Proponents of the Multiregional Model see a "strong regional morphological continuity" (Maher 2012) between early and later populations. They argue that modern Europeans share more morphological characteristics with Neanderthals than do non-European populations. Some, like Alan Thorne, suggest that modern Australian populations "share key skeletal and dental traits with pre-modern aborigines who inhabited Indonesia at least 100, 000 years ago".
A family ressemblance?
http://archives.cantal.fr/?id=286
http://www.artsetsocietes.org/a/a-hurel.html
The archeological record also seems to provide some evidence supporting this model. In 1998, a four year old child with mixed Neanderthal and AMH features dating to around 24, 500 years ago was discovered at Abrigo do Lagar Velho, Portugal.
 |
| Lagar Velho |
This child has a mostly modern morphology, but also has some Neanderthal traits, like "short lower-limb bones and a backward-sloping mandible". Could this be evidence of gene flow between Neanderthal and human populations?
 |
| Lagar Velho 1: a hybrid love child? |
In this post, I note that Neanderthals and AMH overlapped in certain geographical areas. I chose to focus on the Levant, where Neanderthals and AMH had similar ecological niches in close spatial proximity. However, the archeological record seems to show a temporal separation between Neanderthals and AMH in this particular region.
The Lagar Velho 1 specimen might be a clue of more direct Neanderthal and AMH contact in other regions.
Excavations of a site in Chatelperron, France, may show evidence for interstratification of Neanderthal and AMH artifacts, prompting some archeologists to suggest that Neanderthals and AMH coexisted in Europe as well.
Implications of Multiregional Model
Might have Neanderthals and AMH interacted? In the Levant, the presence of each species matches up with climatic events. At first glance, it seems that they would not have interacted at all. But the archeological record is often incomplete and imprecise. On one hand, we may still find convincing evidence of direct interaction; on the other, the dated evidence might be off by a number of years. So Neanderthals and AMH might have actually coexisted in both space and time. Indeed, Paul Mellars thinks that the two species may have therefore had "demographic and cultural interactions".
So what kinds of interactions might they have had?
(1) Interbreeding
http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/187143/neanderthals-did-not-make-sweet-love-to-humans-say-scientists/
The Lagar Velho 1 specimen has been interpreted as proof of Neanderthal and AMH interbreeding. This source discusses evidence of Modern Europeans interbreeding with Neanderthals around 37, 000 years ago. Scientists from Harvard and the Max Planck Institute (Germany) discovered that Modern Europeans share between 1 and 4% of their genes with Neanderthals.
It's therefore possible that Neanderthals actually "live on"in AMH. Perhaps the two populations mixed together.
http://www.ted.com/talks/svante_paeaebo_dna_clues_to_our_inner_neanderthal.html
However, multiple sources (such as this one) disagree. This source summarizes the research of Andrea Manica of the University of Cambridge. She maintains that the DNA evidence is not a clear indication of interbreeding; instead, it simply shows that "Out of Africa" humans share common ancestry with Neanderthals.
(2) Cultural and Economic exchange?
Remember this post, where I tried to illustrate the shift in our perception of Neanderthals, from ape-like dim-wits to intelligent human-like beings? I cited a good number of authors who suggested that artifacts in the archeological record could serve as proxies for Neanderthal intelligence.
In this paper, Hublin and colleagues prove that the artifacts at the Arcy-sur-Cure were produced by Neanderthals. This was a pretty powerful claim, because the site contained evidence for Chatelperronian industries, which were previously associated only with AMH.
| Pendents made by Neanderthals at Arcy-sur-Cure |
At the time, the authors concluded that Neanderthals might have obtained the artifacts by trade or imitation with AMH. The assumption was that Neanderthals could not have produced the artifacts independently of AMH--they simply were not intelligent or creative enough.
This article summarizes findings from the Grotte du Renne in central France. The report says that Neanderthals created body ornaments in imitation of AMH.
http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2012/10/when-neanderthals-met-homo-sapiens.html#.UJwn0Wk_kUw
Both these articles maintain that AMH influenced Neanderthal culture (not the other way around, by the way). It seems that they may have therefore living in close proximity and might have engaged in some sort of economical or cultural contact.
Of course, as always, some have disputed these claims, saying Neanderthals were perfectly capable of technological innovation.
Bibliography
- Christensen , Alec . "New Evidence for Multiregional Origins." Latest Articles. John Robinson , 5 Sept. 2001. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. <http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/517352/posts>.
- d'Errico, Francesco , Joao Zilhao , Michele Julien , Dominique Baffier , and Jacques Pelegrin . "Neanderthal Acculturation in Western Europe." Current Anthropology 39 (1998): S1-S44.
- Gayle, Damien . "Neanderthals 'bred with modern humans in Europe as recently as 37,000 years ago' | Mail Online." Home | Mail Online. N.p., 5 Oct. 2012. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2213219/Neanderthals-bred-modern-humans-Europe-recently-37-000-years-ago.html>.
- Gugliotta, Guy. "Were Modern Humans Neighbors to Neanderthals?." Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis. N.p., 12 Nov. 2005. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/11/AR2005091100851.html>.
- Hitchcock, Don . "Recent additions, changes and updates to Don's Maps." Don's Maps - Palaeolithic / Paleolithic European, Russian and Australian Archaeology / Archeology . N.p., 15 July 2012. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. <http://donsmaps.com/changes.html>.
- Hublin , Jean-Jacques , Fred Spoor, Marc Braun, Frans Zonneveld, and Silvana Condemi . "A Late Neanderthal Associated with Upper Palaeolithic artefacts ." Nature 381.16 (1996): 224-226.
- Morton, Glenn. "Neanderthal culture (long)." The American Scientific Affiliation . N.p., 7 Nov. 1998. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. <www2.asa3.org/archive/asa/199809/0030.html>.
- O'Neil, Dennis. "Early Modern Homo sapiens ." EVOLUTION OF MODERN HUMANS: A Survey of the Biological and Cultural Evolution of Archaic and Modern Homo sapiens. Behavioral Sciences Department, Palomar College, San Marcos, California, n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2012. <http://anthro.palomar.edu/homo2/mod_homo_4.htm>.
- Pääbo, Svante. "DNA clues to our inner neanderthal". TED global 2011. Jul 2011. Web. 8 Nov. 2012. http://www.ted.com/talks/svante_paeaebo_dna_clues_to_our_inner_neanderthal.html
- Sample, Ian. " Neanderthals live on in DNA of humans | Science | The Guardian ." Latest US news, world news, sport and comment from the Guardian | guardiannews.com | The Guardian . N.p., 6 May 2010. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/may/06/neanderthals-dna-humans-genome>.
- Switek, Brian . "Neanderthals smart enough to copy humans." Nature. Nature , 30 Oct. 2012. Web. 8 Nov. 2012. <www.nature.com/news/neanderthals-smart-enough-to-copy-humans-1.11673>.
- Telegraph Reporters. "Neanderthals did not interbreed with humans, scientists find - Telegraph." Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph - Telegraph. N.p., 14 Aug. 2012. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9474109/Neanderthals-did-not-interbreed-with-humans-scientists-find.html>.
No comments:
Post a Comment