New ANU studies show that Neanderthals in the Southern Pyrenees were highly adaptable and professional at hunting, challenging old stereotypes and offering insights into their survival and eventual extinction.
An unexplored region at the foot of the Southern Pyrenees in Spain sheds light on a little-known era of Neanderthal history. New studies from the Australian National University (ANU) suggest that this domain may be offering valuable clues to help archaeologists get to the bottom of the mystery of Neanderthal decline.
Abric Pizarro is one of the few sites in the world dating from 100,000 to 65,000 years ago, an era called MIS 4. The researchers amassed thousands of artifacts, added stone tools, animal bones, and other evidence, offering significant insight into the Neanderthal. The way of life of that time was until now largely unknown in human history.
The findings reveal that Neanderthals were able to adapt to their environment, challenging the reputation of archaic humans as slow-footed cavemen and losing control of their survival and abilities.
ANU senior archaeologist Dr Sofia Samper Carro said the findings show that Neanderthals knew the most productive tactics to exploit domain and territory and were resilient in the face of harsh climatic conditions.
“Our unexpected discoveries at Abric Pizarro show how adaptable Neanderthals were. “The animal bones we recovered imply that they effectively exploited the surrounding wildlife, hunting deer, horses and bison, but also eating freshwater turtles and rabbits, which implies a degree of planning that is rarely done with Neanderthals,” he said. .
According to the researchers, this new wisdom challenges the widely held belief that Neanderthals hunted giant animals, such as horses and rhinos.
“Thanks to the bones we found, which have cut marks, we have direct evidence that Neanderthals were capable of keeping small animals,” said Dr. Samper Carro.
“The bones from this are very well preserved and we can see lines of how Neanderthals treated and slaughtered those animals.
“Our stone artifact research also demonstrates variability in the type of equipment produced, indicating the ability of Neanderthals to exploit the resources available in the region. “
Shedding light on this transitional era is helping archaeologists get closer to solving a mystery that has plagued researchers for decades: What drove Neanderthals to extinction?
According to the researchers, the discovery of sites such as Abric Pizarro, which dates to this explicit and poorly documented period, provides data on how Neanderthals lived when modern humans were still in the domain and shows that they thrived.
“Abric Pizarro’s exclusive provides insight into how Neanderthals behaved in a landscape they roamed for thousands of years,” said Dr. Samper Carro.
“Neanderthals disguised about 40,000 years ago. Suddenly, we, the fashionable humans, appeared in this region of the Pyrenees, and the Neanderthals disguised it. But before that, Neanderthals had been living in Europe for only about 300,000 years.
“They obviously knew what they were doing. They knew the domain and how to do it for a long time.
“That’s one of the most attractive things about this site, having this exclusive information about when Neanderthals lived in difficult situations and how they prospered before modern humans came along. “
Thanks to modern excavation techniques, Abric Pizarro and other nearby Neanderthal sites provide detailed knowledge about Neanderthal behaviour.
“We suggest remains discovered in 3D that measure more than one or two centimeters. This slows down our work and we have been excavating some of those sites for more than 20 years, but it makes for an exceptionally accurate record of the sites,” said Dr. Samper Carro.
“We are interested in how other knowledge relates to other knowledge, from stone equipment to bones and homes. These deeper excavations provide archaeologists with data about how Neanderthals lived and how long they stayed in an area.
“It’s not just the individual tissues that give us clues, but also their precise location in relation to other tissues at the site that allows us to perceive how and when Neanderthals visited those sites. Did they settle there or were they just passing through?”
The team also included scientists from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (CEPAP-UAB). Research in the Catalan Pre-Pyrenees is supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain and the Department of Culture of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
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