Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Benazzi, S.
• Slon, V.
• Talamo, S.
• Negrino, F.
• Peresani, M.
• Bailey, S. E.
• Sawyer, S.
• Panetta, D.
• Vicino, G.
• Starnini, E.
• Mannino, M. A.
• Salvadori, P. A.
• Meyer, M.
• Pääbo, S.
• Hublin, J.-J.

Titel

The makers of the Protoaurignacian and implications for Neandertal extinction

Ist Teil von

• Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 2015-05, Vol.348 (6236), p.793-796

Ort / Verlag

Washington: American Association for the Advancement of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2015

Quelle

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The Protoaurignacian culture is pivotal to the debate about the timing of the arrival of modern humans in western Europe and the demise of Neandertals. However, which group is responsible for this culture remains uncertain. We investigated dental remains associated with the Protoaurignacian. The lower deciduous incisor from Riparo Bombrini is modern human, based on its morphology. The upper deciduous incisor from Grotta di Fumane contains ancient mitochondrial DNA of a modern human type. These teeth are the oldest human remains in an Aurignacian-related archaeological context, confirming that by 41,000 calendar years before the present, modern humans bearing Protoaurignacian culture spread into southern Europe. Because the last Neandertals date to 41,030 to 39,260 calendar years before the present, we suggest that the Protoaurignacian triggered the demise of Neandertals in this area.