A surprisingly early replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans in southern Spain
Date: January 22, 2019
A new study of Bajondillo Cave (Málaga) by a team of researchers based in Spain, Japan and the UK, coordinated from the Universidad de Sevilla, reveals that modern humans replaced Neanderthals at this site approximately 44,000 years ago. The research, to be published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, shows that the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans in southern Iberia began early, rather than late, in comparison to the rest of Western Europe.
Western Europe is a key area for understanding the timing of the replacement of Neanderthals by early modern humans (AMH). Typically in Western Europe, late Neanderthals are associated with stone tools belonging to Mousterian industries (named after the Neanderthal site of Le Moustier in France), while the earliest modern humans are associated with succeeding Aurignacian industries (named after the French site of Aurignac).
The final replacement of Neanderthals by AMH in western Europe is usually dated to around 39,000 years ago. However, it's claimed that the southern Iberian region documents the late survival of the Mousterian, and therefore Neanderthals, to about 32,000 years ago, with no evidence for the early Aurignacian found elsewhere in Europe.
This new dating study of Bajondillo Cave, instead calibrates the replacement of Mousterian industries by Aurignacian ones there to between ~45-43,000 years ago, raising questions about the late survival of Neanderthals in southern Iberia. Further research is necessary to determine whether the new Bajondillo dating indicates an earlier replacement of Neanderthals across the whole of southern Iberia, or in fact, an altogether more complex scenario of co-existence over several millennia.
Co-author Jimenez-Espejo explains that the takeover by modern humans at the site at Bajondillo was not associated with a Heinrich (severe cooling) event, "Heinrich events represent the harshest and most variable climate conditions in Western Europe at the millennial scale, but at least in this Mediterranean coastal region, they did not control the Mousterian to Aurignacian transition."
This research also highlights coastal corridors as the favoured routes for early AMH.
Professor Chris Stringer, Research Leader at the Natural History Museum and co-author of the study, said 'Finding such an early Aurignacian from a cave so close to the sea adds to speculation that the Mediterranean coast could have been used by modern humans dispersing into Europe. This dating also fits with growing evidence that Homo sapiens had already spread rapidly across much of Eurasia more than 40,000 years ago'.
Considering the importance of coastal regions, co-author Arturo Morales-Muñiz suggested that the Bajondillo evidence also revives the idea that the Strait of Gibraltar could have been a potential dispersal route for early modern humans out of Africa.
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Cultural contact over the Strait of Gibraltar during the Middle Palaeolithic? Evaluating the visibility of cultural exchange
ABSTRACT Possible contacts between hunter-gatherers of Northern Africa and Europe via the Strait of Gibraltar during the Pleistocene are still object to discussions. In the absence of significant fossil remains, debates are mainly based on similarities and differences of singular aspects of mate - rial culture. However, a theoretical framework for these discussions was lacking. The first aim of this study thus has been the development of a theoretical base. We therein included Maslow ́s pyramid of basic needs. The idea of our approach is that the presence or absence of so-called cultural tracers identify either contact or disparity. A large database on archaeological sites of Morocco and Southern Iberia dating between 160 ka and 40 ka years ago has been compiled, containing information about lithic technology and typology, lithic raw material acquisition, subsistence patterns and symbolic behaviour. We formulated three potential contact scenarios between the two regions. The presence and/ or absence of so-called cultural tracers within the data set, that covered all levels of Maslow ́s pyramid, led us to conclude that – based on the present archaeological and anthropological data - no contact took place between Iberian and North African populations across the Strait of Gibraltar in the given time frame
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With regard to the represented human species it can be said that, at least to the current state of knowle - dge, anthropological remains of Neanderthals are lac - king completely in Northern Africa. Likewise, early AMH fossils dating prior to the 40 ka boundary are absent in Southern Iberia (and Europe in general). Thus, from that perspective data suggest that neither early AMH did cross the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco to Spain in the studied time frame, nor Neanderthals vice versa.
Although the anthropological findings do not cha - llenge the scenario of sporadic contacts, we conclude that infrequent interregional interaction has most proba - bly not taken place. Singular distinctive artefacts, evi - dencing reciprocal cultural transmission are not docu - mented in the archaeological assemblages. Admittedly, the visibility of this scenario is limited as only a small amount of the potential archaeological record is at our disposition. Moreover, singular artefacts devote any ar - chaeological context are difficult to detect. Additionally, it has to be born in mind that due to sea level changes and nowadays considerable high sea level, many coas - tal sites in Southern Iberia certainly have been lost. With respect to this second scenario this observation might be of interest. Most probably these objects would have occurred closest to North Africa and in fewer cases at high distances from th eir source region. Within the scenario of regular contact, where we as - sume changes in the local subsistence systems the loss of sites is not important. Cultural traits would not have remained restricted to the coastal sites but likewise oc - curred farther inland (as is the case in Morocco e.g.). Finally, anthropological as well as archaeological remains argue against the existence of cultural contacts between Morocco and Spain. Cultural tracers such as the technological concept of tanging, bifacial surfa - ce-shaping and the regular production of shell beads is solely documented in Morocco and did not cross the Strait of Gibraltar. Similarities in technological be - haviour such as the application of similar concepts of blank production is interpreted as parallel co-evolution rather than the result of interregional contact over the Strait. This Middle Palaeolithic behaviour is characteris - tic for both Homo sapiens sapiens and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis in large parts of the Old World over a considerable time frame. Therefore, this finding cannot be taken as evidence for continuous interregional con - tact. Correspondingly, subsistence behaviour rather is driven by the natural environments, i.e. the closeness to the sea, than by reciprocal innovation transfer. Exploita - tion of marine resources is documented in South Africa as early as MIS 6 and seems to be a common feature of Middle Stone Age and Middle Paleolithic behaviour (Marean et al., 2007; Marean, 2011; Will et al., 2013). Although it seems tempting to imagine that humans living at the coast within sight of each other were cu- rious to attempt journeys over the sea, the archaeological record does not support continuous interregional interaction
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