Researchers have recently reevaluated the remains of the ‘Lapedo Child’
Researchers have recently reevaluated the remains of the ‘Lapedo Child’ and now believe that their remains date to 28,000 years ago (25,830-26,600 B.C.E.). The date change also leads to new interesting developments regarding ritual burial. The child which was discovered in the Lagar Velho rock-shelter in the Lapedo Valley of central Portugal, showed physical characteristics of Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapien features. The Lapedo Child who was 4-5 years old, possessed a prominent chin as seen in modern humans and shirt/stocky legs seen in Neandertals. Previous dating methods had placed the remains using radiocarbon-dating from 20,000-26,000 years ago (using nearby animal bones) which is more recent than the new date. The new dating method called compound-specific radiocarbon analysis (CSRA) allowed researchers to remove “contamination from archaeological bones” which impacts dating. Besides for the remains of the child itself, researchers also looked at rabbit bones that were buri...