The Doñana footprints are from Neanderthals and not from an earlier lineage, according to a new study of the tracks of this species

NeanderthalsReplica of a Neanderthal’s passage through the Asperillo cliffs where the footprints were found. Jose Maria Galan

A few thousand years distance may seem banal given the millions that prehistory spans. However, dating it to around 150,000 years in hominid tracks might force us to change some aspects of that time and even the chronology of human evolution. A discrepancy in these features emerged in the footprints of hominids found in El Asperillo, an enclave on the Huelva coast between the beaches of Mazagón and Matalascañas. A study published in Scientific Reports defended that the age of these footprints was 295,800 years, so they could have been left by an earlier Neanderthal lineage and, according to the authors, “provide crucial evidence for the understanding of human occupations in Pleistocene Europe.” . . A new dating work published in Quaternary Science Reviews puts the age of the footprints at 151,100 years, ensures they came from Neanderthals (the oldest), and includes remains of stone tools they used to manipulate the giant animals’ flesh who lived together in this environment, now Doñana National Park, where hominids occasionally hunted.

Finding a footprint that has survived for 150,000 years is a elusive paleontological prize. These simple footprints or tracks, studied by ichnology (a discipline of paleontology that studies evidence of the activity of living organisms in sediments or rocks), can shed light on who or what left it, the living environment, where it came from came and where it was headed, where it was going, what it fed on, how it connected to its world… The storms in Matalascañas three years ago allied with researchers and brought back evidence of biological activity, including human activity, surfaced that had been left millennia ago in an area of ​​beach and cliffs that had remained intact. José María Galán, guide of the Doñana National Park, author of the illustrations of this information and expert in the search for traces of history, was the first to warn of the uniqueness of the remains present in the sands of Huelva.

Reconstructing the size of the aurochs using the clues found.Reconstruction of the size of the aurochs based on the tracks found. Jose Maria Galan

The new site, named MTS (Matalascañas Trampled Surface or Superficie Pisada de Matalascañas) and first described by the same international team in 2020, contains footprints and tracks of large mammals such as Palaeoloxodon antiquus, straight-tusked elephants resembling their contemporary relatives of the African forests, but up to four meters high; His Scrofa Scrofa, wild boars three times the size of those in existence today; Bos primigenius, bulls up to two meters in height and 1,500 kilograms in weight; deer and wolves. Also delicate fossils of bird tracks and roots and invertebrate burrows. The most significant traces, however, come from hominids that took refuge in southern Europe from the glaciation of the rest of the continent.

The study published by Scientific Reports assigned them an age of around 300,000 years, i.e. the Middle Pleistocene. “It opened a new geochronological scenario compared to previous studies and raised questions about the age of MTS. [yacimiento de Matalascañas] and consequently of the possible hominid species that may have produced the tracks,” the new work warns.

More information

This “new scenario” did not match the rest of the mammalian tracks in the same geological strata or the materials found. Therefore, the team led by Carlos Neto De Carvalho, paleontologist from the Naturtejo UNESCO Global Geopark and from the University of Lisbon, Fernando Muñiz, geologist and ichnologist from the University of Seville, and Luis Miguel Cáceres, geologist from the University of Huelva, among others for others, he left his investigations open, preferring to await the results of comprehensive optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating developed by the Burgos National Center for Research on Human Evolution (CENIEH) laboratory. The recently published conclusion “secures the attribution of the traces to Neanderthals, the only known hominids present in the Iberian Peninsula during the MIS6-5 transition.” [Pleistoceno medio]“.

“The only people who lived in the Iberian Peninsula at that time and left traces of their activity were Neanderthals. They are the oldest traces of this human species in Europe and in the world, since at that time only the Neanderthals inhabited Europe and the border area with Asia,” says Muñiz.

Neto de Carvalho points out that what matters is not only whether we are dealing with the oldest traces of this species still present in our DNA, but also the exact dating: “The important thing is not even antiquity, but the fact that one was chronologically first.” defined traces of Neanderthals, the stone industry that existed in their environment and which is the only evidence of direct interaction with the animals they fed on.”

Three-tiered footprint of an adult Neanderthal found in Matalascañas (Huelva), on the same surface as a series of footprints of straight-tusked elephants, some of newborns.Trace of three steps of an adult Neanderthal found in Matalascañas (Huelva), on the same surface as a series of footprints of straight-tusked elephants, some newborns. JM Galan

In this sense, the study details that the typical Mousterian stone industry (126 stone tools from the Middle Palaeolithic and related to Homo neanderthalensis) indicates that the selection of the raw materials took place in outcrops close to the area where they were left. fingerprints. “They may have been made right there using the lithic resources that the area offered, such as quartzite pebbles,” explains Muñiz.

