European Neanderthal stone hunting weapons reveal complex behaviour long before the appearance of modern humans

Stone weapon points constitute a major innovation appearing at the end of the Middle Pleistocene in Europe, Africa and the Near East; that is, among both sapiens and Neanderthal populations. The microscopic analysis of the stone weapons used by Neanderthal groups in Atlantic southern Europe suggests that this technology was widespread and became a recurrent behaviour within organised strategies developed by these societies. In this southern region of Europe, stone weapon hunting technology appears at an early time (about 150 ka, OIS 6) and is associated with the hunting of large mammals. This behaviour can be recognised in a geomorphologically complex region and at a time of great environmental change (OIS 6–5–4). The fact that these innovations were used by European Neanderthals long before the spread of anatomically modern humans in the area is of great evolutionary significance.     

The Post‐Mortem Pressure Distortion of Human Crania Uncovered in an Early Medieval Pohansko (Czech Republic) Graveyard

Post‐mortem distortion resulting from the pressure of overlying sediments (i.e. grave backfill) is one of the taphonomic factors capable of altering the geometry of buried and subsequently recovered skeletal remains. If pressure distortion is a frequent occurrence, it could systematically flaw the outcome of an anthropological examination. To study the patterns of post‐mortem distortion in buried crania and shape alterations associated with a specimen's in situ position, 46 male crania recovered from an Old Slavic graveyard (Pohansko, Czech Republic) were analysed together with control specimens from four modern European osteological collections (N = 207) using geometric morphometrics. The results indicate a common pattern of shape change in buried skulls associated with their in situ orientation. However, as the overall shape variation between the Old Slavic crania (which, with their tendency towards longer, narrower shapes differed markedly from the modern Czech crania) oriented in situ on their back and side reflects the duality of dolichocranial and brachycranial forms, it seems likely that the in situ positioning of the crania stemmed from their original morphology. The lack of substantial effect of the in situ orientation on the cranial morphology is associated with a larger cranial size and a tendency for sturdiness in the Old Slavic subsample. Both of these characteristics are likely to be contributing to the resistance of these crania to taphonomic alterations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Extraction and sequencing of human and Neanderthal mature enamel proteins using MALDI-TOF/TOF MS

We report here the first results of a method to extract and sequence mature enamel proteins from modern human and Neanderthal tooth enamel. Using MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry and a combination of direct sequencing and peptide mass mapping we have sequenced a peptide from the tyrosine-rich amelogenin peptide (TRAP) of the X isoform of the amelogenin protein for modern and recent human samples. We also report our results from two Neanderthal enamel samples where we were also able to recover fragments of the TRAP protein, which had a similar sequence to the modern human samples.     

Vault thickness in two Pleistocene Australian crania

This study examines vault thickness in two Pleistocene crania at the centre of discussions about the evolution of Indigenous Australians and competing scenarios about modern human origins: Willandra Lakes Human (WLH) 3 and WLH 50. We estimated total vault thickness and thickness of the diploë, external and internal table on CT-scans, and undertook a quantitative comparison of them. We found that they differ significantly in absolute thickness, but are similar in terms of the relative contribution to thickness made by the diploic space and total table. They also differ significantly in terms of relative variation in thickness, and in several instances, WLH 50 shows greater variability than WLH 3. This finding undermines pathology as an explanation for thickness in the former cranium. Among later hominins, WLH 50 is highly unusual in possessing an extremely thick vault at bregma. We show, however, that vault thickness at this landmark is positively allometrically scaled in Indigenous Australians, but negatively scaled in Ngandong Homo erectus. Thus, vault thickness is mostly explained by the extremely large size of WLH 50: one of the largest hominin crania ever found. Moreover, its extreme thickness firmly establishes its affinities with modern humans rather than the Ngandong group. Despite the important role played by epigenesis in the development of the cranial vault, similarities between WLH 3 and WLH 50 indicate some canalisation in the extent to which the various vault components contribute to total thickness.     

