Pestera cu Oase
Encyclopedia
Peștera cu Oase (ˈpeʃtera ku ˈo̯ase, meaning "The Cave with Bones") is a system of 12 karstic
galleries and chambers located N. 45° 01’; E. 21° 50’ in southwestern Romania
, where the oldest early modern human remains in Europe (40,500 years old) have been discovered.
team exploring the karstic system of Miniș Valley, in the southwestern Carpathian Mountains
near Anina
, revealed a previously unknown chamber with a profusion of mammalian skeletal remains. The cave, which seemed to have served primarily as hibernation room for the Late Pleistocene
cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), presented unusual arrangements such as the placement of some remains on raised rocks, suggesting a certain human involvement in the accumulated deposits. In fact, speleologists Ștefan Milota, Adrian Bîlgăr and Laurențiu Sarcina discovered a complete human mandible on the paleosurface. The karstic chamber was designated as "Peștera cu Oase" (The Cave with Bones) and the human mandible as "Oase 1".
Two laboratories independently yielded radiocarbon dates
of about 35,000 BCE years, or about 40,500 years in calibrated, calendar years for the inferior jaw. Congruent discrete traits and overall proportions of the fossil
“Oase 1” revealed specific modern human attributes, placing it close to European early modern humans among Late Pleistocene samples. The fossil belongs to the few findings in Europe which could be directly dated and is considered the oldest known early modern human fossil from Europe. From a location close to the Iron Gates in the Danubian corridor
, it may represent one of the earliest modern human populations to have entered Europe.
Against this background, particularly noteworthy is the fact that "Oase 1" exhibits morphological traits combining a variety of archaic Homo, derived early modern human, and possibly Neanderthal
features.
In June 2003 a further research team with Ștefan Milota, Ricardo Rodrigo and Mircea Gherase discovered additional human remains on the cave's surface. Thus, an entire anterior cranial skeleton was found along with a largely complete left temporal bone and a number of frontal, parietal and occipital bone segments.
While "Oase 1" inferior jaw is fully mature, the facial skeleton is that of a mid-second decade adolescent, therefore corresponding to a second individual, designated as "Oase 2". Further analyses have revealed that the left temporal bone represents a third individual, assessed as adolescent versus mature female, designated as "Oase 3". However additional finds and work have shown that the temporal bone derives from the same cranium as the "Oase 2" facial and parietal bones. The lack of archaeological signs such as torches, charcoal or tools could suggest that the human remains may have washed in the cave through fissures.
The "Oase 2" and "Oase 3" confirm a pattern already known from the probably contemporaneous "Oase 1" mandible, indicating a mixture of archaic, early modern human and Neanderthal morphological features. Thus, the specimens exhibit a suite of derived "modern human" features like projecting chin, no brow ridge, a high and rounded brain case. Yet, these features are associated with several archaic aspects of the cranium and dentition that place them outside the range of variation for modern humans, like a large face, a large crest of bone behind the ear and big teeth that get even larger toward the back. This mosaic of Neanderthal and modern human resembles similar traits found in a 25,000 years old fossil of a child in Abrigo do Lagar Velho
or in the 31,000 years old site of Mladeč
, by Cidália Duarte, et al. (1999).
Peștera cu Oase is subject to ongoing investigation. The on-site findings from the 2005 campaign are currently cross-examined at the Romanian "Emil Racoviță" Institute of Speleology, Australian National University
, (electron spin resonance and uranium-series dating
on 21 bone/tooth samples and 29 associated sediment samples), University of Bristol
, (uranium-series analysis on 22 bone samples), University of Bergen
, (uranium-series dating on 7 samples), University of Oxford
(AMS
radiocarbon dating on 8 bone/tooth samples), Max Planck Institute (stable isotope analysis
and ancient DNA
on 37 bone/tooth samples), University of Vienna
(AMS radiocarbon dating on 25 bone/tooth samples).
A skull found in Peștera cu Oase in 2004/5 bears features of both modern humans and Neanderthals. According to a paper by Erik Trinkaus
and others, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
in January, 2007, this finding suggests that the two groups interbred thousands of years ago. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the skull is between 35,000 and 40,000 years old, making it the oldest modern human fossil ever found in Europe.
However, more recent direct dating of fossils has demonstrated that early modern human remains were instead of the mid/late Holocene
, hence much younger than supposed.
In this context, the particular importance of the "Peștera cu Oase" findings resides both in the mixture of modern human and archaic (Neanderthal) features and in the fact that they are sufficiently complete to be taxonomically diagnosed and directly dated. Thus, the Oase fossils overlap in time for some 3000 years with late Neanderthals like those of Vindija Cave
(Croatia
) dated to ~32,000 radiocarbon years BP or less for Arcy-sur-Cure
(France
) at ~34,000 radiocarbon years BP. Besides, the notion that the Oase people are very close to the time of contact with Neanderthals is consistent with their archaic traits, and finds additional support in the patterns of spatio-temporal distribution of the latest Neanderthal remains.
