Peștera cu Oase (, meaning "The Cave with Bones") is a system of 12
karstic galleries and chambers located near the city
Anina, in
Caraș-Severin County, southwestern
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
, where some of the oldest
European early modern human (EEMH) remains, between 42,000 and 37,000 years old, have been found.
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".
[ However, additional finds and work have shown that the temporal bone derives from the same cranium as the "Oase 2" facial and parietal bones.][Trinkaus, E., Zilhão, J., Rougier, H., Rodrigo, R., Milota, S., Gherase, M., Sarcinã, L., Moldovan, O., Bãltean, I., Codrea, V., Bailey, S. E., Franciscus, R. G., Ponce de Léon, M., Zollikofer, C. P. E. (2006) The Peștera cu Oase and early modern humans in Southeastern Europe. In N.J. Conard (Ed.), ''When Neanderthals and modern humans met'', pp. 145-164. Tübingen: Kerns Verlag] The lack of archaeological signs such as torches, charcoal or tools could suggest that the human remains may have washed into the cave through fissures.
The "Oase 2" and "Oase 3" confirm a pattern already known from the probably contemporaneous "Oase 1" mandible,[ 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 in Abrigo do Lagar Velho or in the 31,000 years old site of Mladeč, by Cidália Duarte, et al. (1999).
In 2015 genetics research revealed that the Oase 1 ]fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
had a recent Neanderthal
Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...
ancestor, with an estimated 5-11% Neanderthal autosomal DNA. The specimen's 12th chromosome was 50% Neanderthal.
The cave
In February 2002, a speleological team exploring the karstic system of Miniș Valley, in the southwestern Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...
near Anina, discovered a previously unknown chamber with a profusion of mammalian skeletal remains. The cave, which seemed to have served primarily as hibernation room for the Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...
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 complete human mandible on the paleosurface. The karstic chamber was designated as (The Cave with Bones) and the human mandible as "Oase 1" (also dubbed
"John of Anina").[Trinkaus, E., Milota, Ș., Rodrigo, R., Gherase, M., Moldovan, O. (2003), Early Modern Human Cranial remains from the Peștera cu Oase, Romania, '' Journal of Human Evolution'', 45:245 –253]
The latest radiocarbon dates of the Oase fossils give an age of 37,800 years . From a location close to the Iron Gates in the Danubian corridor, they may represent one of the earliest modern human populations to have entered Europe.
Oase 1
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
Oase 1 exhibits morphological traits from early modern humans and archaic humans
''Homo'' () is a genus of great ape (family Hominidae) that emerged from the genus ''Australopithecus'' and encompasses only a single extant species, ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), along with a number of extinct species (collectively calle ...
, including Neanderthal
Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...
features.
DNA analysis of Oase 1 since 2015 has made a number of significant findings.
* About 6-9% of the genome is Neanderthal in origin. This is the highest percentage of archaic introgression found in an anatomically modern human and together with the linkage disequilibrium patterns indicates that Oase 1 had a relatively-recent Neanderthal ancestor – about four to six generations earlier.
* The autosomal DNA of Oase 1 shares equal alleles with both Mesolithic Europeans and East Eurasians, such that he may share more alleles with modern East Asian populations, than with modern Europeans. In other words, Oase 1 has negligible levels of genetic components found in modern Europeans, including so-called Basal Eurasian ancestry later carried to (or supplemented in) Europe, by Anatolian Neolithic farmers and Yamnaya pastoralists.
* Oase 1 belongs to an extinct Y-DNA haplogroup and an extinct mitochondrial DNA haplogroup.
** Research by Poznik et al. (2016) suggests that Oase 1 Y-DNA belongs to haplogroup K2a*. That is, Oase 1 possesses SNPS similar to Ust'-Ishim man (also K2a*), 45,000-year-old remains from Siberia, and upstream from Haplogroup NO and a rare lineage found in two living males (from ethnic Telugu and Malay backgrounds, respectively, for whom Poznik et al. proposed the creation of a new subclade, named "K2a1"). (Earlier research by Fu et al. reported that Oase 1 belonged to a subclade of Y-DNA haplogroup F, other than haplogroups G, H, I and J – leaving open the possibility that Oase 1 belonged to macrohaplogroup K.)
** According to Fu, Oase-1's maternal lineage is related to mitochondrial DNA haplogroup N, but diverged from all other N clades before they diverged from each other.
Oase 2
Researchers sequenced the genome of "Oase 2" (41,500–39,500 years old) to high coverage (20-fold) from its petrous 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 to Asians and Native 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. 40kya Tianyuan man from Northern China
Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture.
Extent
The Qinling, Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone ...
. Neither "Oase 2" nor "Oase 1" are particularly close genetically to any modern human populations.[ This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th]
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
license.
Current research
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 of Speleology, Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
, ( electron spin resonance and uranium-series dating on 21 bone/tooth samples and 29 associated sediment samples), University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...
, (uranium-series analysis on 22 bone samples), University of Bergen, (uranium-series dating on 7 samples), University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
( AMS radiocarbon dating on 8 bone/tooth samples), Max Planck Institute ( stable isotope analysis and ancient DNA on 37 bone/tooth samples), University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
(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. Erik Trinkaus (2007) concluded that the two groups interbred thousands of years ago.
Implications for research
The marked contrast between the morphological modernity of "early modern" humans and even late "classical Neanderthal" trait-packages, as well as mitochondrial aDNA 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/late Holocene
The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...
, hence much younger than supposed.
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 of Vindija Cave (Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
) dated to ~32,000 radiocarbon years BP or less for Arcy-sur-Cure (France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
) 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.
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, suggesting that already on their arrival in Europe, modern humans met, intermixed and interbred with Neanderthals.
See also
* Peștera Muierilor
* Prehistoric Romania
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pestera Cu Oase
2002 archaeological discoveries
Upper Paleolithic Homo sapiens fossils
Prehistoric sites in Romania
Caves of Romania
Prehistory of Southeastern Europe
Peopling of Europe
Cave bear
Early European modern humans