The Cradle of Thought: Growth,Learning, Play and Attachment in Neanderthal Children

Childhood is a core stage in development, essential in the acquisition of social, practical and cultural skills. However, this area receives limited attention in archaeological debate, especially in early prehistory. We here consider Neanderthal childhood, exploring the experience of Neanderthal children using biological, cultural and social evidence. We conclude that Neanderthal childhood experience was subtly different from that of their modern human counterparts, orientated around a greater focus on social relationships within their group. Neanderthal children, as reflected in the burial record, may have played a particularly significant role in their society, especially in the domain of symbolic expression. A consideration of childhood informs broader debates surrounding the subtle differences between Neanderthals and modern humans.     

Studying Pleistocene Neanderthal and cave hyena Dietary Habits: Combining Isotopic and Archaeozoological Analyses

Stable isotope analysis is increasingly used to gain insight in the configuration of Pleistocene ecosystems. The application of isotope analysis to Neanderthal and cave hyena bone assemblages has led to hypotheses about the niche differentiation between these species. Comparing isotopic data with archaeozoology analyses shows discrepancies between the results of both analytical methods. Here, the results of all northwest European stable isotope studies on Neanderthals are reviewed. The emphasis of the analysis is on a sample of sites from MIS 4-3 in southwest France. Causes of the discrepancy between archaeozoological and stable isotope results are discussed and hypotheses reconciling the data are proposed. Recommendations for further research will allow testing of the hypotheses and increase our understanding of the functioning of Pleistocene ecosystems.     

New Middle Palaeolithic sites from the Mani Peninsula,Southern Greece

We here report the first results from a systematic research project in Mani (Southern Greece), which includes survey and test excavations. Forty-six caves, rockshelters and open-air sites in lowland settings were surveyed. Geomorphological data were collected in order to assess how geological processes affect the preservation of sites and bias site distribution patterns. Artifacts manufactured from non-local rock indicate potential raw material transfers and suggest links among the different regions of Mani, related to mobility patterns. Our research in the Mani has nearly doubled the number of known Middle Palaeolithic sites from the region and confirmed that the peninsula has the strongest ‘Neanderthal signal’ identified to date in Greece. Almost all sites are located at coastal areas. Despite the influence of Pleistocene landscape dynamics, this distribution emerges as a persistent pattern, perhaps indicating a preference for coastal locations. The Neanderthal occupation of Mani can illuminate important aspects of Middle Palaeolithic adaptation in one of the southernmost coastal regions of Europe.     

Comments on Richards et al., Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 2008 “Strontium isotope evidence of Neanderthal mobility at the site of Lakonis,Greece using laser-ablation PIMMS”

We present an evaluation of the laser ablation Sr isotope data reported by Richards et al. [Richards, M., Harvati, K., Grimes, V., Colin Smith, C., Smith, T., Jean-Jacques Hublin, J.J., Karkanas, P., and Panagopoulou, E., 2008. Strontium isotope evidence of Neanderthal mobility at the site of Lakonis, Greece using laser ablation PIMMS. Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 1251–1256] for a Neanderthal tooth recovered from a site in Greece. Based on an alternative and analytically more robust method of correcting for isobaric interferences present during the analysis the tooth appears to be isotopically homogenous and within uncertainty of the value for modern seawater. If this is the case then contrary to the migration model proposed by Richards et al. [Richards, M., Harvati, K., Grimes, V., Colin Smith, C., Smith, T., Jean-Jacques Hublin, J.J., Karkanas, P., and Panagopoulou, E., 2008. Strontium isotope evidence of Neanderthal mobility at the site of Lakonis, Greece using laser ablation PIMMS. Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 1251–1256] the Neanderthal individual may have actually been a coastal dweller and lived within the vicinity of the find site.     

