London, Nov 19 (PTI) Neanderthals may have survived at least 3,000 years longer than thought in what is now Spain - much after the species had died out everywhere else, a study has found. The findings suggest that the process of modern human populations absorbing Neanderthal populations through interbreeding was not a regular, gradual wave-of-advance but a "stop-and-go, punctuated, geographically uneven history." "Technology from the Middle Paleolithic in Europe is exclusively associated with the Neanderthals," said Joao Zilhao, from the University of Barcelona in Spain. "Even in the adjacent regions of northern Spain and southern France the latest Neanderthal sites are all significantly older," he said. In 2010, researchers found unambiguous evidence for symbolism among Neanderthals from the site of Cueva Anton in Spain.

Source: India Today November 19, 2017 07:18 UTC