Oldest cave art found in Sulawesi

Carbonatogenic Bacteria in the Maros-Pangkep Karst: Protectors or Threat to Prehistoric Paintings?

The Maros-Pangkep karst region hosts prehistoric cave paintings recognized by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage site. The presence of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) on the surface of these artworks suggests the involvement of carbonatogenic bacteria, which facilitate CaCO3 production or deposition. While these bacteria have been explored for their potential in stone artwork conservation, their role in either preserving or obscuring prehistoric paintings remains unclear. This study aims to identify carbonatogenic bacteria associated with the Maros-Pangkep cave paintings and evaluate their CaCO3 precipitation potential. Bacteria were isolated using Calcium Carbonate Precipitation (CCP) medium, and their CaCO3 precipitation capacity was assessed by measuring precipitate mass and ammonia (NH3) levels. Molecular identification was conducted using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Eighteen bacterial isolates were obtained from swab samples collected in Parewe and Bulu Sipong caves, ten of which were identified as carbonatogenic. Among these, two isolates exhibited the highest CaCO3 precipitation: Ps1-d produced 2.45 ± 0.07 mg/ml CaCO3 with 946.3 ± 26.3 mg/l NH3, while Ps8-b produced 1.80 ± 0.05 mg/ml CaCO3 with 763.4 ± 21.2 mg/l NH3. Molecular analysis identified Ps1-d as Bacillus cereus strain bk and Ps8-b as Bacillus sp. NCCP-428. These findings have significant implications for both (1) the potential application of carbonatogenic bacteria in the conservation and restoration of stone artworks and (2) the development of strategies to inhibit excessive CaCO3 deposition to prevent the obscuration of cultural heritage paintings.

Drawing behaviour influences ongoing thought patterns and subsequent memory

For millennia, humans have created drawings as a means of externalizing visual representations, and later, to aid communication and learning. Despite its cultural value, we understand little about the cognitive states elicited by drawing, and their downstream benefits. In two preregistered experiments, we explored these states; Undergraduate participants (Ns = 69, 60) encoded words by drawing or writing, periodically describing their thoughts using multi-dimensional experience sampling, a tool for characterizing the features of ongoing thought. Subsequent memory was tested via free recall. Contrasted with writing, drawing improved memory, and evoked thoughts that were more visual and elaborative. Recall was also dictated by the emergence of these thought patterns, with the former most important when drawing. Our findings establish that drawing elicits unique thought patterns that promote successful memory, providing an explanation for drawing's influential role in our everyday lives.

The genetic origins and impacts of historical Papuan migrations into Wallacea

The tropical archipelago of Wallacea was first settled by anatomically modern humans (AMH) by 50 thousand years ago (kya), with descendent populations thought to have remained genetically isolated prior to the arrival of Austronesian seafarers around 3.5 kya. Modern Wallaceans exhibit a longitudinal countergradient of Papuan- and Asian-related ancestries widely considered as evidence for mixing between local populations and Austronesian seafarers, though converging multidisciplinary evidence suggests that the Papuan-related component instead comes primarily from back-migrations from New Guinea. Here, we reconstruct Wallacean population genetic history using more than 250 newly reported genomes from 12 Wallacean and three West Papuan populations and confirm that the vast majority of Papuan-related ancestry in Wallacea (~75 to 100%) comes from prehistoric migrations originating in New Guinea and only a minor fraction is attributable to the founding AMH settlers. Mixing between Papuan and local Wallacean lineages appears to have been confined to the western and central parts of the archipelago and likely occurred contemporaneously with the widespread introduction of genes from Austronesian seafarers-which now comprise between ~40 and 85% of modern Wallacean ancestry-though dating historical admixture events remains challenging due to mixing continuing into the Historical Period. In conjunction with archaeological and linguistic records, our findings point to a dynamic Wallacean population history that was profoundly reshaped by the spread of Papuan genes, languages, and culture in the past 3,500 y.

The Collector Hypothesis : Who Benefits More from Art, the Artist or the Collector?

Human fascination with art has deep evolutionary roots, yet its role remains a puzzle for evolutionary theory. Although its widespread presence across cultures suggests a potential adaptive function, determining its evolutionary origins requires more comprehensive evidence beyond mere universality or assumed survival benefits. This paper introduces and tests the Collector Hypothesis, which suggests that artworks serve as indicators of collectors' surplus wealth and social status, offering greater benefits to collectors than to artists in mating and reproductive contexts. Our study among Indigenous Papuan communities provides preliminary support for the Collector Hypothesis, indicating that, compared to artists, collectors are perceived as having higher social status and greater attractiveness to women. These findings provide unique insights into Papuan communities and contribute to the ongoing discussion about art's adaptive significance of art by suggesting that artistic capacities may benefit not only creators but also those who accumulate and display art. Further research in diverse cultural contexts is needed for a comprehensive understanding of this interplay.

