All articles tagged with #ucagizli ii cave
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.
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.
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.