Paleolithic Humans Research Articles

Bony Labyrinth in Upper Paleolithic Individuals Buried at Sungir

The bony labyrinth of the Sungir individuals was studied using the computed tomography scanning on an industrial Phoenix X-ray device. Three-dimensional modeling and visualization were carried out with special software. Crania of an adult (Sungir 1) and two children (Sungir 2 and 3) were analyzed. Findings reveal that bilateral asymmetry is insignificant. Individual variation range suggests that the group is morphologically homogeneous. Comparison of averages with those of Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans demonstrates overall similarity with the latter and significant difference from the former in key traits. Based on results of the discriminant analysis, children unambiguously fall in the H. sapiens group, while the adult is halfway between the latter and the Neanderthal sample. But such a finding is neither exceptional nor even rare. A Neanderthal-like morphology of the bony labyrinth (large lateral semicircular canal and high sagittal index) occurs in a small number of Upper Paleolithic humans of the modern morphological type. The Sungir adult belongs to this group.

Small populations of Palaeolithic humans in Cyprus hunted endemic megafauna to extinction.

The hypothesized main drivers of megafauna extinctions in the late Quaternary have wavered between over-exploitation by humans and environmental change, with recent investigations demonstrating more nuanced synergies between these drivers depending on taxon, spatial scale, and region. However, most studies still rely on comparing archaeologically based chronologies of timing of initial human arrival into naïve ecosystems and palaeontologically inferred dates of megafauna extinctions. Conclusions arising from comparing chronologies also depend on the reliability of dated evidence, dating uncertainties, and correcting for the low probability of preservation (Signor-Lipps effect). While some models have been developed to test the susceptibility of megafauna to theoretical offtake rates, none has explicitly linked human energetic needs, prey choice, and hunting efficiency to examine the plausibility of human-driven extinctions. Using the island of Cyprus in the terminal Pleistocene as an ideal test case because of its late human settlement (~14.2-13.2 ka), small area (~11 000 km2), and low megafauna diversity (2 species), we developed stochastic models of megafauna population dynamics, with offtake dictated by human energetic requirements, prey choice, and hunting-efficiency functions to test whether the human population at the end of the Pleistocene could have caused the extinction of dwarf hippopotamus (Phanourios minor) and dwarf elephants (Palaeoloxodon cypriotes). Our models reveal not only that the estimated human population sizes (n = 3000-7000) in Late Pleistocene Cyprus could have easily driven both species to extinction within < 1000 years, the model predictions match the observed, Signor-Lipps-corrected chronological sequence of megafauna extinctions inferred from the palaeontological record (P. minor at ~12-11.1 ka, followed by P. cypriotes at ~10.3-9.1 ka).

Spatial-temporal variations of Paleolithic human activities in Northeast China

Northeast China played an irreplaceable role in population migrations and cultural exchanges in East Asia during the Paleolithic. This paper collected 182 archaeological sites to analyse the characteristics of spatial-temporal variations of Paleolithic human activities in Northeast China, and explored the driving mechanisms behind these variations in combination with the paleoenvironmental and archaeological studies. During the Lower Paleolithic, constrained by the relatively cold-dry climate and blocked by the Songnen paleo-lake basin, the population was sparse and distributed only near 40° N at the southern end of Northeast China. Upon entering the Middle Paleolithic, as humans developed greater tolerance to cold climates and adopted more sophisticated survival strategies with the application of small lithic tools, their numbers increased and geographical distribution expanded northward to 45° N at the central region of Northeast China. The Upper Paleolithic saw a considerable increase in population and expansion across almost all of Northeast China except for the eastern Inner Mongolia Plateau. We speculated that 50 ka and 30 ka BP were two key points, both of which may be associated with a significant increase in the frequency of migrations and communications among humans, and the widespread popularity of highly mobile microblade technology, respectively. In addition, the environmental analysis of archaeological sites revealed a continuous spread of Paleolithic humans to areas with higher elevations, steeper slopes, and lower temperatures. Meanwhile, they were becoming less reliant on water resources and were more widely conducting activities in open-air areas, showing that the environmental adaptability had been continuously improving over time. This study can provide a reference for the reconstruction of the migration history of early humans in East Asia, and is also of great significance for a comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary process of early human-environment interactions.

