An archeological excavation site containing findings of the Neanderthal man that was excavated a century ago on the island of Jersey, and considered a destroyed site, was excavated again and it turned out that what they discovered then was only the tip of the iceberg. Among other things, it was discovered that Shini The Neanderthals at the site are younger than the original researchers thought and that they probably belong to the last Neanderthals in the area
A study published in the Journal of Quaternary Science reveals that an archaeological site that preserved geological discoveries and which was considered lost since it was excavated about a hundred years ago has been rediscovered.
The discovery was made when the group carried out works in the area designed to stabilize and explore part of the La Cotte de St Brelade cave, on the southeast coast of the island. A large part of the site contains sediments from the last ice age and preserves archaeological evidence and records of climate change over the past 250 years.
The site, where more Neanderthal stone tools have been discovered than the rest of the British Isles, contains the last remains of Neanderthal man known from northwestern Europe. "In terms of the wealth of finds and the time span, there is no comparable site in the British Isles. At first we thought that the findings had been taken out by previous researchers, but it is exciting to see that so many findings remained" says Dr. Matt Pope from the Institute of Archeology at University College London, one of the leaders of the research.
The team used an optical test method (Optically Stimulated Luminesce) which measures the time that has passed since the grains of sand were exposed to sunlight. The research was carried out in a laboratory in the Department of Archeology and History of Art at the University of Oxford.
The results showed that the findings at the site extend from 100 years ago to 47 years ago. Among other things, they discovered that the Neanderthal human teeth discovered at the site in 1910 were younger than previously thought, and probably belonged to one of the last Neanderthals who lived in the area.
The finds include stone tools, animal bones and other Neanderthal remains. According to Dr. Martin Bates of Trinity College, "An excavation in the future will provide us with the opportunity to expose the site to a wide variety of approaches that we use in archeology today. For example, we hope to be able to link our site with other Neanderthal sites by studying finds of similar ages across the island.” said.
According to him, the period in question covers the entire era of Neanderthal man until his population disappeared and he was replaced by our species - Homo sapiens. According to him, the researchers will try to find out whether Neanderthals and modern humans lived on the island at the same time.
