Shells and Ochre in Middle Paleolithic Qafzeh Cave, Israel: Indications for Modern Behavior
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Language Evolution to Revolution: from a Slowly Developing Finite Communication System with Many Words to Infinite Modern Language
bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/166520; this version posted July 20, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Language evolution to revolution: from a slowly developing finite communication system with many words to infinite modern language Andrey Vyshedskiy1,2* 1Boston University, Boston, USA 2ImagiRation LLC, Boston, MA, USA Keywords: Language evolution, hominin evolution, human evolution, recursive language, flexible syntax, human language, syntactic language, modern language, Cognitive revolution, Great Leap Forward, Upper Paleolithic Revolution, Neanderthal language Abstract There is overwhelming archeological and genetic evidence that modern speech apparatus was acquired by hominins by 600,000 years ago. There is also widespread agreement that modern syntactic language arose with behavioral modernity around 100,000 years ago. We attempted to answer two crucial questions: (1) how different was the communication system of hominins before acquisition of modern language and (2) what triggered the acquisition of modern language 100,000 years ago. We conclude that the communication system of hominins prior to 100,000 years ago was finite and not- recursive. It may have had thousands of words but was lacking flexible syntax, spatial prepositions, verb tenses, and other features that enable modern human language to communicate an infinite number of ideas. We argue that a synergistic confluence of a genetic mutation that dramatically slowed down the prefrontal cortex (PFC) development in monozygotic twins and their spontaneous invention of spatial prepositions 100,000 years ago resulted in acquisition of PFC-driven constructive imagination (mental synthesis) and converted the finite communication system of their ancestors into infinite modern language. -
Chapter 4: Whai Can the Fossil Record Tell Lis About Human Origins?
anthropq what does it mean to be human? FOURTH EDITION Robert H. Lavenda St. Cloud State University Emily A. Schultz St. Cloud State University NewYork Oxford ^ot8OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS What can the fossil record tell us about human origi ns? Anthropology has made major contributions to our understanling of human biological and cultural evolution. This chapter tells the story of what we have learned from fossils, stone tools, and other cultural remains, from the appearance of our earliest known ancestors about 6 millioil years ago through the appearance of modern Homo sapiens about 200,000 years ago. CHAPTER OUTLINE What ls Macroevolution? The Culture of H. erectus What Do We Know about the What ls Hominin Evolution? H. erectusthe Hunter? Upper Paleolithic/Late Stone Who Were the First Hominins What Happened to H. erectus? Age (40,000?-1 2,000 Years Ago)? (6-3 mya)? How Did Homo sopiens Evolve? The Origin of Bipedalism What ls the Fossil Evidence for What Happened to the Changes in Hominin Dentition the Transition to Modern H. Neandertals? Who Were the Later sapiens? How Many Kinds of Upper Australopiths (3-1.5 mya)? Where Did Modern H. sapiens Paleolithic/Late Stone Age How Many Species of Come from? Cultures Were There? Australopith Were There? Who Were the Neandertals Where Did Modern H. sapiens How Can Anthropologists (1 30,000-35,000 Years Ago)? Migrate in Late Pleistocene Explain the Human Transition? What Do We Know about Times? What Do We Know about Early Middle Paleolithic/Middle Eastern Asia and Siberia Homo (2.4-1.5 mya)? -
Homo Erectus Infancy and Childhood the Turning Point in the Evolution of Behavioral Development in Hominids
