title: New data on the late Neandertals: direct dating of the Belgian Spy fossils.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paleontology, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium. patrick.semal@naturalsciences.be
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Semal
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rougier
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Crevecoeur
authors.forename: Cécile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jungels
authors.forename: Damien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Flas
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hauzeur
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Maureille
authors.forename: Mietje
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Germonpré
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bocherens
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pirson
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cammaert
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: De Clerck
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hambucken
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higham
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Toussaint
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Plicht
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D001530:Belgium; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005580:Fossils; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D055110:Radiometric Dating