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HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL—The first whole-genome analyses of ancient human DNA from Southeast Asia reveal that there were at least three major waves of human migration into the region over the last 50,000 years.

The research, published online May 17 in Science, complements what is known from archaeological, historical and linguistic studies of Southeast Asia, defined as the area east of India and south of China.

The work illuminates another critical portion of the story of ancient population dynamics around the world, joining numerous ancient-DNA studies of Europe as well as burgeoning research from the Near East, Central Asia, Pacific Islands and Africa.

“A very important part of the world is now accessible for ancient DNA analysis,” said Mark Lipson, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of ancient-DNA specialist David Reich at Harvard Medical School and first author of the study. “It opens a window into the genetic origins of the people who lived there in the past and those who live there now.”

An international team led by researchers at HMS and the University of Vienna extracted and analyzed DNA from the remains of 18 people who lived between about 4,100 and 1,700 years ago in what are now Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia.

The team found that the first migration took place about 45,000 years ago, bringing in people who became hunter-gatherers.

Then, during the Neolithic Period, around 4,500 years ago, there was a large-scale influx of people from China who introduced farming practices to Southeast Asia and mixed with the local hunter-gatherers.

People today with this ancestry mix tend to speak Austroasiatic languages, leading the researchers to propose that the farmers who came from the north were early Austroasiatic speakers.

“This study reveals a complex interplay between archaeology, genetics and language, which is critical for understanding the history of Southeast Asian populations,” said co-senior author Ron Pinhasi of the University of Vienna.

The research revealed that subsequent waves of migration during the Bronze Age, again from China, arrived in Myanmar by about 3,000 years ago, in Vietnam by 2,000 years ago and in Thailand within the last 1,000 years. These movements introduced ancestry types that are today associated with speakers of different languages.

The identification of three ancestral populations–hunter-gatherers, first farmers and Bronze Age migrants–echoes a pattern first uncovered in ancient DNA studies of Europeans, but with at least one major difference: Much of the ancestral diversity in Europe has faded over time as populations mingled, while Southeast Asian populations have retained far more variation.

“People who are nearly direct descendants of each of the three source populations are still living in the region today, including people with significant hunter-gatherer ancestry who live in Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and the Andaman Islands,” said Reich, professor of genetics at HMS and co-senior author of the study. “Whereas in Europe, no one living today has more than a small fraction of ancestry from the European hunter-gatherers.”

Reich hypothesizes that the high diversity of Southeast Asia today can be partly explained by the fact that farmers arrived much more recently than in Europe–around 4,500 years ago compared with 8,000 years ago–leaving less time for populations to mix and genetic variation to even out.

The new findings make it clear that the multiple waves of migration, each of which occurred during a key transition period of Southeast Asian history, shaped the genetics of the region to a remarkable extent.

“The major population turnover that came with the arrival of farmers is unsurprising, but the magnitudes of replacement during the Bronze Age are much higher than many people would have guessed,” said Reich.

Also unexpected were the linguistic implications raised by analyses of the ancestry of people in western Indonesia.

“The evidence suggests that the first farmers of western Indonesia spoke Austroasiatic languages rather than the Austronesian languages spoken there today,” Reich added. “Thus, Austronesian languages were probably later arrivals.”

Additional samples from western Indonesia before and after 4,000 years ago should settle the question, Reich said.

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Field workers excavate ancient human remains at Man Bac, Vietnam, in 2007. DNA from skeletons at this site was included in the current study. Lorna Tilley, Australian National University

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Article Source: Harvard Medical School news release

This study was supported by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grant 16H02527), Statutory City of Ostrava (grant 0924/2016/ŠaS), University of Ostrava (IRP projects), Moravian-Silesian Region (grant 01211/2016/RRC), Irish Research Council (grant GOIPG/2013/36), Thailand Research Fund (grant MRG5980146), Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (project OPVVV 16_019/0000759), European Research Council starting grant ADNABIOARC (263441), National Science Foundation (HOMINID grant BCS-1032255), National Institutes of Health (NIGMS grant GM100233), Paul Allen Foundation and Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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UNIVERSITY OF EXETER—Critically endangered South American forests thought to be the result of climate change were actually spread by ancient communities, archaeologists have found.

Huge swathes of land in Chile, Brazil and Argentina are covered with millions of Araucaria, or monkey puzzle trees, thanks to people planting or cultivating them more than a thousand years ago, a new study shows. Recent logging means the landscape is now one of the world’s most at-risk environments.

It had been thought the forests expanded due to wetter and warmer weather. But the research shows the rapidly expanding pre-Columbian population of South America, Southern Jê communities, were really responsible.

New excavations and soil analysis shows the forests, still hugely culturally and economically important to people living in South America, expanded between 1,410 and 900 years ago because of population growth and cultural changes.

Dr Mark Robinson, from the University of Exeter, who led the British Academy and AHRC-FAPESP-funded research, said: “Our research shows these landscapes were man-made. Communities settled on grassland, and then – perhaps because they modified the soil, protected seedlings or even planted trees – established these forests in places where geographically they shouldn’t have flourished.”

The forests date back to the period when dinosaurs roamed. The iconic monkey puzzle tree, or Parana pine, has grown in the region for thousands of years. Its nuts were one of the most important food sources for ancient communities, attracted game for hunting when nuts were ripe. They were also a valuable source of timber, fuel and resin, and became an integral part of southern Jê cosmology. Communities still call themselves “people of the Araucaria”, and hold festivals to celebrate the forests.

Of the 19 species of Araucaria tree, five are classified as endangered and two, including the Brazilian Araucaria angustifolia, are critically endangered. Reports from the late 1800s describe trees with diameters of over 2 m, reaching 42 m in height. Modern trees are only around 17.7 m tall.

The archaeological analysis began because the experts, from the University of Exeter, University of Reading, University of São Paulo, University of New Mexico, Universidade Federal de Pelotas and Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina, noticed that in areas of low human activity forests are limited to south-facing slopes, whereas in areas of extensive archaeology, forests cover the entire landscape. They were able to analyse soil isotopes reflecting vegetation and archaeological evidence from Campo Belo do Sul, Santa Catarina State, Brazil, to test whether this pattern was directly related to past human activity.

The study shows the forests first expanded around 4,480 to 3,200 years ago, most likely near streams, and this may have been caused by a wetter climate. But a more rapid and extensive expansion across the whole region later happened between 1,410 and 900 years ago, when forests expanded into highland areas. The weather during this time was dry and less humid. This expansion of the forests coincides with population growth and increasingly complex and hierarchical societies in South America.

The expansion in forests reached a peak around 800 years ago. The number of people in South America declined 400 years ago when European settlers arrived in the area. The population did not begin to recover until the 19 century, when loggers began exploiting the Araucaria forests for timber.

Professor José Iriarte, from the University of Exeter, another member of the research team, said: “This study shows the Araucaria forests were expanded beyond their natural boundaries, they were used sustainably for hundreds of years, and conservation strategies must reflect this so they balance protection, heritage and economic development.”

Uncoupling human and climate drivers of late Holocene vegetation change in southern Brazil is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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Campos da Serra y Floresta de Araucari. Jose Iriarte

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Monkey puzzle forests. Mark Robinson

UNIVERSITY OF YORK—The ability to focus on detail, a common trait among people with autism, allowed realism to flourish in Ice Age art, according to researchers at the University of York.

