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Pedagogical Ecology for an Alternative Sustainability: With Insights from Francis of Assisi and Contemporary Life Sciences. SUSTAINABILITY 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/su14031395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Sustainability is a widely discussed issue nowadays. The “human factor” appears to be the key to a suitable theory of sustainable development and, even more, to understanding the real scope of the issue at stake. We begin by highlighting that the issue of sustainability and the related ecological crisis ultimately stem from the fundamental view of the human–environment relationships. We tackle such a fundamental view from two apparently distant but converging perspectives: the one of Francis of Assisi (the patron saint of ecologists) and the one of contemporary advancements in evolutionary biology known as the “extended evolutionary theory” (EES). This will allow us to highlight how current life sciences ground a strong form of organism–environment complementarity—a core point for any allegedly comprehensive approach to sustainability and ecology. After that, we focus on recent developments in cultural evolution studies that see culture both as the driving force of (recent) human evolution and as the general context where the human–environment relationships take place and develop. Therefore, we argue that the environment exerts a powerful pedagogical influence on the human being and on humanity as a whole. We conclude by proposing a pedagogical criterion for ecology and sustainable development, according to which the modifications caused by the human being to the environment must be assessed (also) for their pedagogical import.
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Schmid VC, Douze K, Tribolo C, Martinez ML, Rasse M, Lespez L, Lebrun B, Hérisson D, Ndiaye M, Huysecom E. Middle Stone Age Bifacial Technology and Pressure Flaking at the MIS 3 Site of Toumboura III, Eastern Senegal. THE AFRICAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL REVIEW 2022; 39:1-33. [PMID: 35535307 PMCID: PMC9046311 DOI: 10.1007/s10437-021-09463-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/10/2021] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED Over the past decade, the increasing wealth of new archaeological data on the Middle Stone Age (MSA) in Senegal and Mali has broadened our understanding of West Africa's contributions to cultural developments. Within the West African sequence, the phase of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3, ca. 59-24 ka) yielded so far the best known and extensive archaeological information. The site of Toumboura III encompasses an occupation dated by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to between 40 ± 3 ka and 30 ± 3 ka. It provides the largest, well-dated, and stratified lithic assemblage in West Africa for the MSA and sheds light on an unprecedented cultural expression for this period, adding to the notable diversity of the late MSA in this region. We conducted a technological analysis of the lithic components following the chaîne opératoire approach. The lithic assemblage features a prevalence of bifacial technology and the exploitation of flakes as blanks for tool production. The craftspeople manufactured distinct types of bifacial tools, including small bifacial points shaped by pressure technique. The new data from Toumboura III demonstrate behavioral patterns that are entirely new in the region. By revealing behavioral innovations and technological particularities, these results on the techno-cultural dynamics during the MIS 3 phase of the MSA enhance our understanding of the complex Pleistocene population history in this part of Africa. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10437-021-09463-5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viola C. Schmid
- Laboratory of Archaeology and Population in Africa (APA), Anthropology Unit, Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, 1205 Genève, Switzerland
| | - Katja Douze
- Laboratory of Archaeology and Population in Africa (APA), Anthropology Unit, Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, 1205 Genève, Switzerland
| | - Chantal Tribolo
- Research Institute on Archaeological Materials-Center of Research on Physics Applied to Archaeology (IRAMAT-CRP2A), CNRS-UMR 5060, University Bordeaux-Montaigne, Esplanade des Antilles, 33607 Pessac Cedex, France
| | | | - Michel Rasse
- Laboratory Archéorient, CNRS-UMR 5133, Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, University Lumière Lyon 2, 7 Rue Raulin, 69007 Lyon, France
| | - Laurent Lespez
- Laboratory of Physical Geography (LGP), CNRS-UMR 8591, Department of Geography, University Paris-Est Creteil, 1 place Aristide Briand, 92195 Meudon, France
| | - Brice Lebrun
- Research Institute on Archaeological Materials-Center of Research on Physics Applied to Archaeology (IRAMAT-CRP2A), CNRS-UMR 5060, University Bordeaux-Montaigne, Esplanade des Antilles, 33607 Pessac Cedex, France
| | - David Hérisson
- Anthropologie des Techniques, des Espaces et des Territoires au Pliocène et au Pléistocène (ArScAn-AnTET), CNRS-UMR 7041, MSH Mondes, Paris Nanterre University, 21 Allée de l’Université, 93023 Nanterre Cedex, France
| | - Matar Ndiaye
- Laboratory of Prehistory and Protohistory, Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire, University of Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, 33 Route de la Corniche Ouest, Dakar, Senegal
| | - Eric Huysecom
- Laboratory of Archaeology and Population in Africa (APA), Anthropology Unit, Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, 1205 Genève, Switzerland
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Miller JM, Wang YV. Ostrich eggshell beads reveal 50,000-year-old social network in Africa. Nature 2022; 601:234-239. [PMID: 34931044 PMCID: PMC8755535 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04227-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2021] [Accepted: 11/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Humans evolved in a patchwork of semi-connected populations across Africa1,2; understanding when and how these groups connected is critical to interpreting our present-day biological and cultural diversity. Genetic analyses reveal that eastern and southern African lineages diverged sometime in the Pleistocene epoch, approximately 350-70 thousand years ago (ka)3,4; however, little is known about the exact timing of these interactions, the cultural context of these exchanges or the mechanisms that drove their separation. Here we compare ostrich eggshell bead variations between eastern and southern Africa to explore population dynamics over the past 50,000 years. We found that ostrich eggshell bead technology probably originated in eastern Africa and spread southward approximately 50-33 ka via a regional network. This connection breaks down approximately 33 ka, with populations remaining isolated until herders entered southern Africa after 2 ka. The timing of this disconnection broadly corresponds with the southward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, which caused periodic flooding of the Zambezi River catchment (an area that connects eastern and southern Africa). This suggests that climate exerted some influence in shaping human social contact. Our study implies a later regional divergence than predicted by genetic analyses, identifies an approximately 3,000-kilometre stylistic connection and offers important new insights into the social dimension of ancient interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer M Miller
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
- Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
| | - Yiming V Wang
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
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Abstract
The genetic basis for the emergence of creativity in modern humans remains a mystery despite sequencing the genomes of chimpanzees and Neanderthals, our closest hominid relatives. Data-driven methods allowed us to uncover networks of genes distinguishing the three major systems of modern human personality and adaptability: emotional reactivity, self-control, and self-awareness. Now we have identified which of these genes are present in chimpanzees and Neanderthals. We replicated our findings in separate analyses of three high-coverage genomes of Neanderthals. We found that Neanderthals had nearly the same genes for emotional reactivity as chimpanzees, and they were intermediate between modern humans and chimpanzees in their numbers of genes for both self-control and self-awareness. 95% of the 267 genes we found only in modern humans were not protein-coding, including many long-non-coding RNAs in the self-awareness network. These genes may have arisen by positive selection for the characteristics of human well-being and behavioral modernity, including creativity, prosocial behavior, and healthy longevity. The genes that cluster in association with those found only in modern humans are over-expressed in brain regions involved in human self-awareness and creativity, including late-myelinating and phylogenetically recent regions of neocortex for autobiographical memory in frontal, parietal, and temporal regions, as well as related components of cortico-thalamo-ponto-cerebellar-cortical and cortico-striato-cortical loops. We conclude that modern humans have more than 200 unique non-protein-coding genes regulating co-expression of many more protein-coding genes in coordinated networks that underlie their capacities for self-awareness, creativity, prosocial behavior, and healthy longevity, which are not found in chimpanzees or Neanderthals.
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55
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White S, Pope M, Hillson S, Soligo C. Geometric morphometric variability in the supraorbital and orbital region of Middle Pleistocene hominins: Implications for the taxonomy and evolution of later Homo. J Hum Evol 2021; 162:103095. [PMID: 34847365 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2020] [Revised: 10/10/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suzanna White
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BW, UK.
| | - Matt Pope
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, UK
| | - Simon Hillson
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, UK
| | - Christophe Soligo
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BW, UK
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Mendoza Straffon L. The Peacock Fallacy: Art as a Veblenian Signal. Front Psychol 2021; 12:767409. [PMID: 34880815 PMCID: PMC8645796 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.767409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2021] [Accepted: 10/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The fact that world-over people seem inexplicably motivated to allocate time and effort to apparently useless cultural practices, like the arts, has led several evolutionary scholars to suggest that these might be costly Zahavian signals correlated with genetic fitness, such as the infamous peacock's tail. In this paper, I review the fundamental arguments of the hypothesis that art evolved and serves as a costly Zahavian signal. First, I look into the hypothesis that humans exert mate choice for indirect benefits and argue that the data supports mate choice for direct benefits instead. Second, I argue that art practice may well be a costly signal, however not necessarily related to good genes. Third, I suggest that Thorstein Veblen's original concept of conspicuous signals as social tools to obtain and convey prestige provides a better account than the Zahavian model for the evolution and function of art in society. As a Veblenian signal, art could still have many of the effects suggested for visual art as a Zahavian signal, except not for the indirect benefits of optimal offspring, but for the direct benefits of acquiring and conveying social status.
