worked out well. Just read the latest reports about the state of our planet.</p>
<p>If we accept that humans are not a pinnacle of progress, then we cannot just wait for things to turn out right. Our past suggests that our future won’t get better unless we do something about it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190274/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Penny Spikins received funding from The John Templeton Foundation, grant 59475, for the production of Hidden Depths: the origins of human connection (White Rose University Press). </span></em></p>
You may have heard science has reconsidered its view of Neanderthals but did you know human hybrid species played a key role in our evolution?
Penny Spikins, Professor of the Archaeology of Human Origins, University of York
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.