Fossil skeletons taken from 'Blätterhöhle' cave near Hagen in Germany, reveal that indigenous hunter-gatherers lived alongside immigrant farmers for 2,000 years. Wikimedia Commons
Bones excavated from a German cave shed light on how hunter-gatherers and farmers lived side by side 7,500 years ago.
Fossil skeletons taken from the Blätterhöhle cave near Hagen in North Rhine-Westphalia reveal that indigenous hunter-gatherers lived alongside farmers who migrated to Central Europe from the Near East, archaeologists say. While the two groups tolerated each other, they did not mesh, the Washington Post reports.
Bones excavated from a German cave shed light on how hunter-gatherers and farmers lived side by side 7,500 years ago.
Fossil skeletons taken from the Blätterhöhle cave near Hagen in North Rhine-Westphalia reveal that indigenous hunter-gatherers lived alongside farmers who migrated to Central Europe from the Near East, archaeologists say. While the two groups tolerated each other, they did not mesh, the Washington Post reports.
Mitochondrial DNA results taken from 25 of the skeletons indicated that some were hunter-gatherers while others were farmers. It was only when the isotope content of the samples were analyzed did researcher discover that the hunter-gatherers sustained a diet of fish while farmers relied on domesticated animals, Bollongino said. The two groups rarely interbred.
“It wasn’t until we saw the isotopes that we realized we were going to have to rewrite the paper completely,” Bollongino told the Washington Post. “They shared the same burial place for something between 400 and 600 years, so it would be very hard to explain that they did not know each other. We believe that they were close neighbors and had contact with each other and traded with each other. But still they didn’t mix.”
