2023 Author: Bryan Walter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 22:24
Photos from explored sites in Puglia
Archaeologists from Italy and France investigated the Paleolithic sites in the Apulia region, confirming that the Neanderthals were constantly present in the region from the Early Wurm glaciation to 45-39 thousand years ago. For hundreds or thousands of years, Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals have coexisted in southern Italy, but there is no evidence of interaction between the species. Scientists suggest that modern humans were able to gain a foothold in the region thanks to a more advanced hunting strategy. The article was published in the Journal of Quaternary Science.
For several hundred thousand years, Neanderthals have inhabited Europe, despite completely different climatic conditions. About 110 thousand years ago, the Wurm glaciation began on the continent, which significantly influenced the flora and fauna. The preservation of the Neanderthals as a species provided, most likely, the presence of several refugia - territories where they waited out an unfavorable period. In Europe, such regions included Iberia, the Apennine Peninsula, the Southern Balkans, the Carpathians, and Southern France.
About 45 thousand years ago, during the period when the glacier retreated, the ancestors of modern people began to penetrate into Europe, who for a fairly short period of time remained the only species of Homo on the continent. Neanderthals became extinct about 41-39 thousand years ago, which gave rise to many hypotheses regarding the causes of what happened, which must be considered comprehensively: difficult climatic conditions, competition with modern people for resources, the spread of diseases. In addition, recent studies show that Neanderthals lived in relatively small groups, in which low genetic diversity led to natural extinction.
Distribution of species on the territory of the Apennine Peninsula during marine isotope stages 5–3
Francesco Boshin of the Center for the Study of the Quaternary, together with scientists from Italy and France, explored Paleolithic sites in southern Italy dating back to the early Wurm glaciation and the subsequent interglacial, when the Neanderthals became extinct and the Cro-Magnons settled in the region. Scientists noted that well-dated contexts indicate a permanent presence of Neanderthals in Italy during the late Pleistocene. About 45-39 thousand years ago they were replaced by modern people.
The researchers focused their attention on the following sites: the caves of Santa Croce, Cavallo, Oskurushuto and Pozzo Cucu, located in Puglia in southern Italy. The faunistic finds of the Middle Paleolithic were similar at all the sites considered. Scientists noted the scant presence of bones from small game and birds, which apparently played either an extremely insignificant role or were completely absent in the diet of the Apulian Neanderthals, who preferred to hunt adult or elderly bison and horses.
Stratigraphic diagram of the Santa Croce cave
The Cro-Magnons reached Puglia about 45 thousand years ago, when the climate and habitat remained the same as that of the late Neanderthals. They hunted the same species of animals, but preferred to hunt younger individuals. The ancestors of modern humans also ate less bones (and therefore could have obtained more meat), which probably indicates different hunting methods in the two populations.
The survival of the Neanderthals in Oskurshuto up to 43 thousand years ago indicates the possible coexistence of the two species in Puglia for several hundred or even thousands of years, but no evidence of interaction between the species has yet been found. Archaeologists have concluded that the disappearance of Neanderthals from this region is not related to climate change. They suggest that modern humans are in a better position because of better hunting strategies.
N + 1 is closely following research related to the study of different species of Homo. We recently said that the Neanderthals from Vasco-Cantabria were killed by low mobility in the extraction of food resources, and British paleoanthropologists clarified the dating of the remains from the Kabazi II site in the Crimea and found that the Mousterian era ended in the region more than 40 thousand years ago.
