Human origins from a palaeo perspective
EUROREFUGIA (Human subsistence and climate change in European refugia: Late Neanderthals and early modern humans) was an EU-funded project seeking explanations. This was a key period of human evolution that witnessed the confrontation of two different but advanced cultures: Neanderthals and early modern humans (Homo sapiens). From the palaeoeconomic perspective, the researchers used a multidisciplinary approach to study the archaeological animal remains accumulated by Neanderthals and Homo sapiens as part of their diet. Precise Information on the palaeodiet, which both human species followed, was obtained. At the same time, samples of those animals consumed were taken from Serbian and Iberian archaeological sites in an attempt to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic settings through stable isotopic analyses. In order to accomplish the goals of this project, a laboratory was established at the International Institute for Prehistoric Research of Cantabria (IIIPC), part of the University of Cantabria. A unique laboratory north of the Iberian Peninsula, it houses a complete vertebrate comparative collection and facilities for the preparation of bioarcheological samples for isotopic analysis. Following the establishment of the laboratory, the researchers obtained information about the dietary preferences followed by Neanderthals and early modern humans in the central Balkans and northern Iberia. Additionally, they assigned radiocarbon dates on the animal bones, left by both human species, in order to discover precisely when they occupied those sites. Taking this a step further, the researchers analysed stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur on the consumed animals from the Serbian and Iberian archaeological sites to reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic conditions when the animals lived and were consequently hunted by human species. This was the first time the methodology was applied in these regions. Results show the ways both species were able to cope with climatic and environmental fluctuations and adapt their diet to the changing landscapes. The research reveals that the multidisciplinary techniques applied to fossil fauna material sufficed to find an answer to the questions EUROREFUGIA posed. The work has enhanced the study of climate change and is useful for archaeologists who are studying the extinction of Neanderthals in Europe.
Keywords
Palaeo, Neanderthals, modern humans, evolution, EUROREFUGIA, climate change