10 Homo erectus Infancy and Childhood The Turning Point in the Evolution of Behavioral Development in Hominids Sue Taylor Parker In man, attachment is mediated by several different sorts of behaviour of which the most obvious are crying and calling, babbling and smiling, clinging, non-nutritional sucking, and locomotion as used in approach, following and seeking. —John Bowlby, Attachment The evolution of hominid behavioral ontogeny can be recon - structed using two lines of evidence: first, comparative neontological data on the behavior and development of living hominoid species (humans and the great apes), and second, comparative paleontolog- ical and archaeological evidence associated with fossil hominids. (Although behavior rarely fossilizes, it can leave significant traces.) 1 In this chapter I focus on paleontological and neontological evi - dence relevant to modeling the evolution of the following hominid adaptations: (1) bipedal locomotion and stance; (2) tool use and tool making; (3) subsistence patterns; (4) growth and development and other life history patterns; (5) childbirth; (6) childhood and child care; and (7) cognition and cognitive development. In each case I present a cladistic model for the origins of the characters in question. 2 Specifically, I review pertinent data on the following widely recog - nized hominid genera and species: Australopithecus species (A. afarensis , A. africanus , and A. robustus [Paranthropus robustus]) , early Homo species (Australopithecus gahri , Homo habilis , and Homo rudolfensis) , and Middle Pleistocene Homo species (Homo erectus , Homo ergaster , and others), which I am calling erectines . Copyrighted Material www.sarpress.org 279 S UE TAYLOR PARKER Table 10.1 Estimated Body Weights and Geological Ages of Fossil Hominids _______________________________________________________________________ Species Geologic Age Male Weight Female Weight (MYA) (kg) (kg) _______________________________________________________________________ A. -
Growth, Learning, Play and Attachment in Neanderthal Children
This is a repository copy of The Cradle of Thought : Growth, Learning, Play and Attachment in Neanderthal children. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/83027/ Version: Submitted Version Article: Spikins, Penny orcid.org/0000-0002-9174-5168, Hitchens, Gail, Rutherford, Holly et al. (1 more author) (2014) The Cradle of Thought : Growth, Learning, Play and Attachment in Neanderthal children. Oxford Journal of Archaeology. pp. 111-134. ISSN 0262-5253 https://doi.org/10.1111/ojoa.12030 Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ THE CRADLE OF THOUGHT: GROWTH, LEARNING, PLAY AND ATTACHMENT IN NEANDERTHAL CHILDREN Penny Spikins, Gail Hitchens, Andy Needham and Holly Rutherford Department of Archaeology University of York King’s Manor York YO1 7EP SUMMARY Childhood is a core stage in development, essential in the acquisition of social, practical and cultural skills. However, this area receives limited attention in archaeological debate, especially in early prehistory. -
Late Pleistocene Adult Mortality Patterns and Modern Human Establishment
Late Pleistocene adult mortality patterns and modern human establishment Erik Trinkaus1 Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130 Contributed by Erik Trinkaus, December 14, 2010 (sent for review November 29, 2010) The establishment of modern humans in the Late Pleistocene, after approximately 45 kyr B.P. that there are multiple indirect subsequent to their emergence in eastern Africa, is likely to have indications of such population increases, in at least some portions involved substantial population increases, during their initial of the Old World. Cultural traditions in both technology and or- dispersal across southern Asia and their subsequent expansions namentation become stable in some regions (11, 12), implying throughout Africa and into more northern Eurasia. An assessment more demographic stability (13). Evidence from stable isotopes of younger (20–40 y) versus older (>40 y) adult mortality distribu- and faunal remains suggests that populations were increasingly tions for late archaic humans (principally Neandertals) and two needing to exploit small package food resources requiring greater samples of early modern humans (Middle Paleolithic and earlier investment of acquisition effort (14–17). The demise of at least Upper Paleolithic) provides little difference across the samples. All one of the large Pleistocene carnivores, Ursus spelaeus, has been three Late Pleistocene samples have a dearth of older individuals attributed to increased competition for space from expanding compared with Holocene ethnographic/historical samples. They human populations, especially after approximately 50 kyr B.P. also lack older adults compared with Holocene paleodemographic (18, 19). And although body decoration appears sporadically profiles that have been critiqued for having too few older individ- earlier (20, 21), there was a marked increase in the social modi- uals for subsistence, social, and demographic viability. -
Tese1997vol1.Pdf
