Vindija Cave is a stratified archaeological site in Croatia, which has several occupations associated with both Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH).
Vindija includes a total of 14 levels dated between 25,000 and 45,000 years ago, spanning the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic periods. Although several of the levels are sterile of hominin remains, or have been disturbed by burrowing animals or ice wedging, there are four to five stratigraphically separated hominin levels at Vindija Cave associated with humans and Neanderthals.
The site was first excavated in the late 19th century, and more extensively excavated between 1974 and 1986 by Mirko Malez of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Art. In addition to extensive archaeological and faunal remains, remains from over 100 separate hominins have been found at Vindija Cave.
- Specimens in Level G3, the lowest hominin-bearing level, are Neanderthals (38,000-45,000 years bp) and are associated with exclusively Mousterian artifacts.
- Specimens in Level G1 represent the most recent Neanderthals at the site (32,000-34,000 years ago) and are associated with both Mousterian and Upper Paleolithic stone tools.
- Hominins in Level F are associated with Aurignacian and according to researchers look a little like both AMH and Neanderthal.
- Hominins in Level D, the uppermost hominid-bearing strata in the cave, are associated with Gravettian culture artifacts, and represent only anatomically modern humans.
Vindija Cave and mtDNA
In 2008, researchers reported that a complete mtDNA sequence had been retrieved from a thigh bone of one of the Neanderthals recovered from Vindija Cave. The bone (called Vi-80) comes from level G3, and it was direct-dated to 38,310 ± 2130 RCYBP. Their research suggests that the two hominins who occupied Vindija Cave at different times--early modern Homo sapiens and Neanderthals--were clearly separate species.
Even more interestingly, Lalueza-Fox and colleagues have discovered similar DNA sequences--fragments of sequences, that is--in Neanderthals from Feldhofer Cave (Germany) and El Sidron (northern Spain), suggesting a common demographic history among groups in eastern Europe and the Iberian peninsula.
Sources
Each of the links below leads to a free abstract, but payment is needed for the full article unless otherwise noted.
Ahern, James C. M., et al. 2004 New discoveries and interpretations of hominid fossils and artifacts from Vindija Cave, Croatia. Journal of Human Evolution 4627-4667.
Green, Richard E., et al. 2008 A Complete Neandertal Mitochondrial Genome Sequence Determined by High-Throughput Sequencing. Cell 134(3):416-426.
Green, Richard E., et al. 2006 Analysis of one million base pairs Neanderthal DNA. Nature 444:330-336.
Higham, Tom, et al. 2006 Revised direct radiocarbon dating of the Vindija G1 Upper Paleolithic Neandertals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 10(1073):553-557.
Lalueza-Fox, Carles, et al. 2006 Mitochondrial DNA of an Iberian Neandertal suggests a population affinity with other European Neandertals. Current Biology 16(16):R629-R630.
Lambert, David M. and Craig D. Millar 2006 Ancient genomics is born. Nature 444:275-276.
Noonan, James P., et al. 2006 Sequencing and Analysis of Neanderthal Genomic DNA. Science 314:1113-1118.
Smith, Fred. 2004. Flesh and Bone: Analyses of Neandertal Fossils Reveal Diet was High in Meat Content Free press release, Northern Illinois University.
Serre, David, et al. 2004 No Evidence of Neandertal mtDNA Contribution to Early Modern Humans. PLoS Biology 2(3):313-317.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.
