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Bataille G, Falcucci A, Tafelmaier Y, Conard NJ. Technological differences between Kostenki 17/II (Spitsynskaya industry, Central Russia) and the Protoaurignacian: Reply to Dinnis et al. (2019). J Hum Evol 2019; 146:102685. [PMID: 31669124 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2019] [Revised: 09/26/2019] [Accepted: 09/26/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Guido Bataille
- Landesamt für Denkmalpflege im Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart (State Office for Cultural Heritage Baden-Wuerttemberg), Management UNESCO-Welterbe "Höhlen und Eiszeitkunst der Schwäbischen Alb" (Management UNESCO World Heritage "Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura"), Kirchplatz 10, D-89143 Blaubeuren, Germany; Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Armando Falcucci
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany; DFG Center for Advanced Studies "Words, Bones, Genes, Tools", University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Yvonne Tafelmaier
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nicholas J Conard
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany; Tübingen-Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoecology, Schloss Hohentübingen, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany
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Douka K, Higham T. The Chronological Factor in Understanding the Middle and Upper Paleolithic of Eurasia. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1086/694173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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High-precision 14C and 40Ar/ 39Ar dating of the Campanian Ignimbrite (Y-5) reconciles the time-scales of climatic-cultural processes at 40 ka. Sci Rep 2017; 7:45940. [PMID: 28383570 PMCID: PMC5382912 DOI: 10.1038/srep45940] [Citation(s) in RCA: 131] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2017] [Accepted: 03/07/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The Late Pleistocene Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) super-eruption (Southern Italy) is the largest known volcanic event in the Mediterranean area. The CI tephra is widely dispersed through western Eurasia and occurs in close stratigraphic association with significant palaeoclimatic and Palaeolithic cultural events. Here we present new high-precision 14C (34.29 ± 0.09 14C kyr BP, 1σ) and 40Ar/39Ar (39.85 ± 0.14 ka, 95% confidence level) dating results for the age of the CI eruption, which substantially improve upon or augment previous age determinations and permit fuller exploitation of the chronological potential of the CI tephra marker. These results provide a robust pair of 14C and 40Ar/39Ar ages for refining both the radiocarbon calibration curve and the Late Pleistocene time-scale at ca. 40 ka. In addition, these new age constraints provide compelling chronological evidence for the significance of the combined influence of the CI eruption and Heinrich Event 4 on European climate and potentially evolutionary processes of the Early Upper Palaeolithic.
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Aiello G, Giordano L, Giordano F. High-resolution seismic stratigraphy of the Gulf of Pozzuoli (Naples Bay) and relationships with submarine volcanic setting of the Phlegrean Fields volcanic complex. RENDICONTI LINCEI 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s12210-016-0573-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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New chronology for Ksâr 'Akil (Lebanon) supports Levantine route of modern human dispersal into Europe. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2015; 112:7683-8. [PMID: 26034284 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1501529112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Modern human dispersal into Europe is thought to have occurred with the start of the Upper Paleolithic around 50,000-40,000 y ago. The Levantine corridor hypothesis suggests that modern humans from Africa spread into Europe via the Levant. Ksâr 'Akil (Lebanon), with its deeply stratified Initial (IUP) and Early (EUP) Upper Paleolithic sequence containing modern human remains, has played an important part in the debate. The latest chronology for the site, based on AMS radiocarbon dates of shell ornaments, suggests that the appearance of the Levantine IUP is later than the start of the first Upper Paleolithic in Europe, thus questioning the Levantine corridor hypothesis. Here we report a series of AMS radiocarbon dates on the marine gastropod Phorcus turbinatus associated with modern human remains and IUP and EUP stone tools from Ksâr 'Akil. Our results, supported by an evaluation of individual sample integrity, place the EUP layer containing the skeleton known as "Egbert" between 43,200 and 42,900 cal B.P. and the IUP-associated modern human maxilla known as "Ethelruda" before ∼ 45,900 cal B.P. This chronology is in line with those of other Levantine IUP and EUP sites and demonstrates that the presence of modern humans associated with Upper Paleolithic toolkits in the Levant predates all modern human fossils from Europe. The age of the IUP-associated Ethelruda fossil is significant for the spread of modern humans carrying the IUP into Europe and suggests a rapid initial colonization of Europe by our species.
