You are going to read some reading passages, each with 2-5 questions. For each question, choose the answer which you think fits best according to the text.
A surprisingly early replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans in southern Spain
A new study of Bajondillo Cave (Málaga) by a team of researchers based in Spain,
Japan and the UK, coordinated from the Universidad de Sevilla,
reveals that modern humans replaced Neanderthals at this site
approximately 44,000 years ago. The research, to be published in
Nature Ecology and Evolution, shows that the replacement of
Neanderthals by modern humans in southern Iberia began early,
rather than late, in comparison to the rest of Western Europe.
Western Europe is a key area for understanding the timing of the
replacement of Neanderthals by early modern humans (AMH). Typically
in Western Europe, late Neanderthals are associated with stone tools
belonging to Mousterian industries (named after the Neanderthal
site of Le Moustier in France), while the earliest modern humans
are associated with succeeding Aurignacian industries (named
after the French site of Aurignac).
The final replacement of
Neanderthals by AMH in western Europe is usually dated to around
39,000 years ago. However, it's claimed that the southern Iberian
region documents the late survival of the Mousterian, and therefore
Neanderthals, to about 32,000 years ago, with no evidence for the
early Aurignacian found elsewhere in Europe.
This new dating study
of Bajondillo Cave, instead calibrates the replacement of Mousterian
industries by Aurignacian ones there to between 43,000-45,000 years ago,
raising questions about the late survival of Neanderthals in southern Iberia.
Further research is necessary to determine whether the new Bajondillo
dating indicates an earlier replacement of Neanderthals across the
whole of southern Iberia, or in fact, an altogether more complex
scenario of co-existence over several millennia.