Comparative Materials and Methods for the Sunghir Human Remains

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Trinkaus ◽  
Alexandra P. Buzhilova ◽  
Maria B. Mednikova ◽  
Maria V. Dobrovolskaya
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Lithic Technology ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Mis 3 ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Northern Russia ◽  
Western Eurasia

This volume is concerned with the morphology and paleobiology of the human remains from Sunghir. As such, it is intended to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of the occupants of that locale in northern Russia during the Interpleniglacial [marine isotope stage (MIS) 3]. However, the Sunghir human remains take on meaning, and can be properly evaluated, only in the context of a broader sample of Late Pleistocene humans. The paleontological sources of the comparative samples are indicated below. In most cases, references are not provided for the specimens or sites, since to do so would be to provide an extensive bibliography for Late Pleistocene human remains. References are provided principally for the smaller non-western Eurasian and immature samples and for those of debated affinities. The principal sample of concern consists of individuals from the same general time period during MIS 3 as the Sunghir humans and those who generated the same general archeological complex. The time frame, sensu lato, is between ~30,000 and ~20,000 14C years BP, or ~34,000 and ~24,000 cal years BP. The archeological technocomplex (which is defined by more than just lithic technology), is the Mid Upper Paleolithic (or the Gravettian sensu lato, especially in central and western Europe). This complex is taken here to include a variety of regional variants, including the “Sunghirian” (see discussion in chapter 2). The regional differences in the archeological complexes, technologically or stylistically, are not of concern here; it is apparent that, despite differences in details of especially lithic technology, there was a broad level of cultural uniformity that extended across western Eurasia (Roebroeks et al. 2000) and probably continued into eastern Asia (Gerasimov 1935; Norton and Gao 2008). What is of most relevance is the general level of cultural elaboration and related patterning, as it might have affected the behavior, biology, and adaptations of the Sunghir humans. As a result, the comparative framework is principally that provided by the human remains from this time period.

Assessing the Paleobiology of the Sunghir People

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Trinkaus ◽  
Alexandra P. Buzhilova ◽  
Maria B. Mednikova ◽  
Maria V. Dobrovolskaya
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
The People ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Human Burials ◽  
Human Foraging ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Work Done

During the Mid Upper Paleolithic, the period of Late Pleistocene human existence within the Interpleniglacial, human foraging populations developed an increasingly sophisticated, elaborated, and complicated existence across Eurasia and probably across most of the Old World. This period of the Paleolithic saw the emergence of various forms of elaborate technology (e.g., ceramics and textiles, as well as elaborations of lithic and organic tool manufacture and use), expanded artistic manifestations, complex social behaviors (especially reflected in personal decoration and mortuary behavior), and increasingly effective and flexible means of subsistence and food processing. For these reasons, the people of this period were referred to, a dozen years ago, as the “Hunters of the Golden Age” (Roebroeks et al. 2000). In those and other assessments of these people, referred to as “Gravettian” in central and western Europe and by other names further east, there is frequent reference to the material from the northern Russian site of Sunghir (Сунгирь; Sungir’). The references to Sunghir are especially to the extremely rich human burials discovered during excavations in 1964 and 1969. The human paleontological materials from Sunghir, however, have only been superficially integrated into the broader assessments of human existence during this time period of hunter-gatherer fluorescence. Several volumes (and innumerable articles) have been written on aspects of the archeological work done at the Sunghir site (e.g., Sukachev et al. 1966; O.N. Bader 1978; N.O. Bader 1998; Seleznev 2008), and there have been two edited volumes concerned principally with the human remains from within and without the burials (Zubov and Karitonov 1984; Alexeeva et al. 2000). However, all of these volumes (as is appropriate) are in Russian, and only the last of them contains extensive English summaries of the contributions. As a result (given the linguistically challenged nature of many Western anthropologists—including one of us), detailed assessments of the Sunghir site and the Sunghir human remains have been slow to permeate the broader anthropological community. Originally, in the 19th century and through much of the 20th century, the focus was on the populational affinities of human remains that emerged from the Upper Paleolithic of Eurasia.

