A new Lower Pleistocene archeological site in Europe (Vallparadís, Barcelona, Spain)

In this article we present the discovery of a new late Lower Pleistocene archeological site: Vallparadís (Barcelona, Spain). This site provided a rich archeo-paleontological sequence dated from the upper boundary of the Jaramillo subchron to the early Middle Pleistocene. The archeological deposit of Vallparadís contained a main archeological layer with numerous lithic artifacts and a rich faunal assemblage, some of which with cut marks, that could indicate that hominins had primary access to carcasses.

Mandible of Rhinocerotidae with short and deep cut marks in the tongue side (Foto: Joan García and Kenneth Martínez / IPHES)

Electron spin resonance-uranium series (ESR-US), paleomagnetic analysis, and the biostratigraphic chronological data reinforce the proposal that hominins inhabited Europe during the late Matuyama chron. The archeological sequence provides key information on the successful adaptation of European hominins that preceded the Homo antecessor fossil population from Atapuerca and succeeded the finds from Fuente Nueva and Barranco León, in the Orce basin. Hence, Vallparadís enables us to close a major chronological gap in the early prehistory of Iberian Peninsula. According to the available data, is proposed that Mediterranean Western Europe was continuously occupied by hominids during the late Lower Pleistocene.

The most decisive factor of the European colonization was probably the carnivorous diet of these hominins rather than any cultural, ecological and even physical features. At certain times of the year, hominins must have depended on animal resources for subsistence. This would have entailed direct competition with other large European predators and scavengers of the time, as jaguars and hyenas. The Vallparadís human groups exploited a rich biological environment and adapted in a way that shows they were not selective in terms of exploitation the resources available. This broad adaptive strategy would not have required great technological developments. Therefore, is proposed that these first European hominins would have been a cohesive group of general predators that had primary access to preys and, as with large predators, occupied a position at the top of the food chain.

The authors contributed to the article as follows: K.M. and J.G. designed research; K.M., J.G., and E.C. performed research; K.M., J.G., E.C., J.A., J.-J.B., H.-A.B., F.B., I.C., M.D., C.F., M.G., and R.H. analyzed data; and K.M. and J.G. wrote the paper.

For more information:

Martínez, K., Garcia, J., Carbonell, E., Agustí, J., Bahain, J.-J., Blain, H.-A., Burjachs, F., Càceres, I., Duval, M., Falguères, Ch., Gómez, M., and Huguet, H. (2010). “A new Lower Pleistocene archeological site in Europe (Vallparadís, Barcelona, Spain)”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(13): 5762-5767.

Contact:

Joan Garcia Garriga
Area of Prehistory (Rovira i Virgili University) & Catalan Institute of Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES)
jgarcia@prehistoria.urv.cat

Kenneth Martínez Molina
Area of Prehistory (Rovira i Virgili University) & Catalan Institute of Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES)
kenneth@prehistoria.urv.cat

Right handedness of Homo heidelbergensis from Sima de los Huesos (Atapuerca, Spain) 500.000 years ago

Handedness is a product of brain specialization, and so it has been subject of evolution. Handedness in living humans is well known and shows the highest degree of manual specialization. Studies on hand laterality in non human primates, particularly in chimpanzees are still controversial, since the results vary depending on features such as the tasks performed and the environment where the individuals live. Determining when handedness installed in human evolution has been traced back through several methods, including paleoneurological analyses, stone tool flaking, zooarchaeological studies and the dental wear analyses, being the latest the most reliable one.

Incisors of Homo heidelbergensis from Sima de los Huesos site (Spain) - Equipo Investigación Atapuerca (EIA)


Here we report an experimental and paleoanthropological study about the hand laterality of a sample of 28 hominids from Sima de los Huesos (Atapuerca, Spain), dated at about 500.000 years ago, and we compare the results with the dental microwear analyzed in other fossil samples such as Krapina (Croatia), as well as modern traditional societies.

Results point that European Middle Pleistocene Homo heidelbergensis was already as right-handed as modern populations.

Fore more information:

Article "Right handedness of Homo heidelbergensis froma Sima de los Huesos (Atapuerca, Sapin) 500.000 years ago", Lozano, M; Mosquera, M; Bermúdez de Castro, JM; Arsuaga, JL and Carbonell, E.

