Quaternary Environments and Humans最新文献

{"title":"First vertebrate faunal record from submerged Sundaland: The late Middle Pleistocene, hominin-bearing fauna of the Madura Strait","authors":"H.W.K. Berghuis ,&nbsp;Gert van den Bergh ,&nbsp;Thijs van Kolfschoten ,&nbsp;Unggul Prasetyo Wibowo ,&nbsp;Iwan Kurniawan ,&nbsp;Shinatria Adhityatama ,&nbsp;Indra Sutisna ,&nbsp;Ivo Verheijen ,&nbsp;Eduard Pop ,&nbsp;A. Veldkamp ,&nbsp;Josephine C.A. Joordens","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100047","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100047","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Sunda Shelf currently holds the world’s largest shelf sea. During Pleistocene sea-level lowstands the area emerged, forming a vast landmass called Sundaland. Intermittently exposed Sundaland played an important role in the regional vertebrate biogeography and evolution of species including <em>Homo erectus</em> and, in the Late Pleistocene, <em>Homo sapiens</em>. So far, our models of the Pleistocene biogeography of Sundaland were based on the distribution of extant species and on island fossil assemblages, notably from Java (Indonesia). Here we present the first vertebrate fossil record from subsea Sundaland. The fossils derive from the sandy fill of a lowstand valley of the Solo River in the Madura Strait, which was OSL-dated to 162 ± 31 and 119 ± 27 ka. The cemented sand was recently extracted and used for a landfill in the port of Surabaya. The assemblage consists of at least 36 species and provides a unique insight into the lowland fauna of emerged Sundaland, during the late Middle Pleistocene. The lowland river had a rich reptile community, consisting of various turtle species, crocodilians, varanids, and pythons. The nearby estuary was frequented by several shark species, including the extinct <em>Hemipristis serra,</em> as well as several species of stingrays. Some of these also ascended the river. The lowland plains surrounding the river were populated by herbivores such as Hippopotamidae and several species of Bovidae, Cervidae, and Proboscidea. The terrestrial community represents a grass-dominated environment and is similar to the contemporaneous fossil assemblage of Ngandong (Java). However, on a detailed level, there are conspicuous differences. For example, <em>Duboisia santeng, Axis lydekkeri,</em> and <em>Epileptobos groeneveldtii</em> are absent in Ngandong and were generally believed to have become extinct by the end of the Middle Pleistocene. Their presence in the Madura Strait assemblage shows that the species persisted on the lowland plains. Interesting is also the presence of more rarely encountered species such as <em>Varanus komodoensis</em>, <em>Macaca</em> sp. and <em>Homo erectus</em> on the lowland plains. Metrically, <em>Elephas</em> sp. molars from the Madura Strait site are relatively high-crowned, whereas <em>Bos palaeosondaicus</em> is relatively small-statured compared to its Middle Pleistocene relatives from Java. The fossil fauna from the Madura Strait reflects a thus far unknown vertebrate coastal lowland community that lived in and around the lower reaches of the Middle Pleistocene Solo River.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 2","pages":"Article 100047"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144243082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The taphonomy of the Madura Strait fossil assemblage, a record of selective hunting and marrow processing by late Middle Pleistocene Sundaland hominins","authors":"H.W.K. Berghuis ,&nbsp;Thijs van Kolfschoten ,&nbsp;Unggul Prasetyo Wibowo ,&nbsp;Iwan Kurniawan ,&nbsp;Shinatria Adhityatama ,&nbsp;Indra Sutisna ,&nbsp;Eduard Pop ,&nbsp;A. Veldkamp ,&nbsp;Josephine C.A. Joordens","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100055","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100055","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Madura Strait assemblage is the first vertebrate faunal record of submerged Sundaland. The material derives from an ancient valley of the Solo River, which was cut during the lowstand of MIS6. The geological background of the site and the taxonomy of the fossils have been described in previous publications. However, the significance of the assemblage within the Pleistocene biogeography of Southeast Asia can only be understood if we have insight into its accumulation history and homogeneity, and into the representativeness of the OSL-dated sediment for the fossils it contains. Moreover, the presence of hominin fossils raises questions on hominin subsistence strategies, which may have left traces in the fossil record. Over the past decades, similar questions have successfully been addressed by systematic taphonomic studies of fossil assemblages, notably from Africa and Europe. However, such studies are rare in Southeast Asia. Moreover, taphonomic studies of assemblages from subsea sites lag behind. Here we describe the results of a systematic taphonomic study of the Madura Strait assemblage. The fossils of terrestrial species form a homogenous assemblage, representing a steady