American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—Using advanced radiocarbon dating techniques, researchers have arrived at a new date for the life of the Lapedo Child, one of the most famous prehistoric human remains, and one who displays a mixture of modern human and Neanderthal features. The experiments provide one of the most accurate estimates yet of the child’s chronology, indicating that he or she lived from around 27,780 to 28,850 years ago. “The direct date for the Lapedo Child demonstrates that this compound-specific radiocarbon dating method can also be applied to poorly preserved samples that would otherwise fail routine pretreatment methods,” Bethan Linscott and colleagues write*. The Lapedo Child was discovered by chance in 1998 when several students stumbled upon a rock shelter at the base of a cliff in the Lapedo Valley in central Portugal. Salvage work revealed a nearly intact skeleton of a four-to-five-year-old child. However, scientists still hadn’t calculated a reliable radiocarbon date for the skeleton, despite four previous attempts. Here, Linscott et al. turned to a new method called hydroxyproline dating, which targets specific amino acids and can remove more contaminants than standard dating methods. They applied this technique to a sample of the Lapedo Child’s right radius and arrived at a new estimate of 27,780 to 28,850 years ago. The team also dated other bone samples from the burial environment, including some red deer bones, rabbit remains, and a horse mandible. Linscott et al. speculate that the technique could prove useful at other culturally important Paleolithic human remain sites, including the Mladeč Caves in the Czech Republic and Saint-Césaire in France.
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The grave. Plan (A) and drawing (B) after (21). The position of the dated samples is indicated (the lab numbers in red are for their HYP redating). Artist credit: (A) J.Z. and (B) G. Casella.
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The charcoal in the grave. (A) Scattered in the sediment that covered the bones (fourth day of excavation, 20 December 1998). (B) Emerging along the external edge of the burial pit (fifth day of excavation, 21 December 1998). (C) Scattered at the base of the burial pit, along the right child’s right leg, once the skeleton had been fully exposed (11th day of excavation, 27 December 1998). (D) Under the child’s right tibia, where the radiocarbon-dated charcoal sample was collected. João Zilhão and Cidália Duarte
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The activity area west of the burial (unit EE15/layer 143). (A) Overview during the 2018 to 2022 phase of work; at this time, all trenches excavated to the east had been backfilled [after (53); photo courtesy of J. Daura, M. Sanz, A. C. Araújo, and A. Costa]. (B to D) At the beginning of the excavation, in 2001 [overview and details of a fire feature and of accumulations of faunal remains; after (22). Image credit: João Zilhão
The child’s radius. Fragments of the child’s right radius, shattered in situ, used for the OxA-43547 hydroxyproline date. Cidália Duarte
Abrigo do Lagar Velho, Lapedo, where the Lapido Child’s remains were found. Celia Ascenso, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Article Source: AAAS news release.
*Direct hydroxyproline radiocarbon dating of the Lapedo Child (Abrigo do Lagar Velho, Leiria, Portugal), Science Advances, 7-Mar-2025. 10.1126/sciadv.adp5769
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