Peștera cu Oase | |
 Oase 2 skull | |
  location in Romania Show map of Europe Peștera cu Oase (Romania) Show map of Romania | |
| Location | nearAnina city |
|---|---|
| Region | Caraș-Severin county, southwesternRomania |
| Coordinates | 45°01′N21°50′E / 45.017°N 21.833°E /45.017; 21.833 |
| History | |
| Periods | Paleolithic |
Peștera cu Oase (Romanian pronunciation:[ˈpeʃterakuˈo̯ase], meaning "The Cave with Bones") is a system of 12karstic galleries and chambers located near the cityAnina, in theCaraș-Severin county, southwesternRomania, where some of the oldestEuropean early modern human (EEMH) remains, between 42,000 and 37,000 years old, have been found.[1][2]
While "Oase 1" lower jaw is fully mature, the facial skeleton is that of a mid-second-decade adolescent, therefore corresponding to a second individual, designated as "Oase 2". Further analyses have revealed that the left temporal bone represents a third individual, assessed as adolescent versus mature female, designated as "Oase 3".[3] However, additional finds and work have shown that the temporal bone derives from the same cranium as the "Oase 2" facial and parietal bones.[4] The lack of archaeological signs such as torches, charcoal or tools could suggest that the human remains may have washed in the cave through fissures.The "Oase 2" and "Oase 3" confirm a pattern already known from the probably contemporaneous "Oase 1" mandible,[3] indicating a mixture of archaic, early modern human and Neanderthal morphological features. Thus, the specimens exhibit a suite of derived "modern human" features like projecting chin, no brow ridge, a high and rounded brain case. Yet, these features are associated with several archaic aspects of the cranium and dentition that place them outside the range of variation for modern humans, like a large face, a large crest of bone behind the ear and big teeth that get even larger toward the back. This mosaic of Neanderthal and modern human resembles similar traits found in a 25,000 years old fossil of a child inAbrigo do Lagar Velho or in the 31,000 years old site ofMladeč, by Cidália Duarte, et al. (1999).
In 2015 genetics research revealed that theOase 1fossil had a recentNeanderthal ancestor, with an estimated 5-11% Neanderthal autosomal DNA. The specimen's 12th chromosome was 50% Neanderthal.[5][6]
In February 2002, aspeleological team exploring the karstic system of Miniș Valley, in the southwesternCarpathian Mountains nearAnina, discovered a previously unknown chamber with a profusion of mammalian skeletal remains. The cave, which seemed to have served primarily as hibernation room for theLate Pleistocene cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), presented unusual arrangements such as the placement of some remains on raised rocks, suggesting a certain human involvement in the accumulated deposits. In fact, speleologists Ștefan Milota, Adrian Bîlgăr and Laurențiu Sarcina discovered a completehuman mandible on thepaleosurface. The karstic chamber was designated asPeștera cu Oase (The Cave with Bones) and the human mandible as "Oase 1" (also dubbedIon din Anina "John of Anina").[3]
The latestradiocarbon dates[dubious –discuss] of the Oase fossils give an age of 37,800 yearsBP.[2] From a location close to theIron Gates in theDanubian corridor, they may represent one of the earliest modern human populations to have entered Europe.[7]
In June 2003 a further research team with Ștefan Milota, Ricardo Rodrigo, and Mircea Gherase discovered additional human remains on the cave's surface. Belonging to an adult male, these comprised an entire anterior cranial skeleton was found along with a largely complete left temporal bone and a number of frontal, parietal and occipital bone segments.
The calibrated radiocarbon date for "Oase 1" is 40,450±1020 BP.[1]
Oase 1 exhibits morphological traits from early modern humans andarchaic humans, includingNeanderthal features.[8]
  |
DNA analysis of Oase 1 since 2015 has made a number of significant findings.
| Oase 2 | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Forensic facial reconstruction of Oase 2. Exhibited in the Neanderthal Museum in Mettmann, Germany. | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Infraorder: | Simiiformes |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Subfamily: | Homininae |
| Tribe: | Hominini |
| Subtribe: | Hominina |
| Genus: | Homo |
| Species: | |
Researchers sequenced the genome of "Oase 2" (41,500–39,500 years old) to highcoverage (20-fold) from itspetrous bone.
