New data on the late Neandertals: direct dating of the Belgian Spy fossils.
In Eurasia, the period between 40,000 and 30,000 BP saw the replacement of Neandertals by anatomically modern humans (AMH) during and after the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition. The human fossil record for this period is very poorly defined with no overlap between Neandertals and AMH on the basis of direct dates. Four new (14)C dates were obtained on the two adult Neandertals from Spy (Belgium). The results show that Neandertals survived to at least approximately 36,000 BP in Belgium and that the Spy fossils may be associated to the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician, a transitional techno-complex defined in northwest Europe and recognized in the Spy collections. The new data suggest that hypotheses other than Neandertal acculturation by AMH may be considered in this part of Europe.
Semal
Patrick
P
Department of Paleontology, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium. patrick.semal@naturalsciences.be
Rougier
Hélène
H
Crevecoeur
Isabelle
I
Jungels
Cécile
C
Flas
Damien
D
Hauzeur
Anne
A
Maureille
Bruno
B
Germonpré
Mietje
M
Bocherens
Hervé
H
Pirson
Stéphane
S
Cammaert
Laurence
L
De Clerck
Nora
N
Hambucken
Anne
A
Higham
Thomas
T
Toussaint
Michel
M
van der Plicht
Johannes
J
D000818:Animals; D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D001530:Belgium; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005580:Fossils; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D055110:Radiometric Dating