by New York (AP) – Scientists have dated the skeleton of an old child, which was given a sensation for the first time because it bears characteristics from both humans and Neanderthals.
The child’s remains were discovered in a Felsenheim called Lagar Velho in the Central Portugal 27 years ago. The almost complete skeleton was colored red, and scientists believe that it could have been wrapped into painted animal skin before the funeral.
When the human child was discovered, the scientists found that some of their characteristics – including body proportions and jawbones – looked like Neanderthals. The researchers suggested that the child descend from populations in which people and Neanderthals were combined and mixed. That was a radical concept at that time, but progress in genetics has proven that these populations existed – and that people still wear Neanderthal -DNA today.
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However, it was difficult to find out when exactly the child lived. Small roots had grown through the bones and the contamination – from plants or other sources – made it impossible to use scientists to use traditional carbon dating to measure the age of the child. Instead, they dated the charcoal and animal bones around the skeleton to 27,700 and 29,700 years.
The techniques have improved and the researchers reported progress on Friday in the journal Science that they could date the skeleton by measuring part of a protein that was mainly found in human bones.
When they examined part of a crushed arm, they showed that the previous estimate was in the baseball stadium: the skeleton was between 27,700 and 28,600 years.
“The child was able to give them a tiny piece of their history, which is a great privilege,” said Bethan Linscott, a study author at the University of Miami, in an e -mail.
She noticed that the first discovery was more than a skeleton – it was also the grave of a small child. When she went out with the bones, she didn’t wonder who loved the child, what made it laugh and looked like her world in the short four years in which she went on the planet.
Paul Pettitt, archaeologist at Durham University in England, who was not involved in the new research, said in an e -mail that the study is an example of how the dating methods become more effective and better understand scientists.
Studying where people came from is important “for the same reason why we keep our parents and grandparents’ portraits,” said study author João Zilhão from the University of Lisbon.
“It is a way to remember,” he said.
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