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Smith GM, Ruebens K, Zavala EI, Sinet-Mathiot V, Fewlass H, Pederzani S, Jaouen K, Mylopotamitaki D, Britton K, Rougier H, Stahlschmidt M, Meyer M, Meller H, Dietl H, Orschiedt J, Krause J, Schüler T, McPherron SP, Weiss M, Hublin JJ, Welker F. The ecology, subsistence and diet of ~45,000-year-old Homo sapiens at Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Germany. Nat Ecol Evol 2024; 8:564-577. [PMID: 38297138 PMCID: PMC10927544 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02303-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2024]
Abstract
Recent excavations at Ranis (Germany) identified an early dispersal of Homo sapiens into the higher latitudes of Europe by 45,000 years ago. Here we integrate results from zooarchaeology, palaeoproteomics, sediment DNA and stable isotopes to characterize the ecology, subsistence and diet of these early H. sapiens. We assessed all bone remains (n = 1,754) from the 2016-2022 excavations through morphology (n = 1,218) or palaeoproteomics (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (n = 536) and species by proteome investigation (n = 212)). Dominant taxa include reindeer, cave bear, woolly rhinoceros and horse, indicating cold climatic conditions. Numerous carnivore modifications, alongside sparse cut-marked and burnt bones, illustrate a predominant use of the site by hibernating cave bears and denning hyaenas, coupled with a fluctuating human presence. Faunal diversity and high carnivore input were further supported by ancient mammalian DNA recovered from 26 sediment samples. Bulk collagen carbon and nitrogen stable isotope data from 52 animal and 10 human remains confirm a cold steppe/tundra setting and indicate a homogenous human diet based on large terrestrial mammals. This lower-density archaeological signature matches other Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician sites and is best explained by expedient visits of short duration by small, mobile groups of pioneer H. sapiens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geoff M Smith
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
- School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Kent, UK.
| | - Karen Ruebens
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Chaire de Paléoanthropologie, CIRB (UMR 7241-U1050), Collège de France, Paris, France
| | - Elena Irene Zavala
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Virginie Sinet-Mathiot
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, Ministère de la Culture, PACEA, UMR 5199, Pessac, France
| | - Helen Fewlass
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Ancient Genomics Lab, Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
| | - Sarah Pederzani
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Archaeological Micromorphology and Biomarker Lab, University of La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain
| | - Klervia Jaouen
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Géosciences Environnement Toulouse (GET), Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Toulouse, France
| | - Dorothea Mylopotamitaki
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Chaire de Paléoanthropologie, CIRB (UMR 7241-U1050), Collège de France, Paris, France
| | - Kate Britton
- Department of Archaeology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland
| | - Hélène Rougier
- Department of Anthropology, California State University Northridge, Northridge, CA, USA
| | - Mareike Stahlschmidt
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS), University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Matthias Meyer
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Harald Meller
- State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt-State Museum of Prehistory, Halle, Germany
| | - Holger Dietl
- State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt-State Museum of Prehistory, Halle, Germany
| | - Jörg Orschiedt
- State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt-State Museum of Prehistory, Halle, Germany
| | - Johannes Krause
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Tim Schüler
- Thuringian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments and Archaeology, Weimar, Germany
| | - Shannon P McPherron
- Department of Human Origins, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Marcel Weiss
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Jean-Jacques Hublin
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Chaire de Paléoanthropologie, CIRB (UMR 7241-U1050), Collège de France, Paris, France
| | - Frido Welker
- Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Mylopotamitaki D, Weiss M, Fewlass H, Zavala EI, Rougier H, Sümer AP, Hajdinjak M, Smith GM, Ruebens K, Sinet-Mathiot V, Pederzani S, Essel E, Harking FS, Xia H, Hansen J, Kirchner A, Lauer T, Stahlschmidt M, Hein M, Talamo S, Wacker L, Meller H, Dietl H, Orschiedt J, Olsen JV, Zeberg H, Prüfer K, Krause J, Meyer M, Welker F, McPherron SP, Schüler T, Hublin JJ. Homo sapiens reached the higher latitudes of Europe by 45,000 years ago. Nature 2024; 626:341-346. [PMID: 38297117 PMCID: PMC10849966 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06923-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2024]
