Archaeologists in Turkey have found evidence that Neanderthals and early modern humans may have shared a similar culture and even lived together.
In 2020, Naoki Morimoto from Kyoto University in Japan led a study of the Üçağızlı II cave on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. The cave is small, about the size of a city studio apartment. Teeth and jaw bones found in the cave show that Neanderthals lived there from 77,000 to 59,000 years ago. After that, modern humans (Homo sapiens) lived in the cave from 59,000 to 47,000 years ago.
The researchers found nearly 20,000 stone tools in the cave. Surprisingly, the style and technology of these tools did not change when modern humans replaced Neanderthals. The tools remained exactly the same for thousands of years.
Even more surprising, both Neanderthals and modern humans collected the same type of sea snail shell. They found nearly 30 shells of a small, pretty sea snail called Columbella rustica in all layers of the cave. These shells were not used as tools, and they were not eaten as food. Instead, both groups of humans kept them simply because they liked them. A few shells had holes in them, which means they might have been worn as decoration.
Because the tools and the shells were so similar across both groups, researchers believe the two species must have had contact and shared their culture. They might have even lived in the same areas at the same time.
Experts say this discovery shows that modern humans and Neanderthals were not as different as we once thought. They had similar lifestyles and valued the same things.