Francisca Martínez and Francisco J. Jiménez Espejo, who are researchers of the Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra and the research group ‘Mineralogía y Geoquímica de los ambientes sedimentario y metamórfico’ of the Universidad de Granada, headed by the teacher Miguel Ortega Huertas, have participated in a new work published in the science journal Nature. This work signifies an outstanding advance in reconstructing the history of our ancestors.
The results of this multidisciplinary research constitute an important contribution to the dating of the extinction of the Neanderthals and to the colonization of Europe by the Homo sapiens. This work points out that Neanderthals lived in southern Spain for longer than previously thought. Specifically, the evidence for occupation of the last Neanderthals has been discovered in the cave of Gorham, in Gibraltar. In addition, the combination of results found in other subjects such as Palynology, Taphonomy, Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Archaeology and so on has revealed that the extinction of the Neanderthals could be due primarily to climate and environmental changes and not due to the competition with modern humans. The extinction is possibly one of the most discussed matters in Human Palaeontology, so this work is a very important advance both for dating the last survivors as well as for ascertaining the relations between the ancient hominids with Homo sapiens.
Extinction for climatic reasons
The researches conducted by the Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra and in the Department of Mineralogy and Petrology of the Universidad de Granada (UGR) have been focused on the geochemical and mineralogical features of the sediments in the different levels of the cave of Gorham. Some of the chemical analysis have been made in the Centro de Instrumentación Científica of the UGR. The results from the analysis have confirmed that there is no pollution in the levels of the cave and this has been key in certifying the dating and to draw the conclusions presented in the article. The pollution in the stratigraphic levels of some archaeological sites makes difficult to confirm whether a fossil record belongs to a certain level. The detailed analysis of these sediments, which are specific to each level and are composed mainly of clay, calcite, and quartz and have connections of magnesium (Mg) / aluminium (Al) and potassium (K) / aluminium (Al), has corroborated the absence of pollution between different levels.
In addition, the studies on climate and its variability undertaken by this research group through a project of excellence of the Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa de la Junta de Andalucía and the project MARCAL of the Ministry of Education and Science, both belonging to the Centro Andaluz de Medio Ambiente . (CEAMA ), have served as the basis for attributing the extinction of the last Neanderthals in Spain to climatic factors.
Reference
Prof. Francisca Martínez Ruiz. Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra
Phone Number. 958 246 228 Mobile. 630 880 514 Email Address. fmruiz@ugr.es
Prof. Francisco J. Jiménez Espejo
Dpto. Mineralogía y Petrología (CSIC- Universidad de Granada).
Phone Number. 958 243 585 Mobile. 653 104 691. Email Address. fjjspejo@ugr.es