Around 30,000 years ago realistic art suddenly flourished in Europe. Extremely accurate depictions of bears, bison, horses and lions decorate the walls of Ice Age archaeological sites such as Chauvet Cave in southern France.

Why our ice age ancestors created exceptionally realistic art rather than the very simple or stylized art of earlier modern humans has long perplexed researchers.

Many have argued that psychotropic drugs were behind the detailed illustrations. The popular idea that drugs might make people better at art led to a number of ethically-dubious studies in the 60s where participants were given art materials and LSD.

The authors of the new study* discount that theory, arguing instead that individuals with “detail focus”, a trait linked to autism, kicked off an artistic movement that led to the proliferation of realistic cave drawings across Europe.

Lead author of the paper, Dr Penny Spikins from the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, said: “Detail focus is what determines whether you can draw realistically; you need it in order to be a talented realistic artist. This trait is found very commonly in people with autism and rarely occurs in people without it.

“We looked at the evidence from studies attempting to identify a link between artistic talent and drug use, and found that drugs can only serve to dis-inhibit individuals with a pre-existing ability. The idea that people with a high degree of detail focus, many of which may have had autism, set a trend for extreme realism in ice age art is a more convincing explanation.”

The research adds to a growing body of evidence that people with autistic traits played an important role in human evolution.

Dr Spikins added: “Individuals with this trait – both those who would be diagnosed with autism in the modern day and those that wouldn’t – likely played an important part in human evolution and survival as we colonised Europe.

“As well as contributing to early culture, people with the attention to detail needed to paint realistic art would also have had the focus to create complex tools from materials such as bone, rock and wood. These skills became increasingly important in enabling us to adapt to the harsh environments we encountered in Europe.”

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This is a drawing of a horse by Nadia, a gifted autistic child artist (left) and by a typically developing child of the same age (right). Penny Spikins, University of York

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Article Source: University of York news release

*How do we explain ‘autistic traits’ in European Upper Palaeolithic art? is published in Open Archaeology.

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DESERT RESEARCH INSTITUTE—Reno, NV (May 14, 2018): To learn about the rise and fall of ancient European civilizations, researchers sometimes find clues in unlikely places: deep inside of the Greenland ice sheet, for example.

Thousands of years ago, during the height of the ancient Greek and Roman empires, lead emissions from sources such as the mining and smelting of lead-silver ores in Europe drifted with the winds over the ocean to Greenland – a distance of more than 2800 miles (4600 km) – and settled onto the ice. Year after year, as fallen snow added layers to the ice sheet, lead emissions were captured along with dust and other airborne particles, and became part of the ice-core record that scientists use today to learn about conditions of the past.

In a new study published in PNAS, a team of scientists, archaeologists and economists from the Desert Research Institute (DRI), the University of Oxford, NILU – Norwegian Institute for Air Research and the University of Copenhagen used ice samples from the North Greenland Ice Core Project (NGRIP) to measure, date and analyze European lead emissions that were captured in Greenland ice between 1100 BC and AD 800. Their results provide new insight for historians about how European civilizations and their economies fared over time.

“Our record of sub-annually resolved, accurately dated measurements in the ice core starts in 1100 BC during the late Iron Age and extends through antiquity and late antiquity to the early Middle Ages in Europe – a period that included the rise and fall of the Greek and Roman civilizations,” said the study’s lead author Joe McConnell, Ph.D., Research Professor of Hydrology at DRI. “We found that lead pollution in Greenland very closely tracked known plagues, wars, social unrest and imperial expansions during European antiquity.”

A previous study from the mid-1990s examined lead levels in Greenland ice using only 18 measurements between 1100 BC and AD 800; the new study provides a much more complete record that included more than 21,000 precise lead and other chemical measurements to develop an accurately dated, continuous record for the same 1900-year period.

To determine the magnitude of European emissions from the lead pollution levels measured in the Greenland ice, the team used state-of-the-art atmospheric transport model simulations.

“We believe this is the first time such detailed modeling has been used to interpret an ice-core record of human-made pollution and identify the most likely source region of the pollution,” said coauthor Andreas Stohl, Ph.D., Senior Scientist at NILU.

Most of the lead emissions from this time period are believed to have been linked to the production of silver, which was a key component of currency.

“Because most of the emissions during these periods resulted from mining and smelting of lead-silver ores, lead emissions can be seen as a proxy or indicator of overall economic activity,” McConnell explained.

Using their detailed ice-core chronology, the research team looked for linkages between lead emissions and significant historical events.

Their results show that lead pollution emissions began to rise as early as 900 BC, as Phoenicians expanded their trading routes into the western Mediterranean. Lead emissions accelerated during a period of increased mining activity by the Carthaginians and Romans primarily in the Iberian Peninsula, and reached a maximum under the Roman Empire.

The team’s extensive measurements provide a different picture of ancient economic activity than previous research had provided. Some historians, for example, had argued that the sparse Greenland lead record provided evidence of better economic performance during the Roman Republic than during the Roman Empire.

According to the findings of this study, the highest sustained levels of lead pollution emissions coincided with the height of the Roman Empire during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, a period of economic prosperity known as the Pax Romana. The record also shows that lead emissions were very low during the last 80 years of the Roman Republic, a period known as the Crisis of the Roman Republic.

“The nearly four-fold higher lead emissions during the first two centuries of the Roman Empire compared to the last decades of the Roman Republic indicate substantial economic growth under Imperial rule,” said coauthor Andrew Wilson, Professor of the Archaeology of the Roman Empire at Oxford.

The team also found that lead emissions rose and fell along with wars and political instability, particularly during the Roman Republic, and took sharp dives when two major plagues struck the Roman Empire in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The first, called the Antonine Plague, was probably smallpox. The second, called the Plague of Cyprian, struck during a period of political instability called the third-century crisis.

“The great Antonine Plague struck the Roman Empire in AD 165 and lasted at least 15 years. The high lead emissions of the Pax Romana ended exactly at that time and didn’t recover until the early Middle Ages more than 500 years later,” Wilson explained.

The research team for this study included ice-core specialists, atmospheric scientists, archaeologists, and economic historians – an unusual combination of expertise.

“Working with such a diverse team was a unique experience in my career as a scientist,” McConnell said. “I think that our results show that there can be great value in collaborating across disciplines.”

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Dr. Monica Arienzo inspects an ice core sample in the ice core lab at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nev. DRI

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Map showing location of NGRIP ice core in relation to Roman lead/silver mines. DRI

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Chronology of European lead emissions that were captured in Greenland ice between 1100 BC and AD 800 in relation to major historic events. DRI

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Article Source: Desert Research Institute news release

UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND—The recently-discovered species Homo naledi may have had a pint-sized brain, but that brain packed a big punch. New research by Ralph Holloway and colleagues – that include researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa – published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examines the imprints (called endocasts) of the brain upon the skulls of this species. The research highlights the humanlike shape of naledi’s tiny brain, surprising scientists who studied the fossils. These findings draw further into question the long-held belief that human evolution was an inevitable march towards bigger, more complex brains.

