A Neanderthal from the Central Western Zagros (original) (raw)
Related papers
Plos one, 2021
Neanderthal extinction has been a matter of debate for many years. New discoveries, better chronologies and genomic evidence have done much to clarify some of the issues. This evidence suggests that Neanderthals became extinct around 40,000-37,000 years before present (BP), after a period of coexistence with Homo sapiens of several millennia, involving biological and cultural interactions between the two groups. However, the bulk of this evidence relates to Western Eurasia, and recent work in Central Asia and Siberia has shown that there is considerable local variation. Southwestern Asia, despite having a number of significant Neanderthal remains, has not played a major part in the debate over extinction. Here we report a Neanderthal deciduous canine from the site of Bawa Yawan in the West-Central Zagros Mountains of Iran. The tooth is associated with Zagros Mousterian lithics, and its context is preliminary dated to between~43,600 and~41,500 years ago.
Late Pleistocene Human Remains From Wezmeh Cave, Western Iran.
American journal of …, 2008
Paleontological analysis of remains from Wezmeh Cave in western Iran have yielded a Holocene Chalcolithic archeological assemblage, a rich Late Pleistocene carnivore faunal assemblage, and an isolated unerupted human maxillary first premolar (P3). Species representation and U-series dating of faunal teeth place the carnivore assemblage during oxygen isotope stages (OIS) 3 and 2, and non-invasive gamma spectrometry dating of the human premolar places it at least as old as early OIS 2. The human P3 crown morphology is not diagnostic as to late archaic versus early modern human affinities, but its buccolingual diameter places it at the upper limits of Late Pleistocene human P3 dimensions and separate from a terminal Pleistocene regional sample. Wezmeh Cave therefore provides additional Paleolithic human remains from the Zagros Mountains and further documents Late Pleistocene human association with otherwise carnivore-dominated cave assemblages.
2008. Late Pleistocene human remains from Wezmeh Cave, Western Iran.
Paleontological analysis of remains from Wezmeh Cave in western Iran have yielded a Holocene Chalcolithic archeological assemblage, a rich Late Pleistocene carnivore faunal assemblage, and an isolated unerupted human maxillary premolar (P 3 or possibly P 4 ). Species representation and U-series dating of faunal teeth place the carnivore assemblage during oxygen isotope stages (OIS) 3 and 2, and noninvasive gamma spectrometry dating of the human premolar places it at least as old as early OIS 2. The human premolar crown mor-Grant sponsor: Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle.
Paleontological analysis of remains from Wezmeh Cave in western Iran have yielded a Holocene Chalcolithic archeological assemblage, a rich Late Pleistocene carnivore faunal assemblage, and an isolated unerupted human maxillary premolar (P3 or possibly P4). Species representation and U-series dating of faunal teeth place the carnivore assemblage during oxygen isotope stages (OIS) 3 and 2, and noninvasive gamma spectrometry dating of the human premolar places it at least as old as early OIS 2. The human premolar crown morphology is not diagnostic of late archaic versus early modern human affinities, but its buccolingual diameter places it at the upper limits of Late Pleistocene human P3 and P4 dimensions and separate from a terminal Pleistocene regional sample. Wezmeh Cave therefore provides additional Paleolithic human remains from the Zagros Mountains and further documents Late Pleistocene human association with otherwise carnivore-dominated cave assemblages.
Kaldar Cave is a key archaeological site that provides evidence of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Iran. Excavations at the site in 2014–2015 led to the discovery of cultural remains generally associated with anatomically modern humans (AMHs) and evidence of a probable Neanderthal-made industry in the basal layers. Attempts have been made to establish a chronology for the site. These include four thermoluminescence (TL) dates for Layer 4, ranging from 23,100 ± 3300 to 29,400 ± 2300 BP, and three AMS radiocarbon dates from charcoal samples belonging to the lower part of the same layer, yielding ages of 38,650–36,750 cal BP, 44,200–42,350 cal BP, and 54,400–46,050 cal BP (all at the 95.4% confidence level). Kaldar Cave is the first well-stratified Late Palaeolithic locality to be excavated in the Zagros which is one of the earliest sites with cultural materials attributed to early AMHs in western Asia. It also offers an opportunity to study the technological differences between the Mousterian and the first Upper Palaeolithic lithic technologies as well as the human behaviour in the region. In this study, we present a detailed description of the newly excavated stratigraphy, quantified results from the lithic assemblages, preliminary faunal remains analyses, geochronologic data, taphonomic aspects, and an interpretation of the regional paleoenvironment.
