Neanderthals and modern humans more similar than thought

Marine abrasion platform

University of 911±¬ÁÏÍø researchers are questioning the behavioural gap once thought to separate Neanderthals from contemporaneous Homo sapiens groups after uncovering new evidence about Neanderthal subsistence strategies, in a paper published in today.

The study follows excavations and dating research undertaken at the Portuguese archaeological site of Figueira Brava, a cave site on the Atlantic coast near Lisbon.

Researchers believe the findings reveal important consequences for our understanding of human evolution:Ìý
-ÌýÌý ÌýThat if habitual consumption of seafood played an important role in the development of cognitive abilities, then this happened on the scale of Humanity as a whole
-ÌýÌý ÌýThat human familiarity with the sea and its resources is much older and more widespread than previously thought, which reinforces the ability of early migrating populations to cross open oceans and reach new continents, including Australia
-ÌýÌý ÌýThat the belief that Neanderthals were cold peoples, specialised in hunting large herbivores, results from a bias created by the historical focus of research.

The study shows the cave on the Portuguese coast was used as a shelter by Neanderthal populations over the course of twenty millennia between 86,000 and 106,000 years ago – that is, during the Last Interglacial period, when Earth's climate was similar to today.Ìý

The Neanderthal occupants left abundant archaeological remains, including indicat