Stratigraphy and chronology of Late Pleistocene loess-paleosol sequence of the East European Plain and correlation with Late Pleistocene archives of Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Sycheva ◽  
Manfred Frechen ◽  
Birgit Terhorst ◽  
Sergey Sedov ◽  
Olga Khokhlova
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
East European Plain ◽  
East European ◽  
Mis 3 ◽  
Soil Sediment ◽  
Rfbr Grant ◽  
Mis 5E ◽  
Eemian Interglacial

<p>A detailed pedocryostratigraphic scheme of the Late Pleistocene periglacial region of the East European Plain has been developed on the basis of study of the paleorelief, sediments, paleosols, and cryogenic horizons. OSL and <sup>14</sup>C-dating of paleosols and sediments in Aleksandrov quarry and in other sections made it possible to substantiate this scheme and correlate it with analogous ones for different regions of Europe. The loess-paleosol sequence in Aleksandrov quarry (51º05'N, 36º08'E) does not have an analogous with respect to the completeness in the whole East European Plain. In the filling of paleobalka the Ryshkovo paleosol of the Mikulino interglacial (MIS 5e) is observed. Over this paleosol, the Valdai soil-sediment series (MIS 5d – MIS 2) is located. It includes four interstadial soils, two of them of the Early Valdai (Kukuevo and Streletsk ones), and two, sometimes three, of the Middle Valdai (Aleksandrov, Hydrouzel и Bryansk ones). The OSL date, 127 ± 8 ka BP, (beginning of MIS 5e) was obtained for a sample taken from the bottom of the Ryshkovo soil. The interglacial soil is overlain by the Seym layer formed mainly from destroyed and redeposited horizons of this soil. For the upper part of the Seym layer, OSL dates of 115 ± 7 ka BP and 112 ± 20 ka BP were obtained (MIS 5d). But the process of burial of Ryshkovo soil in the bottom of the paleobalka began at the end of the interglacial after a catastrophic forest fire. Large post-permafrost deformations - pseudomorphosis is confined to Selikhovodvor loess - MIS 4 (65 ± 8 ka BP). Two soils occurring between Seym and Selikhovodvor loesses: Kukuevo and Streletsk - Early Valdai (MIS 5c and MIS 5a). For Mlodat loess which separates those two soils (MIS 5b), OSL dates of 91 ± 1 and 89 ± 7 ka BP were obtained. For paleosols of Middle Valdai (MIS 3), <sup>14</sup>C-dates were obtained: Aleksandrov (53.742 - 2.124 ka cal BP) and Bryansk soils (37.618 ± 0.668 ka cal BP). For Tuskar loess, which separates Alexandrov and Bryansk soils, OSL dates of 50 ± 3 and 51 ± 3 ka BP were obtained. The new stratigraphic scheme of Late Pleistocene agrees with the ideas of researchers from Eastern, Central, and Western Europe , which allows the following correlations. The identified paleosols correspond to the following intervals: Ryshkovo – Eemian interglacial (127-117 ka BP); Kukuevo to Amersfoort + Brørup – Saint-Germain 1 (105-95 ka BP); Streletsk – Odderade to Saint-Germain 2 (about 85-75 ka BP); Aleksandrov to Oerel (56-53 ka BP); Hydrouzel to Moershoofd – Poperinge (44-45 ka BP) and Hengelo (40-38 ka BP); and Bryansk (33-27 ka BP) to Stillfried B, Denekamp or Grand Bois interstadials. The reconstructed Late Pleistocene loess-paleosol sequence has the most similar structure with loess-paleosol sequences of Ukraine, with sequence Dolní Věstonice in Moravia (Czech Republik), Stillfried in Austria and Mainz-Weisenau in the Rhenish area (Germany), and other archives. <strong>This work was supported by RFBR, grant N19-29-05024 mk. </strong></p>

DIRECT DATING OF THE HUMAN NAVICULAR FROM THE CUEVA DE LOS TORREJONES (GUADALAJARA, SPAIN)

Radiocarbon ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Adrián Pablos ◽  
Nohemi Sala ◽  
Alfonso Arribas
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Human Bones ◽  
Human Fossils