2020
neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were distributed across a vast region from europe to western and central Asia. the neanderthals' paleoecology and distribution has been extensively studied in europe where the species originated. However, very little is known about their paleoecology in southwestern Asia. Here, we employed species distribution modelling and 45 Middle Palaeolithic (c. 200,000-40,000 years BCE) sites location associated with fossil and/or lithic artefacts made by the neanderthals to examine the expansion of the neanderthals on the iranian plateau in southwestern Asia. We estimated the niche overlap between neanderthals and wild goat, wild sheep and persian gazelle by modelling their past distribution using 200, 143 and 110 occurrence records respectively. the results show that neanderthals had highest niche overlap with wild goat in the study area. this analysis revealed that the most suitable neanderthals' habitats in southwestern Asia were located in the Zagros Mountains stretches from northwestern and western and some isolated patches in the central parts of the iranian plateau. the annual precipitation and maximum temperature of the warmest month were the most important predictor of the species' distribution. This finding shows that the southern edge of the neanderthals distribution was limited by warm summer. our results provide important information for future field investigations and excavations in the area. Our closest relative, Neanderthals, separated from the modern human lineage around 800,000-1,200,000 years ago 1 and became extinct around 40 kya 2. During that time, Neanderthals were distributed across Europe and Asia (ibid) and experienced several glacial and interglacial periods. Besides of the questions concerning their coexistence with Homo sapiens and replacement, there are still many other basic questions which are not fully answered such as Neanderthals' expansions and their adaptation capabilities in different environments. Despite Neanderthals being extensively studied across Europe 3-10 and in the Levant 11-13 , very little is known about its paleoecology on the Iranian Plateau. Knowing Neanderthals paleoecology promotes deciphering the drivers of Neanderthal range expansion, their extinction and identifying the Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens contact zone and understanding our own species past ecology. The Iranian Plateau, the southern east-most expansion of the Neanderthals, is located in southwestern Asia and has been recognized as an important dispersal corridor for Pleistocene hominin species and played a prominent role in their evolution 14-16. Over the past decades, Middle Palaeolithic (c. 200,000-40,000 years BCE) occupations have been discovered in a number of different Palaeolithic sites in the Iranian Plateau 15-19 , but no study was performed to determine the species paleo-distribution and identify abiotic drivers of its distribution, both of which are necessary in understanding the Middle Palaeolithic species paleoecology. Recently, Species Distribution Models (SDMs) have found many applications in paleoecology and paleobiogeography 20,21. Rapid advances in species distribution modelling 22,23 and availability of environmental data characterizing past climatic conditions 24 made it possible to reconstruct the past distribution of species 21. This gives paleoecologists and historical biogeographers an opportunity to study and test hypotheses regarding species dispersal and evolution 20,25. These models were recently applied in studying paleoecology of hominin species and increased our knowledge of their paleodistributions 26-29. For example, Benito et al. 28 reconstructed open 1
In 1949 C.S. Coon identified two fossils remains as human from well within the Middle Paleolithic levels of Bisitun Cave, Kermanshah, Iran. One, an incisor, is bovid and should be deleted from further human paleontological consideration. The second is a human right radius proximal diaphysis. Comparison of its diaphyseal dimensions to those of Neandertal and Middle Paleolithic early modern human right radii aligns it predominantly with the Neandertals (and Upper Paleolithic modern humans) but separate from the available sample of southwest Asian Middle Paleolithic early modern humans.
The Mid-Pleistocene Qesem Cave near Tel Aviv in Israel yielded several hominin teeth and abundant faunal and cultural remains. The geological sequences of the cave were dated to 420,000e200,000 years ago. In this contribution, we focus on the three lower postcanine teeth which are among the oldest material from the cave. We used both Geometric Morphometrics and qualitative observations on the outer enamel surface and the internal enameledentine junction to investigate shape and size variation in a sample of Early-to Late-Pleistocene fossils (Sangiran, Mauer, Bilzingsleben, Ehringsdorf, Qafzeh, Ohalo), Neanderthals, and geographically diverse recent humans. Our approach based on three dental traits from three tooth types is able to distinguish quite well between dental specimens from anatomically modern humans (AMH) and Neanderthals (NEA). It also confirms an intermediate morphology of Mid-Pleistocene specimens in general, and the close proximity of Ehringsdorf to NEA. While the Qesem premolars display an intermediate shape between NEA and AMH, their size is definitely modern-like. The Qesem molar features a morphology and size closer to NEA. A possible explanation is the evolutionary dissociation of size and shape in premolars, and molars that are morphologically closer to NEA than premolars. It can be noted that a Mid-Pleistocene hominin population was present in Southwestern Asia that shows some Neanderthal affinities, probably more than Mauer and Bilzingsleben, but less than Ehringsdorf. With the current data, however, we cannot confidently assign the Qesem teeth to any existing taxon, nor exclude that it is an autochthonous phenomenon in the Levant.
Middle Pleistocene Dental Remains From Qesem Cave (Israel
This study presents a description and comparative analysis of Middle Pleistocene permanent and deciduous teeth from the site of Qesem Cave (Israel). All of the human fossils are assigned to the Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex (AYCC) of the late Lower Paleolithic. The Middle Pleistocene age of the Qesem teeth (400–200 ka) places them chronologically earlier than the bulk of fossil hominin specimens previously known from southwest Asia. Three permanent mandibular teeth (C 1-P 4) were found in close proximity in the lower part of the stratigraphic sequence. The small metric dimensions of the crowns indicate a considerable degree of dental reduction although the roots are long and robust. In contrast, three isolated permanent maxillary teeth (I 2 , C 1 , and M 3) and two isolated deciduous teeth that were found within the upper part of the sequence are much larger and show some plesiomor-phous traits similar to those of the Skhul/Qafzeh specimens. Although none of the Qesem teeth shows a suite of Neanderthal characters, a few traits may suggest some affinities with members of the Neanderthal evolutionary lineage. However, the balance of the evidence suggests a closer similarity with the Skhul/Qafzeh dental material, although many of these resemblances likely represent plesiomorphous features. Am J Phys Anthropol 144:575–592, 2011. V V