scholarly journals European early modern humans and the fate of the Neandertals

2007 ◽  
Vol 104 (18) ◽  
pp. 7367-7372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Trinkaus
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Morphological Features ◽  
Middle Paleolithic ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Dental Morphology ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Morphological Aspects ◽  
Early Modern Humans

A consideration of the morphological aspects of the earliest modern humans in Europe (more than ≈33,000 B.P.) and the subsequent Gravettian human remains indicates that they possess an anatomical pattern congruent with the autapomorphic (derived) morphology of the earliest (Middle Paleolithic) African modern humans. However, they exhibit a variable suite of features that are either distinctive Neandertal traits and/or plesiomorphic (ancestral) aspects that had been lost among the African Middle Paleolithic modern humans. These features include aspects of neurocranial shape, basicranial external morphology, mandibular ramal and symphyseal form, dental morphology and size, and anteroposterior dental proportions, as well as aspects of the clavicles, scapulae, metacarpals, and appendicular proportions. The ubiquitous and variable presence of these morphological features in the European earlier modern human samples can only be parsimoniously explained as a product of modest levels of assimilation of Neandertals into early modern human populations as the latter dispersed across Europe. This interpretation is in agreement with current analyses of recent and past human molecular data.

O Menino do Lapedo

2001 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Trinkaus ◽  
João Zilhão ◽  
Cidália Duarte
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Behavioral Differences ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Early Modern Humans ◽  
Southern Iberia

AbstractThe emergence of modern humans during the Late Pleistocene and the phylogenetic fate of the northwestern Eurasian Neandertals have been closely linked to our perceptions of the behavior and abilities of those late archaic humans, the Neandertals. In the past several years, several lines of evidence, including radiometric dating of archeological assemblages, taphonomic analyses of faunal remains, stable isotope analysis of Neandertal remains, the dating of late Neandertal remains, considerations of initial Upper Paleolithic associations and chronologies, and reassessments of Neandertal to early modern human phylogenetic relationships have tended to minimise the perceived behavioral differences between the Neandertals and early modern humans across Europe. Into this context, the discovery of an earlier Upper Paleolithic (Gravettian) early modern human child's skeleton at the Abrigo do Lagar Velho, Lapedo Valley, Portugal with distinctive Neandertal features provides further support for the de-dehumanising of the Neandertals. Its anatomical evidence for population blending when early modern humans spread into southern Iberia after 30,000 B.P. indicates that the behavioral differences between the local Neandertals and in-dispersing early modern humans were subtle and did not preclude them from regarding each other as human.

The emergence of bone-working and ornamental art in the Caucasian Upper Palaeolithic

Antiquity ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 84 (324) ◽  
pp. 299-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liubov V. Golovanova ◽  
Vladimir B. Doronichev ◽  
Naomi E. Cleghorn
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
New Work ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Early Modern Humans ◽  
Ornamental Art

New work from the Caucasus is revolutionising the timing and character of the shift from Neanderthals to early Modern humans in Eurasia. Here the authors reveal a powerful signal of that change from excavations at Mezmaiskaya: the abrupt appearance of a well-formed bone industry and ornaments.

scholarly journals Fire As an Engineering Tool of Early Modern Humans

Science ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 325 (5942) ◽  
pp. 859-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Brown ◽  
C. W. Marean ◽  
A. I. R. Herries ◽  
Z. Jacobs ◽  
C. Tribolo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Early Modern Humans

scholarly journals Testing the utility of dental morphological trait combinations for inferring human neutral genetic variation

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (20) ◽  
pp. 10769-10777 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannes Rathmann ◽  
Hugo Reyes-Centeno
Keyword(s):  
Modern Human ◽  
Genomic Variation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Dental Morphology ◽  
Genomic Signatures ◽  
Neutral Genetic Variation ◽  
Tooth Form ◽  
Dental Traits ◽  
Population Affinity

Researchers commonly rely on human dental morphological features in order to reconstruct genetic affinities among past individuals and populations, particularly since teeth are often the best preserved part of a human skeleton. Tooth form is considered to be highly heritable and selectively neutral and, therefore, to be an excellent proxy for DNA when none is available. However, until today, it remains poorly understood whether certain dental traits or trait combinations preserve neutral genomic signatures to a greater degree than others. Here, we address this long-standing research gap by systematically testing the utility of 27 common dental traits and >134 million possible trait combinations in reflecting neutral genomic variation in a worldwide sample of modern human populations. Our analyses reveal that not all traits are equally well-suited for reconstructing population affinities. Whereas some traits largely reflect neutral variation and therefore evolved primarily as a result of genetic drift, others can be linked to nonstochastic processes such as natural selection or hominin admixture. We also demonstrate that reconstructions of population affinity based on many traits are not necessarily more reliable than those based on only a few traits. Importantly, we find a set of highly diagnostic trait combinations that preserve neutral genetic signals best (up to x∼r = 0.580; 95% r range = 0.293 to 0.758; P = 0.001). We propose that these trait combinations should be prioritized in future research, as they allow for more accurate inferences about past human population dynamics when using dental morphology as a proxy for DNA.

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