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Seguin-Orlando A, Korneliussen TS, Sikora M, Malaspinas AS, Manica A, Moltke I, Albrechtsen A, Ko A, Margaryan A, Moiseyev V, Goebel T, Westaway M, Lambert D, Khartanovich V, Wall JD, Nigst PR, Foley RA, Lahr MM, Nielsen R, Orlando L, Willerslev E. Paleogenomics. Genomic structure in Europeans dating back at least 36,200 years. Science 2014; 346:1113-8. [PMID: 25378462 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa0114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 172] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
The origin of contemporary Europeans remains contentious. We obtained a genome sequence from Kostenki 14 in European Russia dating from 38,700 to 36,200 years ago, one of the oldest fossils of anatomically modern humans from Europe. We find that Kostenki 14 shares a close ancestry with the 24,000-year-old Mal'ta boy from central Siberia, European Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, some contemporary western Siberians, and many Europeans, but not eastern Asians. Additionally, the Kostenki 14 genome shows evidence of shared ancestry with a population basal to all Eurasians that also relates to later European Neolithic farmers. We find that Kostenki 14 contains more Neandertal DNA that is contained in longer tracts than present Europeans. Our findings reveal the timing of divergence of western Eurasians and East Asians to be more than 36,200 years ago and that European genomic structure today dates back to the Upper Paleolithic and derives from a metapopulation that at times stretched from Europe to central Asia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andaine Seguin-Orlando
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Thorfinn S Korneliussen
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Martin Sikora
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Andrea Manica
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK
| | - Ida Moltke
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, 920 East 58th Street, Cummings Life Science Center, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. The Bioinformatics Center, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaløes Vej 5, 2200 København N, Denmark
| | - Anders Albrechtsen
- The Bioinformatics Center, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaløes Vej 5, 2200 København N, Denmark
| | - Amy Ko
- Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia
| | - Ashot Margaryan
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Vyacheslav Moiseyev
- Department of Physical Anthropology, Kunstkamera, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences, 24 Srednii Prospect, Vassilievskii Island, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Ted Goebel
- Center for the Study of the First Americans and Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, TAMU-4352, College Station, Texas 77845-4352, USA
| | - Michael Westaway
- Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia
| | - David Lambert
- Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia
| | - Valeri Khartanovich
- Department of Physical Anthropology, Kunstkamera, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences, 24 Srednii Prospect, Vassilievskii Island, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Jeffrey D Wall
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry Street, Lobby 5, Suite 5700, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA
| | - Philip R Nigst
- Division of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Downing Street, CB2 3DZ, UK. Department of Human Evolution, Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103, Germany
| | - Robert A Foley
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, CB2 1QH, UK
| | - Marta Mirazon Lahr
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, CB2 1QH, UK.
| | - Rasmus Nielsen
- Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia.
| | - Ludovic Orlando
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Eske Willerslev
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Wang CC, Gilbert MTP, Jin L, Li H. Evaluating the Y chromosomal timescale in human demographic and lineage dating. INVESTIGATIVE GENETICS 2014; 5:12. [PMID: 25215184 PMCID: PMC4160915 DOI: 10.1186/2041-2223-5-12] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2014] [Accepted: 07/31/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Y chromosome is a superb tool for inferring human evolution and recent demographic history from a paternal perspective. However, Y chromosomal substitution rates obtained using different modes of calibration vary considerably, and have produced disparate reconstructions of human history. Here, we discuss how substitution rate and date estimates are affected by the choice of different calibration points. We argue that most Y chromosomal substitution rates calculated to date have shortcomings, including a reliance on the ambiguous human-chimpanzee divergence time, insufficient sampling of deep-rooting pedigrees, and using inappropriate founding migrations, although the rates obtained from a single pedigree or calibrated with the peopling of the Americas seem plausible. We highlight the need for using more deep-rooting pedigrees and ancient genomes with reliable dates to improve the rate estimation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuan-Chao Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering and MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - M Thomas P Gilbert
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen 1350, Denmark
| | - Li Jin
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering and MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China ; Department of Computational Genetics, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai 200031, China
| | - Hui Li
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering and MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
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8
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The Bohunician in Moravia and Adjoining Regions. ARCHAEOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY OF EURASIA 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.aeae.2014.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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9