supply of skeletal elements to the river, presumably during yearly flooding stages. OSL-dated fluvial sandstone samples point to a most likely age range of 146–131 ka. The material has been subject to fluvial size-sorting, but the absence of significant rounding points to short transportation distances and a local provenance. The skeletal remains accumulated in the fluvial valley fill or became concentrated in an overlying marine lag, as a result of tidal scour during the subsequent transition to estuarine conditions. Fossils of estuarine species derive from the estuarine sediment overlying this basal marine lag and are linked to peak-highstand conditions around MIS5e (∼123 ka). The bone remains of terrestrial species have been subject to two fracturing stages: a green-state fracturing stage prior to fluvial uptake and a sub-fossil-state fracturing stage during later marine reworking. Extensive green-state fragmentation of ruminant limb bones points to hominin bone battering and marrow processing. The age-at-death frequency distribution of bovids is indicative of selective hunting of prime adult prey. Cut marks on turtle bones show that hominins also fed on these aquatic species.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 2","pages":"Article 100055"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144243081","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Technology and taphonomy of the Middle Paleolithic assemblage from the Uzun Mera site in Macedonia","authors":"Darko Stojanovski ,&nbsp;Gabriele L.F. Berruti ,&nbsp;Marta Arzarello ,&nbsp;Sarah A. Lacy ,&nbsp;Trajche Nacev ,&nbsp;Aleksandar Danev","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100069","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100069","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The open-air site of Uzun Mera in eastern North Macedonia provides new insights into Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal behaviour and site formation processes in the understudied Balkan Peninsula. Discovered in 2017, the site spans over 1.5 km² and contains lithic artefacts affected by both cultural and post-depositional processes. Technological analysis of 33 selected artefacts reveals a Middle Paleolithic industry featuring opportunistic, Levallois, and Discoid knapping methods, primarily using locally available jasper and flint. Taphonomic investigation identified two distinct alteration phases: mechanical modifications (edge crumbling, polishing, rounding) from trampling and fluvial transport, followed by chemical patination during burial in alluvial sediments. The post-depositional alteration sequence on the artefacts tells a story of a complex and dynamic past, during which geological processes impacted the primary location of the site and displaced the lithic artefacts to their current location in the alluvial plain. This study enhances understanding of Central Balkan Paleolithic human-environment interactions while highlighting the challenges of interpreting open-air sites with complex formation histories.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 2","pages":"Article 100069"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143928640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Corrigendum to “Sedimentary records from human-made talavs reveal climate risks in semi-arid watersheds of India” [Quat. Environ. Hum. 3 (2) (2025) 100061]","authors":"Atreyee Bhattacharya ,&nbsp;S. Sarkar ,&nbsp;J.S. Leonard-Pingel ,&nbsp;A.V. Michelson ,&nbsp;A. Anoop ,&nbsp;P.K. Mishra ,&nbsp;S. Chakraborty ,&nbsp;K. Bajaj ,&nbsp;U. Singh ,&nbsp;V. Petryshyn ,&nbsp;R. Ray ,&nbsp;P.D. Sabale ,&nbsp;A. Bhattacharya ,&nbsp;M. Kirby ,&nbsp;A. Bazaz","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100075","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100075","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 2","pages":"Article 100075"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144279840","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The great divide? Differences in environmental and hunter-gatherer responses to the 8.2 ka BP event between northwestern and northeastern Eurasia","authors":"Rick J. Schulting ,&nbsp;Pavel E. Tarasov ,&nbsp;Andrzej W. Weber","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100067","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100067","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this contribution we provide an overview of the potential impacts of the 8.2 ka BP cooling event on hunter-gatherer societies in northwestern Europe and northern/eastern Eurasia. There seems to be a division between the two parts of the continent, with Atlantic Europe generally seeing a stronger climatic and environmental impact compared to continental Eurasia. This plausibly relates to the greater effects on oceanic weather patterns, particularly those of the North Atlantic. The palaeoenvironmental record is more limited for the Pacific coast of northeast Asia, but the evidence to date does not suggest as strong an impact there. We then focus on a case study of the hunter-gatherers of Cis-Baikal in southern Siberia. While the archaeological record for the period pre-8200 cal BP is patchy, we find no clear evidence for any impact on the region’s hunter-gatherer communities. Major visible changes occur only with the appearance of the Kitoi culture from ca. 7600 cal BP, which sees the introduction of pottery, the bow and arrow, and large cemeteries. This appears to be an internal sociotechnological development unrelated to any abrupt changes in the regional climate and environment at this time.