Storied landscapes makes us (Modern) Human: Landscape socialisation in the Palaeolithic and consequences for the archaeological record

The unusual nature of the Neanderthal archaeological record has attracted the attention of archaeologists for the past 150 years. On the one hand, the technical skill apparent in their lithic technology, the practice of symbolic cultural behaviours (such as burials), and their successful survival in harsh environmental conditions for more than 200,000 years demonstrate the adaptive success and underlying humanity of the Neanderthal populations. On the other hand, the apparent lack of abundant and repeated use of symbolic material culture has resulted in a number of researchers arguing that these populations were largely incapable of symbolism – a conclusion with significant implications for social organisation. This paper reviews ideas regarding the use of ‘place’ or ‘landscape’ by Neanderthals and argues that the identified differences between the archaeological records of Neanderthals and late Pleistocene Modern Humans is not so much the result of significant variance in cognitive capacities, but rather the use of contrasting approaches to interaction with the physical landscape. ‘Landscape socialisation’ is a Modern Human universal, but what if Neanderthals did not participate in this kind of landscape interaction? Would this difference in behaviour result in the apparently contradictory archaeological record which has been created? The ideas presented in this paper are drawn together as a hypothesis to be developed and tested.     

A Micro Computerized Tomography (X-RAY MICROSCOPY) of the Hand Phalanx of the Denisova Girl*

In 2010, the complete mitochondrial genome of a fossil hominin from Denisova Cave, Altai was sequenced on the basis of mtDNA extracted from the hand phalanx of a girl. Modern micro tomographic techniques mark a new stage in the morphological study of extant and fossil hominins, offering opportunities to work with fragmentary material. We have used the nondestructive method of micro computerized tomography for a comparative histological assessment of the Denisova girl's biological age. The diaphyseal and metaphyseal parts of the phalanx, reflecting different ontogenetic stages, were undergoing rapid growth. The histological pattern of the walls of the diaphysis, specifically the lamellar structure with rare osteons, indicates a stage corresponding to 6–7 years in modern children. An altogether different pattern, resembling that of adults, was earlier observed in a Neanderthal child from Okladnikov Cave, Altai. The resemblance between the Denisova individual and extant humans in certain features of growth and skeletal maturation may point to the very early origin of the modern skeletal growth pattern. The Neanderthal pattern is quite distinct and may have originated after these hominins had branched off from the common stem.     

The British Late Middle Palaeolithic: An Interpretative Synthesis of Neanderthal Occupation at the Northwestern Edge of the Pleistocene World

The British Middle Palaeolithic is divided into two discrete periods of occupation: the Early Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 9–7, ~330–180 ka BP) and the Late Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 3, ~59–36 ka BP), separated by a long hiatus. Owing to the relative poverty of the record and historical difficulties in dating and correlating archaeological sites, the British Late Middle Palaeolithic has, until recently, received scant attention, and has largely been regarded as the poor man of Europe, especially by British archaeologists. Indeed, there has been more discussion of the absence of humans from Britain than of what they did when they were present. We aim here to redress that situation. Following from recent considerations of the Early Middle Palaeolithic (White et al. in J. Quat. Sci. 21:525–542, 2006; Scott, Becoming Neanderthal, Oxbow, Oxford, 2010), we offer an interpretative synthesis of the British Late Middle Palaeolithic, situating ‘British’ Neanderthals in their chronological, environmental and landscape contexts. We discuss the character of the British record, and offer an account of Neanderthal behaviour, settlement systems and technological practices at the northwestern edge of their known Upper Pleistocene range. We also examine the relationship of the enigmatic Early Upper Palaeolithic leafpoint assemblages to Neanderthals.     

