My working estimate had been about 1,000 years of co-existence at any one place (an estimate also in line with estimated periods of co-existence for the first farmers and the prior hunter-gatherers of Europe). This paper's conclusion is a bit longer than that.
Recent fossil discoveries suggest that Neandertals and Homo sapiens may have co-existed in Europe for as long as five to six thousand years. Yet, evidence for their contemporaneity at any regional scale remains elusive. In France and northern Spain, a region which features some of the latest directly-dated Neandertals in Europe, Protoaurignacian assemblages attributed to Homo sapiens appear to replace Neandertal associated Chatelperronian assemblages.
Using the earliest and latest known occurrences as starting points, Bayesian modelling has provided some indication that these occupations may in fact have been partly contemporaneous. The reality, however, is that we are unlikely to ever identify the first or last appearance of a species or cultural tradition in the archaeological and fossil record.
Here, we use optimal linear estimation modelling to estimate the first appearance date of Homo sapiens and the extinction date of Neandertals in France and northern Spain by statistically inferring these missing portions of the Protoaurignacian and Chatelperronian archaeological records. Additionally, we estimate the extinction date of Neandertals in this region using a set of directly-dated Neandertal fossil remains.
The results suggest that the onset of the Homo sapiens occupation of this region likely preceded the extinction of Neandertals and the Chatelperronian by up to 1400-2900 years, raising the possibility of an extended co-existence of these groups during the initial Upper Palaeolithic of this region. Whether or not this co-existence featured some form of direct interaction, however, remains to be resolved.
Igor Djakovic, Alastair Key, Marie Soressi, "Optimal linear estimation models predict 1400-2800 years of co-existence between Neandertals and Homo sapiens in western Europe" bioRxiv (June 21, 2022).
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.06.20.496862
Neandertals and the Chatelperronian
ReplyDeletewas Chatelperronian created by the Neandertals
1. Your link to the paper sends me to the top of your blog post.
ReplyDeleteAnd ...
2.I can't see the paper for context, but what does "up to 1400-2900 years" mean? If it's the bounds of an upper limit, like I read it, what's the lower limit? If it is the upper-lower limit, why did they say "up to?"
This is off topic but I want to draw attention to the article by Mermin in the latest June issue of Physics Today. There he shows how the role of probability in quantum mechanics resolves the "quantum measurement problem" and that the"collapse" of the quantum state is not a physical process. The many-worlds interpretation is eliminated.9
ReplyDeleteThe link should be fixed. Losing links is a serious perennial problem with the blogger interface and I don't always catch them. Just in case it is:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.20.496862v1?rss=1
I'll let you read the paper to digest the not very well worded statement.
@neo
ReplyDeleteProbably. One possible explanation for its advanced features compared to prior Neanderthal industries is to attribute these innovations to hybrid Neanderthal-humans living in Neanderthal communities (probably with Neanderthal mothers and modern human fathers), and their descendants.
"The Châtelperronian is a proposed industry of the Upper Palaeolithic, the existence of which is debated. It represents both the only Upper Palaeolithic industry made by Neanderthals and the earliest Upper Palaeolithic industry in Central and Southwestern France, as well as in Northern Spain. It derives its name from Châtelperron, Allier, France (the closest commune to the type site, the cave La Grotte des Fées).
It is preceded by the Mousterian industry, and lasted from c. 45,000 to c. 40,000 BP. The industry produced denticulate stone tools, and a distinctive flint knife with a single cutting edge and a blunt, curved back.
The use of ivory at Châtelperronian sites appears to be more frequent than that of the later Aurignacian, while antler tools have not been found. It is followed by the Aurignacian industry.
Scholars who question its existence claim that it is an archaeological mix of Mousterian and Aurignacian layers. The Châtelperronian industry may relate to the origins of the very similar Gravettian culture.
French archaeologists have traditionally classified both cultures together under the name Périgordian, Early Perigordian being equivalent to the Châtelperronian and all the other phases corresponding to the Gravettian, though this scheme is not often used by Anglophone authors."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2telperronian
@jd found the link so I can find it in the future. https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/PT.3.5027?journalCode=pto
ReplyDelete@neo
ReplyDeleteProbably. One possible explanation for its advanced features compared to prior Neanderthal industries is to attribute these innovations to hybrid Neanderthal-humans living in Neanderthal communities (probably with Neanderthal mothers and modern human fathers), and their descendants.
Châtelperronian suggests near human brain and intelligence