Modern Human Origins in Central Europe

Abstract

New fossils, new dates, and new analytical techniques, over the last few decades, have improved our understanding of modern human origins dramatically. While many of these discoveries have been made regarding other regions, many have also been made about Central Europe. Most of the new Neandertal fossils from Central Europe are fragmentary and have not greatly changed our interpretations. However, the ~30–35 14C ka BP Oase early modern human remains, with their Neandertal-reminiscent features, in combination with the dismissal-by-direct-dating of almost all of the gracile, “hyper-modern” human remains from the early modern European sample, have fundamentally changed our understanding of the earliest modern humans and their admixed ancestry. New analyses of much of the Central European fossil record have also helped, especially in the case of the genomic analysis of aDNA from Vindija that demonstrates a Neandertal genetic contribution to living Eurasians. Given the current evidence, we contend that Central European Neandertals were assimilated by early modern humans, contrary to either an overall in situ regional continuity or a complete replacement scenario. Although it is difficult to tell how much admixture took place in the region, the presence of more modern-like anatomy among late Neandertals and, more convincingly, the persistence of Neandertal features in early modern humans indicate that the degree of admixture exceeded that expected by interspecific hybridization. An improved fossil and archaeological record across the Neandertal-modern transition, further direct dating of fossils, more fossil genetic information, and the further application of additional analyses will help test this interpretation.