Luis Miguel Cáceres specifies that “these lithic resources are scarce in the immediate vicinity, so the easiest way was to get them from where they are abundant.” “These abundant sources are not too far away, it is trading around the terraces of Tinto or Guadalquivir, lying about 30 km north-west, the former and the latter north-east.”

The provenance of the stones and the place of use confirm, according to the study, that the site “cannot be considered a settlement, but rather a place of transit for fauna, including Neanderthals, where some human individuals engaged in transient activities such as.” such as food procurement and meat processing.

Replica of the sea dune system of the area that Doñana occupies today, 150,000 years ago.  / JOSE MARIA GALANReplica of the sea dune system of the area that Doñana occupies today, 150,000 years ago. / JOSE MARIA GALAN

Cáceres adds: “The Neanderthals did not have truly stable settlements, but rather roamed the area, taking advantage of the resources that the natural environment could offer them. The caves served as a temporary and probably seasonal settlement.

“The seasonal sea system between the coastal dunes [que hoy forma parte de Doñana] “It was a gathering place where various mammals, including hominids, and birds congregated, presumably for water and food resources and possibly for reproduction,” the study confirms, contrary to theories suggesting that it was the area could be a stable settlement. Previous work suggested this hypothesis by matching up to 87 footprints to a social group of different ages.

“stalking behavior”

“The MTS [yacimiento de Matalascañas] represents an exceptional case in which the Neanderthal tracks appeared at the same time as or shortly after the other tracks of large herbivores. Archaeological evidence (stone instruments) and animal tracks, as well as slow footsteps observed in Neanderthal tracks, suggest possible stalking behavior. The presence of associated stone tools is convincing evidence that they were used for animal processing. “They are not evidence of settlement, but rather of a transit point, both for the fauna and for the Neanderthals,” the study concludes. “The Neanderthal tracks were produced at exactly the same time as the other tracks, with a difference of hours or a few days,” explains Neto, confirming Cáceres.

Detail of one of the footprints discovered in Matalascañas.Detail of one of the footprints discovered in Matalascañas.JM Galán

Both studies were dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), a technique that, as Alicia Medialdea, a CENIEH physicist specializing in this method, explains, “provides the age of the sediments based on the dose of ionizing radiation they impart to the quartz and exposed to the quartz.” Feldspar grains. This radiation comes mainly from uranium, thorium and potassium in its vicinity. The accumulated dose depends on the concentration of these radio elements in the medium and on the time the mineral grains have been exposed to this radiation. This relationship indicates the time at which a particular sediment was buried.”

The technique is reliable, Medialdea defends, and was correctly performed in the two studies that showed an age difference of 150,000 years in different samples from the same area but not from the same point. “This method,” explains the physicist, “dates the last time the sand grains were exposed to sunlight and assumes that this was the last transport operation before they were buried.” In cases where transport is very rapid , in a very turbid environment or overnight, it is possible that not all grains were exposed to light during the last transport and therefore their luminescence signal did not fade. This would mean that at the same level there would be a mix of sand grains that received sufficient light when last transported and would be sufficient to estimate their age, and other, unbleached grains that would retain a residual signal. This mixture, which we call partial bleaching, can lead to an overestimation of age.”

And he adds: “There are many different sediment profiles in the Matalascañas cliff and the two groups did not treat exactly the same thing.” The samples measured by both groups are not exactly the same. The dates may be correct, but it is necessary to review the interpretation of the stratigraphy to better understand how the Matalascañas cliff was formed.”

Middle Palaeolithic stone tools found in Matalascañas and related to Middle Paleolithic stone tools found in Matalascañas and related to “Homo neanderthalensis”.

Therefore, the physical method used (measuring luminescence and the concentration of radio elements in the medium) requires extensive analysis and interpretation to estimate when the sediment was deposited and buried. “Now that we have data in the area, it’s time to work on strengthening it, based on the associated stone industry and faunal tracks,” concludes Medialdea.

Researchers from Geopark Naturtejo, Seville, Huelva, Lisbon, Coimbra, Burgos, Barcelona, ​​​​​​Murcia and Gibraltar participated in the most recently published study.

You can write to [email protected] and follow THEME on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.