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Science Forum Index » Anthropology - Paleo Forum » Spanish scientists point at climate changes as the cause of
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| Roger Bagula |
 Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 5:41 pm |
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http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/geowissenschaften/bericht-79751.html
Spanish scientists point at climate changes as the cause of the
Neanderthal extinction in the Iberian Peninsula
nächste Meldung
28.02.2007
Climate – and not modern humans – was the cause of the Neanderthal
extinction in the Iberian Peninsula. Such is the conclusion of the
University of Granada (Universidad de Granada) research group "RNM 179 -
Mineralogy and Geochemistry of sedimentary and metamorphic
environments", headed by professor Miguel Ortega Huertas and whose
members Francisco José Jiménez Espejo, Francisca Martínez Ruiz and David
Gallego Torres work jointly at the department of Mineralogy and
Petrology of the UGR [http://www.ugr.es] and the Andalusian Regional
Institute of Earth Sciences (CSIC-UGR).
Anzeige
Together with other scientists from the Gibraltar Museum, Stanford
University and the Japan Marine Science & Technology Center (JAMSTEC),
the Spanish scientists published in the scientific journal Quaternary
Science Reviews an innovative work representing a considerable step
forward in the knowledge of human ancestral history.
The results of this multidisciplinary research are an important
contribution to the understanding of the Neanderthal extinction and the
colonisation of the European continent by Homo Sapiens.
During the last Ice Age, the Iberian Peninsula was a refuge for
Neanderthals, who had survived in local pockets during previous Ice
Ages, bouncing back to Europe when weather conditions improved.
Climate reconstructions
The study is based upon climate reconstructions elaborated from marine
records and using the experience of Spanish and international research
groups on Western Mediterranean paleoceanography. The conclusions point
out that Neanderthal populations did suffer fluctuations related to
climate changes before the first Homo Sapiens arrived in the Iberian
Peninsula. Cold, arid and highly variable climate was the least
favourable weather for Neanderthals and 24,000 years ago they had to
face the worst weather conditions in the last 250,000 years.
The most important about these data is that they differ from the current
scientific paradigm which makes Homo Sapiens responsible for the
Neanderthal extinction. This work is a contribution to a new scientific
current – leaded by Dr. Clive Finlayson, from the Gibraltar Museum –
according to which Neanderthal isolation and, possibly, extinction were
due to environmental factors.
These studies on climate variability are part of the work of the group
RNM 179, funded by the excellence project RNM 0432 of the Andalusian
Regional Government’s Department for Innovation, Science and Business
and by the MARCAL project of the Spanish Ministry of Education and
Science, both linked to the Andalusian Environment Centre (CEAMA -
Centro Andaluz de Medio Ambiente).
Antonio Marín Ruiz | Quelle: alphagalileo
Weitere Informationen: www.ugr.es
prensa.ugr.es/prensa/research/index.php |
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