Modern Homo sapiens carry some characteristics of other extinct human species, whether through bloodlines or inherited skills from distant ancestors. The manner in which this occurred has been explored in a mysterious cave in France.
Mandrin Cave in the Rhône region of southern France has preserved valuable evidence of the first Homo sapiens arriving in Western Europe and shows how they entered a land inhabited entirely by Neanderthals.
Mandrin Cave – (Photo: University of Toulouse)
Neanderthals are a “sibling” species to our Homo sapiens, both belonging to the genus Homo, and they went extinct around 30,000 to 40,000 years ago.
According to Science Alert, a research team of archaeologists and paleontologists, led by Dr. Ludovic Silmak from the University of Toulouse, found evidence that the first Homo sapiens arrived at Mandrin Cave approximately 54,000 years ago.
Within the cave, which contains layers of sediment with data spanning 80,000 years of human habitation, there is a “Layer E” that contains at least 1,500 unusual flint tools, crafted with significantly more sophistication than those found in the layers above and below.
These small tools, some measuring less than 1 cm in length, exhibit intricate details far surpassing what Neanderthals could produce: this must be evidence of another human species that once visited.
Intricately crafted flint pieces – (Photo: University of Toulouse)
Subsequently, a milk tooth was found in Layer E, confirming the suspicion: a milk tooth of modern Homo sapiens. Continuing to dig deeper, they discovered nine other teeth belonging to six individuals.
Further analyses revealed that this group of modern Homo sapiens had inhabited the cave for about 40 years before leaving, creating “Layer E.” Other signs within the sediment indicate that they coexisted peacefully with the long-established Neanderthals in the cave, seemingly living together and learning from each other to survive.
Neanderthals appear to have led these Homo sapiens to the best flint locations, some as far as 90 km away, allowing them to create the aforementioned sophisticated tools. The way Homo sapiens arrived, sought help from Neanderthals, and produced better tools—much like how Europeans colonized America thousands of years later—could have been pivotal in determining their dominance.
It seems our ancestors colonized Neanderthal Europe in that manner. And earlier than we thought—54,000 years ago, not 45,000 years, according to this new discovery.
Previously, there was much evidence suggesting that Homo sapiens migrated to the lands of other human species, interbreeding with Neanderthals in Europe, Denisovans in Asia, and possibly several other unknown human species. Evidence of other species’ genes still exists in various communities around the world.
