Unexpectedly recent dates for human remains from Vogelherd

A new study in Nature removes the last remaining link between the Upper Paleolithic Aurignacian technologies and modern humans. There is thus currently no evidence for the co-existence of UP humans and Aurignacian technologies at any sites. The authors conclude that while there is still evidence for the existence of modern humans in Europe during Aurignacian times, there is no longer any evidence for the idea that modern humans produced the Aurignacian, suggesting that this could just as easily have been produced by the indigenous Neandertals.

Unexpectedly recent dates for human remains from Vogelherd

Nature 430, 198 - 201 (08 July 2004)

NICHOLAS J. CONARD et al.

The human skeletal remains from the Vogelherd cave in the Swabian Jura of southwestern Germany are at present seen as the best evidence that modern humans produced the artefacts of the early Aurignacian1. Radiocarbon measurements from all the key fossils from Vogelherd show that these human remains actually date to the late Neolithic, between 3,900 and 5,000 radiocarbon years before present (BP). Although many questions remain unresolved, these results weaken the arguments for the Danube Corridor hypothesis2—that there was an early migration of modern humans into the Upper Danube drainage—and strengthen the view that Neanderthals may have contributed significantly to the development of Upper Palaeolithic cultural traits independent of the arrival of modern humans3, 4.

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Posted by Dienekes at July 7, 2004 10:31 PM | PermaLink