Last Neanderthals in the warmest refugium of Europe: Palynological data from Vanguard Cave

Carrión, J.S.; Ochando, Juan; Fernández, Santiago; Blasco, Ruth; Rosell, Jordi; Munuera, Manuel; Amorós, Gabriela; Lerma, Ignacio Martín; Finlayson, Stewart; Giles, Frederic T.; Jennings, RP; Finlayson, Geraldine; Giles-Pacheco, Francisco; Rodriguez‐Vidal, Joaquín; Finlayson, Clive

doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2018.09.007

Cited by 44 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 152 publications

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“…The Iberian Peninsula, and Gibraltar in particular, are located on one of the extremes of the Neanderthal distribution and are thought to have served as a refuge for Neanderthals during glaciations (25,30). In addition, it has been suggested that Neanderthals may have persisted in Gibraltar thousands of years after they were replaced by modern humans in other parts of Eurasia (24,25).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

A genetic analysis of the Gibraltar Neanderthals

Bokelmann

Hajdinjak

Peyrégne

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The Forbes’ Quarry and Devil’s Tower partial crania from Gibraltar are among the first Neanderthal remains ever found. Here, we show that small amounts of ancient DNA are preserved in the petrous bones of the 2 individuals despite unfavorable climatic conditions. However, the endogenous Neanderthal DNA is present among an overwhelming excess of recent human DNA. Using improved DNA library construction methods that enrich for DNA fragments carrying deaminated cytosine residues, we were able to sequence 70 and 0.4 megabase pairs (Mbp) nuclear DNA of the Forbes’ Quarry and Devil’s Tower specimens, respectively, as well as large parts of the mitochondrial genome of the Forbes’ Quarry individual. We confirm that the Forbes’ Quarry individual was a female and the Devil’s Tower individual a male. We also show that the Forbes’ Quarry individual is genetically more similar to the ∼120,000-y-old Neanderthals from Scladina Cave in Belgium (Scladina I-4A) and Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave in Germany, as well as to a ∼60,000- to 70,000-y-old Neanderthal from Russia (Mezmaiskaya 1), than to a ∼49,000-y-old Neanderthal from El Sidrón (El Sidrón 1253) in northern Spain and other younger Neanderthals from Europe and western Asia. This suggests that the Forbes’ Quarry fossil predates the latter Neanderthals. The preservation of archaic human DNA in the warm coastal climate of Gibraltar, close to the shores of Africa, raises hopes for the future recovery of archaic human DNA from regions in which climatic conditions are less than optimal for DNA preservation.

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Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

A genetic analysis of the Gibraltar Neanderthals

Bokelmann

Hajdinjak

Peyrégne

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Finally, current evidence shows that both MIS 5 and MIS 3 Neanderthals in the central Mediterranean region of Iberia made simple open hearths 35,46,47 and wood-gathering patterns appear to be similar irrespective of glacial, interglacial, stadial or interstadial conditions 18,48,49 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Fire and brief human occupations in Iberia during MIS 4: Evidence from Abric del Pastor (Alcoy, Spain)

Mallol

Hernández

Mercier

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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There is a relatively low amount of Middle Paleolithic sites in Europe dating to MIS 4. Of the few that exist, several of them lack evidence for anthropogenic fire, raising the question of how this period of global cooling may have affected the Neanderthal population. The Iberian Peninsula is a key area to explore this issue, as it has been considered as a glacial refugium during critical periods of the Neanderthal timeline and might therefore yield archaeological contexts in which we can explore possible changes in the behaviour and settlement patterns of Neanderthal groups during MIS 4. Here we report recent data from Abric del Pastor, a small rock shelter in Alcoy (Alicante, Spain) with a stratified deposit containing Middle Palaeolithic remains. We present absolute dates that frame the sequence within MIS 4 and multi-proxy geoarchaeological evidence of in situ anthropogenic fire, including microscopic evidence of in situ combustion residues and thermally altered sediment. We also present archaeostratigraphic evidence of recurrent, functionally diverse, brief human occupation of the rock shelter. Our results suggest that Neanderthals occupied the Central Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula during MIS 4, that these Neanderthals were not undergoing climatic stress and they were habitual fire users.

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“…The toad example is convincing exactly because the species replacement is incomplete, with surviving pure B. spinosus and a slowly moving interspecific hybrid zone available for comparison. Disregarding temporal inequalities, B. spinosus temporarily survived in the very south of Britain just as Neanderthal tribes may have persisted for longest at the southernmost fringe of continental Europe, i.e., the Gibraltar peninsula (Carrión et al, ; Jennings, Finlayson, Fa, & Finlayson, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fourth, uncovering traces of introgression, as in case of the H. sapiens -H. neanderthalensis interaction, requires extensive data that may be available in hominin paleogenomics (Fu et al, 2016;Racimo et al, 2015;Sankararaman, Mallick, Patterson, & Reich, 2016) but not in most non-model organisms. Finally, to brush the leaky replacement scenario aside as "human exceptionalism" (Varki, 2016- (Carrión et al, 2018;Jennings, Finlayson, Fa, & Finlayson, 2011). Norway (RJ, SR).…”

Section: Genetic Footprints and Parallels With The Demise Of Homo mentioning

confidence: 99%

An amphibian species pushed out of Britain by a moving hybrid zone

Arntzen

2019

Molecular Ecology

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Classical theory states that hybrid zones will be stable in troughs of low population density where dispersal is hampered. Yet, evidence for moving hybrid zones is mounting. One possible reason that moving zones have been underappreciated is that they may drive themselves into oblivion and with just the superseding species remaining, morphological and genetic signals of past species replacement may be difficult to appreciate. Using genetic data (32 diagnostic single nucleotide polymorphisms) from a clinal hybrid zone of the common toad (Bufo bufo) and the spined toad (Bufo spinosus) in France for comparison, alleles of the latter species were documented in common toads in the south of Great Britain, at frequencies in excess of 10%. Because long distance dispersal across the Channel is unlikely, the conclusion reached was that the continental toad hybrid zone which previously extended into Britain, moved southwards and extirpated B. spinosus. Species distribution models for the mid‐Holocene and the present support that climate has locally changed in favour of B. bufo. The system bears resemblance with the demise of Homo neanderthalensis and the rise of Homo sapiens and provides an example that some paleoanthropologists demanded in support of a hominin “leaky replacement” scenario. The toad example is informative just because surviving pure B. spinosus and an extant slowly moving interspecific hybrid zone are available for comparison.

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Last Neanderthals in the warmest refugium of Europe: Palynological data from Vanguard Cave

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Cited by 44 publications

References 152 publications

A genetic analysis of the Gibraltar Neanderthals

A genetic analysis of the Gibraltar Neanderthals

Fire and brief human occupations in Iberia during MIS 4: Evidence from Abric del Pastor (Alcoy, Spain)

An amphibian species pushed out of Britain by a moving hybrid zone

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