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Hominin Skeletal Part Abundances and Claims of Deliberate Disposal of Corpses in the Middle Pleistocene

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Hominin Skeletal Part Abundances and Claims of Deliberate Disposal of Corpses in the Middle Pleistocene Hominin skeletal part abundances and claims of deliberate disposal of corpses in the Middle Pleistocene Charles P. Egelanda,1, Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigob,c, Travis Rayne Pickeringd,e,f, Colin G. Menterg, and Jason L. Heatone,f,h aDepartment of Anthropology, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412; bDepartment of Prehistory, Complutense University, 28040 Madrid, Spain; cInstituto de Evolución en África, University of Alcalá de Henares, 28010 Madrid, Spain; dDepartment of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706; eEvolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, 2050 Johannesburg, South Africa; fPlio-Pleistocene Palaeontology Section, Department of Vertebrates, Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (Transvaal Museum), 0001 Pretoria, South Africa; gDepartment of Biology, University of Florence, 50122 Florence, Italy; and hDepartment of Biology, Birmingham-Southern College, Birmingham, AL 35254 Edited by David J. Meltzer, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, and approved March 2, 2018 (received for review November 3, 2017) Humans are set apart from other organisms by the realization of recesses of caves, and both are interpreted as having formed their own mortality. Thus, determining the prehistoric emergence solely (or nearly solely) through the deliberate disposal of of this capacity is of significant interest to understanding the corpses by other hominins (7, 8). If that interpretation is correct, uniqueness of the human animal. Tracing that capacity chrono- the possibility of mortuary ritual—and all that implies for emer- logically is possible through archaeological investigations that gent mortality salience in the human lineage—can be traced to at focus on physical markers that reflect “mortality salience.” Among least approximately 300–600 kiloannum (ka). these markers is the deliberate and culturally mediated disposal of Various lines of evidence are presented in support of the de- corpses. Some Neandertal bone assemblages are among the earli- liberate disposal hypothesis for the SH and DC samples. Both est reasonable claims for the deliberate disposal of hominins, but are nearly exclusively composed of hominin fossils and are even these are vigorously debated. More dramatic assertions cen- claimed to lack (DC) or nearly lack (SH) bone-surface damage ter on the Middle Pleistocene sites of Sima de los Huesos (SH, indicative of carnivore involvement in their formation. These Spain) and the Dinaledi Chamber (DC, South Africa), where the shared anomalies of the SH and DC assemblages match tapho- remains of multiple hominin individuals were found in deep caves, nomic predictions for deliberate disposal of corpses. However, and under reported taphonomic circumstances that seem to dis- both assemblages also show strong biases in hominin skeletal count the possibility that nonhominin actors and processes contrib- uted to their formation. These claims, with significant implications part representation, including most prominently a paucity of for charting the evolution of the “human condition,” deserve scrutiny. axial bones and long bone epiphyses, which is a pattern not We test these assertions through machine-learning analyses of predicted under deliberate disposal hypotheses. Given the ex- hominin skeletal part representation in the SH and DC assemblages. traordinary human behavioral claims associated with the SH and Our results indicate that nonanthropogenic agents and abiotic pro- DC, these discontinuities demand scrutiny. cesses cannot yet be ruled out as significant contributors to the Machine learning is an increasingly popular set of methods ultimate condition of both collections. This finding does not falsify that permits computers to identify patterns within complex, hypotheses of deliberate disposal for the SH and DC corpses, but multivariate datasets with statistical “learning” algorithms (9). does indicate that the data also support partially or completely non- anthropogenic formational histories. Significance mortality salience | mortuary behavior | taphonomy | Awareness of self-mortality is a uniquely human capacity. Rit- skeletal part frequencies | machine learning ualistic treatment of corpses reflects this realization. Two large assemblages of fossil human bones from Spain (Sima de los hile some species of nonhuman animals seem to recognize Huesos, SH) and South Africa (Dinaledi Chamber, DC) are of- Wdeath and grieve for dead conspecifics (1), a central aspect fered as the earliest evidence for mortuary behavior. This in- of the human condition is our capacity to anticipate our own terpretation implies