尼安德特人是古人类的一个亚种，曾在大约4万年前神秘消失之前在欧亚大陆漫游，但由于其灭绝的真正原因尚未引起人们的关注，尼安德特人仍然是考古学家和人种志研究者着迷的地方。
来自俄罗斯，乌克兰，波兰，德国，澳大利亚和加拿大的跨国科学家团体发现了重要的新线索，表明尼安德特人游牧民族从东欧到西伯利亚南部进行了至少两次单独的3,000-4,000公里的跋涉，以寻找野牛。
突破性的发现基于对阿尔泰地区著名考古遗址Chagyrskaya Cave的一种独特类型的石器工具的识别和分析，为古代人猿惊人的适应干旱和贫瘠草原和寒冷寒冷的能力提供了新线索西伯利亚在远距离迁移过程中的温度。
在发表于《美国国家科学院院刊》上的研究中，研究人员解释说，与早在Denisova洞穴中发现的遗骸不同的是，在阿尔泰地区另一部分的一个单独的考古遗址，Chagyrskaya洞穴的人猿装备有“独特的工具包”，“非常类似于来自中欧和东欧的Micoquian组合，包括北部的Cauacasus，位于Chagyrskaya Cave以西3,000多公里处。”
研究人员强调说：“在其他阿尔泰遗址，早期尼安德特人缺乏相关的类似Micoquian样制品的证据表明，有两次或多次尼安德特人入侵该地区。”
Chagyrskaya Cave地下6c / 1层的石器。 （A–C）诊断Micoquian Bocksteinmesser和Klausennischemesser类型的三种平凸双面工具的照片，线条图和横截面轮廓。 （比例尺5厘米）
©照片：KOLOBOVA ET AL。 PNAS
Chagyrskaya Cave地下6c / 1层的石器。 （A–C）诊断Micoquian Bocksteinmesser和Klausennischemesser类型的三种平凸双面工具的照片，线条图和横截面轮廓。 （比例尺5厘米）
一项DNA分析将在Chagyrskaya洞穴中发现的尼安德特人追溯到居住在东欧的人口，整个研究“提供了一个与众不同的旧石器时代工具相关的长距离，洲际人口流动的罕见例子。”
俄罗斯科学院西伯利亚分校考古与人种学研究所的合著者和考古学家Kseniya Kolobova博士解释说，尼安德特人的独特石器工具被用来加工野牛的尸体，而人类则使用坚韧的材料（如碧玉）或在河床中以卵石形式发现的翡翠和斑岩构成复杂的石材工具。
在向西伯利亚时代发表讲话时，科洛博娃强调说，远古的尼安德特人比以前认为的要复杂得多。例如，她指出了一块装饰性的水晶，这种水晶在阿尔泰地区并不常见，据信尼安德特人随其携带了很长一段距离。她说，这表明“尼安德特人的认知能力比以前想像的要广。”
这位学者指出，欧洲科学家最近在当地洞穴中发现了其他“尼安德特人以几何雕刻形式进行的非功利主义活动的证据”，这再次表明了他们的高智商水平。
MP和UP组合件的站点地图和主成分分析。 （A）用于与Chagyrskaya洞穴文物进行统计比较的Levallois-Mousterian和Micoquian组合地点的位置
©照片：KOLOBOVA ET AL。 PNAS
MP和UP组合件的站点地图和主成分分析。 （A）用于与Chagyrskaya洞穴文物进行统计比较的Levallois-Mousterian和Micoquian组合地点的位置
这项研究的另一位合著者之一，波兰科学院地质科学研究所的Maciej Krajczarz博士说，这有助于确认尼安德特人的热情自然和适应能力。他说：“尼安德特人在草原和苔原草原上的生活极为适应，可以绕过里海从东欧到达阿尔泰山脉，然后沿着草原带向东走。”
自2007年以来在Chagyrskaya洞穴中发现的74个尼安德特人化石和90,000多个石器中，有1,200多个用野牛骨头雕刻而成的物品，包括工具，打孔工具，刀具和刮板。据信，最早的尼安德特人已于100,000年前到达西伯利亚。据信，Micoquian武装的尼安德特人（Neanderthals）已进入该地区约6万年前。
尽管人们相信与人类，气候变化和疾病的竞争起着作用，但学者们尚未发现约有40,000年前导致尼安德特人死亡的原因。
Neanderthals, a subspecies of archaic humans who roamed Eurasia before mysteriously disappearing some 40,000 years ago, remain a source of fascination among archeologists and ethnographers, since the true cause of their extinction has yet to be agreed upon.
A multinational collective of scientists from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Australia and Canada has discovered important new clues indicating that Neanderthal nomads made at least two separate 3,000-4,000 km treks from Eastern Europe to southern Siberia in the hunt for bison.
The groundbreaking discovery, based on the identification and analysis of a distinct type of stone tool at Chagyrskaya Cave, a famous archeological site in Altai region, provides new clues about the ancient hominins’ amazing ability to adapt to the dry and barren steppes and frigid cold temperatures of Siberia during migration across long distances.
In their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Journal, researchers explained that unlike the remains found earlier in the Denisova Cave a separate archeological site in another part of the Altai region, the Chagyrskaya Cave hominins were armed with a “distinctive toolkit” which “closely resembles Micoquian assemblages from central and eastern Europe, including the northern Cauacasus, more than 3,000 kilometers to the west of Chagyrskaya Cave.”
“At other Altai sites, evidence of earlier Neanderthal populations lacking associated Micoquian-like artifacts implies two or more Neanderthal incursions into this region,” researchers stressed.
A DNA analysis traced the Neanderthals found at Chagyrskaya Cave to populations who inhabited Eastern Europe, with the study as a whole “providing a rare example of a long-distance, intercontinental population movement associated with a distinctive Paleolithic toolkit.”
Dr. Kseniya Kolobova, study coauthor and archeologist at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch’s Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, explained that the Neanderthals’ unique lithic tools were used to process the carcasses of bison, with the hominins using tough materials such as jasper or chalcedonite and porphyrite found as pebbles in riverbeds to create complex stone tools.
Speaking to the Siberian Times, Kolobova emphasised that ancient Neanderthals were far more complex beings than previously believed. She pointed, for example, to a piece of decorative rock crystal uncommon to the Altai region which the Neanderthals were believed to have carried with them across long distances. It, she said, showed “that the cognitive abilities of the Neanderthals were wider than previously thought.”
The academic pointed out that scientists in Europe have recently found other “evidence of non-utilitarian activities of Neanderthals in the form of geometric engravings” in local caves, again indicating high levels of intelligence.
Dr. Maciej Krajczarz of the Polish Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Geological Sciences, another of the study’s coauthors, said it helped confirm the Neanderthals’ hearty nature and adaptability. “Neanderthals were supremely adapted to life on steppe and tundra-steppe landscapes, and could have reached the Altai Mountains from Eastern Europe by going around the Caspian Sea and then east along the steppe belt,” he said.
Among the 74 Neanderthal fossils and 90,000+ stone artefacts which have been found at the Chagyrskaya Cave since 2007 are over 1,200 items carved from bison bones, including tool-making tools, piercings, knives and scrapings. The first Neanderthals are believed to have made it to Siberia some 100,000 years ago. The Micoquian tool-armed Neanderthals are thought to have made it to the area about 60,000 years ago.
Academics have yet to discover what caused the Neanderthals to die out some 40,000 years ago, although it is believed that competition with humans, climate change and disease played a role.
