A cutting-edge radiocarbon technique has provided the most precise date yet for the Lapedo Child, a prehistoric skeleton with both Neanderthal and modern human traits. Found in Portugal’s Lapedo Valley in 1998, the remains have intrigued scientists for decades, yet past dating efforts were hindered by contamination issues.
Now, researchers have applied a specialized method that isolates amino acids, pinpointing when the child lived and offering fresh insights into early human migration and cultural interactions.
A Hybrid Child Lost In Time
Discovered in a rock shelter, the Lapedo Child was buried alongside ochre-stained bones, decorative shells, and remnants of animal remains. The skeleton, which belonged to a 4 or 5-year-old child, displayed an unusual blend of Neanderthal robustness and modern human anatomy, fueling debates over interbreeding between the two species.
Attempts to determine the child’s age have faced setbacks due to the poor preservation of its bones. Traditional radiocarbon dating requires collagen, the organic part of bone, but contamination and degradation made previous results unreliable. Without a clear date, the child’s role in human prehistory remained uncertain, leaving questions about its cultural affiliations and genetic lineage.
A Revolutionary Approach To Ancient Dating
To resolve these uncertainties, a team from the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit employed compound-specific radiocarbon dating, a technique that isolates and analyzes hydroxyproline, an amino acid found exclusively in bone collagen. Unlike conventional methods, which date bulk collagen and risk contamination, this process ensures that the carbon being measured comes directly from the bone itself.
Lead researcher Bethan Linscott explained that, “only a small amount of collagen (the organic part of the bone) could be extracted from the child’s bones, combined with the fact that the contamination couldn’t be fully removed meant that the original dates were not reliable.”
By focusing solely on hydroxyproline, scientists could extract a precise date, revealing that the child lived between 27,780 and 28,850 years ago. This timeframe places it firmly within the Gravettian period, a culture known for its advanced toolmaking and iconic Venus figurines.
Fossil Evidence Reshapes Early Human History
This refined date reshapes understanding of Gravettian populations and their presence along the Iberian Peninsula. The Gravettians were widespread across Europe from 32,000 to 24,000 years ago, but genetic studies indicate that groups were not closely related despite their shared cultural artifacts. Pinpointing the Lapedo Child’s age provides a crucial reference point for mapping human movement and genetic exchange during this era.
Findings also challenge earlier interpretations of the burial. A layer of charcoal beneath the skeleton was previously thought to be part of a ritual fire, but the new dating reveals that it predates the child’s burial, indicating that the site was reused from a prior occupation. Similarly, red deer bones once assumed to be meat offerings turned out to be significantly older.
A graphic showing the layout of the child’s burial
A New Tool For Rewriting Prehistory
The hydroxyproline dating method has already helped refine the timeline of Neanderthal fossils, including those from Vindija Cave in Croatia, where remains were once thought to be younger than 40,000 years but were later re-dated to an earlier period.
Now, with its successful application to the Lapedo Child, scientists have a powerful tool for reassessing human and Neanderthal sites worldwide.
This technique could redefine the chronology of human migrations, revealing when and where different populations met and interbred.
