Direct dating of the “Gravettian” Balla child's skeleton from Bükk Mountains (Hungary): unexpected results (original) (raw)

2009

https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JHEVOL.2008.09.005

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Abstract

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AI

This research presents the results of direct radiocarbon dating conducted on the Balla child's skeleton from the Bükk Mountains in Hungary, which has long been classified as Upper Palaeolithic and associated with the Gravettian period. Contrary to previous assumptions of its age, the findings indicate a much later date, prompting a reevaluation of its significance in the context of human evolutionary studies and Upper Palaeolithic human remains in Europe.

(Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 2019) Direct radiocarbon dates of mid Upper Palaeolithic human remains from Dolní Věstonice II and Pavlov I, Czech Republic

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2019

The ritual human burials and scattered fragments of human bones excavated from Dolní Věstonice II and Pavlov I (Czech Republic) in the 20th century provide a large body of evidence on morphology and funerary practices in the Gravettian as well as the population history of European Homo sapiens during the Upper Palaeolithic. A series of radiocarbon dates on charcoal and animal bone places the occupation of the sites predominantly between 31,000-29,000 cal BP (Early-Evolved Pavlovian) but direct radiocarbon dating of the human remains has not been previously undertaken. In 2013, human bones from Dolní Věstonice II and Pavlov I were sampled for aDNA analysis, including three skeletons from a triple burial (DV13, DV14, DV15), two skeletons from single burials (Pav1, DV16) and two unarticulated human bones (DV42, DV43). Small amounts of bone material were left over from the aDNA sampling, providing the first opportunity to directly date seven of the human individuals. Non-destructive pre-screening with near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy indicated that sufficient collagen was preserved in the bone material for radiocarbon dating. We sampled very small amounts (32-202 mg) of bone material for collagen extraction, ultrafiltration and accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) dating. Each collagen extract was dated multiple times using both graphite targets (ca. 800 μg C) and the gas ion source (< 100 μg C) of the AixMICADAS to obtain accurate and precise radiocarbon ages. The direct dates confirm the Pavlovian origin of the human remains and indicate that several of the radiocarbon dates carried out in the 1980s on associated charcoals were likely affected by low-level contamination of modern carbon. The results add seven individuals to the small collection of reliably dated Upper Palaeolithic humans in Europe.

A re-examination of the human fossil specimen from Backi Petrovac (Serbia)

HOMO, 2014

tA fragmented human calotte was discovered during the early 1950snear Baˇcki Petrovac (Serbia), in association with Palaeolithic stonetools. After its initial publication, the fossil specimen remainedlargely unknown outside of the Serbian academe and no detailedcomparative study has ever been carried out. Since the whereaboutsof the fossil itself are currently unknown, and given its potentialsignificance for the Pleistocene human evolution, we re-examinethe data published byˇZivanovi´c (1966, 1975). Using the originalmeasurements, mostly taken on the frontal bone, and a wide com-parative sample of 68 fossil specimens, the fossil was compared andanalyzed by statistical multivariate methods. We also conducted avisual examination of the morphology based on the available pho-tographic material. Our analysis reveals phenetic similarity withMiddle Pleistocene archaic Homo from Africa and anatomicallymodern Homo sapiens. However, the absence of primitive cranialtraits in Baˇcki Petrovac indicates a clear modern Homo sapiens des-ignation. Although lost at the moment, there is a chance for there-discovery of the fossil in the years to come. This would give usan opportunity to acquire absolute dates and to study the specimenin a more detailed manner.

The Late Gravettian and Szeleta Cave, northeast Hungary

The archaeological sequence of Szeleta Cave, northeast Hungary, had represented the development of a bifacial leaf-shaped point lithic industry between the late Middle Palaeolithic and the Upper Palaeolithic with the evolution of Early Szeletian into the Developed Szeletian culture. In the 1990s, a hypothesis emerged that reconsidered the Developed Szeletian and related the artifacts with a Gravettian that used bifacial leaf point technology in Eastern Central Europe. Unfortunately, details on artifact types remained unpublished, which could have supported the Gravettian thesis. To test this hypothesis, we undertook a typological analysis of the lithic assemblages from the lowermost to the uppermost stratigraphic occurrence of Gravettian tool types. Our analysis found the Gravettian thesis supportable. We argue for classifying Layers 5 and 6 of Szeleta Cave Late Gravettian, among which Layer 6 could represent a Late Gravettian with leaf points. We claim that the bifacial tool technology could have been an integral part in the Eastern Central European Late Gravettian archaeological record.