ABSTRACT Pleistocene human remains are rare inland on the Iberian Peninsula. Most are considered Neandertals, but anthropological analyses and direct dating are rare. Recently, we published a study of a navicular from this region found in the Torrejones Cave. The results showed it differed from that of Neandertals and it was re-identified as Homo sapiens. Following the previous stratigraphic and biochronologic descriptions, we suggested that it could correspond to an Upper Paleolithic human, since the navicular was apparently recovered in the Late Pleistocene from an in situ unit. Direct radiocarbon dating from this fossil (4855–5036 cal BP), believed to be the only Paleolithic Homo sapiens from inland Iberia, as well as other hominin and faunal remains from the site, show that the human bones actually date to the Chalcolithic. The unexpectedly recent chronology for the navicular implies that there is no evidence of human fossils from the Upper Paleolithic in Torrejones Cave. Thus, any date from the Middle/Upper Paleolithic human record should be taken with caution until in-depth paleoanthropological, stratigraphical and/or direct dating studies are conducted. Extraordinary caution is recommended when human remains are recovered from apparently Paleolithic units in contexts bearing Holocene sepulchral units on the uppermost levels and/or some evidence of bioturbation.

scholarly journals Complex mortuary dynamics in the Upper Paleolithic of the decorated Grotte de Cussac, France

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (26) ◽  
pp. 14851-14856 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sacha Kacki ◽  
Erik Trinkaus ◽  
Eline M. J. Schotsmans ◽  
Patrice Courtaud ◽  
Irene Dori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Adult Male ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
The Body ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Lower Body ◽  
Red Pigment ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
The Social

The Mid-Upper Paleolithic (Gravettian) karstic Grotte de Cussac (France) contains two areas of human remains in the context of abundant (and spectacular) parietal engravings. The first area (loci 1 and 2) includes the skeleton of a young adult male in a bear nest, rearranged by postdecomposition inundation, and the variably fragmentary remains of at least two individuals distributed across two bear nests, sorted anatomically and with most of the elements constrained to one side of one nest. The second area (locus 3) retains remains of two adults and an adolescent, in upper hollows and variably distributed down the slope, largely segregated into upper versus lower body groups. The only decoration associated with the human remains is red pigment on some of the bones or underlying sediment. The human remains indicate variable nonnatural deposition and manipulation of human bodies, body portions, and skeletal elements of at least six individuals. Moreover, Cussac is unusual in the association of these remains with exceptional parietal art. The complex Cussac mortuary pattern joins growing evidence from other Gravettian sites of variable treatment of individuals after death, within and across sites, in terms of formal deposition of the body versus postmortem manipulation versus surface abandonment. It provides a window onto the social diversity and the complex interactions of the living and the dead among these successful Late Pleistocene foragers.

scholarly journals The missing Myopus : plugging the gaps in Late Pleistocene small mammal identification in western Europe with geometric morphometrics

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-238
Author(s):  
Louis Arbez ◽  
Aurelien Royer ◽  
Danielle Schreve ◽  
Remi Laffont ◽  
Serge David ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Geometric Morphometrics ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Small Mammal ◽  
Western Europe

Upper Paleolithic Cultures in Western Europe

Science ◽  
1963 ◽  
Vol 142 (3590) ◽  
pp. 347-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. de Sonneville-Bordes
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Upper Paleolithic

scholarly journals Thoracic Surgery during Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): The Experience of a Level 1 Trauma Center

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Smelt ◽  
Gowthanan Santhirakumaran ◽  
Paul Vaughan ◽  
Ian Hunt ◽  
Carol Tan
Keyword(s):  
Thoracic Surgery ◽  
Trauma Center ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
World Health ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Trauma Service ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Level 1 Trauma Center

Abstract Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a novel coronavirus primarily affecting the respiratory system, was initially diagnosed in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. Identified as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization, the virus rapidly became a global pandemic. The effects on health care worldwide were unprecedented as countries adapted services to treat masses of critically ill patients.The aim of this study is to analyze the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic had on thoracic surgery at a major trauma center during peak prevalence. Methods Prospective unit data were collected for all patients who underwent thoracic surgery during March 2020 until May 2020 inclusive. Retrospective data were collected from an earlier comparable time period as a comparison. Results In the aforementioned time frame, 117 thoracic surgical operations were performed under the care of four thoracic surgeons. Six operations were performed on three patients who were being treated for SARS-CoV-2. One operation was performed on a patient who had recovered from SARS-CoV-2. There were no deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 in any patient undergoing thoracic surgery. Conclusion This study demonstrates that during the first surge of SARS-CoV-2, it was possible to adapt a thoracic oncology and trauma service without increase in mortality due to COVID-19. This was only possible due to a significant reduction in trauma referrals, cessation of benign and elective work, and the more stringent reprioritization of cancer surgery. This information is vital to learn from our experience and prepare for the predicted second surge and any similar future pandemics we might face.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document