SEMINAR: Archaeological Seminar Series Semester 1, 2011

The presence of Neanderthals in Central Europe during the Weichselian glaciations (Pleistocene) was sporadic and likely resulted from migrations during warm phases only. While cold climate restricted habitation of Central Europe by Neanderthals, evidence from hundreds of human–made flint artefacts found together with thousands of animal bones and teeth (including mammoths, bison and rhinos) indicates that Neanderthals were present over there between ~115 and 74ka and again ~59ka. We have used the stable oxygen isotope composition of phosphates of teeth from “dining scraps” of Palaeolithic hunters to estimate temperatures during these two past periods. We show that temperatures during these phases were 2–4°C warmer than previous estimates based on ice cores and pollen records. We calculated the mean annual temperature during Neanderthal migrations to Central Europe to be 6.3 and 6.8°C. To provide some modern context, these temperatures are ~1°C warmer than the current climate of Stockholm (Skrzypek et al. 2011).