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The relevance of late MSA mandibles on the emergence of modern morphology in Northern Africa. Sci Rep 2022; 12:8841. [PMID: 35614148 PMCID: PMC9133045 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-12607-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2021] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
North Africa is a key area for understanding hominin population movements and the expansion of our species. It is home to the earliest currently known Homo sapiens (Jebel Irhoud) and several late Middle Stone Age (MSA) fossils, notably Kébibat, Contrebandiers 1, Dar-es-Soltane II H5 and El Harhoura. Mostly referred to as “Aterian” they fill a gap in the North African fossil record between Jebel Irhoud and Iberomaurusians. We explore morphological continuity in this region by quantifying mandibular shape using 3D (semi)landmark geometric morphometric methods in a comparative framework of late Early and Middle Pleistocene hominins (n = 15), Neanderthals (n = 27) and H. sapiens (n = 145). We discovered a set of mixed features among late MSA fossils that is in line with an accretion of modern traits through time and an ongoing masticatory gracilization process. In Northern Africa, Aterians display similarities to Iberomaurusians and recent humans in the area as well as to the Tighenif and Thomas Quarry hominins, suggesting a greater time depth for regional continuity than previously assumed. The evidence we lay out for a long-term succession of hominins and humans emphasizes North Africa’s role as source area of the earliest H. sapiens.
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Aneli S, Caldon M, Saupe T, Montinaro F, Pagani L. Through 40,000 years of human presence in Southern Europe: the Italian case study. Hum Genet 2021; 140:1417-1431. [PMID: 34410492 PMCID: PMC8460580 DOI: 10.1007/s00439-021-02328-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
The Italian Peninsula, a natural pier across the Mediterranean Sea, witnessed intricate population events since the very beginning of the human occupation in Europe. In the last few years, an increasing number of modern and ancient genomes from the area have been published by the international research community. This genomic perspective started unveiling the relevance of Italy to understand the post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) re-peopling of Europe, the earlier phase of the Neolithic westward migrations, and its linking role between Eastern and Western Mediterranean areas after the Iron Age. However, many open questions are still waiting for more data to be addressed in full. With this review, we summarize the current knowledge emerging from the available ancient Italian individuals and, by re-analysing them all at once, we try to shed light on the avenues future research in the area should cover. In particular, open questions concern (1) the fate of pre-Villabruna Europeans and to what extent their genomic components were absorbed by the post-LGM hunter-gatherers; (2) the role of Sicily and Sardinia before LGM; (3) to what degree the documented genetic structure within the Early Neolithic settlers can be described as two separate migrations; (4) what are the population events behind the marked presence of an Iranian Neolithic-like component in Bronze Age and Iron Age Italian and Southern European samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serena Aneli
- Department of Biology, University of Padova, Via Ugo Bassi, 58/B, 35131, Padova, Italy.
| | - Matteo Caldon
- Department of Biology, University of Padova, Via Ugo Bassi, 58/B, 35131, Padova, Italy
| | - Tina Saupe
- Estonian Biocentre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Riia 23b, 51010, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Francesco Montinaro
- Estonian Biocentre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Riia 23b, 51010, Tartu, Estonia.,Department of Biology-Genetics, University of Bari, Via Edoardo Orabona 4, 70125, Bari, Italy
| | - Luca Pagani
- Department of Biology, University of Padova, Via Ugo Bassi, 58/B, 35131, Padova, Italy.,Estonian Biocentre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Riia 23b, 51010, Tartu, Estonia
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Bergmann I, Hublin JJ, Gunz P, Freidline SE. How did modern morphology evolve in the human mandible? The relationship between static adult allometry and mandibular variability in Homo sapiens. J Hum Evol 2021; 157:103026. [PMID: 34214909 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2020] [Revised: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Key to understanding human origins are early Homo sapiens fossils from Jebel Irhoud, as well as from the early Late Pleistocene sites Tabun, Border Cave, Klasies River Mouth, Skhul, and Qafzeh. While their upper facial shape falls within the recent human range of variation, their mandibles display a mosaic morphology. Here we quantify how mandibular shape covaries with mandible size and how static allometry differs between Neanderthals, early H. sapiens, and modern humans from the Upper Paleolithic/Later Stone Age and Holocene (= later H. sapiens). We use 3D (semi)landmark geometric morphometric methods to visualize allometric trends and to explore how gracilization affects the expression of diagnostic shape features. Early H. sapiens were highly variable in mandible size, exhibiting a unique allometric trajectory that explains aspects of their 'archaic' appearance. At the same time, early H. sapiens share a suite of diagnostic features with later H. sapiens that are not related to mandibular sizes, such as an incipient chin and an anteroposteriorly decreasing corpus height. The mandibular morphology, often referred to as 'modern', can partly be explained by gracilization owing to size reduction. Despite distinct static allometric shape changes in each group studied, bicondylar and bigonial breadth represent important structural constraints for the expression of shape features in most Middle to Late Pleistocene hominin mandibles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Inga Bergmann