The discovery of Homo naledi by Professor Lee Berger of Wits University and his team at the Rising Star caves in the Cradle of Humankind in 2013 was one of the largest hominin discoveries ever made and hailed as one of the most significant hominid discoveries of the 21st Century. Berger and Professor John Hawkes who was also part of the original Rising Star team who made the naledi discovery, as well as Professor Heather Garvin from Des Moines University in the US, are associated with the Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI), based at Wits University. They are all co-authors of the current study.

In 2017, geologists demonstrated that this species existed in southern Africa between 236,000 and 335,000 years ago—potentially the same time that modern humans first emerged in Africa. This is a puzzle to scientists, who long held that there was only one species in Africa at this late time period – Homo sapiens. How did this species exist alongside others with brains three times its size? The new study suggests that naledi’s behavior may have reflected the shape and structure of the brain more than its size.

The researchers pieced together traces of Homo naledi‘s brain shape from an extraordinary collection of skull fragments and partial crania from at least five adult individuals. One of these bore a very clear imprint of the convolutions on the surface of the brain’s left frontal lobe. “This is the skull I’ve been waiting for my whole career,” said lead author Ralph Holloway, of Columbia University.

The anatomy of naledi’s frontal lobe was similar to humans, and very different from great apes. Naledi wasn’t alone. Other members of our genus, from Homo erectus to Homo habilis and the small-brained “hobbits”, Homo floresiensis, also share features of the frontal lobe with living humans. But earlier human relatives, like Australopithecus africanus, had a much more apelike shape in this part of the brain, suggesting that functional changes in this brain region emerged with Homo. “It’s too soon to speculate about language or communication in Homo naledi,” said coauthor Shawn Hurst, “but today human language relies upon this brain region.”

The back of the brain also showed humanlike changes in naledi compared to more primitive hominins like Australopithecus. Human brains are usually asymmetrical, with the left brain displaced forward relative to the right. The team found signs of this asymmetry in one of the most complete naledi skull fragments. They also found hints that the visual area of the brain, in the back of the cortex, was relatively smaller in naledi than in chimpanzees—another humanlike trait.

The small brains of Homo naledi raise new questions about the evolution of human brain size. Big brains were costly to human ancestors, and some species may have paid the costs with richer diets, hunting and gathering, and longer childhoods. But that scenario doesn’t seem to work well for Homo naledi, which had hands well-suited for toolmaking, long legs, humanlike feet, and teeth suggesting a high-quality diet. According to study coauthor John Hawks, “Naledi’s brain seems like one you might predict for Homo habilis, two million years ago. But habilis didn’t have such a tiny brain—naledi did.”

A humanlike brain organisation might mean that naledi shared some behaviours with humans despite having a much smaller brain size. Lee Berger, a co-author on the paper, suggests that the recognition of naledi’s small but complex brain will also have a significant impact on the study of African archaeology. “Archaeologists have been too quick to assume that complex stone tool industries were made by modern humans. With naledi being found in southern Africa, at the same time and place that the Middle Stone Age industry emerged, maybe we’ve had the story wrong the whole time.”

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The skulls of Homo naledi bear traces on their inside surfaces of the shape of naledi’s brain. Only a third the size of human brains, they nonetheless had some surprisingly humanlike features. John Hawks

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Homo naledi endocast (top) with a curvature map (bottom) highlighting the sulci that are visible. The frontal of naledi’s brain looked very humanlike despite its small size. Heather Garvin

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Evidence about the brain shape of Homo naledi comes from many partial skulls. The team used virtual methods to understand how naledi’s brain fits into the big picture. Heather Garvin

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Article Source: University of the Witwatersrand news release

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MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN HISTORY—An international, interdisciplinary group of scholars working along the East African coast have discovered a major cave site which records substantial activities of hunter-gatherers and later, Iron Age communities. Detailed environmental research has demonstrated that human occupations occur in a persistent tropical forest-grassland ecotone, adding new information about the habitats exploited by our species, and indicating that populations sought refuge in a relatively stable environment. Prior to this cave excavation, little information was available about the last 78,000 years from coastal East Africa, with the majority of archaeological research focused on the Rift Valley and in South Africa.

Humans lived in the humid coastal forest

A large-scale interdisciplinary study, including scientific analyses of archaeological plants, animals and shells from the cave indicates a broad perseverance of forest and grassland environments. As the cave environment underwent little variation over time, humans found the site attractive for occupation, even during periods of time when other parts of Africa would have been inhospitable. This suggests that humans exploited the cave environment and landscape over the long term, relying on plant and animal resources when the wider surrounding landscapes dried. The ecological setting of Panga ya Saidi is consistent with increasing evidence that Homo sapiens could adapt to a variety of environments as they moved across Africa and Eurasia, suggesting that flexibility may be the hallmark of our species. Homo sapiens developed a range of survival strategies to live in diverse habitats, including tropical forests, arid zones, coasts and the cold environments found at higher latitudes.

Technological innovations occur at 67,000 years ago

Carefully prepared stone tool toolkits of the Middle Stone Age occur in deposits dating back to 78,000 years ago, but a distinct shift in technology to the Later Stone Age is shown by the recovery of small artifacts beginning at 67,000 years ago. The miniaturization of stone tools may reflect changes in hunting practices and behaviors. The Panga ya Saidi sequence after 67,000, however, has a mix of technologies, and no radical break of behavior can be detected at any time, arguing against the cognitive or cultural ‘revolutions’ theorized by some archaeologists. Moreover, no notable break in human occupation occurs during the Toba volcanic super-eruption of 74,000 years ago, supporting views that the so-called ‘volcanic winter’ did not lead to the near-extinction of human populations, though hints of increased occupation intensity from 60,000 years ago suggests that populations were increasing in size.

Earliest symbolic and cultural items found at Panga ya Saidi cave

The deep archaeological sequence of Panga ya Saidi cave has produced a remarkable new cultural record indicative of cultural complexity over the long term. Among the recovered items are worked and incised bones, ostrich eggshell beads, marine shell beads, and worked ochre. Panga ya Saidi has produced the oldest bead in Kenya, dating to ~65,000 years ago. At about 33,000 years ago, beads were most commonly made of shells acquired from the coast. While this demonstrates contact with the coast, there is no evidence for the regular exploitation of marine resources for subsistence purposes. Ostrich eggshell beads become more common after 25,000 years ago, and after 10,000 years ago, there is again a shift to coastal shell use. In the layers dating to between ~48,000 to 25,000 years ago, carved bone, carved tusk, a decorated bone tube, a small bone point, and modified pieces of ochre were found. Though indicative of behavioral complexity and symbolism, their intermittent appearance in the cave sequence argues against a model for a behavioral or cognitive revolution at any specific point in time.

Project Principal Investigator and Director of the Department of Archaeology at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Dr. Nicole Boivin states, “The East African coastal hinterland and its forests have been long considered to be marginal to human evolution so the discovery of Panga ya Saidi cave will certainly change archaeologists’ views and perceptions.”

Group Leader of the Stable Isotopes Lab Dr. Patrick Roberts adds, “Occupation in a tropical forest-grassland environment adds to our knowledge that our species lived in a variety of habitats in Africa.”

“The finds at Panga ya Saidi undermine hypotheses about the use of coasts as a kind of ‘superhighway’ that channeled migrating humans out of Africa, and around the Indian Ocean rim,” observes Professor Michael Petraglia.