Millisecond-scale behaviours of plankton quantified in vitro and in situ using the Event-based Vision Sensor

The Event-based Vision Sensor (EVS) is a bio-inspired sensor that captures detailed motions of objects, aiming to become the 'eyes' of machines like self-driving cars. Compared to conventional frame-based image sensors, the EVS has an extremely fast motion capture equivalent to 10,000-fps even with standard optical settings, plus high dynamic ranges for brightness and also lower consumption of memory and energy. Here, we developed 22 characteristic features for analysing the motions of aquatic particles from the EVS raw data and tested the applicability of the EVS in analysing plankton behaviour. Laboratory cultures of six species of zooplankton and phytoplankton were observed, confirming species-specific motion periodicities up to 41 Hz. We applied machine learning to automatically classify particles into four categories of zooplankton and passive particles, achieving an accuracy up to 86%. At the in situ deployment of the EVS at the bottom of Lake Biwa, several particles exhibiting distinct cumulative trajectory with periodicities in their motion (up to 16 Hz) were identified, suggesting that they were living organisms with rhythmic behaviour. We also used the EVS in the deep sea, observing particles with active motion and periodicities over 40 Hz. Our application of the EVS, especially focusing on its millisecond-scale temporal resolution and wide dynamic range, provides a new avenue to investigate organismal behaviour characterised by rapid and periodical motions. The EVS will likely be applicable in the near future for the automated monitoring of plankton behaviour by edge computing on autonomous floats, as well as quantifying rapid cellular-level activities under microscopy.

Narrative cave art in Indonesia by 51,200 years ago

Previous dating research indicated that the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is host to some of the oldest known rock art1-3. That work was based on solution uranium-series (U-series) analysis of calcite deposits overlying rock art in the limestone caves of Maros-Pangkep, South Sulawesi1-3. Here we use a novel application of this approach-laser-ablation U-series imaging-to re-date some of the earliest cave art in this karst area and to determine the age of stylistically similar motifs at other Maros-Pangkep sites. This method provides enhanced spatial accuracy, resulting in older minimum ages for previously dated art. We show that a hunting scene from Leang Bulu' Sipong 4, which was originally dated using the previous approach to a minimum of 43,900 thousand years ago (ka)3, has a minimum age of 50.2 ± 2.2 ka, and so is at least 4,040 years older than thought. Using the imaging approach, we also assign a minimum age of 53.5 ± 2.3 ka to a newly described cave art scene at Leang Karampuang. Painted at least 51,200 years ago, this narrative composition, which depicts human-like figures interacting with a pig, is now the earliest known surviving example of representational art, and visual storytelling, in the world3. Our findings show that figurative portrayals of anthropomorphic figures and animals have a deeper origin in the history of modern human (Homo sapiens) image-making than recognized to date, as does their representation in composed scenes.

Abrupt onset of intensive human occupation 44,000 years ago on the threshold of Sahul

Archaeological evidence attests multiple early dispersals of Homo sapiens out of Africa, but genetic evidence points to the primacy of a single dispersal 70-40 ka. Laili in Timor-Leste is on the southern dispersal route between Eurasia and Australasia and has the earliest record of human occupation in the eastern Wallacean archipelago. New evidence from the site shows that, unusually in the region, sediment accumulated in the shelter without human occupation, in the window 59-54 ka. This was followed by an abrupt onset of intensive human habitation beginning ~44 ka. The initial occupation is distinctive from overlying layers in the aquatic focus of faunal exploitation, while it has similarities in material culture to other early Homo sapiens sites in Wallacea. We suggest that the intensive early occupation at Laili represents a colonisation phase, which may have overwhelmed previous human dispersals in this part of the world.

Exploring the utility of Geometric Morphometrics to analyse prehistoric hand stencils

Hand stencils are a remarkable graphic expression in Prehistoric rock art, dating back to 42 ka BP. Although these stencils provide direct impressions of the artists' hands, the characterization of their biological profile (i.e., biological sex and age) is very challenging. Previous studies have attempted this analysis with traditional morphometrics (TM), whereas little research has been undertaken using Geometric Morphometrics (GM), a method widely used in other disciplines but only tentatively employed in rock art studies. However, the large variation in relative finger position in archaeological hands poses the question of whether these representations can be examined through GM, or, in contrast, if this creates an unmanageable error in the results. To address this issue, a 2D hand scans sample of 70 living individuals (F = 35; M = 35) has been collected in three standardized positions (n = 210) and digitized with 32 2D conventional landmarks. Results show that the intra-individual distance (mean Procrustes distance between Pos. 1-2 = 0.132; 2-3 = 0.191; 1-3 = 0.292) is larger than the inter-individual distance (mean in 1 = 0.122; 2 = 0.142; 3 = 0.165). Finally, it has been demonstrated that the relative finger positions, as well as the inclusion of all hand parts in the analysis, have an overshadowing effect on other variables potentially involved in the morphometric variability of the hand, such as biological sex.

