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Sedrati M, Morales JA, Duveau J, M'rini AE, Mayoral E, Díaz-Martínez I, Anthony EJ, Bulot G, Sedrati A, Le Gall R, Santos A, Rivera-Silva J. A Late Pleistocene hominin footprint site on the North African coast of Morocco. Sci Rep 2024; 14:1962. [PMID: 38263453 PMCID: PMC10806055 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52344-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 01/17/2024] [Indexed: 01/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Footprints represent a relevant vestige providing direct information on the biology, locomotion, and behaviour of the individuals who left them. However, the spatiotemporal distribution of hominin footprints is heterogeneous, particularly in North Africa, where no footprint sites were known before the Holocene. This region is important in the evolution of hominins. It notably includes the earliest currently known Homo sapiens (Jebel Irhoud) and the oldest and richest African Middle Stone Age hominin sites. In this fragmented ichnological record, we report the discovery of 85 human footprints on a Late Pleistocene now indurated beach surface of about 2800 m2 at Larache (Northwest coast of Morocco). The wide range of sizes of the footprints suggests that several individuals from different age groups made the tracks while moving landward and seaward across a semi-dissipative bar-trough sandy beach foreshore. A geological investigation and an optically stimulated luminescence dating of a rock sample extracted from the tracksite places this hominin footprint surface at 90.3 ± 7.6 ka (MIS 5, Late Pleistocene). The Larache footprints are, therefore, the oldest attributed to Homo sapiens in Northern Africa and the Southern Mediterranean.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mouncef Sedrati
- Geo-Ocean, Univ Bretagne Sud, Univ Brest, CNRS, Ifremer, UMR6538, F- 56000, Vannes, France.
| | - Juan A Morales
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Huelva, Campus de El Carmen, Huelva, Spain
- Centro Científico Tecnológico de Huelva, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain
| | - Jérémy Duveau
- DFG Center for Advanced Studies ''Words, Bones, Genes, Tools: Tracking Linguistic, Cultural and Biological Trajectories of the Human Past'', Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 23, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
- UMR 7194 Histoire Naturelle de l'Homme Préhistorique, CNRS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Université Perpignan Via Domitia, Paris, France
| | | | - Eduardo Mayoral
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Huelva, Campus de El Carmen, Huelva, Spain
- Centro Científico Tecnológico de Huelva, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain
| | - Ignacio Díaz-Martínez
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y Física de la Materia Condensada, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Cantabria, 39005, Santander, Cantabria, Spain
| | - Edward J Anthony
- CNRS, IRD, INRAE, Coll France, CEREGE, Aix Marseille University, 13545, Aix-en-Provence, France
| | - Glen Bulot
- Geo-Ocean, Univ Bretagne Sud, Univ Brest, CNRS, Ifremer, UMR6538, F- 56000, Vannes, France
| | - Anass Sedrati
- Lixus Archaeological Site, Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, Larache, Morocco
| | - Romain Le Gall
- Geo-Ocean, Univ Bretagne Sud, Univ Brest, CNRS, Ifremer, UMR6538, F- 56000, Vannes, France
| | - Ana Santos
- Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Geología, Universidad de Oviedo, Campus de Llamaquique, Oviedo, Spain
| | - Jorge Rivera-Silva
- Centro de Investigación, Tecnología e Innovación (CITIUS), Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
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Li H, Wangdue S, Wang L, Gao X, Chen F. The middle Pleistocene Qiusang hand-footprints in the Tibetan Plateau hinterland: debates and prospects. Sci Bull (Beijing) 2023; 68:3098-3101. [PMID: 37932200 DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2023.10.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Hao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources, Alpine Paleoecology and Human Adaptation Group, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Shargan Wangdue
- Xizang Institute for Conservation and Research of Cultural Relics, Lhasa 850000, China
| | - Leibin Wang
- School of Geography and Remote Sensing, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xing Gao
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China
| | - Fahu Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources, Alpine Paleoecology and Human Adaptation Group, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
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Tang L, Wilkin S, Richter KK, Bleasdale M, Fernandes R, He Y, Li S, Petraglia M, Scott A, Teoh FK, Tong Y, Tsering T, Tsho Y, Xi L, Yang F, Yuan H, Chen Z, Roberts P, He W, Spengler R, Lu H, Wangdue S, Boivin N. Paleoproteomic evidence reveals dairying supported prehistoric occupation of the highland Tibetan Plateau. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eadf0345. [PMID: 37043579 PMCID: PMC10096579 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adf0345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2022] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
The extreme environments of the Tibetan Plateau offer considerable challenges to human survival, demanding novel adaptations. While the role of biological and agricultural adaptations in enabling early human colonization of the plateau has been widely discussed, the contribution of pastoralism is less well understood, especially the dairy pastoralism that has historically been central to Tibetan diets. Here, we analyze ancient proteins from the dental calculus (n = 40) of all human individuals with sufficient calculus preservation from the interior plateau. Our paleoproteomic results demonstrate that dairy pastoralism began on the highland plateau by ~3500 years ago. Patterns of milk protein recovery point to the importance of dairy for individuals who lived in agriculturally poor regions above 3700 m above sea level. Our study suggests that dairy was a critical cultural adaptation that supported expansion of early pastoralists into the region's vast, non-arable highlands, opening the Tibetan Plateau up to widespread, permanent human occupation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Tang
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Institute for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
| | - Shevan Wilkin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
- Institute for Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Kristine Korzow Richter
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
| | - Madeleine Bleasdale
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Ricardo Fernandes
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
- Climate Change and History Research Initiative, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Yuanhong He
- Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- School of Archaeology and Museology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Shuai Li
- Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- School of Archaeology and Museology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Center for Tibetan Studies, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Michael Petraglia
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
- School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Ashley Scott
- Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Fallen K.Y. Teoh
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Yan Tong
- Tibetan Cultural Relics Conservation Institute, Lhasa, China
| | - Tinlei Tsering
- Tibetan Cultural Relics Conservation Institute, Lhasa, China
| | - Yang Tsho
- Tibetan Cultural Relics Conservation Institute, Lhasa, China
| | - Lin Xi
- Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology, Xian, China
| | - Feng Yang
- Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- School of Archaeology and Museology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Center for Tibetan Studies, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Haibing Yuan
- Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- School of Archaeology and Museology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Zujun Chen
- Tibetan Cultural Relics Conservation Institute, Lhasa, China
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- isoTROPIC Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
| | - Wei He
- Tibetan Cultural Relics Conservation Institute, Lhasa, China
| | - Robert Spengler
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Domestication and Anthropogenic Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
| | - Hongliang Lu
- Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- School of Archaeology and Museology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Center for Tibetan Studies, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Shargan Wangdue
- Tibetan Cultural Relics Conservation Institute, Lhasa, China
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
- Griffith Sciences, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
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Hatala KG, Roach NT, Behrensmeyer AK. Fossil footprints and what they mean for hominin paleobiology. Evol Anthropol 2023; 32:39-53. [PMID: 36223539 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2021] [Revised: 05/10/2022] [Accepted: 09/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Hominin footprints have not traditionally played prominent roles in paleoanthropological studies, aside from the famous 3.66 Ma footprints discovered at Laetoli, Tanzania in the late 1970s. This contrasts with the importance of trace fossils (ichnology) in the broader field of paleontology. Lack of attention to hominin footprints can probably be explained by perceptions that these are exceptionally rare and "curiosities" rather than sources of data that yield insights on par with skeletal fossils or artifacts. In recent years, however, discoveries of hominin footprints have surged in frequency, shining important new light on anatomy, locomotion, behaviors, and environments from a wide variety of times and places. Here, we discuss why these data are often overlooked and consider whether they are as "rare" as previously assumed. We review new ways footprint data are being used to address questions about hominin paleobiology, and we outline key opportunities for future research in hominin ichnology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin G Hatala
- Department of Biology, Chatham University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Neil T Roach
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Anna K Behrensmeyer
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
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5
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Zhang P, Zhang X, Zhang X, Gao X, Huerta-Sanchez E, Zwyns N. Denisovans and Homo sapiens on the Tibetan Plateau: dispersals and adaptations. Trends Ecol Evol 2022; 37:257-267. [PMID: 34863581 PMCID: PMC9140327 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2021.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Revised: 10/31/2021] [Accepted: 11/01/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Recent archaeological discoveries suggest that both archaic Denisovans and Homo sapiens occupied the Tibetan Plateau earlier than expected. Genetic studies show that a pulse of Denisovan introgression was involved in the adaptation of Tibetan populations to high-altitude hypoxia. These findings challenge the traditional view that the plateau was one of the last places on earth colonized by H. sapiens and warrant a reappraisal of the population history of this highland. Here, we integrate archaeological and genomic evidence relevant to human dispersal, settlement, and adaptation in the region. We propose two testable models to address the peopling of the plateau in the broader context of H. sapiens dispersal and their encounters with Denisovans in Asia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peiqi Zhang
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
| | - Xinjun Zhang
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Xiaoling Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing 10044, China
| | - Xing Gao
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing 10044, China
| | - Emilia Huerta-Sanchez
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Center for Computational Molecular Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
| | - Nicolas Zwyns
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Insititute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
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Abstract
The most extensive corpus of ancient immovable cultural heritage is that of global rock art. Estimating its age has traditionally been challenging, rendering it difficult to integrate archaeological evidence of early cultural traditions. The dating of Chinese rock art by ‘direct methods’ began in the late 1990s in Qinghai Province. Since then, China has acquired the largest body of direct dating information about the rock art of any country. The establishment of the International Centre for Rock Art Dating at Hebei Normal University has been the driving force in this development, with its researchers accounting for most of the results. This centre has set the highest standards in rock art age estimation. Its principal method, microerosion analysis, secured the largest number of determinations, but it has also applied other methods. Its work with uranium-thorium analysis of carbonate precipitates in caves is of particular significance because it tested this widely used method. The implications of this work are wide-ranging. Most direct-dating of rock art has now become available from Henan, but results have also been reported from Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Jiangsu, Hubei, Guangxi, Yunnan, Qinghai, Tibet, and Xinjiang. Intensive work by several teams is continuing and is expected to result in a significantly better understanding of China’s early immovable cultural heritage.
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