Around 6% of "Oase 2"'s genome is Neanderthal in origin, which is lower than for "Oase 1"; however, this is still much higher than expected based on its age and what is seen in other Upper Palaeolithic genomes.
"Oase 2" belongs to the same basal subclade of mitochondrial DNA haplogroup N as "Oase 1". When compared against all DNA samples on record, "Oase 2" and "Oase 1" share the closest genetic affinity with each other. "Oase 1" and "Oase 2" appear to be from related, but not necessarily identical populations.
"Oase 1" shows an affinity for Ice Age Europeans that is not found in "Oase 2", while "Oase 2" is closer toAsians andNative Americans. "Oase 1" shows a genetic affinity for "Peştera Muierii 2" that is not found in "Oase 2". After "Oase 1", the next closest genetic affinity for "Oase 2" among ancient DNA samples is the c. 40kyaTianyuan man fromNorthern China. Neither "Oase 2" nor "Oase 1" are particularly close genetically to any modern human populations.[11]
Peștera cu Oase is subject to ongoing investigation. The on-site findings from the 2005 campaign are currently cross-examined at the Romanian "Emil Racoviță" Institute ofSpeleology,Australian National University, (electron spin resonance anduranium-series dating on 21 bone/tooth samples and 29 associated sediment samples),University of Bristol, (uranium-series analysis on 22 bone samples),University of Bergen, (uranium-series dating on 7 samples),University of Oxford (AMSradiocarbon dating on 8 bone/tooth samples),Max Planck Institute (stable isotope analysis and ancientDNA on 37 bone/tooth samples),University of Vienna (AMS radiocarbon dating on 25 bone/tooth samples).
A skull found in Peștera cu Oase in 2004/5 bears features of both modern humans and Neanderthals. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the skull is 37,800 years old, making it amongst the oldest modern human fossils ever found in Europe.[2]Erik Trinkaus (2007) concluded that the two groups interbred thousands of years ago.
The marked contrast between the morphological modernity of "early modern" humans and even late "classical Neanderthal" trait-packages,[12] as well as mitochondrialaDNA differences have suggested a major physical anthropological discontinuity and hence, a complete population replacement at the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition, leading to what one might call "Out of Africa with Complete Replacement" model.
However, more recent direct dating of fossils has demonstrated that early modern human remains were instead of the mid/lateHolocene, hence much younger than supposed.[13][clarification needed]
In this context, the particular importance of the "Peștera cu Oase" findings resides both in the mixture of modern human and archaic (Neanderthal) features and in the fact that they are sufficiently complete to be taxonomically diagnosed and directly dated. Thus, the Oase fossils overlap in time for some 3000 years with late Neanderthals like those ofVindija Cave (Croatia) dated to ~32,000 radiocarbon years BP or less forArcy-sur-Cure (France) at ~34,000 radiocarbon years BP. Besides, the notion that the Oase people are very close to the time of contact with Neanderthals is consistent with their archaic traits, and finds additional support in the patterns of spatio-temporal distribution of the latest Neanderthal remains.[7]
Since genetics does not reject the hypothesis of a Neanderthal-modern admixture, and morphological and archaeological evidence suggest that Neanderthal lineages survived into later Upper Paleolithic populations, "Peștera cu Oase" findings provide a strong argument in favor of an admixture model between regional Neanderthals and early modern humans.
Arguing with chronological overlapping and morphological blending, this model assumes significant Neanderthal/modern human admixture,[14] suggesting that already on their arrival in Europe, modern humans met, intermixed and interbred with Neanderthals.[15]
When modern humans entered Europe, they encountered people with the same cognitive capabilities and featuring identical levels of cultural achievement. In such a situation, the entire gamut of cultural interaction situations, from conflict to mutual avoidance and full admixture, must have ensued at the local and regional level. But the overall result in the long-term continental perspective was that of biological and cultural blending, the imbalance in the size of the gene reservoirs involved explaining the eventual loss of NeanderthalmtDNA lineages among later and extant humans.[7]
This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under theCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)