Turkish Cave Reveals Neanderthals and Humans Shared Culture for Millenia
Archaeologists found 29 shells and similar tools at a Turkish cave, suggesting symbolic behaviors were shared over more than 20,000 years.
- Published on Monday in PNAS, new research suggests Neanderthals and Homo sapiens shared cultural practices at a cave in Turkey, indicating both groups may have engaged in similar symbolic behaviors.
- Neanderthals occupied the cave between approximately 77,000 and 59,000 years ago, followed by Homo sapiens until 47,000 years ago, with both groups employing similar hunting strategies and stone-tool technologies.
- Excavations revealed that both populations collected Columbella shells, a behavior previously considered exclusive to Homo sapiens, with shells showing signs of deliberate heating and piercing for stringing.
- "These two distinct but closely related human groups were probably sharing symbolic preferences," said co-author Naoki Morimoto, paleoanthropologist at Kyoto University, indicating deep cultural interaction.
- Ongoing excavations at the site may clarify whether cultural similarities emerged from direct contact or interbreeding, helping researchers build a more comprehensive picture of human evolution during the Late Pleistocene.
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A common culture of cave dwellers
Kyoto, Japan -- Tens of thousands of years ago, our own species, Homo sapiens, coexisted with Neanderthals, Homo neanderthalensis. Many of us living today carry a small amount of Neanderthal DNA, indicating that the two species may have shared much more than just the same land. Now, a breakthrough archaeological discovery has revealed that the two species did not merely cross paths: they possibly shared a common culture that spanned over 20,000 …
The two species hunted the same animals and collected the same shells to make ornaments
Just three months ago, ABC referred to a pioneering study, published in 'Nature Human Behaviour', according to which the Neanderthals and sapiens who inhabited the Tinshemet cave in Israel, not only coexisted, but shared different aspects of their daily life, their technology and even their funeral rites.This meant a real revolution with regard to what we knew about the interaction of the two species.And now, a new work just appeared in 'Proceed…
Neanderthals and modern humans may have shared culture 59,000 years ago in Turkey, study finds
Deep in a limestone cave on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, archaeologists have uncovered evidence that Neanderthals and the modern humans who moved in later left behind surprisingly similar traces of their daily lives — evidence that they hunted the same animals, crafted the same stone tools and collected the same type of seashells. The findings, published Monday (July 6) in the journal PNAS, feed into some of the biggest questions in human evolu…
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