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Continuity and Change in the Interpretation of Vindija Neandertal Morphology

Beginning with the first publications on the Vindija fossils in the early 1980s, “transitional” (early modern European-like) features have been recognized in this late Neandertal sample. The “transitional” nature of the Vindija Neandertals has remained a constant over the years, having withstood numerous challenges. However, interpretations of the evolutionary meaning of the Vindija morphological pattern have changed in response to the increasingly detailed understanding of later human evolution that has accumulated over the last 35 years. In the early 1980s, it could be reasonably argued that modern humans appeared roughly contemporaneously throughout the Old World circa 35, 000 to 40, 000 years ago. Thus Vindija could be seen as a late Neandertal sample demonstrating a regional morphological trend in the direction of modern Europeans. With improved dating and genetic analyses during the late 1980s, this interpretation appeared less likely. Vindija became an important sample supporting the assimilation model of modern human origins. However, the exact role of samples like Vindija in later human evolution in assimilation remained somewhat vague. The current genomic data on Neandertals and early modern Eurasians provide a context for understanding the meaning of the Vindija morphology in light of the small, but consistent genetic exchange between early modern and late archaic Eurasian populations.

Vindija ; Neandertal morphology ; assimilation model ; genetic exchange

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