Evolution and Human Behaviour (in press, avalaible on line)

Contact

Marina Lozano

Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES)

mlozano@prehistoria.urv.cat

Marina Mosquera Area of Prehistory (Rovira i Virgili University)

marina.mosquera@urv.cat

Optimising the anaglyph technique to study ancient and forensic bloodstains

Anaglyphy is a stereoscopic technique based on the superimposition of two images of the same view, taken from slightly different angles as well as in two different colours. This superimposition produces a depth effect when viewed through glasses having one red and one green, blue or cyan lens acting as a colour filter. A study (reported in the journal Micron, vol. 40 (3), pp. 409–412), carried out by Policarp Hortolà, senior researcher & lecturer of the Rovira i Virgili University, and collaborator of Catalan Institute of Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES), has shown that digital anaglyphy provides a simple and feasible method to improve the relief effect of SEM micrographs of bloodstains.

Anaglyph obtained from two SEM micrographs of a human bloodstain. Suitable 3D glasses must be used for a correct viewing of the image

First, a chert fragment was smeared with human blood. Then, the specimen was coated with gold and examined via secondary electrons by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). After obtaining SEM micrographs, anaglyphs were digitally generated using a free software for making anaglyphs and other 3D images. The best results were obtained using pairs of SEM micrographs acquired at 10° differing angle and at SEM-stage tilts that were symmetric from the horizontal plane. The relief effect was more accentuated at low magnification. The most ergonomic colour combination for viewing bloodstain anaglyphs was red–cyan.

As a first consequence of this improvement, the results obtained in this study revealed that the outermost erythrocyte layer of a thin bloodstain – coinciding, in general, with the smear surface – can be much more uneven than that previously suggested by customary SEM micrographs.

For more information:

Article "Using digital anaglyphy to improve the relief effect of SEM micrographs of bloodstains"

Micron, 40: 409-412

Contact:

Policarp Hortolà

Area of Prehistory (Rovira i Virgili University) & Catalan Institute of Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES)

policarp.hortola@urv.cat

Manual Laterality for Simple Reaching and Bimanual Coordinated Task in Naturalistic Housed Pan troglodytes

The study of manual lateralization in chimpanzees is today a subject of renewed interest. Currently there is no consensus whether manual dominance does or does not exist at a species level, mainly for wild and semicaptivity populations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the manual laterality in a group of chimpanzees living in an intermediate setting (semicaptivity) through two tasks: one simple and unimanual (simple reaching) and the other complex and bimanual (tube task).

Charly at a tube-task session - Miquel Llorente / IPHES

In simple reaching the hand is used to gather food with precision, and the type of grip and the posture are all evaluated. The tube task evaluates the hand used to extract food from the tube and the method of extraction (digital or instrumental). Through the handedness index we observed that the individuals show clear and strong individual lateralization for both tasks, particularly for the tube task (100%), but also for simple reaching (86%). Anyway, we did not detect population preferences for any of the tasks. However, considering both tasks jointly (multiple evaluation) it has been possible to detect for the first time a skilled manual dominance at the population level in semicaptive chimpanzees.

As a conclusion, our chimpanzee sample displays right handedness at population level when considering multitask values. This is the first time that data on handedness are recorded at population level in a chimpanzee sample living in an intermediate and naturalistic setting. Former researches on hand laterality with the same sample gave negative results (Mosquera et al. 2007), but that study was focused in unimanual and spontaneous tasks. Therefore, results of the current work point to three factors as decisive to force the displaying of hand laterality in chimpanzees: bimanual coordination, tool use, and grip precision.

References cited:
Mosquera, M., Llorente, M., Riba, D., Estebaranz, F., González, M., Lorenzo, C., Sanmartí, N., Toll, M., Carbonell, E., & Feliu, O. (2007). Ethological study of manual laterality in naturalistic housed chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) from the Mona Foundation Sanctuary (Girona, Spain). Laterality, 12, 19–30.

For more information:

Article "Manual Laterality for Simple Reaching and Bimanual Coordinated Task in Naturalistic Housed Pan troglodytes"

International Journal of Primatology, 30: 183-197.

Contact:

Marina Mosquera

Àrea Prehistoria Universitat Rovira i Virgili de Tarragona - IPHES (Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social)

marina.mosquera@urv.cat

Human consumption of tortoises in the Later Middle Pleistocene

Bolomor Cave, located on the southern slope of the Valldigna valley, approximately two kilometres south-east of the town of Tavernes (Valencia, Spain), reveals that tortoise consumption by humans appears to have been common practice in the Later Middle Pleistocene.
The acquisition and consumption of small prey in the pre-Upper Palaeolithic is a highly debated topic at present. For some authors, the systematic obtaining of these animals is only part of the subsistence strategies used by anatomically modern Humans. Several researches consider that the systematic capturing of small prey is more related to the gathering that with the hunting and therefore, the technology required for their obtaining should be more complex and sophisticated (traps, etc.).

