At https://dailygalaxy.com/2026/02/neither-sapiens-nor-neanderthal-lapedo-child-real-identity/ … a new C14 reassessment has redated the Lapedo child from Portugal to 28,000 years ago. Rather than putting a cuckoo in the nest this new date is illuminating as it is long after the disappearance of the Neanderthals. They mostly disappeared around 40,000 years ago but other groups seem to have survived down to around 32,000 years ago. Both these dates are associated with catastrophic events that are difficult to define. The 40,000 years ago date is associated with Laschamp – and a temporary reversal in Earth’s magnetic field. Both are associated with mass die offs of animals – and presumably early human groups such as the Neanderthals and Denisovans. The latter date is mostly associated with the disappearance of megafauna in Australia.
The Lapedo child is thought to have similarities in common with modern humans – and Neanderthals. That is in itself somewhat controversial as it relies on bone similarities rather than genetic evidence. It led to the idea she represented someone who, in earlier generations, had been hybridised [a mix of modern humans and Neanderthals] that gradually petered out as the Late Pleistocene advanced. After all, all modern humans outside of Africa display evidence of admixture with Neanderthals or Denisovans. The Lapedo child had a modern chin and cranial vault but limb proportions and dentristy seem to resemble those of Neanderthals. What the new date appears to emphasize is that she does not display evidence of hybridisation prior to 40,000 years ago as Neanderthal genes are still apparent within modern humans outside Africa. We may also note that any mutations occurring around the Laschamp Event, as a result of increased radiation leaking into our atmosphere, would have to be put into the mix. In order to explore all possibilities. However, the assumption of the authors of the paper in Science Advances is that the child represents inherited ancestry within modern human groups. No specific DNA has been extracted from the Lapedo child as the state of preservation is poor. The date, on the other hand, places the Lapedo child within the Gravettian cultural complex, dated between 33,000 and 22,000 years ago. Possibly a bit later. These people disappeared at the end of the Late Glacial Maximum.
At https://dailygalaxy.com/2026/02/boy-and-his-dog-discover-secret-cave-with-ice-age-art/ … in 1940 a boy in SW France stumbled on a hole in the ground near a fallen tree. The hole led into the Lascaux Cave complex of tunnels and galleries of art. These have been dated from around 17,000 years ago – at the very end of the Late Glacial Maximum and within the Oldest Dryas episode [or Heinrich One as it is sometimes called]. What was going on at that time to cause humans to seek sanctuary in such an intricate cave system?