Recent discoveries in a German cave have significantly altered our understanding of the early presence of Homo sapiens in Europe. Bone fragments found in the Ilsenhöhle cave in Ranis, central Germany, suggest that modern humans ventured into Europe’s colder regions over 45,000 years ago, a timeframe earlier than previously established. This new evidence indicates that Homo sapiens coexisted with Neanderthals on the continent during this period.
The findings, derived from 13 Homo sapiens skeletal remains, revealed through ancient DNA analysis, indicate ages up to 47,500 years old, surpassing the age of the previously oldest known Homo sapiens remains in northern central and northwestern Europe by about 7,500 years. This discovery underscores the adaptability of Homo sapiens, who originated in warmer climates of Africa over 300,000 years ago, to Europe’s frigid conditions during the Ice Age.
The research conducted at Ilsenhöhle cave presents a vivid picture of the life of early Homo sapiens in Europe, who were hunter-gatherers reliant on large Ice Age mammals like reindeer, horses, bison, and woolly rhinoceroses for sustenance. These findings also shed light on the interactions between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, suggesting potential competition for resources.
This discovery also contributes to the debate over the makers of specific European stone artifacts attributed to the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician (LRJ) culture. The presence of these artifacts at Ranis, with no evidence of Neanderthals, suggests they were crafted by Homo sapiens.
These groundbreaking findings were reported in three studies published in the journals Nature and Nature Ecology & Evolution and have led to a call for further examination of other European sites from this period to uncover additional evidence of early Homo sapiens presence​​​​​​.