The Stone, the Deer, and the Mountain: Lower Paleolithic Scrapers and Early Human Perceptions of the Cosmos

AbstractEvidence from the Levantine Late Lower Paleolithic sites of Jaljulia and Qesem Cave suggests that Quina scrapers, an innovation in a category of tools used mostly for butchery, emerged with changes in hunting practices. Quina scrapers were often made of non-local flint from the Samarian highlands, a home range of fallow deer populations throughout the ages. The predominance of fallow deer in the human diet following the disappearance of megafauna made scrapers key tools in human subsistence. Particular stone tools and particular prey animals, thus, became embedded in an array of practical, cosmological, and ontological conceptions whose origin we trace back to Paleolithic times. The mountains of Samaria, a source of both animals and stone under discussion, were part of this nexus. We present archaeological and ethnographic evidence of the practical and perceptual bonds between Paleolithic humans, animals, stones, and the landscape they shared.

High-resolution dietary analysis of the Late Upper Paleolithic Šandalja II (Croatia) humans confirms an aquatic food diet

There is increasing evidence from archaeological and especially isotope analysis for the reliance on aquatic foods, including freshwater and marine fish, in later Upper Paleolithic humans in Europe. A previous isotope study of the Late Upper Paleolithic humans and associated fauna from the site of Šandalja II (Croatia) (Richards et al., 2015) showed that the bulk collagen isotope values indicated a diet likely based mainly on freshwater fish. Here we applied high-resolution compound-specific amino acid (CSIA) isotope (carbon and nitrogen) analysis to humans and fauna from this site to refine the dietary interpretation based on the bulk values. We found that both the carbon and nitrogen CSIA results confirm that the two previously-analyzed Late Upper Paleolithic humans from this site were consuming significant quantities of freshwater fish. This supports other isotope studies showing the importance of aquatic foods in Late Upper Paleolithic human diets in Europe.

Wolf-Dog-Human: Companionship Based on Common Social Tools.

Wolves, dogs and humans share extremely social and cooperative minds. These similarities are rooted in phylogenetic homology and in the convergence of neuronal and physiological mechanisms, particularly the brain, in the functioning and communication of basic affects and in the mechanisms of stress and calming. The domesticated wolves called dogs are particularly close companion animals. Both Palaeolithic humans and wolves were hypercursorial hunters, cooperating in complex and prosocial ways within their clans with respect to hunting, raising offspring, and defending against conspecific and heterospecific competitors and predators. These eco-social parallels have shaped the development of similar social mindsets in wolves and humans. Over the millennia of domestication, this social match was fine-tuned, resulting in the socio-cognitive specialists humans and dogs, possessing amazingly similar social brains and minds. Therefore, it can be concluded that the quality of their relationships with their human masters is a major factor in the wellbeing, welfare and even health of dogs, as well as in the wellbeing of their human partners. Based on their strikingly similar social brains and physiologies, it can be further concluded that anthropomorphically applying human empathy to dogs in an educated manner may not be as inappropriate as previously thought.

From room acoustics to paleoacoustics: A preliminary acoustical study in Chauvet Cave

Due to geological closures between 21 000 and 29 000 years ago, the acoustics of the UNESCO World Heritage site, Chauvet Cave (Ardèche, France) have been in slow flux via mineral deposition processes that continue to alter its interior. Since Upper Paleolithic humans created extensive and elaborate artworks throughout this grand limestone cavern more than 30 000 years ago, the cave’s interior has changed with calcite and other minerals forming a diversity of features including the best-known stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstone floor coverings. Here, we report on archaeoacoustics fieldwork in 2022 that initiated acoustical mapping and reconstructive modeling to enable archaeological acoustics research and the creation of auralizations and multimodal experiences for virtual public access to this conservation-restricted place. We present here a comparative room acoustics study of two substantively enclosed cave areas (Salle du Fond and Galerie du Cactus) whose volumes differ significantly, but whose extant reverberation times are similar across most center bands, providing important information about the dynamical contributions of surface materials and structural features distinct to each impulse-response-measured location. Our study exemplifies an archaeological application of room acoustics methods with site-responsive techniques that offer a human-centered approach for understanding and translating cultural heritage acoustics across time.

