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Falcucci A, Arrighi S, Spagnolo V, Rossini M, Higgins OA, Muttillo B, Martini I, Crezzini J, Boschin F, Ronchitelli A, Moroni A. A pre-Campanian Ignimbrite techno-cultural shift in the Aurignacian sequence of Grotta di Castelcivita, southern Italy. Sci Rep 2024; 14:12783. [PMID: 38834616 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-59896-6] [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: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 06/06/2024] Open
Abstract
The Aurignacian is the first European technocomplex assigned to Homo sapiens recognized across a wide geographic extent. Although archaeologists have identified marked chrono-cultural shifts within the Aurignacian mostly by examining the techno-typological variations of stone and osseous tools, unraveling the underlying processes driving these changes remains a significant scientific challenge. Scholars have, for instance, hypothesized that the Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) super-eruption and the climatic deterioration associated with the onset of Heinrich Event 4 had a substantial impact on European foraging groups. The technological shift from the Protoaurignacian to the Early Aurignacian is regarded as an archaeological manifestation of adaptation to changing environments. However, some of the most crucial regions and stratigraphic sequences for testing these scenarios have been overlooked. In this study, we delve into the high-resolution stratigraphic sequence of Grotta di Castelcivita in southern Italy. Here, the Uluzzian is followed by three Aurignacian layers, sealed by the eruptive units of the CI. Employing a comprehensive range of quantitative methods-encompassing attribute analysis, 3D model analysis, and geometric morphometrics-we demonstrate that the key technological feature commonly associated with the Early Aurignacian developed well before the deposition of the CI tephra. Our study provides thus the first direct evidence that the volcanic super-eruption played no role in this cultural process. Furthermore, we show that local paleo-environmental proxies do not correlate with the identified patterns of cultural continuity and discontinuity. Consequently, we propose alternative research paths to explore the role of demography and regional trajectories in the development of the Upper Paleolithic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Armando Falcucci
- Department of Geosciences, Prehistory and Archaeological Sciences Research Unit, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Simona Arrighi
- Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Università di Bologna, Via degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy
- Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, UR Preistoria e Antropologia, Università di Siena, Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy
| | - Vincenzo Spagnolo
- Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, UR Preistoria e Antropologia, Università di Siena, Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy
| | - Matteo Rossini
- Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, UR Preistoria e Antropologia, Università di Siena, Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy
| | - Owen Alexander Higgins
- Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Università di Bologna, Via degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy
| | - Brunella Muttillo
- Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, UR Preistoria e Antropologia, Università di Siena, Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy
| | - Ivan Martini
- Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, Università di Siena, Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy
| | - Jacopo Crezzini
- Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, UR Preistoria e Antropologia, Università di Siena, Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy
| | - Francesco Boschin
- Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, UR Preistoria e Antropologia, Università di Siena, Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy
| | - Annamaria Ronchitelli
- Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, UR Preistoria e Antropologia, Università di Siena, Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy
| | - Adriana Moroni
- Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, UR Preistoria e Antropologia, Università di Siena, Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy
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Bennett EA, Parasayan O, Prat S, Péan S, Crépin L, Yanevich A, Grange T, Geigl EM. Genome sequences of 36,000- to 37,000-year-old modern humans at Buran-Kaya III in Crimea. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:2160-2172. [PMID: 37872416 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02211-9] [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: 08/06/2019] [Accepted: 09/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
Populations genetically related to present-day Europeans first appeared in Europe at some point after 38,000-40,000 years ago, following a cold period of severe climatic disruption. These new migrants would eventually replace the pre-existing modern human ancestries in Europe, but initial interactions between these groups are unclear due to the lack of genomic evidence from the earliest periods of the migration. Here we describe the genomes of two 36,000-37,000-year-old individuals from Buran-Kaya III in Crimea as belonging to this newer migration. Both genomes share the highest similarity to Gravettian-associated individuals found several thousand years later in southwestern Europe. These genomes also revealed that the population turnover in Europe after 40,000 years ago was accompanied by admixture with pre-existing modern human populations. European ancestry before 40,000 years ago persisted not only at Buran-Kaya III but is also found in later Gravettian-associated populations of western Europe and Mesolithic Caucasus populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Andrew Bennett
- Institut Jacques Monod, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Oğuzhan Parasayan
- Institut Jacques Monod, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR2000, Human Evolutionary Genetics Unit, Paris, France
| | - Sandrine Prat
- UMR 7194 (HNHP), MNHN/CNRS/UPVD, Alliance Sorbonne Université, Musée de l'Homme, Palais de Chaillot, Paris, France
| | - Stéphane Péan
- UMR 7194 (HNHP), MNHN/CNRS/UPVD, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Alliance Sorbonne Université, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, Paris, France
| | - Laurent Crépin
- UMR 7194 (HNHP), MNHN/CNRS/UPVD, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Alliance Sorbonne Université, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, Paris, France
| | - Alexandr Yanevich
- Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Thierry Grange
- Institut Jacques Monod, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France.
