Late Acheulean Lithic Assemblages From Locality 010 at Gürgürbaba Hill (Eastern Anatolia)

The province of Van in north-eastern Turkey served as a land bridge between Africa and Eurasia during the Palaeolithic. The region is of particular relevance for understanding the movement of hominins between these continents. This study concerns the lithic remains from a locality at Gürgürbaba Hill, named Locality 010, north of the village of Ulupamir (Erciş district). Locality 010 was dated to 311±32 kya by terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides method, which coincides with Marine Isotope Stage 9 (MIS 9), a Middle Pleistocene interglacial period. The assemblage from this site is attributed to the Late Acheulean and resembles that of the southern Caucasus. This similarity indicates that the artefacts from Locality 010 were probably produced by late Lower Palaeolithic technology in a broad sense. These findings suggest local adaptations of late Middle Pleistocene hominins to high plateau environments.

Why invent the handle? Electromyography (EMG) and efficiency of use data investigating the prehistoric origin and selection of hafted stone knives

For over 3 million years hominins held stone-cutting tools in the hand, gripping the portion of tool displaying a sharp cutting edge directly. During the late Middle Pleistocene human populations started to produce hafted composite knives, where the stone element displaying a sharp cutting edge was secured in a handle. Prevailing archaeological literature suggests that handles convey benefits to tool users by increasing cutting performance and reducing musculoskeletal stresses, yet to date these hypotheses remain largely untested. Here, we compare the cutting performance of hafted knives, ‘basic’ flake tools, and large bifacial tools during two standardized cutting tasks. Going further, we examine the comparative ergonomics of each tool type through electromyographic (EMG) analysis of nine upper limb muscles. Results suggest that knives (1) recruit muscles responsible for digit flexion (i.e. gripping) and in-hand manipulation relatively less than alternative stone tool types and (2) may convey functional performance benefits relative to unhafted stone tool alternatives when considered as a generalised cutting tool. Furthermore, our data indicate that knives facilitate greater muscle activity in the upper arm and forearm, potentially resulting in the application of greater cutting forces during tool use. Compared to unhafted prehistoric alternatives, hafted stone knives demonstrate increased ergonomic properties and some functional performance benefits. These factors would likely have contributed to the invention and widespread adoption of hafted stone knives during the late Middle Pleistocene.

Changes in Paleovegetation and Paleoclimate in China Since the Late Middle Pleistocene: A Case Study of the Dajiuhu Basin

The East Asian monsoon system is an important part of global atmospheric circulation; however, records of the East Asian monsoon from different regions exhibit different evolutionary rhythms. Here, we show a high-resolution record of grain size and pollen data from a lacustrine sediment core of Dajiuhu Lake in Shennongjia, Hubei Province, China, in order to reconstruct the paleovegetation and paleoeclimate evolution of the Dajiuhu Basin since the late Middle Pleistocene (~237.9 ka to the present). The results show that grain size and pollen record of the core DJH-2 are consistent with the δ18O record of stalagmites from Sanbao Cave in the same area, which is closely related to the changes of insolation at the precessional (~20-kyr) scale in the Northern Hemisphere. This is different from the records of the Asian summer monsoon recorded in the Loess Plateau of North China, which exhibited dominant 100-kyr change cyclicities. We suggest that the difference between paleoclimatic records from North and South China is closely related to the east–west-oriented mountain ranges of the Qinling Mountains in central China that blocked weakened East Asia summer monsoons across the mountains during glacial periods.

