Neanderthal traces found in Spain may date back 250,000 years

Animal and neanderthal traces found in the south of Spain a year ago may be very ancient.

The tracks were found in a large area on the Asperillo cliff in Huelva, Spain. The researchers first dated the dunes to date the footprints here. As a result, they dated it to the Upper Pleistocene, about 100,000 years ago.

Based on these results, it turned out that the footprints belonged to Neanderthals. In the subsequent examinations of the sand dunes, it was revealed that this time they belonged to the Middle Pleistocene, that is, 290,000 years old.

The footprints are thought to be older, as the dunes are dated to the Middle Pleistocene. This dating indicates that the footprints may have been 250,000 years ago.

300,000 years ago, Europe was about to experience serious climate change. The coastal areas were wider because the sea was farther back. This open area was closed during the rainy season and opened in the dry season. Communities were walking on this coastline when it was dry.

Why did the history of footprints change?

Environmental change and differences led to this. The human type living in the middle Pleistocene is the Neanderthal human type. But in general, footprints are much less common than bone remains. For this period, the number of places where footprints were found in Europe is seriously very small.

Footprint dating is not the only important point in this research. In addition, it is possible to examine the type of stratification and the processes and chemical transformations that form these traces. A comparison will be made with the skeletal remains of that period in order to determine which species the footprints found here belong to.

-Phsy/03.12.2022