From the cave to the virtual museum: accessibility and democratisation of Franco-Cantabrian Palaeolithic art

Highlights: Despite being a transcendental cultural manifestation in the history of humanity, there are hardly any open-access virtual repertoires of Palaeolithic art. The numerous photogrammetric studies carried out in successive archaeological campaigns to answer scientific questions can be used in educational and dissemination projects. In the framework of the authors’ outreach project called "PaleoArt-3D: regreso al pasado" a virtual museum has been created to make Palaeolithic art a more accessible and democratic heritage. Abstract: Palaeolithic art is a cultural manifestation of great importance to understanding the early history of our species. Through this artistic phenomenon, one can study aspects such as long-distance contacts, evidence of learning or the perception with which Palaeolithic humans were able to execute and memorise such precise details. However, there are few virtual repertoires that offer collections of Palaeolithic art. Accessibility to this type of archaeological remains is even more difficult considering conservation is prioritised over tourist visits. For these reasons, Palaeolithic art is today a type of cultural asset that is largely unknown to the population. The project "PaleoArt-3D: regreso al pasado" was created with the aim of democratising this heritage and making it more accessible. To this end, a virtual museum has been developed to exhibit digital models of parietal and portable art with complementary annotations for each one. The methodology includes a first stage dedicated to digitising examples of Palaeolithic art in caves or open-air stations and exhibited in Spanish and French museums. Next, the necessary infrastructure was designed to house the exhibition using specific software such as Blender. Post-processing tasks were carried out to reducing the number of polygons without losing quality. Finally, the museum has been uploaded to the Sketchfab platform to make it freely available online. It is hoped that this virtual museum will contribute to promoting and creating a more significant number of digital resources related to Palaeolithic art that are easily accessible to the public.

A Late Pleistocene human genome from Southwest China

Southern East Asia is the dispersal center regarding the prehistoric settlement and migrations of modern humans in Asia-Pacific regions. However, the settlement pattern and population structure of paleolithic humans in this region remain elusive, and ancient DNA can provide direct information. Here, we sequenced the genome of a Late Pleistocene hominin (MZR), dated ∼14.0 thousand years ago from Red Deer Cave located in Southwest China, which was previously reported possessing mosaic features of modern and archaic hominins. MZR is the first Late Pleistocene genome from southern East Asia. Our results indicate that MZR is a modern human who represents an early diversified lineage in East Asia. The mtDNA of MZR belongs to an extinct basal lineage of the M9 haplogroup, reflecting a rich matrilineal diversity in southern East Asia during the Late Pleistocene. Combined with the published data, we detected clear genetic stratification in ancient southern populations of East/Southeast Asia and some degree of south-versus-north divergency during the Late Pleistocene, and MZR was identified as a southern East Asian who exhibits genetic continuity to present day populations. Markedly, MZR is linked deeply to the East Asian ancestry that contributed to First Americans.

Mammal extinction facilitated biome shift and human population change during the last glacial termination in East-Central Europe

The study of local extinction times, together with the associated environmental and human population changes in the last glacial termination, provides insights into the causes of mega- and microfauna extinctions. In East-Central (EC) Europe, groups of Palaeolithic humans were present throughout the last glacial maximum, but disappeared suddenly around 15,200 cal BP. In this study cave sediment profiles dated using radiocarbon techniques and a large set of mammal bones dated directly by AMS 14C were used to determine local extinction times. These were, in turn, compared to changes in the total megafauna population of EC Europe derived from coprophilous fungi, the Epigravettian population decline, quantitative climate models, pollen and plant macrofossil inferred climate, as well as to biome reconstructions. The results suggest that the population size of large herbivores decreased in the area after 17,700 cal BP, when temperate tree abundance and warm continental steppe cover both increased in the lowlands. Boreal forest expansion started around 16,200 cal BP. Cave sediments show the decline of narrow-headed vole and arctic lemming populations specifically associated with a tundra environment at the same time and the expansion of the common vole, an inhabitant of steppes. The last dated appearance of arctic lemming was at ~ 16,640 cal BP, while that of the narrow-headed vole at ~ 13,340, and the estimated extinction time of woolly mammoth was either at 13,830 (GRIWM) or 15,210 (PHASE), and reindeer at 11,860 (GRIWM) or 12,550 cal BP (PHASE). The population decline of the large herbivore fauna slightly preceded changes in terrestrial vegetation, and likely facilitated it via a reduction in the intensity of grazing and the concomitant accumulation of plant biomass. Furthermore, it is possible to conclude that the Late Epigravettian population had high degree of quarry-fidelity; they left the basin when these mammals vanished.

