Impact of climate change on the transition of Neanderthals to modern humans in Europe

Abstract

SignificanceA causality between millennial-scale climate cycles and the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans in Europe has tentatively been suggested. However, that replacement was diachronous and occurred over several such cycles. A poorly constrained continental paleoclimate framework has hindered identification of any inherent causality. Speleothems from the Carpathians reveal that, between 44,000 and 40,000 years ago, a sequence of stadials with severely cold and arid conditions caused successive regional Neanderthal depopulation intervals across Europe and facilitated staggered repopulation by modern humans. Repetitive depopulation–repopulation cycles may have facilitated multiple genetic turnover in Europe between 44,000 and 34,000 years ago.

Speleothem Records from the Eastern Part of Europe and Turkey—Discussion on Stable Oxygen and Carbon Isotopes

“…Spatial coverage of records in the 41-44 • N latitudinal belt ( Figure 1) could be improved with recently published studies from Macedonia [51], Croatia [52] and Bosnia [53] (Table 1). Recently published records from Demänovska Valley [54], Cloşani [10], Tăuşoare-, and Ascunsă caves [55] are also expected to expand the data coverage for the Carpathian region.…”

The Chronostratigraphy of the Aurignacian in the Northern Carpathian Basin Based on New Chronometric/Archeological Data from Seňa I (Eastern Slovakia)

“…For the moment, our ages contribute to a minimum age for the Aurignacian assemblage at Seňa I, and consequently cannot contribute to the question of synchrony with preceding regional industries such as the Szeletian or Bohunician. However, the notable absence of these earlier technocomplexes from the Hornád Basin that are well known from neighboring regions suggests that Aurignacian settlements in the region do not clearly map onto preceding (or subsequent) technocomplexes and may be the result of preferential landscape use, possibly mitigated by changes in climate and environment (Staubwasser et al 2018).…”

Did Human Reality Denial Breach the Evolutionary Psychological Barrier of Mortality Salience? A Theory that Can Explain Unusual Features of the Origin and Fate of Our Species

“…For example, the mirror self-recognition test is not proof of self-awareness, the evidence for selfawareness in some nonhuman species is not definitive, and self-awareness in various distantly related species may not have necessarily evolved from the same neural processes. It is also true that theory of mind is not a clearly definable concept, that some other mammals and birds may have something approaching a full theory of mind, and that Neanderthals have left some evidence for an extended theory of mind, including burials and injured elderly individuals who must have been cared for (Ekshtain & Tryon, 2019;Morin & Laroulandie, 2012;Nakahashi, 2017;Pettitt, 2010;Staubwasser, Drăgușin, Onac, et al, 2018). Considering the archeological record, stone tool production must have required some degree of teaching, verbal communication, or at minimum active demonstration that was occurring prior to the appearance of modern humans (Asfaw, Gilbert, Beyene, et al, 2002), and the production of ochre pigment (Rosso, Pitarch Martí, & d'Errico, 2016), and long-range transport of obsidian toolmaking materials (Blegen, Jicha, & McBrearty, 2018) also predates evidence for modern humans.…”