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Several hominid teeth found at the Paleolithic site of La Cotte de St Brelade in Jersey may belong to Neanderthals.homo sapiens hybrids, according to new research from the Natural History Museum in London.
A reconstruction of a Neanderthal man. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.
The thirteen completely shattered permanent teeth were excavated at the Paleolithic site of La Cotte de St Brelade in 1910 and 1911.
They were all found in one place, on a ledge behind a hearth in the cave.
“La Cotte de St Brelade is a site of great significance and it continues to reveal stories about our ancient predecessors,” said Olga Finch, Curator of Archeology at Jersey Heritage.
While La Cotte’s teeth have Neanderthal features, several specimens lack features normally found in Neanderthals, and some aspects of their shape are typical of anatomically modern humans.
Recent dating of adjacent sediments suggests a probable age of less than 48,000 years for the fossils. This suggests that they may have represented some of the youngest known Neanderthal remains.
“Since modern humans rode Neanderthals in parts of Europe 45,000 years ago, the unusual characteristics of these individuals from La Cotte suggest that they may have had dual Neanderthal-modern human ancestry. “Said lead author, researcher Professor Chris Stringer. in the Department of Earth Sciences at the Natural History Museum in London.
“This idea of a hybrid population could be tested by recovering ancient DNA from teeth, which is currently under investigation.”
La Cotte’s teeth were previously recorded as belonging to a single Neanderthal individual.
However, Professor Stringer and his colleagues found that the teeth come from at least two adults who share the same distinguishing characteristics, suggesting traits prevalent in their population.
“This work offers us insight into an intriguing new population of Neanderthals and opens the door to a new phase of discovery at the site,” said co-author Dr Matt Pope, researcher at the Institute of Archeology. from University College. London.
“We will now work with Jersey Heritage to recover new finds and fossils from La Cotte de St Brelade, undertake a new program analysis with our scientific colleagues and put engineering in place to protect this very vulnerable site for the future.
“This will be a gigantic project and one to watch for those who are fascinated by our closest evolutionary relatives.”
The results were published in the Journal of Human Evolution.
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Tim compton et al. 2021. The morphology of the Upper Pleistocene hominid remains at the site of La Cotte de St Brelade, Jersey (Channel Islands). Journal of Human Evolution 152: 102939; doi: 10.1016 / j.jhevol.2020.102939
This article is based on text provided by the Natural History Museum in London.
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