A new study led by University of Wollongong geochronologist Professor Richard 'Bert' Roberts has uncovered that Siberian Neanderthals were intrepid nomads.
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The study, published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, reveals that Neanderthals made an intercontinental trek of more than 3000 km to reach Siberia's Altai Mountains, equipped with a distinctive toolkit used to kill and butcher bison and horses.
Neanderthals are our nearest evolutionary cousins and survived until around 40,000 years ago in western Europe. Their legacy lives on today in the DNA of all people with European or Asian ancestry.
Neanderthal fossils were first reported from the Altai Mountains - the easternmost outpost of their known geographic range - in 2007.
Nestled in the foothills, Chagyrskaya Cave has yielded 74 Neanderthal fossils, more than any other site in the region, as well as almost 90,000 stone tools and numerous bone tools made by Neanderthals.
Prof Roberts was part of a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from Russia, Australia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany and Canada that carried out detailed site investigations to discover new clues about the history of these Siberian Neanderthals.
"The most surprising discovery was how closely the Chagyrskaya stone tools resemble Micoquian tools from archaeological sites in central and eastern Europe," project leader Dr Kseniya Kolobova from the Russian Academy of Science's Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography said.
Dr Kolobova and her team identified the region between the Crimea and the northern Caucasus as the likely ancestral homeland of the Chagyrskaya toolmakers.
"This part of eastern Europe is 3000 to 4000 kilometres from Chagyrskaya Cave, the equivalent of walking from Sydney to Perth or from New York to Los Angeles - a truly epic journey," co-author Prof Roberts Roberts from UOW's Centre for Archaeological Science said.
The new archaeological evidence indicates at least two separate migrations of Neanderthals into southern Siberia, and is independently supported by whole-genome studies of ancient DNA obtained from Neanderthal fossils.
The first migration occurred more than 100,000 years ago, blazing a trail to the nearby site of Denisova Cave-famous as the home of the enigmatic Denisovans, a sister group to Neanderthals, who also occupied the cave at times.
A more recent migration event-originating in eastern Europe possibly about 60,000 years ago-led to the arrival of Neanderthals at Chagysrkaya Cave, armed with their distinctive Micoquian toolkit.
"By combining these new insights from archaeology and genetics, we can start to piece together the intriguing story of the easternmost Neanderthals and the events that shaped the history of our ancient human relatives," Dr Kolobova said.
Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
