Further Ektopodontidae (Phalangeroidea,Mammalia) from southwestern Victoria

The youngest members of the Ektopodontidae, an enigmatic family of Phalangeroidea, are reported from southwestern Victoria. Four isolated teeth are described as Ektopodon paucicristata sp. nov. (from the ?mid-?late Pliocene, and early Pliocene) and two isolated Pleistocene teeth are assigned to Darcius duggani Rich, 1986. Previously, the youngest known ektopodontid was early Pliocene.     

The Prehistoric Exploration and Colonization of Fuego-Patagonia

The main goal of this paper is to review the earliest archaeological evidence for the presence of humans in Fuego-Patagonia. The paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic framework is briefly introduced, followed by a discussion of its relevance to understanding the exploration and colonization of Fuego-Patagonia. Technological and faunal evidence from a number of sites from the southern extreme older than 10,000 B.P. is analyzed. This leads to the conclusion that an early entry, at least 12,000 years old, appears best to accommodate the available chronological evidence. On the other hand, data from the Northern fringes of Patagonia clearly suggest an earlier human colonization.     

First record of Viperidae snakes from the Pleistocene of southwestern Brazilian Amazonia

We describe an incomplete trunk vertebra of a snake attributable to the Viperidae, collected from a conglomerate facies in upper Pleistocene sediments at the Mississippi locality, Upper Juruá River, southwestern Brazilian Amazonia. It represents the first fossil snake record from the Pleistocene of this region. This specimen extends the fossil distribution of the Viperidae, representing the northernmost record of a snake in the Brazilian Pleistocene.     

The Pleistocene art of Asia

While the Pleistocene art of Europe has been described, discussed, analyzed and explained in thousands of publications, that of Asia has attracted almost no interest at all. This paper is a brief summary of all known Ice Age art of Asia, both rock art and portable art. The current evidence is critically reviewed, region by region, and hundreds of specimens purported to be art are rejected by the author. Those considered to be authentic are often extremely isolated, in both time and space. It is argued that this record can only be explained effectively as having been greatly distorted by several factors. The geographical distribution, for instance, is clearly conditioned by such factors as intensity of research activities and local preservation conditions. Thus the pronounced paucity of available evidence is, at least in part, imposed by taphonomic biases of various types.     

Population Affinities of the Jebel Sahaba Skeletal Sample: Limb Proportion Evidence

The Lower Nubian Epipaleolithic site of Jebel Sahaba (Sudan) was discovered in 1962. From 1962 to 1966, a total of 58 intentionally buried skeletons were uncovered at the site. Diagnostic microliths indicative of the Qadan industry as well as the site's geology suggest an age of 14–12 ka for these burials. In this study, the body proportions of the Jebel Sahaba sample are compared with those of a large (max N = 731) sample of recent human skeletons from Europe, Africa and circumpolar North America, as well as to terminal Pleistocene ‘Iberomaurusian’ skeletons from the Algerian sites of Afalou‐Bou‐Rhummel and the later Capsian‐associated Ain Dokhara specimen, as well as Natufian skeletons from the southern Levantine site of El Wad. Bivariate analyses distinguish Jebel Sahaba from European and circumpolar samples, but do not tend to segregate them from recent North or sub‐Saharan African samples. Multivariate analyses (principal components analysis, principal coordinates analysis with minimum spanning tree and neighbour‐joining cluster analyses) indicate that the body shape of the Jebel Sahaba humans is most similar to that of recent sub‐Saharan Africans and different from that of either the Levantine Natufians or the northwest African ‘Iberomaurusian’ samples. Importantly, these results corroborate those of both Irish and Franciscus, who, using dental, oral and nasal morphology, found that Jebel Sahaba was most similar to recent sub‐Saharan Africans and morphologically distinct from their penecontemporaries in other parts of North Africa or the groups that succeed them in Nubia. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pathological Changes of the Cranium of a Young Female Cave Bear (Ursus spelaeus R.)—A Case Study (the Sudety Mts,Poland)