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Affiliation(s)
- Larissa Mendoza Straffon
- Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
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57
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Abstract
Creativity generates novel solutions to tasks by processing information. Imagination and mental representations are part of the creative process; we can mull over ideas of our own making, and construct algorithms or scenarios from them. Social scenario-building can be viewed as a human cognitive "super-power" that involves abstraction, meta-representation, time-travel, and directed imaginative thought. We humans have a "theater in our minds" to play out a near-infinite array of social strategies and contingencies. Here we propose an integrative model for why and how humans evolved extraordinary creative abilities. We posit that a key aspect of hominin evolution involved relatively open and fluid social relationships among communities, enabled by a unique extended family structure similar to that of contemporary hunter-gatherer band societies. Intercommunity relationships facilitated the rapid flow of information-"Culture"-that underpinned arms-races in information processing, language, imagination, and creativity that distinguishes humans from other species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark V. Flinn
- Department of Anthropology, Baylor University, Waco, TX, United States
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A novel route for identifying starch diagenetic products in the archaeological record. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0258779. [PMID: 34793489 PMCID: PMC8601532 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2021] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
This work introduces a novel analytical chemistry method potentially applicable to the study of archaeological starch residues. The investigation involved the laboratory synthesis of model Maillard reaction mixtures and their analysis through Fourier-Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry (FTICR-MS). Thus, starch from sixteen plant species were matured while reacting it with the amino acid glycine. The FTICR-MS analysis revealed > 5,300 molecular compounds, with numerous unique heteroatom rich compound classes, ranging from 20 (Zea mays) to 50 (Sorghum bicolor). These classes were investigated as repositories of chemical structure retaining source and process-specific character, linked back to botanical provenance. We discussed the Maillard reaction products thus generated, a possible pathway for the preservation of degraded starch, while also assessing diagenetic recalcitrance and adsorption potential to mineral surfaces. In some cases, hydrothermal experimentation on starches without glycine reveals that the chemical complexity of the starch itself is sufficient to produce some Maillard reaction products. The article concludes that FTICR-MS offers a new analytical window to characterize starchy residue and its diagenetic products, and is able to recognize taxonomic signals with the potential to persist in fossil contexts.
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Tejero JM, Bar-Oz G, Bar-Yosef O, Meshveliani T, Jakeli N, Matskevich Z, Pinhasi R, Belfer-Cohen A. New insights into the Upper Palaeolithic of the Caucasus through the study of personal ornaments. Teeth and bones pendants from Satsurblia and Dzudzuana caves (Imereti, Georgia). PLoS One 2021; 16:e0258974. [PMID: 34748581 PMCID: PMC8575301 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 10/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The region of western Georgia (Imereti) in the Southern Caucasus has been a major geographic corridor for human migrations during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Data of recent research and excavations in this region display its importance as a possible route for the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) into northern Eurasia. Nevertheless, within the local research context, bone-working and personal ornaments have yet contributed but little to the Upper Palaeolithic (UP) regional sequence's characterization. Here we present an archaeozoological, technological and use-wear study of pendants from two local UP assemblages, originating in the Dzudzuana Cave and Satsurblia Cave. The ornaments were made mostly of perforated teeth, though some specimens were made on bone. Both the manufacturing marks made during preparation and use-wear traces indicate that they were personal ornaments, used as pendants or attached to garments. Detailed comparison between ornament assemblages from northern and southern Caucasus reveal that they are quite similar, supporting the observation of cultural bonds between the two regions, demonstrated previously through lithic techno-typological affinities. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance attributed to red deer (Cervus elaphus) by the UP societies of the Caucasus in sharing aesthetic values and/or a symbolic sphere.
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Affiliation(s)
- José-Miguel Tejero
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Seminari d’Estudis I Recerques Prehistòriques, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Guy Bar-Oz
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Ofer Bar-Yosef
- Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America
| | | | | | | | - Ron Pinhasi
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Anna Belfer-Cohen
- Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
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Unravelling the Taphonomic Stories of Bird Bones from the Middle Pleistocene Layer VIII of Grotte Vaufrey, France. QUATERNARY 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/quat4040030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
In recent years, several studies have significantly changed our knowledge concerning the use of birds by Neanderthals. However, what remains to be clarified is the geographical and chronological variability of this human behaviour. The present case study provides new information on this topic/debate. The Grotte Vaufrey was discovered during the 1930s and was excavated during different periods. Work carried out by J.-P. Rigaud during the 1980s motivated many multidisciplinary studies in the cave, but accurate studies were not focused on avian remains. In this work, we provide new data on the bird remains from layer VIII (MIS 7), which is the richest among all the sequences and which has an important Mousterian component. Corvids are predominant in the assemblage and are associated with medium-sized birds and small Passeriformes, among others. Most of the remains present modern fractures, which hinder taphonomic interpretation. However, some alterations associated with raptor or mammalian carnivore activities, together with the anatomical representation and age profile, suggest a non-human accumulation of the majority of the bird remains, especially in the case of corvids that naturally died in the cave. However, at least some bones show evidence of anthropic activity, suggesting the occasional use of large- and medium-sized birds by human populations.
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Benítez-Burraco A, Pörtl D, Jung C. Did Dog Domestication Contribute to Language Evolution? Front Psychol 2021; 12:695116. [PMID: 34589022 PMCID: PMC8473740 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.695116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Different factors seemingly account for the emergence of present-day languages in our species. Human self-domestication has been recently invoked as one important force favoring language complexity mostly via a cultural mechanism. Because our self-domestication ultimately resulted from selection for less aggressive behavior and increased prosocial behavior, any evolutionary or cultural change impacting on aggression levels is expected to have fostered this process. Here, we hypothesize about a parallel domestication of humans and dogs, and more specifically, about a positive effect of our interaction with dogs on human self-domestication, and ultimately, on aspects of language evolution, through the mechanisms involved in the control of aggression. We review evidence of diverse sort (ethological mostly, but also archeological, genetic, and physiological) supporting such an effect and propose some ways of testing our hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
| | - Daniela Pörtl
- Psychiatric Department, Saale-Unstrut Klinikum, Teaching Hospital Leipzig and Jena Universities, Naumburg, Germany
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Wilkins J. Homo sapiens origins and evolution in the Kalahari Basin, southern Africa. Evol Anthropol 2021; 30:327-344. [PMID: 34363428 PMCID: PMC8596755 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21914] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2020] [Revised: 02/26/2021] [Accepted: 06/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
The Kalahari Basin, southern Africa preserves a rich archeological record of human origins and evolution spanning the Early, Middle and Late Pleistocene. Since the 1930s, several stratified and dated archeological sites have been identified and investigated, together with numerous open-air localities that provide landscape-scale perspectives. However, next to recent discoveries from nearby coastal regions, the Kalahari Basin has remained peripheral to debates about the origins of Homo sapiens. Though the interior region of southern Africa is generally considered to be less suitable for hunter-gatherer occupation than coastal and near-coastal regions, especially during glacial periods, the archeological record documents human presence in the Kalahari Basin from the Early Pleistocene onwards, and the region is not abandoned during glacial phases. Furthermore, many significant behavioral innovations have an early origin in the Kalahari Basin, which adds support to poly-centric, pan-African models for the emergence of our species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jayne Wilkins
- Australian Research Centre for Human EvolutionGriffith UniversityBrisbaneAustralia
- Human Evolution Research Institute, University of Cape TownCape TownSouth Africa
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63
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Faulkner P, Miller JM, Quintana Morales EM, Crowther A, Shipton C, Ndiema E, Boivin N, Petraglia MD. 67,000 years of coastal engagement at Panga ya Saidi, eastern Africa. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0256761. [PMID: 34437643 PMCID: PMC8389378 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2021] [Accepted: 08/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The antiquity and nature of coastal resource procurement is central to understanding human evolution and adaptations to complex environments. It has become increasingly apparent in global archaeological studies that the timing, characteristics, and trajectories of coastal resource use are highly variable. Within Africa, discussions of these issues have largely been based on the archaeological record from the south and northeast of the continent, with little evidence from eastern coastal areas leaving significant spatial and temporal gaps in our knowledge. Here, we present data from Panga ya Saidi, a limestone cave complex located 15 km from the modern Kenyan coast, which represents the first long-term sequence of coastal engagement from eastern Africa. Rather than attempting to distinguish between coastal resource use and coastal adaptations, we focus on coastal engagement as a means of characterising human relationships with marine environments and resources from this inland location. We use aquatic mollusc data spanning the past 67,000 years to document shifts in the acquisition, transportation, and discard of these materials, to better understand long-term trends in coastal engagement. Our results show pulses of coastal engagement beginning with low-intensity symbolism, and culminating in the consistent low-level transport of marine and freshwater food resources, emphasising a diverse relationship through time. Panga ya Saidi has the oldest stratified evidence of marine engagement in eastern Africa, and is the only site in Africa which documents coastal resources from the Late Pleistocene through the Holocene, highlighting the potential archaeological importance of peri-coastal sites to debates about marine resource relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Faulkner
- Department of Archaeology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Jennifer M. Miller
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Eréndira M. Quintana Morales
- Department of Anthropology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, United States of America
| | - Alison Crowther
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Ceri Shipton
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Emmanuel Ndiema
- Department of Earth Sciences, Archaeology Section, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Michael D. Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
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Sterelny K. Foragers and Their Tools: Risk, Technology and Complexity. Top Cogn Sci 2021; 13:728-749. [PMID: 34291883 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2020] [Revised: 06/08/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The subsistence technology of forager communities has varied greatly over space and time. This paper (i) reviews briefly the main causal factors the literature identifies as responsible for this variation; (ii) analyzes in some detail the most prominent idea in the literature on spatial variation:Complex technology is an adaptive response to elevated risks of subsistence failure; (iii) it argues that the alleged empirical support for this hypothesis depends on dubious proxies of risk; (iv) it argues that it fails to explain the subsistence technologies of desert foragers, who generally live with simple technologies in high-risk environments; (v) it offers an alternative analysis, based on the reduced opportunity costs of complex technologies in highly seasonal environments, on the high value of typical forager targets in those environments and their relatively predictable location in space and time; and (v) the paper concludes with a conjecture about the role of environmental variation in toolkit change over deep time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kim Sterelny
- School of Philosophy, RSSS, Australian National University
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65
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Mercader J, Clarke S, Itambu M, Mohamed A, Mwitondi M, Siljedal G, Soto M, Bushozi P. Phytolith Palaeoenvironments at Mumba Rock Shelter. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.699609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The rock shelter site of Mumba in northern Tanzania plays a pivotal role in the overall study of the late Pleistocene archaeology of East Africa with an emphasis on the Middle to Later Stone Age transition. We used phytolith analysis to reconstruct general plant habitat physiognomy around the site from the onset of the late Pleistocene to recent times, tallying 4246 individual phytoliths from 19 archaeological samples. Statistical analysis explored phytolith richness, diversity, dominance, and evenness, along with principal components to compare phytolith distributions over the site’s sequence with known plant habitats today. Generally, the phytolith record of Mumba signifies paleoenvironments with analogs in the Somalia – Masai bushland and grassland, as well as Zambezian woodlands.
