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Neanderthals once roamed Eurasia , but they disappear around the timeHomo sapiensreached Europe . One heavy question has stumped archaeologists for decades : Who were the last Neanderthals , and where did they live ?
We do n’t know for sure , but most evidence points to the Iberian Peninsula , which encompasses what is now Spain and Portugal .
The skull of a Neanderthal on display at an exhibition at the Musee de l’Homme in Paris on March 26, 2018.
Last Neanderthal location
Many archaeologists think the last Neanderthals lived in southern Iberia because web site in this region look a little different than those elsewhere in Europe .
Neanderthals create certain type of tools , named Mousterian after a Neanderthal site in France . This character of cock was invented 160,000 year ago and largely go away by 40,000 yr ago across most of Europe , presumably along with its Neanderthal creators .
But archeologist have observe Mousterian tools at southerly Iberian Neanderthal sites that were made after that time . These object may be evidence that Neanderthals clung to the neighborhood , mayhap taking refuge from climate change affecting other parts of Europe .
The skull of a Neanderthal on display at an exhibition at the Musee de l’Homme in Paris on March 26, 2018.
To show that Neanderthals were live where such tools were regain , however , archeologist ideally need undisturbed , unpolluted layers in which they chance materials clearly tied to Neanderthals ' activities — such as bones with cut marks , osseous tissue tools , and charcoal that was purposefully burned .
That ’s where things get complicated — especially because many Neanderthal sites were dig up or date stamp before people knew how to avoid contaminating ancient samples .
Uncertain dates
For many years , Gibraltar , a British dominion on the southerly tip of the Iberian Peninsula , was assumed to be the last Neanderthal holdout . The British navy first identified a Neanderthalian skull in Forbes ' Quarry Cave in 1848 , and excavations at Gorham ’s Cave get down in the former nineties . Within this cave , shovel found heaps of Mousterian artifacts and a hearth with wood coal .
In a bombshell paper publish in the journalNaturein 2006 , zoologistClive Finlaysonand colleagues usedradiocarbon datingon three hearth samples . They found dates between 28,000 and 22,000 age ago — thousands of years after Neanderthals were thought to have died out .
These " last Neanderthals , " Finlayson and confrere publish in their composition , had admission to a wide diversity of plant and animals within this little surface area . " Such ecologic variety might have facilitated their long endurance , " the researchers wrote .
Gorham’s Cave, in Gibraltar, may be where some of the last Neanderthals in the Iberian Peninsula lived, though the dating of Neanderthal artifacts from the cave is controversial.
But subsequently workplace raised question about these day of the month .
In a 2014 subject field in the journalNature , archeologic scientistTom Highamand colleagues used newer radiocarbon techniques and statistical modeling to show that many of the previously published dates — such as the very late date of Gorham ’s Cave in Gibraltar — were incorrect .
After reanalyzing the particular date of 40 sites , Higham and colleague conclude that Neanderthals did not survive after about 39,000 to 37,000 year ago .
Cueva Antón, in southeastern Spain, which was dated to around 36,600 years ago, may also be one of the last Neanderthal holdouts. Here, a shell that was likely decorated by Neanderthals.
" There are several site that are about 40 ka cal BP [ 38,000 twelvemonth ago ] or so , but none that stand up out as Gibraltar once did as a last stand , " Higham told Live Science .
Will we ever find a “last stand”?
One candidate for Neanderthals ' last stand is Cueva Antón , a cave in southeasterly Spain excavate by archaeologistJoão Zilhão . In a 2021 study in the journalQuaternary Science Reviews , Zilhão presented findings that dated charcoal at the site to 36,600 years ago .
" Cueva Antón is an interesting potential site , " Higham said . The problem is that it has relatively few Harlan F. Stone tools , which makes the dating evidence a piddling uncertain , he summate .
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Rather than talking about the " last " Neanderthals , " across Europe and probably Eurasia , there was a photomosaic of dissimilar groups , " Higham said . " My horizon is that the Neanderthals were assimilate into radical of modern human beings rather than going out in any kind of disjoined path . "
This stand for we may never have a go at it precisely where and when Neanderthals last existed .
" Given the wide-cut range of Neanderthals — from Wales to Siberia at least — it ’s extremely unlikely we would be lucky enough to receive the very last examples of the species across that vast area,“Chris Stringer , a paleoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London , told Live Science in an email . " However , as try out and dating improve , this will highlight the part showing the youngest dates . "
