DOCSLIB.ORG

Human Remains from Valdegoba Cave

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Human Remains from Valdegoba Cave Rolf M. Quam*, Human remains from Valdegoba Cave Juan-Luis Arsuaga†, (Hue´rmeces, Burgos, Spain) Jose´-Marı´a Bermu´dez de Systematic excavations, begun in 1987, at the Valdegoba cave site in Castro‡, northern Spain have yielded the remains of five individuals associated with a Middle Paleolithic stone tool technology and Pleistocene J. Carlos Dı´ez§, fauna. A fragmentary mandible of an adolescent (VB1), preserving Carlos Lorenzo†, nearly a full set of teeth, exhibits a symphyseal tubercle and slight Jose´ Miguel incurvatio mandibulae anterior on the external symphysis. Both the Carretero§, superior and inferior transverse tori are present on the internal aspect. Nuria Garcı´a† & A second individual (VB2) is represented by a set of ten deciduous teeth consistent with an age at death of 6–9 months. A proximal Ana I. Ortega§ manual phalanx (VB3) displays a relatively broad head, a character- *Department of Anthropology, istic which is found in both Neandertals, as well as European Middle State University of New York, Pleistocene hominids. VB4 is a fourth metatarsal that lacks the distal Binghamton, New York epiphysis, indicating it comes from an adolescent individual, and has 13902-6000, U.S.A. a relatively high robusticity index. Finally, VB5 is a fifth metatarsal of †Departamento de an adult. The VB1 mandible shows a combination of archaic charac- Paleontologı´a, Instituto de teristics as well as more specific Neandertal morphological traits. The Geologı´a Econo´mica, Facultad VB2 deciduous teeth are very small, and both the metrics and de Ciencias Geolo´gicas, morphology seem more consistent with a modern human classifica- Universidad Complutense, tion. The postcranial elements are undiagnostic, U-Th dating has 28040 Madrid, Spain provided an age of >350 ka for the base of the sequence and a date of ‡Departamento de <73·25 ka for level 7, near the top. Faunal analysis and radiometric Paleobiologı´a, Museo dates from other nearby Mousterian sites suggests that the Valdegoba Nacional de Ciencias site is correlative with oxygen isotope stages 3–6 on the Iberian Naturales, C.S.I.C., peninsula, and an Upper Pleistocene age for the Valdegoba hominids Jose´ Gutı´errez Abascal 2, seems most reasonable. 28006 Madrid, Spain 2001 Academic Press §Departamento de Ciencias Histo´ricas y Geografı´a, Facultad de Humanidades y Educacio´n, Universidad de Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain Received 12 June 2000 Revision received 25 April 2001 and accepted 1 May 2001 Keywords: Valdegoba, Neandertal, early modern human, Western Europe, Spain, mandible, deciduous Journal of Human Evolution (2001) 41, 385–435 teeth, hand phalanx, doi:10.1006/jhev.2001.0486 metatarsals. Available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on Introduction end of the Cantabrian Cordillera. It was The site of Valdegoba is located near the formed in a large outcrop of Turonian town of Hue´rmeces, about 28 km northwest limestone (Upper Cretaceous) which has of the city of Burgos, in northern Spain been cut by the Urbel river, creating a (Figure 1). It is a small cave at the southern small canyon which provides access to the 0047–2484/01/100385+51$35.00/0 2001 Academic Press 386 . ET AL. VALDEGOBA Atapuerca Burgos Madrid 0 300 km 0 50 100 km Figure 1. Location of the Valdegoba cave site. VALDEGOBA CAVE HUÉRMECES (BURGOS, SPAIN) A MN D I I D C C E F F A E 930 B B 925 925 930 0510 m Figure 2. Layout and cross-sections of the Valdegoba cave site. The dark black section represents the area of excavation of in situ deposits where the human remains were found. Tertiary basin of the Duero river. The cave decreasing to 0·5 m towards the back opens to the north and the east of the Urbel (Figure 2). river. It is 21 m long with a variable width Between 1987 and 1991 four field seasons from 14 m at the entrance to 6 m in the were carried out. Six areas of the cave were interior, with a height of 4 m at the entrance excavated, but only one, located in the west- 387 ern section of the interior, contained in situ were taken for U-series dating analysis materials (darkened area in Figure 2 and (see below). levels 1–7inFigure 3). The rest of the cave ( 8) A level of clayish sediments 60 cm was affected by karstic reactivations during thick is in erosive contact with level 7. the Holocene, which eroded the deposits, It contains a mixture of Paleolithic and removing