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Tejero JM, Bar-Oz G, Bar-Yosef O, Meshveliani T, Jakeli N, Matskevich Z, Pinhasi R, Belfer-Cohen A. New insights into the Upper Palaeolithic of the Caucasus through the study of personal ornaments. Teeth and bones pendants from Satsurblia and Dzudzuana caves (Imereti, Georgia). PLoS One 2021; 16:e0258974. [PMID: 34748581 PMCID: PMC8575301 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 10/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The region of western Georgia (Imereti) in the Southern Caucasus has been a major geographic corridor for human migrations during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Data of recent research and excavations in this region display its importance as a possible route for the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) into northern Eurasia. Nevertheless, within the local research context, bone-working and personal ornaments have yet contributed but little to the Upper Palaeolithic (UP) regional sequence's characterization. Here we present an archaeozoological, technological and use-wear study of pendants from two local UP assemblages, originating in the Dzudzuana Cave and Satsurblia Cave. The ornaments were made mostly of perforated teeth, though some specimens were made on bone. Both the manufacturing marks made during preparation and use-wear traces indicate that they were personal ornaments, used as pendants or attached to garments. Detailed comparison between ornament assemblages from northern and southern Caucasus reveal that they are quite similar, supporting the observation of cultural bonds between the two regions, demonstrated previously through lithic techno-typological affinities. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance attributed to red deer (Cervus elaphus) by the UP societies of the Caucasus in sharing aesthetic values and/or a symbolic sphere.
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Affiliation(s)
- José-Miguel Tejero
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Seminari d’Estudis I Recerques Prehistòriques, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Guy Bar-Oz
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Ofer Bar-Yosef
- Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America
| | | | | | | | - Ron Pinhasi
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Anna Belfer-Cohen
- Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
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2
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Heydari-Guran S, Benazzi S, Talamo S, Ghasidian E, Hariri N, Oxilia G, Asiabani S, Azizi F, Naderi R, Safaierad R, Hublin JJ, Foley RA, Lahr MM. The discovery of an in situ Neanderthal remain in the Bawa Yawan Rockshelter, West-Central Zagros Mountains, Kermanshah. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0253708. [PMID: 34437543 PMCID: PMC8389444 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2021] [Accepted: 06/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Neanderthal extinction has been a matter of debate for many years. New discoveries, better chronologies and genomic evidence have done much to clarify some of the issues. This evidence suggests that Neanderthals became extinct around 40,000–37,000 years before present (BP), after a period of coexistence with Homo sapiens of several millennia, involving biological and cultural interactions between the two groups. However, the bulk of this evidence relates to Western Eurasia, and recent work in Central Asia and Siberia has shown that there is considerable local variation. Southwestern Asia, despite having a number of significant Neanderthal remains, has not played a major part in the debate over extinction. Here we report a Neanderthal deciduous canine from the site of Bawa Yawan in the West-Central Zagros Mountains of Iran. The tooth is associated with Zagros Mousterian lithics, and its context is preliminary dated to between ~43,600 and ~41,500 years ago.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saman Heydari-Guran
- Stiftung Neanderthal Museum, Mettmann, Germany
- Department of Prehistoric Archaeology University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- DiyarMehr Centre for Palaeolithic Research, Kermanshah, Iran
- * E-mail:
| | - Stefano Benazzi
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sahra Talamo
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Chemistry G. Ciamician, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Elham Ghasidian
- Stiftung Neanderthal Museum, Mettmann, Germany
- Department of Prehistoric Archaeology University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Nemat Hariri
- Department of Prehistoric Archaeology University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- Department of Archaeology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili University, Ardabil, Iran
| | - Gregorio Oxilia
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Samran Asiabani
- DiyarMehr Centre for Palaeolithic Research, Kermanshah, Iran
- Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran
| | - Faramarz Azizi
- DiyarMehr Centre for Palaeolithic Research, Kermanshah, Iran
| | - Rahmat Naderi
- DiyarMehr Centre for Palaeolithic Research, Kermanshah, Iran
| | - Reza Safaierad
- Department of Physical Geography, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Jean-Jacques Hublin