The Funtana Morimenta Ichnosite (Sardinia, Italy): a Potential Geotourist Attraction

The late Middle Pleistocene ichnosite of Funtana Morimenta (Gonnesa, Italy) provides a relevant scientific and didactic interest. In this site, tracks of megacerine deer and dwarf mammoths of the Ice Age are well-preserved and visible in situ. The geosite has also historic importance, and it has been mentioned since the beginning of the nineteenth century for the sedimentological features and its palaeontological content. For these reasons, the Funtana Morimenta ichnosite would represent an efficient tool for developing educational goals, such as teaching activities or field trips. Unfortunately, in the last years, it has shown significant deterioration because its sedimentological features (poorly cemented aeolian sandstone) made it susceptible to weathering. For this site to be available for future generations, great attention should be posed to its safeguard and avoid the permanent disappearance of what is currently a full-fledged natural and scientific resource. The conservation actions herein proposed will provide several benefits: they are meant to (i) valorize the aeolian deposits and the visible ichnofossils; (ii) show visitors, tourists, or students the geo-palaeontological richness of the territory; (iii) encourage tourists to explore the other numerous geosites spread in the island of Sardinia; and (iv) allow private entrepreneurs or local public administrations to develop economic opportunities.

Rediscovering Lutra lutra from Grotta Romanelli (southern Italy) in the framework of the puzzling evolutionary history of Eurasian otter

A river otter hemimandible has been rediscovered during the revision of the historical collections of G.A. Blanc from Grotta Romanelli, complementing the ongoing multidisciplinary research fieldwork on the site. The specimen, recovered from the level G (“terre rosse”; early Late Pleistocene or late Middle Pleistocene), is here assigned to Lutra lutra. Indeed, morphological and morphometric comparisons with other Quaternary Lutrinae fossils from Europe allow to exclude an attribution to the relatively widespread and older Lutra simplicidens, characterized by distinctive carnassial proportions. Differences with Cyrnaonyx antiqua, which possessed a more robust, shellfish-feeding dentition, support the view of a successful niche repartition between the two species during the late Middle to Late Pleistocene of Europe. The occurrence of Lutra lutra from the “terre rosse” of Grotta Romanelli suggests deep modifications of the landscapes due to the ecological adaptation of the taxon, and indicates that the Eurasian otter spread into Europe at the Middle–Late Pleistocene transition.

Fossil record of a Characiform in the Monte Hermoso Formation (lower Pliocene), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Palaeobiogeographical implications

The fossil record of fishes from the Farola de Monte Hermoso locality (lower Pliocene) in the southern Buenos Aires province, Argentina, shows an unusual composition. The locality at the southern boundary of the Brazilian Ichthyogeographic Realm. However, its fossil record is composed of fossil fishes that are not necessarily related to Brazilian lineages, namely indeterminate siluriforms, trichomycterid catfishes, and percomorphaceans. The aim of the present contribution is to describe and report for the first time isolated specimens belonging to Characidae fishes. In the Pampean region the fossil record of characids is restricted to Oligosarcus Günther, 1864 sp. from the late-middle Pleistocene. The present finding fills a temporal gap between the Paleogene and Quaternary reports and indicates that Brazilian fish lineages were present in the area by early Pliocene times, and may constitute an indirect evidence of the evolution of the basins in the southern Pampean Area.

Constraining the Likely Technological Niches of Late Middle Pleistocene Hominins with Homo naledi as Case Study

We develop a framework to differentiate the technological niches of co-existing hominin species by reviewing some theoretical biases influential in thinking about techno-behaviours of extinct hominins, such as a teleological bias in discussing technological evolution. We suggest that some stone-tool classification systems underestimate technological variability, while overestimating the complexity of the behaviours most commonly represented. To model the likely technological niches of extinct populations, we combine ecological principles (i.e. competitive exclusion) with physical anthropology and the archaeological record. We test the framework by applying it to the co-existence of Homo naledi and Homo sapiens during the late Middle Pleistocene in southern Africa. Based on our analysis, we suggest that tool use was probably not an essential part of H. naledi’s niche, but that technology occasionally provided caloric benefits. In contrast, tool use was a structural part of the H. sapiens way of life. We provide reasoning for our interpretation that the latter population is associated with more sophisticated reduction strategies and the development of prepared core technology. The method also has applicability to cases such as the co-existence of different toolmakers during the Earlier Stone Age (ESA) in East Africa and the co-existence of Neanderthals and H. sapiens in Eurasia.