Grimaldi Man
Encyclopedia
Grimaldi man was a name given in the early 20th century to an Italian find of two paleolithic
skeletons, supposedly showing negroid traits. When found, the skeletons were the subject of dubious scientific theories on human evolution
, partly fueled by biased reconstruction of the skulls by the scientists involved. In the 1960s, the Grimaldi find, together with various other European finds of early modern humans, was classified as Cro-Magnon
(in the wider sense), though the term "European Early Modern Humans" is today preferred for this assemblage. The true nature of Grimaldi man is still a subject of controversy.
s around the "Balzi Rossi" (the Red Cliff) near Ventimiglia
in Italy. One of the more dramatic was that of two children with snail-shell belts in what was named as "Grotte dei fanciulli" (Cave of the Children) as well as stone tools and several Venus figurines
. Around the turn of the 20th century, Albert I, Prince of Monaco
financed the archaeological
exploration of the seven most important caves. These were named "Caves of Grimaldi" in honour of the House of Grimaldi
.
The caves yielded several finds. The remains from one of the caves, the "Barma Grande", have in recent time been radiocarbon dated
to 25 000 years old, which places it in the Upper Paleolithic
.
artifacts and reindeer
remains in the upper layers, while the lower layers exhibited a more tropical fauna with Merck's rhinoceros
, hippopotamus
and straight-tusked elephant
. The lowermost horizon held Mousterian
tools, associated with Neanderthals. The Grimaldi skeletons were found in the lower Aurignacian layer in June 1901, by the Canon
de Villeneuve. The two skeletons appeared markedly different from the Cro-Magnon skeletons found higher in the cave and in other caves around Balzi Rossi, and was named "Grimaldi man" in honour of the Prince.
One of the two skeletons belonged to a woman past 50, the other an adolescent boy of 16 or 17. The skeletons were in remarkably good shape, though the weight of some 8 meters of sediments had crushed them somewhat, particularly the fine bones of the face. Yet, de Villeneuve was reportedly struck by the prognathism
of the skulls. With the crushed nature of the skulls, such observation would have been tentative at best. It was however later established that the old woman was indeed prognathic, though from a pathologic condition.
finds from the same cave system. The Grimaldi people were small. While an adult Cro-Magnon generally stood over 170 cm tall (large males could reach 190 cm), neither of the two skeletons stood over 160 cm. The boy was smallest at a mere 155 cm.
The skulls of the two had rather tall braincases, unlike the long, low skulls found in Neanderthals and to a lesser extent in Cro-Magnons. The faces had wide nasal openings and lacked the rectangular orbitae
and pronounced brow ridges
so characteristic of Cro-Magnons. These traits, combined with what de Villeneuve interpreted as prognathism led the discoverers to the conclusion that the Grimaldi man had been of a "negroid" type. Some traits did not fit the picture though. The nasal bone
s gave a high nasal bridge, like that of Cro-Magnons and modern Europeans and very unlike more tropical groups. The two rises of the frontal bone
in the forehead was separate rather than forming a single median rise, another "European" trait. The cranial capacity was also quite large for such small built people, indicating well muscled bodies.
. Having lost all her molars of the lower jaw, the upper jaw
had been progressively translated forward and the lower part of the face had become more protruding.
and R. Verneau
, when trying to reconstruct the skull and the face. M. Boule drilled the maxillaries in order to release the wisdom teeth that were still inside them. By doing this, he changed the face, as the natural growth of the wisdom teeth would have remodeled the dental arc in a natural way. Having then too many teeth to fit the jawline, he reconstructed a very prognathic jaw, possibly bearing in mind the jaw of the woman. The diagnosis of "prognathism" in the adolescent is hence speculative - artificial and possibly intentionally created. Based on these characteristics, Boule and Verneau concluded that the two specimen were "negroid". Other non-negroïd characteristics were disregarded. The fact that no similar finds were known from Europe did not raise any concern, as it was believed that more were to follow.
s, without reference to the changing of the positions, further adding to the confusion over the Grimaldi find.
