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Modern humans reached the westernmost part of Europe, in what is now Portugal, 5,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to a study published Monday, which is based on findings at Lapa do Picareiro.
The findings, revealed by an international team in which archaeologists from the University of the Algarve (UAlg) and the Autonomous University of Lisbon (UAL) participate, show the presence of modern man on the Atlantic Coast of the Iberian Peninsula in a period between the 41 and the twentieth century. 38 thousand years, about 5000 years before what was known until now.
In an article published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers conclude that the tools now found at Lapa do Picareiro, in Minde, in the Santarém district, “link this location with similar discoveries in Eurasia with the Russian plain “. .
“The discovery supports a rapid westward dispersal of modern humans across Eurasia a few thousand years after their first appearance in southeastern Europe. The tools document the presence of modern humans in the westernmost part of Europe in a time when he thought that Neanderthals would be present in the region. The discovery has important ramifications for understanding the possible interaction between the two groups and the final disappearance of Neanderthals, “can be read in the statement of the article.
Speaking to Lusa, the archaeologist Nuno Bicho, from UAlg, affirmed that the discovery shows that “the entry of our species in the south of the Iberian Peninsula is much earlier, that is, 5000 years earlier than previously thought. “.
“The discovery has two levels of importance: from an absolute point of view, modern humans reached the Atlantic Coast much earlier than previously thought and an opportunity for coexistence between the two species was created,” said the professor of the UAlg, who was part of the international team with João Cascalheira (also from UAlg) and Telmo Pereira, from UAL.
In the statement, researcher Jonathan Haws, from the University of Louisville, in the United States, points out that it is not yet known how modern humans arrived in the region, recalling that “they probably migrated through rivers from the east to the interior”, before recognizing that a coastal route is also a possibility.
Nuno Bicho highlights that Lapa do Picareiro is very close to the Gruta do Almonda, in Torres Novas, knowing that one of the places shows signs of the presence of Neanderthals and the other of modern humans, although there is no evidence of cultural relationships between the two. groups.
Which means that we are facing “a very complex scientific problem, which is to understand how the relationship between the two groups came about,” said the Portuguese archaeologist, estimating that the next works address this issue.
Nuno Bicho said that, despite the impact caused by the new coronavirus, the laboratory analysis work continued, and it is estimated that the field work will be resumed next July.
“The dispersal of anatomically modern humans in Europe many thousands of years ago is critical to our understanding of where we came from as a now global species. This discovery offers significant new evidence that will help shape future research on how and when anatomically modern humans they reached Europe and what interactions they may have had with Neanderthals, “said John Yellen, director of the archeology program at the National Science Foundation.
Nuno Bicho recalled that “for a long time it was thought that Neanderthals and modern men were two completely different groups, without any cultural or genealogical relationship”, knowing now that “most Europeans have a part of their genetic code that is Neanderthal “which means that at some point there was a genetic exchange between the two groups.
“Until recently, I thought that the Iberian Peninsula would not be the place for this exchange,” said the researcher.
Haws points out that he has been working at Lapa do Picareiro for 25 years: “When you start to think that he has already given you all the secrets he could, a new surprise arises.”
The project is led by Haws, Michael Benedetti from the University of New Carolina Wilmington and Lukas Friedl, from the University of West Bohemia, in the Czech Republic, in association with Nuno Bicho and João Cascalheira, from UAlg, and Telmo Pereira, from UAL . . The team also featured the work of Sahra Talamo, from the University of Bologna, in Italy, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in Leipzig, Germany.
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