Since genetics does not reject the hypothesis of a Neanderthal-modern admixture, and morphological and archaeological evidence suggest that Neanderthal lineages survived into later Upper Paleolithic populations, "Peștera cu Oase" findings provide a strong argument in favor of an admixture model between regional Neanderthals and early modern humans.
Arguing with chronological overlapping and morphological blending, this model assumes significant Neandertal/modern human admixture, suggesting that already on their arrival in Europe, modern humans met, intermixed and interbred with Neanderthals.
Basically, the multiregional evolution model suggests that:
Karst topography
Karst topography is a geologic formation shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite, but has also been documented for weathering resistant rocks like quartzite given the right conditions.Due to subterranean drainage, there...
galleries and chambers located N. 45° 01’; E. 21° 50’ in southwestern Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, where the oldest early modern human remains in Europe (40,500 years old) have been discovered.
Paleoanthropological on-site findings
In February 2002, a speleologicalSpeleology
Speleology is the scientific study of caves and other karst features, their make-up, structure, physical properties, history, life forms, and the processes by which they form and change over time...
team exploring the karstic system of Miniș Valley, in the southwestern Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
near Anina
Anina
Anina is a town in southwestern Romania, in Caraş-Severin County, with a population of 10,886 in 2000. The town administers one village, Steierdorf.In 2002, the oldest modern human remains in Europe were discovered in a cave near Anina...
, revealed a previously unknown chamber with a profusion of mammalian skeletal remains. The cave, which seemed to have served primarily as hibernation room for the Late Pleistocene
Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is a stage of the Pleistocene Epoch. The beginning of the stage is defined by the base of the Eemian interglacial phase before the final glacial episode of the Pleistocene 126,000 ± 5,000 years ago. The end of the stage is defined exactly at 10,000 Carbon-14 years BP...
cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), presented unusual arrangements such as the placement of some remains on raised rocks, suggesting a certain human involvement in the accumulated deposits. In fact, speleologists Ștefan Milota, Adrian Bîlgăr and Laurențiu Sarcina discovered a complete human mandible on the paleosurface. The karstic chamber was designated as "Peștera cu Oase" (The Cave with Bones) and the human mandible as "Oase 1".
Two laboratories independently yielded radiocarbon dates
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
of about 35,000 BCE years, or about 40,500 years in calibrated, calendar years for the inferior jaw. Congruent discrete traits and overall proportions of the fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
“Oase 1” revealed specific modern human attributes, placing it close to European early modern humans among Late Pleistocene samples. The fossil belongs to the few findings in Europe which could be directly dated and is considered the oldest known early modern human fossil from Europe. From a location close to the Iron Gates in the Danubian corridor
Danubian corridor
In paleontology and archeology, the Danubian corridor or Rhine-Danube corridor refers to a route along the valleys of the Danube River and Rhine River of various migration of Eastern cultures from Asia Minor, Aegean, Caspian etc., into the north and northwest Europe....
, it may represent one of the earliest modern human populations to have entered Europe.
Against this background, particularly noteworthy is the fact that "Oase 1" exhibits morphological traits combining a variety of archaic Homo, derived early modern human, and possibly Neanderthal
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
features.
In June 2003 a further research team with Ștefan Milota, Ricardo Rodrigo and Mircea Gherase discovered additional human remains on the cave's surface. Thus, an entire anterior cranial skeleton was found along with a largely complete left temporal bone and a number of frontal, parietal and occipital bone segments.
While "Oase 1" inferior jaw is fully mature, the facial skeleton is that of a mid-second decade adolescent, therefore corresponding to a second individual, designated as "Oase 2". Further analyses have revealed that the left temporal bone represents a third individual, assessed as adolescent versus mature female, designated as "Oase 3". However additional finds and work have shown that the temporal bone derives from the same cranium as the "Oase 2" facial and parietal bones. The lack of archaeological signs such as torches, charcoal or tools could suggest that the human remains may have washed in the cave through fissures.
The "Oase 2" and "Oase 3" confirm a pattern already known from the probably contemporaneous "Oase 1" mandible, indicating a mixture of archaic, early modern human and Neanderthal morphological features. Thus, the specimens exhibit a suite of derived "modern human" features like projecting chin, no brow ridge, a high and rounded brain case. Yet, these features are associated with several archaic aspects of the cranium and dentition that place them outside the range of variation for modern humans, like a large face, a large crest of bone behind the ear and big teeth that get even larger toward the back. This mosaic of Neanderthal and modern human resembles similar traits found in a 25,000 years old fossil of a child in Abrigo do Lagar Velho
Abrigo do Lagar Velho
Lagar Velho is rock-shelter in the Lapedo valley, a limestone canyon 13 km from the centre of Leiria, in the municipality of Leiria, in central Portugal...
or in the 31,000 years old site of Mladeč
Mladec
Mladeč is a village and municipality in Olomouc District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. The municipality covers an area of , and has a population of 761...