However, the consumption of small prey dates back to the Plio-Pleistocene chronologies in some sites. Although the utilization of leporids has been recorded in several pre-Late Pleistocene European sites, the evidence of tortoise consumption is documented not as common for these periods. However, Level IV of Bolomor Cave, dated in Later Middle Pleistocene, has clear diagnostic elements to document the acquisition and use of tortoises (Testudo hermanni) for food.

The scientific research was carried out by Ruth Blasco, collaborator of Area de Prehistoria Universitat Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona (URV) and Institut de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES). The results were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, 35 (2008): 2839-2848.

Cutmarks documented on tortoises at Level IV of Bolomor Cave - Photo: Ruth Blasco

According to Ruth Blasco, the use of tortoises for food appears to be quite common among the hominids that occupied at Level IV of Bolomor Cave. The evidences documented are: (1) cutmarks on limb bones and ventral surface of the carapace and plastron; (2) presence of burning on tortoise skeleton and shell; (3) elements of anthropogenic breakage on carapace and plastron and; (4) human toothmarks on limb bones.

This research show patterns in the tortoise consumption sequence from Level IV of Bolomor Cave and improves data on the butchery process and tortoise consumption in the Late Middle Pleistocene.

Bolomor Cave, apart from providing human fossils, has revealed important discoveries related to the discovery and use of fire. The site provides a stratigraphical sequence of approximately 250,000 years of levels with and without fire and document the evidence oldest of anthropogenic structures of combustion in the Iberian Peninsula and therefore, in the Southern Europe.


For more information

Article “Human consumption of tortoises at Lever IV of Bolomor Cave (Valencia, Spain)”, R. Blasco

Journal of Archaeological Science, 35 (2008): 2839-2848.

Contact

Ruth Blasco

Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili de Tarragona - Institut Català Paleocologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES)

rblasco@prehistoria.urv.cat

Neanderthals at the beach

In two sea caves on the east side of Gibraltar, paleontologists have discovered the remains of marine mammals that they suggest were eaten by Neanderthals. Vanguard and Gorham’s caves were previously known to have been occupied by Neanderthals at least 32,000 years ago.

The scientific research was carried out by a multidisciplinary group of Spanish, British and Gibraltarian scientists, including Dr. Isabel Cáceres member of Universitat Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona (URV) and Institut de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES). The results are published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America.

Some animals showed signs of having the meat stripped by Neanderthals - IPHES / CSIC

The authors identified the remains of fish, mussel shells, and seal bones­ along with the remains of other land animals that Neanderthals hunted and eaten sedimentary layers corresponding to the era when Neanderthals lived in the caves. The findings provide the clearest evidence to date that Neanderthals, like prehistoric humans, actively sought out and consumed animals from the ocean. The researchers show that the bones of some animals from the caves showed signs of having the meat stripped off by stone tools associated with Upper Paleolithic and Mousterian technologies used by Neanderthals. The seal remains are those of juveniles, suggesting the Neanderthals may have actively tracked down the animals at calving season. The sites on Gibraltar show that hunting and gathering of marine animals was a regular, seasonal part of the coastal Neanderthal lifestyle, the authors say.

Until now the scientific community had thought that Homo sapiens was the only human group that had the capacity to take advantage of all natural resources, including marine nutrients. Isabel Cáceres has pointed out that "the exploitation of marine resources in Gibraltar is developed first by Neanderthals and after by Homo sapiens. Both species have similar strategies for hunting and processing the marine resources."

The research shows that the Neanderthals, far from being limited to carnivorous land mammals, had a full knowledge of the environment. This fact allowed them to use all the resources they had at their disposal.

Isabel Cáceres emphasizes: "Since the exploitation of marine resources also encourage a greater territorial stability, we suggest that the survival of Neanderthals until chronologies so late in Gibraltar could be a direct result of good adaptation to the environment (exploitation of marine resources) and, therefore, the success of an economic, social and cultural complex" .


