The Last of Them: Investigating the Palaeogeography of the Last Neanderthals in Europe (Marine Isotopic Stage 3)

Albouy, Benjamin; Paquin, Simon; Hinz, Martin; Wren, Colin D.; Burke, Ariane (2023). The Last of Them: Investigating the Palaeogeography of the Last Neanderthals in Europe (Marine Isotopic Stage 3). In: Seuru, Samuel; Albouy, Benjamin (eds.) Modelling Human-Environment Interactions in and beyond Prehistoric Europe. Themes in Contemporary Archaeology (pp. 27-45). Cham: Springer 10.1007/978-3-031-34336-0_2

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Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis) is an endemic species of Eurasia. Appearing in the archaeological record about 350 kilo years Before Present (ky BP), it is associated with the Middle Palaeolithic period and the Mousterian archaeological culture. It occupied a vast territory, extending from Europe to the Middle East and as far East as the Altai region. Although Neanderthals display behavioral and adaptive diversity, the last palaeoanthropological and archaeological evidence of their presence in Western Europe dates to 40 ky BP. Their gradual decline and eventual disappearance took place during a period of great climatic instability, namely Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3; 60 to 27 ky BP), which also saw the arrival of the first anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) in Europe. It therefore appears necessary to investigate the impact of these factors in order to understand Neanderthal extinction. One of the main challenges is to correlate known archaeological data (chronological and spatial) with high resolution palaeoenvironmental data. Here, we present a methodology that assigns archaeological layers to a cold (stadial) or warm (interstadial) phase of MIS 3. This approach allows us to approach the palaeogeography of the last Neanderthals from a new perspective and provides a novel basis for modelling the influence of the abrupt climatic changes of this period on the resilience of this population.

Item Type:	Book Section (Book Chapter)
Division/Institute:	06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of History and Archaeology > Institute of Archaeological Sciences 10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR) 06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of History and Archaeology > Institute of Archaeological Sciences > Pre- and Early History
UniBE Contributor:	Hinz, Martin, Burke, Ariane
Subjects:	500 Science > 550 Earth sciences & geology 900 History > 930 History of ancient world (to ca. 499)
ISBN:	978-3-031-34335-3
Series:	Themes in Contemporary Archaeology
Publisher:	Springer
Language:	English
Submitter:	Martin Hinz
Date Deposited:	04 Aug 2023 11:39
Last Modified:	04 Aug 2023 11:39
Publisher DOI:	10.1007/978-3-031-34336-0_2
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/185221