Abstract
The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Europe is associated with the regional disappearance of Neanderthals and the spread of Homo sapiens. Late Neanderthals persisted in western Europe several millennia after the occurrence of H. sapiens in eastern Europe1. Local hybridization between the two groups occurred2, but not on all occasions3. Archaeological evidence also indicates the presence of several technocomplexes during this transition, complicating our understanding and the association of behavioural adaptations with specific hominin groups4. One such technocomplex for which the makers are unknown is the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician (LRJ), which has been described in northwestern and central Europe5-8. Here we present the morphological and proteomic taxonomic identification, mitochondrial DNA analysis and direct radiocarbon dating of human remains directly associated with an LRJ assemblage at the site Ilsenhöhle in Ranis (Germany). These human remains are among the earliest directly dated Upper Palaeolithic H. sapiens remains in Eurasia. We show that early H. sapiens associated with the LRJ were present in central and northwestern Europe long before the extinction of late Neanderthals in southwestern Europe. Our results strengthen the notion of a patchwork of distinct human populations and technocomplexes present in Europe during this transitional period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorothea Mylopotamitaki
- Chair of Paleoanthropology, CIRB (UMR 7241-U1050), Collège de France, Paris, France
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Marcel Weiss
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
- Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Erlangen, Germany.
| | - Helen Fewlass
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Ancient Genomics Lab, Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
| | - Elena Irene Zavala
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Hélène Rougier
- Department of Anthropology, California State University Northridge, Northridge, CA, USA
| | - Arev Pelin Sümer
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Mateja Hajdinjak
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Geoff M Smith
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
| | - Karen Ruebens
- Chair of Paleoanthropology, CIRB (UMR 7241-U1050), Collège de France, Paris, France
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Virginie Sinet-Mathiot
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, Ministère de la Culture, PACEA, UMR 5199, Bordeaux, France
| | - Sarah Pederzani
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Archaeological Micromorphology and Biomarker Lab, University of La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain
| | - Elena Essel
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Florian S Harking
- Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Huan Xia
- College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Jakob Hansen
- Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Departament de Prehistòria, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - André Kirchner
- Department of Soil Protection and Soil Survey, State Authority for Mining, Energy and Geology of Lower Saxony (LBEG), Hannover, Germany
| | - Tobias Lauer
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Terrestrial Sedimentology, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Mareike Stahlschmidt
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology and Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS), University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Michael Hein
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Ecology, Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany
- Historical Anthropospheres Working Group, Leipzig Lab, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sahra Talamo
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Chemistry G. Ciamician, Bologna University, Bologna, Italy
| | - Lukas Wacker
- Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Harald Meller
- Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt - Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Halle, Germany
| | - Holger Dietl
- Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt - Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Halle, Germany
| | - Jörg Orschiedt
- Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt - Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Halle, Germany
| | - Jesper V Olsen
- Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Hugo Zeberg
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Kay Prüfer
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Johannes Krause
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Matthias Meyer
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Frido Welker
- Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Tim Schüler
- Thuringian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments and Archaeology, Weimar, Germany
| | - Jean-Jacques Hublin
- Chair of Paleoanthropology, CIRB (UMR 7241-U1050), Collège de France, Paris, France.
