When Neanderthals, Denisovans and Homo sapiens met 50,000 years ago, these archaic and modern humans not only interfered in the thousands of years in which they overlapped, but according to a leading academic, they exchanged ideas that led to ‘ an increase in creativity.
Tom Higham, a professor of archeological science at the University of Oxford, argues that their exchange explains ‘a distribution of objects in the archaeological report’, such as perforated teeth and shell pendants, the use of pigments and dyes, decorated and incised bones, carved figurative art and cave paintings: ‘In the early 50 000s, up to about 38 000 to 40 000 years ago, we saw a tremendous growth in these kinds of ornaments that we simply had not seen before.’
Between 40,000 and 150,000 years ago, our cousins included the Neanderthals, Homo floresiensis, Homo luzonesis and Denisovans.
‘Now it’s just us; there are no other kind of people on the planet, ”says Higham. ‘We have always thought that the origins of art and complex cognitive thinking are the hallmark of us – modern people. This has been called the human revolution. The basis of this hypothesis, which came out in the 1970s, was that people came from Africa and brought with them a cognitive ability that no other kind of people – especially Neanderthals – had … Now, what we think is happening is that … it is not limited to modern people at all.
‘If our groups had mixed with each other, cultural transmission – the exchange of ideas, thoughts and language – might also have taken place. People are good at absorbing new ideas. ”
The latest research, based on recent findings by international scientists and archaeologists, will appear in Higham’s forthcoming book, The World Before Us: How Science is Revealing a New Story of Our Human Origins, published by Viking on March 25.
He writes that the Earth was originally an intricate place 50,000 years ago: ‘To borrow from Tolkien’s words, we must regard it as a true’ Middle Earth ‘in terms of the variety of forms of the human family that existed at the time. There were five, six or even more different kinds of people in different parts of the world. ‘
In the book, Higham explores the latest scientific and technological advances – including radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA analysis – how we became the only human on earth and how our ancestors lived – “and we live on in our genes today”.
He is a world expert in technology who is revolutionizing what we know about previous human species. Archaeological and genetic discoveries are transforming our understanding of our ancestors.
Higham is one of the academics who worked in Siberia, where a new species of human, the Denisovans, was discovered in 2010 in a remote cave. From a finger bone fragment so small that it was previously unidentifiable, they were able to extract important DNA details linking them to people scattered over a wide area of Eurasia, including Southeast Asia.
He says: “Denisovane is closely related to Neanderthals and to us. As with Neanderthals, we also interceded with them. Depending on where they are geographically, humans have a small amount – and in some cases even large quantities – of Denisovan DNA.
‘In the area of the Denisova Cave, we also discovered evidence that in an interesting way suggests that Denisovans could also have been involved in making personal ornaments and doing the things that until now were just thought to be us and later Neanderthals were the exclusive preserve. ”
The evidence includes rings and beads made from mammoth stands and ostrich eggshells. “Were these and other ornaments made by both Denisovans and modern humans?” Vra Higham.
New research means that all sorts of works of art and decorative objects presumably linked to the earliest modern man could have been created by Neanderthals or Denisovans, in the absence of other evidence.
Higham says: “The weight of evidence now suggests that if there was cultural transmission, it probably took place in both directions, and that the earliest evidence for the onset of complex behavior in Europe was before the widespread arrival of Homo sapiens.”