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The first substantial cave record from coastal Kenya ranges from the Middle Stone Age to the Iron Age, showing gradual changes in cultural, technological and symbolic innovations beginning at 67,000 years ago. Mohammad Shoaee

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Approach to the Panga ya Saidi cave. Limestone upland in background. The cave site is 15 km from the modern coast. Michael Petraglia

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Worked red ochre; bead made of a sea shell; ostrich eggshell beads; bone tool; close-up of the bone tool showing traces of scraping. (from left to right). Francesco D’Errico and Africa Pitarch

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Article Source: MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN HISTORY news release

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PLOS—A flint flake from the Middle Paleolithic of Crimea was likely engraved symbolically by a skilled Neanderthal hand, according to a study* published May 2, 2018 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Ana Majkic from the University of Bordeaux, France and colleagues. The authors developed a detailed framework for interpreting engravings on stone artifacts.

Engraved stone artifacts are important clues to the history of human culture and cognition. Incisions on the cortex (soft outer layer) of flint or chert flakes are known from Middle and Lower Paleolithic sites across Europe and the Middle East. However, it can be difficult to determine the action that created an incision: was it an accidental scrape or purposeful engraving? To address this issue, Majkic and colleagues created an interpretive framework that allows researchers to classify the structure and patterns of engraved cortexes and cross-check these attributes with a list of possible causal actions.

They tested this methodology with an engraved flake from the cave site of Kiik-Koba in Crimea. The many stone artifacts at the site are associated with Neanderthal remains and date to around 35,000 years ago. Following microscopic examination of the grooved lines on the flint cortex, the researchers concluded that the incisions represent deliberate engravings that would have required fine motor skills and attention to detail. These engravings appear to have been made with symbolic or communicative intent.

If this interpretation is correct, this engraved flake would join a growing list of signs that Neanderthals engaged in symbolic activities, along with evidence of intentional burial, personal ornaments, and other decorated objects. This has implications for the question of when and how many times this sort of cultural expression has evolved among hominin populations. The researchers hope to hone their framework further for use with artifacts of varying ages and cultural contexts.

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The engraved flint flake from Kiik-Koba layer IV. Majki, et al. (2018)

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Article Source: PLOS news release

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*Majki A., d’Errico F., Stepanchuk V. (2018) Assessing the significance of Palaeolithic engraved cortexes. A case study from the Mousterian site of Kiik-Koba, Crimea. PLoS ONE13(5): e0195049. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195049

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BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY—Over the last 25 years many scholars have questioned the existence of the kingdom of David and Solomon, which was supposed to have existed in the 10th century BCE. This was based to a large extent on the lack of evidence of royal construction at the heart of the region in which the kingdom supposedly existed. As a result, it was assumed that the rulers at the time were just local chiefs who ruled only over Jerusalem and its immediate surroundings.

Now researchers from Bar-Ilan University in Israel have uncovered new evidence that supports the existence of Israel’s united monarchy and indicate that the Kingdom extended beyond Jerusalem’s vicinity. The findings were recently published by Prof. Avraham Faust and Dr. Yair Sapir in the journal Radiocarbon.

Over the past decade Prof. Avi Faust, of the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, excavated a large residence of the type, known as a “four-room house”, which was destroyed in massive conflagration in the 8th century BCE, during one of the Assyrian campaigns. The residence is located at Tel ‘Eton in the Shephelah (20 km. southeast of the city of Qiryat Gat). This large building had at least two stories and its ground floors extended over some 225 sq. m. Large, high quality ashlar stones were placed in the building’s corners and entrances. The structure was built on the highest part of the mound, on top of deep foundations, using high quality building materials and according to a meticulous plan. Hundreds of vessels and additional finds were discovered within the conflagration. “Surprisingly, radiocarbon dates from within the floor make-up and from within a foundation deposit that was placed below the floor indicate that the building had already been erected in the 10th century BCE, between the late 11th century and the third quarter of the 10th century BCE. This date is in line with other finds related to the construction, like the foundation deposit itself,” says Prof. Faust. Faust and Sapir say that construction of such a large residence on the top of the mound, visible from a great distance, along with the significant growth of the size of the city at the same time, was an important event in the history of Tel ‘Eton.

But who initiated the change? The researchers say that the evidence hints at the identity of the builders. The mere fact that the residence was built as a classical four-room house, a style that was very dominant in Israelite sites and missing or rare at Canaanite and Philistine sites, seems to send a clear message regarding the identity of the builders – the emerging Israelite polity in the highlands.

Interestingly, however, the site was not destroyed during the changes, and new construction and development were apparently not a result of a conquest and the arrival of new population. Thus, while the transformations were inspired by the highland kingdom, the development was done in cooperation with the local population. This is also indicated by the combination of the highland, Israelite-inspired architectural style, along with the use of the Canaanite tradition of placing foundation deposits below the floors.

The finds are indicative of impressive public construction underway already in the 10th century BCE, and even on the use of ashlar stones in the region of Judah at this early stage. When the finds from Tel ‘Eton are combined with those at other sites in the region, the process in which the highland polity took over the Shephelah, and gradually colonized it, can be reconstructed.

Faust and Sapir stress that “the association with David is not based on direct archaeological evidence, but solely on circumstantial grounds”. The source of the changes at Tel ‘Eton (i.e,. the erection of the four-room residency and the growth in size of the site) appears to be in the highlands, and since these changes took place at the time when David was supposed to have existed in the highland, the link is plausible.” They add that “if someone thinks that there was no king by the name of David, we should find another name to call the highland king in whose time the region was incorporated into the highland kingdom”.

Beyond the identification of social complexity in Judah already in the 10th century BCE, the study has broader implications for archaeology. “The finds from Tel ‘Eton indicate that structures can exist for centuries, but the finds reflect their last period of usage. From their long lives – sometimes centuries – very little will be found, and even less will be reported,” says Faust. One of the negative implications of this, he says, is that a series of destructive events following a long period of peace will lead to extensive information on the time of the destruction, but very little on the era that preceded it. “Archaeologists should therefore be careful when they conclude that the rarity of finds from these eras indicates that society was poor, and lacked social complexity.”

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An aerial photograph of Tel ‘Eton, looking north. Photographed by Sky View\ Griffin Aerial Imaging, from Canaanites and Israelites at Tel ‘Eton, Israel, by Avraham Faust in Popular Archaeology Magazine, Spring 2015

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See the in-depth feature article about excavations at Tel ‘Eton, published in Popular Archaeology Magazine.

Article Source: Bar-Ilan University news release

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In a recently published paper* in the journal, Historical Biology, researchers report confirmation that sediments bearing early human cultural remains in the Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar rockshelter in southeastern Spain are dated to over 800,000 years ago. The sediments include an Acheulean style stone handaxe and evidence for the use of fire within the rockshelter.

“We regard its age as quite likely between 865,000 and 810,000 years ago,” said Michael Walker of Spain’s Murcia University, a lead researcher on Cueva Negra.

“[Arguably] Until now hand-axes in Europe have not been recorded from before 500,000 years ago,” said Walker. Moreover, he adds, “the evidence of combustion [use of fire] is also the oldest anywhere outside Africa.”