For more information

Article #08-05474: “Neanderthal exploitation of marine mammals in Gibraltar,” C. B. Stringer, J. C. Finlayson, R. N. E. Barton, Y. Fernández-Jalvo, I. Cáceres, R. C. Sabin , E. J. Rhodes, A. P. Currant, J. Rodríguez-Vidal, F. Giles Pacheco, J. A. Riquelme Cantal

Nature, Vol 443. 19 de octubre de 2006

Science, Vol 296. 3 de mayo de 2002

Contact
Isabel Cáceres
Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili de Tarragona - IPHES
icaceres@prehistoria.urv.cat

Amphibians and reptiles from the Gran Dolina cave and the evolution of landscape in Atapuerca

This study deals with the amphibians (newts, toads and frogs) and squamate reptiles (amphisbaenian, lizards and snakes) bone remains proceeding from the 1993-1999 washing-sieving campaigns in the river Arlanzon in Atapuerca. Nearly 5.5 tones of sediment have been processed from the excavation-test of Gran Dolina (levels TD5 to TD10), an excavation realized in order to evaluate the potential of the locality and that furnished the first remains of Homo antecessor in the TD6 level. The material corresponds approximately to 40.000 fossils attributed to 22 taxons (genus and species).

Some drawings of amphibian fossil remains from Gran Dolina, Atapuerca, made by H.-A. Blain. It is a matter of midwife toad, western spadefoot, natterjack toad, european toad and common frog.

This work (based o part of the Ph.D. thesis of the first author) constitutes the first intent to reconstruct past landscape of the Sierra de Atapuerca during the early to middle Pleistocenes using amphibian and aquamate reptile assemblages.

The reconstructed landscape along the sequence of Gran Dolina has been compare with the data from other palaeoenvironmental proxies as small-mammals (rodents, shrews, bats, and rabbits), palynology (pollen and spores) and geomorphology

Meticulous sieving-washing of the excavated sediment in order that no fossil goes unnoticed, small though it was - Jordi Mestre / IPHES

The analyze of the evolution of the biodiversity (taxonomical associations) of reptiles and amphibians during approximately 600.000 years (from 900.000 to 300.000 years) in Gran Dolina has permitted to show that permanent aquatic and humid habitats ever been present in the vicinity of the site. However during the warmest periods, more open and dryer biotopes are best represented, whereas during cold periods humid meadows and woodland are predominant.

From: Blain H.-A., Bailon, S. & Cuenca-Bescós, G. (2008): The Early-Middle Pleistocene palaeoenvironmental change based on the squamate reptile and amphibian proxy at the Gran Dolina site, Atapuerca, Spain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 261 (1-2): 177-192.

contact: hablain@prehistoria.urv.cat

Conservation treatments of human fossil remains

Although research on human evolution depends in many cases on the study of fossil remains that have been treated by conservators, few treatments have been published.

In this article, we present an example of a strict conservation methodology applied to the human mandible ATD6-96, from the site of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). We describe examination performed before the intervention, which included a the extensive diagnostic computer tomography (CT) scan and stereoscopic light microscopy. The mechanical preparation is also described in detail.

Diagnostic computer tomography (CT) scan - Photo: Jordi Mestre /IPHES

Human mandible ATD6-96 - Credit foto: Jordi Mestre - IPHES

This fossil is treated mainly mechanically, with a scalpel, and some soft brushes and solvents are also used to complete the treatment. Although we use the simplest techniques to prepare a fossil, we state that the technical simplicity does not in any way imply conceptual simplicity: behind the decisions that conservators make there is a work method that involves the knowledge of the material treated, as well as the products and techniques that exist to diagnose the alterations and solve conservation problems.

Through the description of this treatment we show how the interdisciplinary work allowed retention of both the integrity of the specimen and its information. As we think that the boundary between recovering or saving information and losing it is in the recognition of what is valuable, we state that conservation treatments have to be proposed taking into account the needs of the different specialists who partake in the study of the materials.

To sum up, we use the example of the treatment of this human mandible to talk about Conservation methodology and principles and we show how a good treatment needs more than dexterity and patience.

From: López-Polín, L. Ollé, A., Cáceres, I., Carbonell, E., Bermúdez de Castro, J.M. (2008): Pleistocene human remains and conservation treatments: the case of a mandible form Atapuerca (Spain). Journal of Human Evolution, 54 539-545 DOI 10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.07.011

Contact: lucialp@prehistoria.urv.cat

The Collapse of Gran Dolina cave, Sierra de Atapuerca

Layer TD10 of Gran Dolina, Atapuerca, during the campaign of excavation

The last hominin occupations of Gran Dolina cave at Atapuerca are represented by layer TD10-1; as stated in the article “The Collapse of Gran Dolina Cave, Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain: Site Formation Processes of Layer TD10-1” which, signed by Carolina Mallol and Eudald Carbonell (IPHES - URV), summarizes the results obtained by a micromorphological study carried out in this layer to reconstruct its formation processes as well as to document possible traces of anthropic activity in the sediments.This layer has yielded high densities of anthropogenic bone and lithic remains that suggest the existence of a referential hominin campsite.