ancient sediments and materials Holocene archaeological materials, as and depositing them on the downslope out- well as human remains. This mixture side the cave (level 8 in Figure 3). There is is evidence of prior disturbance of this also evidence of the activities of amateur level, probably by amateur artefact collectors, which were responsible for some collectors. of the disturbance. James Bischoff (U.S. Geological Survey, The stratigraphy (Figure 3), based on the Menlo Park, California) analyzed three undisturbed section, presents from bottom samples from Valdegoba cave for U-series to top (D´ıez et al., 1988, 1988–1989): dating analysis: one from the basal flowstone ( 1) Basal stalagmitic flowstone. Sterile. A (level 1), and two from the capping spele- sample was taken for U-series dating othem (level 7). The basal sample gave analysis (see below). excellent, clean results and showed full iso- ( 2) Red clays with silts and sands com- topic equilibrium, corresponding to an age prise a 40 cm thick level. A sublevel of >350 ka. The two from the capping of carbonated concretions was also spelothem were highly contaminated with identified. Sterile. detrital Th, which usually makes the age ( 3) Brown clays with silts and sands form appear too old. The nominal dates on these a 10 cm thick level. Stalagmitic con- two samples are 95 ka and 73 ka. Therefore, cretions were found at the top. Sterile. Bischoff concluded that the capping spele- ( 4) Brown clayish sands with calcareous othem (level 7) was probably less than rocks and a maximum thickness of 73 ka. 50 cm. Evidence of erosion is visible at The lithic industry is abundant (nearly the top. Stone tools and faunal 2500 pieces), and was produced almost remains are present. entirely on quartzite and flint. However, ( 5) Numerous calcareous rocks in brown tools made of quartz and, more sporadically, clays which show geological alteration limestone and sandstone are also present. at the top. Thickness is 20 cm and it is The raw material comes from local sources, in erosive contact with the top of level within a 10 km radius from the site. 4. Stone tools, faunal and human Rounded quartzite cobbles transported by remains are present. the Urbel River, blocks of Neogene flint ( 6) Breccia up to 20 cm thick encases cal- from this same river and nodules of Cre- careous rocks, stone tools, faunal and taceous flint from the same mountain in human remains. In continuity with which the cave was formed were utilized. level 5, only the cementation of the All the tool categories are represented at breccia allows a differentiation. Valdegoba, with numerous first-order flakes ( 7) Laminar stalagmitic concretion seals recovered (with cortex present on the back), level 6. This concretion unites at sev- and this leads us to believe the production of eral points along the walls and ceiling, the tools was carried out in loci. The bifacial with archaeological materials present centripetal production technique is most fre- in the roof of the cave. This is clear quent, producing discoid nuclei, and flint evidence of the previous ancient filling was worked more intensively than was and erosion of this level. Two samples quartzite. Among the lithics made on flint, 388 . ET AL. VALDEGOBA CAVE HUÉRMECES (BURGOS, SPAIN) Stratigraphy of the area with in situ materials I ± D 1 < 73.2 5 ky 7 6 5 m 0.5 4 8 3 2 0 1 > 350 000 ky 020.5 1 1.5 2.5 m Figure 3. Stratigraphic profile of the in situ excavated area at the Valdegoba cave site. complete exploitation of the nodules was represented. A few foliated and scalariform frequent, producing many third-order flakes pieces, as well as some showing abrupt (without cortex) and many less than 3 cm in retouch, complete the tool repertory. There size. Among the lithics made on quartzite, is also an abundance of ochre. cores with unifacial extraction (both This tool industry can be included within centripetal and longitudinal) are abundant. the various Middle Paleolithic technocom- Levallois nuclei are also present. plexes, and it is quite similar to those docu- Several flint bifaces were recovered, but mented at other Upper Pleistocene sites the main objective of the exploitation was from the same region. At La Ermita and the production of short flakes with Cueva Milla´n (Hortigu¨ela, Burgos), the smooth bases, which, in general, were not lithic assemblages show an almost exclusive retouched. Many of them present a triangu- use of flint and quartzite, with abundant lar morphology with cortex present on