Earliest directly dated rock art from Patagonia reveals socioecological resilience to mid-Holocene climate

The timing for the evolution of the capacity to inscribe the landscape with rock art has global relevance. While this was an in-built capacity when Homo sapiens first colonized the Americas, the heterogeneous distribution of rock art shows that it was a facultative behavior arising under unknown socioecological conditions. Patagonia was the last region to be explored by humans. While its rock art is globally important, it remains largely undated by absolute methods. We report the earliest set of directly radiocarbon-dated rock art motifs from the archaeological site Cueva Huenul 1 (northwestern Patagonia, Argentina), starting at 8.2 thousand years before the present (ka B.P.), predating previous records by several millennia, and encompassing over 3 ka (~130 human generations). This mid-Holocene "rock art emergence" phase overlaps with extremely arid conditions and a human demographic stasis. We suggest that this diachronic rock art emerged as part of a resilient response to ecological stress by highly mobile and low-density populations.

The Metaverse, Religious Practice and Wellbeing: A Narrative Review

The metaverse is touted as the next phase in the evolution of the Internet. This emerging digital ecosystem is widely conceptualized as a persistent matrix of interconnected multiuser, massively scaled online environments optimally experienced through immersive digital technologies such as virtual reality (VR). Much of the prognostication about the social implications of the metaverse center on secular activities. For example, retail, entertainment (gaming/concerts), and social networking. Little attention has been given to how the metaverse might impact religion. This narrative review explores contemporary research into online religious practice and the use of immersive digital technologies for religious purposes. This focus informs a discussion about how the metaverse, an online and immersive technology, might impact religion/religious practices. For billions worldwide, religion is an essential aspect of social identity and a cornerstone of psychological wellbeing. The emergence of the metaverse may represent a new way of connecting with an ancient source of human flourishing.

Study of Micro-Samples from the Open-Air Rock Art Site of Cueva de la Vieja (Alpera, Albacete, Spain) for Assessing the Performance of a Desalination Treatment

In this work, some micro-samples belonging to the open-air rock art site of Cueva de la Vieja (Alpera, Albacete, Spain) were analysed. These samples were collected after and before a desalination treatment was carried out, with the aim of removing a whitish layer of concretion that affected the painted panel. The diagnostic study was performed to study the conservation state of the panel, and to then confirm the effectiveness of the treatment. Micro energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction were employed for the characterization of the degradation product as well as that of the mineral substrate and pigments. The micro-samples analysis demonstrated that the painted layer was settled on a dolomitic limestone with silicon aggregates and aluminosilicates as well as iron oxides. The whitish crust was composed by sulfate compounds such as gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) with a minor amount of epsomite (MgSO4·7H2O). An extensive phenomenon of biological activity has been demonstrated since then in almost all of the samples that have been analysed, and the presence of calcium oxalates monohydrate (CaC2O4·H2O) and dehydrate (CaC2O4·2H2O) were found. The presence of both calcium oxalates probably favoured the conservation of the pictographs. In addition, some carotenoids pigments, scytonemin (C36H20N2O4), and astaxanthin (C40H52O4) were characterized both by Raman spectroscopy and by X-ray diffraction. Hematite was found as a pigment voluntarily used for the painting of the panels used in a mixture with hydroxyapatite and amorphous carbon. The results of the analyses of the samples taken after the cleaning treatment confirmed a substantial decrease in sulphate formation on the panel surface.

Possibilities of Direct Dating of Rock Art in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin

The study addresses modern methods of absolute dating of rock art. We review prospective approaches to dating petroglyphs under various conditions: AMS, OSL, uranium-thorium, and cosmogenic isotope. Not so much methods per se are discussed as principles of their application to certain reliably dated rock art sites of various periods in Europe, Asia, America, and Australia. Examples of satisfactory outcomes in international practice are cited alongside our assessment of prospects and limitations to be considered with regard to the method of dating the earliest petroglyphs and rock paintings in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin. The review suggests that the basic conditions for the use of the uranium-thorium method are not met, the AMS method requires a preliminary analysis of the context, whereas OSL and cosmogenic isotope method are the most prospective.

What made us "hunter-gatherers of words"

This paper makes three interconnected claims: (i) the "human condition" cannot be captured by evolutionary narratives that reduce it to a recent 'cognitive modernity', nor by narratives that eliminates all cognitive differences between us and out closest extinct relatives, (ii) signals from paleogenomics, especially coming from deserts of introgression but also from signatures of positive selection, point to the importance of mutations that impact neurodevelopment, plausibly leading to temperamental differences, which may impact cultural evolutionary trajectories in specific ways, and (iii) these trajectories are expected to affect the language phenotypes, modifying what is being learned and how it is put to use. In particular, I hypothesize that these different trajectories influence the development of symbolic systems, the flexible ways in which symbols combine, and the size and configurations of the communities in which these systems are put to use.