Micromorphological analysis was carried out in order to reconstruct site formation processes and to find traces of hominin activity in the sediments. Results show that TD10-1 is an autochthonous deposit whose components are derived from a local, degraded cave entrance environment. The base of TD10-1 represents a moist, semi-sheltered environment associated with anthropogenic input and low sedimentary rates, while the rest of the deposit represents a non-anthropogenic, more open environment with higher rates of sedimentation. The TD10-1 archaeological assemblages have not undergone long transport or strong postdepositional disturbance. Further interdisciplinary analyses are needed to characterize the types and intensity of the hominin activities recorded in TD10-1.

Archaeological remains mixed wih the sediment of Gran Dolina TD10. Picture: Jordi Mestre – IPHES.

For further information: Carolina Mallol, mallol@mmsh.univ-aix.fr

Ecological adaptations and tracking climatic changes through time using dental wear analysis

Two studies recent published conduct us to two important conclusions:

- Dental wear reveals to be a better tool to investigate adaptations than tooth morphology, especially for the analysis of samples from Pleistocene localities. Dental wear analysis reveals changes that dental morphology does not detect.

- These studies revealed that fossils are of value in developing an understanding of the dietary breadth and ecological versatility of species that, in recent times, are rare, endangered, and occupy only a small remnant of their former ranges.



Preparation of high-resolution molds in silicone for dental wear analysis

Recreating paleodiets from fossils has often included considerable speculation. Even rigorous studies can sometimes misjudge diet due to phylogenetic constraints in the morphology. In spite of the difficulties, diet aids in interpretation of the habitat and ecological interactions. The indirect evidence from herbivores is sometimes the only indication of plant types in the area, because the fluctuation of herbivore abundance yields insight to the climatic transitions of an area.

The diet of fossil ungulates provides valuable information about the food resources in a given habitat and thus is a useful tool in reconstructing paleohabitats. The dietary interpretation of mammalian teeth has traditionally involved either direct (actualistic) comparison with living animals, the application of general functional principles, or - increasingly during the latest few decades - the study of the wear patterns left on teeth by food.

Using dental wear analysis (mesowear and light stereomicroscopy microwear), various species are used to reconstruct ecological adaptations and to track climatic changes through time.

Groups with a long evolutive history are interesting to analyze changes through time. The project realized on the Antilocapridae (a group endemic to North America) result from a collaboration with Gina M. Semprebon (Professor of Biology and Chair of the Science and Mathematics Department at Bay Path College, USA). All specimens available in the Frick Collection from the American Museum of Natural History (New York) were sampled. Species analyzed spanned from the early Miocene to the late Pleistocene. Results are concordant with well known trends toward increasing aridity and shifts in vegetational structure in the late Miocene–early Pliocene of North America.

Results indicate a shift toward more abrasive diets beginning in the late Miocene and Pliocene, and then a return to a less abrasive dietary regime for the duration of the Pleistocene and into the Recent. More interesting is that the antilocaprines (the more derived group, more hypsodont) apparently depended more on grass than the less advanced merycodontines, but even the earliest of the merycodontines seem to have relied more on grass as a dietary staple than the modern pronghorn. Seasonal grit encroachment on food items encountered by fossil antilocaprids coupled with a heavier reliance on grasses may provide a possible explanation for the extreme hypsodonty present in the modern pronghorn despite its mainly browsing dietary behavior.

From: Semprebon G. M., Rivals F. 2007. Was grass more prevalent in the pronghorn past? An assessment of the dietary adaptations of Miocene to recent Antilocapridae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 253: 332-347.

Populations of caribou

A second study was undertaken on a large sample of modern caribou (Rangifer tarandus) from the Kaminuriak population of eastern Canada. The project is part of a collaboration with Nikos Solounias (Professor at New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History in New York). The modern sample was compared to fossil specimens from Pleistocene localities in North America (Alaska) and Western Europe (Caune de l’Arago in France and Salzgitter in Germany).

Microwear features on a bovid tooth (magnification x35)

The results show that the extant samples from eastern Canada have seasonal variation in microwear and presumably in diet. Those differences in microwear may reflect a cyclic migration of the population within a year. Rangifer samples from the three fossil localities show that diet of a brachyodont taxon can be highly abrasive, comparable to the diet of modern zebras or plains bison. More over their diet may vary across most of the dietary morphospace of ungulates, indicating an important adaptability of the individuals.