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66
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Will M, Krapp M, Stock JT, Manica A. Different environmental variables predict body and brain size evolution in Homo. Nat Commun 2021; 12:4116. [PMID: 34238930 PMCID: PMC8266824 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24290-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2020] [Accepted: 06/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Increasing body and brain size constitutes a key macro-evolutionary pattern in the hominin lineage, yet the mechanisms behind these changes remain debated. Hypothesized drivers include environmental, demographic, social, dietary, and technological factors. Here we test the influence of environmental factors on the evolution of body and brain size in the genus Homo over the last one million years using a large fossil dataset combined with global paleoclimatic reconstructions and formalized hypotheses tested in a quantitative statistical framework. We identify temperature as a major predictor of body size variation within Homo, in accordance with Bergmann's rule. In contrast, net primary productivity of environments and long-term variability in precipitation correlate with brain size but explain low amounts of the observed variation. These associations are likely due to an indirect environmental influence on cognitive abilities and extinction probabilities. Most environmental factors that we test do not correspond with body and brain size evolution, pointing towards complex scenarios which underlie the evolution of key biological characteristics in later Homo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Will
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Mario Krapp
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- GNS Science, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
| | - Jay T Stock
- Department of Anthropology, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Andrea Manica
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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67
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Gürbüz RB, Lycett SJ. Could woodworking have driven lithic tool selection? J Hum Evol 2021; 156:102999. [PMID: 34022498 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Revised: 02/25/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Understanding early stone tools, particularly relationships between form and function, is fundamental to understanding the behavioral evolution of early hominins. The oldest-claimed flake tools date to ca. 3.3 million years ago, and their development may represent a key step in hominin evolution. Flake form, and its relationship to function, has long been a focus of Paleolithic studies, almost exclusively with respect to meat acquisition. However, evidence for woodworking is now known from sites dating to 1.5 Ma. Additionally, Pan troglodytes are known to manufacture wooden tools for hunting and foraging, thus creating a phylogenetic (parsimony) argument for more ancient woodworking. However, few studies examining woodworking and Paleolithic tools have been completed to date. Indeed, it remains an open question whether woodworking may have instigated specific selective demands on the form of early stone tools. Here, we conducted an experiment testing the comparative woodworking efficiency (measured by time) of small and large flakes. Two groups of participants used either a relatively small or large unretouched flake to remove a predefined area from standardized samples of wood. Those using larger flakes were significantly more efficient (i.e., required less time) during this woodworking task. Our results demonstrate that larger flakes could have been preferentially chosen by hominins for woodworking, consistent with previous data generated experimentally in other (non-woodworking) tasks. Moreover, the production of relatively large flakes, such as those at Lomekwi, could have been motivated by woodworking, rather than, or in addition to, butchery. Such issues may also have encouraged the use of Levallois production strategies in later times.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Biermann Gürbüz
- Department of Anthropology, Ellicott Complex, 380 Academic Center, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14261, USA.
| | - Stephen J Lycett
- Department of Anthropology, Ellicott Complex, 380 Academic Center, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14261, USA
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68
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Louys J, Braje TJ, Chang CH, Cosgrove R, Fitzpatrick SM, Fujita M, Hawkins S, Ingicco T, Kawamura A, MacPhee RDE, McDowell MC, Meijer HJM, Piper PJ, Roberts P, Simmons AH, van den Bergh G, van der Geer A, Kealy S, O'Connor S. No evidence for widespread island extinctions after Pleistocene hominin arrival. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2023005118. [PMID: 33941645 PMCID: PMC8157961 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2023005118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The arrival of modern humans into previously unoccupied island ecosystems is closely linked to widespread extinction, and a key reason cited for Pleistocene megafauna extinction is anthropogenic overhunting. A common assumption based on late Holocene records is that humans always negatively impact insular biotas, which requires an extrapolation of recent human behavior and technology into the archaeological past. Hominins have been on islands since at least the early Pleistocene and Homo sapiens for at least 50 thousand y (ka). Over such lengthy intervals it is scarcely surprising that significant evolutionary, behavioral, and cultural changes occurred. However, the deep-time link between human arrival and island extinctions has never been explored globally. Here, we examine archaeological and paleontological records of all Pleistocene islands with a documented hominin presence to examine whether humans have always been destructive agents. We show that extinctions at a global level cannot be associated with Pleistocene hominin arrival based on current data and are difficult to disentangle from records of environmental change. It is not until the Holocene that large-scale changes in technology, dispersal, demography, and human behavior visibly affect island ecosystems. The extinction acceleration we are currently experiencing is thus not inherent but rather part of a more recent cultural complex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julien Louys
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia;
- Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Todd J Braje
- Department of Anthropology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 5500
| | - Chun-Hsiang Chang
- Department of Geology, National Museum of Natural Science, 404 Taichung City, Taiwan
| | - Richard Cosgrove
- Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia
| | - Scott M Fitzpatrick
- Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
- Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
| | - Masaki Fujita
- Department of Zoology, National Museum of Nature and Science, 110-8718 Tokyo, Japan
| | - Stuart Hawkins
- Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Thomas Ingicco
- Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle de Paris, UMR 7194, Département Homme et Environnement, Sorbonne Universités, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Ai Kawamura
- Faculty of Education, University of Toyama, 930-8555 Toyama, Japan
| | - Ross D E MacPhee
- Division of Vertebrate Zoology/Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024
| | - Matthew C McDowell
- College of Sciences and Engineering, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7005, Australia
- Field Museum of Natural History, Science and Education, Earth Sciences, Chicago, IL 60605
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
| | - Hanneke J M Meijer
- University Museum of Bergen, Department of Natural History, University of Bergen, 5007 Bergen Norway
- Human Origins Program, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20002
| | - Philip J Piper
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745 Jena, Germany
- School of Social Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Alan H Simmons
- Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada and Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV 89512
| | - Gerrit van den Bergh
- Centre for Archaeological Science, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
| | - Alexandra van der Geer
- Vertebrate Evolution, Development and Ecology, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, 2333 CR Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Shimona Kealy
- Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Sue O'Connor
- Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
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69
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Humphrey L. A child's grave is the earliest known burial site in Africa. Nature 2021; 593:39-40. [PMID: 33953405 DOI: 10.1038/d41586-021-00805-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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70
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Basava K, Zhang H, Mace R. A phylogenetic analysis of revolution and afterlife beliefs. Nat Hum Behav 2021; 5:604-611. [PMID: 33398146 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-01013-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2019] [Accepted: 11/12/2020] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
Beliefs about the fate of humanity and the soul after death may structure behaviours of religious groups. Here we test theories from religious studies: that belief in an imminent apocalypse co-evolved with and facilitated revolutionary violence, whereas belief in reincarnation caused people to acquiesce to existing social orders and withdraw from political activism. We test these hypotheses by building a cultural phylogeny of historical Islamic sects and schools from the seventh to twentieth centuries and use phylogenetic comparative methods to show that these two types of belief display distinct relationships with intergroup violence. There is substantial evidence that apocalyptic beliefs co-evolved with revolutionary violence, whereas reincarnation beliefs were evolutionarily stable in peaceful groups. In both cases, violence precedes the emergence of beliefs, which suggests that conditions that generate revolutionary violence changed beliefs rather than beliefs generating violence. We also found that apocalyptic beliefs are associated with accelerated group extinction, although causal relationships cannot be determined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kiran Basava
- Dept of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK.,Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Hanzhi Zhang
- Dept of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK.
