-Caveat Lector-
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 4, 2007 9:14:00 PM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Fwd: FREEZE 'CONDEMNED NEANDERTHALS'
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From: "Jim S." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: March 3, 2007 10:56:41 PM PST
Subject: FREEZE 'CONDEMNED NEANDERTHALS'
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/002279.html
FREEZE 'CONDEMNED NEANDERTHALS'
BBC News / Stone Pages
February 7, 2007
A sharp freeze could have dealt the killer blow that finished off
our evolutionary cousins the Neanderthals, according to a new study.
The ancient humans are thought to have died out in most parts of
Europe by about 35,000 years ago. And now, new data from their
last known refuge in southern Iberia indicates the final population
was probably beaten by a cold spell some 24,000 years ago.
The research is reported by experts from the Gibraltar Museum and
Spain.
They say a climate downturn may have caused a drought, placing
pressure on the last surviving Neanderthals by reducing their
supplies of fresh water and killing off the animals they hunted.
Sediment cores drilled from the sea bed near the Balearic Islands
show the average sea-surface temperature plunged to 8C (46F).
Modern-day sea surface
temperatures in the same region vary from 14C (57F) to 20C (68F).
In addition, increased amounts of sand were deposited in the sea
and the amount of river water running into the sea also plummeted.
Southern Refuge
Our own species, Homo sapiens, evolved in Africa, and displaced the
Neanderthals after entering Europe about 40,000 years ago. During
the last Ice Age, the Iberian Peninsula was a refuge where
Neanderthals lived on for several thousand years after they had
died out elsewhere in Europe. These creatures (Homo
neanderthalensis) had survived in local pockets during previous Ice
Ages, bouncing back when conditions improved. But the last one
appears to have been characterised by several rapid and severe
changes in climate which hit a peak 30,000 years ago.
Southern Iberia appears to have been sheltered from the worst of
these. But about 24,000 years ago, conditions did deteriorate
there. This event was the most severe the region had seen for
250,000 years, report Clive Finlayson, from the Gibraltar Museum;
Francisco Jimenez-Espejo, from the University of Granada, Spain;
and colleagues. The cause of this chill may have been cyclical
changes in the Earth's position relative to the Sun -- so-called
Milankovitch cycles.
Gorham's Cave on Gibraltar shows evidence of occupation by groups
of Neanderthals until 24,000 years ago. But thereafter,
researchers have found no signs of their presence. However,
scientists are also now reporting another site, from south-east
Spain, which has yielded evidence for the late survival of
Neanderthals. Sediment layers containing Neanderthal tools were
found to date from 45,000 years ago until 21,000 years ago. These
radiocarbon dates are "raw," and do not exactly correspond to
calendar dates. They cannot therefore be compared directly with
those from Gibraltar, which have been calibrated with calendar dates.
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