The three Pleistocene samples exhibit microwear that is different from the extant population in question. This observation implies that the recent diet of Rangifer has changed from the typical caribou diet in the past. This indicates dietary change within a species. This is important because it represents dietary evolution without changes in tooth morphology. These results are significant due to climatic deterioration and can be used to detect changes in time and trends in the future of some species as humans alter their habitats.

From: Rivals F., Solounias N. 2007. Differences in tooth microwear of populations of caribou (Rangifer tarandus, Ruminantia, Mammalia) and implications to ecology, migration, glaciations and dental evolution. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 14: 182-192.

For further information: Florent Rivals, florent.rivals@icrea.es

Bronze Age cannibalism in Atapuerca

Evidence for Bronze Age cannibalism in El Mirador Cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain), American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Volume 133, Issue 3, Date: July 2007, Pages: 899-917

Isabel Cáceres, Marina Lozano, Palmira Saladié

Área de Prehistoria de la Universidad Rovira i Virgili de Tarragona, IPHES (Institut de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social), Fundación Atapuerca

During excavations of the Bronze Age levels at El Mirador Cave, a hole containing human remains was found. Taphonomic analysis revealed the existence of cutmarks, human toothmarks, cooking damage, and deliberate breakage in most of the remains recovered, suggesting a clear case of gastronomic cannibalism. The piled distribution of the remains, the uneven skeletal representation, and the chronological difference between the pit and the remains suggest that these bones were subsequently buried by a human group that inhabited into the cave later in time.

Outside Trinchera del Ferrocarril complex and Sima de los Huesos site, El Mirador Cave is located at the southern side of the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). The Bronze Age remains noticed here appeared in a 6 m2 exploratory excavation. Dating based on charcoal and bone shows that MIR4 corresponds to the Middle Bronze Age. The human remains provide calibrated dates between 4400 and 4100 BP. Dates indicate that the human remains considered here would fit chronologically into the Early Bronze Age.

Dorsal vertebrae exploitation pattern (MIR4-P22-212a and 212b):

cutmarks (arrow) cross both vertebrae as a result of the same

action. Also there are toothmarks on the laminae and peeling

of the spinal process. The articular facets have completely

disappeared.

The assemblage of human remains recovered from El Mirador Cave consists of 106 specimens belonging to at least six individuals. These remains show evidence of systematical dismemberment, defleshing, and consumption. The distribution of these human remains, with skulls at the bottom and postcranial bones on cranial remains, the abundant bones breakage and the obvious presence of cutmarks, cooking damage, and possible human toothmarks, provide evidences of cannibalistic practices during recent periods of prehistory. All taphonomic alterations on these human remains are anthropogenic in origin. Most incisions indicate that these bodies were defleshed and disarticulated. Cutmarks appear in areas of muscle insertion, following patterns of processing, which are similar in all individuals. Another significant feature of the assemblage is a high degree of bone fragmentation. Analysis of the fracture outline shows a majority to have curved/V-shaped with mixed angles and smooth edges. These features suggest that the breakage occurred while bone was fresh. Human toothmarks in El Mirador Cave are always superficial and small. The size of toothmarks, the presence of peeling associated with toothmarks, crenullated edges on very fragile bones, the similarity with experimental specimens, together with the absence of other modifications, which are typical of carnivores, allow us to propose that in El Mirador Cave, human toothmarks have been identified.

These remains were subject to complex perimortem processing, though it is not possible to determine how the individuals died. The human bodies had been processed similarly to other animals. This processing pattern is similar to that observed in butchered animals from this as well other archaeological sites. There are clear similarities with other archaeological assemblages displaying evidence of nutritional cannibalism, such as published for other sites like Moula-Guercy, Gough’s Cave, Grotte des Perrats, Fontbrégoua, Las Majólicas and the cave of Malalmuerzo or Mancos.

The presence of perimortem cutmarks, human toothmarks, bone breakage, and effect of cooking strongly suggest the existence of Bronze Age gastronomic cannibalism in El Mirador Cave.