An Upper Paleolithic Human Mandible and a First Cervical Vertebra from Afontova Gora II

The re mains (a mandible and an atlas) of two individuals, from the stratifi ed Upper Paleolithic site Afontova Gora II, dating to 16–12 ka BP, are described. The mandible was from a 14–15-year-old female. Certai n nonmetric traits indicate its anatomical modernity, and the dimensions are closer to those of modern adolescents than to those of Upper Paleolithic individuals of similar age. In com parison, the mandible of the Předmostí-5 female, while being close in biological age, shows a much greater projective length and a higher and wider ramus. Mandibles of Upper Paleolithic children from Sungir are more robust and show a larger intercondylar width and a higher and wider ramus. The moder nity of the dimensions of the Afontova Gora mandible may be due to a diachronic tendenc y toward gracilization. The dimensions of the atlas suggest that it belonged to a female aged 20–25. However, the paucity of data on fi rst cervical vertebrae from Upper Paleolithic humans makes it impossible to evaluate the taxonomic status of that fi nd.

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A Mid Upper Palaeolithic Child Burial from Borsuka Cave (Southern Poland)

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. (2014) Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/oa.2405, 2014

During the excavation in the Borsuka Cave site (southern Poland), extraordinary materials were obtained for the study of the Mid Upper Palaeolithic (MUP) settlement in the region. In layer VI, six deciduous teeth of a modern Homo sapiens infant were discovered together with 112 pendants made from the teeth of European elk and steppe wisent or aurochs. The teeth appear to belong to a 12-to 18-month-old child. The sex of the child cannot be determined. Diagnostic features of the teeth and the fact that they all represent the same developmental phase suggest that they belong to a single individual. In this paper, we put forward a number of alternative explanations for why only a child's teeth and numerous pendants were deposited in the late Pleistocene sediments of Borsuka Cave, for example, natural factors (carnivore activity), human habitation, existence of a pendant workshop in the vicinity of the cave and intentional burial. Although no traces of a burial pit were encountered, intentional burial, the oldest known from Poland, is indicated by the presence of human remains together with numerous ornaments and absence of 'domestic' finds, such as lithic cores, debitage and tools. An unusual presence of a larger number of pierced teeth of large herbivores in a child burial is noticeable among assorted mortuary practices recorded in MUP Central Europe.

Chronology of the Upper Palaeolithic sequence in the Kůlna Cave (okr. Blansko/CZ)

Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 44/ 3 (2014), 307-324., 2014

The Kůlna Cave in the Moravian Karst is an important site for acquiring knowledge on the development of Upper Palaeolithic cultures in Central Europe. Within a new project aimed at the re-evaluation of the chronology of the cave, the authors have also paid attention to the dating of the Upper Palaeolithic sequence that comprises the Gravettian, the Magdalenian (layers 6 and 5) and the Epimagdalenian (layers 4 and 3). Samples were selected from the osteological collection, and items bearing marks of human impact and with clear data on their locations were preferred. The dating of all samples was performed in the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. It was obvious that some of the horizons had either become contaminated with more recent material, or their real stratigraphic position was not recognised correctly. Through a comparison of all data, particularly, the positions of the Epimagdalenian layer 4 and the Magdalenian layer 6 were stated more precisely. For the time being the position of the Magdalenian from layer 5 remains unclear. The dating of the Gravettian is based on two pieces of data only, and these originate from the most recent Micoquian layer 6a. The dataset for this culture is markedly older than the previously determined interval. There were no indicia of a possible existence of Early Upper Palaeolithic industries in this cave.

Apidima Cave fossils provide earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Eurasia

