engleski

New single amino acid radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis of the Vindija Cave Neanderthals

The period between ~45, 000 and 35, 000 14C years BP in Europe witnessed the “biocultural” transition from the Middle to early Upper Palaeolithic, when anatomically modern humans from Africa displaced Neanderthals across the continent. Significant questions remain regarding how this transition happened, for example to what extent Neanderthals and modern humans overlapped temporally and spatially, if modern humans or Neanderthals were responsible for various ‘transitional’ early Upper Palaeolithic industries, and when the last Neanderthals disappeared. Previous dating of Neanderthal remains from Vindija Cave (Croatia) led to the suggestion that Neanderthals survived there as recently as 28, 000-29, 000 14C years BP. Subsequent dating of Neanderthal specimens Vi-207 and Vi-208 from level G1 yielded older dates, interpreted as being at least ~32, 500 BP, but probably older. We have redated these same specimens using a different approach, developed at the ORAU, which is based on the extraction of the amino acid hydroxyproline that occurs in mammalian collagen using preparative high performance liquid chromatography. This method is more efficient than other methods in eliminating modern carbon contamination. We also applied Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) on 383 unidentified bone samples to find additional hominin remains and we identified one bone as Neanderthal based on its mitochondrial DNA. We also attempted to date some of the early Upper Palaeolithic bone points from stratigraphic units G1, Fd/d+G1, Fd/d, Fd, with mixed success owing to low levels of surviving collagen. In the current presentation we report all the new radiocarbon dates and DNA results. In contrast to previous suggestions, these data show that there is no reason to assume that the Neanderthals in Vindija Cave survived substantially later than at other places in Europe. Rather, they seem to pre- date the arrival of anatomically modern humans in Eastern Europe.

AMS dating, Vindija Cave, Croatia, Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, single amino acid dating, DNA analysis

nije evidentirano