The new dating results were acquired through biochronological analysis of small-mammal teeth remains found within the Cueva Negra rockshelter, indicating they accumulated during what is technically called the Matuyama magnetochron, or between 0.99 and 0.78 Ma.

Researchers do not yet know what species of ancient human occupied the rockshelter during this early time period, but they suggest that they were pre-Neanderthal, possibly Homo heidelbergensis, Homo antecessor, or Homo erectus. Homo erectus has been most often associated with Acheulean handaxes in the archaeological record, but there is no consensus or evidence that shows that this stone tool type was exclusive to Homo erectus.

The rock-shelter, located in the face of a cliff overlooking the Quipar river and the small village of La Encarnación, became the subject of initial exploration by archaeologists in 1981. But full systematic excavations didn’t begin until 1990, when an archaeological team led by Walker and colleagues with the Murcia University Experimental Sciences Research Group undertook detailed investigation that have continued for multiple field seasons. What they uncovered were 5 meters of sediment containing late Pleistocene (somewhat before 780,000 years ago) finds, including hominin (early human, possibly H. heidelbergensis) teeth, a rich artifact assemblage, and an array of ancient flora and fauna remains that bespoke an ancient climate of warm, moist environmental conditions. Their analysis and interpretation of the finds may have, they maintain, important implications for early human behavior.

“The most important findings at Cueva Negra concern human activity,” write Walker and colleagues in their report. “Undoubted evidence of fire has been uncovered.”** They point to the evidence of sediment combustion, thermally altered chert and burnt animal bone found in a layer measured at 4.5 meters in depth.

But they qualify their interpretation.

“A fire-place is not a hearth,” the authors continue. “The Cueva Negra could have brought glowing brands left by a forest fire into the cave to establish and tend a fire where rain and wind would not put it out. They may well have been less afraid of fire outside than other animals they saw fleeing from it (which could have led them to play with fire in order to drive animals towards natural death traps, such as swamps, enabling dismemberment and roasting). This does not mean they could reproduce or control fire: there is a dearth of archaeological evidence for hearths or fire-pits before 0.5 Ma.”

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Cueva Negra with hand-axe and teeth. Courtesy Michael Walker, et. al.

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Cueva Negra deep layer with thermally altered remains. Courtesy Michael Walker, et. al.

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Cueva Negra is not the only site that has evidenced early use of fire by early humans. For example, the site of Bnot Ya’akov Bridge in Israel has been claimed to show human control of fire some time between 790,000 and 690,000 years ago, and evidence has emerged at Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa for the use of fire by around 1 million years ago. There are also other sites showing this possibility in Africa and China. But Cueva Negra could be the earliest, if not one of the earliest, sites in Europe demonstrating this development.

Other findings suggested a clear mastery of material resources for survival. The assemblage of stone tool artifacts recovered (classified by the authors as “Acheulo-Levalloiso-Mousteroid”) showed evidence of the use of three different core reduction methodologies or sequences, and that natural stone resources were exploited as much as 40 km downstream from the site and 30 km upstream.

Concludes Walker, et al., “Research at Cueva Negra throws new light, including fire-light, on the cognitive versatility, manual dexterity, and technical aptitude of early humans ca. [now earlier than] 0.8 Ma in S.E. Spain. They exploited their surroundings in a competent fashion that implies precise knowledge and accurate awareness of what was available for survival.”**

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*Antonio López Jiménez, María Haber Uriarte, Mariano López Martínez & Michael John Walker (2018): Small-mammal indicators of biochronology at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, SE Spain), Historical Biology, DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2018.1462804   

**Walker, Michael, et al., The Early Humans of Cueva Negra, Popular Archaeology, Vol. 15, June, 2014. 

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CNRS—The oldest signs of man-made fire date back about 400,000 years. Hundreds of thousands of years later, at around 40,000 BCE, Homo sapiens, having mastered the flickering flame, began dwelling in caves seasonally. These humans left behind them rock art, proof of their former occupancy. Chauvet Cave (Grotte Chauvet–Pont d’Arc), a UNESCO World Heritage site, bears faithful testimony of the very beginnings of cave art. A study* bringing together several CNRS researchers¹ has examined wood charcoal left by humans of the Aurignacian (37,000–33,500 BCE) and Gravettian (31,000–28,000 BCE) cultures who frequented the Chauvet–Pont d’Arc site. Of the 171 samples studied by the scientists, all but one are derived from pine trees. The presence of these conifers indicates a cold, dry climate and steppe interspersed with pine, birch, and juniper groves. Pine would have been burnt for the large flames it produces, illuminating the cave walls while the prehistoric artists executed their works. Some of the fire pits found at the cave were used solely to produce pine charcoal for use in the paintings.

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© C. Fritz / Chauvet Team / MC

These findings are published in Antiquity (April 25, 2018).

Article Source: A CNRS news release.

^{1.Researchers at the following organizations::}

– Laboratory Cultures et environnements. Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen Âge (CEPAM) (CNRS/Université Nice Sophia Antipolis)

– Laboratory Environnements, dynamiques et territoires de la montagne (EDYTEM) (CNRS/Université Savoie Mont-Blanc)

– Laboratory De la préhistoire à l’actuel : culture, environnement et anthropologie (PACEA) (CNRS/Université de Bordeaux/Ministère de la Culture)

– Laboratory Travaux de recherches archéologiques sur les cultures, les espaces et les sociétés (TRACES) (CNRS/Université Toulouse-Jean Jaurès/Ministère de la Culture)

– Institut de recherche sur les archéomateriaux (IRAMAT) (CNRS/CEA/Université de technologie Belfort-Montbéliard/Université d’Orléans/Université Bordeaux Montaigne)

– The DRAC de la région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

– The MSHS de Toulouse (CNRS/Universités Toulouse-Jean-Jaurès, Toulouse III-Paul-Sabatier et Toulouse 1 Capitole/Sciences Po Toulouse/COMUE Université fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées)

*Illuminating the cave, drawing in black : wood charcoal analysis at Chauvet-Pont d’Arc. Isabelle Théry-Parisot, Stéphanie Thiébault, Jean-Jacques Delannoy, Catherine Ferrier, Valérie Feruglio, Carole Fritz, Bernard Gely, Pierre Guibert, Julien Monney, Gilles Tosello, Jean Clottes et Jean-Michel Geneste. Antiquity, 2018 April 25.

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Science Advances—At White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, an international team has uncovered fossilized footprints of humans for the first time, and notably, the human prints were inside those of fossilized footprints from giant ground sloths – tall creatures with sharp claws. The results suggest that human hunters stalked these large, now-extinct animals thousands of years ago, helping to paint a picture of how ancient humans and animals interacted, in this instance. Researchers have been studying fossilized footprints for decades, a way to understand how different species related with one other, but predator-prey interactions revealed by vertebrate fossils (particularly those that could shed light on human hunting practices) are extremely rare. Now, however, at White Sands National Monument, researchers led by David Bustos and using the latest geophysical techniques have unearthed the tracks of not only animals, but also of humans – with the latter being “inside” the former, providing evidence that humans followed closely behind, or even “stalked” the sloths. What’s more, say the authors, the sloth tracks show evidence of evasion and defensive behavior when associated with human tracks, leading Bustos and his team to infer that humans may have been hunting these animals in the late Pleistocene, a period when many large mammals went extinct. Understanding the way in which our ancestors tackled big prey is important because big animals like this would have been associated with greater risk to their human predators. The results may also help shed light on any role humans may have had in the extinction of giant ground sloths, the authors say.