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Jean-Jacques Hublin
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Philipp Gunz
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sarah E Freidline
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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Yardumian A, Schurr TG. The Geography of Jewish Ethnogenesis. JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2019. [DOI: 10.1086/702709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
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Ersmark E, Baryshnikov G, Higham T, Argant A, Castaños P, Döppes D, Gasparik M, Germonpré M, Lidén K, Lipecki G, Marciszak A, Miller R, Moreno‐García M, Pacher M, Robu M, Rodriguez‐Varela R, Rojo Guerra M, Sabol M, Spassov N, Storå J, Valdiosera C, Villaluenga A, Stewart JR, Dalén L. Genetic turnovers and northern survival during the last glacial maximum in European brown bears. Ecol Evol 2019; 9:5891-5905. [PMID: 31161006 PMCID: PMC6540696 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2018] [Revised: 03/08/2019] [Accepted: 03/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The current phylogeographic pattern of European brown bears (Ursus arctos) has commonly been explained by postglacial recolonization out of geographically distinct refugia in southern Europe, a pattern well in accordance with the expansion/contraction model. Studies of ancient DNA from brown bear remains have questioned this pattern, but have failed to explain the glacial distribution of mitochondrial brown bear clades and their subsequent expansion across the European continent. We here present 136 new mitochondrial sequences generated from 346 remains from Europe, ranging in age between the Late Pleistocene and historical times. The genetic data show a high Late Pleistocene diversity across the continent and challenge the strict confinement of bears to traditional southern refugia during the last glacial maximum (LGM). The mitochondrial data further suggest a genetic turnover just before this time, as well as a steep demographic decline starting in the mid-Holocene. Levels of stable nitrogen isotopes from the remains confirm a previously proposed shift toward increasing herbivory around the LGM in Europe. Overall, these results suggest that in addition to climate, anthropogenic impact and inter-specific competition may have had more important effects on the brown bear's ecology, demography, and genetic structure than previously thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik Ersmark
- Department of Bioinformatics and GeneticsSwedish Museum of Natural HistoryStockholmSweden
- Department of ZoologyStockholm UniversityStockholmSweden
| | | | - Thomas Higham
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of ArtUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Alain Argant
- CNRS, Minist. Culture, LAMPEA, UMR 7269Aix Marseille UniversityAix‐en‐ProvenceFrance
| | | | | | - Mihaly Gasparik
- Department of Palaeontology and GeologyHungarian Natural History MuseumBudapestHungary
| | - Mietje Germonpré
- Operational Direction “Earth and History of Life”Royal Belgian Institute of Natural SciencesBrusselBelgium
| | - Kerstin Lidén
- Department of Archaeology and Classical StudiesStockholm UniversityStockholmSweden
| | - Grzegorz Lipecki
- Institute of Systematics and Evolution of AnimalsPolish Academy of SciencesKrakówPoland
| | - Adrian Marciszak
- Department of Paleozoology, Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biological SciencesUniversity of WrocławWrocławPoland
| | | | - Marta Moreno‐García
- GI Arqueobiología, Instituto de HistoriaConsejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasMadridSpain
| | - Martina Pacher
- Institute of PalaeontologyUniversity of ViennaViennaAustria
| | - Marius Robu
- “Emil Racoviţă” Institute of SpeleologyRomanian AcademyBucharestRomania
| | | | - Manuel Rojo Guerra
- Department of Prehistory and ArchaeologyUniversity of ValladolidValladolidSpain
| | - Martin Sabol
- Department of Geology and Palaeontology, Faculty of Natural SciencesComenius UniversityBratislavaSlovak Republic
| | - Nikolai Spassov
- National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of SciencesSofiaBulgaria
| | - Jan Storå
- Department of Archaeology and Classical StudiesStockholm UniversityStockholmSweden
| | - Christina Valdiosera
- Department of Archaeology and HistoryLa Trobe UniversityMelbourneVictoriaAustralia
| | - Aritza Villaluenga
- Aranzadi Society of SciencesDonostia‐San SebastianSpain
- Facultad de Letras, High Yield Research Group on PrehistoryUniversity of the Basque Country (UPV‐EHU)Vitoria‐GasteizSpain
| | - John R. Stewart
- Faculty of Science and TechnologyBournemouth UniversityDorsetUK
| | - Love Dalén
- Department of Bioinformatics and GeneticsSwedish Museum of Natural HistoryStockholmSweden
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Abstract
At its core, genetics is a historical discipline. Mutations are passed on from generation to generation and accumulate as a result of chance as well as of selection within and between populations and species. However, until recently, geneticists were confined to the study of present-day genetic variation and could only indirectly make inferences about the historical processes that resulted in the variation in present-day gene pools. This "time trap" has now been overcome thanks to the ability to analyze DNA extracted from ancient remains, and this is about to revolutionize several aspects of genetics.
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Günther T, Jakobsson M. Genes mirror migrations and cultures in prehistoric Europe — a population genomic perspective. Curr Opin Genet Dev 2016; 41:115-123. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2016.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2016] [Revised: 09/13/2016] [Accepted: 09/13/2016] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
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