The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe (original) (raw)

Nature volume 479, pages 521–524 (2011) Cite this article

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Abstract

The earliest anatomically modern humans in Europe are thought to have appeared around 43,000–42,000 calendar years before present (43–42 kyr cal bp), by association with Aurignacian sites and lithic assemblages assumed to have been made by modern humans rather than by Neanderthals. However, the actual physical evidence for modern humans is extremely rare, and direct dates reach no farther back than about 41–39 kyr cal bp, leaving a gap. Here we show, using stratigraphic, chronological and archaeological data, that a fragment of human maxilla from the Kent’s Cavern site, UK, dates to the earlier period. The maxilla (KC4), which was excavated in 1927, was initially diagnosed as Upper Palaeolithic modern human1. In 1989, it was directly radiocarbon dated by accelerator mass spectrometry to 36.4–34.7 kyr cal bp2. Using a Bayesian analysis of new ultrafiltered bone collagen dates in an ordered stratigraphic sequence at the site, we show that this date is a considerable underestimate. Instead, KC4 dates to 44.2–41.5 kyr cal bp. This makes it older than any other equivalently dated modern human specimen and directly contemporary with the latest European Neanderthals, thus making its taxonomic attribution crucial. We also show that in 13 dental traits KC4 possesses modern human rather than Neanderthal characteristics; three other traits show Neanderthal affinities and a further seven are ambiguous. KC4 therefore represents the oldest known anatomically modern human fossil in northwestern Europe, fills a key gap between the earliest dated Aurignacian remains and the earliest human skeletal remains, and demonstrates the wide and rapid dispersal of early modern humans across Europe more than 40 kyr ago.

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Figure 1: Morphology of the KC4 maxilla.

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Figure 2: Bayesian age model for Kent’s Cavern.

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Figure 3: Comparison of direct radiocarbon determinations of AMH bones from European Palaeolithic sites 3,9,19,20,21,22,23,24,25 with the KC4 model age.

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. Kruszynski for allowing us access to fossils and casts in his care and for his help. S. Taft performed CT scans of the specimens, N. Curtis created a preliminary CT-based model and R. Abel provided CT scans of comparative specimens. We thank M. Bradtmöller of NESPOS for his assistance. H. Liversidge provided specimens of modern teeth. S. Bello helped with the Alicona microscope. A. Coppa made available dental morphological data for upper canines, and R. L. Tompkins donated X-ray photographs of fossil dentitions. M. Skinner, P. Gunz, M. Richards, A. Olejniczak and J.-J. Hublin advised on investigative approaches to the study of the specimen. H. Taylor photographed KC4. We are grateful to the following people for making available CT scans of fossils from Neanderthal sites for viewing on the NESPOS database: R. Macchiarelli and J. F. Tournepiche (La Chaise de Vouthon), R. Macchiarelli and D. Berthet (La Quina), B. Illerhaus (Le Moustier) and P. Semal (Spy). Funding was provided by the Leverhulme Trust and the NERC. We thank all staff at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. Funding was provided for T.H. through the NERC (grant NE/D014077/1). C.S. and T.H. are Members, and T.C. is an Associate Member, of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

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Author notes

  1. Roger Jacobi: Deceased.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK ,
    Tom Higham
  2. The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK ,
    Tim Compton, Chris Stringer, Roger Jacobi & Chris Collins
  3. Department of Prehistory and Europe (Quaternary Section), The British Museum, London N1 5QJ, UK,
    Roger Jacobi
  4. Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, 208 Mueller Laboratory, University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802, USA
    Beth Shapiro
  5. Department of Anthropology, Campus Box 1114, Washington University, St Louis, 63130, Missouri, USA
    Erik Trinkaus
  6. Torquay Museum, 529 Babbacombe Road, Torquay TQ1 1HG, UK ,
    Barry Chandler
  7. The Department of Engineering, University of Hull, Kingston upon Hull HU6 7RX, UK,
    Flora Gröning & Michael Fagan
  8. Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK ,
    Simon Hillson
  9. Centre for Anatomical and Human Sciences, Hull York Medical School, The University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK ,
    Paul O’Higgins
  10. Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L9, Canada,
    Charles FitzGerald

Authors

  1. Tom Higham
  2. Tim Compton
  3. Chris Stringer
  4. Roger Jacobi
  5. Beth Shapiro
  6. Erik Trinkaus
  7. Barry Chandler
  8. Flora Gröning
  9. Chris Collins
  10. Simon Hillson
  11. Paul O’Higgins
  12. Charles FitzGerald
  13. Michael Fagan

Contributions

C.S., R.J., E.T. and T.H. initiated the research. C.S., R.J., T.H. and T.C. designed the research. R.J. determined the spatial and depth locations of the AMS-dated bones, identified the material and analysed the site’s lithic remains. T.H. did the AMS dating and Bayesian analysis. T.C. analysed the dental traits. C.F. and S.H. provided comparative dental data. B.S. did the DNA analysis. C.C. reconstructed and conserved the maxilla. B.C. curated the KC4 maxilla. P.O’H. and M.F. did the μCT scanning. F.G. performed the virtual three-dimensional reconstruction of KC4 and prepared the Gough’s Cave CT scans. F.G. and T.C. made the KC4 dental measurements. T.H., C.S. and T.C. wrote the initial draft of the paper. All authors contributed to and helped to edited the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence toTom Higham or Chris Stringer.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Higham, T., Compton, T., Stringer, C. et al. The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe.Nature 479, 521–524 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10484

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Editorial Summary

Early arrivals in Europe

Anatomically modern humans are thought to have arrived in Europe 44,000–42,000 years ago. Physical evidence for early humans is scarce, and these dates are based largely on studies of stone tool assemblages. Two papers published this week use the latest radiocarbon dating and morphological analysis techniques to reassess museum hominid samples. Higham et al. examine a human maxilla from the Aurignacian site at Kent's Cavern in the United Kingdom, discovered in 1927 and previously dated at around 35,000 years old, and arrive at an age of 44,200–41,500 years. The dental morphology of the jawbone indicates that its attribution as early human, rather than Neanderthal, is reliable. Benazzi et al. reanalyse two teeth from the Uluzzian site Grotta del Cavallo in southern Italy and conclude that they are definitively modern, not Neanderthal, and date to 45,000–43,000 years old. A further conclusion from this work is that the Uluzzian culture of southern Europe — always found stratigraphically below the Aurignacian signature culture of the modern humans — may represent the earliest modern humans in Europe rather than the last Neanderthals.

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