A cranium of a young female cave bear (Ursus spelaeus R.) was found in the Upper Pleistocene sediments of Bear Cave in Kletno, SW Poland. A detailed analysis of the cranium, including radiology, CT and histological methods, revealed numerous pathological changes caused both by diseases and by injuries inflicted by another predator. It is likely that during its lifespan, the young female was exposed to several attacks (bites on the head) from adult bears. The injuries varied in extent and caused bone infection and inflammation. The nature of most of them suggests that they were not fatal but could have had a significant effect on the overall fitness of the animal. In contrast, the lesions on the frontal bone and in the anterior part of the parietal bone may have been the cause of the individual's death. Additionally, the cranium was found to have cut marks, sharp‐edged longitudinal scars that indicate the use of a sharp‐edged tool, and are usually interpreted as effects of skinning. The finding is suggested to be indirect evidence of the existence of people in southern Poland during the Pleistocene. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lagostomus maximus (Desmarest) (Rodentia,Chinchillidae), the extant plains vizcacha in the Late Pleistocene of Uruguay

Ubilla, M. & Rinderknecht, A., April 2016. Lagostomus maximus (Desmarest) (Rodentia, Chinchillidae), the extant plains vizcacha in the Late Pleistocene of Uruguay. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518

The extant plains vizcacha, Lagostomus maximus, is described from the Late Pleistocene (Dolores Formation) of Uruguay based on an almost complete articulated skeleton. It is compared with the nominally extinct Pleistocene species of the genus. An AMS ¹⁴C taxon-age is determined for L. maximus at 11 879 ± 95 years BP (cal. BP 13 898–13 941). Lagostomus maximus is absent from modern mammal communities in Uruguay, and no Holocene evidence is available. Because L. maximus exhibits remarkable sexual and ontogenetic dimorphism, we examined a range of juvenile, sub-adult and adult male and female specimens. It is not possible to differentiate the articulated Pleistocene fossil from sub-adult specimens of L. maximus based on this sample. Moreover, the skull characteristics, including a broad vertical ramus of the zygomatic arch, semi-circular temporal crest and short robust sagittal crest, most closely resemble extant female individuals. Molar size is non-predictive for ontogenetic stage or body mass because it reaches stability during early adulthood. Other fragmentary skull remains are herein assigned to L. sp. cf. L. maximus. Lagostomus cavifrons from the Pleistocene of Argentina is considered synonymous with L. maximus. Its character states concur with the range of intraspecific variability and it has been established on a young adult or adult male individual. Likewise, the other Argentinean Pleistocene species based on incomplete mandibles, L. angustidens, L. striatus, L. heterogenidens, L. egenus, L. minimus and L. debilis, concur with ontogenetic morphs and are here assigned to Lagostomus sp. The ecological preferences of extant L. maximus infer open arid or semi-arid landscapes for the latest Pleistocene of southern Uruguay. This hypothesis is reinforced by the coeval presence of Microcavia, Galea and small camelids in the same strata. The Last Glacial Maximum likely promoted this environmental setting. Latest Pleistocene or early Holocene climatic change might have facilitated local extinctions and/or range shifts among this mammal fauna.

Martín Ubilla [martinubilla@gmail.com], Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Republica, Iguá 4225, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay; Andrés Rinderknecht [apaleorinder@yahoo.com], Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Paleontología, 11000, Montevideo, Uruguay.     

Archaeological associations with extinct pleistocene mammals in North America

It has often been argued that there are insufficient associations between extinct Pleistocene mammalian genera and cultural materials to support the argument that human predation played a major role in causing the extinctions. This argument assumes that there are many records for most or all of the extinct mammals that date to the very end of the Pleistocene. An analysis of a sample of radiocarbon dated sites with extinct mammals and younger than 12,000 BP suggests that this criticism of the overkill hypothesis is weakly based.     

