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Paleoanthropologists have studied fossils discovered during the excavations of the Velika Balanica cave in Southern Serbia, and found out that about 300 thousand years ago, early Neanderthals lived in this region. According to scientists, the teeth and a fragment of the upper jaw found belonged to at least two individuals and represent the oldest evidence of the presence of Neanderthals in the Balkans.

The oldest anthropological evidence of human habitation in Europe was discovered in Spain during the study of the complex of cave sites in Atapuerca. So, about 1.2-0.8 million years ago in the south of Western Europe there was a fossil species of man-a precursor -a precursor of Homo). With rare exceptions (for example, the skull cap and H. cepranensis found in the vicinity of Rome), all other finds of the remains of ancient people preceding the appearance of classical Neanderthals (x. in relation to the Neanderthal) and Cro-Magnons (H. Sapiens), scientists refer to the Heidelberg man (H. Heidelberg) as a species. However, it is quite difficult to draw a clear line between this taxon and Neanderthals. Recent genetic studies have shown that the remains of people about 430 thousand years old, found in the cave of Sima de los Huesos, can be considered Neanderthal. In addition, a group of paleoanthropologists proposed to abandon the use of the taxon H. heidelbergensis to designate people of the Middle Pleistocene.

The Balkans are an important region in terms of research on ancient human migrations. However, in this area, archaeologists have found only a small number of fossilized remains of Homos. So, in 2019, paleoanthropologists reported that two fragmented skulls found in Greece back in 1978 may have belonged to people of modern anatomical type who found themselves in Europe about 210 thousand years ago. There are also several monuments where the remains of Neanderthals were found: the Bulgarian Kozarnik cave, the Serbian Peshturina cave and the Croatian Vindiya cave. In addition, in the Balkans, during the excavations of the caves of Bacho-Kiro and Peshtera-ku-Oase, some of the oldest Cro-Magnon remains were found, with the exception of a recently discovered tooth in France.

Mirjana Roksandic, together with colleagues from the University of Winnipeg, investigated the finds made during the excavations of the Velika Balanica cave, which is located in Southern Serbia. In 2017, archaeologists discovered four hominin fossils on this monument, which were located in a cultural layer with Mousterian tools in close proximity to each other. These remains are severely worn molars (BH-2 and BH-3) and incisor (BH-5), as well as a fragment of the right upper jaw with one whole first molar (BH-4).

In the cultural layer, together with the bones, archaeologists found two burnt flint artifacts, which were examined by thermoluminescent analysis. It turned out that these finds date back to 285 ± 34 and 295 ± 74 thousand years ago, that is, they cover the period between the marine isotopic stages 10 and 7. At the same time, the discovered accumulations of the remains of small mammals, according to scientists, allow us to attribute the finds to the glaciation that began during the marine isotopic stage 8.

Paleoanthropologists studied the morphological characteristics of four teeth, conducted a microtomographic scan and built their three-dimensional models. As a result of this work, they came to the conclusion that the fossils belonged to at least two individuals — one adult and one minor (his tooth was preserved in articulation with a fragment of the jaw).

Scientists noted that due to severe wear, the teeth of an adult (or people) were poorly suited for determining the species. The size of the crown of VN-4 turned out to be closest to some early Neanderthals, for example, from Atapuerca, as well as to some Cro-Magnons, for example, from the Upper Paleolithic site of Pavlov. In general, the study of morphology and the detection of developmental anomalies in two teeth (tuarodontism) allowed paleoanthropologists to conclude that the fossils belonged to Neanderthals. They noted that the materials found at the Velika Balanitsa monument demonstrate, on the one hand, the appearance of Neanderthals in the Balkans about 300 thousand years ago, and, on the other hand, cultural influence from Southwest Asia, which is manifested in the industry of stone tools, analogues of which have not been found at more ancient European sites.

The article was published in the journal Journal of Human Evolution

PHOTO: Molar BH-2 © Miryana Roksandich et al. / Journal of Human Evolution, 2022
Source: Mikhail Podrezov nplus1.ru, sci-dig.ru