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Collège de France, 11 Place Marcelin Berthelot, Paris, France
| | - Robert A. Foley
- Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Marta M. Lahr
- Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
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3
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Cullen VL, Smith VC, Tushabramishvili N, Mallol C, Dee M, Wilkinson KN, Adler DS. A revised AMS and tephra chronology for the Late Middle to Early Upper Paleolithic occupations of Ortvale Klde, Republic of Georgia. J Hum Evol 2020; 151:102908. [PMID: 33370643 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102908] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2020] [Revised: 10/26/2020] [Accepted: 10/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The nature and timing of the shift from the Late Middle Paleolithic (LMP) to the Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) varied geographically, temporally, and substantively across the Near East and Eurasia; however, the result of this process was the archaeological disappearance of Middle Paleolithic technologies across the length and breadth of their geographic distribution. Ortvale Klde rockshelter (Republic of Georgia) contains the most detailed LMP-EUP archaeological sequence in the Caucasus, an environmentally and topographically diverse region situated between southwest Asia and Europe. Tephrochronological investigations at the site reveal volcanic ash (tephra) from various volcanic sources and provide a tephrostratigraphy for the site that will facilitate future correlations in the region. We correlate one of the cryptotephra layers to the large, caldera-forming Nemrut Formation eruption (30,000 years ago) from Nemrut volcano in Turkey. We integrate this tephrochronological constraint with new radiocarbon dates and published ages in an OxCal Bayesian age model to produce a revised chronology for the site. This model increases the ages for the end of the LMP (∼47.5-44.2 ka cal BP) and appearance of the EUP (∼46.7-43.6 ka cal BP) at Ortvale Klde, which are earlier than those currently reported for other sites in the Caucasus but similar to estimates for specific sites in southwest Asia and eastern Europe. These data, coupled with archaeological, stratigraphic, and taphonomic observations, suggest that at Ortvale Klde, (1) the appearance of EUP technologies of bone and stone has no technological roots in the preceding LMP, (2) a LMP population vacuum likely preceded the appearance of these EUP technologies, and (3) the systematic combination of tephra correlations and absolute dating chronologies promises to substantially improve our inter-regional understanding of this critical time interval of human evolution and the potential interconnectedness of hominins at different sites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria L Cullen
- Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Victoria C Smith
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | | | - Carolina Mallol
- Archaeological Micromorphology and Biomarker Research Lab, Instituto Universitario de Bio-Orgánica Antonio González, Tenerife, Spain; Departamento de Geografía e Historia, Universidad de La Laguna Campus de Guajara, Tenerife, Spain
| | - Michael Dee
- Centre for Isotope Research, ESRIG, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Keith N Wilkinson
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Winchester, United Kingdom
| | - Daniel S Adler
- Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, CT, USA.
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Dinnis R, Bessudnov A, Reynolds N, Devièse T, Pate A, Sablin M, Sinitsyn A, Higham T. New data for the Early Upper Paleolithic of Kostenki (Russia). J Hum Evol 2019; 127:21-40. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.11.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2018] [Revised: 11/27/2018] [Accepted: 11/28/2018] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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5
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Reconstructing the Neanderthal brain using computational anatomy. Sci Rep 2018; 8:6296. [PMID: 29700382 PMCID: PMC5919901 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-24331-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2018] [Accepted: 03/23/2018] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The present study attempted to reconstruct 3D brain shape of Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens based on computational neuroanatomy. We found that early Homo sapiens had relatively larger cerebellar hemispheres but a smaller occipital region in the cerebrum than Neanderthals long before the time that Neanderthals disappeared. Further, using behavioural and structural imaging data of living humans, the abilities such as cognitive flexibility, attention, the language processing, episodic and working memory capacity were positively correlated with size-adjusted cerebellar volume. As the cerebellar hemispheres are structured as a large array of uniform neural modules, a larger cerebellum may possess a larger capacity for cognitive information processing. Such a neuroanatomical difference in the cerebellum may have caused important differences in cognitive and social abilities between the two species and might have contributed to the replacement of Neanderthals by early Homo sapiens.
