Abstract
Neanderthal extinction has been a matter of debate for many years. New discoveries, better chronologies and genomic evidence have done much to clarify some of the issues. This evidence suggests that Neanderthals became extinct around 40,000-37,000 years before present (BP), after a period of coexistence with Homo sapiens of several millennia, involving biological and cultural interactions between the two groups. However, the bulk of this evidence relates to Western Eurasia, and recent work in Central Asia and Siberia has shown that there is considerable local variation. Southwestern Asia, despite having a number of significant Neanderthal remains, has not played a major part in the debate over extinction. Here we report a Neanderthal deciduous canine from the site of Bawa Yawan in the West-Central Zagros Mountains of Iran. The tooth is associated with Zagros Mousterian lithics, and its context is preliminary dated to between ~43,600 and ~41,500 years ago.
Highlights
Neanderthals were a very successful hominin lineage that existed for several hundred thousand years, and their extinction remains one of the most persistent questions in palaeoanthropology
The morphological description of BY1 was performed according to standards outlined by the (ASUDAS [34]) ASUDAS has been devised for modern human permanent dentition, we applied protocol to fossil deciduous tooth as already done in other publications [e.g., 35–37] because it permits a more precise and accurate comparison at each degree of development
Located in the Nawdarwan Valley (34 ̊ 38’ 23.70"N, 46 ̊ 55’ 48.36"E, 1300 m asl), the Bawa Yawan (BY) rockshelter was discovered in 2009–10, during surveys for Palaeolithic sites in the Kermanshah region of the Central Zagros [33]
Summary
Neanderthals were a very successful hominin lineage that existed for several hundred thousand years, and their extinction remains one of the most persistent questions in palaeoanthropology. With such a vast geographical range, which at times extended from westernmost Europe and across a very large area of Asia [1, 2] identifying the last surviving Neanderthal populations is critical for interpreting the mechanisms behind their demographic decline, the conditions that enhanced or reduced their resilience, and the geography and timing of their last interactions with modern humans. Discovery of an in situ Neanderthal remain in Bawa Yawan
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