| | - Ruth Mace
- Dept of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
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71
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Martinón-Torres M, d'Errico F, Santos E, Álvaro Gallo A, Amano N, Archer W, Armitage SJ, Arsuaga JL, Bermúdez de Castro JM, Blinkhorn J, Crowther A, Douka K, Dubernet S, Faulkner P, Fernández-Colón P, Kourampas N, González García J, Larreina D, Le Bourdonnec FX, MacLeod G, Martín-Francés L, Massilani D, Mercader J, Miller JM, Ndiema E, Notario B, Pitarch Martí A, Prendergast ME, Queffelec A, Rigaud S, Roberts P, Shoaee MJ, Shipton C, Simpson I, Boivin N, Petraglia MD. Earliest known human burial in Africa. Nature 2021; 593:95-100. [PMID: 33953416 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03457-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2020] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
The origin and evolution of hominin mortuary practices are topics of intense interest and debate1-3. Human burials dated to the Middle Stone Age (MSA) are exceedingly rare in Africa and unknown in East Africa1-6. Here we describe the partial skeleton of a roughly 2.5- to 3.0-year-old child dating to 78.3 ± 4.1 thousand years ago, which was recovered in the MSA layers of Panga ya Saidi (PYS), a cave site in the tropical upland coast of Kenya7,8. Recent excavations have revealed a pit feature containing a child in a flexed position. Geochemical, granulometric and micromorphological analyses of the burial pit content and encasing archaeological layers indicate that the pit was deliberately excavated. Taphonomical evidence, such as the strict articulation or good anatomical association of the skeletal elements and histological evidence of putrefaction, support the in-place decomposition of the fresh body. The presence of little or no displacement of the unstable joints during decomposition points to an interment in a filled space (grave earth), making the PYS finding the oldest known human burial in Africa. The morphological assessment of the partial skeleton is consistent with its assignment to Homo sapiens, although the preservation of some primitive features in the dentition supports increasing evidence for non-gradual assembly of modern traits during the emergence of our species. The PYS burial sheds light on how MSA populations interacted with the dead.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Martinón-Torres
- CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution), Burgos, Spain. .,Anthropology Department, University College London, London, UK.
| | - Francesco d'Errico
- UMR 5199 CNRS De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université Bordeaux, Talence, France.,SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Elena Santos
- Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.,Cátedra de Otoacústica Evolutiva y Paleoantropología (HM Hospitales - Universidad de Alcalá), Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain
| | - Ana Álvaro Gallo
- CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution), Burgos, Spain
| | - Noel Amano
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - William Archer
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa.,Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.,Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Simon J Armitage
- SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK
| | - Juan Luis Arsuaga
- Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - José María Bermúdez de Castro
- CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution), Burgos, Spain.,Anthropology Department, University College London, London, UK
| | - James Blinkhorn
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.,Pan-African Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Alison Crowther
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Katerina Douka
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Stéphan Dubernet
- UMR 5060 CNRS-Université Bordeaux Montaigne IRAMAT-CRP2A: Institut de recherche sur les Archéomatériaux - Centre de recherche en physique appliquée à l'archéologie, Maison de l'archéologie, Pessac, France
| | - Patrick Faulkner
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Department of Archaeology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | | | - Nikos Kourampas
- Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.,Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
| | - Jorge González García
- 3D Applications Engineer and Heritage Specialist Digital Heritage and Humanities Collections, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - David Larreina
- CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution), Burgos, Spain
| | - François-Xavier Le Bourdonnec
- UMR 5060 CNRS-Université Bordeaux Montaigne IRAMAT-CRP2A: Institut de recherche sur les Archéomatériaux - Centre de recherche en physique appliquée à l'archéologie, Maison de l'archéologie, Pessac, France
| | - George MacLeod
- Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
| | - Laura Martín-Francés
- CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution), Burgos, Spain.,Anthropology Department, University College London, London, UK
| | - Diyendo Massilani
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Julio Mercader
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Jennifer M Miller
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Emmanuel Ndiema
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,National Museums of Kenya, Department of Earth Sciences, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Belén Notario
- CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution), Burgos, Spain
| | - Africa Pitarch Martí
- UMR 5199 CNRS De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université Bordeaux, Talence, France.,Seminari d'Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques (SERP), Facultat de Geografia i Història, Departament d'Història i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Alain Queffelec
- UMR 5199 CNRS De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université Bordeaux, Talence, France
| | - Solange Rigaud
- UMR 5199 CNRS De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université Bordeaux, Talence, France
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Mohammad Javad Shoaee
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Ceri Shipton
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, UK.,Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Ian Simpson
- Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany. .,School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. .,Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. .,Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.
| | - Michael D Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany. .,School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. .,Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. .,Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
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72
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Thompson JC, Wright DK, Ivory SJ, Choi JH, Nightingale S, Mackay A, Schilt F, Otárola-Castillo E, Mercader J, Forman SL, Pietsch T, Cohen AS, Arrowsmith JR, Welling M, Davis J, Schiery B, Kaliba P, Malijani O, Blome MW, O'Driscoll CA, Mentzer SM, Miller C, Heo S, Choi J, Tembo J, Mapemba F, Simengwa D, Gomani-Chindebvu E. Early human impacts and ecosystem reorganization in southern-central Africa. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:7/19/eabf9776. [PMID: 33952528 PMCID: PMC8099189 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abf9776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2020] [Accepted: 03/17/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Modern Homo sapiens engage in substantial ecosystem modification, but it is difficult to detect the origins or early consequences of these behaviors. Archaeological, geochronological, geomorphological, and paleoenvironmental data from northern Malawi document a changing relationship between forager presence, ecosystem organization, and alluvial fan formation in the Late Pleistocene. Dense concentrations of Middle Stone Age artifacts and alluvial fan systems formed after ca. 92 thousand years ago, within a paleoecological context with no analog in the preceding half-million-year record. Archaeological data and principal coordinates analysis indicate that early anthropogenic fire relaxed seasonal constraints on ignitions, influencing vegetation composition and erosion. This operated in tandem with climate-driven changes in precipitation to culminate in an ecological transition to an early, pre-agricultural anthropogenic landscape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica C Thompson
- Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
- Institute of Human Origins, P.O. Box 874101, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - David K Wright
- Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
- State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xian, China
| | - Sarah J Ivory
- Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
| | - Jeong-Heon Choi
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Korea Basic Science Institute, Ochang, Republic of Korea
| | - Sheila Nightingale
- Department of Anthropology, City University of New York, Graduate Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Alex Mackay
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
| | - Flora Schilt
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences and Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Universidade do Algarve, Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB), FCHS, Campus Gambelas, J27, Faro 8005-139, Portugal
| | | | - Julio Mercader
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona Educacional, 4-Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain
| | | | - Timothy Pietsch
- Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Andrew S Cohen
- Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - J Ramón Arrowsmith
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Menno Welling
- Reinwardt Academy, Amsterdam University of the Arts, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- African Heritage Ltd., Box 622, Zomba, Malawi
| | | | | | - Potiphar Kaliba
- Malawi Department of Museums and Monuments, Lilongwe, Malawi
| | - Oris Malijani
- Malawi Department of Museums and Monuments, Lilongwe, Malawi
| | - Margaret W Blome
- Department of Geological Sciences, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA
| | - Corey A O'Driscoll
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
| | - Susan M Mentzer
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences and Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Christopher Miller
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences and Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Seoyoung Heo
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Korea Basic Science Institute, Ochang, Republic of Korea
| | - Jungyu Choi
- Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Gyeongju, Republic of Korea
| | - Joseph Tembo
- Malawi Department of Museums and Monuments, Lilongwe, Malawi
| | | | - Davie Simengwa
- Lanujos Social Research and Consultancy, Blantyre, Malawi
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73
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Ibrahim ME. Genetic diversity of the Sudanese: insights on origin and implications for health. Hum Mol Genet 2021; 30:R37-R41. [PMID: 33864377 PMCID: PMC8223596 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddab028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2020] [Revised: 01/14/2021] [Accepted: 01/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
By virtue of their cultural, linguistic and genetic legacies, many populations from Sudan have deep histories in the region and retain high genetic diversities. Sudan’s location in north east Africa, a unique spot believed to act as a climatic refuge during periods of climate extremes, might have dictated that fate. Among the marked consequences of this diversity is the potential to provide information on the origin and structure of human populations within and outside the continent, as well as migration patterns towards various parts of the African continent, and out of Africa. The diverse Sudanese gene pool further has the potential to inform on genetic adaptations driven by culture and the environment resulting in unique and interesting traits, some of which are yet to be investigated. In addition, these genomes could offer clues to complex issues of causation amidst the challenge of new paradigms in biology underpinned by the genomic revolution.