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Kochiyama T, Ogihara N, Tanabe HC, Kondo O, Amano H, Hasegawa K, Suzuki H, Ponce de León MS, Zollikofer CPE, Bastir M, Stringer C, Sadato N, Akazawa T. Reconstructing the Neanderthal brain using computational anatomy. Sci Rep 2018. [PMID: 29700382 DOI: 10.1038/s41598–018–24331–0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The present study attempted to reconstruct 3D brain shape of Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens based on computational neuroanatomy. We found that early Homo sapiens had relatively larger cerebellar hemispheres but a smaller occipital region in the cerebrum than Neanderthals long before the time that Neanderthals disappeared. Further, using behavioural and structural imaging data of living humans, the abilities such as cognitive flexibility, attention, the language processing, episodic and working memory capacity were positively correlated with size-adjusted cerebellar volume. As the cerebellar hemispheres are structured as a large array of uniform neural modules, a larger cerebellum may possess a larger capacity for cognitive information processing. Such a neuroanatomical difference in the cerebellum may have caused important differences in cognitive and social abilities between the two species and might have contributed to the replacement of Neanderthals by early Homo sapiens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takanori Kochiyama
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Kyoto, 619-0288, Japan
| | - Naomichi Ogihara
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Yokohama, 223-8522, Japan.
| | - Hiroki C Tanabe
- Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences, Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan.
| | - Osamu Kondo
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
| | - Hideki Amano
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Yokohama, 223-8522, Japan
| | - Kunihiro Hasegawa
- Automotive Human Factors Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, 305-8566, Japan
| | - Hiromasa Suzuki
- Graduate School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan
| | | | | | - Markus Bastir
- Paleoanthropology Group, Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, 28006, Madrid, Spain
| | - Chris Stringer
- Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK
| | - Norihiro Sadato
- Department of Cerebral Research, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, 444-8585, Japan
| | - Takeru Akazawa
- Research Institute, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi, 782-8502, Japan
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8
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Kandel AW, Gasparyan B, Allué E, Bigga G, Bruch AA, Cullen VL, Frahm E, Ghukasyan R, Gruwier B, Jabbour F, Miller CE, Taller A, Vardazaryan V, Vasilyan D, Weissbrod L. The earliest evidence for Upper Paleolithic occupation in the Armenian Highlands at Aghitu-3 Cave. J Hum Evol 2017; 110:37-68. [PMID: 28778461 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2017] [Revised: 05/22/2017] [Accepted: 05/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
With its well-preserved archaeological and environmental records, Aghitu-3 Cave permits us to examine the settlement patterns of the Upper Paleolithic (UP) people who inhabited the Armenian Highlands. We also test whether settlement of the region between ∼39-24,000 cal BP relates to environmental variability. The earliest evidence occurs in archaeological horizon (AH) VII from ∼39-36,000 cal BP during a mild, moist climatic phase. AH VI shows periodic occupation as warm, humid conditions prevailed from ∼36-32,000 cal BP. As the climate becomes cooler and drier at ∼32-29,000 cal BP (AH V-IV), evidence for occupation is minimal. However, as cooling continues, the deposits of AH III demonstrate that people used the site more intensively from ∼29-24,000 cal BP, leaving behind numerous stone artifacts, faunal remains, and complex combustion features. Despite the climatic fluctuations seen across this 15,000-year sequence, lithic technology remains attuned to one pattern: unidirectional reduction of small cores geared towards the production of bladelets for tool manufacture. Subsistence patterns also remain stable, focused on medium-sized prey such as ovids and caprids, as well as equids. AH III demonstrates an expansion of social networks to the northwest and southwest, as the transport distance of obsidian used to make stone artifacts increases. We also observe the addition of bone tools, including an eyed needle, and shell beads brought from the east, suggesting that these people manufactured complex clothing and wore ornaments. Remains of micromammals, birds, charcoal, pollen, and tephra relate the story of environmental variability. We hypothesize that UP behavior was linked to shifts in demographic pressures and climatic changes. Thus, by combining archaeological and environmental data, we gain a clearer picture about the first UP inhabitants of the Armenian Highlands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew W Kandel
- The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities at the University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Boris Gasparyan
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences, Charents St. 15, 0025 Yerevan, Armenia
| | - Ethel Allué
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
| | - Gerlinde Bigga
- Department of Geology, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Angela A Bruch
- The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities at the Senckenberg Research Institute, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Victoria L Cullen