one first-order flakes, in particular quartzite, side and absent on the other. There are a low laminar component, predominance of few Levallois laminar flakes, with faceted smooth talons and usage of scrapers (Moure talons, but the percentage of all the laminar, & Garc´ıa-Soto, 1983a, 1983b; Moure et al., Levallois and faceted pieces is low. Care- 1997). The most appreciable differences at nated flakes are also abundant. Retouched Valdegoba are the larger number of denticu- pieces constitute 18% of the assemblage. lates and a greater usage of scalariform The unretouched flakes do not show any retouch. preference/selection with regard to raw The presence of Middle Paleolithic stone material type, grade of cortex or faceted tools at Valdegoba allows us to place the site talons.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Endocranial Volume and Brain Growth in Immature Neandertals
    See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40853229 Endocranial volume and brain growth in immature Neandertals Article in Periodicum Biologorum · January 2007 Source: OAI CITATIONS READS 23 211 2 authors: Hélène Coqueugniot Jean-Jacques Hublin French National Centre for Scientific Research Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology 198 PUBLICATIONS 1,237 CITATIONS 515 PUBLICATIONS 20,418 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Etude anthropologique de La Granède (Millau) View project Micro-CT Analysis of Interglobular Dentine View project All content following this page was uploaded by Hélène Coqueugniot on 04 July 2014. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. PERIODICUM BIOLOGORUM UDC 57:61 VOL. 109, No 4, 379–385, 2007 CODEN PDBIAD ISSN 0031-5362 Original scientific paper Endocranial Volume and Brain Growth in Immature Neandertals Abstract HÉLÈNE COQUEUGNIOT1,2 JEAN-JACQUES HUBLIN1 Microstructural studies have suggested that an extended period of growth 1 was absent in representatives of Homo erectus, and that Neandertals Department of Human Evolution reached adulthood significantly more rapidly than modern humans. In Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology addition to general rate of growth, a prolonged postnatal period of brain Deutscher Platz 6 development allows humans to develop complex cognitive and social skills. 04103 Leipzig, Germany Conditions in brain growth similar to those observed in extant humans were E-mail: [email protected] not established in the first representatives of Homo erectus. To assess the 2UMR 5199 – PACEA, Laboratoire degree of secondary altriciality reached by Neandertals, we examined the d’Anthropologie most complete skulls available for immature Neandertal specimens.
    [Show full text]
  • Nasal Floor Variation Among Eastern Eurasian Pleistocene Homo Xiu-Jie WU1, Scott D
    ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCE Vol. 120(3), 217–226, 2012 Nasal floor variation among eastern Eurasian Pleistocene Homo Xiu-Jie WU1, Scott D. MADDUX2, Lei PAN1,3, Erik TRINKAUS4* 1Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, People’s Republic of China 2Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65212, USA 3Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China 4Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St Louis, MO 63130, USA Received 28 March 2012; accepted 9 July 2012 Abstract A bi-level nasal floor, although present in most Pleistocene and recent human samples, reaches its highest frequency among the western Eurasian Neandertals and has been considered a fea- ture distinctive of them. Early modern humans, in contrast, tend to feature a level (or sloping) nasal floor. Sufficiently intact maxillae are rare among eastern Eurasian Pleistocene humans, but several fos- sils provide nasal floor configurations. The available eastern Eurasian Late Pleistocene early modern humans have predominantly level nasal floors, similar to western early modern humans. Of the four observable eastern Eurasian archaic Homo maxillae (Sangiran 4, Chaoxian 1, Xujiayao 1, and Chang- yang 1), three have the bi-level pattern and the fourth is scored as bi-level/sloping. It therefore appears that bi-level nasal floors were common among Pleistocene archaic humans, and a high frequency of them is not distinctive of the Neandertals. Key words: noses, maxilla, Asia, palate, Neandertal Introduction dominate with the bi-level configuration being present in ≤10% in all but a sub-Saharan African “Bantu” sample In his descriptions of the Shanidar Neandertal crania, (Table 1).
