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Natural History, Feb, 2002 by Erin M. Espelie
Scientists have long believed that the Arctic reaches of Eurasia were uninhabited by humans until the final stages of the Ice Age, 13,000 to 14,000 years ago. Now researchers report signs of human life dating back almost 40,000 years during what was probably an ice-free and relatively dry, mild spell. At Mamontovaya Kurya in the Russian Arctic, Pavel Pavlov, of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and his Norwegian colleagues John Inge Svendsen and Svein Indrelid, of the University of Bergen and the Bergen Museum, respectively, uncovered mammalian bones, stone artifacts, and--most significant of all--a mammoth tusk marked by cuts that are "unequivocally the work of humans." The tusk has been radiocarbon-dated to more than 36,000 years ago.
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The researchers aren't sure if the marks result from the tusk's having been used as an anvil or if they "reflect intentional marks with artistic or symbolic meaning." They're also uncertain about who made the marks: Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) or anatomically modern humans (H. sapiens sapiens). If it was Neanderthals, then members of the group penetrated much farther north than previously thought. If it was modern humans (a possibility the researchers acknowledge), then they reached the Arctic much sooner than might be expected, given that H. sapiens sapiens first gained a toehold in southeastern Europe only a few thousand years earlier.
In a companion report on human adaptability to Arctic conditions, University of Liverpool archaeologist John A. J. Gowlett comments that "knowing who made the tools is less important than simply knowing that someone was adapted to the cool conditions." ("Human Presence in the European Arctic Nearly 40,000 Years Ago" and "Out in the Cold," Nature 413, 2001)
COPYRIGHT 2002 Natural History Magazine, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
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