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74
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Wilkins J, Schoville BJ, Pickering R, Gliganic L, Collins B, Brown KS, von der Meden J, Khumalo W, Meyer MC, Maape S, Blackwood AF, Hatton A. Innovative Homo sapiens behaviours 105,000 years ago in a wetter Kalahari. Nature 2021; 592:248-252. [DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03419-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2020] [Accepted: 03/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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75
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Wassiliwizky E, Menninghaus W. Why and How Should Cognitive Science Care about Aesthetics? Trends Cogn Sci 2021; 25:437-449. [PMID: 33810983 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2021.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 02/18/2021] [Accepted: 03/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Empirical aesthetics has found its way into mainstream cognitive science. Until now, most research has focused either on identifying the internal processes that underlie a perceiver's aesthetic experience or on identifying the stimulus features that lead to a specific type of aesthetic experience. To progress, empirical aesthetics must integrate these approaches into a unified paradigm that encourages researchers to think in terms of temporal dynamics and interactions between: (i) the stimulus and the perceiver; (ii) different systems within the perceiver; and (iii) different layers of the stimulus. At this critical moment, empirical aesthetics must also clearly identify and define its key concepts, sketch out its agenda, and specify its approach to grow into a coherent and distinct discipline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eugen Wassiliwizky
- Department of Language and Literature, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Grueneburgweg 14, 60322 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
| | - Winfried Menninghaus
- Department of Language and Literature, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Grueneburgweg 14, 60322 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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Karakostis FA, Harvati K. New horizons in reconstructing past human behavior: Introducing the "Tübingen University Validated Entheses-based Reconstruction of Activity" method. Evol Anthropol 2021; 30:185-198. [PMID: 33764627 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21892] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2020] [Revised: 09/28/2020] [Accepted: 03/03/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
An accurate reconstruction of habitual activities in past populations and extinct hominin species is a paramount goal of paleoanthropological research, as it can elucidate the evolution of human behavior and the relationship between culture and biology. Variation in muscle attachment (entheseal) morphology has been considered an indicator of habitual activity, and many attempts have been made to use it for this purpose. However, its interpretation remains equivocal due to methodological shortcomings and a paucity of supportive experimental data. Through a series of studies, we have introduced a novel and precise methodology that focuses on reconstructing muscle synergies based on three-dimensional and multivariate analyses among entheses. This approach was validated using uniquely documented anthropological samples, experimental animal studies, histological observations, and geometric morphometrics. Here, we detail, synthesize, and critically discuss the findings of these studies, which overall point to the great potential of entheses in elucidating aspects of past human behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fotios Alexandros Karakostis
- DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) Center for Advanced Studies "Words, Bones, Genes, Tools," Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Katerina Harvati
- DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) Center for Advanced Studies "Words, Bones, Genes, Tools," Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,Paleoanthropology, Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, Institute of Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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77
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Korteling JE(H, van de Boer-Visschedijk GC, Blankendaal RAM, Boonekamp RC, Eikelboom AR. Human- versus Artificial Intelligence. Front Artif Intell 2021; 4:622364. [PMID: 33981990 PMCID: PMC8108480 DOI: 10.3389/frai.2021.622364] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2020] [Accepted: 02/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
AI is one of the most debated subjects of today and there seems little common understanding concerning the differences and similarities of human intelligence and artificial intelligence. Discussions on many relevant topics, such as trustworthiness, explainability, and ethics are characterized by implicit anthropocentric and anthropomorphistic conceptions and, for instance, the pursuit of human-like intelligence as the golden standard for Artificial Intelligence. In order to provide more agreement and to substantiate possible future research objectives, this paper presents three notions on the similarities and differences between human- and artificial intelligence: 1) the fundamental constraints of human (and artificial) intelligence, 2) human intelligence as one of many possible forms of general intelligence, and 3) the high potential impact of multiple (integrated) forms of narrow-hybrid AI applications. For the time being, AI systems will have fundamentally different cognitive qualities and abilities than biological systems. For this reason, a most prominent issue is how we can use (and "collaborate" with) these systems as effectively as possible? For what tasks and under what conditions, decisions are safe to leave to AI and when is human judgment required? How can we capitalize on the specific strengths of human- and artificial intelligence? How to deploy AI systems effectively to complement and compensate for the inherent constraints of human cognition (and vice versa)? Should we pursue the development of AI "partners" with human (-level) intelligence or should we focus more at supplementing human limitations? In order to answer these questions, humans working with AI systems in the workplace or in policy making have to develop an adequate mental model of the underlying 'psychological' mechanisms of AI. So, in order to obtain well-functioning human-AI systems, Intelligence Awareness in humans should be addressed more vigorously. For this purpose a first framework for educational content is proposed.
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78
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Dong Y, Li C, Kim K, Cui L, Liu X. Genome annotation of disease-causing microorganisms. Brief Bioinform 2021; 22:845-854. [PMID: 33537706 PMCID: PMC7986607 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbab004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2020] [Revised: 12/23/2020] [Accepted: 01/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans have coexisted with pathogenic microorganisms throughout its history of evolution. We have never halted the exploration of pathogenic microorganisms. With the improvement of genome-sequencing technology and the continuous reduction of sequencing costs, an increasing number of complete genome sequences of pathogenic microorganisms have become available. Genome annotation of this massive sequence information has become a daunting task in biological research. This paper summarizes the approaches to the genome annotation of pathogenic microorganisms and the available popular genome annotation tools for prokaryotes, eukaryotes and viruses. Furthermore, real-world comparisons of different annotation tools using 12 genomes from prokaryotes, eukaryotes and viruses were conducted. Current challenges and problems were also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yibo Dong
- College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Chang Li
- College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Kami Kim
- Division of Infectious Disease and International Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Liwang Cui
- Division of Infectious Disease and International Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Xiaoming Liu
- College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
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79
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Douze K, Lespez L, Rasse M, Tribolo C, Garnier A, Lebrun B, Mercier N, Ndiaye M, Chevrier B, Huysecom E. A West African Middle Stone Age site dated to the beginning of MIS 5: Archaeology, chronology, and paleoenvironment of the Ravin Blanc I (eastern Senegal). J Hum Evol 2021; 154:102952. [PMID: 33751962 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Revised: 01/19/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The Ravin Blanc I archaeological occurrence, dated to MIS 5, provides unprecedented data on the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of West Africa since well-contextualized archaeological sites pre-dating MIS 4/3 are extremely rare for this region. The combined approach on geomorphology, phytolith analysis, and OSL date estimations offers a solid framework for the MSA industry comprised in the Ravin Blanc I sedimentary sequence. The paleoenvironmental reconstruction further emphasizes on the local effects of the global increase in moisture characterizing the beginning of the Upper Pleistocene as well as the later shift to more arid conditions. The lithic industry, comprised in the lower part of the sequence and dated to MIS 5e, shows core reduction sequences among which Levallois methods are minor, as well as an original tool-kit composition, among which pieces with single wide abrupt notches, side-scrapers made by inverse retouch, and a few large crudely shaped bifacial tools. The Ravin Blanc I assemblage has neither a chronologically equivalent site to serve comparisons nor a clear techno-typological correspondent in West Africa. However, the industry represents an early MSA technology that could either retain influences from the southern West African 'Sangoan' or show reminiscences of the preceding local Acheulean. A larger-scale assessment of behavioral dynamics at work at the transition period between the Middle to Upper Pleistocene is discussed in view of integrating this new site to the global perception of this important period in the MSA evolutionary trajectories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katja Douze
- Laboratory of Archaeology and Population in Africa, Anthropology Unit, Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, 1205 Genève, Switzerland.