    [Show full text]
  • A Genetic Analysis of the Gibraltar Neanderthals
    A genetic analysis of the Gibraltar Neanderthals Lukas Bokelmanna,1, Mateja Hajdinjaka, Stéphane Peyrégnea, Selina Braceb, Elena Essela, Cesare de Filippoa, Isabelle Glockea, Steffi Grotea, Fabrizio Mafessonia, Sarah Nagela, Janet Kelsoa, Kay Prüfera, Benjamin Vernota, Ian Barnesb, Svante Pääboa,1,2, Matthias Meyera,2, and Chris Stringerb,1,2 aDepartment of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; and bCentre for Human Evolution Research, Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom Contributed by Svante Pääbo, June 14, 2019 (sent for review March 22, 2019; reviewed by Roberto Macchiarelli and Eva-Maria Geigl) The Forbes’ Quarry and Devil’s Tower partial crania from Gibraltar geographic range from western Europe to western Asia (for an are among the first Neanderthal remains ever found. Here, we overview of all specimens, see SI Appendix, Table S1). Thus, show that small amounts of ancient DNA are preserved in the there is currently no evidence for the existence of substantial petrous bones of the 2 individuals despite unfavorable climatic genetic substructure in the Neanderthal population after ∼90 ka conditions. However, the endogenous Neanderthal DNA is present ago (4), the time at which the “Altai-like” Neanderthals in the among an overwhelming excess of recent human DNA. Using im- Altai had presumably been replaced by more “Vindija 33.19- proved DNA library construction methods that enrich for DNA like” Neanderthals (17). fragments carrying deaminated cytosine residues, we were able The Neanderthal fossils of Gibraltar are among the most to sequence 70 and 0.4 megabase pairs (Mbp) nuclear DNA of the prominent finds in the history of paleoanthropology.
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliography
    Bibliography Many books were read and researched in the compilation of Binford, L. R, 1983, Working at Archaeology. Academic Press, The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology: New York. Binford, L. R, and Binford, S. R (eds.), 1968, New Perspectives in American Museum of Natural History, 1993, The First Humans. Archaeology. Aldine, Chicago. HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco. Braidwood, R 1.,1960, Archaeologists and What They Do. Franklin American Museum of Natural History, 1993, People of the Stone Watts, New York. Age. HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco. Branigan, Keith (ed.), 1982, The Atlas ofArchaeology. St. Martin's, American Museum of Natural History, 1994, New World and Pacific New York. Civilizations. HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco. Bray, w., and Tump, D., 1972, Penguin Dictionary ofArchaeology. American Museum of Natural History, 1994, Old World Civiliza­ Penguin, New York. tions. HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco. Brennan, L., 1973, Beginner's Guide to Archaeology. Stackpole Ashmore, w., and Sharer, R. J., 1988, Discovering Our Past: A Brief Books, Harrisburg, PA. Introduction to Archaeology. Mayfield, Mountain View, CA. Broderick, M., and Morton, A. A., 1924, A Concise Dictionary of Atkinson, R J. C., 1985, Field Archaeology, 2d ed. Hyperion, New Egyptian Archaeology. Ares Publishers, Chicago. York. Brothwell, D., 1963, Digging Up Bones: The Excavation, Treatment Bacon, E. (ed.), 1976, The Great Archaeologists. Bobbs-Merrill, and Study ofHuman Skeletal Remains. British Museum, London. New York. Brothwell, D., and Higgs, E. (eds.), 1969, Science in Archaeology, Bahn, P., 1993, Collins Dictionary of Archaeology. ABC-CLIO, 2d ed. Thames and Hudson, London. Santa Barbara, CA. Budge, E. A. Wallis, 1929, The Rosetta Stone. Dover, New York. Bahn, P.