- University of Oxford, RLAHA, Dyson Perrins Building, Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
| | - Ellery Frahm
- Yale Initiative for the Study of Ancient Pyrotechnology, Department of Anthropology, Yale University, 10 Sachem Street, New Haven, CT 06511, United States; Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Peabody Museum, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States
| | - Robert Ghukasyan
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences, Charents St. 15, 0025 Yerevan, Armenia
| | - Ben Gruwier
- Department of Anthropology, Durham University, South Road, Durham, United Kingdom; Department of Experimental Anatomy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Laarbeeklaan 103, Jette, Belgium
| | - Firas Jabbour
- The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities at the University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Christopher E Miller
- Department of Geoarchaeology, Institute of Archaeological Science, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Andreas Taller
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Varduhi Vardazaryan
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Davit Vasilyan
- Department of Geology, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany; JURASSICA Museum, Route de Fontenais 21, 2900 Porrentruy, Switzerland; Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Chemin du musée 6, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Lior Weissbrod
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, 31905, Israel
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Sullivan AP, de Manuel M, Marques-Bonet T, Perry GH. An evolutionary medicine perspective on Neandertal extinction. J Hum Evol 2017. [PMID: 28622932 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.03.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The Eurasian sympatry of Neandertals and anatomically modern humans - beginning at least 45,000 years ago and possibly lasting for more than 5000 years - has sparked immense anthropological interest into the factors that potentially contributed to Neandertal extinction. Among many different hypotheses, the "differential pathogen resistance" extinction model posits that Neandertals were disproportionately affected by exposure to novel infectious diseases that were transmitted during the period of spatiotemporal sympatry with modern humans. Comparisons of new archaic hominin paleogenome sequences with modern human genomes have confirmed a history of genetic admixture - and thus direct contact - between humans and Neandertals. Analyses of these data have also shown that Neandertal nuclear genome genetic diversity was likely considerably lower than that of the Eurasian anatomically modern humans with whom they came into contact, perhaps leaving Neandertal innate immune systems relatively more susceptible to novel pathogens. In this study, we compared levels of genetic diversity in genes for which genetic variation is hypothesized to benefit pathogen defense among Neandertals and African, European, and Asian modern humans, using available exome sequencing data (three individuals, or six chromosomes, per population). We observed that Neandertals had only 31-39% as many nonsynonymous (amino acid changing) polymorphisms across 73 innate immune system genes compared to modern human populations. We also found that Neandertal genetic diversity was relatively low in an unbiased set of balancing selection candidate genes for primates, those genes with the highest 1% genetic diversity genome-wide in non-human hominoids (apes). In contrast, Neandertals had similar or higher levels of genetic diversity than humans in 12 major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes. Thus, while Neandertals may have been relatively more susceptible to some novel pathogens and differential pathogen resistance could be considered as one potential contributing factor in their extinction, the expectations of this model are not universally met.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexis P Sullivan
- Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Marc de Manuel
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC/UPF), Parque de Investigación Biomédica de Barcelona (PRBB), Barcelona, Catalonia 08003, Spain
| | - Tomas Marques-Bonet
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC/UPF), Parque de Investigación Biomédica de Barcelona (PRBB), Barcelona, Catalonia 08003, Spain; CNAG-CRG, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri i Reixac 4, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Catalan Institution of Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Passeig de Lluís Companys, 23, 08010, Barcelona, Spain
| | - George H Perry
- Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
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Pinhasi R, Meshveliani T, Matskevich Z, Bar-Oz G, Weissbrod L, Miller CE, Wilkinson K, Lordkipanidze D, Jakeli N, Kvavadze E, Higham TFG, Belfer-Cohen A. Satsurblia: new insights of human response and survival across the Last Glacial Maximum in the southern Caucasus. PLoS One 2014; 9:e111271. [PMID: 25354048 PMCID: PMC4213019 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2014] [Accepted: 09/21/2014] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The region of western Georgia (Imereti) has been a major geographic corridor for human migrations during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic (MP/UP). Knowledge of the MP and UP in this region, however, stems mostly from a small number of recent excavations at the sites of Ortvale Klde, Dzudzuana, Bondi, and Kotias Klde. These provide an absolute chronology for the Late MP and MP–UP transition, but only a partial perspective on the nature and timing