‘Neanderthal Pompeii’: dig places humans in Europe earlier than thought

Homo sapiens ventured into Neanderthal territory in Europe much earlier than previously thought, according to a new archaeological study.

Up to now, archaeological discoveries had indicated that Neanderthals disappeared from the European continent about 40,000 years ago, shortly after the arrival of their "cousin" Homo sapiens, barely 5,000 years earlier and there was no evidence of an encounter between these two groups.

The new discovery, by a team of archaeologists and paleoanthropologists led by Ludovic Slimak of Toulouse University, pushes back the arrival of Homo sapiens in western Europe to about 54,000 years ago.

Another remarkable finding of the research is that the two types of humans alternated in inhabiting the Mandrin cave in what is now the Rhone region of southern france.

"The findings provide archaeological evidence that these hominin cousins may have coexisted in the same region of Europe during the same time period," the team said.

Using new techniques, the authors dated some of the human remains to about 54,000 years ago - almost 10,000 years earlier than previous finds in Europe, with one exception in Greece.

"This significantly deepens the known age of the colonization of Europe by modern humans," said Michael Petraglia, an expert on prehistory at Germany's Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.