Tag

Neanderthals

All articles tagged with #neanderthals

science2 days ago•5 min saved

Neanderthals and Early Humans Shared Culture Across 20,000 Years, New Turkish Cave Finds Hint

A Turkish cave dig at Üçağızlı II shows Neanderthals (from ~77,000 years ago) and early modern humans (from ~59,000 years ago) occupied the site and maintained similar stone tools, hunting practices, and ornamental shells like Columbella rustica for as long as 20,000 years, suggesting regular cultural exchange in the Levant, even though remains weren’t found in the same sediment layer; dating was done via optically stimulated luminescence and the findings were published in PNAS.

via ScienceAlert|

#archaeology #culturalexchange #earlyhumans

science3 days ago•3 min saved

Ancient Neanderthals and Humans Shared Culture Across 20,000 Years

A study of Üçağızlı II Cave in southern Türkiye finds Neanderthals and modern humans cohabiting and sharing cultural practices—tools, hunting strategies, and a symbolic mollusk shell—over more than 20,000 years, suggesting a deep exchange of knowledge during their coexistence in Eurasia.

via Gizmodo|

#archaeology #cultural-exchange #homo-sapiens

science3 days ago•189 min saved

Ancient Turkish cave hints at cultural kinship between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens

Excavations at the Üçağızlı II cave in southern Turkey find Neanderthals and Homo sapiens sharing cultural habits, including similar Mousterian tools, hunting practices, and the transport of Columbella rustica shells found in both species’ layers, suggesting intergroup interaction and long‑standing cultural continuity despite a major migration period; Neanderthals inhabited the site 77,000–59,000 years ago, followed by Homo sapiens 59,000–47,000 years ago, with researchers noting a more complex, locally rooted Mousterian tradition than previously thought.

via CNN|

#columbella-rustica #homo-sapiens #mousterian

archaeology4 days ago•121 min saved

Ancient Neanderthals and Modern Humans Learned Together in Turkey 59,000 Years Ago

Archaeologists analyzing Üçağızlı II Cave on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast found Neanderthals (roughly 77,000–59,000 years ago) and later Homo sapiens (roughly 59,000–47,000 years ago) left strikingly similar hunting strategies, stone-tool technologies, and even shell ornaments, suggesting long-term cultural continuity and likely information exchange between the two groups in the Levant corridor. The findings, published in PNAS, imply that Neanderthals and early modern humans shared cultural practices in the region, rather than undergoing a clear cultural turnover despite biological turnover.

via Live Science|

#archaeology #cultural-continuity #homo-sapiens

science14 days ago•2 min saved

The Mount Toba Event: How a 70,000-Year-Old Supervolcano Shaped Humans

The article explains how the Mount Toba eruption about 70,000 years ago may have reduced the human population to around 1,000 breeding individuals, triggering a long bottleneck and global climate cooling, followed by later events like the Younger Dryas that further affected populations before the Holocene brought agriculture and the rise of modern society.

via Mental Floss|

#holocene-epoch #human-population-bottleneck #mount-toba-eruption

archaeology14 days ago•8 min saved

European Neanderthals Revealed as Diverse, Interconnected Communities

A Leiden-led study analyzed 27 Neanderthal genomes from France and Belgium, including a Les Cottés individual, revealing diverse, interconnected communities with distinct ancestral lineages and no evidence of recent contact with modern humans.

via Archaeology Magazine|

#ancientdna #archaeology #europe

science15 days ago•114 min saved

Northwestern European Neanderthals Were Genetically Diverse, Challenging Inbreeding Doom

A new study of Neanderthal DNA from Belgium and France shows late Neanderthals in northwestern Europe were more genetically diverse and faced little inbreeding, existing as a large, interconnected population split into at least four groups. The genome from a high-quality Neanderthal sequence revealed no evidence of recent Neanderthal–modern human mating in these samples, suggesting that reduced genetic diversity and inbreeding were not the primary drivers of Neanderthal extinction. The findings imply multiple interconnected Neanderthal populations persisted across the region, challenging the idea that inbreeding alone doomed them.

via Live Science|

#ancient-dna #genetics #human-evolution

archaeology15 days ago•44 min saved

Western Europe’s late Neanderthals were diverse and interconnected, study finds

A Nature study analyzing genomes from 27 Neanderthals in Belgium and France—including a high-quality GN1 genome from Goyet—finds these late groups were genetically diverse and broadly connected across western Europe. The results challenge views of isolated, inbred populations and suggest regular long‑distance contact, with no evidence of recent interbreeding with modern humans in northwestern Europe. The data indicate a network of interconnected communities persisting until near the Neanderthals’ extinction around 52,500 years ago, while some older lineages persisted alongside newer ones.

