Quaternary Environments and Humans最新文献

{"title":"Fossil Bovidae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from southern Africa: Biochronology and palaeoenvironments","authors":"Raphaël Hanon ,&nbsp;Christine Steininger","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100010","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Bovids are usually the most common large mammal family encountered in archaeological accumulations from African sites. However, despite their dominant status in bone assemblages, there are proportionally very few taxonomic studies of the southern African material. Here, we provide the first updated overview of the Southern African Bovidae fossil record from the Miocene to the Holocene. We used the bovid faunal list from 95 deposits comprising 65 species to provide an updated biochronology based on bovid assemblages. We define six bovid units (“Standard Bovid Units”) that will help to estimate the geological age of future deposits. Interestingly, the refined biochronology based on bovid assemblages does not fundamentally change from previous large mammal biochronological systems provided for the Cenozoic of Southern Africa. This strengthens the fact that bovids are a powerful proxy for biochronology that are still relevant today and incredibly stable over time. Unsurprisingly, the palaeoecological analysis based on bovid assemblages confirms the global aridification of the African continent throughout the Quaternary. Moreover, we identified an important gap in the fossil record between 5.1 and 2.6 Ma, highlighting a need to pursue effort on fieldwork and to provide detailed taxonomic analysis of bovid bone assemblages systematically.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"2 3","pages":"Article 100010"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950236524000082/pdfft?md5=aa1ce7d866cef3de81d9e1a9f73eaa4a&pid=1-s2.0-S2950236524000082-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140914264","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How and why is Homo sapiens so successful?","authors":"Robin Dennell,&nbsp;Linda Hurcombe","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>By 30,000 years ago, <em>Homo sapiens</em> was the only type of hominin and had colonised most environments in the Old World. We argue that this success resulted from its ability to increase its population because more <em>H. sapiens</em> women than their contemporaries were able to have three or more children that survived into adulthood. This increased reproductive rate was accompanied by the development of a rounder brain and a longer childhood. A rounder brain and the accompanying re-organisation of the cerebellum and parietal areas increased our cognitive powers, and when combined with a longer childhood, allowed children to develop their imagination, ingenuity and inventiveness, all of which paid dividends when they became adults – in for example, being able to colonize new habitats or caring for infants and young mothers. Dietary factors may also have been important in ensuring that pregnant females and young children had an adequate diet, especially for women during their first and third trimester. In order to understand better our evolutionary success, we suggest a shift of focus from adult – and often largely male – activities such as big-game hunting towards the diet of infants and young mothers and the development rate of their children.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"2 2","pages":"Article 100006"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950236524000045/pdfft?md5=0b2d5c0ae1936ff0c1e0b76909edb3f0&pid=1-s2.0-S2950236524000045-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140135099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A review of Mid-Holocene hunter-gatherer occupation in the eastern Pampa-Patagonia transition of Argentina: Assessing cultural continuities and population dynamics","authors":"Gustavo Martínez ,&nbsp;Lewis A. Owen ,&nbsp;Gustavo Flensborg ,&nbsp;Luciana Stoessel ,&nbsp;Natalia Carden ,&nbsp;Ana Paula Alcaráz ,&nbsp;Florencia Santos Valero ,&nbsp;Gustavo Adolfo Martínez","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Diverse causes and explanations have been proposed to help explain the absence, scarcity, and discontinuity of Mid-Holocene archaeological records in Central Argentina. Evidence for Mid-Holocene (∼6300–4100 ¹⁴C yr BP/7.4–4.8 ka) hunter-gatherers occupations have been recognized in the eastern Pampa-Patagonia transition of Argentina. Here, we review and summarize the state-of-the-art archaeological knowledge that we have generated from Mid-Holocene archaeological sites from our study area. In doing so, we describe and discuss the geoarchaeological issues and the geomorphic evidence, radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating, lithics and raw materials provenience, zooarchaeology and taphonomy, subsistence and diet, bioarchaeology, and portable art. Our main objective is to address whether the already proposed Mid-Holocene sedimentary and chronologic discontinuities produced by geologic and taphonomic biases also respond to cultural discontinuities, e.g., abandonments, decreasing human density, and changes in mobility. Material culture and the structure of the archaeological record suggest that social and behavioral characteristics of hunter-gatherer societies are similar during the Mid-Holocene and the initial Late Holocene (∼6300–1000 ¹⁴C yr BP/7.4–1.0 ka). Archaeological evidence from these periods indicates effective and stable human occupation with social interaction networks operating with neighboring regions such as the Pampa and Patagonia. Even though sedimentary and chronologic discontinuities exist, cultural continuity is likely. This review contributes to the understanding of Mid-Holocene discontinuities in Central Argentina.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"2 2","pages":"Article 100007"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950236524000057/pdfft?md5=a4d6cca04cb71c9d145bc5e3aaa2d738&pid=1-s2.0-S2950236524000057-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140134384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The latest steps of human evolution: What the hard evidence has to say about it?","authors":"Walter Neves ,&nbsp;Maria Helena Senger ,&nbsp;Gabriel Rocha ,&nbsp;Leticia Valota ,&nbsp;Mark Hubbe","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The latest periods of human evolution are a heated topic of debate and have been at the center of paleoanthropological discussions since the beginning of the field. In the last twenty years, new excavations increased the geographic range of paleoanthropological data, new fossil hominins of the last third of the Pleistocene were found, and old key fossils were redated by modern and more accurate methods. The new picture emerging from this research changed the discussion about the neandertal-<em>sapiens</em> interaction, the finding of their common ancestor, and the understanding of how our lineage evolved. To integrate these new discoveries and to better contextualize how they fit in the hominin framework of the Chibanian, we compared the cranial morphology of 86 well-preserved fossils from Europe, Africa, and Asia of the last 500 thousand years. 