- The remains of the Lapedo Child, found in Portugal in 1998, showed signs of being both Neanderthal and human, as later confirmed by DNA.
- New techniques in radiocarbon dating allowed scientists to date the remains to roughly 28,000 years ago.
- The fresh dating timeline puts the remains roughly 40,000 years beyond Neanderthal extinction.
Neanderthal genes seem to have hung around long after Neanderthals themselves did, as new scientific dating of the famed Lapedo Child remains shows that remains of a child with both human and Neanderthal features was from tens of thousands of years after when the latter went extinct.
The Lapedo Child, discovered by happenstance by archaeologists inspecting rock formations in Portugal in 1998, at the time wowed the scientific community with the obvious mixture of both Neanderthal and human characteristics, and further DNA testing confirmed he had genes from both groups. Now, in a new study published by Science Advances, a team of researchers wrote that an updated radiocarbon dating technique allowed them to date the remains to between 27,780 and 28,550 years ago, roughly 40,000 years after Neanderthals went extinct.
The ochre-stained skeleton of the roughly 4- or 5-year-old child—experts believe the body was wrapped in a painted animal skin for burial in the Lagar Velho rock shelter—when found “exhibited a mosaic of Neanderthal and anatomically modern human features argued to reflect admixture between the two human populations,” the authors wrote. Initial observations showed distinct markers, such as a human-like prominent chin, but short, stocky legs akin to a Neanderthal.
But at the point of discovery dating was tricky, thanks to the era’s technology (or lack thereof) and the fact that plants had started growing into the bones. All these years later, the team used hydroxyproline “direct compound-specific radiocarbon” to date five bones and underlying contexts—those contexts included rabbit bones found on top of the child, deer bones near the remains, and charcoal under the body—to reassess the dating. The process determined that the remains are roughly 28,000 years old.
“The key benefit of compound-specific radiocarbon dating is that it is extremely efficient at removing contamination from archaeological bones,” Bethan Linscott, geochemist at the University of Miami and study first author, told Live Science. “This is especially important when dealing with poorly preserved bones because even trace amounts of contamination present in such samples can seriously impact the accuracy of the date.”
With every element returning the similar date range, researchers believe they found more information about the burial process, which could have included the animals as an offering and the charcoal as being from a ritual fire.
“Being able to successfully date the child felt like giving them back a tiny piece of their story,” Linscott told the Associated Press, “which is a huge privilege.”
Once the first Neanderthal genome was sequenced roughly a decade after the find, it began the process of understanding the interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals and how ancient Neanderthal DNA has then survived for centuries.
More specific carbon-dating techniques for Paleolithic bones could help researchers develop an updated timeline of how Neanderthals, who experts believe went extinct roughly 40,000 years ago, intertwined with modern humans and just how that still plays out in the DNA of today.
Tim Newcomb is a journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums, sneakers, gear, infrastructure, and more for a variety of publications, including Popular Mechanics. His favorite interviews have included sit-downs with Roger Federer in Switzerland, Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, and Tinker Hatfield in Portland.
