Main article: History of Spain
43 thousand hp: The last Neanderthals on the Iberian Peninsula
Main article: Neanderthals
Until the early 2010s, scientists believed that the Iberian Peninsula during the Würm glaciation was a refugium - a refuge where Neanderthals lived for several more millennia after Neanderthal populations died out in the rest of Europe (for example, in the Gorama cave on Gibraltar Rock or on the Ebro River, where a situation developed on the border of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic called the "Ebro border": on the north bank of the Ebro River there were Cro-Magnons, and on the south bank in the arid conditions of the Edaphic steppes - the last Neanderthals). However, according to later data, Neanderthals completely died out in Europe 39.26-41.03 thousand years ago, and in the Iberian Peninsula, Neanderthals died out no later than 43 thousand years ago.
A study published in the journal Nature in August 2014 found that Neanderthals disappeared in Europe between 41 and 39,000 years ago. This conclusion appeared as a result of the analysis of finds from the territory from the Black Sea region to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. However, a new work published in February 2015 shows that Neanderthals disappeared earlier in the Iberian Peninsula, perhaps about 43,000 years ago. This is evidenced by the new dates received for the El Salt parking monument.
"Both conclusions do not contradict each other, but complement each other," said Bertila Galván, lead author of a new article published in the Journal of Human Evolution, a researcher at the University of La Laguna in Tenerife (Spain). She was also the author of a paper in August's Nature.
Until recently, archaeologists had no direct dates for the remains of Neanderthals from Spain. Now they are - in all cases, the remains have an age of at least 43 thousand and no more than 45 thousand years. The context allows you to narrow this date somewhat. The most recent remains are marked as questionable or accompanied by a small number of stone tools that could confirm bone attribution.
In an August study from Nature, the date of 40 thousand years ago was considered the "starting point," since after that time there is almost no evidence of the presence of Neanderthals in Europe. At the same time, the authors of the article admitted that the process of "extinction" of these "relatives" of man was complex and manifested itself in different ways in different parts of Europe.
In this context, the new work questions the presence of Neanderthals in the Iberian Peninsula later than 43,000 years ago. At the same time, the authors of the study provided information that testifies to the reliable archaeological context of the new dates. They are also confirmed by "reliable information" from other monuments in Spain.
Together with the new dates, the article also publishes the find of six teeth of the adult Homo neanderthalensis. Perhaps this is one of the last "Spanish" Neanderthals[1] of[2].
New high-precision methods of analysis, together with paleoecological and archaeological data, indicate a gradual extinction of Neanderthals. Most likely, the "extinction" was not sudden, but gradual, over several millennia, says Cristo Hernandez (Cristo Hern? ndez), co-author of the new paper and a researcher at the University of La Laguna.
The gradual disappearance of Neanderthals coincided with climate change: it became drier and colder. People of the modern species did not affect the disappearance of the "Spanish" Homo neanderthalensis - in the Iberian Peninsula they appeared after their "relatives" became extinct. The new dates indicate a chronological gap between the last Pyrenean Neanderthals and the first "Spanish" Homo sapiens. This gap is also confirmed by the layer of desolation that is not only in El Salta, but also on other monuments of Iberia.
Movies:
- Disappeared People (2016)
65 thousand hp: Neanderthals in Cueva de Ardales
Main article: Cueva de Ardales
200 thousand hp
400 thousand hp: The mtDNA sequence of the Heidelberg man from the cave of Sima de los Uesos is closer to the sequence of Denisovans
The 400,000-year-old mtDNA sequence from the femur of "H. heidelbergensis" from Cima Sima de los Huesos in Spain appeared to be similar to those of Neanderthals and Denisovans, but closer to Denisovans, and the authors suggested that this mtDNA sequence was an archaic sequence that was subsequently lost in Neanderthals due to replacement with a sequence related to modern humans.
430,000 hp: People from the Sima de los Huesos cave could hibernate for the winter
In January 2021, it became known that a group of researchers from Greece and Spain found evidence that 430 thousand years ago, people could hibernate for the winter.
The study is published in L'Anthropologie, briefly about it tells Science Alert.
When a bear wakes from hibernation (a type of energy-saving sleep often used synonymously with hibernation), its bones and muscles will be in the same condition as before. This is because bears have special metabolic processes that protect them during long-term sleep. However, sometimes this process does not go according to plan. For example, there are a number of diseases that lie in wait for animals after hibernation if they did not receive enough food before that.
The human body is not adapted to such a long sleep.
"People in hibernation may suffer from rickets, hyperparathyroidism and fibrotic ostitis if they do not have sufficient fat stores. All these diseases are an expression of renal osteodystrophy, characteristic of chronic kidney disease, "said paleoanthropologists Antonis Bartsiokas and Juan Luis Arsuaga in their[3] have[4].
Researchers believe that it is these signs that some human ancestors have, whose remains were discovered in a Spanish cave called Sima de los Huesos (Bone Gap).
In a deep mine in the Major cave in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain), many remains of hominins have been discovered, dating back about 430,000 years. At least some of them belong to the Heidelberg man - Homo heidelbergensis, an intermediate species in human evolution.
After examining the remains, the team found traces of intermittent growth in adolescents interrupted annually for a long time, as well as signs of vitamin D deficiency due to lack of exposure to sunlight. Scientists have suggested that these ancient hominins fell asleep during the colder season, and so their bones show traces of months spent without sufficient supplies of fat, a lack of vitamin D and strange seasonal spikes in growth.
"Thehibernation hypothesis is consistent with genetic evidence and the fact that hominins from Sima de los Huesos lived during the Ice Age," the researchers explained.
