New Tech Provided Better European Neanderthal Dating Results “Dating is crucial in archaeology,” explained Tom Higham , a University of Oxford archaeologist and study participant affiliated with the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, where the new tests were performed. “Without a reliable framework of chronology we can’t really be confident in understanding the relationships between Neanderthals and as we moved into Europe 45,000 years ago and they began to disappear. That’s why these methods are so exciting, because they provide much more accurate and reliable dates.” Tom Higham In search of confirmatory evidence, the archaeologists applied the new dating techniques to European Neanderthalspecimens found in two other caves in Belgium, Engis and Fonds-de-Forêt. The radiocarbon accelerator produced similar results for these remains, locating them within the same 42,200—38,600 BC time frame that had been assigned to the Spy Cave specimens.