Research indicates that Neanderthals and humans coexisted in France and northern Spain for up to 2,900 years, providing ample time for potential cultural exchanges or interbreeding.
Although the Scientific Reports study doesn’t prove direct interactions between humans and Neanderthals around 42,000 years ago, genetic studies confirm they did meet.
Swedish paleogeneticist Svante Paabo, who recently won the Nobel Prize in Medicine, uncovered that people of European descent, and nearly everyone globally, carry a small portion of Neanderthal DNA.
Igor Djakovic, a doctoral student at Leiden University and lead author of the study, noted that while we know Neanderthals and humans met in Europe, the exact locations remain unclear.
The timing of their interactions is also uncertain, though fossil evidence suggests they coexisted for thousands of years.
To further investigate, the Leiden team analyzed radiocarbon dates from 56 artifacts, split evenly between Neanderthals and humans, from 17 sites in France and northern Spain.
The artifacts, including bones and unique stone knives, were likely made by some of the last Neanderthals in the region.
Using Bayesian modeling, researchers narrowed potential date ranges and applied optimal linear estimation, a technique borrowed from conservation sciences, to estimate when the last Neanderthals lived.
Djakovic explained this method assumes we may never find the first or last members of an extinct species.
“We’ll never discover the last woolly Rhino,” he told AFP, highlighting that our understanding remains fragmented.
The modeling revealed Neanderthals in the area disappeared between 40,870 and 40,457 years ago, while modern humans arrived around 42,500 years ago.
Thus, the two species lived together for 1,400 to 2,900 years, according to the study.
During this period, both species exchanged ideas significantly, Djakovic said.
This era saw major changes in material culture, like tools and ornaments, he noted.
The artifacts made by Neanderthals began resembling human-made ones more closely.
The cultural shifts and genetic evidence could support the theory that interbreeding led to Neanderthals merging with humans.
Over time, breeding with a larger human population may have absorbed Neanderthals into the human gene pool, Djakovic suggested.
“Considering that most humans now have Neanderthal DNA, one might argue they never entirely went extinct,” he added.
