DIRECT DATING of a 40,000-year-old fossil of an infant suggests that Neanderthals probably died out earlier than previously thought, according to researchers at University College Cork.
Researchers at the college in conjunction with their peers in the UK and Russia have dated a Neanderthal fossil discovered in a significant cave site in Russia in the northern Caucasus, and found it to be 10,000 years older than previous examination had suggested.
The dating evidence throws new light on when the Neanderthals became extinct and why.
The research team believes that Neanderthals died out when modern humans arrived or that they had already become extinct before then, possibly because of climate change, dwindling resources or other scenarios.
The research, directed by University College Cork and the University of Oxford, in collaboration with the Laboratory of Prehistory at St Petersburg, Russia, is published in PNAS Online Early Edition.
The research centres on Mezmaiskaya Cave, a site in the northern Caucasus within European Russia, where the team directly dated the fossil of a late Neanderthal infant from the Late Middle Paleolithic layer, as well as a series of associated animal bones.
They found that the fossil was 39,700 years old, which implies that Neanderthals did not survive at the cave site beyond this time.
This finding challenges previous claims that late Neanderthals survived until 30,000 years ago in the northern Caucasus, meaning that late Neanderthals and modern humans were not likely to experience any significant period of co-existence.
The research suggests that, if we are to have accurate chronologies, the data needs to be revised so possible associations between Neanderthal extinctions, dispersals of early modern humans and climatic events can be properly assessed.
Lead author Dr Ron Pinhasi, from UCC, said it now seems much clearer that Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans did not co-exist in the Caucasus, and it is possible that this scenario is also true for most regions of Europe.
Co-author of the paper Dr Tom Higham, deputy director of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, said the latest dating techniques meant researchers can purify the collagen extracted from tiny fragments of fossil very effectively without contaminating it.
“Previously, research teams have provided younger dates which we now know are not robust, possibly because the fossil has become contaminated with more modern particles.
“This latest dating evidence sheds further light on the extinction dates for Neanderthals in this key region, which is seen by many as a crossroads for the movement of modern humans into the wider Russian plains.
“The extinction of Neanderthals here is, therefore, an indicator, we think, of when that first probably happened.”
The research at UCC is funded by Science Foundation of Ireland’s Research Frontiers Programme.