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Lockey AL, Rodríguez L, Martín-Francés L, Arsuaga JL, Bermúdez de Castro JM, Crété L, Martinón-Torres M, Parfitt S, Pope M, Stringer C. Comparing the Boxgrove and Atapuerca (Sima de los Huesos) human fossils: Do they represent distinct paleodemes? J Hum Evol 2022; 172:103253. [PMID: 36162354 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Revised: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The early Middle Pleistocene human material from Boxgrove (West Sussex, UK) consists of a partial left tibia and two lower incisors from a separate adult individual. These remains derive from deposits assigned to the MIS 13 interglacial at about 480 ka and have been referred to as Homo cf. heidelbergensis. The much larger skeletal sample from the Sima de los Huesos (Atapuerca, Spain) is dated to the succeeding MIS 12, at about 430 ka. This fossil material has previously been assigned to Homo heidelbergensis but is now placed within the Neanderthal clade. Because of the scarcity of human remains from the Middle Pleistocene and their morphological variability, this study assessed whether the Boxgrove specimens fit within the morphological variability of the homogeneous Sima de los Huesos population. Based on morphometric analyses performed against 22 lower incisors from Sima de los Huesos and published material, the data from the Boxgrove incisors place them comfortably within the range of Sima de los Huesos. Both assemblages present robust incisors distinct from the overall small recent Homo sapiens incisors, and Boxgrove also aligns closely with Homo neanderthalensis and some other European Middle Pleistocene hominins. Following morphological and cross-sectional analyses of the Boxgrove tibia compared to seven adult Sima de los Huesos specimens and a set of comparative tibiae, Boxgrove is shown to be similar to Sima de los Huesos and Neanderthals in having thick cortices and bone walls, but in contrast resembles modern humans in having a straight anterior tibial crest and a suggestion of a lateral concavity. Based on the patterns observed, there is no justification for assigning the Boxgrove and Sima de los Huesos incisors to distinct paleodemes, but the tibial data show greater contrasts and suggest that all three of these samples are unlikely to represent the same paleodeme.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annabelle L Lockey
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BW, UK; Paleoanthropology, Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, Universität Tübingen, 72070, Germany
| | - Laura Rodríguez
- Área de Antropología Física, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Gestión Ambiental, Facultad de Ciencias Biologicas y Ambientales, Universidad de León. Campus de Vegazana s/n, 24071 León, Spain; Laboratorio de Evolución Humana, Departamento de Historia, Geografía y Comunicación, Facultad de Humanidades y Comunicación, Universidad de Burgos, Edificio I+D+i, Plaza Misael Bañuelos s/n, C/ Villadiego s/n, 09001, Burgos, Spain
| | - Laura Martín-Francés
- Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040, Madrid, Spain; Centro Mixto (UCM-ISCIII) de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Av. Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029, Madrid, Spain; National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain; Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Juan Luis Arsuaga
- Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040, Madrid, Spain; Centro Mixto (UCM-ISCIII) de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Av. Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029, Madrid, Spain; Cátedra de Bioacústica Evolutiva y Paleoantropología (HM Hospitales - Universidad de Alcalá), Área de Antropología Física, Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, 28871, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
| | - José María Bermúdez de Castro
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BW, UK; National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain
| | - Lucile Crété
- Centre for Human Evolution Research (CHER), The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK.
