Human dispersals out of Africa via the Levant

Homo sapiens dispersed from Africa into Eurasia multiple times in the Middle and Late Pleistocene. The route, across northeastern Africa into the Levant, is a viable terrestrial corridor, as the present harsh southern Levant would probably have been savannahs and grasslands during the last interglaciation. Here, we document wetland sediments with luminescence ages falling in the last interglaciation in the southern Levant, showing protracted phases of moisture availability. Wetland sediments in Wadi Gharandal containing Levallois artifacts yielded an age of 84 ka. Our findings support the growing consensus for a well-watered Jordan Rift Valley that funneled migrants into western Asia and northern Arabia.

Quantum Leaps in Human Biocultural Evolution and the Relationship to Cranial Capacity

The evolution of the genus Homo can only be understood by considering both of the inheritance systems that interact to shape human nature: biology and culture. While growing intellectual abilities are a key factor of human evolution, they are rarely contrasted with cultural progress. Cranial capacity data of 193 hominin fossils from the last seven million years and artefacts of increasing number and complexity in the archaeological record are used to demonstrate the concordant progression of brain-size increase and cultural development, starting approximately two million years ago. Our biocultural evolution shows a number of quantum leaps along the time axis applying to both domains. At first, humans left the canonical evolutionary pathway, which pertains to all other organisms, by enhancing their fitness using sophisticated tools and fire; secondly, they turned into a symbolic species; and finally, humanity now faces a new challenge: "intentional evolution". Chronologically, these quantum leaps correspond to cranial capacity data used here as a proxy for cognitive performance. This contribution tries to demonstrate this parallel development and argues for a simple and generalized model of human biocultural evolution. An extrapolation of the model into the future shows that humans, as biological entities, will not necessarily persist.

Virtual excavation and analysis of the early Neanderthal cranium from Altamura (Italy)

Complete Neanderthal skeletons are almost unique findings. A very well-preserved specimen of this kind was discovered in 1993 in the deepest recesses of a karstic system near the town of Altamura in Southern Italy. We present here a detailed description of the cranium, after we virtually extracted it from the surrounding stalagmites and stalactites. The morphology of the Altamura cranium fits within the Neanderthal variability, though it retains features occurring in more archaic European samples. Some of these features were never observed in Homo neanderthalensis, i.e. in fossil specimens dated between 300 and 40 ka. Considering the U-Th age we previously obtained (>130 ka), the morphology of Altamura suggests that the archaic traits it retains may have been originated by geographic isolation of the early Neanderthal populations from Southern Italy.

Reassessment of the human mandible from Banyoles (Girona, Spain)

Since the discovery of a human mandible in 1887 near the present-day city of Banyoles, northeastern Spain, researchers have generally emphasized its archaic features, including the lack of chin structures, and suggested affinities with the Neandertals or European Middle Pleistocene (Chibanian) specimens. Uranium-series and electron spin resonance dating suggest the mandible dates to the Late Pleistocene (Tarantian), approximately ca. 45-66 ka. In this study, we reassessed the taxonomic affinities of the Banyoles mandible by comparing it to samples of Middle Pleistocene fossils from Africa and Europe, Neandertals, Early and Upper Paleolithic modern humans, and recent modern humans. We evaluated the frequencies and expressions of morphological features and performed a three-dimensional geometric morphometric analysis on a virtual reconstruction of Banyoles to capture overall mandibular shape. Our results revealed no derived Neandertal morphological features in Banyoles. While a principal component analysis based on Euclidean distances from the first two principal components clearly grouped Banyoles with both fossil and recent Homo sapiens individuals, an analysis of the Procrustes residuals demonstrated that Banyoles did not fit into any of the comparative groups. The lack of Neandertal features in Banyoles is surprising considering its Late Pleistocene age. A consideration of the Middle Pleistocene fossil record in Europe and southwest Asia suggests that Banyoles is unlikely to represent a late-surviving Middle Pleistocene population. The lack of chin structures also complicates an assignment to H. sapiens, although early fossil H. sapiens do show somewhat variable development of the chin structures. Thus, Banyoles represents a non-Neandertal Late Pleistocene European individual and highlights the continuing signal of diversity in the hominin fossil record. The present situation makes Banyoles a prime candidate for ancient DNA or proteomic analyses, which may shed additional light on its taxonomic affinities.

Evolution of cranial capacity revisited: A view from the late Middle Pleistocene cranium from Xujiayao, China

The Late Middle Pleistocene hominin fossils from the Xujiayao site in northern China have been closely studied in light of their morphological variability. However, all previous studies have focused on separated cranial fragments. Here, we report the first reconstruction of a fairly complete posterior cranium, Xujiayao 6 (XJY 6), confidently dated to ∼200-160 ka, which facilitated an assessment of its overall cranial size. XJY 6 was reconstructed from three of the original fragments-the PA1486 (No.7/XJY 6a) occipital bone, PA1490 (No.10/XJY 6b) right parietal bone, and PA1498 (No.17/XJY 15) left temporal bone-which originated from the same young adult individual. The XJY 6 endocranial capacity, estimated by measuring endocranial volume, was estimated using multiple regression formulae derived from ectocranial and endocranial measurements on select samples of Pleistocene hominins and recent modern humans. The results indicate that the larger pooled sample of both Pleistocene and recent modern humans was more robust for the endocranial capacity estimate. Based on the pooled sample using the ectocranial and endocranial measurements, we conservatively estimate the XJY 6 endocranial volume to be ∼1700 cm³ with a 95% confidence interval of 1555-1781 cm³. This is close to Xuchang 1, which dates to 125-105 ka and whose endocranial volume is ∼1800 cm³. Thus, XJY 6 provides the earliest evidence of a brain size that falls in the upper range of Neanderthals and modern Homo sapiens. XJY 6, together with Xuchang 1, Homo floresiensis, Homo luzonensis, and Homo naledi, challenge the general pattern that brain size gradually increases over geological time. This study also finds that hominin brain size expansion occurred at different rates across time and space.

