Latest study suggests early human dispersal into Spain through Strait of Gibraltar

Popular Archaeology, Journal of Human Evolution ^ | Saturday, January 2, 2016 | editors

[SunkenCiv]

Most recent dating places one wave of human dispersal out of Africa into southeastern Spain at almost one million years ago.

Using state-of-the-art dating methodologies, a team of scientists have obtained or confirmed a date range between .9 and .85 Mya (million years ago) as a time when a species of Old World monkey (Theropithecus) and an early species of human occupied the cave site of Cueva Victoria in southeastern Spain. It is a location not far from where many scientists have hypothesized that humans may have crossed over into Europe from North Africa through the Strait of Gibraltar at a time when seal levels were low enough to provide a land bridge between the two continents.

Using paleomagnetism, uranium-thorium, and vertebrate biostratigraphy dating techniques, Luis Gibert of the University of Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues from several other institutions conducted testing on fossiliferous breccia samples and other deposit samples from the cave. Their results showed that the fossil evidence for the Theropithecus presence was constrained to a range between .9 and .85 Mya. Similar dates have been obtained through previous studies on the Cueva Negra cave in the same region of Spain, which contained evidence of early human (Homo) fossils associated with what is arguably considered to be the earliest Acheulean-type stone tools in Europe.

[SunkenCiv]

The interior of Cueva Victoria. Nano Sanchez, Wikimedia Commons

[SunkenCiv]

...a species of Old World monkey (Theropithecus) and an early species of human occupied the cave site of Cueva Victoria in southeastern Spain. It is a location not far from where many scientists have hypothesized that humans may have crossed over into Europe from North Africa through the Strait of Gibraltar at a time when seal levels were low enough to provide a land bridge between the two continents.

More likely, they went by boat, and had pet monkeys.

• Ancient hominids may have been seafarers [2010]
• On Crete, New Evidence of Very Ancient Mariners [2010]
• Cretan tools point to 130,000-year-old sea travel [2011]
• Neanderthals were ancient mariners [2012]
• Anthropologist suggests Mediterranean islands inhabited much earlier than thought [2012]
• Ancient Mariners: Did Neanderthals Sail to Mediterranean? [2012]

[Tainan]

More likely, they went by boat, and had pet monkeys.

Mor'n' likely. Spanking it all the way.

[rightwingcrazy]

“at a time when seal levels were low enough to provide a land bridge”

The poor things were abused, even back then.

[bunkerhill7]

The Way to Spain Falls Mainly in the Cave

[SWAMPSNIPER]

[BobL]

“Latest study suggests early human dispersal into Spain through Strait of Gibraltar”

Actually they’re dispersing through Greece now, since Hungary WISELY sealed their border. Germany will still get close to 2 million of them, thanks to their psycho leader, with Sweden coming in a close second.

[blam]

These fellas had been in Europe for a million years when this group arrived:

Stranger In A New Land

[Rockpile]

The Strait is 1,000 to 3,000 feet deep. Land bridge my gluteus maximus.

[SunkenCiv]

They're headed for Germany though.

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[SunkenCiv]

LOL

[SunkenCiv]

The Dmanisi keyword (unexpectedly large!), newest to oldest:

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[SunkenCiv]

strange, but not unfamiliar...

• Keyword: dmanisi

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, if they went by land, it would have been 5 million years ago, and no one will buy that -- but accepting pre-Sapiens seafaring is the other barrel of a two-ended handgun to the Out-of-Africa jokers.

[SunkenCiv]

Zanclean Flood keyword:

• Search For "Lost" Atlantis Centers On Strait Of Gibraltar [01/04/2002]
• The Atlantis between Spain and Morocco. The Expedition Revealing discoveries. [10/30/2003]
• The Mediterranean Was A Desert [12/16/2003]
• Mediterranean Sea Dried Up Five Million Years Ago [02/12/2009]
• Colossal Flood Created the Mediterranean Sea [12/09/2009]
• Colossal Flood Created the Mediterranean Sea [01/11/2010]
• What the Margins of Spain's Ebro River Basin Looked Like 6 Million Years Ago [06/05/2011]
• Ancient Mediterranean flood mystery solved [08/17/2013]
• Keyword: zancleanflood
• Keyword: messiniandessication
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    (enviro calamity induced by sushi?) [05/31/2006]

[Rockpile]

If there was ever a passage ancient people could have used my guess would be in the Strait of Sicily, say, between Cape Bon, Tunisia and Sicily.

There have been proposals to build an undersea tunnel in that area so it can’t be too deep.

[SunkenCiv]

This topic was posted 1/3/2016, this is just a ping message sprucing.

Using state-of-the-art dating methodologies, a team of scientists have obtained or confirmed a date range between .9 and .85 Mya (million years ago) as a time when a species of Old World monkey (Theropithecus) and an early species of human occupied the cave site of Cueva Victoria in southeastern Spain.