It is however clear that Dr. Verneau did not intend to create a hoax along the lines of the Piltdown man
. He documented his manipulations (at least partially), and his intentions was to accentuate a feature he really believed to be present. His honesty is further corroborated as he also made photos of the excavation, where one can see the old woman lying in a face-down position. Such photos were quite rare for that time.
in 1868, at the height of imperialism
, led to the idea that modern man had arisen in Europe. The most chauvinistic French archaeologists was even ready to declare France the cradle of humanity. The Piltdown Man
forgery "discovered" in 1912 helped the Eurocentric view by offering proof of a European "missing link
" between ape and man. In spite of Boule
's conclusion that Piltdown was a forgery (in 1915), scientists continued to believe in it, until modern dating methods finally exposed the fraud in 1953.
The ideas of early racist writers like Arthur de Gobineau
made the more politically minded archaeologists of the day consider Europeans as the original (superior) race. Hence, the African and Asian races had to come from somewhere. The Grimaldi finds satisfied the need for an ancestor for Black people, and the skull from Chancelade suggested one for the "yellow" race. M. Boule and R. Verneau can thus be seen as interpreting the find after the leading theories of the day. Others are less tolerant in their judgment: they suggest that the Grimaldi man and the Chancelade man are imaginations resulting from the theories of de Gobineau, to prove the superiority and anteriority of the white race.
, Combe-Capelle
in France, Minatogawa
in Japan, the Kabwe skull from Zambia
and several Paleo-Indians had considerably broadened the knowledge of early man. All these finds group with Cro-Magnons rather than with Neanderthals, and the old term Cro-Magnon was expanded to encompass all early modern humans, including the Grimaldi.
In this understanding of the term "Cro-Magnon", the Grimaldi man did not stand out. This change coincided with a shift of paleoanthropological
focus away from Europe. Cro-Magnon in the wide sense is now replaced by "Anatomically modern humans
" or AMH, and the name Cro-Magnon has come to denote remains similar to the original find
, though not as a formal unit. The Grimaldi man has remained under the Cro-Magnon heading, perhaps due to its obscurity, less-than-rigorous re-construction and the unsavoury theoretical framework under which it was originally published.
in the wake of decolonialisation of Africa, Grimaldi man has again become the subject of controversy. Cheikh Anta Diop
insisted that Grimaldi man represent a distinct black race, different from the Cro-Magnon.
The finding of Grimaldi man at the lowermost of the Aurignacian
layers indicate they lived near the cave before Cro-Magnons settled the local area. The Afrocentrist theory of the origin of Europeans vary somewhat from author to author, but the essence is that "white man" only appeared around 20 000 years ago, with a "black" Grimaldi man as ancestor. While Grimaldi man may well have been the earliest modern inhabitants of the Liguria
n coast, the Cro-Magnons settled Europe from the East. Italy and South France being among the last areas settled, meaning the Grimaldi people would have been contemporary with rather than preceding the Cro-Magnon immigration wave. With current genetic mapping of the worlds population history, the origins of Europeans from a common Caucasian
/Mongolian group is dated to some 50 000 in Central Asia
, and all humans share an origin in East Africa some 150 000 year ago.
pointed out that while the Grimaldi man clearly showed "negroid" features, he also had European ones. He concluded that Grimaldi man probably was of an "intermediate race", like those alive today that do not readily fall into the racial stereotypes of Europeans, Africans or Asians. He suggested Grimaldi man might have found his way to Europe over a land bridge
from Africa. Both the Strait of Gibraltar
and a route from Algeria
via Sicily
was thought to have been fordable in the late Paleolithic. Later works have shown none of them were passable at the time, though the Bosphorus strait would have been dry. Others have suggested the Grimaldi people may have been related to Bushmen
.
Modern knowledge of the genetic history of Europe demonstrates that the European continent has been populated in several waves of ethnic groups. It is well within the realm of the possible that this also happened in the early phase of modern human settlement of Europe, and that the earliest population history of Europe may be more complex than traditionally assumed from palaeontology alone.
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
skeletons, supposedly showing negroid traits. When found, the skeletons were the subject of dubious scientific theories on human evolution
Human evolution
Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...
