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Salazar-García DC, Power RC, Rudaya N, Kolobova K, Markin S, Krivoshapkin A, Henry AG, Richards MP, Viola B. Dietary evidence from Central Asian Neanderthals: A combined isotope and plant microremains approach at Chagyrskaya Cave (Altai, Russia). J Hum Evol 2021; 156:102985. [PMID: 34051612 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2019] [Revised: 03/03/2021] [Accepted: 03/03/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Neanderthals are known primarily from their habitation of Western Eurasia, but they also populated large expanses of Northern Asia for thousands of years. Owing to a sparse archaeological record, relatively little is known about these eastern Neanderthal populations. Unlike in their western range, there are limited zooarchaeological and paleobotanical studies that inform us about the nature of their subsistence. Here, we perform a combined analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes on bone collagen and microbotanical remains in dental calculus to reconstruct the diet of eastern Neanderthals at Chagyrskaya Cave in the Altai Mountains of Southern Siberia, Russia. Stable isotopes identify one individual as possessing a high trophic level due to the hunting of large- and medium-sized ungulates, while the analysis of dental calculus also indicates the presence of plants in the diet of this individual and others from the site. These findings indicate eastern Neanderthals may have had broadly similar subsistence patterns to those elsewhere in their range.
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Affiliation(s)
- Domingo C Salazar-García
- Department of Human Evolution, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Departament de Prehistòria, Arqueologia I Història Antiga, Universitat de València, València, Spain; Grupo de Investigación en Prehistoria IT-1223-19 (UPV-EHU)/IKERBASQUE-Basque Foundation for Science, Vitoria, Spain; Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
| | - Robert C Power
- Department of Human Evolution, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie und Provinzialrömische Archäologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Schellingstraße, 1280799, München, Germany.
| | - Natalia Rudaya
- Institute for Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
| | - Ksenya Kolobova
- Institute for Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
| | - Sergey Markin
- Institute for Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
| | - Andrey Krivoshapkin
- Institute for Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
| | - Amanda G Henry
- Department of Archaeological Sciences, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | | | - Bence Viola
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
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The Exergy Footprint as a Sustainability Indicator: An Application to the Neanderthal–Sapiens Competition in the Late Pleistocene. SUSTAINABILITY 2019. [DOI: 10.3390/su11184913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
A thermodynamic analysis of population dynamics and of sustainability provides rigor to many important issues. In this work, the “system society” is analysed in connection with the “system environment” using an exergy metric, and the method includes an internalization of the externalities (capital, labour, environmental effects) conducted on the basis of a “system + environment” balance. In this perspective, this study investigates the Late Pleistocene extinction of the Homo neanderthalensis, which took place in a geologically short time and in the presence of a competing species, the Homo sapiens. The case in study is not trivial, and its choice not casual: in those times, the only factor that could lead to an advantage of one group over the other was their respective resource use intensity. A specific indicator, the exergy footprint (EF), is here applied to measure the total amount of primary resources required to produce a certain (material or immaterial) commodity, including the resources needed for the physical survival of the individuals. On the basis of the available data, the results of a steady-state analysis show that the EF of the Neanderthal was higher than that of the Sapiens, and that with both species sharing the same ecological niche in a time of dwindling resources, the less frugal of the two was also more fragile in an evolutionary sense.
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Fiorenza L, Benazzi S, Henry AG, Salazar-García DC, Blasco R, Picin A, Wroe S, Kullmer O. To meat or not to meat? New perspectives on Neanderthal ecology. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2014; 156 Suppl 59:43-71. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Luca Fiorenza
- Earth Sciences, University of New England; Armidale NSW 2351 Australia
| | - Stefano Benazzi
- Department of Cultural Heritage; University of Bologna; Ravenna 48121 Italy
- Department of Human Evolution; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Leipzig 04103 Germany
| | - Amanda G. Henry
- Plant Foods in Hominin Dietary Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Leipzig 04103 Germany
| | - Domingo C. Salazar-García
- Department of Human Evolution; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Leipzig 04103 Germany
- Plant Foods in Hominin Dietary Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Leipzig 04103 Germany
- Department of Archaeology; University of Cape Town; 7700 Rondebosch South Africa
- Department de Prehistòria i Arqueologia; Universitat de València; Valencia 46010 Spain
| | - Ruth Blasco
- The Gibraltar Museum, 18-20 Bomb House Lane; PO Box 939 Gibraltar
| | - Andrea Picin
- Department of Prehistory and Early History; Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena; Jena 07743 Germany
- Neanderthal Museum; Mettmann 40822 Germany
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES); Tarragona 43007 Spain
| | - Stephen Wroe
- Zoology, University of New England; Armidale NSW 2351 Australia
| | - Ottmar Kullmer
- Senckenberg Research Institute; 60325 Frankfurt am Main Hessen Germany
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Abstract
In the last few years, two paradigms underlying human evolution have crumbled. Modern humans have not totally replaced previous hominins without any admixture, and the expected signatures of adaptations to new environments are surprisingly lacking at the genomic level. Here we review current evidence about archaic admixture and lack of strong selective sweeps in humans. We underline the need to properly model differential admixture in various populations to correctly reconstruct past demography. We also stress the importance of taking into account the spatial dimension of human evolution, which proceeded by a series of range expansions that could have promoted both the introgression of archaic genes and background selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Alves
- CMPG, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Berne, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Population and Conservation Genetics Group, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal
| | - Anna Šrámková Hanulová
- CMPG, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Berne, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Matthieu Foll
- CMPG, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Berne, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Laurent Excoffier
- CMPG, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Berne, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
- * E-mail:
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