    [Show full text]
  • Science Journals
    RESEARCH ◥ that paper, and the average of the listed cranial TECHNICAL COMMENT capacities should have been 1468.7 cc, not 1494 cc. Additionally, using values from Holloway et al.(7) for those Neandertals would result in an average PALEOANTHROPOLOGY cranial capacity of 1438.3 cc. A third value of 1498 cc, based on Holloway et al., is used to generate the consensus average (1). In Holloway et al., an aver- Comment on “The growth pattern age for Homo sapiens neanderthalensis is reported as 1487.5 ml in appendix I and 1427.2 ml in appendix II. The 1427.2-ml value is almost identical of Neandertals, reconstructed (1428 ml) to the average of reported adult values in the text of Holloway et al. However, Holloway et al. from a juvenile skeleton from also attribute fossils typically assigned to Homo sapiens [Jebel Ihroud (n =2)andSkhul(n =4)]to El Sidrón (Spain)” Neandertals. When these are removed, the average Neandertal adult cranial capacity in Holloway et al. Jeremy M. DeSilva is 1414.8 ml. Given these problems with the values used to generate the consensus average of cranial Rosas et al. (Reports, 22 September 2017, p. 1282) calculate El Sidrón J1 to have capacity in adult Neandertals, it is necessary to reached only 87.5% of its adult brain size. This finding is based on an overestimation recalculate the likely percentage of adult brain size achieved by the El Sidrón juvenile. of Neandertal brain size. Pairwise comparisons with a larger sample of Neandertal Downloaded from fossils reveal that it is unlikely that the brain of El Sidrón would have grown When all adult crania assigned to Neandertals n appreciably larger.
    [Show full text]
  • Anthropology
    CALIFOR!:HA STATE UNIVERSI'fY, NO:R'l'HRIDGE 'l'HE EVOLUTIONARY SCHENES 0!.'' NEANDER.THAL A thesis su~nitted in partial satisfaction of tl:e requirements for the degree of Naste.r of A.rts Anthropology by Sharon Stacey Klein The Thesis of Sharon Stacey Klein is approved: Dr·,~ Nike West. - Dr. Bruce Gelvin, Chair California s·tate University, Northridge ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ·There are many people I would like to thank. Firs·t, the members of my corr.mi ttee who gave me their guidance and suggestions. Second, rny family and friends who supported me through this endea7cr and listened to my constant complaining. Third, the people in my office who allowed me to use my time to complete ·this project. Specifically, I appreciate the proof-reading done by my mother and the French translations done by Mary Riedel. ii.i TABLE OF' CONTENTS PAGE PRELIMINA:H.Y MATEIUALS : Al")stra-:-:t vi CHAP'I'ERS: I. Introduction 1 II. Methodology and Materials 4 III. Classification of Neanderthals 11 Species versus Subspecies Definitions of Neanderthals 16 V. The Pre-sapiens Hypothesis .i9 VI. The Unilinear Hypothesis 26 Horphological Evidence Transi tiona.l Sp.. ::;:cimens T'ool Complexes VII. The Pre-Neanderthal Hypothesis 58 Morphological Evidence Spectrum Hypothesis "Classic'1 Neanderthal's Adaptations Transitional Evidence Tool Complexes VIII. Sumnary and Conclusion 90 Heferences Cited 100 1. G~<ological and A.rchaeoloqical 5 Subdivisions of the P1eistoce!1e 2. The Polyphyletic Hypothesis 17 3. The Pre-sapiens Hypothesis 20 4. The UnilinPar Hypothesis 27 iv FIGUHES: P.Z\GE 5. Size Comparisons of Neanderthal 34 and Australian Aborigine Teeth 6.
    [Show full text]
  • New Fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the Pan-African Origin of Homo Sapiens Jean-Jacques Hublin1,2, Abdelouahed Ben-Ncer3, Shara E
    LETTER doi:10.1038/nature22336 New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens Jean-Jacques Hublin1,2, Abdelouahed Ben-Ncer3, Shara E. Bailey4, Sarah E. Freidline1, Simon Neubauer1, Matthew M. Skinner5, Inga Bergmann1, Adeline Le Cabec1, Stefano Benazzi6, Katerina Harvati7 & Philipp Gunz1 Fossil evidence points to an African origin of Homo sapiens from a group called either H. heidelbergensis or H. rhodesiensis. However, a the exact place and time of emergence of H. sapiens remain obscure because the fossil record is scarce and the chronological age of many key specimens remains uncertain. In particular, it is unclear whether the present day ‘modern’ morphology rapidly emerged approximately 200 thousand years ago (ka) among earlier representatives of H. sapiens1 or evolved gradually over the last 400 thousand years2. Here we report newly discovered human fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and interpret the affinities of the hominins from this site with other archaic and recent human groups. We identified a mosaic of features including facial, mandibular and dental morphology that aligns the Jebel Irhoud material with early or recent anatomically modern humans and more primitive neurocranial and endocranial morphology. In combination with an age of 315 ± 34 thousand years (as determined by thermoluminescence dating)3, this evidence makes Jebel Irhoud the oldest and richest African Middle Stone Age hominin site that documents early stages of the H. sapiens clade in which key features of modern morphology were established. Furthermore, it shows that the evolutionary processes behind the emergence of H. sapiens involved the whole African continent. In 1960, mining operations in the Jebel Irhoud massif 55 km south- east of Safi, Morocco exposed a Palaeolithic site in the Pleistocene filling of a karstic network.