The influence of smoke density on hearth location and activity areas at Lower Paleolithic Lazaret Cave, France

We analyze the influence of hearth location and smoke dispersal on potential activity areas at Lower Paleolithic Lazaret Cave, France, focusing on archaeostratigraphic unit UA25, where a single hearth was unearthed, and GIS and activity area analysis were performed by the excavators. We simulated smoke dispersal from 16 hypothetical hearth locations and analyzed their effect on potential working spaces. Four activity zones were defined, according to the average smoke exposure recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We found that the size of the low smoke density area and its distance from the hearth are the main parameters for choosing hearth location. The simulation results show an optimal hearth location zone of about 5 × 5m2, and it is precisely in this zone that the Lower Paleolithic humans of Lazaret Cave placed their hearth. We demonstrate that the optimal hearth location zone correlates not only with the archaeological hearth in UA25 but also with the locations of hearths in other layers. In addition, our smoke density analysis confirmed the detailed GIS and activity area reconstruction conducted by the excavators, strongly reinforcing their interpretation regarding the spatial organization of human behavior at Lazaret Cave.

Regional heterogeneity of environmental stressors for the Early, Middle and Late Palaeolithic European human populations related to the evolutionary lineage of Neanderthals

Pleistocene climatic fluctuations could play an important role in the development of the human phylogenetic line of Neanderthals. The aim of this study was to model how the climate-based physiological, cognitive, and vector-borne disease risk stressors for humans could vary in Europe by area and time from the Lower Palaeolithic era to the extinction of Neanderthals. For this purpose, the climatic requirements of the ancient humans were reconstructed based on the Early, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic occurrences of humans in Europe and its wider geographical environment for 8 Palaeolithic times and further six health and cold adaptation-related factors were also modelled. The adaptation of European human populations to the cool and volatile Pleistocene climate of Europe could gradually happen. While the Middle Palaeolithic humans in Europe lived in areas with long and medium-long vegetation periods and low or middle January mortality risk, in the late Palaeolithic the Neanderthal populations may have settled in areas with short ones. In January, these northern regions in the Late Palaeolithic era could be characterized by relatively high mortality risk. While the ancient humans of the Middle Palaeolithic era lived in such regions where the length of the thermal comfort season could be relatively long, the late Pleistocene humans of Europe occupied such regions where the thermal comfort season could be very short, and these humans should cover a large part of their body surface. However, the model results suggest that both humans of the Middle and Late Palaeolithic era should wear clothes in the coldest period of the winter in Europe. The Upper Palaeolithic populations could be less affected by such tick-borne diseases as Lyme borreliosis than the Early or the Middle Palaeolithic populations.

Анализ культурного слоя и тафономия каменных орудий (по материалам Кавказа)

A comprehensive analysis of the cultural layer is important for determining natural or intentional damage of stone tools in a particular industry. The study of stone tools taphonomy is also of great importance for interpretation of cultural complexes, reconstruction of adaptation models of Paleolithic humans in various environmental conditions. This article discusses the hypothesis of “trampling”, used to explain the increased number of denticulate tools in Cave sites. However, a comparative analysis of the number of artifacts per cubic meter, showing the intensity of habitation, and the number of denticulate tools shows the absence of direct correlation between these variables. There is also no direct relationship between the number of cave bear bones and the percentage of denticulate tools. The micro-facial analysis of the cultural layer is important, because human activity could vary greatly in different parts of the cultural layer. The example of the Akhshtyrskaya cave shows a change within the cultural layer in the composition of stone assemblages and fauna remains from the entrance towards the interior of the cave. The concept of the “cultural layer” includes: geological processes of the layer formation, postdepositional geological processes during formation of the layer, and postdepositional processes that destruct the layer after completion of its formation. The natural factors affecting the processes of formation and destruction of the cultural layer also include natural biological factors, such as bioturbation, "trampling", contribution of predators to faunal collections, and bone transformation (gnawing). The archaeological context of the cultural layer comprises human activity during formation of the layer and and its destruction by later inhabitants of the site. The examples given for the Caucasus Paleolithic sites show that the study of stone tools preservation made in the context of the planigraphic analysis of a cultural layer and its preservation in different areas provides valuable information for the interpretation of natural or artificial damages on stone tools. A thorough planigraphic analysis can help to clarify issues related to the origin of denticulation and other damages on stone artifacts, as well as if the damaged artifacts occur compactly and separately from the tools with a good preservation or were found in a joint occurrence. It is important to study the intentional manufacture of denticulate tools, formation of denticulation as a result of the functional use of tools. The unintentional formation of denticulation is closely related to natural geological processes.