, partly fueled by biased reconstruction of the skulls by the scientists involved. In the 1960s, the Grimaldi find, together with various other European finds of early modern humans, was classified as Cro-Magnon
Cro-Magnon
The Cro-Magnon were the first early modern humans of the European Upper Paleolithic. The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are radiometrically dated to 35,000 years before present....
(in the wider sense), though the term "European Early Modern Humans" is today preferred for this assemblage. The true nature of Grimaldi man is still a subject of controversy.
History
In the late 19th century, several stone age finds of extreme age had been made in the caves and rock shelterRock shelter
A rock shelter is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff....
s around the "Balzi Rossi" (the Red Cliff) near Ventimiglia
Ventimiglia
Ventimiglia is a city and comune in Liguria, northern Italy, in the province of Imperia. It is located southwest of Genoa by rail, and 7 km from the French-Italian border, on the Gulf of Genoa, having a small harbour at the mouth of the Roia River, which divides the town into two parts...
in Italy. One of the more dramatic was that of two children with snail-shell belts in what was named as "Grotte dei fanciulli" (Cave of the Children) as well as stone tools and several Venus figurines
Venus figurines
Venus figurines is an umbrella term for a number of prehistoric statuettes of women portrayed with similar physical attributes from the Upper Palaeolithic, mostly found in Europe, but with finds as far east as Irkutsk Oblast, Siberia, extending their distribution to much of Eurasia, from the...
. Around the turn of the 20th century, Albert I, Prince of Monaco
Albert I, Prince of Monaco
Albert I was Prince of Monaco and Duke of Valentinois from 10 September 1889 until his death.-Early life:...
financed the archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
exploration of the seven most important caves. These were named "Caves of Grimaldi" in honour of the House of Grimaldi
House of Grimaldi
The House of Grimaldi is associated with the history of the Republic of Genoa and of the Principality of Monaco.-History:The Grimaldi family descends from Grimaldo, a Genoese statesman at the time of the early Crusades. He might have been a son of Otto Canella, a consul of the Republic of Genoa in...
.
The caves yielded several finds. The remains from one of the caves, the "Barma Grande", have in recent time been radiocarbon dated
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
to 25 000 years old, which places it in the Upper Paleolithic
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. Very broadly it dates to between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of behavioral modernity and before the advent of...
.
Finding Grimaldi man
The Grotte dei fanciulli held AurignacianAurignacian
The Aurignacian culture is an archaeological culture of the Upper Palaeolithic, located in Europe and southwest Asia. It lasted broadly within the period from ca. 45,000 to 35,000 years ago in terms of conventional radiocarbon dating, or between ca. 47,000 and 41,000 years ago in terms of the most...
artifacts and reindeer
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
remains in the upper layers, while the lower layers exhibited a more tropical fauna with Merck's rhinoceros
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
, hippopotamus
Hippopotamus
The hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...
and straight-tusked elephant
Straight-tusked Elephant
The Straight-tusked Elephant is an extinct species of elephant closely related to the living Asian Elephant. It inhabited Europe during the Middle and Late Pleistocene . Some experts regard the smaller Asian species E...
. The lowermost horizon held Mousterian
Mousterian
Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to a style of predominantly flint tools associated primarily with Homo neanderthalensis and dating to the Middle Paleolithic, the middle part of the Old Stone Age.-Naming:...
tools, associated with Neanderthals. The Grimaldi skeletons were found in the lower Aurignacian layer in June 1901, by the Canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
de Villeneuve. The two skeletons appeared markedly different from the Cro-Magnon skeletons found higher in the cave and in other caves around Balzi Rossi, and was named "Grimaldi man" in honour of the Prince.
One of the two skeletons belonged to a woman past 50, the other an adolescent boy of 16 or 17. The skeletons were in remarkably good shape, though the weight of some 8 meters of sediments had crushed them somewhat, particularly the fine bones of the face. Yet, de Villeneuve was reportedly struck by the prognathism
Prognathism
Prognathism is a term used to describe the positional relationship of the mandible and/or maxilla to the skeletal base where either of the jaws protrudes beyond a predetermined imaginary line in the coronal plane of the skull. In general dentistry, oral and maxillofacial surgery and orthodontics...
of the skulls. With the crushed nature of the skulls, such observation would have been tentative at best. It was however later established that the old woman was indeed prognathic, though from a pathologic condition.