Pigs as Pets: Early Human Relations with the Sulawesi Warty Pig (Sus celebensis)

The Sulawesi warty pig (S. celebensis) is a wild and still-extant suid that is endemic to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. It has long been theorised that S. celebensis was domesticated and/or deliberately introduced to other islands in Indonesia prior to the advent of the Neolithic farming transition in the region. Thus far, however, there has been no empirical support for this idea, nor have scientists critiqued the argument that S. celebensis was a pre-Neolithic domesticate in detail. Here, it is proposed that early foragers could have formed a relationship with S. celebensis that was similar in essence to the close association between Late Pleistocene foragers in Eurasia and the wild wolf ancestors of domestic dogs. That is, a longstanding practice of hunter-gatherers intensively socialising wild-caught S. celebensis piglets for adoption into human society as companion animals ('pets') may have altered the predator-prey dynamic, brought aspects of wild pig behaviour and reproduction under indirect human selection and control, and caused changes that differentiated human-associated pigs from their solely wild-living counterparts.

Human Genetic Research in Wallacea and Sahul: Recent Findings and Future Prospects

Genomic sequence data from worldwide human populations have provided a range of novel insights into our shared ancestry and the historical migrations that have shaped our global genetic diversity. However, a comprehensive understanding of these fundamental questions has been impeded by the lack of inclusion of many Indigenous populations in genomic surveys, including those from the Wallacean archipelago (which comprises islands of present-day Indonesia located east and west of Wallace's and Lydekker's Lines, respectively) and the former continent of Sahul (which once combined New Guinea and Australia during lower sea levels in the Pleistocene). Notably, these regions have been important areas of human evolution throughout the Late Pleistocene, as documented by diverse fossil and archaeological records which attest to the regional presence of multiple hominin species prior to the arrival of anatomically modern human (AMH) migrants. In this review, we collate and discuss key findings from the past decade of population genetic and phylogeographic literature focussed on the hominin history in Wallacea and Sahul. Specifically, we examine the evidence for the timing and direction of the ancient AMH migratory movements and subsequent hominin mixing events, emphasising several novel but consistent results that have important implications for addressing these questions. Finally, we suggest potentially lucrative directions for future genetic research in this key region of human evolution.

The historical impact of anthropogenic air-borne sulphur on the Pleistocene rock art of Sulawesi

The Maros-Pangkep karst in southwest Sulawesi, Indonesia, contains some of the world's oldest rock art. However, the Pleistocene images survive only as weathered patches of pigment on exfoliated limestone surfaces. Salt efflorescence underneath the case-hardened limestone substrate causes spall-flaking, and it has been proposed that the loss of artwork has accelerated over recent decades. Here, we utilise historical photographs and superposition constraints to show that the bulk of the damage was present before 1950 CE, and describe the role of anthropogenic sulphur emissions in promoting gypsum-salt efflorescence and rock art decay. The rock art shelters have been exposed to domestic fire-use and intensive rice cultivation with post-harvest burning of straw for hundreds (if not thousands) of years, both of which release chemically reactive sulphur oxides for gypsum formation, with cumulative effects. Analysis of time-lapse photography indicates that the rate of rock art loss may be on the decline, consistent with the history of fire-use in southwest Sulawesi. At present, vandalism and sulphur emissions from diesel-powered traffic and cement-based infrastructure development constitute localised threats. Our findings indicate that there are grounds for being cautiously optimistic that targeted conservation measures will ensure the longevity of some of our oldest artistic treasures.

Draw yourself: How culture influences drawings by children between the ages of two and fifteen

The place children live strongly influence how they develop their behavior, this is also true for pictorial expression. This study is based on 958 self-portraits drawn by children aged 2-15 years old from 35 countries across 5 continents. A total of 13 variables were extracted of each drawing allowing us to investigate the differences of individuals and environment representations in these drawings. We used a principal component analysis to understand how drawing characteristics can be combined in pictorial concepts. We analyzed the effect of age, gender, socioeconomic, and cultural factors in terms of complexity and inclusion of social (human figures) and physical (element from Nature and man-made elements) environments, their frequencies, size, and proportions of these elements on each drawing. Our results confirm the existence of cultural variations and the influence of age on self-portrait patterns. We also observed an influence of physical and socio-cultural contexts through the level of urbanization and the degree of individualism of the countries, which have affected the complexity, content and representation of human figures in the drawings studied.