25 linear measurements were used to describe the cranial morphology of the fossils, and their biological affinities were explored though multivariate discriminant function analyses. These analyses allow us to assess affinities and possible phylogenetic relationships of Archaic <em>Homo</em> species, including the expressive morphological variability of the specimens included under the umbrella-term “<em>Homo heidelbergensis”</em> from Africa, Asia, and Europe. Our results support that cannot be accommodated in one same species. Additionally, we contribute to the disputable discussion about the origin of <em>H. sapiens</em>, adding support to an African origin for our species.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"2 2","pages":"Article 100005"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950236524000033/pdfft?md5=a54c8aac3df50647e0472daf8cd97c8e&pid=1-s2.0-S2950236524000033-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139738249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Human membership in the large carnivore guild: Was it always “tooth and claw”?","authors":"John D. Speth","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Conventional wisdom holds that when humans began acquiring meat on a regular basis, whether by hunting or by scavenging, they became part of the large carnivore guild and, as a consequence, faced greatly increased levels of potentially life-threatening competition with other predators. This paper offers an alternative view based on fundamental nutritional and metabolic differences between humans, who are descended from primates of largely vegetarian heritage, and hypercarnivores, who are specialized flesh-eaters with a much greater tolerance for protein. Because of these differences, the prey choices and body-part selections made by humans and carnivores, while overlapping, are not isomorphic, with the former prioritizing fatty tissues, the latter prioritizing lean muscle. Competition and confrontation are further minimized by the fact that humans forage during the day, while most predators hunt at night. These and other lines of evidence, including numerous examples from early ethnohistoric accounts, suggest that mutual tolerance rather than deadly confrontation may often have been the most prudent and profitable course of action for all concerned.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"2 2","pages":"Article 100004"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950236524000021/pdfft?md5=1f238a2f3ffa8766763c3d0e832ed338&pid=1-s2.0-S2950236524000021-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139639016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"No time to waste. Evidence for communal waste management among hunter-gatherer-fishers at Riņņukalns, Latvia (5400-3200 BC)","authors":"J.P. Kleijne ,&nbsp;V. Bērziņš ,&nbsp;D.J. Huisman ,&nbsp;M. Kalniņš ,&nbsp;B. Krause-Kyora ,&nbsp;J. Meadows ,&nbsp;B.J.H. van Os ,&nbsp;U. Schmölcke ,&nbsp;F. Steinhagen ,&nbsp;H. Lübke","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study discusses waste management by mid-Holocene hunter-gatherer-fisher communities at Riņņukalns, on the Salaca river in Latvia. It combines microscopic analyses with geochemistry and radiocarbon dating. We observe natural landscape changes and human responses, with Mesolithic and earlier Middle Neolithic occupation on the backswamp. During the later Middle Neolithic, we see a pattern of selective deposition of waste categories (food waste, combustion waste, and excrements) as part of collective waste management practices, which led to the formation of a shell midden. Analysis of these waste layers provides an alternative perspective on subsistence practices and craft activities. A dump of ochre production waste illustrates the burning of iron-rich sediments to obtain this pigment. These later Middle Neolithic hunter-gatherer-fisher communities had a collective approach to waste and waste management. The shell midden, which was also used for funerary rituals, can be regarded as a persistent and significant place in the landscape of these, perhaps not so mobile, communities.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"2 1","pages":"Article 100003"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S295023652400001X/pdfft?md5=17fe7c3b030d115df9fcaeb6412371f7&pid=1-s2.0-S295023652400001X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139493903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The bird remains from La Crouzade Cave (Gruissan, Aude): The mixed origin of a Middle Palaeolithic bone accumulation","authors":"Thomas GARCIA-FERMET ,&nbsp;Agnès TESTU ,&nbsp;Anne-Marie MOIGNE ,&nbsp;Thibaud SAOS ,&nbsp;Sophie GRÉGOIRE","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2023.100001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qeh.2023.100001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Avian remains are commonly found in Pleistocene cave sites. La Crouzade Cave (Gruissan, Aude, Southern France) is no exception, as it yielded thousands of bird bones recovered from the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic deposits. In Mousterian layers 8, 7 and 6 (MIS 3) the avifaunal spectrum is dominated by cliff-nesting taxa such as doves and corvids from the genus <em>Pyrrhocorax</em>. Some of these birds may have died naturally in situ but the presence of digestive damage on a great number of specimens indicates that most of the individuals were consumed by non-human predators (carnivorous mammals and raptors). Furthermore, the presence of a few cut-marked specimens suggests that Neanderthals took part in the accumulation. Striae located on wing bones such as ulna could be linked to feather removal. The bird assemblage from La Crouzade thus provides a new example of mixed accumulation in which Middle Palaeolithic human populations were involved.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"1 ","pages":"Article 100001"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950236523000014/pdfft?md5=bdfa815bffd12d879a4f5bc798d28754&pid=1-s2.0-S2950236523000014-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138490063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}