The application of the most current methodologies to analyze the human remains from the Lezetxiki de Arrasate (Guipúzcoa) site have confirmed that these are remains belonging to Neanderthals and that they lived in northern Spain for longer than previously thought. until now.
The research, published in the journal American Journal of Biological Anthropology and in which the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) has participated, has analyzed two isolated dental remains recovered during archaeological excavation work at this emblematic site on the Cantabrian coast and has confirmed a late Neanderthal presence in the north from the Iberian peninsula.
The Lezetxiki deposit is in the municipality of Arrasate, in the middle of a karst complex with several cavities partially dismantled, and, although it was discovered in 1927, it was not until almost 30 years later that excavations began at this site, the first between 1956 and 1968, and the second between 1996 and 2018.
They have found stone tools from the Mousterian period, corresponding to the Neanderthals, but also tools from the Aurignacian, which is already related to Homo sapiens.
reference site
This place is considered a historical site of reference for the knowledge of prehistory, especially in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, because practically all the cultural phases of prehistory are represented throughout its stratigraphic sequence, with levels corresponding to the Paleolithic lower, middle and upper, providing remains corresponding to different human groups.
Thus, at the Lezetxiki site they have found stone tools corresponding to the cultural period known as Mousterian, that is to say, of the cultural period corresponding to the Neanderthals, but also typical tools of the Aurignacian period, already corresponding to the A wise man.
According to the researchers, this transition period between the Mousterian and the Aurignacian is one of the most important aspects provided by the site as it is a time when Neanderthals were replaced by anatomically modern humans.
Now, the radiocarbon dating of the remains found have made it possible to determine the chronological importance of the different levels of the excavations, which range between 32,600 and 39,500 years in the Aurignacian culture and at least 46,500 years in the Mousterian culture.
Lezetxiki dental remains from the Barandiarán excavation in 1966 and which have been assigned to adult Neanderthals. / Diego López-Onaindia
Chronological reassignment
In this context of chronological and typological reassignment of the material analysed, the researchers have re-studied the dental remains since all of this cast doubt on their taxonomic assignment to Neanderthals.
The teeth studied, an upper molar tooth and a lower premolar, from the excavations carried out in 1966 have been the subject of a new paleoanthropological analysis, with the application of new techniques and methods, among them the dental tissue analysis from microcomputerized tomography scans and geometric morphometry.
The results obtained have been compared with other known specimens in the fossil record of the Middle Pleistocene, both Neanderthals, as well as modern humans from the Upper Paleolithic and modern humans from the Neolithic.
According to IPHES, the conclusion is clear: “All the indicators obtained are consistent with a Neanderthal classification of the remains.”
Although there are other sites such as Axlor (Vizcaya) or Arrillor (Álava) that have also provided dental remains ascribed to Neanderthals, in both cases they are remains belonging to infant individuals.
The new paleoanthropological analysis concludes that all the indicators obtained are consistent with a Neanderthal classification of the remains.
In this case, then, the dental remains from the Lezetxiki site become the only ones belonging to adult Neanderthals from the region of the western Pyrenees recovered today.
This reassignment of the remains, together with the new data from the radiometric dating of the Lezetxiki levels, confirm a Neanderthal presence much later than previously thought in the north of the Iberian Peninsula in this transition period between the Middle Paleolithic and the top.
The work has been coordinated by the researcher at the University of Bordeaux Diego Lopez-Onaindiawith the collaboration of the researcher from the IPHES and the Universidad Rovira i Virgili (URV) of Tarragona Marina Lozano; as well as Aida Gómez-Roblesfrom University College London; Alvaro Arrizabalagafrom the University of the Basque Country, and Mª Eulalia Subiràfrom the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).
Rights: Creative Commons.