, by Cidália Duarte, et al. (1999).
Peștera cu Oase is subject to ongoing investigation. The on-site findings from the 2005 campaign are currently cross-examined at the Romanian "Emil Racoviță" Institute of Speleology, Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
, (electron spin resonance and uranium-series dating
Uranium-thorium dating
Uranium-thorium dating, also called thorium-230 dating, uranium-series disequilibrium dating or uranium-series dating, is a radiometric dating technique commonly used to determine the age of calcium carbonate materials such as speleothem or coral...
on 21 bone/tooth samples and 29 associated sediment samples), University of Bristol
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
, (uranium-series analysis on 22 bone samples), University of Bergen
University of Bergen
The University of Bergen is located in Bergen, Norway. Although founded as late as 1946, academic activity had taken place at Bergen Museum as far back as 1825. The university today serves more than 14,500 students...
, (uranium-series dating on 7 samples), University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
(AMS
Accelerator mass spectrometry
Accelerator mass spectrometry differs from other forms of mass spectrometry in that it accelerates ions to extraordinarily high kinetic energies before mass analysis. The special strength of AMS among the mass spectrometric methods is its power to separate a rare isotope from an abundant...
radiocarbon dating on 8 bone/tooth samples), Max Planck Institute (stable isotope analysis
Isotope analysis
Isotope analysis is the identification of isotopic signature, the distribution of certain stable isotopes and chemical elements within chemical compounds. This can be applied to a food web to make it possible to draw direct inferences regarding diet, trophic level, and subsistence...
and ancient DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
on 37 bone/tooth samples), University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
(AMS radiocarbon dating on 25 bone/tooth samples).
A skull found in Peștera cu Oase in 2004/5 bears features of both modern humans and Neanderthals. According to a paper by Erik Trinkaus
Erik Trinkaus
Erik Trinkaus, PhD, is a prominent paleoanthropologist and expert on Neanderthal biology and human evolution. Trinkaus researches the evolution of the species Homo sapiens and recent human diversity, focusing on the paleoanthropology and emergence of late archaic and early modern humans, and the...
and others, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, usually referred to as PNAS, is the official journal of the United States National Academy of Sciences...
in January, 2007, this finding suggests that the two groups interbred thousands of years ago. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the skull is between 35,000 and 40,000 years old, making it the oldest modern human fossil ever found in Europe.
Implications for research
The marked contrast between the morphological modernity of "early modern" humans and even late "classical Neanderthal" trait-packages, as well as mitochondrial aDNA differences have suggested a major physical anthropological discontinuity and hence, a complete population replacement at the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition, leading to what one might call "Out of Africa with Complete Replacement" model.However, more recent direct dating of fossils has demonstrated that early modern human remains were instead of the mid/late Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
, hence much younger than supposed.
In this context, the particular importance of the "Peștera cu Oase" findings resides both in the mixture of modern human and archaic (Neanderthal) features and in the fact that they are sufficiently complete to be taxonomically diagnosed and directly dated. Thus, the Oase fossils overlap in time for some 3000 years with late Neanderthals like those of Vindija Cave
Vindija Cave
Vindija is a cave near the city of Varaždin, Croatia. It contains one of the best preserved remains of the Neanderthals in the world, found in 1974. It is estimated that the Neanderthal man lived there about 30,000 years ago....
(Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
) dated to ~32,000 radiocarbon years BP or less for Arcy-sur-Cure
Arcy-sur-Cure
Arcy-sur-Cure is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France.The caves of Arcy-sur-Cure just south of the commune, hold the second-oldest cave paintings known, after those of Chauvet Cave. Archeological remains at the Grotte de Renne were taken to provide evidence that...
(France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) at ~34,000 radiocarbon years BP. Besides, the notion that the Oase people are very close to the time of contact with Neanderthals is consistent with their archaic traits, and finds additional support in the patterns of spatio-temporal distribution of the latest Neanderthal remains.
Since genetics does not reject the hypothesis of a Neanderthal-modern admixture, and morphological and archaeological evidence suggest that Neanderthal lineages survived into later Upper Paleolithic populations, "Peștera cu Oase" findings provide a strong argument in favor of an admixture model between regional Neanderthals and early modern humans.
Arguing with chronological overlapping and morphological blending, this model assumes significant Neandertal/modern human admixture, suggesting that already on their arrival in Europe, modern humans met, intermixed and interbred with Neanderthals.
Basically, the multiregional evolution model suggests that: