Abstract
Radiocarbon dating has been fundamental to the study of human cultural and biological development over the past 50,000 yr. Two recent developments in the methodology of radiocarbon dating show that the speed of colonization of Europe by modern human populations was more rapid than previously believed, and that their period of coexistence with the preceding Neanderthal was shorter.
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Acknowledgements
I thank N. Shackleton, C. Bronk Ramsey, T. Higham, R. Hedges, H. Valladas, N. Mercier, M. Fontugne, N. Tisnérat-Laborde, M. Paterne, B. Weninger, W. Davies, O. Bar-Yosef, J. Richter and J. Kozlowski for discussions of the points raised in the paper. Figure 5 was reproduced with permission from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, Regional Direction for Cultural Affairs–Rhône-Alpes, Regional Department of Archeology (image 20).
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Mellars, P. A new radiocarbon revolution and the dispersal of modern humans in Eurasia. Nature 439, 931–935 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04521
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04521
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