Maritime hominin dispersals in the Pleistocene: advancing the debate

To what extent is there spatial and temporal patterning in the spread of our genus around the planet, and what environmental and behavioural factors specify this patterning? The prevailing model of Pleistocene dispersals of Homo holds that this process was essentially terrestrial, with oceans and seas inhibiting and directing the movement of hominins out of Africa (e.g. Mellars 2006; Dennell & Petraglia 2012; Gamble 2013), although some scholars propose short-range maritime hops at both the Strait of Gibraltar and Bab-el-Mandeb (Lambeck et al.2011; Rolland 2013). The relatively recent discovery of stone tools with apparently Lower and Middle Palaeolithic characteristics on islands in the eastern Mediterranean and in Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) has, however, been used by some scholars to challenge this terrestrial model.

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Pleistocene sediment DNA reveals hominin and faunal turnovers at Denisova Cave

Nature ◽

10.1038/s41586-021-03675-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Elena I. Zavala ◽

Zenobia Jacobs ◽

Benjamin Vernot ◽

Michael V. Shunkov ◽

Maxim B. Kozlikin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Contact Zone ◽

Stone Tools ◽

Environmental Context ◽

Modern Human ◽

Middle Palaeolithic ◽

Upper Palaeolithic ◽

Mt Dna ◽

Southern Siberia ◽

Sediment Samples ◽

Pleistocene Sediment

AbstractDenisova Cave in southern Siberia is the type locality of the Denisovans, an archaic hominin group who were related to Neanderthals1–4. The dozen hominin remains recovered from the deposits also include Neanderthals5,6 and the child of a Neanderthal and a Denisovan7, which suggests that Denisova Cave was a contact zone between these archaic hominins. However, uncertainties persist about the order in which these groups appeared at the site, the timing and environmental context of hominin occupation, and the association of particular hominin groups with archaeological assemblages5,8–11. Here we report the analysis of DNA from 728 sediment samples that were collected in a grid-like manner from layers dating to the Pleistocene epoch. We retrieved ancient faunal and hominin mitochondrial (mt)DNA from 685 and 175 samples, respectively. The earliest evidence for hominin mtDNA is of Denisovans, and is associated with early Middle Palaeolithic stone tools that were deposited approximately 250,000 to 170,000 years ago; Neanderthal mtDNA first appears towards the end of this period. We detect a turnover in the mtDNA of Denisovans that coincides with changes in the composition of faunal mtDNA, and evidence that Denisovans and Neanderthals occupied the site repeatedly—possibly until, or after, the onset of the Initial Upper Palaeolithic at least 45,000 years ago, when modern human mtDNA is first recorded in the sediments.

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Early Middle Palaeolithic culture in India around 385–172 ka reframes Out of Africa models

Nature ◽

10.1038/nature25444 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 554 (7690) ◽

pp. 97-101 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Kumar Akhilesh ◽

Shanti Pappu ◽

Haresh M. Rajapara ◽

Yanni Gunnell ◽

Anil D. Shukla ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Middle Palaeolithic ◽

Out Of Africa

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The dating of the Island Southeast Asian Neolithic: an attempt at chronometric hygiene and linguistic correlation

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x00076560 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 63 (240) ◽

pp. 587-613 ◽

Cited By ~ 123

Author(s):

Matthew Spriggs

Keyword(s):

Southeast Asia ◽

Full Range ◽

Southeast Asian ◽

Agricultural Crops ◽

Agricultural Economy ◽

Island Southeast Asia

As with conventional definitions of the Neolithic anywhere, the concept in this region relies on there being an agricultural economy, the traces of which are largely indirect. These traces are artefacts interpreted as being linked to agriculture, rather than direct finds of agricultural crops, which are rare in Island Southeast Asia. This definition by artefacts is inevitably polythetic, particularly because many of the sites which have been investigated are hardly comparable. We can expect quite different assemblages from open village sites as opposed to special use sites such as burial caves, or frequentation caves that are used occasionally either by agriculturalists while hunting or by gatherer-hunter groups in some form of interaction with near-by agricultural populations. And rarely is a full range of these different classes of sites available in any one area.

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A Middle Palaeolithic Site at Lynford Quarry, Mundford, Norfolk: Interim Statement

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society ◽

10.1017/s0079497x00001377 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 69 ◽

pp. 315-324 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

W.A. Boismier ◽

Danielle C. Schreve ◽

Mark J. White ◽

D.A. Robertson ◽

A.J. Stuart ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Stone Tools ◽

Middle Palaeolithic ◽

Stratigraphic Sequence ◽

International Importance ◽

Initial Results ◽

English Heritage

In late February and early March 2002, an archaeological watching brief at Lynford Quarry, Mundford, Norfolk revealed a palaeochannel with a dark organic fill containing in situ mammoth remains and associated Mousterian stone tools and debitage buried under 2–3 m of bedded sands and gravels. Well-preserved in situ Middle Palaeolithic open air sites are very unusal in Europe and exceedingly rare within a British context. As such, the site was identified as being of national and international importance, and was subsequently excavated by the Norfolk Archaeological Unit with funding provided by English Heritage through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund.This report presents some of the initial results of the excavation. It sets out how the site was excavated, outlines the stratigraphic sequence for the site, and presents some provisional findings of the excavation based on the results of the assessment work carried out by project specialists and Norfolk Archaeological Unit staff.

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