Safeguarding Imperiled Biodiversity and Evolutionary Processes in the Wallacea Center of Endemism

Wallacea-the meeting point between the Asian and Australian fauna-is one of the world's largest centers of endemism. Twenty-three million years of complex geological history have given rise to a living laboratory for the study of evolution and biodiversity, highly vulnerable to anthropogenic pressures. In the present article, we review the historic and contemporary processes shaping Wallacea's biodiversity and explore ways to conserve its unique ecosystems. Although remoteness has spared many Wallacean islands from the severe overexploitation that characterizes many tropical regions, industrial-scale expansion of agriculture, mining, aquaculture and fisheries is damaging terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, denuding endemics from communities, and threatening a long-term legacy of impoverished human populations. An impending biodiversity catastrophe demands collaborative actions to improve community-based management, minimize environmental impacts, monitor threatened species, and reduce wildlife trade. Securing a positive future for Wallacea's imperiled ecosystems requires a fundamental shift away from managing marine and terrestrial realms independently.

A Multi-Analytical Approach to Infer Mineral–Microbial Interactions Applied to Petroglyph Sites in the Negev Desert of Israel

Petroglyph sites exist all over the world. They are one of the earliest forms of mankind’s expression and a precursor to art. Despite their outstanding value, comprehensive research on conservation and preservation of rock art is minimal, especially as related to biodeterioration. For this reason, the main objective of this study was to explore the factors involved in the degradation of petroglyph sites in the Negev desert of Israel, with a focus on biodegradation processes. Through the use of culture-independent microbiological methods (metagenomics), we characterized the microbiomes of the samples, finding they were dominated by bacterial communities, in particular taxa of Actinobacteria and Cyanobacteria, with resistance to radiation and desiccation. By means of XRF and Raman spectroscopies, we defined the composition of the stone (calcite and quartz) and the dark crust (clay minerals with Mn and Fe oxides), unveiling the presence of carotenoids, indicative of biological colonization. Optical microscopy and SEM–EDX analyses on thin sections highlighted patterns of weathering, possibly connected to the presence of biodeteriorative microorganisms that leach the calcareous matrix from the bedrock and mobilize metal cations from the black varnish for metabolic processes, slowly weathering it.

Ancient genomes from the last three millennia support multiple human dispersals into Wallacea

Previous research indicates that human genetic diversity in Wallacea-islands in present-day Eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste that were never part of the Sunda or Sahul continental shelves-has been shaped by complex interactions between migrating Austronesian farmers and indigenous hunter-gatherer communities. Yet, inferences based on present-day groups proved insufficient to disentangle this region's demographic movements and admixture timings. Here, we investigate the spatio-temporal patterns of variation in Wallacea based on genome-wide data from 16 ancient individuals (2600-250 years BP) from the North Moluccas, Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara. While ancestry in the northern islands primarily reflects contact between Austronesian- and Papuan-related groups, ancestry in the southern islands reveals additional contributions from Mainland Southeast Asia that seem to predate the arrival of Austronesians. Admixture time estimates further support multiple and/or continuous admixture involving Papuan- and Asian-related groups throughout Wallacea. Our results clarify previously debated times of admixture and suggest that the Neolithic dispersals into Island Southeast Asia are associated with the spread of multiple genetic ancestries.

Archaeometric studies on rock art at four sites in the northeastern Great Basin of North America

Rock art originated some 46,000 years ago and can provide unique insights into the minds of our human ancestors. However, dating of these ancient images, especially of petroglyphs, remains a challenge. In this study, we explore the potential of deriving age estimates from measurements of the areal densities of manganese (D_Mn) and iron (D_Fe) in the rock varnish on petroglyphs, based on the concept that the amount of varnish that has regrown on a petroglyph since its creation, relative to the surrounding intact varnish, is a measure of its age. We measured D_Mn and D_Fe by portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) on dated Late Pleistocene and Holocene rock surfaces, from which we derived accumulation rates of Mn and Fe in the rock varnish. The observed rates were comparable to our previous findings on basalt surfaces in North America. We derived age estimates for the rock art at four sites in the northern Great Basin region of North America based on D_Mn measurements on the petroglyphs and intact varnish. They suggest that rock art creation in this region began around the Pleistocene/Holocene transition and continued into the Historic Period, encompassing a wide range of styles and motifs. Evidence of reworking of the rock art at various times by Indigenous people speaks of the continued agency of these images through the millennia. Our results are in good agreement with chronologies based on archeological and other archaeometric techniques. While our method remains subject to significant uncertainty with regard to the absolute ages of individual images, it provides the unique opportunity to obtain age estimates for large ensembles of images without the need for destructive sampling.

