Neanderthals and Homo sapiens used similar Nubian technology

Long held in a private collection, the newly examined tooth of a Neanderthal baby around 9 years old marks the southernmost range of hominin. An examination of the associated archaeological collection reveals that Neanderthals used Nubian Levallois technology, previously thought to be confined to Homo sapiens.

With a high density of cave sites finding evidence of past numbers and behavior, the Levant is a major center for the study of human origins. For more than a century, archaeological excavations in the Levant have uncovered human fossils and collections of stone tools that reveal landscapes containing both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, leaving the this area is a land mix between numbers. These numbers are difficult to identify with collections of stone tools alone, but one technology, the unique Nubian Levallois method, is said to have been produced by Homo sapiens alone.

In a new study published in Scientific Reports, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human History Science teamed up with international partners to review the fossil record and archeology of the Shukbah Cave. Their findings extend the southernmost range of Neanderthals and suggest that our extinct relatives used technology that was previously a trademark of modern humans. This study marks the first time that the single human tooth from the site has been examined in detail, in conjunction with a large comparative study examining the collection of stone tools.

“Sites where hominin fossils are directly linked to stone tool collections are still rare – but the study of both fossils and tools is crucial to understanding the roles of hominin in Shukbah Cave and the greater area,” lead author Dr Jimbob Blinkhorn, formerly of Royal Holloway, University of London and now with the Pan-African Evolution Study Group (Max Planck Institute for Human History Science).

Shukbah Cave was first excavated in the spring of 1928 by Dorothy Garrod, who described a rich collection of animal bones and Mousterian-style stone tools on the cement in breccia deposits, often collected in well-lit fires. signal. She also identified a large, unique molar. However, the sample was kept in a private collection for most of the 20th century, prohibiting comparative studies using modern methods. The recent re-identification of the tooth at the Natural History Museum in London has led to new detailed work on the Shukbah collections.

“Dr. Garrod immediately saw the uniqueness of this tooth. We studied the size, shape and structure of the 3D exterior and interior of the tooth, and compared that with Holocene samples and Pleistocene Homo sapiens and Neanderthal. This has allowed us to elucidate the character of the tooth as if it belonged to a Neanderthal child who is about 9 years old, “said Dr. Clément Zanolli, of Université de Bordeaux. “Shukbah marks the southernmost point of the Neanderthal range known to date,” Zanolli adds.

While Homo sapiens and Neanderthals shared the use of a wide range of stone tool technologies, it has recently been argued that Nubian Levallois technology was used only by Homo sapiens. The argument was made especially in southwest Asia, where Nubian Levallois tools were used to track the scattering of humans without fossils.

“Pictures of the stone tool collections from Shukbah hinted at the presence of Levallois Nubian technology so we revisited the collections for further study. Eventually, we identified many more manufactured materials. using Nubian Levallois methods than we expected, “Blinkhorn said. “This is the first time they have been discovered in direct association with Neanderthal fossils, which shows that we cannot make a simple connection between this technology and Homo sapiens.”

“Southwest Asia is a dynamic region in terms of hominin population, behavior, and environmental change, and it may be particularly important to study interactions between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens,” said the High Commissioner. Professor Simon Blockley, of Royal Holloway, University of London adds. “This study highlights the geographical range of Neanderthal populations and their behavioral flexibility, but also makes a timely warning note that there are no links just between specific hominins and special stone machine technologies. “

“To date we have no direct evidence of a Neanderthal presence in Africa,” said Dr. Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum. “But the southern part of Shukbah, just about 400 km from Cairo, should remind us that they may have even spread into Africa at times.”

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Partnerships

Researchers involved in this study include scholars from the Max Planck Institute for Human History Science, Royal Holloway, University of London, the Université de Bordeaux, the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, University of Malta, and the Natural History Museum, London. This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust (RPH-2017-087).