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Human footprint inside a sloth track. This composite track is part of a trackway in which the human appears to have stalked the sloth. Matthew Bennett, Bournemouth University

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Composite cast showing a range of footprints from the White Sands National Monument (WHSA) field site.
 David Bustos, National Park Service

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General view of Alkali Flat at White Sands National Monument (New Mexico) showing a series of excavated footprints in the foreground. Matthew Bennett, Bournemouth University

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Reconstruction based on the fossil footprint evidence showing how human hunters stalked giant ground sloth to distract them before trying to land a killing blow. Alex McClelland, Bournemouth University

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Article Source: Science Advances news release. Science Advances is published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.

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PURDUE UNIVERSITY—WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.—An ancient horse burial at Tombos along the Nile River Valley shows that a member of the horse family thousands of years ago was more important to the culture than previously thought, which provides a window into human-animal relationships more than 3,000 years ago.

The research findings are published in Antiquity*. The Tombos horse was discovered in 2011, and members of the Purdue team – professor Michele Buzon and alumna Sarah Schrader – played a part in the excavation and analysis. The horse is dated to the Third Intermediate Period, 1050-728 B.C.E., and it was found more than 5 feet underground in a tomb. The horse, with some chestnut-colored fur remaining, had been buried in a funeral position with a burial shroud.

“It was clear that the horse was an intentional burial, which was super fascinating,” said Buzon, a professor of anthropology. “Remnants of fabric on the hooves indicate the presence of a burial shroud. Changes on the bones and iron pieces of a bridle suggest that the horse may have pulled a chariot. We hadn’t found anything like this in our previous excavations at Tombos. Animal remains are very rare at the site.”

Buzon, a bioarchaeologist, has worked with Stuart Tyson Smith, anthropology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, for 18 years at this site in modern-day Sudan, and both are principal investigators on the project. Buzon uses health and cultural evidence from more than 3,000-year-old burial sites to understand the lives of Nubians and Egyptians during the New Kingdom Empire. This is when Egyptians colonized the area in about 1500 B.C. to gain access to trade routes on the Nile River. Over the years, hundreds of artifacts, including pottery, tools, carvings and dishes were unearthed at this burial site for about 200 individuals.

“Finding the horse was unexpected,” Schrader said. “Initially, we weren’t sure if it was modern or not. But as we slowly uncovered the remains, we began to find artifacts associated with the horse, such as the scarab, the shroud and the iron cheekpiece. At that point, we realized how significant this find was. Of course, we became even more excited when the carbon-14 dates were assessed and confirmed how old the horse was.”

Schrader, who graduated from Purdue in 2013 with a doctoral degree in anthropology, is an assistant professor of human osteoarchaeology at Leiden University in The Netherlands. Schrader is lead author on this article, and she helped frame this find within the context of Nubian history.

Once the archaeologists discovered the horse, Sandra Olsen, curator-in-charge at the Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas and a well-known ancient horse expert, was invited to Purdue to analyze the horse skeleton. Buzon coordinated the analysis between the team, and she established the chronology of the horse via radiocarbon dating.

“The horse was treated well in life, seeing as how it lived to a mature age,” Schrader said. “It also was important to the people of ancient Tombos because it was buried – a rite that is usually reserved for humans. Furthermore, the fact that one of the earliest pieces of iron from Africa was found in association with the horse reiterates how special it was to the people. It is also important to assess the context of Tombos with regard to the horse – the horse is an important and rare find. The fact that it is buried at Tombos indicates that this town may have served an important function in the post-colonial Napatan Period.”

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The Tombos horse was discovered in 2011. The ancient horse is dated to the Third Intermediate Period, 1050-728 B.C.E., and it was found more than 5 feet underground in a tomb. The horse, with some chestnut-colored fur remaining, had been buried in a funeral position with a burial shroud. The discovery provides a window into human-animal relationships more than 3,000 years ago. Photo provided

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The excavation was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation; the National Geographic Society; University of California, Santa Barbara; Purdue and the Schiff-Giorgini Foundation. The excavation and research also were supported by El Hassan Ahmed, director of fieldwork at the National Corporation of Antiquities and Museums.

Article Source: Purdue University news release

*Symbolic equids and Kushite state formation: a horse burial at Tombos 
Sarah A. Schrader1, Stuart Tyson Smith2, Sandra Olsen3 and Michele Buzon4 
https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.239

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CLUSTER OF EXCELLENCE “RELIGION AND POLITICS”—According to archaeologists, the world’s oldest peace treaty disproves the widespread notion that in antiquity, peace was not brought about by negotiations, but always by humiliating those who had lost. “More than 3,200 years ago, Egyptians and Hittites ensured each other mutual support in the treaty; neither of them triumphed. This must have been preceded by much negotiating, as is evidenced by extensive correspondence between the rulers”, say Director Prof. Dr Achim Lichtenberger and Curator Dr Helge Nieswandt of the University of Münster’s Archaeological Museum. “Although the ‘victorious peace’ dominates over the ‘peace of reconciliation’ in peace images of antiquity, our research shows that the latter also existed.” From 28 April, the museum will present a copy of the oldest contract (fig. 1) from the Berlin Pergamon Museum in the exhibition project “Frieden. Von der Antike bis heute” (Peace. From Antiquity to the Present Day). Another copy can be seen in the United Nations Building in New York.

The researchers of the museum and of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” also do away with other clichés. A large number of peace images were created not in times of peace, but in times of war, such as the Roman goddess of peace Pax showing on countless coins. “Despite the glorification of war in antiquity, which undoubtedly existed and alienates us: images of the ideal of peace were particularly widespread during wars,” says Nieswandt. He will present the “inflation of peace” on coins (fig. 2) on 23 May at the Cluster of Excellence’s conference “PEACE. Theories, Images and Strategies from Antiquity to the Present Day”, which is part of the exhibition project.

In the exhibition with the subtitle “Eirene – Pax. Frieden in der Antike” (Peace in Antiquity), the museum will also, for the first time, present a bronze-coloured copy of the famous goddess of peace “Eirene” by sculptor Cephisodotus (fig. 3). It symbolises that with peace comes prosperity. “Despite the glorification of war, people from antiquity always knew that it is not war but peace that leads to wealth,” says Lichtenberger. This ideal is also illustrated by many of the other 160 antique exhibits such as the messenger staff, the handshake and ears of grain (fig. 4). “They show how strongly our Western peace symbols of today are rooted in ancient Greek and Roman images and how they have repeated themselves over centuries. Accordingly, the ancient illustrations are often familiar to us.”Bronze-coloured goddess of peace and doves in animal idyll

