New archaeological evidence shows that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens displayed strikingly similar behaviors while living in a cave located in what is now Turkey, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). İsmail Baykara of the Department of Archaeology at Gaziantep University led the research team.
The research findings come from Üçağızlı II Cave, a site along Turkey’s Mediterranean coast near the Orontes River. The location sits in the northern Levant, a region long used as a corridor for early humans traveling between Africa and Eurasia.
- Tooth Study Has Modern Humans Splitting From Neanderthals 400,000 Years Earlier Than Thought
- Age of the Wise Men: What Distinguishes Homo Sapiens from Apes?
Sediment Layers Contain Thousands of Years of Evidence
During the excavation of a chamber inside the cave, the research team investigated layers of sediment containing artifacts, animal remains, and human fossils spanning roughly 30,000 years. Dating methods place the oldest sediment layer at about 77,000 to 59,000 years ago. Teeth recovered from that period were Neanderthal. A second, younger layer formed between 59,000 and 47,000 years ago contained teeth from Homo sapiens. The time periods correspond to the migration patterns of humans leaving Africa as the climate changed, turning forest environments into grasslands and grasslands into deserts. In Europe, Neanderthals also struggled with the harsh climate. The researchers believe there is evidence showing that Neanderthals survived the harsh Ice Age environment because of their adaptability - when they observed a new problem-solving strategy, they modified it for their own use.
A distant view of Üçağızlı II Cave on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. Excavations at the site have revealed evidence that Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens shared remarkably similar technologies and symbolic behaviors, pointing to long-term cultural continuity in the Levant between about 77,000 and 47,000 years ago. (Naoki Morimoto/Kyoto University)
According to Baykara, the study focused on key questions concerning human evolution: How similar were the cultures of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens? Researchers noted that the traces of daily life were much the same. Both hunted the same animals and made stone tools using similar techniques. They even collected the same seashells. Since these two branches of the human family are quite close, did the two share information with each other? How was information shared? Baykara’s team hypothesizes that the two groups met and observed each other, although direct contact is not proven from the evidence found at the cave.
- New Type of Homo Species in Levant Changes Human History Forever
- Ancient Hunters of the Levant Were Surprisingly Strategic, Not Mass Killers
Cultural Transmission Leads to Shared Preferences
The study cites the Neanderthals’ adoption of a unique stone-tool technology that Homo sapiens also used, dating back 59,000 years. The researchers maintain that cultural transmission, or the spread of knowledge through observation and close contact, was responsible for both groups' use of the method. Researchers noted that both groups used the Levallois technique to produce tools. Both groups ate deer, wild goats, and wild boar, leaving fragments of skin and bones behind in the sediment layers. They also shared a preference for sea snail shells, Columbella rustica, for both food and for making jewelry. These shared preferences existed for 20,000 years.
A museum reconstruction of a Neanderthal burial. Evidence from Middle Paleolithic burials suggests Neanderthals cared for their dead and may have practiced complex social or symbolic behaviors long before the arrival of modern humans in Europe and western Asia. (Emoke Denes/CC BY-SA 4.0)
Close Encounters of Two Human Populations
Baykara’s study describes Neanderthals and Homo sapiens as human populations that encountered one another where their territories overlapped. They shared several areas simultaneously. Both groups met in the Levant, where their occupation overlapped. There is evidence of both groups in the Zagros Mountains and in central and southeastern Europe, dating to when modern humans moved into those regions 45,000 years ago. The study concludes that numerous contact zones changed when climate or natural disasters prompted migration. Study co-author Naoki Morimoto sees an intense connection between the groups:
"Our findings indicate a deep level of cultural interaction. These two distinct but closely related human groups were not just adapting to the same environment: they were probably sharing symbolic preferences."
- World’s First Perfectly Preserved Ice Age Bear Found in Russia
- How Ice Age Fauna Adapted and Evolved Across Various Stages of Cold
Shared Human History
The Üçağızlı II Cave offers evidence of a shared human history, with continued occupation over thousands of years. The shared environment creates more complex relationships and similar ideas. It was an environment where the possessions of one group were passed to another, which reused or repurposed an existing tool. The environment fostered cultural transmission, leading to a network of interacting groups rather than an isolated species. Neanderthals and Homo sapiens increasingly appear to have been participants in a shared prehistoric world. Their encounters were sometimes competitive, sometimes intimate, and perhaps, as this study suggests, occasionally collaborative.
Top Image: Researchers excavate Üçağızlı II Cave in southern Turkey during the 2024 field season. Artifacts recovered from the cave have provided evidence that Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens may have shared technological traditions and cultural practices for thousands of years. Source:Naoki Morimoto/Kyoto University
By Ramsey Hardin
References
Baykara, Ismail, Didem Turan, Ece Kural, and Naoki Marimoto. 2026. “Long-term cultural continuity across the Neanderthal–modern human sequence at Üçağızlı II Cave, northern Levant.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 123, no. 29 (July). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2609061123
Maule, Olivia. 2026. “Neanderthals and modern humans may have shared culture 59000 years ago in Turkey, study finds.” Live Science. Available at: https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/neanderthals/modern-humans-and-neanderthals-may-have-shared-long-term-cultural-continuity.
Scott, Anastasia. 2026. “Neanderthals and Modern Humans May Have Shared a Shell-Collecting Tradition in Türkiye for 20000 Years.” Discover Magazine. https://www.discovermagazine.com/neanderthals-and-modern-humans-may-have-shared-a-shell-collecting-tradition-in-t-rkiye-for-20-000-years-49336.