Combined Zonation of the African-Levantine-Caucasian Areal of Ancient Hominin: Review and Integrated Analysis of Paleogeographical, Stratigraphic and Geophysical-Geodynamical Data

The origin of the man on Earth is directly associated with the determination of directions of the flow distribution of the ancient man dispersal to adjacent territories. In such studies, mainly landscape and climatological changes are traditionally considered. We suggest that along with the above factors, regional tectonic-geodynamic factors played a dominant role in the character of dispersal. The considered African-Levantine-Caucasian region is one of the most geologically complex regions of the world, where collisional and spreading processes of geodynamics converge. For the first time, we determined an essential influence of the Akchagylian hydrospheric maximum (about 200 m above the mean sea level) limiting the early dispersal of hominins from Africa to Eurasia. We propose that the Levantine Corridor emerged after the end of the Akchagylian transgression and landscape forming in the Eastern Mediterranean. This corridor location was formed by the movements between the Dead Sea Transform and the boundary of the carbonate platform of the Mesozoic Terrane Belt. Further landscape evolution was largely determined by the geodynamic behavior of the deep mantle rotating structure occurring below the central part of the region under study. All the mentioned events around and in the Levantine Corridor have been studied in detail on the basis of the combined geodynamic, paleogeographic, and paleomagnetic analyses performed in northern Israel (Carmel Uplift and Galilee Plateau). Careful studies of the Evron Quarry geological section indicate that it is unique for the dating of marine and continental archaeological sequences and sheds light on the early dispersal of hominins along the Levantine Corridor.

Dental remains of the Middle Pleistocene hominins from the Sima de los Huesos site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain): Maxillary dentition

The Middle Pleistocene site of the Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, northern Spain) has yielded a considerable number of human fossils during the period 1984-2020. Among them, up to 253 maxillary teeth have been recovered. In this article, we present the description of the eight dental classes of the maxilla following the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System classification. In addition, we present the mean mesiodistal and buccolingual diameters of these teeth compared to those of Neanderthals and a modern human sample. The morphology of both the anterior and posterior teeth suggests a close relationship of the Sima de los Huesos hominins with the populations of the second half of the Middle Pleistocene of Europe and the Near East, as well as with the so-called classic Neanderthals of Europe. Features with a recognizable taxonomic signal allow grouping the Sima de los Huesos hominins with different paleodemes into a Neanderthal clade. The dental evidence of the Sima de los Huesos hominins is key to suggest a complex model for the settlement of Europe during the Middle Pleistocene. During this period, different migrations of human groups probably coming from Southwest Asia, replacements, prolonged isolations, as well as hybridization and introgression processes would have contributed to the diversity of hominins in Europe.

Response to Comment on A Middle Pleistocene Homo from Nesher Ramla, Israel"

[Figure: see text].

Comment on "A Middle Pleistocene Homo from Nesher Ramla, Israel"

[Figure: see text].

Geometric morphometric variability in the supraorbital and orbital region of Middle Pleistocene hominins: Implications for the taxonomy and evolution of later Homo

This study assessed variation in the supraorbital and orbital region of the Middle Pleistocene hominins (MPHs), sometimes called Homo heidelbergensis s.l., to test whether it matched the expectations of intraspecific variation. The morphological distinctiveness and relative variation of this region, which is relatively well represented in the hominin fossil record, was analyzed quantitatively in a comparative taxonomic framework. Coordinates of 230 3D landmarks (20) and sliding semilandmarks (210) were collected from 704 specimens from species of Homo, Australopithecus, Paranthropus, Gorilla, Pan, Papio, and Macaca. Results showed that the MPHs had expected levels of morphological distinctiveness and intragroup and intergroup variation in supraorbital and orbital morphology, relative to commonly recognized non-hominin catarrhine species. However, the Procrustes distances between this group and H. sapiens were significantly higher than expected for two closely related catarrhine species. Furthermore, this study showed that variation within the MPH could be similarly well contained within existing hypodigms of H. sapiens, H. neanderthalensis, and H. erectus s.l. Although quantitative assessment of supraorbital and orbital morphology did not allow differentiation between taxonomic hypotheses in later Homo, it could be used to test individual taxonomic affiliation and identify potentially anomalous individuals. This study confirmed a complicated pattern of supraorbital and orbital morphology in the MPH fossil record and raises further questions over our understanding of the speciation of H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis and taxonomic diversity in later Homo.

The complex landscape of recent human evolution

Archaic hominins in the Middle East underscore local demographic diversity in the last half million years