According to Lichtenberger, even the most famous symbol of peace today, the dove, originates from antiquity. The derivation is not linear, however: “While in antiquity, the dove itself did not signify peace, it was closely associated with Aphrodite, the goddess of love. It also appeared in animal idylls in which the peaceful coexistence of animals represented peace. The dove could thus be adapted as a symbol of peace by Christians.” An allegory of peace in the tradition of antiquity from 1659 by Flemish painter Theodoor van Thulden, depicting horn of plenty and caduceus, also shows how far the ancient symbols extend into later centuries. “According to ancient ideas, the caduceus granted its bearer diplomatic immunity,” says Nieswandt. “The fact that the goddess Pax holds it on numerous ancient coin depictions underlines once more the importance that negotiated peace had for antiquity as well”. (fig. 5)

Regarding the numerous coin depictions of the goddess of peace “Pax” (fig. 2), Helge Nieswandt explains that she was often, particularly in times of war, shown on coins, the first mass medium of mankind, because rulers thus offered an ideal in reply to reality. The researcher will show this in his conference lecture on 23 May using an example of Roman antiquity: “When the order of the Roman Empire fell apart in the 3rd century AD, and when mostly short-lived soldier emperors took turns, there was an ‘inflation of peace’ on coins.” Researchers see this as one example of many for the fact that people in all centuries expressed and depicted a longing for peace, but were not able to secure it in the long run. This guiding principle characterises the exhibition “Peace. From Antiquity to the Present Day”.

About the bronze copy of Cephisodotus’ Eirene, the scholar explains that it is a statue whose Greek original from the 4th century BC has not survived, but whose popularity and appearance are attested to by numerous Roman copies. Goddess of peace Eirene holds the infant Plutus, the personification of wealth, in her arms. The Archaeological Museum has commissioned a restorer with the bronze-coloured copy of this 2.05-metre and thus larger-than-life representation and will for the first time present it to the public at the opening of the exhibition on 28 April. “According to our investigations, the bronze, which is shining like gold, is only one possibility of several coloured versions, but in any case it is more plausible than the white of the plaster. The Münster reconstruction is to be understood as an incentive to see the statue differently than before. (sca/vvm)

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This is the oldest-preserved peace treaty between Ramesses II and attušili III, c. 1259 B.C. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, Olaf M. Teßmer

Article Source: CLUSTER OF EXCELLENCE “RELIGION AND POLITICS“ news release

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EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY 2018—Ever since scientists realized that humans evolved from a succession of primate ancestors, the public imagination has been focused on the inflection point when those ancestors switched from ape-like shuffling to walking upright as we do today. Scientists have long been focused on the question, too, because the answer is important to understanding how our ancestors lived, hunted and evolved.

A close examination of 3.6-million-year-old hominin footprints discovered in Laetoli, Tanzania suggests our ancestors evolved the hallmark trait of extended leg, human-like bipedalism substantially earlier than previously thought.

“Fossil footprints are truly the only direct evidence of walking in the past,” said David Raichlen, PhD, associate professor at the University of Arizona. “By 3.6 million years ago, our data suggest that if you can account for differences in size, hominins were walking in a way that is very similar to living humans. While there may have been some nuanced differences, in general, these hominins probably looked like us when they walked.”

Raichlen will present the research at the American Association of Anatomists annual meeting during the 2018 Experimental Biology meeting, held April 21-25 in San Diego.

The species that comprises modern humans, Homo sapiens sapiens, emerged roughly 200,000-300,000 years ago. The genus Homo is thought to have emerged about 2-2.5 million years ago. The term hominin is used to refer to a broader set of ancestors that existed before that, although there is debate about the nature of the species included in that grouping and the relationships among them.

It is thought that hominins began walking on two legs around 7 million years ago, but based on the way other primates evolved, it is considered likely that these early ancestors retained a crouched, bent-legged walking posture for some time.

Raichlen and his team use a variety of methods to reconstruct walking mechanics based on fossilized footprints and skeletons of early human ancestors. Their most recent results use a combination of experimental data and morphological studies to show that the footprints at Laetoli are consistent with fully upright, human-like bipedal walking.

In one experiment, the team compared the depth and shape of the Laetoli footprints to those left by eight volunteers–modern humans–walking in either an upright or stooped posture (in which the knees and hips are bent). When they analyzed the impression made by the toe versus the heel, which reflects how the center of pressure moves along your foot as you take a step, they found the footprints at Laeoli were much more similar to the footprints made by modern humans walking upright.

Walking upright with the legs fully extended uses less energy than bipedal walking in a more ape-like crouched manner, allowing one to endure longer journeys. This suggests that the switch to a more human-like gait likely had something to do with how our ancestors found food–and how far they had to travel to find it.

“The data suggest that by this time in our evolutionary history, selection for reduced energy expenditures during walking was strong,” said Raichlen. “This work suggests that, by 3.6 million years ago, climate and habitat changes likely led to the need for ancestral hominins to walk longer distances during their daily foraging bouts. Selection may have acted at this time to improve energy economy during locomotion, generating the human-like mechanics we employ today.”

Although the evidence is strong that hominins were walking upright by 3.6 million years ago, the exact stage when the locomotion of our ancestors diverged from that of modern-day apes remains unknown, Raichlen said. Answering that will likely require following in more–even older–footprints.

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Footprints from (A) a modern human walking normally, (B) a modern human walking with a stooped posture known as the “bent knees, bent hip,” or BKBH, posture, and (C) 3.6 million-year-old hominin footprints found in Laetoli, Tanzania. The team’s analysis suggests ancient hominins probably walked in a way that is very similar to modern humans. David Raichlen, University of Arizona.

Article Source: Experimental Biology 2018 news release

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AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE—The dispersal of humans out of Africa coincided with a dramatic global reduction in the size of mammals, a new study* reveals. This “downsizing” trend may continue, suggest the authors, to the extent that, in just a couple hundred years, the largest terrestrial mammal left may be the domestic cow, weighing in at 900 kilograms (kg). Felisa A. Smith et al. sought to understand how the size of mammals has changed over time. They updated and created two datasets that capture the global distribution and body size of terrestrial mammals that lived between 66 million years ago through the present. The authors found a substantial bias in mammal extinction during the periods when humans were dispersing around the globe, whereby species that went extinct tended to be two to three times bigger than mammals that survived, a trend that was evident globally. Notably, prior to humans’ migration out of Africa 125,000 years ago, Africa was home to mammals of smaller size (with a mean body mass roughly half that of mammals found in Eurasia), which the authors suggest is reflective of the hominin-mammal interactions that had already been at play. Perhaps most striking is the reduction of mammals in the New World during the late Pleistocene, which coincided with humans’ adoption of long-range weapons. The authors report a greater than 10-fold drop in both mean and maximum body mass of mammals during this time; for example, mean mass of terrestrial mammals in North America fell from 98.0 to 7.6 kg. If current trends continue, the mean body mass of mammals in North America will drop from 7.7 to 4.9 kg in a few hundred years, the authors say. As mammals play a critical role in shaping ecosystems, the downsizing trend will have a cascading impact on other organisms.

Article Source: AAAS news release

*”Body size downgrading of mammals over the late Quaternary,” by F.A. Smith at University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM; R.E. Elliott Smith at University of California, San Diego in San Diego, CA; S.K. Lyons at University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Lincoln, NE; J.L. Payne at Stanford University in Stanford, CA.