Evolution of genetic networks for human creativity

The genetic basis for the emergence of creativity in modern humans remains a mystery despite sequencing the genomes of chimpanzees and Neanderthals, our closest hominid relatives. Data-driven methods allowed us to uncover networks of genes distinguishing the three major systems of modern human personality and adaptability: emotional reactivity, self-control, and self-awareness. Now we have identified which of these genes are present in chimpanzees and Neanderthals. We replicated our findings in separate analyses of three high-coverage genomes of Neanderthals. We found that Neanderthals had nearly the same genes for emotional reactivity as chimpanzees, and they were intermediate between modern humans and chimpanzees in their numbers of genes for both self-control and self-awareness. 95% of the 267 genes we found only in modern humans were not protein-coding, including many long-non-coding RNAs in the self-awareness network. These genes may have arisen by positive selection for the characteristics of human well-being and behavioral modernity, including creativity, prosocial behavior, and healthy longevity. The genes that cluster in association with those found only in modern humans are over-expressed in brain regions involved in human self-awareness and creativity, including late-myelinating and phylogenetically recent regions of neocortex for autobiographical memory in frontal, parietal, and temporal regions, as well as related components of cortico-thalamo-ponto-cerebellar-cortical and cortico-striato-cortical loops. We conclude that modern humans have more than 200 unique non-protein-coding genes regulating co-expression of many more protein-coding genes in coordinated networks that underlie their capacities for self-awareness, creativity, prosocial behavior, and healthy longevity, which are not found in chimpanzees or Neanderthals.

Earliest parietal art: hominin hand and foot traces from the middle Pleistocene of Tibet

At Quesang on the Tibetan Plateau we report a series of hand and foot impressions that appear to have been intentionally placed on the surface of a unit of soft travertine. The travertine was deposited by water from a hot spring which is now inactive and as the travertine lithified it preserved the traces. On the basis of the sizes of the hand and foot traces, we suggest that two track-makers were involved and were likely children. We interpret this event as a deliberate artistic act that created a work of parietal art. The travertine unit on which the traces were imprinted dates to between ∼169 and 226 ka BP. This would make the site the earliest currently known example of parietal art in the world and would also provide the earliest evidence discovered to date for hominins on the High Tibetan Plateau (above 4000 m a.s.l.). This remarkable discovery adds to the body of research that identifies children as some of the earliest artists within the genus Homo.

Comment on "A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago"

Cooper et al. (Research Articles, 19 February 2021, p. 811) propose that the Laschamps geomagnetic inversion ~42 ka BP drove global climatic shifts, causing major behavioural changes within prehistoric groups, and events of human and megafaunal extinction. Other scientific studies indicate that this proposition is unproven from the current archaeological, paleoanthropological, and genetic records.

Comment on "A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago"

Cooper et al. (Research Articles, 19 February 2021, p. 811) propose that a weakening geomagnetic field prior to the Laschamps Excursion explains megafaunal extinctions and human cultural changes that they claim happened 42,000 years ago. However, these authors misrepresent both the data and interpretations of cited work on extinctions and human cultural changes, so the specific claims they make about extinctions and cultural changes are false.

Where to draw the line?

We often take people’s ability to understand and produce line drawings for granted. But where should we draw lines, and why? We address psychological principles that underlie efficient representations of complex information in line drawings. First, 58 participants with varying degree of artistic experience produced multiple drawings of a small set of scenes by tracing contours on a digital tablet. Second, 37 independent observers ranked the drawings by how representative they are of the original photograph. Matching contours between drawings of the same scene revealed that the most consistently drawn contours tend to be drawn earlier. We generated half-images with the most- versus least-consistently drawn contours and asked 25 observers categorize the quickly presented scenes. Observers performed significantly better for the most compared to the least consistent half-images. The most consistently drawn contours were more likely to depict occlusion boundaries, whereas the least consistently drawn contours frequently depicted surface normals.

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)

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.

Skeletal remains of a Pleistocene modern human (Homo sapiens) from Sulawesi

Major gaps remain in our knowledge of the early history of Homo sapiens in Wallacea. By 70-60 thousand years ago (ka), modern humans appear to have entered this distinct biogeographical zone between continental Asia and Australia. Despite this, there are relatively few Late Pleistocene sites attributed to our species in Wallacea. H. sapiens fossil remains are also rare. Previously, only one island in Wallacea (Alor in the southeastern part of the archipelago) had yielded skeletal evidence for pre-Holocene modern humans. Here we report on the first Pleistocene human skeletal remains from the largest Wallacean island, Sulawesi. The recovered elements consist of a nearly complete palate and frontal process of a modern human right maxilla excavated from Leang Bulu Bettue in the southwestern peninsula of the island. Dated by several different methods to between 25 and 16 ka, the maxilla belongs to an elderly individual of unknown age and sex, with small teeth (only M1 to M3 are extant) that exhibit severe occlusal wear and related dental pathologies. The dental wear pattern is unusual. This fragmentary specimen, though largely undiagnostic with regards to morphological affinity, provides the only direct insight we currently have from the fossil record into the identity of the Late Pleistocene people of Sulawesi.

