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When Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Homo sapiens met 50,000 years ago, these archaic and modern humans not only crossed paths for the thousands of years in which they overlapped, but they exchanged ideas that led to a burst of creativity, according to a leading scholar.
Tom Higham, professor of archaeological science at the University of Oxford, argues that their exchange explains “a proliferation of objects in the archaeological records”, such as perforated teeth and shell pendants, the use of pigments and dyes, decorated and incised bones, sculpted figurative art and rock painting: “In the early 1950s, until about 38,000 to 40,000 years ago, we are seeing massive growth in these types of ornaments as we just hadn’t seen it before. ”
Between 40,000 and 150,000 years ago, our cousins included Neanderthals, Homo floresiensis, Homo luzonesis and Denisovans.
“Now it’s just us; there are no other types of humans on the planet, ”says Higham. “We have always believed that the origins of art and complex cognitive thinking were our hallmark – modern humans. It was called the human revolution. The basis for this hypothesis, which emerged in the 1970s, was that humans came out of Africa and brought with them a cognitive ability that no other type of humans – especially Neanderthals – had. Now, what we think is happening is that … it’s not limited to modern humans at all.
“If our groups crossed paths, then the cultural transfer – the exchange of ideas, thoughts and language – might well have taken place as well. Humans are good at grasping new ideas. “
The latest research, which draws on recent findings from international scientists and archaeologists, will appear in Higham’s upcoming book, The World Before Us: How Science is Revealing a New Story of Our Human Origins, to be published by Viking. March 25.
He writes that Earth was an extremely complicated place 50,000 years ago: “To borrow Tolkien’s words, we should regard it as a true ‘Middle Earth’ in terms of the diversity of forms of the human family that existed in the time. . There were five, six, or even more, different types of humans present in various parts of the world.
In the book, through the latest advances in science and technology – including radiocarbon dating and analysis of ancient DNA – Higham explores how we became the only humans on Earth and how our ancestors lived – “and live. in our genes today ”.
He is a global tech expert who is revolutionizing what we know about previous human species. Archaeological and genetic discoveries are transforming our understanding of our ancestors.
Higham is among the academics who worked in Siberia, where a new type of human, the Denisovans, was discovered in a remote cave in 2010. From a fragment of a finger bone so small it would have been previously unheard of. identifiable, they were able to extract crucial DNA details that link them to people spread across a vast region of Eurasia, including Southeast Asia.
He says, “The Denisovans are closely related to the Neanderthals and to us. As with the Neanderthals, we crossed paths with them. People today, depending on where they are geographically, have a small amount – and, in some cases, large amounts – of Denisovan DNA.
“At the Denisova cave site, we also uncovered evidence that intriguingly suggests that Denisovans too may have been involved in the making of personal adornments and in the kinds of things that we hitherto thought were our own. exclusive domain and later the Neanderthals. “
This evidence includes rings and beads made from mammoth tusks and ostrich eggshells. “Were these ornaments and the others made by both Denisovans and modern humans?” Higham asks.
New research means that all manner of works of art and decorative items believed to be related to the oldest modern man could have been created by Neanderthals or Denisovans, in the absence of other evidence.
Higham says: “The weight of the evidence now suggests that if there was cultural transmission, it probably occurred both ways, and that the earliest evidence of the beginnings of complex behavior in Europe predated the widespread arrival of Homo sapiens.
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