Tracing the Palaeolithic settlement patterns in the Western Tian Shan piedmont: an example of predictive GIS modelling use

ABSTRACTThe Western Tian Shan piedmont, due to its high mountainous nature, is an exceptionally difficult area in which to conduct systematic surface research. In response to the specificities of the landscape, we decided to attempt to use predictive modelling to select sites with the greatest potential for the occurrence and preservation of Pleistocene layers and Palaeolithic sites. The aim of the project was to determine to what extent the high‐mountain areas of the Tian Shan piedmont were penetrated and inhabited by Palaeolithic humans. On the basis of the devised model, areas were selected for further prospecting in the field, which allowed the search area to be narrowed by a factor of five. In the course of surveying carried out on the selected areas, it was possible to locate nine new Palaeolithic sites and 18 settlement spots within one season, significantly increasing the number of known open‐air sites in the region. The results presented show the usefulness of this method, revealing the potential for its application in other similar areas, but also indicate the intensity of, in particular, Middle Palaeolithic or Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transitional settlement in the high‐mountain regions of Central Asia.

Long-distance contacts and social networks of the Upper Palaeolithic humans in the North-Western Caucasus (on data from Mezmaiskaya Cave, Russia)

The article is addressed to the issue of long-distance contacts and social networks between the Upper Palaeolithic of the North-western Caucasus and other regions, basing on finds (artifacts from mammoth tusk, azurite sandstone pebble, Black Sea marine mollusc shells, and obsidian artifacts) from the Upper Palaeolithic layers at Mezmaiskaya Cave. Personal decorations from mammoth tusk found at Mezmaiskaya suggest rare contacts between culture-unrelated Upper Palaeolithic groups in the North-western Caucasus and Russian plain. Recurrent obsidian procurement from two specific remote obsidian sources at Mezmaiskaya suggests that there were two well-established social networks between Upper Palaeolithic humans in the North-western Caucasus and related human groups in the North-central and South Caucasus. The evidence of obsidian transport from Mezmaiskaya outlines borders of the Upper Palaeolithic cultural area with similar human population and culture in the Caucasus, within wich the Upper Palaeolithic groups in the North and South Caucasus had regular social-cultural relations, including exchange of obsidian raw material. Finds of Black Sea marine shells and an azurite sandstone pebble at Mezmaiskaya are discussed as non-utilitarian objects derived from remote areas located on the paths of the two obsidian exchange networks that likely outline directions and limits of direct movements of Upper Palaeolithic humans from the North-western Caucasus.

Steller’s sea cow genome suggests this species began going extinct before the arrival of Paleolithic humans

Anthropogenic activity is the top factor directly related to the extinction of several animal species. The last Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) population on the Commander Islands (Russia) was wiped out in the second half of the 18th century due to sailors and fur traders hunting it for the meat and fat. However, new data suggests that the extinction process of this species began much earlier. Here, we present a nuclear de novo assembled genome of H. gigas with a 25.4× depth coverage. Our results demonstrate that the heterozygosity of the last population of this animal is low and comparable to the last woolly mammoth population that inhabited Wrangel Island 4000 years ago. Besides, as a matter of consideration, our findings also demonstrate that the extinction of this marine mammal starts along the North Pacific coastal line much earlier than the first Paleolithic humans arrived in the Bering sea region.