Prehistoric Human and Ungulate Remains from Preston Docks,Lancashire, UK: Problems of River Finds

Isolated and usually undated human crania from riverine deposits in the British Isles present something of an archaeological mystery. The large numbers sometimes involved—several hundred from the River Thames alone—together with the recovery of unassociated metal artefacts have been taken to imply some or other “ritual” activity. We offer a taphonomic investigation of human crania and ungulate remains obtained from dock excavations during the 1880s at Preston in Lancashire in northwestern England. Although apparently recovered in close spatial proximity, a series of AMS determinations on crania of humans, aurochsen (Bos primigenius) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) has established at least a Neolithic to Saxon age range for the sample. Such a chronological span for a diverse assemblage when considered against modern forensic studies of the taphonomy of bodies in water strongly implies that the human crania need represent no more than an accumulation of elements that normally separate quite naturally from the rest of the body. While the reasons for initial entry to the water may well have included “ritual” activity in one or more case there is simply no reason to infer such behaviour for the human sample as a whole in the absence of direct evidence.     

内蒙古赤峰市上机房营子遗址夏家店上层文化时期人骨研究

内蒙古赤峰市上机房营子遗址出土了1例夏家店上层文化时期的男性颅骨,对其进行体质人类学考察发现,该组颅骨在种族特征上可归入现代亚洲蒙古人种中的东亚人种范围。在若干古代和现代对比组中,上机房营子组古代居民的体质特征与龙头山组、近代华北组最为接近。     

Implications of age variation and sexual dimorphism in modern equids for Middle Pleistocene equid taxonomy

Interspecific variation in the equid lineage is limited when compared with other large mammal lineages, while a considerable amount of intraspecific ecomorphological variation occurs. This has led to considerable debate regarding the taxonomic status of palaeontological and archaeological equid remains. The possible confounding impact of sex and age variation on analyses of archaeological equid remains has so far remained untested. This could be especially problematic when it is unknown whether an assemblage contains more than one equid species, breed or hybrid. Here, sex and age variation in modern equid species is examined and compared to variation in Pleistocene equid assemblages from northwest Europe. Sex variation in the longbones of modern equid species was found to be lower than variation over time. Similarly, age variation in dental elements of the same species is predominantly lower than diachronic variation, although caution needs to be taken when an archaeological assemblages consists mostly of elements at a similar wear stage. To assess whether late Middle Pleistocene caballoid horse fossils should be assigned to multiple species or be considered to form a monospecific group, the coefficients of variation for measurements on fossil horse remains were compared with those for modern equid specimens. Results indicate that the fossil assemblages are similarly variable to samples of modern material. Taken as a whole, the late Middle Pleistocene caballoid horse lineage is equally variable to an assemblage of modern ponies of a variety of different breeds. This implies that the variation observed between samples dating from different parts of the Middle Pleistocene can be characterised as intraspecific variation within a single species reflecting ecomorphological adaptations to the changeable Pleistocene climate. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Phytolith evidence for hearths and beds in the late Mousterian occupations of Esquilleu cave (Cantabria,Spain)

Esquilleu cave site has provided a moderately well preserved archaeological cave deposit from the Late Pleistocene in the Cantabrian area. Phytolith quantification, identification and determination of the refractive index have been carried out, together with FTIR analyses, from sediment samples collected in the profile. The comparison of the data obtained with the previous micromorphological results allows us to make inferences about the site formation processes and the Neanderthals use of the cave. Phytolith results show the presence of grass leaves nearby the hearth suggesting the repetitive existence of a bedding zone on the same area. Neanderthal behavioral patterns should be revised on the light of high resolution analyses, since diagenetic processes can obscure the existence of differentiated activity areas in the site.     