| | - María Martinón-Torres
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BW, UK; National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain
| | - Simon Parfitt
- Centre for Human Evolution Research (CHER), The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK; Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, UK
| | - Matt Pope
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, UK
| | - Chris Stringer
- Centre for Human Evolution Research (CHER), The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK
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Bello SM, Crété L, Galway-Witham J, Parfitt SA. Knapping tools in Magdalenian contexts: New evidence from Gough's Cave (Somerset, UK). PLoS One 2021; 16:e0261031. [PMID: 34941899 PMCID: PMC8699705 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 11/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Our knowledge of the recolonization of north-west Europe at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum depends to a large extent on finds from Gough’s Cave (Somerset, UK). Ultra-high resolution radiocarbon determinations suggest that the cave was occupied seasonally by Magdalenian hunters for perhaps no more than two or three human generations, centred on 12,600 BP (~14,950–14,750 cal BP). They left behind a rich and diverse assemblage of Magdalenian lithic and osseous artefacts, butchered animal bones, and cannibalised human remains. The faunal assemblage from Gough’s Cave is one of the most comprehensively studied from any Magdalenian site, yet new and unexpected discoveries continue to be made. Here, we record previously unrecognized flint-knapping tools that were identified during a survey of the Gough’s Cave faunal collection at the Natural History Museum (London). We identified bones used as hammers and teeth manipulated as pressure-flakers to manufacture flint tools. Most of the pieces appear to be ad hoc (single-use?) tools, but a horse molar was almost certainly a curated object that was used over an extended period to work many stone tools. This paper explores how these knapping tools were used to support a more nuanced understanding of Magdalenian stone-tool manufacturing processes. Moreover, we provide a standard for identifying minimally-used knapping tools that will help to establish whether retouchers and other organic stone-working tools are as rare in the Magdalenian archaeological record as current studies suggest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia M. Bello
- Centre for Human Evolution Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (SMB); (SAP)
| | - Lucile Crété
- Centre for Human Evolution Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom
| | - Julia Galway-Witham
- Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, NY, United States of America
- New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, United States of America
| | - Simon A. Parfitt
- Centre for Human Evolution Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (SMB); (SAP)
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Blinkhorn J, Zanolli C, Compton T, Groucutt HS, Scerri EML, Crété L, Stringer C, Petraglia MD, Blockley S. Nubian Levallois technology associated with southernmost Neanderthals. Sci Rep 2021; 11:2869. [PMID: 33589653 PMCID: PMC7884387 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-82257-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2020] [Accepted: 01/18/2021] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Neanderthals occurred widely across north Eurasian landscapes, but between ~ 70 and 50 thousand years ago (ka) they expanded southwards into the Levant, which had previously been inhabited by Homo sapiens. Palaeoanthropological research in the first half of the twentieth century demonstrated alternate occupations of the Levant by Neanderthal and Homo sapiens populations, yet key early findings have largely been overlooked in later studies. Here, we present the results of new examinations of both the fossil and archaeological collections from Shukbah Cave, located in the Palestinian West Bank, presenting new quantitative analyses of a hominin lower first molar and associated stone tool assemblage. The hominin tooth shows clear Neanderthal affinities, making it the southernmost known fossil specimen of this population/species. The associated Middle Palaeolithic stone tool assemblage is dominated by Levallois reduction methods, including the presence of Nubian Levallois points and cores. This is the first direct association between Neanderthals and Nubian Levallois technology, demonstrating that this stone tool technology should not be considered an exclusive marker of Homo sapiens.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Blinkhorn
- grid.469873.70000 0004 4914 1197Pan-African Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.4970.a0000 0001 2188 881XCentre for Quaternary Research, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey UK
| | - Clément Zanolli
- grid.503132.60000 0004 0383 1969Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR 5199, 33600 Pessac, France
| | - Tim Compton
- grid.35937.3b0000 0001 2270 9879Centre for Human Evolution Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD UK
| | - Huw S. Groucutt
- grid.4372.20000 0001 2105 1091Extreme Events Research Group, Max Planck Institutes for Chemical Ecology, The Science of Human History, and Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Strasse 8, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.469873.70000 0004 4914 1197Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.6190.e0000 0000 8580 3777Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Eleanor M. L. Scerri
- grid.469873.70000 0004 4914 1197Pan-African Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.4462.40000 0001 2176 9482Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta, Msida, 2080 MSD Malta ,grid.6190.e0000 0000 8580 3777Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | - Lucile Crété
- grid.35937.3b0000 0001 2270 9879Centre for Human Evolution Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD UK
| | - Chris Stringer
- grid.35937.3b0000 0001 2270 9879Centre for Human Evolution Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD UK
| | - Michael D. Petraglia
- grid.469873.70000 0004 4914 1197Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.1214.60000 0000 8716 3312Human Origins Program, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560 USA ,grid.1003.20000 0000 9320 7537School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072 Australia
| | - Simon Blockley
- grid.4970.a0000 0001 2188 881XCentre for Quaternary Research, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey UK
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