NEW YORK (AP) – Scientists assumed the skeleton of an old child who caused a stir when it was first discovered because the characteristics of both people and neanderthals bears.
The child's remains were discovered 27 years ago in a rock shelter called Lagar Velho in Central Portugal. The almost complete skeleton was colored red and scientists think it was possible in a painted animal skin before it is wrapped.
When the human -like child was discovered, scientists noted that some of their attributes – including body relationships and jawbone – looked Neanderthal. The researchers suggested that the child descended from populations in which people and Neanderthals were linked and mixed. That was a radical idea at the time, but the progress in genetics have since proven that those populations existed – and people still wear Neanderthal DNA nowadays.
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But trying to find out when exactly the child lived has been difficult. Small roots had grown by the bones and contamination – of plants or other sources – made it impossible for scientists to use traditional carbon dating to measure the age of the child. Instead, they date the charcoal and animal bones around the skeleton until between 27,700 and 29,700 years ago.
Techniques have improved and researchers reported on Friday in the magazine Science Vooruit that they could date the skeleton by measuring part of a protein that was found mainly in human bones.
Investigation into a part of a crushed arm, they revealed that the earlier estimate was in the margin: the skeleton was between 27,700 and 28,600 years ago.
“Being able to successfully date, the child felt like giving them a little bit of their story, which is a huge privilege,” said Bethan Linscott, a study author at the University of Miami, in an e -mail.
She noted that the first discovery was more than a skeleton – it was also the grave of a young child. When she went out with the bones, she couldn't help it, but wondered which of the child laughed, what made them laugh and what their world looked like in the short four years that they walked the planet.
Paul Pettitt, an archaeologist at the University of Durham in England who was not involved in the new research, said in an e -mail that the study is an example of how dating methods become more effective and scientists help the past better understand.
The study of where people came from is important “For the same reason we keep the portraits of our parents and grandparents,” said study author João Zilhão of the University of Lisbon.
“It's a way to remember,” he said.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Science and Educational Media Group of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is only responsible for all content.
