Teeth Lead To Discovery In Channel Islands
- Details
- Published: Monday, 15 February 2021 08:29
- Written by Chris Tapper
- Hits: 1202
Recent analysis of ancient tooth specimens has revealed that Homo sapiens may have bred with Neanderthals in the Channel Islands.
The Times reported that after re-examining specimens of Neanderthal teeth that were discovered in Jersey over a century ago, scientists from the Natural History Museum, the University College London Institute of Archaeology and the University of Kent believe the specimens have features similar to teeth found in modern humans.
The discovery is thought to be the first time that signs of ‘mixed heritage’ between the two species have been identified so deep into Western Europe.
Thirteen teeth, which came from two individuals who lived about 48,000 years ago, appear to show they originated from interspecies breeding between Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens.
The teeth were originally identified as Neanderthal because of their distinctive roots, which typically exist as a single mass rather than typically multiple-rooted human teeth.
But using modern techniques including the use of scanning electron microscopes, the researchers found that the teeth, discovered in a cave named La Cotte de St Brelade in 1910 and 1911, lacked certain patterns and ridges in the cusps and crests that would normally be found in Neanderthal teeth.
The specimens displayed features more typical of Homo sapiens. DNA testing will now need to be carried out in order to establish the proportion of Neanderthal and Homo sapiens DNA in the teeth. Previously, there had been no evidence of modern humans in the regions around the Channel until about 43,000 years ago.
Professor Chris Stringer, of the Natural History Museum told The Times “It is an exciting discovery. Only now have we been able to apply new techniques and find features that were unsuspected over the 100 years in which they were classed as Neanderthal by everyone.”
Prof Stringer said that the most likely explanation was interbreeding, explaining “We can’t say how far back it was but it would suggest that these individuals had some way back some great-great-great-grandparents, or whatever, that were one neanderthal and one modern human.”
You need to be logged in to leave comments.
Report