Neanderthals of the north
Flexible adaptation to changing environmental conditions
Date:
April 26, 2022
Source:
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Summary:
A multidisciplinary research team has investigated whether
Neanderthals were well adapted to life in the cold or preferred
more temperate environmental conditions. Based on investigations
in Lichtenberg in the Wendland region (Lower Saxony, Germany),
the researchers showed that during the last Ice Age, Neanderthals
visited their northernmost settlement areas even during cold phases
-- albeit more frequently in the summer months.
FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Were Neanderthals really as well adapted to a life in the cold as
previously assumed, or did they prefer more temperate environmental
conditions during the last Ice Age? To answer these questions, it is
worthwhile to examine Neanderthal sites on the northern periphery of
their range. After all, it was there that environmental fluctuations
were most noticeable, especially as a result of repeated ice advances
from Scandinavia. A region particularly suitable for such investigations
is northern Germany, with its numerous documented Neanderthal sites.
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In a recent study, researchers from MPI-EVA, FAU, Leuphana University Lu"neburg, LIAG and other partner institutions have now investigated
the remains of Neanderthals at a former lakeshore in Lichtenberg in the Wendland region (Lower Saxony). Using an integrative research approach,
the team has combined analytical methods from archaeology, luminescence
dating, sedimentology, micromorphology with the study of pollen and
phytoliths to explore in detail the relationship between human presence
in the north and changing environmental conditions.
A window into environmental history "Archaeological excavations are a
window into environmental history," says Michael Hein, a geographer
at MPI-EVA. "Based on sediments and pollen grains they contain, we
can reconstruct the vegetation and environmental conditions of the
time. For this, the most accurate dating possible is required, which --
in the case of Central Europe -- is still lacking for many climatic
phases of the last Ice Age." Collecting environmental information and performing independent dating is of great interest to archaeology and paleoenvironmental research alike.
"In Lichtenberg, we have now succeeded in dating quite accurately the
end of a pronounced warm phase -- the so-called Bro"rup Interstadial --
to 90,000 years," Hein adds. "Thus, the cooling of the continent would
have coincided with the climate change in the Greenland ice and the
North Atlantic. A direct coupling had so far only been suspected --
but not proven -- for northern Germany." Settlement of northern areas
also during cold phases The study also found that Neanderthals occupied a lightly wooded lakeshore about 90,000 years ago in a relatively temperate climate. Stone tools found at the former campsite attest to a variety of activities, such as woodworking and plant processing. Already between 1987
and 1994, the Landesmuseum Hannover excavated a site close to Lichtenberg containing bifacial backed knives, so- called "Keilmesser" -- specialized cutting tools. In the excavations, the layers of this former campsite
are located above the lakeshore campsite, which is associated with a
temperate climate period, and date to a time about 70,000 years ago,
when the last Ice Age's first cold maximum began. The researchers were
thus able to prove that Neanderthals had indeed inhabited the northern
regions even during cold phases.
Flexible adaptation to environmental conditions "Changes in stone tools indicate that Neanderthals adapted in line with changing environmental conditions," says Marcel Weiss, an archaeologist at FAU.
"In Lichtenberg, we were able to show that they repeatedly visited
northern Central Europe -- which developed from a heavily forested
environment during the last warm period, to sparser forests of
a cold-moderate climate period at the beginning of the last Ice Age,
to the cold tundra of the first cold maximum." In this context, the
stone tools, especially knives made of flint, show that the Neanderthals' lakeshore site may have served a hunting party for a short stay. Evidence
from other sites from the same time period indicates that during cold
phases Neanderthals likely visited their northern dwelling grounds mainly during the summer months.
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Max_Planck_Institute_for_Evolutionary_Anthropology. Note: Content may
be edited for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Marcel Weiss, Michael Hein, Brigitte Urban, Mareike C. Stahlschmidt,
Susann Heinrich, Yamandu H. Hilbert, Robert C. Power, Hans v.
Suchodoletz, Thomas Terberger, Utz Bo"hner, Florian Klimscha,
Stephan Veil, Klaus Breest, Johannes Schmidt, Debra Colarossi,
Mario Tucci, Manfred Frechen, David Colin Tanner, Tobias
Lauer. Neanderthals in changing environments from MIS 5 to early
MIS 4 in northern Central Europe - Integrating archaeological,
(chrono)stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental evidence at the site
of Lichtenberg. Quaternary Science Reviews, 2022; 284: 107519 DOI:
10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107519 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220426101653.htm
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