    [Show full text]
  • 10. Doctrine of Man Lecture 14 When Did Adam Live?
    § 10. Doctrine of Man Lecture 14 When Did Adam Live? Good morning! Welcome to Defenders! We are coming to you today from the safety of my hermetically sealed home office, and I am glad that you could join us. The last time I argued that the historical Adam and Eve actually existed even though their stories are cloaked in the language of figuralism and mythology. This raises an obvious question. If the biblical Adam was a historical person who actually lived, then the obvious question arises, when did he live? We can turn to modern science in the attempt to answer this question. For scientists are vitally interested in a question which is empirically equivalent to our question, namely, when did human beings first appear on Earth? The historical Adam may then be located around that time. First of all, however, we need to clarify some terminology. A hominid is the class of animals that includes orangutans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and humans. They are all hominids. A hominin is the class that includes only members of the human lineage since its divergence from the last common ancestor with chimpanzees. The class of hominins includes not only modern man, Homo sapiens, but also archaic species of the genus Homo. It includes as well Australopithecines, which were bi-pedal African apes. Ian Tattersall of the American Museum of Natural History points out that early individuals classed as Homo, such as Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo rudolfensis, and so on, all have in common remarkably small brains, hardly larger than those of the Australopithecines.
    [Show full text]
  • The Neandertal Lower Right Deciduous Second Molar from Trou De L•Abime
    Journal of Human Evolution 58 (2010) 56–67 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Human Evolution journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhevol The Neandertal lower right deciduous second molar from Trou de l’Abıˆme at Couvin, Belgium Michel Toussaint a,*, Anthony J. Olejniczak b, Sireen El Zaatari b, Pierre Cattelain c, Damien Flas d, Claire Letourneux b,Ste´phane Pirson e a Direction de l’Arche´ologie, Service Public de Wallonie, 1 rue des Brigades d’Irlande, B-5100 Namur, Belgium b Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany c Muse´e du Malgre´-Tout and CEDARC, rue de la Gare, 28, B-5670 Treignes, Belgium d Muse´es royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, parc du Cinquantenaire, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium e Direction de l’Arche´ologie, Service Public de Wallonie, 1 rue des Brigades d’Irlande, B-5100 Namur and Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, 29 rue Vautier, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium article info abstract Article history: A human lower right deciduous second molar was discovered in 1984 at the entrance of Trou de Received 13 June 2008 l’Abıˆme at Couvin (Belgium). In subsequent years the interpretation of this fossil remained difficult for Accepted 11 August 2009 various reasons: (1) the lack of taxonomically diagnostic elements which would support its attribution to either Homo (sapiens) neanderthalensis or H. s. sapiens; (2) the absence of any reliable chronostratigraphic Keywords: interpretation of the sedimentary sequence of the site; (3) the contradiction between archaeological Middle Palaeolithic interpretations, which attributed the lithic industry to a transitional facies between the Middle and Early Enamel thickness Upper Palaeolithic, and the radiocarbon date of 46,820 Æ 3,290 BP obtained from animal bone remains Neandertals Couvin associated with the tooth and the flint tools.
    [Show full text]
  • Denisovans, Neanderthals Or Sapiens?