"The notion that humans may be in a hypometabolic state similar to hibernation may sound like science fiction, but the fact that hibernation is used by very primitive mammals and primates suggests that the genetic basis and physiology of such hypometabolism may persist in many mammalian species, including humans," they concluded.
The study is preliminary, however, and scientists will need much more information before confirming whether or not man's ancient ancestors actually hibernated, and how the human species eventually completely lost that ability.
500 thousand hp: The first people in the gallery complex in Atapuerk
The gallery complex in Atapuerque includes a 12-meter-deep funnel, a large gallery and a small pit known as the Covacha de los Sarpasos. The three holes are interconnected to form a system of caves.
A team led by Emiliano Aguirre began excavating the site in 1978 and six stratigraphic levels have been identified for 2019. The lowest level (GI) is over 780,000 years old, but the first hominids and large mammals could have accessed the pit no earlier than 500,000 years ago (GII). The mouth of the sinkhole acted as a natural trap, causing careless animals to fall deep into the pit.
Human groups (Homo heidelbergensis) and predators entered the cave through Covacha de los Sarpasos and used meat, skin and bones from trapped animals.
The bears also used the site for hibernation, and traces of their claws can still be seen on the cave walls. About 180,000 years ago, sediments filled most of the cavity and made it impossible for hominids to enter the interior (GIG). Small predators were the last mammals to enter the cave to seek refuge.
600 thousand hp: Homo heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis led the widespread settlement of Western Europe about 600,000 years ago. The term applies to fossils, which in some cases represent significant differences, possibly even at the species level.
The Ashel technological complex, which is characterized by the production of tools from stone scraps, also entered Europe, possibly through the Strait of Gibraltar, a million years after it was invented in Africa. Although this technique is of local origin, it appears to have evolved from Asian tools that may have already been present at the oldest European sites. At some sites, both technology complexes can be associated with cutting and eating harvested animals.
804 thousand hp: Heidelberg man - a common ancestor of Denisovans and Neanderthals - separated from the ancestors of Homo sapiens
The common ancestor of Denisovans and Neanderthals separated in Africa from the ancestors of Homo sapiens about 804 thousand years ago.
Heidelberg man is generally believed to have been a direct ancestor of Denisovans and Neanderthals. For details, see Palaeolithic in Spain.
1 million hp
The first Achelles in Europe in the parking lot of Barranca de la Boella
The site of Barranc de la Boella, Southern Spain (about 1 million hp). As of 2021, this is the oldest Acheulean site in Europe. In four almost simultaneous culture-containing layers, 326 stone artifacts were found.
Homo antecessor cannibals in Sierra de Atapuerca
Fossil remains from the stratigraphic level of TD6 in the Grand Valley (Great Karst Funnel) in the Sierra de Atapuerca, which are almost 1 million years old, are attributed to a new species, Homo antecessor.
The boy's bones were found along with the remains of at least five other people aged between 3 and 20. Bone marks left by stone tools indicate that they were eaten along with other animals.
A combination of modern craniofacial features and primitive dental features defined them as a new species, Homo antecessor. The width of the teenager's forehead ATD 6-15 is greater than that of Homo ergaster and African and Asian Homo erectus.
Its discoverers believe it to be the last common ancestor between the branch that led to H. sapiens in Africa and the European lineage that produced Neanderthals.
Other experts see them simply as one of several Pleistocene populations that did not develop further, and refer to "H. heidelbergensis" as the African species that reached Europe about 600,000 years ago and evolved into Neanderthals.
1.3 million hp: The first settlers on the Iberian Peninsula could be of Asian origin
The 1.3 million-year-old mandible from the Sima del Elephante (Elephant Pit) in the Sierra de Atapuerca is similar to Asian finds and suggests that the first settlers on the Iberian Peninsula could be of Asian origin.
1.4 million hp
Human facial bones in Cima del Elephante in Sierra de Atapuerca near Burgos
In September 2022, it was revealed that Spain the oldest human fossils ever found in were found in. To Europe Found near Burgos in northern Spain, the 1.4 million-year-old facial bones could eventually rewrite a person's background, according to archaeologists.
Archaeologists are celebrating a major "breakthrough" after the discovery of 1.4 million-year-old human fossils in the caves of the Sierra de Atapuerca excavation near Burgos, notably the Cima del Elefante.
The facial bones discovered in June are the oldest human fossils ever discovered on the European continent, and the landmark find could even change the background of humanity, according to scientists involved in the excavation.
"We do not yet know which first species of person the fragments found belonged to. But they represent a breakthrough that will help rewrite human history, "said archaeologist Aurora Martin, general coordinator of the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos.
Chronologically, the Sierra de Atapuerca archaeological site cluster covers much of European prehistory. The discovery of several species of human fossils made the sites world famous.
Child from Orsay
In Orsa (Granada), a child's tooth dated 1.4 million years old was discovered. Read more here (Fr.)
1.65 million hp: Man or horse from Orsay
"The Man from Orsay" is a fragment of a VM-0 skull found in Plio-Pleistocene deposits in the Venta Misena area (Orsay, Granada, Spain).
The antiquity of the find is 1.65 million years (paleomagnetic method). The fragment was described by a group of Spanish paleontologists led by X. Djibert in 1983 and defined as Homo sp. In the following decades, there was a heated discussion around the skull fragment, which could not give an unambiguous answer to the question of whether it belongs to the oldest person or horse found in Europe. Read more here
Human evolution
Main article: Human Evolution
See also
Notes
- ↑ [https://www.nkj.ru/news/25856/ "Spanish" Neanderthals disappeared before the arrival
- ↑ the Sapiens]
- ↑ [https://naukatv.ru/news/uchenye_predpolozhili_chto_pervobytnye_lyudi_mogli_vpadat_zimoj_v_spyachku new article. Scientists
- ↑ suggested that primitive people could hibernate in winter]
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