Investigating the co-occurrence of Neanderthals and modern humans in Belgium through direct radiocarbon dating of bone implements
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Abrams, G., Devièse, T., Pirson, S., De Groote, I., Flas, D., Jungels, C., Jadin, I., Cattelain, P., Bonjean, D., Mathys, A., Semal, P., Higham, T., Di Modica, K., 2024. Investigating the co-occurrence of Neanderthals and modern humans in Belgium through direct radiocarbon dating of bone implements. Journal of Human Evolution 186, 103471.
Introduction
The dynamics of the transition between late Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (AMHs), also referred to as the Middle Paleolithic to Upper Paleolithic transition (MUPT), is still controversial. The location and duration of the coexistence of the two human populations, as well as their possible interactions and cultural exchanges, are still debated in the scientific community (d’Errico, 2003; Hublin, 2015; Talamo et al., 2020; Djakovic et al., 2022). The precise chronological position of the different cultural facies and the human remains associated with them delineate the period within which Neanderthals and AMHs could have interacted. While evidence of interbreeding between Neanderthals, Denisovans and/or AMHs have been documented elsewhere (Fu et al., 2015; Slon et al., 2017; Massilani et al., 2020; Hajdinjak et al., 2021; Prüfer et al., 2021), northern and western Europe seem to have been populated only by Neanderthals until around 45,000–42,000 cal BP (Nigst et al., 2014; Hublin, 2015; Devièse et al., 2021). Moreover, genetic analyses show the absence of genetic flow from early AMH to late Neanderthal populations (Hajdinjak et al., 2018) as well as the absence of Neanderthal genes in early Upper Paleolithic modern humans in northern Europe (Posth et al., 2016). However, this interpretation is based on a limited number of hominin specimens because of their scarcity in the archeological record. Mousterian and Aurignacian industries, associated with Neanderthals and AMHs respectively, are found in much larger quantities in the archeological record, and can also be used to define the timing of both occupations.