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Study Suggests Neanderthals Died Out Earlier Than Previously Thought

Feb. 4, 2013 9:30pm Jason Howerton

Study Suggests Neanderthals Died Out Earlier Than Once Thought

(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

BERLIN (AP) — Theories about when the last Neanderthals walked the Earth may have to be revised, according to a study that suggests they became extinct in their last refuge in Spain much earlier than previously thought.

Previous dating of bone fossils found at Neanderthal sites in the region put the youngest at about 35,000 years.

But researchers from Australia and Europe re-examined the bones using an improved method to filter out contamination and concluded that the remains are about 50,000 years old.

If true, the study, casts doubt on the idea that modern humans and Neanderthals co-existed – and possibly even interbred – for millennia, because humans aren’t believed to have settled in the region until 42,000 years ago.

“The results of our study suggest that there are major problems with the dating of the last Neanderthals in modern-day Spain,” said Thomas Higham, deputy director of the Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit at Oxford University in England. “It is unlikely that Neanderthals survived any later in this area than they did elsewhere in mainland Europe.”

The study, which was published Monday by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, doesn’t completely exclude the possibility that Neanderthals survived until 35,000 years ago. The problem is that the warm climate on the Iberian peninsula quickly degrades a key protein used in so-called radiocarbon dating.

The researchers were only able to test bones from two of the 11 known Neanderthal sites in Spain. They were subjected to a new method called “ultrafiltration.” This removes more recent carbon molecules that have contaminated the bones and made them appear younger than they actually are.

Such techniques often lead to older radiocarbon dates, said, Chris Stringer, a senior research fellow at Britain’s Natural History Museum. “Science moves on and technology moves on,” he said.

Stringer, who was not involved in the study, said the new techniques should now be applied to other sites in Spain. “Until this is done, there must be a significant question mark over the possible late survival of Neanderthals in the region.”

If the remains from the other sites, too, turn out to be older, any encounter between Neanderthals and humans would have to have taken place earlier than previously thought, he said.

“Evidence from Britain, Belgium, France, Germany and Italy is increasingly pointing to a modern human presence before 40,000 years ago,” said Stringer. “The new chronology suggests that any interaction between the last Neanderthals and the earliest moderns in Europe will similarly move before, rather than after, 40,000 years.”

There is also the chance that Neanderthals survived longer in other corners of Europe, said Rachel E. Wood of the Australian National University in Canberra, a co-author of the study.

“There are some other possible areas that may have also acted as a refuge for the species, such as the Caucasus, but the `young’ radiocarbon dates in these areas have also found to be problematic,” she said.

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Comments (92)

bankerpapaw
Posted on February 5, 2013 at 5:11pm
“Noah, hey Noah. Wait up!! Noah, No—glub,glub,glu—

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Alex
Posted on February 5, 2013 at 4:56pm
I love, love science, and have learned my share in college and graduate school. Great blessings from God. That said, I don’t trust the integrity of many scientists nowadays. The scientific community has become way too politicized, and has become something of a government-supported religion. I don’t buy it. Nowadays, it always seems to have an agenda.

Science is only as good as its scientists. If scientists lack a value system outside science that checks their integrity, science is reduced to alchemy and mythology. Believe it or not, scientists are human too and can be and are influenced by personal biases, politics, and a desire for certain outcomes–yes, even the atheists. Peer review is not immune to corruption, collusion, and manipulation. Those who tell you otherwise are selling something.

There are people in this country and world that wax eloquent about their own open-mindedness and sophistication, and how these all come from their belief in science. These are people I am wary of. They are incredibly naive and have way too much faith in man. The fact is, we know so little.

I believe in God, and in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that people in history have been moved by the hand of God to discover scientific principles. For that we should be grateful and humble, not arrogant, patronizing and condescending.

Great knowledge has been given us, but it can be taken away by the same being who gave it. Learn science, but be humble.

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- Advection
  Posted on February 6, 2013 at 10:53pm
  Well said.
  
  David Berlinski said, regarding the idea that scientists would rather be consumed at the stake rather than fudge data was good for a PBS special, but believing such was unsophisticated. For example, fraudulent drawings that supposidly proved embryologic affinity between species were used for over a century by scientists and educators.
  
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rabby
Posted on February 5, 2013 at 2:00pm
No they didn’t. They are still living. They are called Republicans!!

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- 00100111
  Posted on February 5, 2013 at 2:22pm
  If only you were a little earlier with that comment, it would look like you copied everyone else. Be a little quicker, next time. Mmmkay, pumpkin?
  
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calebjim
Posted on February 5, 2013 at 12:43pm
Do another study and see who really cares about this earth shattering report. This country and other worthless studies piss more money away than the feds.

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getourcountryback
Posted on February 5, 2013 at 10:23am
If only the government had been around to prevent nasty dinosaur farts and cave fires from the pollution that added to their demise……poor neanderthals. Just too stupid to realize they needed a government. No wonder they died out. Sarcasim intended.

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B-Neil
Posted on February 5, 2013 at 10:02am
Science is so unbelievable inaccurate. It’s something to work with but can’t be Gospeled. Science is portrayed as gospel in the area of Global warming accorfing to Al Gore and the progressives. Where is the reliability?? Scienc is YES today, NO tomorrow . Dependability is with the Indivdual and the Family.

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vaman
Posted on February 5, 2013 at 7:54am
Not possible. The world is only 4-5 thousand years old. jesus or god or the bible or something told me. Crazy scientists. How dare they!

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- 00100111
  Posted on February 5, 2013 at 2:23pm
  Such a unique and clever comment. This must have taken you hours to put together. Did you ask your mommy for help?
  
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ALL4FREEDOM
Posted on February 5, 2013 at 7:27am
Neanderthals haven’t died out; Hollywood, the media, and the federal government at the highest levels are rife with them.

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ADNIL
Posted on February 5, 2013 at 6:23am
I too, have become disillusioned with academic science, that seems to change findings the way the wind changes direction, or more correctly, what direction the grant money comes from.

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universalphilos
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 11:45pm
June 19, 1973: “What was the date of the Great Flood?”
“You have no date or calendar known to man. We would answer in this manner. Of your Mayan calendar it would have been the time of the Horse. You, as an archaeologist, may see this within your mind’s eye, for you shall see of the 24-month period in the Mayan calendar; therefore, you shall see of the 24-year period, and you shall see of the 24,000-year period, and so forth, in your counting. From this, you shall see clearly marked upon the Mayan calendar. As we have said before, add 22, subtract 11, do so by 10,000, divide by 3, multiply by 9, and the date shall be given unto you.
You have other questions, ask.”
“Yes, Aka, were the Sons of God people of Sumer, Ur Lagash, or of Samarian?”
“We shall say unto you, they, as you would know, were called of the Sumeria, but yet called before this time. In your interpretation of the word, they called them “those of the air,” for the people of the earth knew not of where they came. Yet those who should depart from your land, and who did depart from your land, after laying seed upon it, took part of the species of your man to plant seed upon other planets. And so the genesis of man began.”

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bioya1
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 11:09pm
Actually, they’re still around. They can be found hanging around governemnt offices or waiting by their PO boxes for gummint checks. You can see a lot of them in one place if you tune into any Democrat national convention where they lie non-stop for days. The men are pansies and the women wear Birkenstocks.

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Maxim Crux
Posted on February 4, 2013 at 11:08pm
and then they made feistein the Frankenstein

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