# Population Genetics > Paleogenetics > Paleolithic & Mesolithic >  Early Aurignacian dispersal into westernmost Europe

## Angela

One of the interesting papers I've been reading:

"*The early Aurignacian dispersal of modern humans into westernmost Eurasia"*Jonathan A. Haws et al
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2.../23/2016062117

"*Significance*We report the remarkable discovery of an early Aurignacian occupation, ∼5,000 years older than any Upper Paleolithic site in westernmost Eurasia. The archaeological and radiocarbon data provide definitive evidence that modern humans were in western Iberia at a time when, if present at all, Neanderthal populations would have been extremely sparse. This discovery has important ramifications for our understanding of the process of modern human dispersal and replacement of Neanderthal populations. The results support a very rapid, unimpeded dispersal of modern humans across western Eurasia and support the notion that climate and environmental change played a significant role in this process.

*Abstract*Documenting the first appearance of modern humans in a given region is key to understanding the dispersal process and the replacement or assimilation of indigenous human populations such as the Neanderthals. The Iberian Peninsula was the last refuge of Neanderthal populations as modern humans advanced across Eurasia. Here we present evidence of an early Aurignacian occupation at Lapa do Picareiro in central Portugal. Diagnostic artifacts were found in a sealed stratigraphic layer dated 41.1 to 38.1 ka cal BP, documenting a modern human presence on the western margin of Iberia ∼5,000 years earlier than previously known. The data indicate a rapid modern human dispersal across southern Europe, reaching the westernmost edge where Neanderthals were thought to persist. The results support the notion of a mosaic process of modern human dispersal and replacement of indigenous Neanderthal populations.


Aurignacianmodern humandispersalIberiaPaleolithic
The dispersal of modern humans across western Eurasia, associated with the Upper Paleolithic, is well documented compared to other regions but still susceptible to discoveries that can overturn prevailing ideas, especially those based on first appearance dates (1, 2). Current data support an east-west dispersal beginning ∼46 ka cal BP in the Balkan Peninsula at Bacho Kiro (3, 4) (Fig. 1). Subsequently, modern humans spread up the Danube river basin and along the Mediterranean rim within a relatively short period (5). The process was likely a mosaic involving dispersal into empty spaces and interaction with indigenous Neanderthal populations. At some point, around 43 to 42 ka cal BP, the regional variants of the Initial Upper Paleolithic coalesced into the Aurignacian technocomplex, appearing synchronously across western Eurasia (6)."

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## archi1491

thanks for sharing...........

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