The Croatian Vindia Cave has long been considered a place where humans and Neanderthals lived together. However, new research casts doubt on this and argues that in Europe, modern humans did not cohabit with related species.
The Vindia Cave in Croatia is believed to have been a potential meeting place for Neanderthals and modern human ancestors some 32,000 years ago. New research, however, casts doubt on this: radiocarbon analysis showed that the Neanderthals did indeed live in this cave, but it was about 40,000 years ago - that is, 80 centuries before the arrival of modern people in this part of Europe. And if so, then other evidence of the historical interaction of the two species in this region will be questioned.
How it all began
In the late 1990s, researchers discovered Neanderthal remains in various areas of the cave, including skulls, hip and limb bones, and more. They, too, have been studied using radiocarbon analysis. This analysis is based on measuring the content of an isotope called carbon-14, which decays over time at a fixed rate. Knowing how much isotope is left, scientists can predict with high accuracy the time in which this or that individual lived and died.
By studying the carbon-14 content of collagen taken from fragments of the skull and limbs, the researchers established the age range from 29,000 to 34,000 years ago - around this time the first representatives of Homo sapiens moved to Europe, as evidenced by other archaeological finds - bones and tools found in the same cave. Scientists have suggested that the two species lived together and even mated with each other.
Humans and Neanderthals: Was There a Connection?
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Earlier this year, a team led by archaeologists Tybot Mottose and Thomas Hayam of the University of Oxford turned to a more modern radiocarbon dating method. Over 30 years, the technology has undergone significant improvements: instead of looking for carbon-14 in bone collagen (which is a gelatin-like mixture and can be easily contaminated by external impurities), researchers isolated a specific amino acid from it - hydroxyproline.
Bones discovered in the cave during archaeological excavations
Earlier this year, a team led by archaeologists Tybot Mottose and Thomas Hayam of the University of Oxford turned to a more modern radiocarbon dating method. Over 30 years, the technology has undergone significant improvements: instead of looking for carbon-14 in bone collagen (which is a gelatin-like mixture and can be easily contaminated by external impurities), researchers isolated a specific amino acid from it - hydroxyproline.
Analysis of isolated hydroxyproline showed that the remains are likely 40,000 years old, as reported by the team in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It appears that the burials of Neanderthals appeared in the cave much earlier than people came there. Archaeologist Joa Zilhau, who was not involved in the study, believes that analyzing a specific amino acid is a good way to avoid contamination problems, but advised other laboratories to do their own analysis to avoid human error.
Conclusion
It is impossible to deny the interaction of humans and Neanderthals: common genes, and even venereal diseases (the protoforms of which, according to anthropologists, we picked up from Neanderthals) indicate that ours and their species at one time met and left joint offspring. But, apparently, wherever this happened - these were definitely not Croatian caves.
Vasily Makarov