Nature, 2019

Two fossilized human crania (Apidima 1 and Apidima 2) from Apidima Cave, southern Greece, were discovered in the late 1970s but have remained enigmatic owing to their incomplete nature, taphonomic distortion and lack of archaeological context and chronology. Here we virtually reconstruct both crania, provide detailed comparative descriptions and analyses, and date them using U-series radiometric methods. Apidima 2 dates to more than 170 thousand years ago and has a Neanderthal-like morphological pattern. By contrast, Apidima 1 dates to more than 210 thousand years ago and presents a mixture of modern human and primitive features. These results suggest that two late Middle Pleistocene human groups were present at this site-an early Homo sapiens population, followed by a Neanderthal population. Our findings support multiple dispersals of early modern humans out of Africa, and highlight the complex demographic processes that characterized Pleistocene human evolution and modern human presence in southeast Europe. Southeast Europe is considered to be a major dispersal corridor as well as one of the principal European Mediterranean glacial refugia 1-3. As such, the human fossil record of this region has previously been proposed to be more diverse than that of more isolated and less hospitable areas of Europe, reflecting the complexities of repeated dispersals, late survivals and admixture of human groups 1,3. This hypothesis has been difficult to test, as palaeoanthropological finds from the Balkans are relatively scarce. The two fossilized human crania from Apidima, Mani (southern Greece) 4 , are among the most important finds from the region, yet remain little known. Here we applied the U-series dating method to elucidate their chronology and depositional history. We virtually reconstructed both specimens, correcting for taphonomic damage , and conducted detailed comparative description and geometric morphometric analyses. Chronology The Apidima specimens were discovered in a block of breccia wedged high between the cave walls of Apidima Cave A 2,4-6 (Extended Data Fig. 1), during research by the Museum of Anthropology, School of Medicine, National Kapodistrian University of Athens, which started in 1978. Owing to the lack of associated context, their geological age has been difficult to assess. Attempts to date the site radiometrically proved to be inconclusive 7. However, geomorphology indicates a Middle-Late Pleistocene age, and a bracket between 190 and 100 thousand years ago (ka) has been proposed as the most-probable period for the dep-osition of the 'skull breccia' 6,8. Previous work calculated a minimum age of approximately 160 ka by U-series dating of an Apidima 2 bone fragment, which suggests a most-probable time of deposition of around 190 ka (transition between Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 7 and MIS 6) 5. We analysed three samples from the 'skull breccia' , selected from fragments produced when cleaning the specimens from the matrix, using the U-series method. These included human bone fragments (subsamples 3720A and B of Apidima 2; and subsamples 3754 and 3755 of Apidima 1) and four unidentified bone subsamples (3757A-C and 3758, see Supplementary Information section 1). Our analyses show that both crania are older than the solidification of the matrix, which occurred around 150 ka. Despite their depositional proximity , Apidima 1 obtained its uranium in a considerably different environment than Apidima 2, during an accumulation event in MIS 7 (around 210 ka), whereas the uranium-uptake process of Apidima 2 took place in MIS 6 (around 170 ka) (see Methods 'Depositional con-text' , Supplementary Information section 1). The crania and associated bones were therefore probably trapped on the surface of the talus cone, Apidima 1 around 210 ka and Apidima 2 around 170 ka, and were brought to their final position before the cementation and solidification of the sedimentary matrix around 150 ka (see Methods, 'Depositional context').

Cited by

Modern Human Origins in Central Europe

Biology Reconsidered, 2013

Introduction and a Short Historical Background The review of Central European late Pleistocene fossil hominins included in the 1984 Smith and Spencer volume began with a 1905 quote from Marcellin Boule lamenting the limited availability of information on human remains from Central Europe to Western European (particularly French) scholars (Smith, 1984). The availability of information and the use of Central European information certainly improved between 1905 and 1984. In 1906, for example, Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger published his exhaustive monograph on the Neandertal remains from Krapina, the first truly comprehensive monograph on Neandertals, and Gustav Schwalbe (1906) made extensive use of Central European specimens in his treatise on the "Prehistory of Man." Similarly, Aleš Hrdlička (1915, 1930) provided significant coverage of Central European materials in his assessments of the human fossil record. Still, Boule and Vallois's 1957 version of Fossil Men provides a far more detailed perspective on Western than Central European hominins and includes almost no coverage of the interpretation of human evolution given by researchers like Schwalbe and Gorjanović-Kramberger, who based their interpretations more on the Central European record. By 1984, this had certainly changed, due in no small part to a review of Central Europe by Jan Jélinek in 1969 and the impact of the Vindija Neandertal sample (Malez et al., 1980; Wolpoff, 1980; Wolpoff et al., 1981). Beginning with the mid-1980s, the Central European fossil record played a significant role in explanations of modern human origins in Europe and beyond (cf. Smith, 1982, 1984). No longer did the Western European record hold complete sway in such discussions as it had essentially since the late nineteenth century and particularly since the publication of Boule's (1911-1913) classic monograph on the La Chapelle-aux-Saints Neandertal partial skeleton. Furthermore, the Central European fossil record was crucial in dismantling the classic pre-sapiens argument, as the fossils from this region seemed to offer evidence of regional evolutionary continuity from pre-Neandertals through Neandertals to modern humans (Brace, 1964; Jelínek, 1969; Wolpoff, 1980).