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
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Demidenko YE, Škrdla P. Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician Industry and South Moravian Sites: a Homo sapiens Late Initial Upper Paleolithic with Bohunician Industrial Generic Roots in Europe. JOURNAL OF PALEOLITHIC ARCHAEOLOGY 2023; 6:17. [PMID: 37250589 PMCID: PMC10202755 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-023-00142-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/31/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
This article re-examines the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician (LRJ) industry, a well-known Early Upper Paleolithic complex in northern Europe. It is widely thought that the LRJ was produced by late Neanderthals and that its industrial roots are in late Middle Paleolithic industries with bifacial leaf points in north-western Europe. On the basis of evidence from four recently excavated open-air sites in southern Moravia (Czech Republic) (Líšeň/Podolí I, Želešice III/Želešice-Hoynerhügel, Líšeň I/Líšeň-Čtvrtě, and Tvarožná X/Tvarožná, "Za školou"), combined with findings from two cave sites in Bohemia (Nad Kačákem Cave) and southern Moravia (Pekárna Cave) and critical re-examination of the LRJ sites and materials from other areas, we propose that the LRJ should actually be considered a late Initial Upper Paleolithic industry. Its initial dates are just before Heinrich Event 4 (HE-4) and the Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) super-eruption, c. 42-40 ka cal BP. We further propose that LRJ assemblages were produced by Homo sapiens, and that its roots are in the Bohunician industry. The LRJ originated as a result of a gradual technological transition, centering on the development of Levallois points into Jerzmanowice-type blade-points. It is also suggested that the LRJ industry first appeared in Moravia, in central Europe, and spread along with its makers (Homo sapiens) across the northern latitudes of central and western Europe. Accordingly, the IUP "Bohunician package" did not disappear in Europe but gave rise to another IUP industry successfully adapted for the then steppe-tundra belts in northern Europe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuri E. Demidenko
- Ferenc Rakoczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education, Kossuth Square 6, Berehove, 902 00 Ukraine
| | - Petr Škrdla
- Archeologický Ústav AV ČR, Brno V.V.I., Čechyňská 363/19, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic
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Hussain ST, Floss H. Streams as Entanglement of Nature and Culture: European Upper Paleolithic River Systems and Their Role as Features of Spatial Organization. JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD AND THEORY 2015; 23:1162-1218. [PMID: 29368748 PMCID: PMC5750683 DOI: 10.1007/s10816-015-9263-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Large river valleys have long been seen as important factors to shape the mobility, communication, and exchange of Pleistocene hunter-gatherers. However, rivers have been debated as either natural entities people adapt and react to or as cultural and meaningful entities people experience and interpret in different ways. Here, we attempt to integrate both perspectives. Building on theoretical work from various disciplines, we discuss the relationship between biophysical river properties and sociocultural river semantics and suggest that understanding a river's persona is central to evaluating its role in spatial organization. By reviewing the literature and analyzing European Upper Paleolithic site distribution and raw material transfer patterns in relation to river catchments, we show that the role of prominent rivers varies considerably over time. Both ecological and cultural factors are crucial to explaining these patterns. Whereas the Earlier Upper Paleolithic record displays a general tendency toward conceiving rivers as mobility guidelines, the spatial consolidation process after the colonization of the European mainland is paralleled by a trend of conceptualizing river regimes as frontiers, separating archaeological entities, regional groups, or local networks. The Late Upper Paleolithic Magdalenian, however, is characterized again by a role of rivers as mobility and communication vectors. Tracing changing patterns in the role of certain river regimes through time thus contributes to our growing knowledge of human spatial behavior and helps to improve our understanding of dynamic and mutually informed human-environment interactions in the Paleolithic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shumon T. Hussain
- Paleolithic Research Unit, University of Cologne, CRC 806 “Our Way to Europe”, Bernhard-Feilchenfeld-Str. 11, 50969 Cologne, Germany
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, NL-2333CC Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Harald Floss
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Burgsteige 11, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
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An Early Upper Palaeolithic Open-air Station and Mid-Devensian Hyaena Den at Grange Farm, Glaston, Rutland, UK. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2013. [DOI: 10.1017/s0079497x00027110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Archaeological work preceding a housing development revealed mid-Devensian (MIS 3) deposits preserved in a geological fault, a graben feature, on an interfluve plateau. Rare evidence for Early Upper Palaeolithic open-air occupation was characterised by a scant lithic signature of the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician (LRJ) leaf-point techno-complex of the North European plain. The lithics included a complete leaf-point, another broken example with traces of impact damage, and knapping debitage indicating leaf-point maintenance. The site also preserved good evidence for an open-air hyaena den with abundant faunal remains. Discrete bone clusters were present, some of which probably represent meat caches for hyaena cubs in the burrows and scrapes of a maternity den. It is suggested that the hominins targeted the den site to forage the stored food. Their occupation is associated with a group of spirally-fractured wild horse bones thought to be the result of marrow extraction by humans, and these have been dated to 44,290–42,440 calibrated years before present (44.3–42.5 kyr calbp), comparable to the date range of continental LRJ sites. The early date of the LRJ techno-complex corresponds with that of the oldest Neanderthals in northern Europe, but possibly overlaps with the recently reported early dates for anatomically modern humans. However, it is concluded that the oldest Early Upper Palaeolithic technology in northern Europe was the product of final Neanderthals.
