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Grine FE, Gonzalvo E, Rossouw L, Holt S, Black W, Braga J. Variation in Middle Stone Age mandibular molar enamel-dentine junction topography at Klasies River Main Site assessed by diffeomorphic surface matching. J Hum Evol 2021; 161:103079. [PMID: 34739985 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2021] [Revised: 09/07/2021] [Accepted: 09/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
The morphology and variability of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) hominin fossils from Klasies River Main Site have been the focus of investigation for more than four decades. The mandibular remains have figured prominently in discussions relating to robusticity, size dimorphism, and symphyseal morphology. Variation in corpus size between the robust SAM-AP 6223 and the diminutive SAM-AP 6225 mandibles is particularly impressive, and the difference between the buccolingual diameters of their M2s significantly exceeds recent human sample variation. SAM-AP 6223 and SAM-AP 6225 are the only Klasies specimens with homologous teeth (M2 and M3) that permit comparisons of crown morphology. While the differences in dental trait expression at the outer enamel surfaces of these molars are slight, diffeomorphic surface analyses of their underlying enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) topographies reveal differences that are well beyond the means of pairwise differences among comparative samples of Later Stone Age (LSA) Khoesan and recent African homologues. The EDJs of both SAM-AP 6225 molars and the SAM-AP 6223 M3 fall outside the envelopes that define the morphospace of these two samples. Although the radiocarbon dated LSA individuals examined here differ by a maximum of some 7000 years, and the two Klasies jaws may differ by perhaps as much as 18,000 years, it is difficult to ascribe their differences to time alone. With reference to the morphoscopic traits by which the SAM-AP 6223 and SAM-AP 6225 EDJs differ, the most striking is the expression of the protoconid cingulum. This is very weakly developed on the SAM-AP 6223 molars and distinct in SAM-AP 6225. As such, this diminutive fossil exhibits a more pronounced manifestation of what is likely a plesiomorphic feature, thus adding to the morphological mosaicism that is evident in the Klasies hominin assemblage. Several possible explanations for the variation and mosaicism in this MSA sample are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederick E Grine
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA; Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA.
| | - Elsa Gonzalvo
- Centre d'Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, Faculté de Médecine Purpan, 37 Allées Jules Guesde, Toulouse, France
| | - Lloyd Rossouw
- Florisbad Quaternary Research Department, The National Museum, 36 Aliwal Street, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa
| | - Sharon Holt
- Florisbad Quaternary Research Department, The National Museum, 36 Aliwal Street, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa
| | - Wendy Black
- Archaeology Unit, Research and Exhibitions Department, Iziko Museums of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - José Braga
- Centre d'Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, Faculté de Médecine Purpan, 37 Allées Jules Guesde, Toulouse, France; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa
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Laird MF, Sawchuk EA, Kwekason A, Mabulla AZP, Ndiema E, Tryon CA, Lewis JE, Ranhorn KL. Human burials at the Kisese II rockshelter, Tanzania. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2021; 175:187-200. [PMID: 33615431 PMCID: PMC8248353 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2020] [Revised: 12/04/2020] [Accepted: 01/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The Late Pleistocene and early Holocene in eastern Africa are associated with complex evolutionary and demographic processes that contributed to the population variability observed in the region today. However, there are relatively few human skeletal remains from this time period. Here we describe six individuals from the Kisese II rockshelter in Tanzania that were excavated in 1956, present a radiocarbon date for one of the individuals, and compare craniodental morphological diversity among eastern African populations. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study used standard biometric analyses to assess the age, sex, and stature of the Kisese II individuals. Eastern African craniodental morphological variation was assessed using measures of dental size and a subset of Howells' cranial measurements for the Kisese II individuals as well as early Holocene, early pastoralist, Pastoral Neolithic, and modern African individuals. RESULTS Our results suggest a minimum of six individuals from the Kisese II collections with two adults and four juveniles. While the dating for most of the burials is uncertain, one individual is directly radiocarbon dated to ~7.1 ka indicating that at least one burial is early Holocene in age. Craniodental metric comparisons indicate that the Kisese II individuals extend the amount of human morphological diversity among Holocene eastern Africans. CONCLUSIONS Our findings contribute to a growing body of evidence that Late Pleistocene and early Holocene eastern Africans exhibited relatively high amounts of morphological diversity. However, the Kisese II individuals suggest morphological similarity at localized sites potentially supporting increased regionalization during the early Holocene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Myra F. Laird
- Department of Integrative Anatomical SciencesUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesCaliforniaUSA
| | - Elizabeth A. Sawchuk
- Department of AnthropologyUniversity of AlbertaEdmontonAlbertaCanada
- Department of AnthropologyStony Brook UniversityStony BrookNew YorkUSA
| | | | - Audax Z. P. Mabulla
- Department of Archaeology and Heritage StudiesUniversity of Dar es SalaamDar es SalaamTanzania
| | - Emmanuel Ndiema
- Department of Earth SciencesNational Museums of KenyaNairobiKenya
| | - Christian A. Tryon
- Department of AnthropologyUniversity of Connecticut354 Mansfield Road, StorrsCTUSA
- Human Origins ProgramNational Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian InstitutionWashingtonDCUSA
| | - Jason E. Lewis
- Department of AnthropologyStony Brook UniversityStony BrookNew YorkUSA
- Turkana Basin InstituteStony Brook UniversityStony BrookNew YorkUSA
| | - Kathryn L. Ranhorn
- Institute of Human OriginsSchool of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State UniversityTempe, ArizonaUSA
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Pearson OM, Hill EC, Peppe DJ, Van Plantinga A, Blegen N, Faith JT, Tryon CA. A Late Pleistocene human humerus from Rusinga Island, Lake Victoria, Kenya. J Hum Evol 2020; 146:102855. [PMID: 32781348 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2019] [Revised: 07/08/2020] [Accepted: 07/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
In 2010, a hominin right humerus fragment (KNM-RU 58330) was surface collected in a small gully at Nyamita North in the Late Pleistocene Wasiriya Beds of Rusinga Island, Kenya. A combination of stratigraphic and geochronological evidence suggests the specimen is likely between ∼49 and 36 ka in age. The associated fauna is diverse and dominated by semiarid grassland taxa. The small sample of associated Middle Stone Age artifacts includes Levallois flakes, cores, and retouched points. The 139 mm humeral fragment preserves the shaft from distal to the lesser tubercle to 14 mm below the distal end of the weakly projecting deltoid tuberosity. Key morphological features include a narrow and weakly marked pectoralis major insertion and a distinctive medial bend in the diaphysis at the deltoid insertion. This bend is unusual among recent human humeri but occurs in a few Late Pleistocene humeri. The dimensions of the distal end of the fragment predict a length of 317.9 ± 16.4 mm based on recent samples of African ancestry. A novel method of predicting humeral length from the distance between the middle of the pectoralis major and the bottom of the deltoid insertion predicts a length of 317.3 mm ± 17.6 mm. Cross-sectional geometry at the midshaft shows a relatively high percentage of cortical bone and a moderate degree of flattening of the shaft. The Nyamita humerus is anatomically modern in its morphology and adds to the small sample of hominins from the Late Pleistocene associated with Middle Stone Age artifacts known from East Africa. It may sample a population closely related to the people of the out-of-Africa migration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Osbjorn M Pearson
- Department of Anthropology, MSC01-1040, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
| | - Ethan C Hill
- Department of Anthropology, MSC01-1040, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA
| | - Daniel J Peppe
- Terrestrial Paleoclimatology Research Group, Department of Geosciences, Baylor University, Waco, TX, 76706, USA
| | - Alex Van Plantinga
- Terrestrial Paleoclimatology Research Group, Department of Geosciences, Baylor University, Waco, TX, 76706, USA
| | - Nick Blegen
- Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EN, UK
| | - J Tyler Faith
- Natural History Museum of Utah, Rio Tinto Center, 301 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA; Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, 260 S. Central Campus Drive, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA
| | - Christian A Tryon
- Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, 354 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA
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Biittner KM, Sawchuk EA, Miller JM, Werner JJ, Bushozi PM, Willoughby PR. Excavations at Mlambalasi Rockshelter: a Terminal Pleistocene to Recent Iron Age Record in Southern Tanzania. THE AFRICAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL REVIEW 2017; 34:275-295. [PMID: 32025077 PMCID: PMC6979695 DOI: 10.1007/s10437-017-9253-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
The Mlambalasi rockshelter in the Iringa Region of southern Tanzania has rich artifactual deposits spanning the Later Stone Age (LSA), Iron Age, and historic periods. Middle Stone Age (MSA) artifacts are also present on the slope in front of the rockshelter. Extensive, systematic excavations in 2006 and 2010 by members of the Iringa Region Archaeological Project (IRAP) illustrate a complex picture of repeated occupations and reuse of the rockshelter during an important time in human history. Direct dates on Achatina shell and ostrich eggshell (OES) beads suggest that the earliest occupation levels excavated at Mlambalasi, which are associated with human burials, are terminal Pleistocene in age. This is exceptional given the rarity of archaeological sites, particularly those with human remains and other preserved organic material, from subtropical Africa between 200,000 and 10,000 years before present. This paper reports on the excavations to date and analysis of artifactual finds from the site. The emerging picture is one of varied, ephemeral use over millennia as diverse human groups were repeatedly attracted to this fixed feature on the landscape.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - P. M. Bushozi
- University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
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Robinson JR. Thinking locally: Environmental reconstruction of Middle and Later Stone Age archaeological sites in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Zambia based on ungulate stable isotopes. J Hum Evol 2017; 106:19-37. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.01.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2015] [Revised: 01/25/2017] [Accepted: 01/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Grine FE. The Late Quaternary Hominins of Africa: The Skeletal Evidence from MIS 6-2. AFRICA FROM MIS 6-2 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-7520-5_17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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Abstract
From my title, you might think that this was to be a discourse on human origins and the story of early Man — about the fossil and genetic evidence for regarding Africa as the cradle of mankind such as the lecture to our Society by Mary Leakey four years ago. However, such is not my intention. My title is taken from a poem by A. E. Housman, the relevant portion of which reads:‘Oh I will sit me down and weep For bones in Africa‘.Housman (1956, 123) was uttering a threnody for a soldier who died in Africa, but I utter my lament on behalf of others.But first, a brief look at aspects of the Prehistoric Society which show that it continues to flourish and grow. In these days of falling memberships, the Society has actually grown. We have made a modest increase in our Research Fund. The Proceedings and the maintenance of their high standard remain the Society's greatest contribution to prehistoric archaeology and justify the large proportion of our resources which we devote to them. This is in the realm of scholarship and research. In addition, we are moving into archaeological policy, with the intention of making the Society's voice heard in the councils of the nation as they affect prehistoric archaeology.
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Reconstruction of the late Pleistocene human skull from Hofmeyr, South Africa. J Hum Evol 2010; 59:1-15. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.02.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2009] [Revised: 11/16/2009] [Accepted: 12/23/2009] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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Bräuer G. Human skeletal remains from Mumba Rock Shelter, Northern Tanzania. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 1980. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.1330520110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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Protsch R. The chronological position of Gamble's Cave II and Bromhead's Site (Elmenteita) of the Rift Valley, Kenya. J Hum Evol 1978. [DOI: 10.1016/s0047-2484(78)80001-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Klein RG. Middle Stone Age Man-Animal Relationships in Southern Africa: Evidence from Die Kelders and Klasies River Mouth. Science 1975. [DOI: 10.1126/science.190.4211.265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Richard G. Klein
- Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637
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