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 2","pages":"Article 100067"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143917470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Modelling the impact of large-scale hydroclimate change on prehistoric Polynesian island life","authors":"Charlotte V. Hipkiss ,&nbsp;Justin Sheffield ,&nbsp;Peter Langdon ,&nbsp;David Sear","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100074","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100074","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The South Pacific was one of the last regions on earth to be colonised by humans and offers a unique opportunity to study early climate-human interactions in environments previously untouched by people. Palaeoclimate evidence suggests the South Pacific has experienced shifts between dry and wet periods throughout the past three thousand years, the broad period of colonisation, with extremes in both modes being prevalent. Drought has significant repercussions for small Pacific islands, affecting water and food resources, with potential consequences on the viability of life on these islands leading to internal stress, conflict, collapse or migration. Previously, socio-ecological models have been developed to test mechanisms of change within prehistoric societies worldwide that can lead to migration or societal change, but thus far the connections between past climatic change and prehistoric island life within the tropical South Pacific have not been fully explored. This study utilises palaeoclimatic data alongside a new system dynamics socio-ecological model to explore the relationship between climate, agricultural carrying capacity and population dynamics on the Polynesian island of Mangaia (Cook Islands) in the tropical South Pacific. Model results suggest that as the population density of the island increases, the impact of drought events on population dynamics increases. We also show that the severity of the drought rather than the return frequency drove the largest changes in carrying capacity and population dynamics. Changes in long-term rainfall leading to persistent dry conditions impacted the timing and rate of population growth due to its role as a limiting factor for agricultural productivity. We compare our modelled results with the known history of population stress and societal change from Mangaia and found these corresponded with drought periods and low food availability. We demonstrate the potential for droughts to have impacted on the early colonisation and societal change on Eastern Polynesian islands.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 2","pages":"Article 100074"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144279839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The newly uncovered Madura Strait fossil assemblage and its role in Pleistocene hominin dispersals in Southeast Asia","authors":"Silvia M. Bello,&nbsp;Chris B. Stringer","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100070","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100070","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 2","pages":"Article 100070"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144222732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A model of the origins and development of Aleut","authors":"Anna Berge ,&nbsp;Ben Potter ,&nbsp;Jason Rogers","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100072","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100072","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>It has long been thought that Unangam Tunuu (Aleut) must have undergone substantial language contact at some point, given its divergent lexicon, features seemingly shared with Dene languages, and a single feature shared with Eyak, Tlingit, and Haida. To date, however, the nature of prehistoric language contact event(s) has remained unclear. Collaboration between the authors has resulted in a cohesive model of language contact mechanisms, together with the timing and geographical location of these contacts, allowing us to make sense of previously unexplained developments in the history and prehistory of Unangam Tunuu. We here develop an integrated archaeogenetic model consistent with existing data on archaeological and genetic patterning among northern populations to evaluate the prehistoric development of Unangam Tunuu and related languages. Climate impacts and extreme events (e.g., volcanism) have influenced these populations. We posit admixture of Proto-Aleut with Proto-Dene speakers in southwest Alaska (Lower Kuskokwim basin) between ∼4800–3700 years ago, followed by admixture with Late Anangula and Ocean Bay 2 populations in the Alaska Peninsula/Aleutian Islands and southcentral Alaska respectively between ∼4000–3700 years ago. This contact and admixture altered the language of Proto-Aleut populations compared to their Proto-Inuit/Yupik relatives to the north. Proto-Aleut populations had a large geographic distribution, encompassing the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island, and the Kenai Peninsula until ∼1000–800 years ago, when they were replaced or assimilated by southern expansions of Yupik speakers associated with the Koniag tradition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 2","pages":"Article 100072"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144222809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A forest on the edge: Causes of synchronous Early Holocene forest declines in northern Greece and the implications for the introduction of farming to Europe","authors":"Lieveke van Vugt ,&nbsp;Erika Gobet ,&nbsp;Jacqueline F.N. van Leeuwen ,&nbsp;Kathrin Ganz ,&nbsp;Tryfon Giagkoulis ,&nbsp;Sönke Szidat ,&nbsp;Hendrik Vogel ,&nbsp;César Morales-Molino ,&nbsp;Amy Bogaard ,&nbsp;Kostas Kotsakis ,&nbsp;Albert Hafner ,&nbsp;Willy Tinner","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100064","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100064","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We present a high-resolution continuous palaeoecological study covering the transition from foraging to farming at Limni Vegoritis, a large lake in western Macedonia, Greece. We show how the pristine mixed deciduous oak woodlands from the Early Holocene were severely affected by a climate anomaly in the Eastern Mediterranean between 8600 and 7800 cal yr BP (6650–5850 cal BCE). A strong reduction in moisture availability pushed the deciduous oak woodlands across a tipping point, significantly reducing their abundance. As the woodlands declined, the vegetation became more open, and drought-adapted steppe vegetation and juniper brushlands expanded around the lake. The marked forest disruption at ca. 8600 cal yr BP (6650 cal BCE) provided favourable conditions for the introduction of Neolithic farming to mainland Greece and Europe, as suggested by pollen and spores indicative of arable and pastoral farming. We hypothesise that the temporary climate-driven development of steppe-like grasslands and shrublands advantaged the introduction of drought-adapted crops (e.g. cereals) and domesticated animals from regions in southwest Asia with similar vegetation and climate conditions. After 7800 cal yr BP (5850 cal BCE) when the climate impact on the vegetation declined, pine forests spread, followed by increases of trees like <em>Ostrya</em> and <em>Fagus</em> from ca. 7000 cal yr BP (5050 cal BCE). The combination of climate change with Neolithic land use likely continued to affect vegetation and facilitated such changes in forest composition, promoting more oceanic and/or disturbance-adapted species.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 2","pages":"Article 100064"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143886063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ancient biomolecular analysis of 39 mammoth individuals from Kostenki 11-Ia elucidates Upper Palaeolithic human resource use","authors":"Alba Rey-Iglesia ,&nbsp;Alexander J.E. Pryor ,&nbsp;Deon de Jager ,&nbsp;Tess Wilson ,&nbsp;Mathew A. Teeter ,&nbsp;Ashot Margaryan ,&nbsp;Ruslan Khaskhanov ,&nbsp;Louise Le Meillour ,&nbsp;Gaudry Troché ,&nbsp;Frido Welker ,&nbsp;Paul Szpak ,&nbsp;Alexandr E. Dudin ,&nbsp;Eline D. Lorenzen","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100049","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100049","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Circular structures made from woolly mammoth bones are found across Ukraine and west Russia, yet the origin of the bones remains uncertain. We present ten new mammoth radiocarbon dates from the largest circular structure at Kostenki 11-Ia, identifying two mammoth mandibles ∼200–1200 years older than the other dated materials from the site, suggesting skeletal material from long-dead individuals was scavenged and used in the site construction. Biomolecular sexing of 30 individuals showed a predominance of females, suggesting the Kostenki mammoths are primarily from herds. We identify seven mitochondrial lineages across 16 samples, and thus the mammoths are not all from the same matriline. Integrating biomolecular sexing with stable <em>δ</em>¹³C and <em>δ</em>¹⁵N isotope analysis, we find no isotopically-differentiated resource use by females and males, providing the first analysis of foraging differences between sexes in any Late Pleistocene megafauna. Our study highlights the significance of integrating ancient biomolecular approaches in archaeological inference.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 1","pages":"Article 100049"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143140498","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}