Physical characteristics
The Grimaldi skeletons was very different from the finds that had been unearthed in Europe until then. Unlike the robust Neanderthals, the Grimaldi skeletons was slender and gracile, even more so than the Cro-MagnonCro-Magnon
The Cro-Magnon were the first early modern humans of the European Upper Paleolithic. The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are radiometrically dated to 35,000 years before present....
finds from the same cave system. The Grimaldi people were small. While an adult Cro-Magnon generally stood over 170 cm tall (large males could reach 190 cm), neither of the two skeletons stood over 160 cm. The boy was smallest at a mere 155 cm.
The skulls of the two had rather tall braincases, unlike the long, low skulls found in Neanderthals and to a lesser extent in Cro-Magnons. The faces had wide nasal openings and lacked the rectangular orbitae
Orbit (anatomy)
In anatomy, the orbit is the cavity or socket of the skull in which the eye and its appendages are situated. "Orbit" can refer to the bony socket, or it can also be used to imply the contents...
and pronounced brow ridges
Supraorbital ridge
The supraorbital ridge, or brow ridge, refer to a bony ridge located above the eye sockets of all primates. In Homo sapiens sapiens the eyebrows are located on their lower margin.Other terms in use are:* supraorbital arch...
so characteristic of Cro-Magnons. These traits, combined with what de Villeneuve interpreted as prognathism led the discoverers to the conclusion that the Grimaldi man had been of a "negroid" type. Some traits did not fit the picture though. The nasal bone
Nasal bone
The nasal bones are two small oblong bones, varying in size and form in different individuals; they are placed side by side at the middle and upper part of the face, and form, by their junction, "the bridge" of the nose.Each has two surfaces and four borders....
s gave a high nasal bridge, like that of Cro-Magnons and modern Europeans and very unlike more tropical groups. The two rises of the frontal bone
Frontal bone
The frontal bone is a bone in the human skull that resembles a cockleshell in form, and consists of two portions:* a vertical portion, the squama frontalis, corresponding with the region of the forehead....
in the forehead was separate rather than forming a single median rise, another "European" trait. The cranial capacity was also quite large for such small built people, indicating well muscled bodies.
Restoration work and interpretation
The need for reconstruction
The skulls had been damaged by the weight of the overlying sediments, and some reconstruction, particularly of the lower face was necessary. It has been established that the old woman suffered from a phenomenon known in orthodonticsOrthodontics
Orthodontics, orthodontia, or orthodonture is the first specialty of dentistry that is concerned with the study and treatment of malocclusions , which may be a result of tooth irregularity, disproportionate jaw relationships, or both...
. Having lost all her molars of the lower jaw, the upper jaw
Maxilla
The maxilla is a fusion of two bones along the palatal fissure that form the upper jaw. This is similar to the mandible , which is also a fusion of two halves at the mental symphysis. Sometimes The maxilla (plural: maxillae) is a fusion of two bones along the palatal fissure that form the upper...
had been progressively translated forward and the lower part of the face had become more protruding.
Reconstructing the face
The adolescent had all his teeth, but these were manipulated by the anthropologists M. BouleMarcellin Boule
Marcellin Boule was a French palaeontologist.He studied and published the first analysis of a complete Homo neanderthalensis. The fossil discovered in La Chapelle-aux-Saints was an old man, and Boule characterized it as brutish, bent kneed and not a fully erect biped...
and R. Verneau
René Verneau
René Verneau was a French antropologist who was important in the study of the paleoanthropology. Among his work is the reconstruction of the Grimaldi man from Liguria, and study of the Guanches....
, when trying to reconstruct the skull and the face. M. Boule drilled the maxillaries in order to release the wisdom teeth that were still inside them. By doing this, he changed the face, as the natural growth of the wisdom teeth would have remodeled the dental arc in a natural way. Having then too many teeth to fit the jawline, he reconstructed a very prognathic jaw, possibly bearing in mind the jaw of the woman. The diagnosis of "prognathism" in the adolescent is hence speculative - artificial and possibly intentionally created. Based on these characteristics, Boule and Verneau concluded that the two specimen were "negroid". Other non-negroïd characteristics were disregarded. The fact that no similar finds were known from Europe did not raise any concern, as it was believed that more were to follow.