of UP occupations, and limited data on how human groups in this region responded to the harsh climatic oscillations between 37,000–11,500 years before present. Here we report new UP archaeological sequences from fieldwork in Satsurblia cavein the same region. A series of living surfaces with combustion features, faunal remains, stone and bone tools, and ornaments provide new information about human occupations in this region (a) prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) at 25.5–24.4 ka cal. BP and (b) after the LGM at 17.9–16.2 ka cal. BP. The latter provides new evidence in the southern Caucasus for human occupation immediately after the LGM. The results of the campaigns in Satsurblia and Dzudzuana suggest that at present the most plausible scenario is one of a hiatus in the occupation of this region during the LGM (between 24.4–17.9 ka cal. BP). Analysis of the living surfaces at Satsurblia offers information about human activities such as the production and utilisation of lithics and bone tools, butchering, cooking and consumption of meat and wild cereals, the utilisation of fibers, and the use of certain woods. Microfaunal and palynological analyses point to fluctuations in the climate with consequent shifts in vegetation and the faunal spectrum not only before and after the LGM, but also during the two millennia following the end of the LGM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ron Pinhasi
- Earth Institute and School of Archaeology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- * E-mail: (RP); (ABC)
| | | | | | - Guy Bar-Oz
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Lior Weissbrod
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Christopher E. Miller
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, and Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Keith Wilkinson
- Department of Archaeology, University of Winchester, Winchester, United Kingdom
| | | | - Nino Jakeli
- Georgian State Museum, Department of Prehistory, Tbilisi, Georgia
| | - Eliso Kvavadze
- Institute of Paleobiology, National Museum of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia
| | - Thomas F. G. Higham
- Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Anna Belfer-Cohen
- Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
- * E-mail: (RP); (ABC)
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11
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Galván B, Hernández CM, Mallol C, Mercier N, Sistiaga A, Soler V. New evidence of early Neanderthal disappearance in the Iberian Peninsula. J Hum Evol 2014; 75:16-27. [PMID: 25016565 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2013] [Revised: 05/27/2014] [Accepted: 06/09/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
The timing of the end of the Middle Palaeolithic and the disappearance of Neanderthals continue to be strongly debated. Current chronometric evidence from different European sites pushes the end of the Middle Palaeolithic throughout the continent back to around 42 thousand years ago (ka). This has called into question some of the dates from the Iberian Peninsula, previously considered as one of the last refuge zones of the Neanderthals. Evidence of Neanderthal occupation in Iberia after 42 ka is now very scarce and open to debate on chronological and technological grounds. Here we report thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates from El Salt, a Middle Palaeolithic site in Alicante, Spain, the archaeological sequence of which shows a transition from recurrent to sporadic human occupation culminating in the abandonment of the site. The new dates place this sequence within MIS 3, between ca. 60 and 45 ka. An abrupt sedimentary change towards the top of the sequence suggests a strong aridification episode coinciding with the last Neanderthal occupation of the site. These results are in agreement with current chronometric data from other sites in the Iberian Peninsula and point towards possible breakdown and disappearance of the Neanderthal local population around the time of the Heinrich 5 event. Iberian sites with recent dates (<40 ka) attributed to the Middle Palaeolithic should be revised in the light of these data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bertila Galván
- U.D.I. de Prehistoria, Arqueología e Historia Antigua, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, Universidad de La Laguna, Campus de Guajara, 38071 La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
| | - Cristo M Hernández
- U.D.I. de Prehistoria, Arqueología e Historia Antigua, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, Universidad de La Laguna, Campus de Guajara, 38071 La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
| | - Carolina Mallol
- U.D.I. de Prehistoria, Arqueología e Historia Antigua, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, Universidad de La Laguna, Campus de Guajara, 38071 La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain; Instituto Universitario de Biorgánica Antonio González, Av. Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez n.° 2, 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - Norbert Mercier
- Institut de Recherche sur les Archéomatériaux, UMR 5060 CNRS-Université de Bordeaux, Centre de Recherche en PhysiqueAppliquée à l'Archéologie (CRP2A), Maison de l'Archéologie, 33607 PESSAC Cedex, France
| | - Ainara Sistiaga
- U.D.I. de Prehistoria, Arqueología e Historia Antigua, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, Universidad de La Laguna, Campus de Guajara, 38071 La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain; Instituto Universitario de Biorgánica Antonio González, Av. Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez n.° 2, 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - Vicente Soler