To comments icaceres@prehistoria.urv.cat

Bos evolution relationships with Acheulean tool technology

The Olduvai buffalo Pelorovis and the origin of Bos. Quaternary Research 68 (2007) 220-226 doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2007.06.002

The origin of the genus Bos is a debated issue. From ~0.5 Ma until historic times, the genus is well known in the Eurasian large mammal assemblages, where it is represented by Bos primigenius. This species has a highly derived cranial anatomy that shows important morphological differences from other Plio-Pleistocene Eurasian genera of the tribe Bovini such as Leptobos, Bison, Proamphibos-Hemibos, and Bubalus. The oldest clear evidence of Bos is the skull fragment ASB-198-1 from the middle Pleistocene (~0.6–0.8 Ma) site of Asbole (Lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia). The first appearance of Bos in Europe is at the site of Venosa-Notarchirico, Italy (~0.5–0.6 Ma). Although the origin of Bos has traditionally been connected with Leptobos and Bison, after a detailed anatomical and morphometric study we propose here a different origin, connecting the middle Pleistocene Eurasian forms of B. primigenius with the African Late Pliocene and early Pleistocene large size member of the tribe Bovini Pelorovis sensu stricto. The dispersal of the Bos lineage in Western Europe during middle Pleistocene times seems to coincide with the arrival of the Acheulean tool technology in this continent.

Bienvenido Martínez


For this analysis, we include the Eastern African Late Pliocene species Pelorovis turkanensis from eastern Africa and P. oldowayensis, recorded in the early Pleistocene of Eastern Africa and the Levantine corridor.

According to the evidence discussed above, we propose a reclassification of the Late Pliocene and early Pleistocene African members of the tribe Bovini ascribed to Pelorovis and the middle Pleistocene–Holocene African and Eurasian specimens ascribed to Bos, including all of them in the genus Bos.

Under this new interpretation, we recognize here three chronospecies: (1) Bos turkanensis for the Late Pliocene African form; (2) Bos oldowayensis for the early Pleistocene form of Africa and the Middle East; and (3) B. primigenius for the Eurasian middle Pleistocene to Holocene form.

The extant representatives of the genus Bos are common animals in human settlements, but now we can suggest that they have been part of the human ecological scenario since the beginning of the genus Homo, during the African Late Pliocene.

Please cite this article as: Martinez-Navarro, B., et al., The Olduvai buffalo Pelorovis and the origin of Bos, Quaternary Research (2007), doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2007.06.002 © 2007 University of Washington. All rights reserved.

Bienvenido Martínez-Navarro. ICREA, Area de Prehistòria-IPHES, Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Plaça Imperial Tarraco, 1. 43005 Tarragona, Spain
Juan Antonio Pérez-Claros. Departamento de Geología y Ecología (Área de Paleontología), Facultad de Ciencias, Campus Universitario de Teatinos. 29071 Málaga, Spain
Maria Rita Palombo. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Roma “La Sapienza”, and CNR Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy
Lorenzo Rook. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, via G. La Pira 4, 50121 Firenze, Italy
Paul Palmqvist. Departamento de Geología y Ecología (Área de Paleontología), Facultad de Ciencias, Campus Universitario de Teatinos. 29071 Málaga, Spain

To comments bienvenido@icrea.es

Found a human tooth dated to ca. 1.2 My in the Sima del Elefante (TE9), Atapuerca

1.2-My-old hominid premolar discovered in the level 9 of the Sima del Elefante. Picture: Jordi Mestre/IPHES.

Last Wednesday, June 27, one P4 was found in the level 9 of the Sima del Elefante, Atapuerca.

“This find occurring within TE9 is very important as it directly proves that there was human presence in the Sierra de Atapuerca at least 1.2 millions of years ago” has been assured by Eudald Carbonell, director of the IPHES and co-director of the Atapuerca Project together with José María Bermúdez de Castro (CENIEH) and Juan Luis Arsuaga (UCM–ISCIII). He has added “In previous years we had found lithic industry which guaranteed this age, but we had never found human remains in the site”.

Along the same lines Rosa Huguet, who defended her doctoral thesis dealing with human occupations in Atapuerca and Orce just few weeks ago at the URV, points out “I already defended in my thesis a hominid presence in Atapuerca 1.2 millions of years ago, but I based it on cut marks observed on faunal remains, which would have been consumed by these hominids, as well as on the documented lithic industry. The fact that this premolar has now been found is a direct evidence which demonstrates the human presence of the Sima del Elefante at that period”.

Exactly, the tooth is a P4, a very well preserved lower premolar which would be ascribed to an adult. Regarding the species to which it could belong, Carbonell has pointed out “We still do not know, but in any case it would be a species previous to Homo antecessor and the direct evidence of hominids in Western Europe would be put back 400,000 years”.

