Size variation in early human mandibles and molars from Klasies River, South Africa: Comparison with other middle and late Pleistocene assemblages and with modern humans

This study investigates the use of geometric morphometrics as well as methodological aspects specifically related to its application in paleoanthropology. Based on lateral photographs taken from a fossil sample of 58 specimens, a relative warps analysis was computed in order to assess the variation of cranial shape among various hominin groups. The fossil sample represents Middle and Late Pleistocene populations commonly assigned to H. erectus, H. neanderthalensis, archaic H. sapiens as well as anatomically modern H. sapiens. The preliminary results indicate that several fossil skulls considered as belonging to archaic H. sapiens have a distinct shape compared to modern humans. The results suggest that these hominins are not as closely related to modern humans as previously thought. Instead, their morphometric affinities suggest that they are as distinct from modern humans as are the Neandertals. Methodological aspects, such as raw data accuracy and the use of type 2 and 3 landmarks that are directly related to this type of quantitative analysis and that potentially affect their results, are discussed.

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Calibration of Radiocarbon Dates for the Late Pleistocene Using U/Th Dates on Stalagmites

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s003382220004087x ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 39 (1) ◽

pp. 27-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

John C. Vogel ◽

Joel Kronfeld

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Magnetic Dipole ◽

Satisfactory Agreement ◽

Late Pleistocene ◽

Calibration Curve ◽

Dipole Field ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

The Past ◽

The Earth ◽

Magnetic Dipole Field

Twenty paired 14C and U/Th dates covering most of the past 50,000 yr have been obtained on a stalagmite from the Cango Caves in South Africa as well as some additional age-pairs on two stalagmites from Tasmania that partially fill a gap between 7 ka and 17 ka ago. After allowance is made for the initial apparent 14C ages, the age-pairs between 7 ka and 20 ka show satisfactory agreement with the coral data of Bard et al. (1990, 1993). The results for the Cango stalagmite between 25 ka and 50 ka show the 14C dates to be substantially younger than the U/Th dates except at 49 ka and 29 ka, where near correspondence occurs. The discrepancies may be explained by variations in 14C production caused by changes in the magnetic dipole field of the Earth. A tentative calibration curve for this period is offered.

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Initial Upper Palaeolithic humans in Europe had recent Neanderthal ancestry

Nature ◽

10.1038/s41586-021-03335-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 592 (7853) ◽

pp. 253-257 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Mateja Hajdinjak ◽

Fabrizio Mafessoni ◽

Laurits Skov ◽

Benjamin Vernot ◽

Alexander Hübner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Family History ◽

East Asia ◽

Late Pleistocene ◽

Modern Human ◽

Human Migration ◽

Upper Palaeolithic ◽

Modern Humans ◽

Genome Wide ◽

Genome Wide Data

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

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