Scientists have discovered an ancient tooth that challenges theories about the first Europeans

A 54,000-year-old Homo sapiens baby tooth was found in a cave among the remains of Neanderthals.

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Archaeologists have discovered a 54,000-year-old child’s molar tooth in the Grotto Mandrin cave in southern France. Such a finding suggests that modern humans appeared in Europe 10 thousand years earlier than scientists had previously assumed. About this informs CNN.

It is noteworthy that a Homo sapiens tooth was found among a layer of Neanderthal remains. According to scientists, this indicates that two types of people lived in this region in parallel.

These findings call into question the long-standing theory that competition for resources with more intellectually advanced Homo sapiens caused the extinction of Neanderthals.

“We thought that the appearance of modern humans in Europe led to the rather rapid death of Neanderthals, but these new data suggest that the issue of the appearance of modern humans in Europe and the disappearance of Neanderthals is much more complex,” said Chris Stringer, professor and head of human evolution research at the Natural History Museum in London.

According to remains found earlier in Italy and Bulgaria, the arrival of the first Homo sapiens from Africa to Europe dated from 43,000 to 45,000 years ago – shortly before the last remains of Neanderthals were found, dating from 40,000 to 42,000 years ago. These time frames have led many scientists to think that the appearance of Homo sapiens and the disappearance of Neanderthals are inextricably linked.

But the otanki in the Mandren Grotto indicate that these two species lived together in Europe for a much longer period.

Moreover, according to genetic studies, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had common children. Scientists have found that nowadays the DNA of all modern people (except the inhabitants of Africa) contains 2% of Neanderthal genes.

According to Marie-Helene Moncel, director of research at the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris, the discovery of just one tooth is not enough to finally push back the dates of Homo sapiens’ arrival in Europe.

“There are not enough teeth, we have to find postcranial or cranial remains to be sure,” Monsel said.

As I wrote earlier Stunt, scientists have discovered a “relative” of the coronavirus in the bones of a Neanderthal, aged 50 thousand years. According to research, ancient man became infected while cutting and cooking raw meat. Scientists believe that this is one of the very first cases in history when the disease was transmitted from an animal to a person.

Recall, off the coast of the island of Tahiti in the South Pacific Ocean scientists have discovered a unique coral reefwhich turned their ideas about the ocean upside down.

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