Italian cave was home to both Neanderthals and Moderm humans

A stunning find in an Italian cave shows that modern humans and neanderthal coexisted in an Italian cave.

ANSA) - Rome, December 4 - Researchers are poring over thousands of tiny artifacts - including a child's milk tooth - found in a southern Italian cave that appears to have been shared by both Neanderthals and early man.

The caves of Roccia San Sebastiano, which overlook the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Naples, are being combed for traces of those who once lived there.w

On the slopes of the medieval fortress of Montis Dragonis, near Mondragone in Caserta province, researchers say they've uncovered layers of history, rich in early historical finds.

The discovery is telling them "a story of the evolution that goes from 40,000 to 20,000 years ago, when the cave was used for uninterrupted time by Neanderthals and Sapiens," says prehistoric archaeologist Carmine Collina.

Within perhaps the oldest layer, dated at between 40,000 to 39,000 years of age, researchers discovered the milk tooth of a Neanderthal child and the remains of many tools, such as tips and splinters, made by Neanderthals.

frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com...

Originally posted by punkinworks10
A stunning find in an Italian cave shows that modern humans and neanderthal coexisted in an Italian cave.

Interesting, though does it actually state that they lived there simultaneously? S&F for illumination, though.

Cool find!
I can't tell for sure, but are those holes in the skull on the right? Curious if they are, how they got there.

reply to post by JohnnyCanuck


It implies they co-habitated in this paragraph

The interesting part of this is that between 40000 and 20000 years ago in parts of Spain, Italy, and the Cacuasus, Neanderthals and early moderns seem to have struck a balance and persisted whereas in other areas the moderns got the upper hand and Neanderthals had gone into a decline-DD]

I've looked for more info but its sparse.

Originally posted by punkinworks10
reply to post by JohnnyCanuck

 

It implies they co-habitated in this paragraph

The interesting part of this is that between 40000 and 20000 years ago in parts of Spain, Italy, and the Cacuasus, Neanderthals and early moderns seem to have struck a balance and persisted whereas in other areas the moderns got the upper hand and Neanderthals had gone into a decline-DD]

I've looked for more info but its sparse.

It's certain that they co-existed in a temporal sense, and it's apparent that they both utilised the cave, but I have my doubts that they shared it. Still, nice to see the word get out that, for a time anyway, Homo sapien sapien had company upon the landscape.

Originally posted by JohnnyCanuck

Originally posted by punkinworks10
reply to post by JohnnyCanuck

 

It implies they co-habitated in this paragraph

The interesting part of this is that between 40000 and 20000 years ago in parts of Spain, Italy, and the Cacuasus, Neanderthals and early moderns seem to have struck a balance and persisted whereas in other areas the moderns got the upper hand and Neanderthals had gone into a decline-DD]

I've looked for more info but its sparse.

It's certain that they co-existed in a temporal sense, and it's apparent that they both utilised the cave, but I have my doubts that they shared it. Still, nice to see the word get out that, for a time anyway, Homo sapien sapien had company upon the landscape.

I totally understand your apprehension. However, considering the claims of cross breeding among the two species, cohabitation (at least in pocketed regions) would seem wholly probable.

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
However, considering the claims of cross breeding among the two species, cohabitation (at least in pocketed regions) would seem wholly probable.

True, but I tend to believe that was a result of rape. Always a tool of warfare and dominance, even if the aggressors have been conditioned to think of the enemy as sub-human. (no pun intended) Pre WW2 Japan vs China/Korea as an example. White vs Black in the American South as another.

But there's nothing to say that there was no cohabitation. Simply that there is no evidence for the circumstance.