Museum Display
When the Grimaldi skeletons were found, the adolescent had laid on his back and the woman face-down. The position were changed when they were prepared for display. In order to make the prognathism visible, the skeletons were laid out on their side, which also suggested a ritual burial contrary to the original positions. Photos of this display can be found in textbookTextbook
A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...
s, without reference to the changing of the positions, further adding to the confusion over the Grimaldi find.
It is however clear that Dr. Verneau did not intend to create a hoax along the lines of the Piltdown man
Piltdown Man
The Piltdown Man was a hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. These fragments consisted of parts of a skull and jawbone, said to have been collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, East Sussex, England...
. He documented his manipulations (at least partially), and his intentions was to accentuate a feature he really believed to be present. His honesty is further corroborated as he also made photos of the excavation, where one can see the old woman lying in a face-down position. Such photos were quite rare for that time.
Grimaldi man as "negroid"
The finding of the first Cro-MagnonCro-Magnon 1
Cro-Magnon 1 is a fossilized human skull of the sub-species Homo sapiens sapiens. It was discovered, with other Cro-Magnon specimens, in Les Eyzies, France by Louis Lartet in 1868.It is dated to 27.680±270 Before Present...
in 1868, at the height of imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
, led to the idea that modern man had arisen in Europe. The most chauvinistic French archaeologists was even ready to declare France the cradle of humanity. The Piltdown Man
Piltdown Man
The Piltdown Man was a hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. These fragments consisted of parts of a skull and jawbone, said to have been collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, East Sussex, England...
forgery "discovered" in 1912 helped the Eurocentric view by offering proof of a European "missing link
Missing Link
Missing link is a nonscientific term for any transitional fossil, especially one connected with human evolution; see Transitional fossil - Missing links and List of transitonal fossils - Human evolution.Missing Link may refer to:...
" between ape and man. In spite of Boule
Marcellin Boule
Marcellin Boule was a French palaeontologist.He studied and published the first analysis of a complete Homo neanderthalensis. The fossil discovered in La Chapelle-aux-Saints was an old man, and Boule characterized it as brutish, bent kneed and not a fully erect biped...
's conclusion that Piltdown was a forgery (in 1915), scientists continued to believe in it, until modern dating methods finally exposed the fraud in 1953.
The ideas of early racist writers like Arthur de Gobineau
Arthur de Gobineau
Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau was a French aristocrat, novelist and man of letters who became famous for developing the theory of the Aryan master race in his book An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races...
made the more politically minded archaeologists of the day consider Europeans as the original (superior) race. Hence, the African and Asian races had to come from somewhere. The Grimaldi finds satisfied the need for an ancestor for Black people, and the skull from Chancelade suggested one for the "yellow" race. M. Boule and R. Verneau can thus be seen as interpreting the find after the leading theories of the day. Others are less tolerant in their judgment: they suggest that the Grimaldi man and the Chancelade man are imaginations resulting from the theories of de Gobineau, to prove the superiority and anteriority of the white race.
Grimaldi man as Cro-Magnon
With the end of the 2nd World War, much of the pre-war racial theories and literature was rejected, and fossil humans were grouped into broader categories. New finds from Jebel in IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Combe-Capelle
Combe-Capelle
Combe-Capelle is a Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic site situated in the Couze valley in the Périgord region of Southern France. Henri-Marc Ami carried out excavations from the late 1920s until his death in 1931....
in France, Minatogawa
Minatogawa Man
The Minatogawa Man is a prehistoric people of Okinawa, Japan, represented by four skeletons and some isolated bones dated between 16,000 and 14,000 years BCE...
in Japan, the Kabwe skull from Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
and several Paleo-Indians had considerably broadened the knowledge of early man. All these finds group with Cro-Magnons rather than with Neanderthals, and the old term Cro-Magnon was expanded to encompass all early modern humans, including the Grimaldi.