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Fitzsimmons KE, Hambach U, Veres D, Iovita R. The Campanian Ignimbrite eruption: new data on volcanic ash dispersal and its potential impact on human evolution. PLoS One 2013; 8:e65839. [PMID: 23799050 PMCID: PMC3684589 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0065839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2013] [Accepted: 03/29/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) volcanic eruption was the most explosive in Europe in the last 200,000 years. The event coincided with the onset of an extremely cold climatic phase known as Heinrich Event 4 (HE4) approximately 40,000 years ago. Their combined effect may have exacerbated the severity of the climate through positive feedbacks across Europe and possibly globally. The CI event is of particular interest not only to investigate the role of volcanism on climate forcing and palaeoenvironments, but also because its timing coincides with the arrival into Europe of anatomically modern humans, the demise of Neanderthals, and an associated major shift in lithic technology. At this stage, however, the degree of interaction between these factors is poorly known, based on fragmentary and widely dispersed data points. In this study we provide important new data from Eastern Europe which indicate that the magnitude of the CI eruption and impact of associated distal ash (tephra) deposits may have been substantially greater than existing models suggest. The scale of the eruption is modelled by tephra distribution and thickness, supported by local data points. CI ashfall extends as far as the Russian Plain, Eastern Mediterranean and northern Africa. However, modelling input is limited by very few data points in Eastern Europe. Here we investigate an unexpectedly thick CI tephra deposit in the southeast Romanian loess steppe, positively identified using geochemical and geochronological analyses. We establish the tephra as a widespread primary deposit, which blanketed the topography both thickly and rapidly, with potentially catastrophic impacts on local ecosystems. Our discovery not only highlights the need to reassess models for the magnitude of the eruption and its role in climatic transition, but also suggests that it may have substantially influenced hominin population and subsistence dynamics in a region strategic for human migration into Europe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn E Fitzsimmons
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
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Scally A, Durbin R. Revising the human mutation rate: implications for understanding human evolution. Nat Rev Genet 2012; 13:745-53. [PMID: 22965354 DOI: 10.1038/nrg3295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 308] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
It is now possible to make direct measurements of the mutation rate in modern humans using next-generation sequencing. These measurements reveal a value that is approximately half of that previously derived from fossil calibration, and this has implications for our understanding of demographic events in human evolution and other aspects of population genetics. Here, we discuss the implications of a lower-than-expected mutation rate in relation to the timescale of human evolution.
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11
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Volcanic ash layers illuminate the resilience of Neanderthals and early modern humans to natural hazards. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2012; 109:13532-7. [PMID: 22826222 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1204579109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 154] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Marked changes in human dispersal and development during the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition have been attributed to massive volcanic eruption and/or severe climatic deterioration. We test this concept using records of volcanic ash layers of the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption dated to ca. 40,000 y ago (40 ka B.P.). The distribution of the Campanian Ignimbrite has been enhanced by the discovery of cryptotephra deposits (volcanic ash layers that are not visible to the naked eye) in archaeological cave sequences. They enable us to synchronize archaeological and paleoclimatic records through the period of transition from Neanderthal to the earliest anatomically modern human populations in Europe. Our results confirm that the combined effects of a major volcanic eruption and severe climatic cooling failed to have lasting impacts on Neanderthals or early modern humans in Europe. We infer that modern humans proved a greater competitive threat to indigenous populations than natural disasters.
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13
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Golovanova LV, Doronichev VB, Cleghorn NE, Koulkova MA, Sapelko TV, Shackley MS. Significance of Ecological Factors in the Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2010. [DOI: 10.1086/656185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Martínez-Moreno J, Mora R, Ignacio de la Torre. The Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition in Cova Gran (Catalunya, Spain) and the extinction of Neanderthals in the Iberian Peninsula. J Hum Evol 2010; 58:211-26. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.09.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2008] [Revised: 07/10/2009] [Accepted: 07/01/2009] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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15
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Endicott P, Ho SY, Metspalu M, Stringer C. Evaluating the mitochondrial timescale of human evolution. Trends Ecol Evol 2009; 24:515-21. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2009.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2008] [Revised: 03/27/2009] [Accepted: 04/01/2009] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
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17
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Out of Africa: modern human origins special feature: the spread of modern humans in Europe. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2009; 106:16040-5. [PMID: 19571003 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0903446106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 103] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The earliest credible evidence of Homo sapiens in Europe is an archaeological proxy in the form of several artifact assemblages (Bohunician) found in South-Central and possibly Eastern Europe, dating to < or =48,000 calibrated radiocarbon years before present (cal BP). They are similar to assemblages probably made by modern humans in the Levant (Emiran) at an earlier date and apparently represent a population movement into the Balkans during a warm climate interval [Greenland Interstadial 12 (GI 12)]. A second population movement may be represented by a diverse set of artifact assemblages (sometimes termed Proto-Aurignacian) found in the Balkans, parts of Southwest Europe, and probably in Eastern Europe, and dating to several brief interstadials (GI 11-GI 9) that preceded the beginning of cold Heinrich Event 4 (HE4) (approximately 40,000 cal BP). They are similar to contemporaneous assemblages made by modern humans in the Levant (Ahmarian). The earliest known human skeletal remains in Europe that may be unequivocally assigned to H. sapiens (Peçstera cu Oase, Romania) date to this time period (approximately 42,000 cal BP) but are not associated with artifacts. After the Campanian Ignimbrite volcanic eruption (40,000 cal BP) and the beginning of HE4, artifact assemblages assigned to the classic Aurignacian, an industry associated with modern human skeletal remains that seems to have developed in Europe, spread throughout the continent.
