(Photo: Einsamer Schütze)
Newly studied fossils from the Shuqba (or Shukbah) Cave suggest a closer connection between Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens. Apparatus that was thought to be forbidden to modern people may have been used by the Neanderthals.
The fossils examined from Shuqba Cave include the tooth of a nine-year-old Neanderthal child and also several tools. The position of the decisions is also important as it is the most recent evidence of Neanderthal presence ever.
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Analysis
The site of Shuqba Cave, located in Palestine within the Judaean mountains, was first excavated in 1928 by Dorothy Garrod, PHYS reports. Modern technology has allowed further discovery and analysis.
“We studied the size, shape and 3-D structure of the outside and inside of the tooth, and compared that with Holocene and Pleistocene Homo sapiens and Neanderthal samples. This has allowed us to identify the tooth. clearly as something that belongs around a nine – year – old Neanderthal child, “said Dr Clément Zanolli, of Université de Bordeaux. “Shukbah marks the southernmost point of the Neanderthal range known to date.”
Two important considerations
According to the Natural History Museum, Chris Stringer, from the Natural History Museum, said the fossils suggest two very important things. First, the place could suggest a Neanderthal presence in Africa. There is still no evidence to believe that but it has been widely proven among experts. Shuqba Cave is just a few hundred miles from the African region.
The second important suggestion relates to the tools found in the caves. The stone tools were similar to products commonly associated with Homo sapiens. But if the Neandertherdals lived in the area long ago, it is possible that the stone technology was used by Neanderthals as well.
Nubian Levallois method
There are many cave sites in the Middle East with fossils of both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. It is widely accepted that there was a range of stone tooling technologies in each population. Recently, however, most experts argue that the Nubian Levallois method was unique only to Homo sapiens.
This discovery and recent study of the tools is the first in which stone tools with Neanderthal fossils have been found. However, more research is needed to make a correct link between the use of Neatherdal and Homo sapien tools.
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