In this understanding of the term "Cro-Magnon", the Grimaldi man did not stand out. This change coincided with a shift of paleoanthropological
Paleoanthropology
Paleoanthropology, which combines the disciplines of paleontology and physical anthropology, is the study of ancient humans as found in fossil hominid evidence such as petrifacted bones and footprints.-19th century:...
focus away from Europe. Cro-Magnon in the wide sense is now replaced by "Anatomically modern humans
Anatomically modern humans
The term anatomically modern humans in paleoanthropology refers to early individuals of Homo sapiens with an appearance consistent with the range of phenotypes in modern humans....
" or AMH, and the name Cro-Magnon has come to denote remains similar to the original find
Cro-Magnon 1
Cro-Magnon 1 is a fossilized human skull of the sub-species Homo sapiens sapiens. It was discovered, with other Cro-Magnon specimens, in Les Eyzies, France by Louis Lartet in 1868.It is dated to 27.680±270 Before Present...
, though not as a formal unit. The Grimaldi man has remained under the Cro-Magnon heading, perhaps due to its obscurity, less-than-rigorous re-construction and the unsavoury theoretical framework under which it was originally published.
Afrocentrism and Grimaldi as the first Europeans
With the rise of AfrocentrismAfrocentrism
Afrocentrism is cultural ideology mostly limited to the United States, dedicated to the history of Black people a response to global racist attitudes about African people and their historical contributions by revisiting this history with an African cultural and ideological center...
in the wake of decolonialisation of Africa, Grimaldi man has again become the subject of controversy. Cheikh Anta Diop
Cheikh Anta Diop
Cheikh Anta Diop was a historian, anthropologist, physicist, and politician who studied the human race's origins and pre-colonial African culture. He is regarded as an important figure in the development of the Afrocentric viewpoint, in particular for his theory that the ancient Egyptians were...
insisted that Grimaldi man represent a distinct black race, different from the Cro-Magnon.
The finding of Grimaldi man at the lowermost of the Aurignacian
Aurignacian
The Aurignacian culture is an archaeological culture of the Upper Palaeolithic, located in Europe and southwest Asia. It lasted broadly within the period from ca. 45,000 to 35,000 years ago in terms of conventional radiocarbon dating, or between ca. 47,000 and 41,000 years ago in terms of the most...
layers indicate they lived near the cave before Cro-Magnons settled the local area. The Afrocentrist theory of the origin of Europeans vary somewhat from author to author, but the essence is that "white man" only appeared around 20 000 years ago, with a "black" Grimaldi man as ancestor. While Grimaldi man may well have been the earliest modern inhabitants of the Liguria
Liguria
Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and good food.-Geography:...
n coast, the Cro-Magnons settled Europe from the East. Italy and South France being among the last areas settled, meaning the Grimaldi people would have been contemporary with rather than preceding the Cro-Magnon immigration wave. With current genetic mapping of the worlds population history, the origins of Europeans from a common Caucasian
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
/Mongolian group is dated to some 50 000 in Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, and all humans share an origin in East Africa some 150 000 year ago.
Other explanations
Not all early 20th century archaeologists shared the view of Grimaldi as ancestors of Africans. Sir Arthur KeithArthur Keith
Sir Arthur Keith was a Scottish anatomist and anthropologist, who became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Hunterian Professor and conservator of the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London...
pointed out that while the Grimaldi man clearly showed "negroid" features, he also had European ones. He concluded that Grimaldi man probably was of an "intermediate race", like those alive today that do not readily fall into the racial stereotypes of Europeans, Africans or Asians. He suggested Grimaldi man might have found his way to Europe over a land bridge
Land bridge
A land bridge, in biogeography, is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and colonise new lands...
from Africa. Both the Strait of Gibraltar
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
and a route from Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
via Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
was thought to have been fordable in the late Paleolithic. Later works have shown none of them were passable at the time, though the Bosphorus strait would have been dry. Others have suggested the Grimaldi people may have been related to Bushmen
Bushmen
The indigenous people of Southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Barwa, Kung, or Khwe...
.
Modern knowledge of the genetic history of Europe demonstrates that the European continent has been populated in several waves of ethnic groups. It is well within the realm of the possible that this also happened in the early phase of modern human settlement of Europe, and that the earliest population history of Europe may be more complex than traditionally assumed from palaeontology alone.