Decades after its initial discovery, the skeleton of a prehistoric child who possessed both human and Neanderthal attributes has now been directly dated. Archaeologists have confirmed that the skeleton of the Lapedo child, named after its place of origin in Lapedo Valley, Portugal, is somewhere between 27,780 to 28,550 years old, according to new research.
Details surrounding the Lapedo child are presented in a study that was recently published in Science Advances. The updated date range of the skeleton sheds light on the burial that the child was given during a time when the ancient Gravettian culture had spread all throughout Europe.
A Human-Neanderthal Mosaic
In 1998, a group of students found the Lapedo child after the group stumbled upon human hand bones at a rock shelter called Lagar Velho. In the weeks after, excavations revealed a full juvenile skeleton, thought to belong to a 4- to 5-year old.
Archaeologists found that the child had some human features, such as dental proportions, but also had other features derived from Neanderthals, including body proportions. At the time, they described it as a “mosaic” of Neanderthal and early modern human features, a result of interbreeding between the two groups.
Read More: 10 of the Most Important Neanderthal Fossil Discoveries
Finding a Reliable Date
Radiocarbon dating of animal bones and charcoal initially suggested that the burial event took place somewhere between 27,700 years and 29,700 years ago. Four subsequent attempts to date the skeleton directly, however, did not yield reliable results.
In the new study, researchers aimed to turn things around by targeting hydroxyproline — an amino acid present in mammalian collagen — that was drawn from a sample of the Lapedo child’s right radius. The results narrowed down the date to between 27,780 years and 28,550 years ago.
This approach, called compound-specific radiocarbon analysis (CSRA), allowed the researchers to avoid the nuisance of carbon contamination; bones retrieved from archaeological digs are often prone to contamination that can occur at the excavation site or from handling at laboratories, which is what led to inaccurate results from previous efforts to date the Lapedo child’s skeleton.
Samples go through a thorough treatment to remove as much contamination as possible, but contaminants still occasionally remain after this process. CSRA, on the other hand, has become an increasingly advantageous solution to retrieve sources of carbon directly from bones.
Ancient Ochre Burials
The researchers noted a few other details that provided insight into the Lapedo child’s burial. For instance, the skeleton was ochre-stained; this may have been a result of a shroud that the child was buried in, which would have fully enveloped its body at the time of burial and decomposed years later. Charcoal staining at the base of the burial pit may have been left by a ritual fire that was lit before the child was placed in the grave.
Rabbit bones, also ochre-stained, were originally found in direct contact with the skeleton’s legs. It’s likely that a rabbit was intentionally placed atop the burial of the child as some sort of offering.
Gravettian burials have been unearthed all across Europe, with notable sites in France and the Czech Republic featuring multiple buried individuals. Gravettian culture is largely associated with the use of ochre — an earth pigment obtained from a variety of rocks — in mortuary practices.
The CSRA method, the researchers believe, could be a valuable tool for additional burial sites that still need more accurate radiocarbon dating. Achieving reliable dates for these sites could help archaeologists understand the full extent of Neanderthal and human movements in Europe, as well as the interactions that would go on to influence early humans’ heritage.
Read More: The Gravettian Culture that Survived an Ice Age
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Jack Knudson is an assistant editor at Discover with a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine.