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NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY–Scientists have long wondered why the physical traits of Neanderthals, the ancestors of modern humans, differ greatly from today’s man. In particular, researchers have deliberated the factors that necessitated early man’s forward-projecting face and oversized nose. As published in the April 4 edition of Proceedings of the Royal Society B, an international research team led by a professor at the University of New England in Australia, with the aid of an anatomy and fluid dynamics expert at NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University (NYITCOM at A-State), may have the answer.

Recognized as the original “cavemen,” Neanderthals, who lived 60,000 years ago, were the first fossil humans ever discovered when remains were uncovered in the early 19th century in what is now Belgium. Remnants indicated these ancestors were shorter and far more robust and muscular than today’s average human. Perhaps most noticeably, Neanderthals had a much larger nose and longer face, with the mid-part of the face jutting dramatically forward.

“The physical variations between modern man and ‘cavemen’ have caused Neanderthals to be historically characterized as barbarous, dimwitted and generally inferior to the contemporary human in almost every way,” said Jason Bourke, Ph.D., assistant professor of Anatomy at NYITCOM at A-State and the fluid dynamics expert on the international research team. “Yet, as we learn more about their diet, spiritual beliefs, and behavior, we realize that Neanderthals were likely more sophisticated than previously assumed, and aside from their facial structure, may not have been so radically different from today’s humans. Now the question begs, why they looked so different.”

Aiming to answer that question, the researchers applied sophisticated computer-based methods and simulations to compare the physiological behavior of Neanderthal to today’s human. Three-dimensional virtual models of multiple individuals were created from Computed Tomography (CT) scans and simulations were performed to replicate facial responses to various everyday situations, including biting at the front teeth and inhaling cold air through the nose. In addition, the researchers simulated a more primitive early human, Homo heidelbergensis, to predict how Neanderthal’s predecessor behaved and determine the direction of evolution.

“Homo heidelbergensis provided us with an evolutionary compass,” Bourke explained. “It allowed us figure out what features Neanderthals inherited vs. the novel anatomy their species evolved.”

This approach permitted the researchers to ignore the Neanderthals’ strong brow ridge (an inherited feature) and focus more on their enlarged nose, which was deemed a unique feature of the species. Existing theories suggest that their large facial structure was required for a stronger bite to eat harder food, but the engineering tests suggested a different reason for these distinctive features. Unlike today’s humans, who breathe through a combination of the nose and mouth based on activity level, it appears that Neanderthals relied more on its nose for breathing – a function that would have required a more prominent mid-face.

“While our data found Neanderthals to be somewhat less efficient in conditioning air than today’s humans, they greatly outrivaled today’s humans in their ability to transport large volumes of air through the nasal passage into and out of the lungs,” said Bourke.

In fact, the reconstructions demonstrated that the Neanderthals’ noses were able to transport twice as much air to the lungs than today’s humans, which could have powered the more strenuous and energetic lifestyle required to chase and hunt large animals. The ability to condition large amounts of oxygen in colder temperatures would have also allowed Neanderthals to remain warm and active in Ice Age environments.

Providing many firsts for the anatomy field, the study is the first to include mechanical engineering simulations of Neanderthal biting, as well as the first to provide a comparative analysis of airflow and heat transfer in the nasal passages of multiple extinct human relatives.

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Image illustrates the difference in skull and nose shape in the three human species tested. Airflow is color-coded for temperature (warmer colors = warmer air, cooler colors = colder air). Lines indicate that Neanderthal and modern-humans likely diverged from an ancestor very close to Homo heidelbergensis. University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales

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Airflow comparison between a modern human (left) and Neanderthal (right) when breathing in air at 0°C (32°F), with warmer colors representing warmer air flow and cooler colors representing colder air flow. Skulls have been cut down the midline to better visualize the airway. As demonstrated, Neanderthals were better suited to condition large amounts of cold air than today’s humans. University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales

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Article Source: New York Institute of Technology news release

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UNIVERSITY OF MONTREAL—Trade and social networking helped our Homo sapiens ancestors survive a climate-changing volcanic eruption 40,000 years ago, giving hope that we will be able to ride out global warming by staying interconnected, a new study suggests.

Analyzing ancient tools, ornaments and human remains from a prehistoric rock shelter called Riparo Bombrini, in Liguria on the Italian Riviera, archeologists at Université de Montréal and the University of Genoa conclude that the key to survival is cooperation.

Their study was published in early April in the Journal of Quaternary Science.

“Liguria is where some of the first Homo sapiens, more or less our direct ancestors, lived in Europe,” said Julien Riel-Salvatore, a professor of archeology at UdeM who co-authored the study with his Italian colleague Fabio Negrino. “They came after the Neanderthals, and unlike them, when they were faced with sudden changes in their climate they didn’t go locally extinct or abandon the region – they adapted.”

Home sapiens had been living in the region for about 1,000 years when a “super-eruption” in the Phlegraean Fields in southern Italy, west of present-day Naples, devastated much of Europe. “It used to be thought that this wiped out most of the early Homo sapiens in Europe, but we’ve been able to show that some were able to deal with the situation just fine. They survived by dealing with the uncertainty of sudden change.”

In their work, the archeologists gathered tool fragments such as bladelets – small flakes knocked off large stones to use as barbs and slicing components of weapons for hunting – that showed the ingenuity of our early ancestors. Some of the flint they used was brought in from hundreds of kilometres away, indicating a very extensive social and trading network that helped them survive for the next 4,000 years.

“They had a link to people living far away, so that if things went haywire in the territory where they lived, they had the social option of depending on people they’d built relationships with – the broader the network, the easier it was to survive,” said Riel-Salvatore, whose evidence also includes rare skeletal remains and a child’s tooth, as well as shell and stone ornaments, that show Homo sapiens were there.

His study mirrors others on an even older archeological site, Mount Toba on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where a super-eruption 75,000 years ago was once thought to have come close to wiping out humanity entirely, a theory since disproven. In both cases, archeology has shown that evolution isn’t always as dramatic as we think.

“This seems to be part of a pattern where humans are more adaptable and more resilient in the face of these enormously disruptive events,” said Riel-Salvatore. “These events can be really terrible, but only in a limited way, not across continents or globally.”

It’s a bit of a leap to say that what happened tens of thousands of years ago can help predict how humans today will cope with climate change, but learning from the past does help situate us for the future – and even rebut climate-change deniers, he added.

“It underscores the importance of archeology in being able to inform the more immediate issues we face. Cooperation and resilient social networks were really key in helping people ride out dramatic climate change in the past. And considering some of the challenges we’re facing nowadays, and some of the entrenched positions we have to deal with, maybe this notion that cooperation is fundamental is something we can communicate as a take-home lesson.”

The bulk of the data the researchers gathered for their study was excavated between 2002 and 2005 from Riparo Bombrini, a part of the Balzi Rossi site complex from the Middle-Upper Paleolithic period that was first probed in 1938 and excavated in 1976. Over the next three years, Riel-Salvatore and Negrino intend to delve further into why the Neanderthal population there disappeared and was replaced by the better-equipped – and better-connected – Homo sapiens.

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Article Source: University of Montreal news release

“Human adaptations to climatic change in Liguria across the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition,” by Julien Riel?Salvatore and Fabio Negrino, was published April 3, 2018 in the Journal of Quaternary Science.

Featured Image, above: Skull of  ancient Homo sapiens. Wikimedia Commons

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