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Vallini L, Zampieri C, Shoaee MJ, Bortolini E, Marciani G, Aneli S, Pievani T, Benazzi S, Barausse A, Mezzavilla M, Petraglia MD, Pagani L. The Persian plateau served as hub for Homo sapiens after the main out of Africa dispersal. Nat Commun 2024; 15:1882. [PMID: 38528002 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46161-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/27/2024] Open
Abstract
A combination of evidence, based on genetic, fossil and archaeological findings, indicates that Homo sapiens spread out of Africa between ~70-60 thousand years ago (kya). However, it appears that once outside of Africa, human populations did not expand across all of Eurasia until ~45 kya. The geographic whereabouts of these early settlers in the timeframe between ~70-60 to 45 kya has been difficult to reconcile. Here we combine genetic evidence and palaeoecological models to infer the geographic location that acted as the Hub for our species during the early phases of colonisation of Eurasia. Leveraging on available genomic evidence we show that populations from the Persian Plateau carry an ancestry component that closely matches the population that settled the Hub outside Africa. With the paleoclimatic data available to date, we built ecological models showing that the Persian Plateau was suitable for human occupation and that it could sustain a larger population compared to other West Asian regions, strengthening this claim.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Carlo Zampieri
- Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Mohamed Javad Shoaee
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
| | - Eugenio Bortolini
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Giulia Marciani
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- Research Unit Prehistory and Anthropology, Department of Physical Sciences, Earth and Environment, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
| | - Serena Aneli
- Department of Public Health Sciences and Pediatrics, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Telmo Pievani
- Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Stefano Benazzi
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Alberto Barausse
- Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | | | - Michael D Petraglia
- Human Origins Program, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20560, USA
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Luca Pagani
- Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
- Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
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Mata-González M, Starkovich BM, Zeidi M, Conard NJ. Evidence of diverse animal exploitation during the Middle Paleolithic at Ghar-e Boof (southern Zagros). Sci Rep 2023; 13:19006. [PMID: 37923753 PMCID: PMC10624823 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-45974-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 10/26/2023] [Indexed: 11/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Although Middle Paleolithic (MP) hominin diets consisted mainly of ungulates, increasing evidence demonstrates that hominins at least occasionally consumed tortoises, birds, leporids, fish, and carnivores. Until now, the MP zooarchaeological record in the Zagros Mountains has been almost exclusively restricted to ungulates. The narrow range of hominin prey may reflect socioeconomic decisions and/or environmental constraints, but could also result from a research bias favoring the study of large prey, since archaeologists have undertaken no systematic taphonomic analyses of small game or carnivores in the region. Here, we report on the first comprehensive taphonomic analysis of an MP faunal assemblage from Ghar-e Boof (∼ 81-45 kyr), a Late Pleistocene site in the southern Zagros of Iran. Anthropogenic bone surface modifications point to hominins as the main agent of accumulation. Hominins preyed primarily on ungulates, particularly wild goat. However, we also found evidence for MP hominin exploitation of carnivores and tortoises at the site. Although small game represents only a minor portion of the diet, our results suggest that the hunting behavior of MP hominins in the Zagros was more diverse than previously thought, similar to what we find elsewhere in Eurasia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Mata-González
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany.
- Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Unit 1176, 354 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA.
| | - Britt M Starkovich
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (SHEP), Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Mohsen Zeidi
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (SHEP), Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nicholas J Conard
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (SHEP), Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
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Shoaee MJ, Breeze PS, Drake NA, Hashemi SM, Vahdati Nasab H, Breitenbach SFM, Stevens T, Boivin N, Petraglia MD. Defining paleoclimatic routes and opportunities for hominin dispersals across Iran. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0281872. [PMID: 36857333 PMCID: PMC9977010 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 03/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Fossil and archaeological evidence indicates that hominin dispersals into Southwest Asia occurred throughout the Pleistocene, including the expansion of Homo sapiens populations out of Africa. While there is evidence for hominin occupations in the Pleistocene in Iran, as evidenced by the presence of Lower to Upper Paleolithic archaeological sites, the extent to which humid periods facilitated population expansions into western Asia has remained unclear. To test the role of humid periods on hominin dispersals here we assess Paleolithic site distributions and paleoenvironmental records across Iran. We developed the first spatially comprehensive, high-resolution paleohydrological model for Iran in order to assess water availability and its influence on hominin dispersals. We highlight environmentally mediated routes which likely played a key role in Late Pleistocene hominin dispersals, including the expansion of H. sapiens and Neanderthals eastwards into Asia. Our combined analyses indicate that, during MIS 5, there were opportunities for hominins to traverse a northern route through the Alborz and Kopet Dagh Mountains and the Dasht-I Kavir desert owing to the presence of activated fresh water sources. We recognize a new southern route along the Zagros Mountains and extending eastwards towards Pakistan and Afghanistan. We find evidence for a potential northern route during MIS 3, which would have permitted hominin movements and species interactions in Southwest Asia. Between humid periods, these interconnections would have waned, isolating populations in the Zagros and Alborz Mountains, where hominins may have continued to have had access to water.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Javad Shoaee
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- * E-mail: (MJS); (PSB)
| | - Paul S. Breeze
- Department of Geography, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (MJS); (PSB)
| | - Nick A. Drake
- Department of Geography, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Seyyed Milad Hashemi
- Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Hamed Vahdati Nasab
- Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Sebastian F. M. Breitenbach
- Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
| | - Thomas Stevens
- Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, 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, United States of America
| | - Michael D. Petraglia
- School of Social Science, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Griffith, Australia
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Infrared-radiofluorescence: Dose saturation and long-term signal stability of a K-feldspar sample. RADIAT MEAS 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.radmeas.2022.106818] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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Spectroscopic investigations of infrared-radiofluorescence (IR-RF) for equivalent dose estimation. RADIAT MEAS 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.radmeas.2022.106733] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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