| | - Laurent Lespez
- Laboratory of Physical Geography (LGP), CNRS-UMR 8591, Department of Geography, University Paris-Est Creteil, 1 Place Aristide Briand, 920195 Meudon, France
| | - Michel Rasse
- Laboratory Archéorient, CNRS-UMR 5133, Maison de L'Orient et de La Méditerranée, University of Lyon II, 7 Rue Raulin, 69007 Lyon, France
| | - Chantal Tribolo
- Research Institute on Archaeological Materials-Centre of Research on Physics Applied to Archaeology (IRAMAT-CRP2A), CNRS-UMR 5060, University Bordeaux-Montaigne, Esplanade des Antilles, F-33607 Pessac Cedex, France
| | - Aline Garnier
- Laboratory of Physical Geography (LGP), CNRS-UMR 8591, Department of Geography, University Paris-Est Creteil, 1 Place Aristide Briand, 920195 Meudon, France
| | - Brice Lebrun
- Research Institute on Archaeological Materials-Centre of Research on Physics Applied to Archaeology (IRAMAT-CRP2A), CNRS-UMR 5060, University Bordeaux-Montaigne, Esplanade des Antilles, F-33607 Pessac Cedex, France
| | - Norbert Mercier
- Research Institute on Archaeological Materials-Centre of Research on Physics Applied to Archaeology (IRAMAT-CRP2A), CNRS-UMR 5060, University Bordeaux-Montaigne, Esplanade des Antilles, F-33607 Pessac Cedex, France
| | - Matar Ndiaye
- Laboratory of Prehistory and Protohistory, Institut Fondamental D'Afrique Noire, University of Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, 33 Route de La Corniche Ouest, Dakar, Senegal
| | - Benoît Chevrier
- Laboratory of Archaeology and Population in Africa, Anthropology Unit, Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, 1205 Genève, Switzerland
| | - Eric Huysecom
- Laboratory of Archaeology and Population in Africa, Anthropology Unit, Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, 1205 Genève, Switzerland
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80
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Stabilization of cultural innovations depends on population density: Testing an epidemiological model of cultural evolution against a global dataset of rock art sites and climate-based estimates of ancient population densities. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0247973. [PMID: 33730059 PMCID: PMC7968670 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2019] [Accepted: 02/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Demographic models of human cultural evolution have high explanatory potential but weak empirical support. Here we use a global dataset of rock art sites and climate and genetics-based estimates of ancient population densities to test a new model based on epidemiological principles. The model focuses on the process whereby a cultural innovation becomes endemic in a population, predicting that this cannot occur unless population density exceeds a critical threshold. Analysis of the data, using a Bayesian statistical framework, shows that the model has stronger empirical support than a proportional model, where detection is directly proportional to population density, or a null model, where rock art detection ratios and population density are independent. Results for different geographical areas and periods are compatible with the predictions of the model and confirm its superiority with respect to the null model. Re-analysis of the rock art data, using a second set of independent population estimates, again supports the superiority of the model. Although the available data is sparse and the analysis cannot exclude all possible sources of bias, this is evidence that population density above a critical threshold may be a necessary condition for the maintenance of rock art as a stable part of a population’s cultural repertoire. Methods similar to those described can be used to test the model for other classes of archaeological artifact and to compare it against other models.
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81
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Ben-Dor M, Sirtoli R, Barkai R. The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2021; 175 Suppl 72:27-56. [PMID: 33675083 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Revised: 12/07/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The human trophic level (HTL) during the Pleistocene and its degree of variability serve, explicitly or tacitly, as the basis of many explanations for human evolution, behavior, and culture. Previous attempts to reconstruct the HTL have relied heavily on an analogy with recent hunter-gatherer groups' diets. In addition to technological differences, recent findings of substantial ecological differences between the Pleistocene and the Anthropocene cast doubt regarding that analogy's validity. Surprisingly little systematic evolution-guided evidence served to reconstruct HTL. Here, we reconstruct the HTL during the Pleistocene by reviewing evidence for the impact of the HTL on the biological, ecological, and behavioral systems derived from various existing studies. We adapt a paleobiological and paleoecological approach, including evidence from human physiology and genetics, archaeology, paleontology, and zoology, and identified 25 sources of evidence in total. The evidence shows that the trophic level of the Homo lineage that most probably led to modern humans evolved from a low base to a high, carnivorous position during the Pleistocene, beginning with Homo habilis and peaking in Homo erectus. A reversal of that trend appears in the Upper Paleolithic, strengthening in the Mesolithic/Epipaleolithic and Neolithic, and culminating with the advent of agriculture. We conclude that it is possible to reach a credible reconstruction of the HTL without relying on a simple analogy with recent hunter-gatherers' diets. The memory of an adaptation to a trophic level that is embedded in modern humans' biology in the form of genetics, metabolism, and morphology is a fruitful line of investigation of past HTLs, whose potential we have only started to explore.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miki Ben-Dor
- Department of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | | | - Ran Barkai
- Department of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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82
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Affiliation(s)
- Jane Cho
- Department of Library and Information Science, Institute of Social Sciences, Incheon National University, Incheon, Republic of Korea
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83
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Invasive and Non-Invasive Analyses of Ochre and Iron-Based Pigment Raw Materials: A Methodological Perspective. MINERALS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/min11020210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Naturally occurring and deeply coloured iron-bearing materials were exploited very early on by human populations. The characterization of these materials has proven useful for addressing several archaeological issues, such as the study of technical behaviors, group mobility, and the reconstruction of cultural dynamics. However, this work poses some critical methodological questions. In this paper, we will review ochre studies by focusing on the analytical methods employed, the limits of non-invasive methods, as well as examples of some quality research addressing specific issues (raw material selection and provenience, heat treatment). We will then present a methodological approach that aims to identify the instrumental limits and the post-depositional alterations that significantly impact the results of the non-invasive analysis of cohesive ochre fragments from Diepkloof rock Shelter, South Africa. We used ochre materials recuperated in both archaeological and geological contexts, and we compared non-invasive surface analyses by XRD, scanning electron microscopy coupled with dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDXS), and particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) with invasive analysis of powder pellets and sections from the same samples. We conclude that non-invasive SEM-EDXS and PIXE analyses provide non-representative results when the number of measurements is too low and that post-depositional alterations cause significant changes in the mineralogical and major element composition at the surface of archaeological pieces. Such biases, now identified, must be taken into account in future studies in order to propose a rigorous framework for developing archaeological inferences.
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84
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Kissel M, Fuentes A. The ripples of modernity: How we can extend paleoanthropology with the extended evolutionary synthesis. Evol Anthropol 2021; 30:84-98. [PMID: 33547734 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21883] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2019] [Revised: 09/05/2020] [Accepted: 01/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Contemporary understandings of paleoanthropological data illustrate that the search for a line defining, or a specific point designating, "modern human" is problematic. Here we lend support to the argument for the need to look for patterns in the paleoanthropological record that indicate how multiple evolutionary processes intersected to form the human niche, a concept critical to assessing the development and processes involved in the emergence of a contemporary human phenotype. We suggest that incorporating key elements of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) into our endeavors offers a better and more integrative toolkit for modeling and assessing the evolution of the genus Homo. To illustrate our points, we highlight how aspects of the genetic exchanges, morphology, and material culture of the later Pleistocene complicate the concept of "modern" human behavior and suggest that multiple evolutionary patterns, processes, and pathways intersected to form the human niche.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Kissel
- Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, USA
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85
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Osman MM, Hassan HY, Elnour MA, Makkan H, Gebremeskel EI, Gais T, Koko ME, Soodyall H, Ibrahim ME. Mitochondrial HVRI and whole mitogenome sequence variations portray similar scenarios on the genetic structure and ancestry of northeast Africans. Meta Gene 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.mgene.2020.100837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022] Open
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86
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Shennan S, Sear R. Archaeology, demography and life history theory together can help us explain past and present population patterns. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20190711. [PMID: 33250034 PMCID: PMC7741108 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0711] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Population matters. Demographic patterns are both a cause and a consequence of human behaviour in other important domains, such as subsistence, cooperation, politics and culture. Demographers interested in contemporary and recent historical populations have rich data at their fingertips; the importance of demography means many interested parties have gathered demographic data, much of which is now readily available for all to explore. Those interested in the demography of the distant past are not so fortunate, given the lack of written records. Nevertheless, the emergence in recent years of a new interest in the demography of ancient populations has seen the development of a range of new methods for piecing together archaeological, skeletal and DNA evidence to reconstruct past population patterns. These efforts have found evidence in support of the view that the relatively low long-term population growth rates of prehistoric human populations, albeit ultimately conditioned by carrying capacities, may have been owing to 'boom-bust' cycles at the regional level; rapid population growth, followed by population decline. In fact, this archaeological research may have come to the same conclusion as some contemporary demographers: that demography can be remarkably hard to predict, at least in the short term. It also fits with evidence from biology that primates, and particularly humans, may be adapted to environmental variability, leading to associated demographic stochasticity. This evidence of the fluctuating nature of human demographic patterns may be of considerable significance in understanding our species' evolution, and of understanding what our species future demographic trajectories might be. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Shennan
- Department of Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Rebecca Sear
- Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK
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87
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Abstract
The African Middle Stone Age (MSA, typically considered to span ca. 300–30 thousand years ago [ka]), represents our species’ first and longest lasting cultural phase. Although the MSA to Later Stone Age (LSA) transition is known to have had a degree of spatial and temporal variability, recent studies have implied that in some regions, the MSA persisted well beyond 30 ka. Here we report two new sites in Senegal that date the end of the MSA to around 11 ka, the youngest yet documented MSA in Africa. This shows that this cultural phase persisted into the Holocene. These results highlight significant spatial and temporal cultural variability in the African Late Pleistocene, consistent with genomic and palaeoanthropological hypotheses that significant, long-standing inter-group cultural differences shaped the later stages of human evolution in Africa.
