Tag: Neanderthals

Modern humans reached westernmost Europe 5,000 years earlier than previously known: Discovery may indicate modern humans and Neanderthals lived in the area concurrently 

Modern humans arrived in westernmost Europe 41,000 to 38,000 years ago, about 5,000 years earlier than previously known, according to an international team of researchers that discovered stone tools used by modern humans dated to the earlier time period in a cave near the Atlantic coast of central Portugal. The tools document the presence of modern humans at a time when Neanderthals were thought to be present in the region.

Source: Modern humans reached westernmost Europe 5,000 years earlier than previously known: Discovery may indicate modern humans and Neanderthals lived in the area concurrently — ScienceDaily

Neanderthals’ main food source was definitely meat

Researchers describe two late Neanderthals with exceptionally high nitrogen isotope ratios, which would traditionally be interpreted as the signature of freshwater fish consumption. By studying the isotope ratios of single amino acids, they however demonstrated that instead of fish, the adult Neanderthal had a diet relying on large herbivore mammals and that the other Neanderthal was a breastfeeding baby whose mother was also a carnivore.

Source: Neanderthals’ main food source was definitely meat: Isotope analyses performed on single amino acids in Neanderthals’ collagen samples shed new light on their debated diet — ScienceDaily