New Insights from a 45,000-year-old Bone Hole into the Lives of our Earliest Ancestors

In a cave beneath a medieval German castle, researchers have discovered a bone pit that is said to reveal the secrets of early humans.

The remains, buried in layers of soil in a collapsed cave, contained genetic material from cave bears and hyenas, as well as the bones of 13 early humans who died about 45,000 years ago.

The discovery, described in three papers published Thursday in the journals Nature and Nature Ecology & Evolution, suggests that early humans may have traveled further north earlier than scientists realized. It shows that they went on an adventure, they were able to make spear-shaped tools, and then humans were able to make spear-shaped tools. A means to thrive in temperatures much colder than today’s climate.

These discoveries, perhaps made through the development of new DNA techniques, are reshaping the way scientists understand the time when humans and Neanderthals roamed the European continent.

The discovery could bring scientists closer to understanding why Neanderthals ultimately became extinct and what role humans played in their demise.

John Hawkes, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies ancient human relatives but was not involved in the study, said the study shows that as Neanderthals neared their demise, different human cultures He said this helps solidify the theory that these spots were developing.

“These groups are doing research. They’re going to go to new places. They live there for a while. They have different lifestyles,” he said of early humans. “They feel comfortable moving into areas where Neanderthals were.”

These discoveries were only possible because previous researchers left no stone unturned. Archaeologists in the 1920s and 1930s previously excavated the Ilsenhöhle Cave beneath Ranis Castle in the Thuringia region of Germany. The castle was built over the cave long before any excavations took place.

That’s when scientists were unable to drill into critical layers of the cave, which collapsed after hitting rock more than five feet thick.

In 2016, researchers returned with updated drilling techniques and new forms of analysis. About 24 feet below the surface, they discovered a layer containing leaf tips (like the tip of a spear) and human bone fragments.

The discovery of human bone fragments led researchers to dig deep into material excavated nearly 90 years ago, where they discovered additional skeletal fragments.