| | - Eva-Maria Geigl
- Institut Jacques Monod, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France.
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Intraspecific Genetic Diversity of Cistus creticus L. and Evolutionary Relationships to Cistus albidus L. (Cistaceae): Meeting of the Generations? PLANTS 2021; 10:plants10081619. [PMID: 34451664 PMCID: PMC8399514 DOI: 10.3390/plants10081619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2021] [Revised: 07/29/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Cistus (Cistaceae) comprises a number of white- and purple-flowering shrub species widely distributed in the Mediterranean basin. Within genus Cistus, many taxa are subject to various taxonomic uncertainties. Cistus creticus, a prominent member of the purple-flowered clade, is a prime case of the current taxonomic troubles. Floras and databases approve different species names and utilise different or additional/fewer synonyms. Various intraspecific classification systems based on subspecies or varieties are in use. The inconsistent determination of plant material makes it difficult to compare literature regarding the phytochemical diversity and biological activities of plant material and impedes a systematic utilization of the manifold medicinal properties of C. creticus. In the present investigation, we used DNA sequence data from one nuclear region (ITS) and two chloroplast regions (trnL-trnF, rpl32-trnL) to test the intraspecific genetic diversity of C. creticus and its evolutionary relationships to the closely related C. albidus. The combined DNA data confirmed C. creticus as a rather heterogeneous species that integrates two major evolutionary lineages with clearly different genetic characteristics. The ‘Eastern Mediterranean clade’ seems to represent old and ancestral characteristics. This lineage exhibits a close relationship to the geographically distant C. albidus, expressed by very closely related ribotypes and an interspecifically shared chlorotype. The ‘Western Mediterranean clade’ is characterized by a distinctive ITS polymorphism (co-occurring paralogous ribotypes) and more distantly related chlorotypes. The formation of the genetically complex ‘Western Mediterranean clade’ seems to have involved hybridization and recurrent formation or migration movements.
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Geomorphological Approach to Cliff Instability in Volcanic Slopes: A Case Study from the Gulf of Naples (Southern Italy). GEOSCIENCES 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/geosciences11070289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
This paper deals with the problem of cliff stability and proposes a geomorphological zonation of a cliff using a sector of the Posillipo promontory (named the Coroglio-Trentaremi sea cliff, Italy), in the Campi Flegrei coastal area, as a case study. A detailed geological and geomorphological analysis was carried out, by combining field work with analysis of detailed scale topographic maps, orthophoto, and stratigraphical data from deep boreholes. Field and borehole data, together with structural data collected in seven different stations along the cliff, allowed us to derive six geological cross-sections and to reconstruct the complex stratigraphical and structural setting of the cliff. Geomorphological analysis focused on the detection of the main geomorphological factors predisposing to cliff instability. We selected the most significant factors and divided them into two groups: factors influencing landslide intensity and factors influencing cliff instability. Then, by means of a heuristic approach, we constructed a matrix that was used to derive a map showing the geomorphological zonation of the sea cliff. This map may enable to development of a reliable scenario of cliff instability and consequent retreat, which may be useful either to plan intervention works in the most critical areas or to organize prevention plans aimed at risk mitigation.
