Neanderthals Walked Among Us

This ancient human species co-existed with modern humans for nearly 5,400 years

One of the greatest mysteries of evolution is the extinction of Neanderthals. Scientists have for a long time wondered how and when this ancient human species disappeared. Were they still a thriving species when modern humans, Homo sapiens, appeared? And did the two strands of humanity compete with each other? According to one theory, Neanderthals got into an intense competition with Homo sapiens when the latter first appeared. This competition for resources, often violent in nature, eventually resulted in the rapid extinction of the Neanderthals.

However, a new study, considered one of the most extensive studies into the Neanderthal species, finds that these people lived along with Homo sapiens for around 2,600 to 5,400 years. And the two species met and mixed with each other. According to the study, Neanderthals finally disappeared around 40,000 years ago, probably in current Western Europe.

A team of researchers, led by Professor Thomas Higham of the University of Oxford, published the results of their six-year-long study in the journal Nature. They analysed around 200 samples found at 40 Neanderthal sites from Spain to Russia with the latest carbon dating techniques and mathematical models and concluded that pockets of Neanderthal culture survived until between 41,030 and 39,260 years ago. According to the study, Neanderthals, though they kept to themselves, also interbred with modern humans and picked up tool-making pointers from them. Samples taken from some Neanderthal sites include artefacts that look like those introduced to Europe by humans migrating from Africa.

The researchers write in the journal: ‘The timing of Neanderthal disappearance and the extent to which they overlapped with the earliest incoming anatomically modern humans (AMHs) in Eurasia are key questions in palaeoanthropology… Our data indicate that the disappearance of Neanderthals occurred at different times in different regions… A mosaic of populations in Europe during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition suggests that there was ample time for the transmission of cultural and symbolic behaviours, as well as possible genetic exchanges, between the two groups.’

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