Identifying artificially deformed crania

In this paper we report on a new discriminant function for the identification of artificially deformed crania. Development of the function, based on a sample of deformed and undeformed crania from the Philippines, required visual classification of the sample into deformed and undeformed groups. Working from the observation that deformed crania display flattened frontal and occipital regions, the sample was seriated based on degree of flattening; classification was based on the results of this seriation. The discriminant function, calculated using curvature indices, required only six simple measurements: arc and chord measurements for the frontal (glabella to bregma), parietals (bregma to lambda) and occipital (lambda to opisthion). The function was designed to be conservative, in that a deformed cranium may be classified as undeformed, but the opposite should not occur. Our function classified the undeformed crania with 100% accuracy and deformed crania with 76.9% accuracy, for a total of 91.9% agreement with visual classification. In order to evaluate whether the function is applicable for samples from outside the Philippines, a double blind test was conducted with a large sample of deformed and undeformed crania from a broad geographical and temporal range. For this sample, the function agreed with visual classification in 89.7% of cases; 98.8% of undeformed crania were correctly classified, while deformed crania were identified with 73.7% accuracy. These results demonstrate the utility of the new discriminant function for the classification of artificially deformed crania from diverse contexts. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Getting “Out of Africa”: Sea Crossings,Land Crossings and Culture in the Hominin Migrations

Palaeoanthropologists and archaeologists have advanced a wide range of explanatory narratives for the various movements of Homo erectus/Homo ergaster, and the first modern Homo sapiens, “Out of Africa”—or even back again. The application of Occam's razor—a parsimonious approach to causes—gives a more cautious approach. There is nothing in the available evidence that would require the ability for a human water crossing from Africa before the later Pleistocene, whether across the Strait of Gibraltar, the Sicilian Channel or the southern Red Sea (Bab el-Mandab). A parsimonious narrative is consistent with movements across the Sinai peninsula. The continuous arid zone from northern Africa to western Asia allowed both occupation and transit during wet phases of the Pleistocene; there is no requirement for a “sponge” model of absorption followed by expulsion of human groups. The Nile Valley as a possible transit route from East Africa has a geological chronology that could fit well much current evidence for the timing of human migration. The limited spatial and temporal opportunities for movements “Out of Africa,” or back again, also puts particular difficulties in the way of the gene flow required for the multiregional hypothesis of the development of modern Homo sapiens.     

Evidence for temporal and social differences in cranial dimensions in Edo‐period Japanese

This study examined the craniometric traits of the Edo‐period (AD1603–1867) human skeletons from the Hitotsubashi site in Tokyo, compared them with temporally and socially various populations, and attempted to detect the morphological differentiation patterns that the Edo‐period Japanese exhibited over time and under those social/environmental conditions. The materials measured here were the townsmen's crania from the Hitotsubashi site, which were dated back to the early half of the Edo period. The observations revealed that the Hitotsubashi samples were more dolichocephalic than any other Edo series and were different from subsequent Edo series in terms of larger maximum cranial length and smaller maximum cranial breadth. The Hitotsubashi samples were definitely in contrast with those of Tentokuji and Shirogane, both of which included a samurai (warrior) class of the late to final Edo period and exhibited the most brachycephalic crania. It is reasonable to assume that the temporal and social situations were possibly related to the observed cranial variation and that the temporal changes in cranial dimensions in pre‐modern Japan might have reflected the nutritional and environmental conditions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

DID NEANDERTHALS PLAY MUSIC? X‐RAY COMPUTED MICRO‐TOMOGRAPHY OF THE DIVJE BABE ‘FLUTE’*

Archaeological evidence for wind musical instruments made by modern humans has been well established from the Upper Palaeolithic in Europe. Musical instruments evidently made by Neanderthals have not been found so far. The most controversial object is a juvenile cave bear femur with two complete holes, found in 1995 in the Middle Palaeolithic layers of the Cave Divje babe I, Slovenia. The bone was interpreted as a possible Neanderthal ‘flute’, but some scholars have firmly rejected this hypothesis on the basis of taphonomic observations, suggesting a carnivore origin for the holes. Here, we show the results of X‐ray computed micro‐tomography (mCT) performed on the Divje babe I ‘flute’. Our analyses demonstrate that there were originally four holes, possibly made with pointed stones and bone tools. Most surface modifications near the holes, previously interpreted as effects of carnivore gnawing, are post‐depositional marks. Furthermore, a thin layer has been removed around one of the complete holes, producing a flat surface, possibly to facilitate perforation. The new data show that a Neanderthal manufacture of the object cannot be ruled out.