Dedicado à Cristina e ao João David Advertência prévia Este trabalho corresponde à dissertação escrita pelo autor para obtenção do grau de doutoramento em Pré-História pela Universidade de Lisboa. A sua redacção ficou concluída em Abril de 1995, e a respectiva arguição teve lugar em Novembro do mesmo ano. A versão agora publicada beneficiou de pequenos ajustamentos do texto, de uma actualização da biliografia e do acrescento de alguns elementos de informação novos, nomeadamente no que diz respeito a datações radiométricas. A obra compreende dois volumes. No volume II agruparam-se os capítulos sobre a história da investigação e a metodologia utilizada na análise dos materiais líticos, bem como os estudos monográficos das diferentes colecções. No volume I, sintetizaram-se as conclusões derivadas desses estudos, e procurou-se integrá-las num quadro histórico e geográfico mais lato, o das sociedades de caçadores do Paleolítico Superior do Sudoeste da Europa. A leitura do volume I é suficiente para a aquisição de uma visão de conjunto dos conhecimentos actuais respeitantes a este período em Portugal. Uma tal leitura deve ter em conta, porém, que essa síntese pressupõe uma crítica das fontes utilizadas. Em Arqueologia, o instrumento dessa crítica é a análise tafonómica dos sítios e espólios. A argumentação sobre as respectivas condições de jazida é desenvolvida no quadro dos estudos apresentados no volume II. É neles que deve ser buscada a razão de ser das opções tomadas quanto à caracterização dos contextos (ocupações singulares, palimpsestos de ocupações múltiplas), à sua homogeneidade (uma só época ou várias épocas), à sua integridade (em posição primária ou secundária), à sua representatividade (universo ou amostra, recuperação integral ou parcial) e à sua cronologia (ou cronologias). -
The First Neanderthal Remains from an Open-Air Middle Palaeolithic Site In
www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN The first Neanderthal remains from an open-air Middle Palaeolithic site in the Levant Received: 30 January 2017 Ella Been1,2, Erella Hovers3,4, Ravid Ekshtain3, Ariel Malinski-Buller5, Nuha Agha6, Alon Accepted: 8 May 2017 Barash7, Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer8,9, Stefano Benazzi10,11, Jean-Jacques Hublin11, Lihi Published: xx xx xxxx Levin2, Noam Greenbaum12, Netta Mitki3, Gregorio Oxilia13,10, Naomi Porat 14, Joel Roskin15,16, Michalle Soudack17,18, Reuven Yeshurun19, Ruth Shahack-Gross15, Nadav Nir3, Mareike C. Stahlschmidt20, Yoel Rak2 & Omry Barzilai6 The late Middle Palaeolithic (MP) settlement patterns in the Levant included the repeated use of caves and open landscape sites. The fossil record shows that two types of hominins occupied the region during this period—Neandertals and Homo sapiens. Until recently, diagnostic fossil remains were found only at cave sites. Because the two populations in this region left similar material cultural remains, it was impossible to attribute any open-air site to either species. In this study, we present newly discovered fossil remains from intact archaeological layers of the open-air site ‘Ein Qashish, in northern Israel. The hominin remains represent three individuals: EQH1, a nondiagnostic skull fragment; EQH2, an upper right third molar (RM3); and EQH3, lower limb bones of a young Neandertal male. EQH2 and EQH3 constitute the first diagnostic anatomical remains of Neandertals at an open-air site in the Levant. The optically stimulated luminescence ages suggest that Neandertals repeatedly visited ‘Ein Qashish between 70 and 60 ka. The discovery of Neandertals at open-air sites during the late MP reinforces the view that Neandertals were a resilient population in the Levant shortly before Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens populated the region. -
Contextualizing Early Homo Sapiens in the Middle Paleolithic Levant
