Bone fragments found in a German cave are changing anthropologists’ understanding of the earliest ancestors of our species. They were previously believed to have reached Northern Europe around 38,000 BC. So the bones show that Homo sapiens reached this region 5000-7500 years ago. Although the bones were found several years ago, recent stable isotope analyzes confirm the age of the fragments and definitively link them to Homo sapiens.

Until now, anthropologists believed that Homo sapiens reached the northern part of central and northwestern Europe around 40,000 years ago. After evolving in Africa 300,000 years ago, Homo sapiens is thought to have wandered around the Earth and encountered other early humans. neanderthalsin parts of Europe and Asia. However, it was believed that the cold upper reaches of Europe were discovered by Homo sapiens much later.

Although there is little evidence of global movements of Homo sapiens, anthropologists have noticed that anatomically modern humans were accustomed to the hot African climate, making it difficult to penetrate the coldest parts of Europe. As the researchers wrote article Nature Ecology and Evolution, Homo sapiens were thought to be unable to reach these cold regions until warm climate conditions made exploration of the north suitable, a report published Wednesday said.

We now know that this is not necessarily true. Between 2016 and 2022, an international team of paleoanthropologists investigated World War II. He carried out excavations again in the Ilsenhøle Cave, which was in the excavation area before World War II. Numerous bone fragments believed to belong to Homo sapiens were found among the remains of numerous foxes, reindeer and bison. Used by researchers in later years mitochondrial DNA analysis and collagen and nitrogen stable isotope data to confirm the origin of the fragments. They found that Homo sapiens did not reach Northern Europe until “only” 40,000 years ago; instead they landed in the region around 43,000 to 45,500 BC.

A wide variety of non-human remains and rare evidence of the use of fire suggest that Homo sapiens used the cave as a shelter rather than a permanent home, and that Ice Age mammals occupied the cave in their absence. (Hyenas and bears are believed to roost and hibernate in the cave.) This has been a common theme among Homo sapiens ever since: when fearsome, sharp-toothed mammals were not using the cave, it was free for humans. The non-human bones also show that Homo sapiens hunted local species of voles and dogs, using them for food and possibly shelter from the elements.

At the end of their article, the researchers say that additional excavations in Europe’s high latitudes could add color to their discoveries. If Homo sapiens could once live in areas we thought unbearable, it is impossible to say where else they might have ended up without our knowledge.