Humans, Neanderthals may have interbred, scientists say

Posted: Tuesday, October 26, 1999

   WASHINGTON -- Neanderthals and modern humans may have coexisted in central Europe for thousands of years, possibly even mating, according to new radiocarbon dating of bones from a cave in Croatia.

   Bones found in the Vindija cave site in Croatia have yielded the youngest dates ever, 28,000 to 29,000 years, for Neanderthal remains, said Fred H. Smith, said Fred H. Smith, an anthropologist at Northern Illinois University.

   Smith said it was the strongest evidence yet that the primitive Neanderthal lived at the same time and at the same place as did modern human beings.

   A report on the Neanderthal specimens will be published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

   Neanderthals, a primitive hominid with prominent brow, coarse jaw, short lower limbs and a prominence at the back of the skull, are thought to have arisen in Africa more than 250,000 years ago. They are thought to have appeared in Europe about 100,000 years ago and were eventually replaced by modern humans.

   Specimens for modern humans dated at 90,000 to 100,000 years have been found in Africa and in the Middle East. Modern human bones found in central Europe have been dated at about 32,000 years.

   The new Neanderthal age dates are based on material removed from a jawbone and a skull bone found in the Croatian cave. The specimens had earlier been dated at 45,000 years using a gamma ray counter. The new dates of 28,000 to 29,000 years were determined using a more accurate method called accelerator radiocarbon dating, which measures the level in the specimen of a carbon isotope.

   The new dates for the Neanderthal, said Smith, mean ''there was an overlap of 3,000 to 4,000 years'' with modern humans in central Europe.

   Smith said the find strengthens the theory that Neanderthals and modern humans did mate and produce hybrid children.

   He said he and others believe that there are body features in bones from 30,000-year-old human specimens that suggest a Neanderthal contribution to the European gene pool.

   The mixing of modern humans and Neanderthals is a controversial issue among anthropologists. Clark Howell of the University of California, Berkeley, said there is no widely accepted evidence that the primitive hominids and modern humans actually mated and produced children.

   Smith said the issue may eventually be settled by genetic testing.


Trending this week:


© 2017. All Rights Reserved.   | Contact Us