Category: Scientific News

Braga et al, “Hominin fossils from Kromdraai and Drimolen inform Paranthropus robustus craniofacial ontogeny”, Sci. Adv. 9, 3 May 2023

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ade7165

Fossil cranial remains of four immature (=juvenile) individuals belonging to the species Paranthropus robustus have been discovered at the Kromdraai and Drimolen sites in South Africa. This is an exceptional discovery, since it is the first time that immature fossils belonging to this species have been found. The Paranthropus robustus species, which lived between 2.2 and 1.2 million years ago in South Africa, is characterized by particularly robust cranial features. The study of these immature individuals sheds light on the craniofacial development of this species, which is so different from our own. Indeed, we know very little about the ontogenic development of other Hominin species, and tend to infer data from what we know about our own species, Homo sapiens. However, it is highly probable that the developments were different! This discovery also enables us to compare the development of Paranthropus robustus with another Hominin species for which an immature has also been discovered, Australopithecus africanus.

Published in May 2023 in the journal Science Advances, the study shows that most of the facial morphological features ofParanthropus robustus appear late in development.

Art- Ivo Verheijen et al, “Early evidence for bear exploitation during MIS 9 from the site of Schöningen 12 (Germany)”

Journal of Human Evolution 177 (2023) 103294

A recent study demonstrates the exploitation of bears at a site dated to the Lower Paleolithic, the Schöningen site in Germany. This site, already known for its extremely well-preserved archaeological artifacts of organic material, provides new evidence of bear exploitation at a time when such artifacts are rare. Indeed, most traces of bear exploitation date from the Late Pleistocene, as for example at the site of Hohle fels in Germany. The fossil remains of bears found in Schöningen belong to the species Ursus thibetanus, the Asiatic black bear, and to the species Ursus deningeri/spealeus, the cave bear lineage.

These remains represent 10% of the faunal assemblage at the site and the two fossils of most interest here are a metatarsal and a phalanx that show evidence of cutting. These traces were observed under the microscope and their locations, characteristics and similarities with fossils from other sites indicate that they are the result of a butchering to recover the animal’s skin, perhaps to make a fur. Moreover, since the bear skin had to be collected quickly after the death of the animal in order to be exploited, this indicates an active hunting of the bear by the Hominins. During the Paleolithic period, the bear was omnipresent in Europe during both cold and warm periods.

These results will have to be confirmed with the discovery of other remains, but the question of the exploitation of the bear, whether for its meat or for its skin, is important in the study of the subsistence behaviors of Hominins in Europe.

Read the full article here

Art – Kaedan O’Brien, Nicholas Hebdon, J. Tyler Faith, “Paleoecological evidence for environmental specialization in Paranthropus boisei compared to early Homo”

Journal of Human Evolution 177 (2023), 103325

Available online April 2023

Between 2.7 and 1.2 million years ago (later abbreviated to Ma), several species of hominins coexisted in Africa. This was the case, for example, of Paranthropus boisei, a species that became extinct around 1.2 Ma and is characterized by extremely developed cranial structures, and Homo habilis, the first species belonging to the genus Homo that emerged around 2.8 Ma. A recurring question is the ecological niches occupied by these species. It is commonly accepted thatHomo habilis is more ecologically flexible and adapts to different types of environments while Paranthropus boisei is more “specialized” to one type of environment. Nevertheless, it is difficult to test this hypothesis quantitatively. This is why this study proposes to quantify these environmental associations based on the study of faunal assemblages (=a set of fossils belonging to non-human animals), and more particularly of cattle.

Indeed, animal species, like plant species, are dependent on a climate and an environment. Researchers used Hominin fossils and faunal assemblages from the Koobi Fora Formation (Kenya, Africa). Indeed, this site has delivered a significant quantity of animal fossils dated between 1.98 and 1.38 Ma as well as remains of Hominins present in these same archaeological levels. This important fauna allows us to establish a high resolution of the environmental variability at this time. In this study, statistical methods are used to determine if there is a relationship between the type of environment and the Hominin species studied.

We must be careful here about conservation biases between the different faunal assemblages studied, but the results show that Homo habilis does indeed seem to occupy a greater variety of environments, ranging from dry savannah-type environments to grasslands, via forest environments. Conversely, P. boisei seems to be more restricted to a wooded savannah type environment.

Read the full article here

Christopher J. Knüsel, Adrien Thibeault, Sébastien Villotte, “A cranial injury from the earliest Gravettian at the Cro-Magnon rock shelter (Vézère Valley, Dordogne, southwest France)”

Journal of Human Evolution 177 (2023) 103329

Available online 2 March 2023

A new study of the cranium of the specimen named Cro-Magnon 2 shows that the impact present at the level of the frontal of this individual is the result of an ante-mortem wound. The remains of the individuals nicknamed “Cro-Magnon men” were discovered in 1868 at Eyzies-de-Tailhac in Dordogne (France) at the Cro-Magnon shelter.

It is besides the name of this shelter which will give the nickname “Cro-Magnon” to the discovered fossils. These individuals, which belong to the species Homo sapiens, are dated between 33 000 and 31 000 cal BP. As soon as these remains were discovered, researchers noticed a perforation in the frontal bone of the cranium of the individual named Cro-Magnon 2. Nevertheless, since this discovery, opinions differ as to the ante- or post-mortem nature of this perforation, i.e. whether the impact occurred before the death of the individual or whether it is the result of a degradation of the bone following its burial. Researchers have recently re-studied this cranium in order to evaluate the pathological or non-pathological character of this impact.

