Work is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The question of when neanderthals disappeared is widely discussed in Paleoanthropological science. Earlier studies with the help of radiocarbon dating were placed by the latest representatives of the "parallel" humanity survived in the northwestern part of Europe (on the territory of the current Belgium), in the range of 23,880 plus-minus 240 years ago.
But some scientists doubted the authenticity of these dating in connection with the technical aspects of radio-carbon analysis (for example, soil pollution). The exact knowledge of when the Neanderthals were extinct, is considered key in understanding the nature and abilities of this species of people, as well as the answer to the question why they still disappeared, and our ancestors are not.
Scientists from Oxford (United Kingdom), Lenensky (Netherlands) and Liege (Belgium) of universities, as well as the Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology Max Planck (Germany) decided to specify dates and hold new radiocarbon dating, developing, according to them, a more reliable method of preparing samples, which It makes it possible to more effectively clean pollutants. They took samples of Neanderthal bones of one of the caves in Belgium and analyzed it, first cleaning from foreign inclusions with the help of a new method.
So, the scientist managed to show that the neaderthal's shoulder bone from the Belgian cave, which previous researchers analyzed, was severely polluted by DNA of cattle. Paleoanthropologists suggest that this happened as a result of the use of glue, which was used to restore the bone (it was made using bovine collagen).
As a result of new radiocarbon dating, scientists have established that with a probability of more than 95 percent, Neanderthal disappeared from North-Western Europe between 44,200 and 40,600 years ago, that is, much earlier than expected before.
Source: Naked Science