Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens Shared Tools and Shells at Turkish Cave

Cnn reported that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens occupied Üçağızlı II cave in southern Turkey at successive periods and shared similar flint tools, hunting practices, and shell collection. Systematic excavation of the site began in 2020. The research appeared Monday in the journal PNAS.

Neanderthals used the cave between 77,000 and 59,000 years ago, according to dating of sediment layers containing four individual teeth and one partial jawbone. Homo sapiens occupied the same location between 59,000 and 47,000 years ago. Both groups made Mousterian-style tools and hunted wild goats, deer, and boars.

Researchers also recovered shells of the mollusk Columbella rustica from layers associated with each species. Some shells were perforated. Study authors described the shells as manuports transported from the Mediterranean coast.

İsmail Baykara, a professor in the department of archaeology at Gaziantep University in Turkey and lead author, said the continuity in technology and shell transport is consistent with the idea that the populations interacted and shared cultural traditions over time.

Naoki Morimoto, a researcher at Kyoto University in Japan, noted that Neanderthals deliberately collected the shell despite other species being available. Ludovic Slimak, an archaeologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, said the site shows modern humans participated in a local Mousterian tradition rather than replacing Neanderthals with a new culture.

He contrasted the findings with Grotte Mandrin in France, where Homo sapiens used more finely crafted tools. Baykara said more archaeological evidence is needed to determine whether the cave represents an outlier or a broader pattern of shared behaviors shaped by local traditions.