When Neanderthals, Denisovans and homo sapiens met 50,000 years ago, these archaic and modern humans not only intersected during the thousands of years in which they overlapped, but exchanged ideas that sparked a wave of creativity, according to a leading academic.
Tom Higham, professor of archaeological science at Oxford University, argues that their exchange explains “a proliferation of objects in the archaeological record,” such as perforated teeth and conch hangers, the use of pigments and dyes, decorated and incised bones, carved figurative art and cave painting: “In the early 50,000, up to about 38,000 to 40,000 years ago, we see tremendous growth in these types of ornaments that we simply did not see before.”
Between 40,000 and 150,000 years ago, our cousins included the Neanderthals, Homo floresiensis, Homo luzonesis, and the Denisovans.
‘Now it is us alone; there are no other types of people on the planet, ”says Higham. “We always thought that the origins of art and complex cognitive thoughts were the hallmark of us – the modern man. This was called the human revolution. The basis of this hypothesis, which came out in the 1970s, was that humans came from Africa and brought with them a cognitive ability that no other type of people – especially Neanderthals – had … What we think is happening now, is that … it is not limited to modern people at all.
“If our groups were intersecting, then cultural transmission – the exchange of ideas, thoughts and language – might also have taken place. People are good at getting new ideas. “
The latest research, based on recent findings from international scientists and archaeologists, will be included in Higham’s upcoming book, The World Before Us: How Science is Revealing a New Story of Our Human Origins, which will be released by Viking on March 25. published.
He writes that the Earth was a primarily complicated place 50,000 years ago: “To take from Tolkien’s words, we should consider it a true ‘Middle Earth’ in terms of the diversity of forms of the human family then existed. . There were five, six, or even more different kinds of people in different parts of the world. “
In the book, Higham examines, using the latest scientific and technological advances – including radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA analysis – how we became the only humans on Earth and how our ancestors lived – “and live on in our genes today”.
He is a world expert in technology revolutionizing what we know about past human species. Archaeological and genetic discoveries change our understanding of our ancestors.
Higham is one of the academics to have worked in Siberia, where a new type of human, the Denisovans, was discovered in a remote cave in 2010. From a finger bone fragment so small that it would have been previously unidentifiable, they were able to identify crucial DNA details linking them to humans scattered across a vast area of Eurasia, including Southeast Asia.
He says, “Denisovans are closely related to Neanderthals and to us. As with Neanderthals, we interbred with them. People today, depending on where they are geographically, have a small amount – and in some cases large amounts – of Denisovan DNA.
“At the site of the Denisova Cave, we also found evidence that intriguingly suggests that Denisovans were also involved in making personal jewelry and doing things that until now we only thought were exclusively reserved for us and later the Neanderthals. “
That evidence includes rings and beads made from giant tusks and ostrich egg shells. “Were these and the other ornaments made by both Denisovaments and modern humans?” Higham asks.
New research means that all kinds of artwork and decorative items believed to be related to the earliest modern humans may have been created by Neanderthals or Denisovans, in the absence of other evidence.
Higham says, “The weight of evidence now suggests that if there was cultural transmission, it likely took place in both directions, and that the earliest evidence for the onset of complex behavior in Europe was before the widespread advent of Homo sapiens.”