that humans had developed a sense of death, and thus, ponder the significance of mortality across time mortal transience by ∼600,000 to 300,000 years ago. Machine- and space. Mortuary practices, which encompass a diversity of learning statistical analyses of the skeletal part representation rituals infused with deep cultural meaning (2), are societal data upon which hypotheses of deliberate disposal of corpses — manifestations of this “mortality salience” (3). Thus, under- at SH and DC are based fail to falsify but also do not provide — standing the prehistoric emergence of this uniquely human ca- unequivocal support for those hypotheses. We thus argue pacity is of significant concern to anthropology specifically and to that it is premature to assert that SH and DC shed particular “ ” humanity more generally. Some mortuary practices—including, light on the development of the human condition. prominently, deliberate disposal of the dead—have the potential Author contributions: C.P.E., M.D.-R., T.R.P., C.G.M., and J.L.H. designed research; C.P.E., to leave archaeological traces. There is a long, ongoing debate M.D.-R., T.R.P., C.G.M., and J.L.H. performed research; C.P.E., M.D.-R., T.R.P., and J.L.H. over claims that Late Pleistocene Neandertals deliberately dis- analyzed data; and C.P.E., M.D.-R., T.R.P., C.G.M., and J.L.H. wrote the paper. posed of their dead (4–6). Beyond this continuing controversy, The authors declare no conflict of interest. two Middle Pleistocene paleoanthropological sites, the Sima de This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. los Huesos (SH; Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain) and the Dinaledi Published under the PNAS license. Chamber (DC; Rising Star Cave System, South Africa), are 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: [email protected]. particularly relevant to investigating the antiquity of culturally This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10. SI Appendix 1073/pnas.1718678115/-/DCSupplemental. mediated mortuary behaviors ( ). Both preserve fossil ANTHROPOLOGY assemblages dominated by hominin remains within the deep Published online April 2, 2018. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1718678115 PNAS | May 1, 2018 | vol. 115 | no. 18 | 4601–4606 Downloaded by guest on September 27, 2021 AB Fig. 1. (A)MDAand(B) Gini Index values for 23 skeletal elements or skeletal element groups among the 16 modern and fossil primate assemblages based on a RF analysis. Elements chosen for further analyses (red dots) are highlighted (in gray areas) of both A and B. Abbreviations: CE, cervical; CLA, clavicle; CP, carpals; CRN, cranium; FB, fibula; FM, femur; FT, foot (including metatarsals and pedal phalanges); HD, hand (includes metacarpals and manual phalanges); HM,humerus; IM, innominate; LM, lumbar; MR, mandible; PT, patella; RB, rib; RD, radius; SAC, sacrum; SC, scapula; ST, sternum; TA, tibia; TH, thoracic; TR, tarsals; UL, ulna. Here, we employ a machine-learning approach that compares and secondary interments. Between these clusters lies a third, hominin skeletal part representation in the SH and DC assem- more heterogeneous group that consists of the possible pre- blages to 14 modern and prehistoric accumulations of modern historic primary hominin interments, scavenged modern human human, archaic human, australopith, and nonhuman primate skeletal remains (Table S1). These 14 assemblages meet the rigorous requirements of our statistical treatments (SI Appendix), having been drawn from a larger sample of 36 published as- A semblages that we place into the following categories: (i) primary hominin interment (prehistoric); (ii) possible primary hominin interment (prehistoric); (iii) hominin cannibalized/secondary interment (prehistoric); (iv) hominin nonanthropogenically accu- mulated (prehistoric); (v) undisturbed human corpses (modern); (vi) scavenged human corpses (modern); (vii) leopard-consumed baboon carcasses (modern); and (viii) baboon natural deaths (modern) (detailed definitions of each category are provided in the SI Appendix). While our analyses suggest that anthropogenic activities may have contributed to the formation of the SH and DC hominin assemblages, we believe that claims of Middle Pleistocene corpse disposal nevertheless remain unsettled. Results An exploratory random forest (RF) analysis on all 16 assem- blages analyzed here identifies seven skeletal elements or ele- B ment groups with mean decrease accuracy (MDA) values >5: the tarsals, hand bones (metacarpals and phalanges), carpals, radius, fibula, femur, and ulna (Fig. 1). The discriminatory power of these elements is probably due to characteristics that make them more susceptible to carnivore consumption: small size (tarsals, hand bones, and carpals) or, apart from the femur, low structural density relative to other long bones (radius, fibula, and ulna). Based on the representation of these elements,
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