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The debate surrounding how the Neanderthals were wiped out has raged since the archaic hominin species was discovered in Germany's Neander Vallery in 1856.
Some believed that waves of technologically superior hunter-gatherers had spelled the doom of their heavy-foreheaded cousins, others argued for an epidemic of modern human diseases, while some even said that the Neanderthals vanished from the Earth after interbreeding with these early people - 40,000 years ago.
But then, in 2010, it was discovered that many ethnic groups outside of Africa can actually thank Neanderthals for around two per cent of their DNA, with their influence largely found in the genes affecting skin and hair. But with this revelation came a new question, where was the archaeological evidence for this implied interspecies breeding?
However, a groundbreaking study appears to have just proved this long-discussed hypothesis, by dating the bones of a four-year-old human-Neanderthal "hybrid child" to 28,000 years ago. The ancient child's grave was first discovered in 1998 and made news around the world for its astounding mixture of features from both species, but a lack of accurate dating made conclusions hard to draw.
Archaeologists struggled for decades to date the oddly shaped bones found in a rock shelter in Portugal, but a breakthrough in radiocarbon dating techniques finally allowed the research team to determine this misshapen child's place in human history.
“Being able to successfully date the child felt like giving them back a tiny piece of their story, which is a huge privilege,” said the University of Miami's Bethan Linscott, who helped with the breakthrough finding.
Touchingly, despite more time elapsing between this child's birth and the advent of agriculture in 10,000BC than between this revolutionary period and today, their grave still betrays a very human emotion and family setting.
The researchers found that the red ochre colour found all over the bones was most likely from a cloak that had been wrapped around the young four-year-old by its family as they laid them to rest in the grave. Portraying the sentimentality and sorrow that the poor hybrid child's family had experienced at their death, 1200 generations of humanity ago.
Scientists were able to successfully date the bones for the first time by analysing traces of the amino acid hydroxyproline, which helps to form bone collagen. The team were able to isolate proteins in the acid that allowed them to accurately date the child to 28,000 years ago.
Their findings showed that, even in the Iberian Peninsula, where some anthropologists believe Neanderthals might have lived on until 35,000 years ago, some of their ancient hominin traits still persisted in some human communities many thousands of years after their last appearance in the fossil record.
Named after the valley they were discovered in, the Lapedo Child had a prominent Neanderthal jaw and build, but also had the chin and arms of a modern human. This means that the four-year-old likely had a larger proportion of Neanderthal genes in their DNA than modern humans, supporting the interbreeding theory for the collapse in Neanderthal populations.
Neanderthals existed as a separate hominin species by around 400,000 years ago, roaming from western Europe to east Asia, but disappeared from the fossil record from around 40,000 to 35,000 years ago. This is just 20,000 years after modern humans (homo sapiens) made their world-dominating expansion out of Africa into these same areas.
These findings suggest that, rather than clubbing or spearing each other to death, humans and Neanderthals likely co-existed for millenia, possibly even in mixed groups sharing cultural burial practices. However, this exact relationship between us and the last-ever other hominin species remains unclear.
Current genetic research suggests that all of the Neanderthal DNA present in our genetic code is from Neanderthal males breeding with human women, rather than human men mating with Neanderthal females. This is because researchers have yet to find any mitochondrial DNA belonging to this other species in our code, which can only be passed down from mother to child.
Sadly, as these ancient archaeologists and genetic researchers are grappling with what little information can be gleaned from these very rare fossil remains, the circumstances of this human-Neanderthal interbreeding will likely remain hidden in the mists of time.
English (US) · 