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Reconstructing the plinian and co-ignimbrite sources of large volcanic eruptions: A novel approach for the Campanian Ignimbrite. Sci Rep 2016; 6:21220. [PMID: 26883449 PMCID: PMC4756320 DOI: 10.1038/srep21220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2015] [Accepted: 12/14/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The 39 ka Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) super-eruption was the largest volcanic eruption of the past 200 ka in Europe. Tephra deposits indicate two distinct plume forming phases, Plinian and co-ignimbrite, characteristic of many caldera-forming eruptions. Previous numerical studies have characterized the eruption as a single-phase event, potentially leading to inaccurate assessment of eruption dynamics. To reconstruct the volume, intensity, and duration of the tephra dispersal, we applied a computational inversion method that explicitly accounts for the Plinian and co-ignimbrite phases and for gravitational spreading of the umbrella cloud. To verify the consistency of our results, we performed an additional single-phase inversion using an independent thickness dataset. Our better-fitting two-phase model suggests a higher mass eruption rate than previous studies, and estimates that 3/4 of the total fallout volume is co-ignimbrite in origin. Gravitational spreading of the umbrella cloud dominates tephra transport only within the first hundred kilometres due to strong stratospheric winds in our best-fit wind model. Finally, tephra fallout impacts would have interrupted the westward migration of modern hominid groups in Europe, possibly supporting the hypothesis of prolonged Neanderthal survival in South-Western Europe during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition.
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Genes, Fossils, and Culture. An Overview of the Evidence for Neandertal–Modern Human Interaction and Admixture. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2014. [DOI: 10.1017/s0079497x00000761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
This paper re-examines current arguments concerning the evidence for Neandertal-modern human interaction and admixture. While most researchers now agree that the ancestry of all present day humans can be traced back to African late Middle Pleistocene populations, at a time when the remainder of Eurasia was inhabited by ‘archaic humans’, most notably the Neandertals, issues that remain to be resolved are the tempo and mode of early modern human dispersal and interaction with archaic humans.This paper focuses on what happened at the time of contact in Europe, and assesses the level of admixture that may have occurred, as well as the extent to which such level may have varied in both time and space. It explains how the available mtDNA evidence does not preclude admixture at the time of contact, and is in fact consistent, depending on a number of parameters, with a possibly substantial Neandertal contribution to the initial modern human population of Europe. It is argued that the absence of Neandertal mtDNA lineages among present Europeans is likely, on dating evidence, to be simply a particular case of generalised loss of Pleistocene mtDNA lineages. Although the full range of interaction types (mutual avoidance, hostile confrontation, full integration) is conceivable, there is plenty of archaeological evidence to suggest that admixture must have been the general rule, and that the paleontological evidence for the generalised presence of archaic traits among Europe's earliest moderns implies the transmission of genes, and indicates that mixed groups should have been reproductively viable. In this context, it would seem that the most parsimonious explanation for the disappearance of the Neandertal mtDNA lineage is genetic swamping.
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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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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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Anikovich MV, Sinitsyn AA, Hoffecker JF, Holliday VT, Popov VV, Lisitsyn SN, Forman SL, Levkovskaya GM, Pospelova GA, Kuz'mina IE, Burova ND, Goldberg P, Macphail RI, Giaccio B, Praslov ND. Early Upper Paleolithic in Eastern Europe and implications for the dispersal of modern humans. Science 2007; 315:223-6. [PMID: 17218523 DOI: 10.1126/science.1133376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 107] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating and magnetic stratigraphy indicate Upper Paleolithic occupation-probably representing modern humans-at archaeological sites on the Don River in Russia 45,000 to 42,000 years ago. The oldest levels at Kostenki underlie a volcanic ash horizon identified as the Campanian Ignimbrite Y5 tephra that is dated elsewhere to about 40,000 years ago. The occupation layers contain bone and ivory artifacts, including possible figurative art, and fossil shells imported more than 500 kilometers. Thus, modern humans appeared on the central plain of Eastern Europe as early as anywhere else in northern Eurasia.
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Affiliation(s)
- M V Anikovich
- Institute of the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, 191186 St. Petersburg, Russia
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