Long ago , someone stomp across the rocky shoring of the Iberian Peninsula . unsung to them , tens of chiliad of age later , this lazily place footprint would help scientist to realize some of the world ’s very last Neandertal man
The footprint , believed to be a young Neanderthal ’s , can be found in Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin dunes above Catalan Bay , a small fishing village in Gibraltar , a British territory at the bottom of Spain along the glide of the Mediterranean Sea . If the photographic print is reassert to belong to a Neanderthal , the area would be the second place in the world to be home to footprint made by these antiquated humans , the other being Romania ’s Vartop Cave .
Writing in the journalQuaternary Science Reviews , an international team of scientist has reported over 10 year of inquiry looking at the legion mammal footprint found at Catalan Bay .
Gibraltar is no alien to swinish action . Gorham ’s Cave ( below ) on the southeasterly wing of the Rock of Gibraltar is considered to be one of the last known habitations of the Neanderthals in Europe . A long - standing possibility hint this far - flung niche of Europe serve as the last refuge for Neandertal population as they easy but certainly weredriven to extinction .
The border rock ‘n’ roll dates to around 32,000 years ago , which is perhaps a little early for Neanderthals . Some researchers indicate that Neanderthals were nonextant in Europe by39,000to32,000years ago , however , a discipline published inNature in 2006argued that Neanderthals might have been in Gibraltar as late as 32,000 years ago .
" Some the great unwashed altercate these date but the day of the month of the Neanderthal extinction remains an open one , " Professor Clive Finlayson , Director of the Gibraltar Museum , told IFLScience . " I should manoeuver out that if they are not Neanderthal footprints , but early mod man instead , the discovery would be just as important , if not more so , as fossil evidence of early advanced humans in Europe is believably scarcer than for Neanderthals ! "
Nevertheless , these prints certainly seem to belong to to a Neanderthal , according to the team . Photogrammetric analysis of the print demonstrate that the understructure was comparatively short and wide-cut compared to that of a modernHomo sapien .
“ Although with the present information it is not potential to cast out advanced humans as producers of the Gibraltar track , the geochronological correlation of the aeolianites [ rock ] with the archaeological and osteological findings wreak Neanderthals nearer to be the tracemaker , ” the study authors write .
The research at Catalan Bay also reaffirms the idea that this idyllic after part of Europe was also a hub of prehistoric biodiversity , some of which would seem very out of place in modern - day Europe . Along with the hominin print , the team also key footmark of red deer , ibex , aurochs , leopards , and straight - detusk elephants .