    Could There Have Been Human Families... 8(2)/2020 ISSN 2300-7648 (print) / ISSN 2353-5636 (online) Received: March 31, 2020. Accepted: September 2, 2020 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/SetF.2020.019 Could There Have Been Human Families Where Parents Came from Different Populations: Denisovans, Neanderthals or Sapiens? MARCIN EDWARD UHLIK Independent Scholar e-mail: [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0001-8518-0255 Abstract. No later than ~500kya the population of Homo sapiens split into three lin- eages of independently evolving human populations: Sapiens, Neanderthals and Den- isovans. After several hundred thousands years, they met several times and interbred with low frequency. Evidence of coupling between them is found in fossil records of Neanderthal – Sapiens offspring (Oase 1) and Neanderthal – Denisovans (Denisova 11) offspring. Moreover, the analysis of ancient and present-day population DNA shows that there were several significant gene flows between populations. Many introgressed sequences from Denisovans and Neanderthals were identified in genomes of currently living populations. All these data, according to biological species definition, may in- dicate that populations of H. sapiens sapiens and two extinct populations H. sapiens neanderthalensis and H. sapiens denisovensis are one species. Ontological transitions from pre-human beings to humans might have happened before the initial splitting of the Homo sapiens population or after the splitting during evolution of H. sapiens sapiens lineage in Africa. If the ensoulment of the first homo occurred in the evolving populations of H. sapiens sapiens, then occasionally mixed couples (Neanderthals – Sa- piens or Denisovans – Sapiens) created relations that functioned as a family, in which children could have matured.
    [Show full text]
  • Eyasi 1 and the Suprainiac Fossa. AJPA
    AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 124:28–32 (2004) Eyasi 1 and the Suprainiac Fossa Erik Trinkaus* Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130 KEY WORDS human paleontology; Africa; cranium; occipital; Pleistocene ABSTRACT A reexamination of Eyasi 1, a later Mid- considered to be uniquely derived for the European and dle Pleistocene east African neurocranium, reveals the western Asian Neandertals. These observations therefore presence of a suite of midoccipital features, including a indicate that these features are not limited to Neandertal modest nuchal torus that is limited to the middle half of lineage specimens, and should be assessed in terms of the bone, the absence of an external occipital protuber- frequency distributions among later archaic humans. Am ance, and a distinct transversely oval suprainiac fossa. J Phys Anthropol 124:28–32, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. These features, and especially the suprainiac fossa, were In the late 1970s, following on the work of earlier cene specimens normally included within the Nean- scholars (e.g., Schwalbe, 1901; Klaatsch, 1902; Gor- dertal group. The degree of development of the su- janovic´-Kramberger, 1902; Weidenreich, 1940; prainiac fossa among Near Eastern mature remains Patte, 1955), it was proposed by Hublin (1978a,b) is more variable (Trinkaus, 1983; Condemi, 1992), and Santa Luca (1978) that a combination of exter- but the other features appear to characterize that nal features of the posteromiddle of the occipital group as well. Furthermore, as noted above, at least bone (or iniac region) of the European and western the suprainiac fossa has been shown to appear early Asian Neandertals was unique to, or uniquely de- in development among the Neandertals and their rived for, these Late Pleistocene late archaic hu- European predecessors (Hublin, 1980; Heim, 1982; mans.
    [Show full text]
  • Language Evolution to Revolution
    Research Ideas and Outcomes 5: e38546 doi: 10.3897/rio.5.e38546 Research Article Language evolution to revolution: the leap from rich-vocabulary non-recursive communication system to recursive language 70,000 years ago was associated with acquisition of a novel component of imagination, called Prefrontal Synthesis, enabled by a mutation that slowed down the prefrontal cortex maturation simultaneously in two or more children – the Romulus and Remus hypothesis Andrey Vyshedskiy ‡ ‡ Boston University, Boston, United States of America Corresponding author: Andrey Vyshedskiy ([email protected]) Reviewable v1 Received: 25 Jul 2019 | Published: 29 Jul 2019 Citation: Vyshedskiy A (2019) Language evolution to revolution: the leap from rich-vocabulary non-recursive communication system to recursive language 70,000 years ago was associated with acquisition of a novel component of imagination, called Prefrontal Synthesis, enabled by a mutation that slowed down the prefrontal cortex maturation simultaneously in two or more children – the Romulus and Remus hypothesis. Research Ideas and Outcomes 5: e38546. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.5.e38546 Abstract There is an overwhelming archeological and genetic evidence that modern speech apparatus was acquired by hominins by 600,000 years ago. On the other hand, artifacts signifying modern imagination, such as (1) composite figurative arts, (2) bone needles with an eye, (3) construction of dwellings, and (4) elaborate burials arose not earlier than © Vyshedskiy A. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
    [Show full text]