Evrim Yazgin
Cosmos science journalist
Finds from a cave dating to the Middle Palaeolithic have reshaped archaeologists’ understanding of how early modern humans and Neanderthals interacted.
Several human burials have been discovered at Tinshemet Cave in central Israel. The ancient burials, belonging to both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, date to between 130,000 and 80,000 years ago.
Analysis of remains from the caves is published in Nature Human Behaviour.
The findings paint a picture of relations between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens which suggests that the ancient human species coexisted, and even shared aspects of daily life, technology and burial customs.
A key aim of the research was to determine the nature of the relationship between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Were they rivals, peaceful neighbours, or were they more intertwined?
The new research looked at data from 4 different areas: stone tool production, hunting strategy, symbology and social structures. The results suggest that humans, Neanderthals and pre-Neanderthals interacted and shared cultural knowledge.
“Our data show that human connections and population interactions have been fundamental in driving cultural and technological innovations throughout history,” says excavation leader Yossi Zaidner of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He says that the region was a “melting pot” where different human groups met during the mid part of the Middle Pleistocene (MP).
“During the mid-MP, climatic improvements increased the region’s carrying capacity, leading to demographic expansion and intensified contact between different Homo taxa,” adds co-leader of the excavation, Marion Prévost, also of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
An example is burial customs which first appear about 110,000 years ago in the Levant.
Burials at Tinshemet Cave include those where mineral pigments, especially ochre, may have been used for body decoration. It’s possible this was to define social identities among ancient human groups.
The cave may have been used as a burial ground or even a cemetery for the ancient humans.
What Tinshemet also reveals is shared burial customs between the different human groups. The findings suggest a period of cultural transformations marked by a more complex web of interaction between ancient human groups than was previously thought.
