Hunting for Neanderthal and Human Fossils at the Periphery of Palaeolithic Europe

This project will use the novel method of collagen fingerprinting (or ZooMS) to seek new hominin fossils from the unidentified bone fragments from Kent’s Cavern.

Radiocarbon dates from Kent’s Cavern provide the earliest evidence for anatomically modern human in northwest Europe.

This project will use the novel method of collagen fingerprinting (or ZooMS) to seek new hominin fossils from the unidentified bone fragments to clarify when and which hominins were present at this key archaeological site that is located at the periphery of the Neanderthals and early Modern Humans European range.

Finding new fossil remains from Kent’s Cavern is the only way to resolve the controversy concerning the taxonomy and chronology of the hominins that used the cave at different point in the late Pleistocene.

Funding

• The Leakey Foundation Research Grants