Atypical for northern ungulates, energy metabolism is lowest during summer in female wild boars (Sus scrofa)

Typically, large ungulates show a single seasonal peak of heart rate, a proxy of energy expenditure, in early summer. Different to other large ungulates, wild boar females had peak heart rates early in the year (at ~ April, 1), which likely indicates high costs of reproduction. This peak was followed by a trough over summer and a secondary summit in autumn/early winter, which coincided with the mast seeding of oak trees and the mating season. Wild boars counteracted the effects of cold temperatures by decreasing subcutaneous body temperature by peripheral vasoconstriction. They also passively gained solar radiation energy by basking in the sun. However, the shape of the seasonal rhythm in HR indicates that it was apparently not primarily caused by thermoregulatory costs but by the costs of reproduction. Wild boar farrow early in the year, visible in high HRs and sudden changes in intraperitoneal body temperature of females. Arguably, a prerequisite for this early reproduction as well as for high energy metabolism over winter is the broad variety of food consumed by this species, i.e., the omnivorous lifestyle. Extremely warm and dry summers, as experienced during the study years (2017, 2018), may increasingly become a bottleneck for food intake of wild boar.

The Towakkalak System, A Hotspot of Subterranean Biodiversity in Sulawesi, Indonesia

The Towakkalak System located in the Maros karst of South Sulawesi is currently the richest of Southeast Asia in obligate subterranean species. It comprises several caves and shafts that give access to the subterranean Towakkalak river as well as many unconnected fossil caves, stream sinks, and springs located within its footprint. The total length of the caves linked to the active system is 24,319 m and comprises two of the longest caves of Indonesia, Gua Salukkan Kallang and Gua Tanette. Studies of its fauna began in 1985. There are 10 stygobionts and 26 troglobionts that are known from the system. The smaller adjacent system of Saripa has 6 stygobionts and 18 troglobionts, of which 1 and 3, respectively, are absent from Towakkalak. Like all tropical cave inventories, our dataset has limits due to identification uncertainties, gaps in habitat (waters, guano) and taxonomic coverage (micro-crustaceans, mites), sampling methods (pitfall trapping, Karaman–Chappuis), and problems of ecological assignment. A number of additional species are therefore expected to be found in the future. The Towakkalak and Saripa cave systems are included in the Bantimurung-Bulusaraung National Park and are under efficient protection, but parts of the Maros karst outside the park are under serious threat, mainly from quarrying.

The symbolic role of the underground world among Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals

Cueva de Ardales in Málaga, Spain, is one of the richest and best-preserved Paleolithic painted caves of southwestern Europe, containing over a thousand graphic representations. Here, we study the red pigment in panel II.A.3 of "Sala de las Estrellas," dated by U-Th to the Middle Paleolithic, to determine its composition, verify its anthropogenic nature, infer the associated behaviors, and discuss their implications. Using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction, we analyzed a set of samples from the panel and compared them to natural coloring materials collected from the floor and walls of the cave. The conspicuously different texture and composition of the geological samples indicates that the pigments used in the paintings do not come from the outcrops of colorant material known in the cave. We confirm that the paintings are not the result of natural processes and show that the composition of the paint is consistent with the artistic activity being recurrent. Our results strengthen the hypothesis that Neanderthals symbolically used these paintings and the large stalagmitic dome harboring them over an extended time span.

The peopling of the Pacific Nicholas Thomas Basic Books, 2021. 224 pp

An anthropologist traces the emergence of the rich and varied cultures of the Pacific islands

Mitogenomes Reveal Two Major Influxes of Papuan Ancestry across Wallacea Following the Last Glacial Maximum and Austronesian Contact

The tropical archipelago of Wallacea contains thousands of individual islands interspersed between mainland Asia and Near Oceania, and marks the location of a series of ancient oceanic voyages leading to the peopling of Sahul—i.e., the former continent that joined Australia and New Guinea at a time of lowered sea level—by 50,000 years ago. Despite the apparent deep antiquity of human presence in Wallacea, prior population history research in this region has been hampered by patchy archaeological and genetic records and is largely concentrated upon more recent history that follows the arrival of Austronesian seafarers ~3000–4000 years ago (3–4 ka). To shed light on the deeper history of Wallacea and its connections with New Guinea and Australia, we performed phylogeographic analyses on 656 whole mitogenomes from these three regions, including 186 new samples from eight Wallacean islands and three West Papuan populations. Our results point to a surprisingly dynamic population history in Wallacea, marked by two periods of extensive demographic change concentrated around the Last Glacial Maximum ~15 ka and post-Austronesian contact ~3 ka. These changes appear to have greatly diminished genetic signals informative about the original peopling of Sahul, and have important implications for our current understanding of the population history of the region.