Dental Anomalies in the Mandible of Capra pyrenaica: Presence of Two Permanent Fourth Premolars in a Pleistocene Wild Goat from Arlanpe Cave (Bizkaia,Northern Spain)

In this study, we report a case of duplication of a lower fourth premolar (P₄) on an Iberian wild goat from the archaeological site cave of Arlanpe, (Lemoa, Bizkaia, Northern Spain). The preserved right mandible corpus displays two premolars and the first molar (M₁). Both premolars conform in size and general shape to fourth premolars (P₄) but the medialmost of the two is rotated 90° counterclockwise, and thus, its wear pattern is different. The comparative analysis to other bovids and the relative scarcity of this anomaly compared to other cases of polydontia and hypodontia suggest that it is a developmental defect consisting in the duplication of the tooth germ, and we doubt on the potential of this abnormality as a territorially based indicator of past wild populations as has been previously proposed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Neurocranial Trauma in the Late Archaic Human Remains from Xujiayao,Northern China

The early Late Pleistocene late archaic human remains from Xujiayao, northern China, reveal several abnormalities of the neurocranial vault. The Xujiayao site is located on the northwestern boundary of the Nihewan Basin, and on the basis of various indicators, it dates to the early Late Pleistocene. Among the 15 human neurocranial elements found at Xujiayao in the 1970s, three elements show minor traumatic lesions of the external table: the largely complete Xujiayao 5a immature parietal bone, the Xujiayao 8 small piece of anterior right parietal bone and the Xujiayao 12 partial occipital bone. The lesions are all superior to the temporal or nuchal lines and hence were subcutaneous, covered only by the pericranium, the galea aponeurotica and the overlying skin. The external tables are variably concave with irregular bone within the bony depressions, and the diploë show varying degrees of involvement. The Xujiayao abnormalities join a series of minor neurocranial healed lesions among Pleistocene humans, as well as more pronounced healed neurocranial and facial trauma. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Neurocranial abnormalities of the Gongwangling Homo erectus from Lantian,China

The Homo erectus cranium found at Gongwangling, near Lantian, China, and dated to ≈1.2 ma BP has been analyzed with respect to its evolutionary position. However, the remains, and especially the internal and external surfaces of the neurocranium, present a series of marked abnormalities. These irregularities consist principally of a pronounced cresting and scalloping of the external surface of the frontal bone and anterior parietal bone and a similar alteration of the internal surface of a mid transverse section of parietal bone that connects with the fossilization break across the anterior parietal bone. There is no obvious exposure of diploë on the surfaces. Woo (Vertebrata PalAsiatica 10:1–16, 1966) briefly ascribed these abnormalities to postmortem erosion, and Caspari (Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 102:565–568, 1997) has attributed the irregularities of the right supraorbital torus to antemortem trauma. It has been suggested that the pervasive neurocranial alterations might be pathological. Computerized tomography (CT) analysis of the frontal and parietal bones revealed complete radiopacity of the anterior half of the fossil; it is possible to distinguish large frontal sinuses but other details, including in the area of the purported traumatic lesion, are invisible. However, in the posterior frontal bone and preserved portions of the parietal bone the diploë and tables are discernible. Externally on the frontoparietal section and internally on the transverse parietal piece, there are clear erosional lacunae in the associated table, combined with a thin layer of matrix which obscures the eroded diploë externally. The superficial irregularities are therefore due to postmortem taphonomic alterations of the bone and not pathological processes. In addition, it is apparent that the two pieces were embedded in the matrix at different angles, resulting in their differential erosion.     