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88
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SAITO A. ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ARTISTIC MIND: FROM EVOLUTIONARY AND DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVES. PSYCHOLOGIA 2021. [DOI: 10.2117/psysoc.2021-b018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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89
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90
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González-Molina I, Jiménez-García B, Maíllo-Fernández JM, Baquedano E, Domínguez-Rodrigo M. Distinguishing Discoid and Centripetal Levallois methods through machine learning. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0244288. [PMID: 33362257 PMCID: PMC7757815 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2020] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
In this paper, we apply Machine Learning (ML) algorithms to study the differences between Discoid and Centripetal Levallois methods. For this purpose, we have used experimentally knapped flint flakes, measuring several parameters that have been analyzed by seven ML algorithms. From these analyses, it has been possible to demonstrate the existence of statistically significant differences between Discoid products and Centripetal Levallois products, thus contributing with new data and a new method to this traditional debate. The new approach enabled differentiating the blanks created by both knapping methods with an accuracy >80% using only ten typometric variables. The most relevant variables were maximum length, width to the 25%, 50% and 75% of the flake length, external and internal platform angles, maximum width and number of dorsal scars. This study also demonstrates the advantages of the application of multivariate ML methods to lithic studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene González-Molina
- IDEA, Institute of Evolution in Africa, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
- * E-mail: (IGM); (BJG); (JMMF); (EB); (MDR)
| | - Blanca Jiménez-García
- IDEA, Institute of Evolution in Africa, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
- Artificial Intelligence Department, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, UNED, Madrid, Spain
- * E-mail: (IGM); (BJG); (JMMF); (EB); (MDR)
| | - José-Manuel Maíllo-Fernández
- IDEA, Institute of Evolution in Africa, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
- Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, UNED, Madrid, Spain
- * E-mail: (IGM); (BJG); (JMMF); (EB); (MDR)
| | - Enrique Baquedano
- IDEA, Institute of Evolution in Africa, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
- Museo Arqueológico Regional, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
- * E-mail: (IGM); (BJG); (JMMF); (EB); (MDR)
| | - Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo
- IDEA, Institute of Evolution in Africa, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
- * E-mail: (IGM); (BJG); (JMMF); (EB); (MDR)
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91
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Thompson JC, Wright DK, Ivory SJ. The emergence and intensification of early hunter-gatherer niche construction. Evol Anthropol 2020; 30:17-27. [PMID: 33341104 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2019] [Revised: 03/31/2020] [Accepted: 08/30/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Hunter-gatherers, especially Pleistocene examples, are not well-represented in archeological studies of niche construction. However, as the role of humans in shaping environments over long time scales becomes increasingly apparent, it is critical to develop archeological proxies and testable hypotheses about early hunter-gatherer impacts. Modern foragers engage in niche constructive behaviors aimed at maintaining or increasing the productivity of their environments, and these may have had significant ecological consequences over later human evolution. In some cases, they may also represent behaviors unique to modern Homo sapiens. Archeological and paleoenvironmental data show that African hunter-gatherers were niche constructors in diverse environments, which have legacies in how ecosystems function today. These can be conceptualized as behaviorally mediated trophic cascades, and tested using archeological and paleoenvironmental proxies. Thus, large-scale niche construction behavior is possible to identify at deeper time scales, and may be key to understanding the emergence of modern humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica C Thompson
- Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - David K Wright
- Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, China
| | - Sarah J Ivory
- Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Sciences Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
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92
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Árnason Ú, Hallström B. The reversal of human phylogeny: Homo left Africa as erectus, came back as sapiens sapiens. Hereditas 2020; 157:51. [PMID: 33341120 PMCID: PMC7749984 DOI: 10.1186/s41065-020-00163-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Accepted: 11/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The molecular out of Africa hypothesis, OOAH, has been considered as an established fact amid population geneticists for some 25–30 years despite the early concern with it among phylogeneticists with experience beyond that of Homo. The palaeontological support for the hypothesis is also questionable, a circumstance that in the light of expanding Eurasian palaeontological knowledge has become accentuated through the last decades. Results The direction of evolution in the phylogenetic tree of modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens, Hss) was established inter alia by applying progressive phylogenetic analysis to an mtDNA sampling that included a Eurasian, Lund, and the African Mbuti, San and Yoruba. The examination identified the African populations as paraphyletic, thereby compromising the OOAH. The finding, which was consistent with the out of Eurasia hypothesis, OOEH, was corroborated by the mtDNA introgression from Hss into Hsnn (Neanderthals) that demonstrated the temporal and physical Eurasian coexistence of the two lineages. The results are consistent with the palaeontologically established presence of H. erectus in Eurasia, a Eurasian divergence between H. sapiens and H. antecessor ≈ 850,000 YBP, an Hs divergence between Hss and Hsn (Neanderthals + Denisovans) ≈ 800,000 YBP, an mtDNA introgression from Hss into Hsnn* ≈ 500,000 YBP and an Eurasian divergence among the ancestors of extant Hss ≈ 250,000 YBP at the exodus of Mbuti/San into Africa. Conclusions The present study showed that Eurasia was not the receiver but the donor in Hss evolution. The findings that Homo left Africa as erectus and returned as sapiens sapiens constitute a change in the understanding of Hs evolution to one that conforms to the extensive Eurasian record of Hs palaeontology and archaeology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Úlfur Árnason
- Department of Brain Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden.
| | - Björn Hallström
- Center for Translational Genomics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden
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93
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Shimelmitz R, Groman-Yaroslavski I, Weinstein-Evron M, Rosenberg D. A Middle Pleistocene abrading tool from Tabun Cave, Israel: A search for the roots of abrading technology in human evolution. J Hum Evol 2020; 150:102909. [PMID: 33276308 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2020] [Revised: 10/27/2020] [Accepted: 10/27/2020] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
During the reanalysis of the finds from Jelinek's and Ronen's excavations at Tabun Cave, Israel, we encountered a cobble bearing traces of mechanical alterations similar to those recorded on grinding tools. However, the artifact derives from the early layers of the Acheulo-Yabrudian complex of the late Lower Paleolithic (ca. 350 ka), a time with no evidence for grinding or abrasion. Accordingly, we sought to determine whether the traces on the artifact can be attributed to purposeful human action. We conducted a detailed use-wear analysis of the cobble and implemented an experimental program, gaining positive results for the hypothesis of purposeful human practice. We argue that the significance and novelty of early abrading technology is that it marks a new mode of raw material manipulation-one that is categorically different from other modes of tool use observed among earlier hominins or other primates and animals. Throughout the Early Pleistocene, use of stone tools was associated with vertical motions (battering, pounding, striking) or with the application of a thin or narrow working edge, leveled at cutting or scraping. Conversely, abrading consists in applying a wide working surface in a continuous sequence of horizontal motions, geared to modify or reduce the surfaces of a targeted material. The emergence of this technology joins additional behavioral changes recently identified and attributed to the Middle Pleistocene, illustrating the growing and diversifying capabilities of early hominins to harness technology to shape their environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ron Shimelmitz
- Laboratory of Prehistoric Research, The Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel.
| | - Iris Groman-Yaroslavski
- The Use-Wear Analysis Laboratory, The Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
| | - Mina Weinstein-Evron
- Laboratory of Prehistoric Research, The Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
| | - Danny Rosenberg
- Laboratory for Ground Stone Tools Research, The Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, 199 Abba Khousy Ave. Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498898, Israel
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94
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Archer W. Carrying capacity, population density and the later Pleistocene expression of backed artefact manufacturing traditions in Africa. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 376:20190716. [PMID: 33250028 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
As is the case today, both climate variability and population density influenced human behavioural change in the past. The mechanisms underpinning later Pleistocene human behavioural evolution, however, remain contested. Many complex behaviours evolved in Africa, but early evidence for these behaviours varies both spatially and temporally. Scientists have not been able to explain this flickering pattern, which is present even in sites and regions clearly occupied by Homo sapiens. To explore this pattern, here the presence and frequency of evidence for backed stone artefact production are modelled against climate-driven, time-series population density estimates (Timmermann and Friedrich. 2016 Nature 538, 92. (doi:10.1038/nature19365)), in all known African Late Pleistocene archaeological sites (n = 116 sites, n = 409 assemblages, n = 893 dates). In addition, a moving-window, site density population estimate is included at the scale of southern Africa. Backed stone artefacts are argued in many archaeological contexts to have functioned in elaborate technologies like composite weapons and, in the African Pleistocene, are accepted proxies for cultural complexity. They show a broad but sporadic distribution in Africa, prior to their association with Homo sapiens dispersing into Europe 45-40 ka. Two independent population estimates explain this pattern and potentially implicate the interaction of climate change and demography in the expression of cultural complexity in African Pleistocene Homo sapiens. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography'.