A standardised classification scheme for the Mid-Holocene Toalean artefacts of South Sulawesi, Indonesia

The archaeology of Sulawesi is important for developing an understanding of human dispersal and occupation of central Island Southeast Asia. Through over a century of archaeological work, multiple human populations in the southwestern region of Sulawesi have been identified, the most well-documented being that of the Mid- to Late Holocene ‘Toalean’ technological period. Archaeological models for this period describe a population with a strong cultural identity, subdivided into groups living on the coastal plains around Maros as well as dispersed upland forest dwellers, hunting endemic wildlife with bow-and-arrow technology. It has been proposed that the Toaleans were capable of vast water-crossings, with possible cultural exchange with northern Australia, Java, and Japan. This Toalean paradigm is built almost exclusively on existing interpretations of distinctive Toalean stone and bone artefact technologies, constructed on out-dated 19^th and 20^th century theory. Moreover, current definitions of Toalean artefact types are inconsistently applied and unsystematic, and the manufacturing sequence has historically been poorly understood. To address these problems in existing artefact models and typologies, we present a clarified typology of the Toalean artefacts of South Sulawesi, and describe the technical aspects of artefact production. This typology provides a tool for standardising research and will facilitate more meaningful assessments of material culture repertoires and more reliable assessment of spatial and temporal changes for the region.

Enacting Media. An Embodied Account of Enculturation Between Neuromediality and New Cognitive Media Theory

This paper argues that the still-emerging paradigm of situated cognition requires a more systematic perspective on media to capture the enculturation of the human mind. By virtue of being media, cultural artifacts present central experiential models of the world for our embodied minds to latch onto. The paper identifies references to external media within embodied, extended, enactive, and predictive approaches to cognition, which remain underdeveloped in terms of the profound impact that media have on our mind. To grasp this impact, I propose an enactive account of media that is based on expansive habits as media-structured, embodied ways of bringing forth meaning and new domains of values. We apply such habits, for instance, when seeing a picture or perceiving a movie. They become established through a process of reciprocal adaptation between media artifacts and organisms and define the range of viable actions within such a media ecology. Within an artifactual habit, we then become attuned to a specific media work (e.g., a TV series, a picture, a text, or even a city) that engages us. Both the plurality of habits and the dynamical adjustments within a habit require a more flexible neural architecture than is addressed by classical cognitive neuroscience. To detail how neural and media processes interlock, I will introduce the concept of neuromediality and discuss radical predictive processing accounts that could contribute to the externalization of the mind by treating media themselves as generative models of the world. After a short primer on general media theory, I discuss media examples in three domains: pictures and moving images; digital media; architecture and the built environment. This discussion demonstrates the need for a new cognitive media theory based on enactive artifactual habits-one that will help us gain perspective on the continuous re-mediation of our mind.

The effects of climate change on the Pleistocene rock art of Sulawesi

The equatorial tropics house some of the earliest rock art yet known, and it is weathering at an alarming rate. Here we present evidence for haloclasty (salt crystallisation) from Pleistocene-aged rock art panels at 11 sites in the Maros-Pangkep limestone karsts of southern Sulawesi. We show how quickly rock art panels have degraded in recent decades, contending that climate-catalysed salt efflorescence is responsible for increasing exfoliation of the limestone cave surfaces that house the ~ 45 to 20-thousand-year-old paintings. These artworks are located in the world's most atmospherically dynamic region, the Australasian monsoon domain. The rising frequency and severity of El Niño-induced droughts from anthropogenic climate change (that is, higher ambient temperatures and more consecutive dry days), combined with seasonal moisture injected via monsoonal rains retained as standing water in the rice fields and aquaculture ponds of the region, increasingly provide ideal conditions for evaporation and haloclasty, accelerating rock art deterioration.

Genome of a middle Holocene hunter-gatherer from Wallacea

Much remains unknown about the population history of early modern humans in southeast Asia, where the archaeological record is sparse and the tropical climate is inimical to the preservation of ancient human DNA¹. So far, only two low-coverage pre-Neolithic human genomes have been sequenced from this region. Both are from mainland Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherer sites: Pha Faen in Laos, dated to 7939-7751 calibrated years before present (yr cal BP; present taken as AD 1950), and Gua Cha in Malaysia (4.4-4.2 kyr cal BP)¹. Here we report, to our knowledge, the first ancient human genome from Wallacea, the oceanic island zone between the Sunda Shelf (comprising mainland southeast Asia and the continental islands of western Indonesia) and Pleistocene Sahul (Australia-New Guinea). We extracted DNA from the petrous bone of a young female hunter-gatherer buried 7.3-7.2 kyr cal BP at the limestone cave of Leang Panninge² in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Genetic analyses show that this pre-Neolithic forager, who is associated with the 'Toalean' technocomplex^3,4, shares most genetic drift and morphological similarities with present-day Papuan and Indigenous Australian groups, yet represents a previously unknown divergent human lineage that branched off around the time of the split between these populations approximately 37,000 years ago⁵. We also describe Denisovan and deep Asian-related ancestries in the Leang Panninge genome, and infer their large-scale displacement from the region today.