New Excavation at Skhul Cave, Israel: contextualizing early Homo sapiens in the Middle Paleolithic Levant Ron Shimelmitz∗1,2, Israel Hershkovitz3, Reuven Yeshurun1, Orbach Meir1, Lior Weissbrod1, Norbert Mercier4, H´el`eneValladas5, Mathieu Duval6, Julia Lee-Thorp7, Francesco Berna8, Nicolas Waldmann9, Nurit Shtober-Zisu10, Iris Groman-Yaroslavski1, Dan Cabanes11, Hila May3, Ariel De Lazari1, and Mina Weinstein-Evron1 1Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa { Isra¨el 2David Yellin Academic College of Education { Isra¨el 3Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Tel Aviv University { Isra¨el 4Institut de Recherche sur les Arch´eomat´eriaux, Universit´eBordeaux Montaigne { University Bordeaux (I) { France 5Laboratore des Sciences du Climat de l'Environment, Universit´eParis-Saclay, Gif Sur Yvette { Laboratore des Sciences du Climat de l'Environment, Universit´eParis-Saclay, Gif Sur Yvette { France 6Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Environmental Futures Research Institute (EFRI), Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia { Australie 7School of Archaeology, University of Oxford { Royaume-Uni 8Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University { Canada 9Department of Marine Geosciences, University of Haifa { Isra¨el 10Department of Israel Studies, University of Haifa { Isra¨el 11Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University { Etats-Unis´ R´esum´e MIS 5 is regarded as a central interlude of Homo sapiens dispersal into Asia. Neverthe- less, sites containing their diagnostic anatomical remains outside Africa from this particular stage remain extremely scarce. Qafzeh and Skhul are exceptions, and both demonstrate early symbolic behavior expressed in the presence of burials and the use of pigments and shells. Skhul was extensively excavated in 1931-1932 by McCown and reported to include two Middle Paleolithic layers, yielding ten hominins, some of which clearly represent intended burials. -
Paleolithic Aesthetics: Collecting Colorful Flint Pebbles at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel Ella Assaf
Paleolithic aesthetics: Collecting colorful flint pebbles at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel Ella Assaf Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University, P.O.B. 39040, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel. Email: [email protected] Abstract: This paper sheds light on the presence and significance of unusually small, colorful, unmodified, flint pebbles unearthed at Qesem Cave, a late Lower Paleolithic site in Israel. For over two million years, early humans were noticing, collecting and bringing "home" various non-utilitarian objects with aesthetic visible characteristics, in what seems to reflect a basic human trait. Archaeological findings suggest that as early as the Lower Paleolithic, prehistoric humans were also guided by considerations other than economic, cost-benefit ones. Such is the case at Qesem Cave, where seventeen pebbles that are clearly smaller than the smallest pebbles used in the lithic industry on-site were found. These objects do not show any traces of use. Based on archaeological and anthropological evidence, I suggest that the small, natural flint pebbles exhibit noticeable visual characteristics, and therefore they might have been selected and brought to the cave due to their aesthetic traits. Various materials such as animal carcasses, fire-wood and lithic materials were systematically procured and brought to the cave, indicating that the inhabitants must have been well acquainted with different sources of resources. In this light, the presence of the pebbles seems to be the result of conscious, purposeful decisions. Their presence at the cave reveals a fraction of some of the aesthetic and perceptual preferences of the early humans that inhabited Qesem Cave, and their rich cultural world. -
Northern Rivers Feral Deer Identification Guide
Northern Rivers Feral Deer Identification Guide Menil (spotted) Fallow Buck, Western Sydney Parklands. Fallow Deer (Dama dama) Chital Deer (Axis axis) Introduction and distribution Introduction and distribution Fallow Deer were introduced to Tasmania in the 1830’s Chital Deer were introduced to Australia from India and mainland Australia around the 1880’s from Europe. in the 1860s. Wild populations of Chital exist in Fallow deer are the most widespread and established Queensland near Charters Towers, with other smaller of the feral deer species in Australia. They occur in isolated population in NSW, South Australia and Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and Victoria. Range and densities are increasing from South Australia. isolated pockets and deliberate release for hunting. Habitat and herding Habitat and herding The Fallow Deer are a herd deer inhabiting semi-open Chital deer are herbivores that browse on a variety of scrubland and frequent and graze on pasture that grasses, fruit and leaves. They are gregarious and can is in close proximity to cover. They breed during the form groups of more than 100 individuals. They do April/May, fawns are born in December and the bucks not have a defined breeding season, and are capable cast their antlers in October. Antlers are regrown by of producing three offspring in two years. Chital deer February. In rut, the buck makes an unmistakable will eat their shed antlers if their diet is lacking the croak, similar to a grunting pig. The calls vary from vitamins and minerals. Females will separate from the high pitched bleating to deep grunts. -