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Affiliation(s)
- W Archer
- Department of Archaeology, National Museum, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa.,Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany.,Department of Geology, University of the Free State, P.O. Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300
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95
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Velliky EC, Schmidt P, Bellot-Gurlet L, Wolf S, Conard NJ. Early anthropogenic use of hematite on Aurignacian ivory personal ornaments from Hohle Fels and Vogelherd caves, Germany. J Hum Evol 2020; 150:102900. [PMID: 33260040 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102900] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2020] [Revised: 10/13/2020] [Accepted: 10/13/2020] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
The Aurignacian (ca. 43-35 ka) of southwestern Germany is well known for yielding some of the oldest artifacts related to symbolic behaviors, including examples of figurative art, musical instruments, and personal ornaments. Another aspect of these behaviors is the presence of numerous pieces of iron oxide (ocher); however, these are comparatively understudied, likely owing to the lack of painted artifacts from this region and time period. Several Aurignacian-aged carved ivory personal ornaments from the sites of Hohle Fels and Vogelherd contain traces of what appear to be red ocher residues. We analyzed these beads using a combination of macroanalytical and microanalytical methods, including scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. We found that the residue is composed of the iron oxide mineral hematite (Fe2O3). Further analyses on associated archaeological sediments by X-ray diffraction revealed the absence of hematite and other iron oxide mineral phases, suggesting that the hematite residues were intentionally applied to the ivory personal ornaments by human agents. These findings have important implications as they represent evidence for the direct application of ocher on portable symbolic objects by early Homo sapiens in Europe. Furthermore, our results reveal shared behavioral practices from two key Aurignacian sites maintained over several millennia and illuminate aspects of pigment use and symbolic practices during a pivotal time in the cultural evolution of humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth C Velliky
- SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), Faculty of Humanities, University of Bergen, Øysteinsgate 3, Postboks 7805, 5020, Bergen, Norway; Archaeology/Centre for Rock-Art Research and Management, M257, Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Education, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia; Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Patrick Schmidt
- Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany; Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Department of Geosciences, Applied Mineralogy, Wilhelmstraße 56, 72074, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Ludovic Bellot-Gurlet
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, "de La Molécule Aux Nano-objets: Réactivité, Interactions et Spectroscopies", MONARIS, UMR 8233, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252, Paris Cedex 5, France
| | - Sibylle Wolf
- Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nicholas J Conard
- Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen, Germany
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96
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Kitagawa K, Conard NJ. Split-based points from the Swabian Jura highlight Aurignacian regional signatures. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0239865. [PMID: 33170859 PMCID: PMC7654757 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2020] [Accepted: 09/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The systematic use of antlers and other osseous materials by modern humans marks a set of cultural and technological innovations in the early Upper Paleolithic, as is seen most clearly in the Aurignacian. Split-based points, which are one of the most common osseous tools, are present throughout most regions where the Aurignacian is documented. Using results from recent and ongoing excavations at Geißenklösterle, Hohle Fels and Vogelherd, we nearly tripled the sample of split-based points from 31 to 87 specimens, and thereby enhance our understanding of the technological economy surrounding the production of osseous tools. Aurignacian people of the Swabian Jura typically left spit-based points at sites that appear to be base camps rich with numerous examples of personal ornaments, figurative art, symbolic imagery, and musical instruments. The artifact assemblages from SW Germany highlight a production sequence that resembles that of SW France and Cantabria, except for the absence of tongued pieces. Our study documents the life histories of osseous tools and demonstrates templates for manufacture, use, recycling, and discard of these archetypal artifacts from the Aurignacian. The study also underlines the diversified repertoire of modern humans in cultural and technological realms highlighting their adaptive capabilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keiko Kitagawa
- SFB 1070 ResourceCultures, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Nicholas J. Conard
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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97
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Kuman K, Lotter MG, Leader GM. The Fauresmith of South Africa: A new assemblage from Canteen Kopje and significance of the technology in human and cultural evolution. J Hum Evol 2020; 148:102884. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102884] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2019] [Revised: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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98
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Gabora L, Steel M. A model of the transition to behavioural and cognitive modernity using reflexively autocatalytic networks. J R Soc Interface 2020; 17:20200545. [PMID: 33109019 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2020.0545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
This paper proposes a model of the cognitive mechanisms underlying the transition to behavioural and cognitive modernity in the Upper Palaeolithic using autocatalytic networks. These networks have been used to model life's origins. More recently, they have been applied to the emergence of cognitive structure capable of undergoing cultural evolution. Mental representations of knowledge and experiences play the role of catalytic molecules, the interactions among them (e.g. the forging of new associations or affordances) play the role of reactions, and thought processes are modelled as chains of these interactions. We posit that one or more genetic mutations may have allowed thought to be spontaneously tailored to the situation by modulating the degree of (i) divergence (versus convergence), (ii) abstractness (versus concreteness), and (iii) context specificity. This culminated in persistent, unified autocatalytic semantic networks that bridged previously compartmentalized knowledge and experience. We explain the model using one of the oldest-known uncontested examples of figurative art: the carving of the Hohlenstein-Stadel Löwenmensch, or lion man. The approach keeps track of where in a cultural lineage each innovation appears, and models cumulative change step by step. It paves the way for a broad scientific framework for the origins of both biological and cultural evolutionary processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liane Gabora
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC, Canada
| | - Mike Steel
- Biomathematics Research Centre, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
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99
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Abstract
The study of ancient genomes has burgeoned at an incredible rate in the last decade. The result is a shift in archaeological narratives, bringing with it a fierce debate on the place of genetics in anthropological research. Archaeogenomics has challenged and scrutinized fundamental themes of anthropological research, including human origins, movement of ancient and modern populations, the role of social organization in shaping material culture, and the relationship between culture, language, and ancestry. Moreover, the discussion has inevitably invoked new debates on indigenous rights, ownership of ancient materials, inclusion in the scientific process, and even the meaning of what it is to be a human. We argue that the broad and seemingly daunting ethical, methodological, and theoretical challenges posed by archaeogenomics, in fact, represent the very cutting edge of social science research. Here, we provide a general review of the field by introducing the contemporary discussion points and summarizing methodological and ethical concerns, while highlighting the exciting possibilities of ancient genome studies in archaeology from an anthropological perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Omer Gokcumen
- Department of Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14221, USA
| | - Michael Frachetti
- Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
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100
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Pante M, Torre IDL, d'Errico F, Njau J, Blumenschine R. Bone tools from Beds II-IV, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, and implications for the origins and evolution of bone technology. J Hum Evol 2020; 148:102885. [PMID: 33049586 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2020] [Revised: 08/27/2020] [Accepted: 08/27/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The advent of bone technology in Africa is often associated with behavioral modernity that began sometime in the Middle Stone Age. Yet, small numbers of bone tools are known from Early Pleistocene sites in East and South Africa, complicating our understanding of the evolutionary significance of osseous technologies. These early bone tools vary geographically, with those in South Africa indicating use in foraging activities such as termite extraction and those in East Africa intentionally shaped in a manner similar to lithic tool manufacture, leading some to infer multiple hominin species were responsible for bone technology in these regions, with Paranthropus robustus assumed to be the maker of South African bone tools and Homo erectus responsible for those in East Africa. Here, we present on an assemblage of 52 supposed bone tools primarily from Beds III and IV, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, that was excavated by Mary Leakey in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but was only partially published and was never studied in detail from a taphonomic perspective. The majority of the sites from which the tools were recovered were deposited when only H. erectus is known to have existed in the region, potentially allowing a direct link between this fossil hominin and bone technology. Our analysis confirms at least six bone tools in the assemblage, the majority of which are intentionally flaked large mammal bones. However, one of the tools is a preform of the oldest barbed bone point known to exist anywhere in the world and pushes back the initial appearance of this technology by 700 kyr.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Pante
- Department of Anthropology and Geography, Colorado State University, 1787 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA.
| | - Ignacio de la Torre
- Instituto de Historia, Spanish National Research Council-CSIC, Albasanz 26-28, 28037, Madrid, Spain
| | - Francesco d'Errico
- UMR 5199 CNRS De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université de Bordeaux, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023, F - 33615, Pessac CEDEX, Talence, France; Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour, Øysteinsgate 3, Postboks 7805, 5020, University of Bergen, Norway
| | - Jackson Njau
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Indiana University, 1001 E Tenth Street, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA; The Stone Age Institute, Bloomington, IN, 47407, USA
| | - Robert Blumenschine
- Palaeontological Scientific Trust and Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, P Bag 3, WITS 2050, South Africa
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