Possible Interbreeding in Late Italian Neanderthals? New Data from the Mezzena Jaw (Monti Lessini, Verona, Italy)

Abstract

In this article we examine the mandible of Riparo Mezzena a Middle Paleolithic rockshelter in the Monti Lessini (NE Italy, Verona) found in 1957 in association with Charentian Mousterian lithic assemblages. Mitochondrial DNA analysis performed on this jaw and on other cranial fragments found at the same stratigraphic level has led to the identification of the only genetically typed Neanderthal of the Italian peninsula and has confirmed through direct dating that it belongs to a late Neanderthal. Our aim here is to re-evaluate the taxonomic affinities of the Mezzena mandible in a wide comparative framework using both comparative morphology and geometric morphometrics. The comparative sample includes mid-Pleistocene fossils, Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans. This study of the Mezzena jaw shows that the chin region is similar to that of other late Neanderthals which display a much more modern morphology with an incipient mental trigone (e.g. Spy 1, La Ferrassie, Saint-Césaire). In our view, this change in morphology among late Neanderthals supports the hypothesis of anatomical change of late Neanderthals and the hypothesis of a certain degree of interbreeding with AMHs that, as the dating shows, was already present in the European territory. Our observations on the chin of the Mezzena mandible lead us to support a non abrupt phylogenetic transition for this period in Europe.

The Hybrid Origin of “Modern” Humans

“…This provides further confirmation that transgressive phenotypes and mosaic morphology are indeed signatures of hybridization in hominins, and opens the door for further investigation into the affinities of purported hybrids (e.g. Braüer 1981;Duarte et al 1999;Wolpoff et al 2001;Soficaru et al 2006;Rougier et al 2007;Ackermann 2010;Condemi et al 2013;Curnoe et al 2015) across the middleto-latest Pleistocene. Clearly fossil evidence for admixture is likely to be more widespread than we currently appreciate, a conclusion also supported by evidence for the prevalence of atypical traits in other hominin individuals (Wu et al 2013).…”

The Neanderthal in the karst: First dating, morphometric, and paleogenetic data on the fossil skeleton from Altamura (Italy)

“…6). All sequence results, obtained in two different laboratories, were concordant and presented a typical Neanderthal mtDNA haplotype (Condemi et al, 2013; A16230G, G16244A, C16256A, A16258G; Fig. 5).…”

On the antiquity of language: the reinterpretation of Neandertal linguistic capacities and its consequences

“…However, this interpretation is hotly contested (e.g., Tattersall and Schwartz, 1999) and must be taken as speculative. Other remains which have been suggested to show signs of dual ancestry (Trinkaus, 2007) include the European early modern humans from Peştera cu Oase (Trinkaus et al, 2003; Rougier et al, 2007), Peştera Muierii (Soficaru et al, 2006), Mladeć (Teschler-Nicola, 2006), and Riparo Mezzena, Italy (Condemi et al, 2013), but these interpretations are far from being generally accepted.…”

“…On the other hand, some redating of fossils suggests that Neandertals may have retreated from areas of Europe before modern humans ever got there, under the severe conditions of the last glaciation (OIS3; see Stewart, 2005; Wood et al, 2013). Some scholars incline to the view that Neandertal populations were absorbed rather than extinguished, hence the intermediate traits sometimes found in late Neandertals (Condemi et al, 2013). Their demography was always fragile.…”