via Archaeology News Online Magazine|

#ancientdna #archaeology #genetic-diversity

science16 days ago•6 min saved

Late Neanderthals Were Genetically Diverse, Challenging Inbreeding Doom Theory

A high-resolution genetic study of 27 late Neanderthals from Belgium and France shows low inbreeding and widespread population connectivity, arguing that genetic deterioration was unlikely the main cause of their extinction. The findings suggest a diverse, interconnected NW European Neanderthal population amid ecological pressures and demographic shifts, with limited evidence of Neanderthal-to-human DNA transfer and a largely asymmetric flow of genes into modern humans.

via ScienceAlert|

#ancient-dna #human-neanderthal-interbreeding #inbreeding

science16 days ago•59 min saved

Northwestern Neanderthals formed a connected population with no recent human admixture

Genome data from 27 late Neanderthals in the Meuse Basin and a high-coverage Goyet genome show northwestern European Neanderthals were a closely related, broadly connected population with limited kin-based inbreeding, no evidence of recent modern-human introgression, and greater connectivity than eastern Neanderthals. A GN1–Vindija relationship places these western Neanderthals in a shared population history around 54,000 years ago, while mtDNA reveals multiple lineages and Y chromosomes do not cluster by site. The results support an isolation-by-distance pattern rather than a single local group and find no clear rise in genetic load over time to explain extinction. Modern human ancestry in Eurasia appears linked to Vindija-like Neanderthals outside NW Europe; overall, western Neanderthals were diverse and interconnected in their final millennia.

via Nature|

#ancient-dna #meuse-basin #neanderthals

science16 days ago•23 min saved

DNA reshapes Neanderthal extinction: population webs and possible human impact

A team sequenced 27 Neanderthals from 10 sites across Belgium and France, showing late Neanderthals in northwestern Europe lived in large, interconnected populations rather than isolated groups, which challenges the idea that extinction was driven solely by genetic decline. The Belgian Goyet site reveals cannibalism but within the same genetic group, and the study finds no evidence of recent Neanderthal ancestry in humans, even as modern humans carry Neanderthal DNA. The researchers also advance methods to recover data from degraded remains, enabling population-level reconstructions and richer insights into Neanderthal life and interactions.

via EL PAÍS English|

#ancient-genomes #dna #extinction

human-history16 days ago•17 min saved

Diverse, Connected Neanderthals Challenge the Extinction Narrative

A 27-Neanderthal genome study from Belgium and France shows late Neanderthals were genetically diverse and part of connected regional populations, challenging the idea of a single declining group; they carry no clear rise in harmful mutations, and while Neanderthals contributed DNA to modern humans, there was little reciprocal gene flow, highlighting regional extinction patterns and a more nuanced history.

via Gizmodo|

#ancient-dna #human-evolution #human-history

science17 days ago•11 min saved

Three Ancient Interbreeding Waves Reframe Neanderthals as Part of Us

A Princeton team led by Joshua Akey used IBDmix to compare modern humans with Neanderthals and Denisovans, revealing three interbreeding pulses roughly 200–250k, 120k, and 50–60k years ago. The finding suggests Neanderthals weren’t simply extinct but were repeatedly absorbed into the human lineage, with about 2.5–3.7% of non-African DNA of Neanderthal origin and bidirectional gene flow between the groups, reshaping the extinction narrative with a long, complex history of contact.

via Space Daily|

#ancientdna #geneflow #humanevolution

history17 days ago•14 min saved

Levant cave sealed for 300,000 years reveals advanced early-human life

Archaeologists in Israel uncovered a remarkably preserved cave near Fureidis (south of Haifa) dating to about 400,000–250,000 years ago, likely from the Acheulo-Yabrudian culture. The site shows evidence of controlled fire, hunting, flint quarrying, and sophisticated stone tools (side scrapers and handaxes), suggesting behaviors that would later be hallmarks of Neanderthals and modern humans. No human remains were found, but researchers think the occupants may have been archaic Homo heidelbergensis or related populations. The cave stayed largely sealed after its roof collapsed, making it a rare prehistoric time capsule that sheds light on daily life, social organization, and the transitional phase of human evolution in the Levant.

via Daily Express|

#acheulo-yabrudian-culture #fire-control #history

science27 days ago•5 min saved

Tiny regulatory DNA may have seeded human language before the human-Neanderthal split

A University of Iowa study shows a tiny set of regulatory DNA regions called HAQERs have outsized influence on language ability and existed before the Homo sapiens–Neanderthal split, indicating language biology predates modern humans. These “volume knobs” of gene regulation may shape fetal brain development and skull size, with Neanderthals possibly showing even stronger effects. Using an evolutionary-stratified polygenic score (ES-PGS), researchers mapped language-related genetics across 65 million years and found a balancing selection that plateaued HAQER influence to avoid childbirth risks. The team plans to disentangle genetic and environmental factors using family data and aims for clinical insights; the work was published in Science Advances.

via ScienceDaily|

#es-pgs #foxp2 #haqers