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Jöris O, Street M. At the end of the 14C time scale—the Middle to Upper Paleolithic record of western Eurasia. J Hum Evol 2008; 55:782-802. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2007] [Revised: 03/18/2008] [Accepted: 04/24/2008] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Jöris O, Adler DS. Setting the record straight: Toward a systematic chronological understanding of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic boundary in Eurasia. J Hum Evol 2008; 55:761-3. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.08.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2008] [Accepted: 08/29/2008] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Roebroeks W. Time for the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe. J Hum Evol 2008; 55:918-26. [PMID: 18926558 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.08.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2008] [Revised: 07/31/2008] [Accepted: 07/01/2008] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition is a key period of change in the prehistory of the Old World and one of the most studied issues in paleoanthropology, as the nature of the transition(s) is still, after at least a century of archaeological research, largely unknown. Many of the issues at stake in the transition relate to the problem of building a reliable chronology for this period, which is at the limits of the radiocarbon method. The papers in this volume show that much progress has been made in our chronological knowledge of significant aspects of the transition, such as the age of the most recent Neandertal fossils and the earliest modern human remains in Europe, and the inferred overlap between the Châtelperronian and the Aurignacian. At the same time, the volume also shows where the chronological database for the period 40 to 30 ka 14C BP is flawed and that significant contextual and methodological problems have been underestimated in a number of studies of the biological and cultural changes during this crucial period. Chronology is employed by paleoanthropologists to relate the record of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition to major biological and cultural developments. This paper takes a broader paleoanthropological perspective and attempts to evaluate and, to some degree, synthesize the main results of these proceedings, while also presenting a brief discussion of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic archaeological and fossil records, and possible explanations for the differences between the two, focusing on the role of differences in the ecology of Neandertals and early European modern humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wil Roebroeks
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9515, 2300RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
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Weninger B, Jöris O. A 14C age calibration curve for the last 60 ka: the Greenland-Hulu U/Th timescale and its impact on understanding the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Western Eurasia. J Hum Evol 2008; 55:772-81. [PMID: 18922563 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.08.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 214] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2007] [Revised: 03/20/2008] [Accepted: 11/15/2007] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
This paper combines the data sets available today for 14C-age calibration of the last 60 ka. By stepwise synchronization of paleoclimate signatures, each of these sets of 14C-ages is compared with the U/Th-dated Chinese Hulu Cave speleothem records, which shows global paleoclimate change in high temporal resolution. By this synchronization we have established an absolute-dated Greenland-Hulu chronological framework, against which global paleoclimate data can be referenced, extending the 14C-age calibration curve back to the limits of the radiocarbon method. Based on this new, U/Th-based Greenland(Hulu) chronology, we confirm that the radiocarbon timescale underestimates calendar ages by several thousand years during most of Oxygen Isotope Stage 3. Major atmospheric 14C variations are observed for the period of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition, which has significant implications for dating the demise of the last Neandertals. The early part of "the transition" (with 14C ages > 35.0 ka 14C BP) coincides with the Laschamp geomagnetic excursion. This period is characterized by highly-elevated atmospheric 14C levels. The following period ca. 35.0-32.5 ka 14C BP shows a series of distinct large-scale 14C age inversions and extended plateaus. In consequence, individual archaeological 14C dates older than 35.0 ka 14C BP can be age-calibrated with relatively high precision, while individual dates in the interval 35.0-32.5 ka 14C BP are subject to large systematic age-'distortions,' and chronologies based on large data sets will show apparent age-overlaps of up to ca. 5,000 cal years. Nevertheless, the observed variations in past 14C levels are not as extreme as previously proposed ("Middle to Upper Paleolithic dating anomaly"), and the new chronological framework leaves ample room for application of radiocarbon dating in the age-range 45.0-25.0 ka 14C BP at high temporal resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bernhard Weninger
- Universität zu Köln, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Radiocarbon Laboratory, Weyertal 125, 50923 Köln, Germany.
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