- Estación Volcanológica de Canarias, IPNA-CSIC, Av. Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez n.° 3, 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
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The beginning of the Upper Paleolithic in the Iranian Zagros. A taphonomic approach and techno-economic comparison of Early Baradostian assemblages from Warwasi and Yafteh (Iran). J Hum Evol 2013; 65:39-64. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2012] [Revised: 04/05/2013] [Accepted: 04/16/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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13
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Pinhasi R, Nioradze M, Tushabramishvili N, Lordkipanidze D, Pleurdeau D, Moncel MH, Adler D, Stringer C, Higham T. New chronology for the Middle Palaeolithic of the southern Caucasus suggests early demise of Neanderthals in this region. J Hum Evol 2012; 63:770-80. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2012] [Revised: 08/16/2012] [Accepted: 08/17/2012] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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14
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Tushabramishvili N, Pleurdeau D, Moncel MH, Agapishvili T, Vekua A, Bukhsianidze M, Maureille B, Muskhelishvili A, Mshvildadze M, Kapanadze N, Lordkipanidze D. Human remains from a new Upper Pleistocene sequence in Bondi Cave (Western Georgia). J Hum Evol 2012; 62:179-85. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2011] [Revised: 06/06/2011] [Accepted: 11/03/2011] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
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15
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Yunusbayev B, Metspalu M, Järve M, Kutuev I, Rootsi S, Metspalu E, Behar DM, Varendi K, Sahakyan H, Khusainova R, Yepiskoposyan L, Khusnutdinova EK, Underhill PA, Kivisild T, Villems R. The Caucasus as an asymmetric semipermeable barrier to ancient human migrations. Mol Biol Evol 2011; 29:359-65. [PMID: 21917723 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msr221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 112] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The Caucasus, inhabited by modern humans since the Early Upper Paleolithic and known for its linguistic diversity, is considered to be important for understanding human dispersals and genetic diversity in Eurasia. We report a synthesis of autosomal, Y chromosome, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation in populations from all major subregions and linguistic phyla of the area. Autosomal genome variation in the Caucasus reveals significant genetic uniformity among its ethnically and linguistically diverse populations and is consistent with predominantly Near/Middle Eastern origin of the Caucasians, with minor external impacts. In contrast to autosomal and mtDNA variation, signals of regional Y chromosome founder effects distinguish the eastern from western North Caucasians. Genetic discontinuity between the North Caucasus and the East European Plain contrasts with continuity through Anatolia and the Balkans, suggesting major routes of ancient gene flows and admixture.
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Otte M, Shidrang S, Zwyns N, Flas D. New radiocarbon dates for the Zagros Aurignacian from Yafteh cave, Iran. J Hum Evol 2011; 61:340-6. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.05.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2010] [Revised: 05/30/2011] [Accepted: 05/31/2011] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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17
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Revised age of late Neanderthal occupation and the end of the Middle Paleolithic in the northern Caucasus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2011; 108:8611-6. [PMID: 21555570 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1018938108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Advances in direct radiocarbon dating of Neanderthal and anatomically modern human (AMH) fossils and the development of archaeostratigraphic chronologies now allow refined regional models for Neanderthal-AMH coexistence. In addition, they allow us to explore the issue of late Neanderthal survival in regions of Western Eurasia located within early routes of AMH expansion such as the Caucasus. Here we report the direct radiocarbon ((14)C) dating of a late Neanderthal specimen from a Late Middle Paleolithic (LMP) layer in Mezmaiskaya Cave, northern Caucasus. Additionally, we provide a more accurate chronology for the timing of Neanderthal extinction in the region through a robust series of 16 ultrafiltered bone collagen radiocarbon dates from LMP layers and using Bayesian modeling to produce a boundary probability distribution function corresponding to the end of the LMP at Mezmaiskaya. The direct date of the fossil (39,700 ± 1,100 (14)C BP) is in good agreement with the probability distribution function, indicating at a high level of probability that Neanderthals did not survive at Mezmaiskaya Cave after 39 ka cal BP ("calendrical" age in kiloannum before present, based on IntCal09 calibration curve). This challenges previous claims for late Neanderthal survival in the northern Caucasus. We see striking and largely synchronous chronometric similarities between the Bayesian age modeling for the end of the LMP at Mezmaiskaya and chronometric data from Ortvale Klde for the end of the LMP in the southern Caucasus. Our results confirm the lack of reliably dated Neanderthal fossils younger than ∼ 40 ka cal BP in any other region of Western Eurasia, including the Caucasus.