Urgeschichte Der Menschheit
36 NATUURHISTORISCH MAANDBLAD. URGESCHICHTE DER MENSCHHEIT von Dr. rer. nat. P. R. KöPPEL S. J. Nicht an die ersten Anfange der Menschheit wir vor der letzten Eiszeit eigentlich nur we- dürfen wir hier denken. nige eindeutig und sicher berechenbare Funde Wir knüpfen dort an, wo wir den Strom haben, und dass die Hauptmasse sich gut in der Menschheitsgeschichte schon in breiter die letzte Eiszeit eingliedern lasst. Der Nean- Front über die Erde sich ergiessen sehen: an dertaler wurde bisher nur zusammen mit Mou- die 66 eiszeithchen Individuen, deren Knochen- stérienwerkzeugen gefunden, in keinem Falie bruchstücke die Wissenschaft bestim men konn- mit Chelles- oder Acheulkulturen. Die Höh- te, an die sicheren, nach Zehntausenden ziihi- lenkunst beginnt eist mit dem Aurignacien, enden Feuersteinwerkzeuge des Urmenschen, das in der letzten Kaltezeit der Würmeiszeit die als Altpalaolithikum bezeichnet werden. erscheint. Vom Moustérien bis Magdalénien Die Jesuitenpatres Licent und, Teilhard haben herrscht eine Kaltezeit, die höchstens durch solche sogar am Hoangho gefunden und be- eine kleine Schwankung, nicht aber durch ein schrieben, P. Zumoffen S. J., Bovier-Lapierre warmes Interglacial mit völligem Verschwin- S. J. u. a. von Syrien, Vincent O. P., die dien des Eises unterbrochen ist. So scheiden Assumptionisteii von Palastina, Blanckenhorn, wir auch die alteren Funde, die aber reichlich Schweinfurt u.a. von Aegypten, die Abbés mit offenen Fragen durchsetzt sind, aus, wie Breuil, Hugo Obermaier von dem Institut de die Ehringsdorfer Funde, wo der Mensen Paleontologie bumaine von Spanien Und Frank- schon sicher das Feuer benutzt hat, den Hei- reich, R. Vaufrey von Italien, R. R. Schmidt delberger Unterkiefer von Mauer, der der al- von Deutschland,, urn nur einige Namen zu teste sichere Menschenfuind Europas, ja der nennen. -
Nubian Levallois Technology Associated with Southernmost Neanderthals James Blinkhorn1,2*, Clément Zanolli3, Tim Compton4, Huw S
www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Nubian Levallois technology associated with southernmost Neanderthals James Blinkhorn1,2*, Clément Zanolli3, Tim Compton4, Huw S. Groucutt5,6,10, Eleanor M. L. Scerri1,7,10, Lucile Crété4, Chris Stringer4, Michael D. Petraglia6,8,9 & Simon Blockley2 Neanderthals occurred widely across north Eurasian landscapes, but between ~ 70 and 50 thousand years ago (ka) they expanded southwards into the Levant, which had previously been inhabited by Homo sapiens. Palaeoanthropological research in the frst half of the twentieth century demonstrated alternate occupations of the Levant by Neanderthal and Homo sapiens populations, yet key early fndings have largely been overlooked in later studies. Here, we present the results of new examinations of both the fossil and archaeological collections from Shukbah Cave, located in the Palestinian West Bank, presenting new quantitative analyses of a hominin lower frst molar and associated stone tool assemblage. The hominin tooth shows clear Neanderthal afnities, making it the southernmost known fossil specimen of this population/species. The associated Middle Palaeolithic stone tool assemblage is dominated by Levallois reduction methods, including the presence of Nubian Levallois points and cores. This is the frst direct association between Neanderthals and Nubian Levallois technology, demonstrating that this stone tool technology should not be considered an exclusive marker of Homo sapiens. Given genetic evidence for interbreeding between Homo sapiens and Neanderthal populations 1–6, constraining when and where they may have encountered one another has broad ramifcations for understanding our shared heritage. With a wealth of chronometrically dated Palaeolithic sites concentrated in a relatively small area, a number of which preserve fossil hominin specimens, the Levant is a key region of focus to examine biological and behavioural diferences between these populations, as well as possible interactions between them.