Archaeologists found geological deposits in the Channel island of Jersey which they believed may be the lost site of the last Neanderthals. Their discovery suggests that the Homo neanderthalensis became extinct later than we thought.
Researchers from the Institute of Archaeology at University College London led by Dr. Matt Pope unearthed archaeological findings which scientists thought were lost 100 years ago when the site was first discovered.
The team was at a cave on Jersey's southeastern shore, named La Cotte de St. Brelade, to check a certain area of the cavern when they inadvertently stumbled upon the site containing substantial amount of Neanderthal stones.
These deposits, which preserved 2,500 decades of archaeological proof of Neanderthal life and climate, date back to the last Ice Age which forced their last species to extinction. This is the only archaeological remains of Neanderthals available in Northwestern Europe.
This discovery is very significant as it will allow scientists to study the last of the Neanderthals and to consider the possibility of them living among our own species before the last of the Neanderthal population became extinct.
"In terms of the volume of sediment, archaeological richness and depth of time, there is nothing else like it known in the British Isles. Given that we thought these deposits had been removed entirely by previous researchers, finding that so much still remains is as exciting as discovering a new site," Pope wrote in the report.
The researchers used Optically Stimulated Luminescence to date the deposits by identifying the last traces the sun's luminous rays on the sand particles. The procedure was conducted at Oxford University's History of Art and Luminescence Dating Research Laboratory for Archaeology.
The dating results revealed that the archaeological deposits are between 100,000 and 47,000 years olf. This meant that the teeth remains found in 1910 were not as old as scientists deemed. They believe that these set were owned by the last of the Neanderthals who existed in the area.
Pope thinks that further study with other scientists will help them to better understand the life of the Neanderthal species in the region.
"We may be able to use this evidence to better understand when Neanderthal populations disappeared from the region and whether they ever shared the landscape with the species which ultimately replaced them, us," he said.
The study was published in the Oct. 16 issue of the Journal of Quaternary Science.
**The article has been updated to reflect correct scientific name for Neanderthals
