According to research, modern humans and Neanderthals lived together for more than 1000 years in Europe.
It was previously known that humans and their ancient relatives existed on the European continent for more than 6,000 years and that the two species interbred on several occasions. Their interactions remain the focus of scientific investigation.
Neanderthals may have coexisted with Homo sapiens for 1,400-2,900 years before they disappeared as a species, according to a new paper.
There are a lot of similarities between the two species in this region. It supports the idea that there was some sort of interaction.
There are 56 Neanderthal and modern human artifacts from 17 archaeological sites across France and northern Spain analysed by the team. The samples had been dated.
The almost simultaneous appearance of mammal teeth is thought to be a form of jewellery. Neanderthal sites show a shift to more standardised blade-like stone tools. It could be an exchange of ideas.
The earliest and latest dates that these human groups may have been present at the sites were estimated by the authors using Computational Modelling. Neanderthal artifacts first appeared between 45,343 and 44,248 years ago, and disappeared between 39,894 and 39,798 years ago, according to the work. Between 1,400 and 2,900 years ago, modern humans were thought to have first appeared, and never left.
The work doesn't shed light on whether humans played a part in Neanderthals' demise. The consensus is that Neanderthals lived in smaller populations. The Neanderthals were swallowed into the populations of modern humans. The argument could be made that they never really left.
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The study shows that there was an overlap of several thousand years between Neanderthals and modern humans in western Europe.
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