The age of a known Neanderthal hybrid child definitely with a breakthrough method

The famous skeleton of a child with human and Neanderthal characteristics is already accurately dated, thanks to a new radio -carbon dating technique that provides a more accurate time line in the child’s life.

The child of the Lapo-so called for the Valley in Portugal, in which it was found, was discovered in 1998, when students intervened on the rock shelter that contained the remains. The excavations revealed the almost intact, colored Ochre skeleton, as well as the bones of animals, charcoal and beads made of sea shells. But despite the restoration of a significant number of bones of the child, archaeologists have discovered the remains in relatively poor condition – which means that scientists have not been able to meet the child reliably so far.

The child was part of the Gravian culture, which continued throughout Europe between 32,000 and 24,000 years old and is perhaps most famous for its free figures of Venus. Despite the presence of Gravian culture for thousands of years, the Gravian groups across the continent were not closely linked as one 2023 Genetic Analysis showed.

Attaching the age of the child Lapedo would be useful in several ways: for one, the researchers will know exactly when the population to which the child belongs, inhabits the Portuguese coast. And secondly, the researchers will prove a method that can then be applied to other Gravite and Crown populations across Europe, revealing a more comprehensive schedule for early modern occupation and migration throughout Europe.

“The fact that ONLY A SMALL AMOUNT OF COLLAGEN Said Bethan Linscott, a Researcher at the Oxford RadioCarbon Accelerator University at the University of Oxford and Lead Author of the Study, in an email to gizmodo.

Scientists have tried to calculate a reliable radio carbon date for the child Lapedo in four different cases, each of which cannot hit a reliable period. The latter team believes they have done so using a new dating method that reduces the impact of pollutants in the sample and is aimed at specific amino acids to determine the age of the sample.

“We were able to get a reliable direct date for the skeleton using a relatively new technique called radio -carbon -specific technique,” Linskot added. “Usually collagen is extracted from the bone and is dated in bulk, but this method involves the extraction of a specific amino acid from bone collagen – called hydroxyproline – and instead become acquainted with it. Hydroxyproline is rare elsewhere in nature and essentially acts a little as a collagen fingerprint, so through dating hydroxyproline, we can be sure that the carbon we meet comes directly from the bone, not from pollution. “

The child survived, even in death: According to the research team, the place where the remains were found was terraced by the landowner to build a shed a few years earlier. About 10 feet (3 meters) of archeological material was destroyed in the process, but the funeral of the child was unharmed.

The analysis of the child’s right radius team (one of the two large bones in the forearm) gave a new evaluation of the date for the life of the 4-year 5-year life of the individual: between 27 780 and 28 850 years.

“The new date for the child is in accordance with the original estimates of the age of the funeral, but it changed our interpretation of the funeral events themselves,” Linskot told Gizmodo.

The rotating charcoal under the child, for example, was considered a ritually burned branch for the grave of the child’s baby. But charcoal precedes the child. The grave also contained red deer – thoughts of meat proposals, but also older than the child.

Linscott noted that Pelves could still be placed there intentionally as part of the funeral – perhaps as support – and the dates it was Ritual, perhaps as a symbolic proposal for the grave.

Hydroxyproline dating can be used to calibrate the time of human presence throughout Europe (and beyond) with accuracy. The method was used in the Neanderthal groups – it is believed that the remains of the Neanderthals in the Vindy Cave in Croatia were about 29,000 years ago, and quite a general assessment of the disappearance of the Neanderthals about 40,000 years ago. In 2017, a group of scientists used hydroxyproline to find that the remains of Vindia were indeed older than 40,000 years, indicating that the Croatian find was not a usurping consensus for the Nanderthal time line.

The approach can continue to refine the understanding of scientists about early modern humans and Neanderthals of the movements and professions of the whole continent, and may help to improve the assessments of ancient human relatives around the world in the future.