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The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe. Nature 2011; 479:521-4. [PMID: 22048314 DOI: 10.1038/nature10484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 100] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2011] [Accepted: 08/19/2011] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The earliest anatomically modern humans in Europe are thought to have appeared around 43,000-42,000 calendar years before present (43-42 kyr cal BP), by association with Aurignacian sites and lithic assemblages assumed to have been made by modern humans rather than by Neanderthals. However, the actual physical evidence for modern humans is extremely rare, and direct dates reach no farther back than about 41-39 kyr cal BP, leaving a gap. Here we show, using stratigraphic, chronological and archaeological data, that a fragment of human maxilla from the Kent's Cavern site, UK, dates to the earlier period. The maxilla (KC4), which was excavated in 1927, was initially diagnosed as Upper Palaeolithic modern human. In 1989, it was directly radiocarbon dated by accelerator mass spectrometry to 36.4-34.7 kyr cal BP. Using a Bayesian analysis of new ultrafiltered bone collagen dates in an ordered stratigraphic sequence at the site, we show that this date is a considerable underestimate. Instead, KC4 dates to 44.2-41.5 kyr cal BP. This makes it older than any other equivalently dated modern human specimen and directly contemporary with the latest European Neanderthals, thus making its taxonomic attribution crucial. We also show that in 13 dental traits KC4 possesses modern human rather than Neanderthal characteristics; three other traits show Neanderthal affinities and a further seven are ambiguous. KC4 therefore represents the oldest known anatomically modern human fossil in northwestern Europe, fills a key gap between the earliest dated Aurignacian remains and the earliest human skeletal remains, and demonstrates the wide and rapid dispersal of early modern humans across Europe more than 40 kyr ago.
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The British Earlier Upper Palaeolithic: Settlement and Chronology. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2011. [DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-444-53597-9.00011-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register]
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Toussaint M, Olejniczak AJ, El Zaatari S, Cattelain P, Flas D, Letourneux C, Pirson S. The Neandertal lower right deciduous second molar from Trou de l'Abîme at Couvin, Belgium. J Hum Evol 2010; 58:56-67. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2008] [Revised: 08/11/2009] [Accepted: 08/11/2009] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Semal P, Rougier H, Crevecoeur I, Jungels C, Flas D, Hauzeur A, Maureille B, Germonpré M, Bocherens H, Pirson S, Cammaert L, De Clerck N, Hambucken A, Higham T, Toussaint M, van der Plicht J. New data on the late Neandertals: Direct dating of the Belgian Spy fossils. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2009; 138:421-8. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.20954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 114] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Jacobi R, Higham T. The “Red Lady” ages gracefully: new ultrafiltration AMS determinations from Paviland. J Hum Evol 2008; 55:898-907. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.08.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2007] [Revised: 06/27/2008] [Accepted: 11/16/2007] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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