Everyone’s Getting Along

Neanderthals and Homo sapiens – were they rivals, peaceful neighbors, or even more intertwined?

For years, researchers weren’t sure.

But now, a new study shows that these two human species coexisted and shared aspects of daily life, interactions which led them to develop common technological and cultural practices, Cosmos Magazine explained.

“Our data show that human connections and population interactions have been fundamental in driving cultural and technological innovations throughout history,” said study co-author Yossi Zaidner of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The region where the species coexisted is the southern Levant in the eastern Mediterranean, consisting of modern-day Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon. Modern humans may have left Africa in waves as early as 250,000 years ago, while Neanderthals emerged in Europe around the same time. Their paths crossed for the first time in the Levant during the Middle Paleolithic (300,000 to 50,000 years ago), leaving behind archeological evidence of their presence and turning the region into a melting pot, according to EarthSky.

“During the mid-Middle Paleolithic, climatic improvements increased the region’s carrying capacity, leading to demographic expansion and intensified contact between different Homo taxa,” said study co-author Marion Prévost.

An example of this contact consists of shared burial customs, which first appeared in the Levant about 110,000 years ago.

During an excavation at a site in central Israel known as the Tinshemet Cave, archeologists found several burial sites belonging to both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, dating to the mid-Middle Paleolithic from130,000 to 80,000 years ago.

Some of the burials found at Tinshemet Cave used mineral pigments, especially ochre, for body decoration, probably to define social identities among ancient human groups.

The findings indicate a period of cultural change, revealing a more intricate network of interactions between ancient human groups than previously thought.