Initial Upper Palaeolithic humans in Europe had recent Neanderthal ancestry

Modern humans appeared in Europe by at least 45,000 years ago1–5, but the extent of their interactions with Neanderthals, who disappeared by about 40,000 years ago6, and their relationship to the broader expansion of modern humans outside Africa are poorly understood. Here we present genome-wide data from three individuals dated to between 45,930 and 42,580 years ago from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria1,2. They are the earliest Late Pleistocene modern humans known to have been recovered in Europe so far, and were found in association with an Initial Upper Palaeolithic artefact assemblage. Unlike two previously studied individuals of similar ages from Romania7 and Siberia8 who did not contribute detectably to later populations, these individuals are more closely related to present-day and ancient populations in East Asia and the Americas than to later west Eurasian populations. This indicates that they belonged to a modern human migration into Europe that was not previously known from the genetic record, and provides evidence that there was at least some continuity between the earliest modern humans in Europe and later people in Eurasia. Moreover, we find that all three individuals had Neanderthal ancestors a few generations back in their family history, confirming that the first European modern humans mixed with Neanderthals and suggesting that such mixing could have been common.

Disentangling Cro-Magnon: The dental and alveolar remains

The dental and alveolar remains of the Upper Paleolithic early modern humans from the Abri de Cro-Magnon (Dordogne, France) are described and reassessed, building on descriptions since their discovery in 1868. There are four individuals represented; two (Cro-Magnon (CM) 4253 and 4254) are portions of numbered skulls (Cro-Magnon 1 and 2) and two (Cro-Magnon 4256 and 4257/58) are unassociated but likely deriving from Cro-Magnon 3 and 4. CM 4253 exhibits advanced periodontal lesions, likely secondary to tooth wear, CM 4256 has moderate alveolar resorption, but the others show little alveolar pathology. CM 4253, 4256 and 4257 have premolar rotation, and CM 4257/58 had impacted M3s. The CM 4254 molars are average in size for the Late Pleistocene, but those of CM 4257/58 are at or beyond the upper limits of known ranges of Upper Paleolithic variation. Only the dental dimensions of the CM 4257/58 molars are exceptional for earlier Upper Paleolithic humans.

Человек и мамонтовая фауна на севере Оби в позднем неоплейстоцене

Data on the Pleistocene megafauna and the earliest evidence of the presence of Palaeolithic humans on the territory of the Northern Ob river region are analyzed. The data about the geological and geomorphological situation in the lower reaches of the Ob river is presented, the deposits of the Late Neopleistocene are characterized, and the main regularities in the taphonomy of megafaunal remains are described. Changes in the species composition of the Neopleistocene fauna from the right bank of the Big Ob and their chronology are established on the basis of numerous absolute dates obtained on bones. The results of the traceological analysis and dating of two mammoth tusk fragments with traces of human processing are presented. The authors provide information on 2020 field works on the Kushevatskaya channel and the Synya river, which gave new data on the early human settlement of the territory of the Lower Ob. It is concluded that the initial colonization of the region took place at the beginning of the Early Upper Palaeolithic, with first people coming presumably from the territory of the Urals.

Beyond Tools and Function: The Selection of Materials and the Ontology of Hunter-Gatherers. Ethnographic Evidences and Implications for Palaeolithic Archaeology

In this paper we discuss the universal selection of exceptional materials for tool making in prehistory. The interpretation suggested in the literature for these non-standard materials is usually limited to a general statement, considering possible aesthetic values or a general, mostly unexplained, symbolic meaning. We discuss the implications of viewing these materials as active agents and living vital beings in Palaeolithic archaeology as attested in indigenous hunter-gatherer communities all around the world. We suggest that the use of specific materials in the Palaeolithic was meaningful, and beyond its possible ‘symbolic’ meaning, it reflects deep familiarity and complex relations of early humans with the world surrounding them—humans and other-than-human persons (animals, plants, water and stones)—on which they were dependent. We discuss the perception of tools and the materials from which they are made as reflecting relationships, respectful behaviour and functionality from an ontological point of view. In this spirit, we suggest re-viewing materials as reflecting social, cosmological and ontological world-views of Palaeolithic humans, and looking beyond their economic, functional aspects, as did, perhaps, our ancestors themselves.