Single carcass of Mammuthus primigenius with lithic artifacts in the Upper Pleistocene of northern Italy

This paper presents the find of a Mammuthus primigenius carcass and associated Mousterian implements from the Last Glacial site of Asolo, in north-eastern Italy. We review the exploitation of proboscidean carcasses at Lower and Middle Paleolithic sites of Africa, Europe and the Levant, including evidence of elephant killing, and summarize recent research on hafting and use of Mousterian points as spearheads already before the end of the Middle Pleistocene. The bones and implements from Asolo are described in detail; we provide information on other Italian sites with mammoth remains and on the Mousterian record of the north-eastern quadrant of the peninsula. A possible impact fracture has been detected on a Levallois point from Asolo; its interpretation is based on comparisons to similar scars found on spear points of verified function from archaeological sites of later age, and on experimental material. We conclude that the evidence of Asolo is consistent with information from a number of Western European sites supporting a picture of Neanderthals as capable hunters of large game, such as woolly mammoth.     

Late Middle Pleistocene horse fossils from northwestern Europe as biostratigraphic indicators

Biostratigraphy provides a crucial tool for establishing temporal correlations between late Middle Pleistocene sites. The caballoid horse lineage is one of the few large mammal groups that underwent changes in size and morphology over this period. Here, univariate, bivariate and multivariate statistics are used to identify temporal affinities of late Middle Pleistocene horse remains from northwest Europe.     

Excavations at the Bairaki Lower Paleolithic Site,Trans-Dniesteria,in 2011

Early Paleolithic deposits of the left-bank high seventh fluvial terrace of the Dniester were excavated at Bairaki, Trans-Dniestria. The assemblage is comprised of 28 artifacts including distinct flakes, cores, and Lower Paleolithic tools. Based on the 2011 geological and archaeological study, tools from the riverbed alluvium, paralleled by those of the Middle Oldowan, date to the earliest Lower Pleistocene. Bairaki, then, should be classified among the most ancient Paleolithic sites in Eastern Europe.     

SahulTime: Rethinking Archaeological Representation in the Digital Age

SahulTime is an experimental development project to explore how archaeological knowledge might best be represented within a digitally native mode. The system incorporates an interactive, zoomable timeline with a changing geographic view, time-aware icons and detail-boxes that can themselves express temporal visualisations. The core knowledge domain currently represented is Australian archaeology in the context of changing sea-level, but the visualisation concepts developed are more generally applicable at a global level on all timescales, and may offer a first step towards the ‘Digital Earth’ vision of a top-down interface for exploring the world and its history.     

The Enisei River of Central Siberia in the Late Pleistocene

Recent Paleolithic work along the middle Enisei River of central Siberia has revealed a long history of occupation that almost certainly begins in the Middle Pleistocene. Although the evidence for the Lower Paleolithic is somewhat tentative, there is good reason to believe that hunter-gatherers had periodically occupied the middle Enisei before the last interglacial. The steppe environment of the region during the Upper Pleistocene was relatively bountiful; more than 200 Upper Paleolithic sites, both before and after the Last Glacial Maximum, have been located. The region appears to have been abandoned during the Last Glacial Maximum. Most of Soviet and Russian archaeological work has been guided by a cultural–historical orientation, but recently there has been increased interest in developing adaptationist and ecological research strategies. The middle Enisei and the wider central Siberian region are key to understanding early adaptations to the north and the dimensions of Paleolithic population movements.     

Late Pleistocene mammalian extinctions in North America: Taxonomy,chronology, and explanations

Toward the end of the Pleistocene, North America lost some 35 genera of mammals. It has long been assumed that all or virtually all of the extinctions occurred between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago, but detailed analyses of the radiocarbon chronology provide little support for this assumption, which seems to have been widely accepted because of the kinds of explanations felt most likely to account for the extinctions in the first place. Approaches that attribute the losses to human predation depend almost entirely on the assumed synchroneity between the extinctions and the onset of large mammal hunting by North American peoples. The fact that only two of the extinct genera have been found in a convincing kill context presents an overwhelming problem for this approach. Climatic models, on the other hand, are becoming increasingly precise and account for a wide variety of apparently synchronous biogeographic events. While a role for human activities in the extinction of some taxa is fully possible, there can be little doubt that the underlying cause of the extinctions lies in massive climatic change.