Gaby
Neanderthals and Homo sapiens behaved differently in many ways. But both groups organized their living spaces — a trait once thought to belong only to Homo sapiens, Sci.News reports.
To uncover patterns in how these groups arranged their dwellings, Italian and Canadian archaeologists analyzed artifacts from Riparo Bombrini, an ancient site in Liguria in northwestern Italy. Researchers have found evidence there of Neanderthal occupation at the Mousterian level and Homo sapiens at the Protoaurignacian level, across different periods.
How Was the Research Conducted?
A team from the University of Montreal and the University of Genoa mapped the distribution of stone tools, animal bones, and marine shells across the site. The team created clear, interpretable models of the site’s spatial structure and then examined how artifacts clustered within those models.
Those distribution patterns helped the team understand how ancient people used space, said lead author Amélie Vallérian of the University of Montreal.
Combining spatial analysis with studies of stone tools, faunal remains, and marine shells gave the researchers a more complete picture of behavioral similarities and differences between the two groups.
What Similarities Did the Researchers Notice?
Both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens structured their living spaces. They divided their sites into high- and low-activity areas, showing a shared cognitive capacity for spatial organization.
Those patterns developed over thousands of years of repeated occupation. The repeated placement of internal hearths and refuse pits shows deliberate planning.
How people organized space depended on land-use strategies and mobility — for example, the length of stays, the intervals between occupations, the number of people present, and the kinds of activities carried out. The researchers concluded that planning and organization were fundamental aspects of life for both groups.
What Are the Differences?
Neanderthal occupations at Riparo Bombrini showed lower intensity than those of Homo sapiens. Artifact density was lower for Neanderthal layers, and archaeologists found fewer tight clusters of tools.
At each stratigraphic level of the site, the researchers observed different patterns of spatial distribution and use. Neanderthals sometimes used Riparo Bombrini for short-term occupations during periods of rapid climate change, while Homo sapiens occupied the site in both short-term and long-term episodes.
The transition from Neanderthals to modern humans in Liguria was marked by a rapid shift from the late Mousterian (Neanderthal) technological complex to the Protoaurignacian (Homo sapiens), with no evidence of contact between the two populations.
To minimize analytical error, the authors compared Neanderthal and Homo sapiens spatial behavior using the same parameters. That approach revealed a consistent logic in how the site was used, regardless of which population lived there at a given time.
“Like Homo sapiens, Neanderthals structured their living space according to the tasks they performed and their needs,” Vallérian said. She added that the findings contribute to growing evidence that Neanderthals were more human-like than commonly believed.
The findings were published in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory.
