homo sapiens is connected with Rinkombi Lanisia Yersmanovician Culture According to three papers published in , Neanderthals existed in central and northwestern Europe long before they became extinct in southwestern Europe. journal Nature And that journal natural ecology and evolution. The evidence is homo sapiens And the fact that Neanderthals lived side by side is consistent with genomic evidence that the two species occasionally interbred. Suspicions have also been raised that modern humans' invasion of Europe and Asia about 50,000 years ago may have driven Neanderthals to extinction.
Stratigraphy including location of homo sapiens Bones, a map of the LRJ site, and stone tools from the Ranis site in Germany. Image credit: Mylopotamitaki other., doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06923-7.
The Paleolithic Rincombi-Lanisia-Jerzmanovician (LRJ) culture or technocomplex spread across northwestern and central Europe.
The Ranis Cave site in the Orla River Valley, Thuringia, Germany, is one of the eponymous LRJ sites based on its unique configuration of bifacial and monofacial points.
Previous dating had shown that the site was more than 40,000 years old, but there were no recognizable bones to show who made the tools, so it was unclear whether they were the product of Neanderthals. It was unclear whether it was a product of Neanderthals or not. homo sapiens.
“The new discovery is homo sapiens Who created this technology homo sapiens At this time, 45,000 years ago, they were this far north,” said Dr. Elena Zavala, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.
“So these are some of the earliest.” homo sapiens In Europe. “
“The cave ruins of Ranis provide evidence of initial dispersal. homo sapiens It is widespread throughout the high latitudes of Europe,” said Professor Jean-Jacques Hubelin, a researcher at the Collège de France.
“It turns out that stone structures thought to have been made by Neanderthals were actually part of early Neanderthals.” homo sapiens toolkit. ”
“This fundamentally changes what we know about this period. homo sapiens Long before Neanderthals disappeared in southwestern Europe, they reached northwestern Europe. ”
Scientists carried out genetic analysis of hominid bone fragments from new deep excavations carried out at Ranis between 2016 and 2022, as well as from earlier excavations in the 1930s.
Because the DNA in ancient bones is highly fragmented, she used special techniques to isolate and sequence the DNA. All of it is mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is inherited only from the mother.
“We have confirmed that the bone fragments are: homo sapiens. Interestingly, some of the fragments shared the same mitochondrial DNA sequence, even if they were from different excavations,” Dr. Zavala said.
“This indicates that these fragments belong to the same person or his maternal relatives, and connects these new discoveries with discoveries from decades ago.”
The bone fragments were initially identified as human through analysis of bone proteins in a field called paleoproteomics.
The authors found that by comparing the Ranis mtDNA sequences with mtDNA obtained from human remains from other Paleolithic sites in Europe, they were able to construct an early Stone Age family tree. It's done. homo sapiens All over Europe.
All but one of the 13 Ranis fragments are very similar to each other and, surprisingly, to the mtDNA of a 43,000-year-old female skull discovered in the Zlaty Kush cave in the Czech Republic. Ta. The only standout player was in the same group as a player from Italy.
“That raises some questions: Was this a single population? What is the relationship here?” Dr. Zavala said.
“But when it comes to mtDNA, that's just one side of history. It's just the maternal side. We need nuclear DNA to investigate this.”
The researchers also found that Ranis Cave is primarily used by hibernating cave bears and denning hyenas, with only periodic human presence.
This low-density archaeological footprint is consistent with other LRJ sites and is best explained by short-term, opportunistic visits by small, mobile settler groups. homo sapiens.
“This means that even in these early groups, homo sapiens “Humans, dispersed across Eurasia, already had some ability to adapt to such harsh climatic conditions,” said Dr Sara Pederzani, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of La Laguna.
“Until recently, it was thought that resilience to cold climate conditions would not emerge until several thousand years later. So this is a fascinating and surprising result.”
The research team also carried out radiocarbon dating of human and animal bones taken from different layers of the site to reconstruct the site's age, focusing on bones with signs of human modification on their surfaces. They then correlated the age with the presence of humans in the cave.
“we, homo sapiens The Francis Crick Institute said Dr. Helen Furus, a postdoctoral researcher at .
“The evidence suggests that homo sapiens They occupied this site sporadically for 47,500 years. ”
Source: www.sci.news