To do this, they made both visual observations but also generated scans and 3D images of the fossil using a micro X-ray tomograph. Cranial fractures that occurred before death have different characteristics that can be seen on the bones, such as the shape of the fracture or signs of healing. The study conducted here demonstrates that this perforation of the frontal bone is the result of an impact produced by a blunt object that occurred during the individual’s lifetime.
Traces of intracranial hemorrhage, the presence of a hematoma as well as porous bones indicate that the individual would have survived at least 15 days after this injury. It is impossible to affirm that this one was mortal but it is probable that this individual died of the consequences of this wound as for example of an infection. For the researchers, the position of the injury is consistent with the individual having been attacked and therefore not the result of an accident.

This raises the question of interpersonal violence during the Paleolithic, a question already raised with other fossil remains showing traces of injuries.

Read the full article here

Villalba-Mouco V., et al, “Kinship practices in the early state El Argar society from Bronze Age Iberia”, Scientific reports (2022) 12:22415, Nature, Published 27 December 2022.

Lien: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-25975-9

The Bronze Age in Europe was characterized by social and genetic transformations that began as early as the 3rd millennium BCE (Before Common Era). New funerary structures, political hierarchies and advances in metallurgy are emerging and playing an important role in the socio-economic mutations of these societies. New trade and exchange networks were set up. At the same time, paleogenetics revealed transformations in the ancestral gene pool that accompanied the profound socio-economic changes in the region. These transformations were linked to the expansion of pastoralist societies from Eastern Europe. The El Argar complex in the south of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain) bears witness to this genetic turnover in south-western Europe around 2200 BC. This article studies the genome of 68 individuals from the La Almoloya site. The results show that El Argar was a patrilineal society (type of filiation based on paternal descent) practicing exogamy (matrimonial rule imposing the search for a spouse outside one’s social group). The women who join El Argar reflect socio-political alliances.

Marina Escolà. Alsatian Neolithic cranial surgery: state of the art. Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, 2022, 119 (2), pp. 295-324. hal-03738889

Link to article: https://hal.science/hal-03738889/

“The knowledge we have gained about the way of life of the first Neolithic populations in Alsace is due to a favorable conjuncture: the expansion of the Danubian Neolithic current, the strong human settlement in the loess plains, the good preservation of thousands of tombs and the recent exploitation of the land for building purposes. These optimal conditions led to the discovery and study of four Alsatian cases attributed to surgical procedures. The one from Hoenheim-Souffelweyersheim (Bas-Rhin), one of the earliest identified, comes from a recent ribboned context. This elderly subject has a large, centrally perforated right frontal depression, which may have been caused by the extraction of bone splinters following trauma. The opening in the cranial bone, initially the result of abrasion of the external table and diploe, was reopened and enlarged. The operation followed a phase of observation using a protocol that could be described as medical. The interest of two other cranial lesions lies in the complexity of the diagnosis made or to be debated, since the pathological is mixed up with, or has to be disentangled from… the mchirurgical. In the Danube cemetery of Ensisheim “les Octrois” (Haut-Rhin), burial 44 preserved the remains of a subject whose cranial vault showed two vast depressions, TR-1 (65 mm x 63 mm) and TR-2 (95 mm x 91 mm) in the median region, interpreted, on discovery, as healed craniectomies. The study of these two arch alterations reveals the complexity of the differential diagnosis. It highlights the diversity of possible pathologies and the lack of recent studies on the healing processes of such cranial defects. The Grossgartach Middle Neolithic necropolis at Lingolsheim (Lower Rhine) has yielded a burial site rich in accompanying furniture: tomb XLIV. The young adult who occupied it had a cranial lacuna described as a double trepanation. A study of the alteration and healing phases of the orifice margins has identified a sequence of three events that led to the perforation of the cranial bone, the pathological, taphonomic or anthropic origin of which deserves to be discussed. The diagnosis of trepanation for the subject from Riedisheim (Haut-Rhin), whose chronological attribution remains vague (Late Neolithic-Early Bronze Age), is supported by the presence of a few instrumental striations still visible on the cranial bone, despite notable healing of the orifice edges.”

D’Agostino A., et al, “Neolithic dental calculi provide evidence for environmental proxies and consumption of wild edible fruits and herbs in central Apennines”, COMMUNICATION BIOLOGY|(2022)5:1384, Nature, Published: 19 December 2022.

Link to article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-022-04354-0

The study of the role of plant resources in pre-agricultural societies remains a central question in prehistory. Thus, archaeobotanists are looking for clues indicating the biodiversity of plants and their exploitation. Nevertheless, traces of the use of plants as food are rare on prehistoric sites. Organic material does not keep well and almost always disappears, except in special contexts. Searching for new types of biological markers to provide new information on the relationship between man and his environment during prehistory is a challenge. Nevertheless, recent methods based on the study of dental calculus have opened up new possibilities for studying past dietary behavior and reconstructing paleoenvironments. Dental tartar is the result of the mineralization of plaque adhering to the tooth surface. This gradual accumulation protects the organic microremains from damage. With this in mind, this article studies the dental calculus of individuals from the Mora Cavorso cave burial site (Italy), dated to the Early Neolithic period, as well as animals found on the site contemporary with this period. Three different methodological approaches are combined: light microscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and DNA sequencing. The different types of pollen and plant micro-rests found trapped in the tartar showed an exploitation of wild plant resources centered on Panicoideae, Triticeae, Rosaceae and Lamiaceae. From a paleoenvironmental point of view, the environment was predominantly dominated by wooded areas, with the presence of meadows that would have enabled these individuals to make a lasting home for themselves.