Carbonell has also stated ‘To date it, we have for the moment biostratigraphical data coming from the level where the molar has appeared; the presence of Allophaiomys lavocati indicates us an age older than 1.2 millions of years. Equally, the first palaeomagnetic tests that we have carried out show us reversed polarity’

Carbonell has remarked "We must carry out new palaeomagnetic analyses because we are thinking that the dates of this level could be even older than 1.2 millions of years. For the time being, however, the sites located in Atapuerca reinforce its importance as a key place for the study of human evolution, because at several sites (TE9, TD6, TG10, SH) and in a good stratigraphical context we have remains of different hominid species, which are respectively 1,200,000, 800,000 and 500,000 years old.

English version by Fernando Sánchez Trigueros

original version http://www.urv.cat/iphes

The pre-inscription for the Master Erasmus Mundus of Archaeology from the Quaternary and Human Evolution is open

The first phase of the pre-inscription is already open to access to the Master Erasmus Mundus of Archaeology from the Quaternary and Human Evolution that imparts the University Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona. This first deadline finishes on the 30th April.

This Master started to be imparted in the course 2004-2005, therefore, it arrives already at its fourth year. During course 2006-07 the students (fifteen) of the first promotion finish already and they will have defended their theses of master, in different calendars, and next course they are going to carry out their studies to finish with the doctorate at Tarragona, in the same research team directed by Eudald Carbonell, director of the IPHES (Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution) and codirector of the Atapuerca Project in Tarragona.

In total, from the first edition, and during the three first courses, 45 students have followed in Tarragona the classes of this official master. These students are from very diverse origin, and there is as much of the Spanish as of the foreigner, especially people part of research teams that carry out important archaeological excavations like Atapuerca (Burgos-Spain), Dmanisi (Georgia) or Argel (Algeria), among other.

Of this total there are fifteen students from Italy, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Philippines, Indonesia and Jordan that have received the classes in other places, but have come to the URV to develop their projects of research within the framework of this international master.

The Master Erasmus Mundus of Archaeology from the Quaternary and Human Evolution is based in three fundamental areas: the research in human paleo-ecology and prehistory, paleo-anthropology, geology and palaeontology of the Quaternary; the archaeology of intervention in this stage of the evolution, and the management, conservation and socialization of the archaeological patrimony.

This official qualification of the URV share goals and formative activities with the graduations in History and Geography through the objective of introducing to a specialization in archaeology.

The Neanderthals that 43.000 years ago lived in the Asturian site Sidrón practiced the cannibalism

The prestigious magazine of the Academy of Sciences of the United States, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), has published an article about the excavations that are carried out in the Asturian archaeological site El Sidrón where it is confirmed that 43.000 years ago the Neanderthals that lived in this place practiced the cannibalism, because the bones have marks of cut produced by the lithic instruments during the process of disarticulation of the individuals, and also have signals of the knocks carried out to fragment the bones with the aim of obtaining the marrow.

Among the signers of the article, titled "Paleobiology and comparative morphology of in beats Neanderthal sample from El Sidrón, Asturias, Spain", figure Rosa Huguet, who has a scholarship of the Foundation Atapuerca, of the Area of Prehistory of the University Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona, and who also has carried out the zooarchaeological and taphonomical analysis of the human remains found in this site. Therefore, "I have identified and characterized identified and characterized -she assures- the marks of court that make evident the cannibalism, as well as the different activities of disarticulation documented. Besides, the taphonomic study has allowed to see that some remains have been modified for small carnivores and for rodents".



What the researches do not know yet are the exact causes of this cannibalism, a practice that, on the other hand, although with different chronologies and which has been played the lead by different species, has been documented in other archaeological sites as Gran Dolina (Atapuerca, Spain), the cave of Aragon and at Moula-Guercy, both in France, and in Krapina (Croatia). Rosa Huguet comments: "in some of these cases it has been indicated that the cannibalism is gastronomic, but it does not have to be related to periods of stress by the lack of foods, but the hominids might be part of the usual diet of the past inhabitants of the Pleistocene".



The Sidrón is the most important Neanderthals' archaeological site of the Iberian peninsula with regard to the number of bone remains that has been found (more than 1.300), and the only Neanderthal site of the Iberian peninsula of which ADN has been extracted from different hominids.

The scientific works developed in El Sidrón are carried out under the direction of Antonio Rosas, paleoanthropologist of the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), and Javier Fortea, from the University of Oviedo, responsible for the archeological part of the site.