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Ghukasyan R, Colonge D, Nahapetyan S, Ollivier V, Gasparyan B, Monchot H, Chataigner C. KALAVAN-2 (NORTH OF LAKE SEVAN, ARMENIA): A NEW LATE MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC SITE IN THE LESSER CAUCASUS. ARCHAEOLOGY ETHNOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY OF EURASIA 2010. [DOI: 10.1016/j.aeae.2011.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Golovanova LV, Doronichev VB, Cleghorn NE, Koulkova MA, Sapelko TV, Shackley MS. Significance of Ecological Factors in the Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2010. [DOI: 10.1086/656185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Out of Africa: modern human origins special feature: the spread of modern humans in Europe. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2009; 106:16040-5. [PMID: 19571003 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0903446106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 103] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The earliest credible evidence of Homo sapiens in Europe is an archaeological proxy in the form of several artifact assemblages (Bohunician) found in South-Central and possibly Eastern Europe, dating to < or =48,000 calibrated radiocarbon years before present (cal BP). They are similar to assemblages probably made by modern humans in the Levant (Emiran) at an earlier date and apparently represent a population movement into the Balkans during a warm climate interval [Greenland Interstadial 12 (GI 12)]. A second population movement may be represented by a diverse set of artifact assemblages (sometimes termed Proto-Aurignacian) found in the Balkans, parts of Southwest Europe, and probably in Eastern Europe, and dating to several brief interstadials (GI 11-GI 9) that preceded the beginning of cold Heinrich Event 4 (HE4) (approximately 40,000 cal BP). They are similar to contemporaneous assemblages made by modern humans in the Levant (Ahmarian). The earliest known human skeletal remains in Europe that may be unequivocally assigned to H. sapiens (Peçstera cu Oase, Romania) date to this time period (approximately 42,000 cal BP) but are not associated with artifacts. After the Campanian Ignimbrite volcanic eruption (40,000 cal BP) and the beginning of HE4, artifact assemblages assigned to the classic Aurignacian, an industry associated with modern human skeletal remains that seems to have developed in Europe, spread throughout the continent.
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Jöris O, Adler DS. Setting the record straight: Toward a systematic chronological understanding of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic boundary in Eurasia. J Hum Evol 2008; 55:761-3. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.08.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2008] [Accepted: 08/29/2008] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Roebroeks W. Time for the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe. J Hum Evol 2008; 55:918-26. [PMID: 18926558 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.08.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2008] [Revised: 07/31/2008] [Accepted: 07/01/2008] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition is a key period of change in the prehistory of the Old World and one of the most studied issues in paleoanthropology, as the nature of the transition(s) is still, after at least a century of archaeological research, largely unknown. Many of the issues at stake in the transition relate to the problem of building a reliable chronology for this period, which is at the limits of the radiocarbon method. The papers in this volume show that much progress has been made in our chronological knowledge of significant aspects of the transition, such as the age of the most recent Neandertal fossils and the earliest modern human remains in Europe, and the inferred overlap between the Châtelperronian and the Aurignacian. At the same time, the volume also shows where the chronological database for the period 40 to 30 ka 14C BP is flawed and that significant contextual and methodological problems have been underestimated in a number of studies of the biological and cultural changes during this crucial period. Chronology is employed by paleoanthropologists to relate the record of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition to major biological and cultural developments. This paper takes a broader paleoanthropological perspective and attempts to evaluate and, to some degree, synthesize the main results of these proceedings, while also presenting a brief discussion of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic archaeological and fossil records, and possible explanations for the differences between the two, focusing on the role of differences in the ecology of Neandertals and early European modern humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wil Roebroeks
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9515, 2300RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
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