Detecting and mapping the ‘ephemeral’: magnetometric survey of a Pastoral Neolithic settlement at Luxmanda, Tanzania

Common assumptions about the ephemeral archaeological signature of pastoralist settlements have limited the application of geophysical techniques in the investigation of past herding societies. Here, the authors present a geophysical survey of Luxmanda, Tanzania, the largest-known settlement documented for the Pastoral Neolithic era in eastern Africa (c. 5000–1200 BP). The results demonstrate the value and potential of fluxgate gradiometry for the identification of magnetic anomalies relating to archaeological features, at a category of site where evidence for habitation was long thought to be undetectable. The study provides comparative data to enable archaeologists to identify loci for future investigations of mobile populations in eastern Africa and elsewhere

Earliest Porotic Hyperostosis on a 1.5-Million-year-old Hominin, olduvai gorge, Tanzania.

Meat-eating was an important factor affecting early hominin brain expansion, social organization and geographic movement. Stone tool butchery marks on ungulate fossils in several African archaeological assemblages demonstrate a significant level of carnivory by Pleistocene hominins, but the discovery at Olduvai Gorge of a child's pathological cranial fragments indicates that some hominins probably experienced scarcity of animal foods during various stages of their life histories. The child's parietal fragments, excavated from 1.5-million-year-old sediments, show porotic hyperostosis, a pathology associated with anemia. Nutritional deficiencies, including anemia, are most common at weaning, when children lose passive immunity received through their mothers' milk. Our results suggest, alternatively, that (1) the developmentally disruptive potential of weaning reached far beyond sedentary Holocene food-producing societies and into the early Pleistocene, or that (2) a hominin mother's meat-deficient diet negatively altered the nutritional content of her breast milk to the extent that her nursing child ultimately died from malnourishment. Either way, this discovery highlights that by at least 1.5 million years ago early human physiology was already adapted to a diet that included the regular consumption of meat

Accessory cusp expression at the enamel-dentine junction of hominin mandibular molars

Studies of hominin dental morphology frequently consider accessory cusps on the lower molars, in particular those on the distal margin of the tooth (C6 or distal accessory cusp) and the lingual margin of the tooth (C7 or lingual accessory cusp). They are often utilized in studies of hominin systematics, where their presence or absence is assessed at the outer enamel surface (OES). However, studies of the enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) suggest these traits may be more variable in development, morphology and position than previously thought. Building on these studies, we outline a scoring procedure for the EDJ expression of these accessory cusps that considers the relationship between these accessory cusps and the surrounding primary cusps. We apply this scoring system to a sample of Plio-Pleistocene hominin mandibular molars of Paranthropus robustus, Paranthropus boisei, Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus africanus, Homo sp., Homo habilis and Homo erectus from Africa and Asia (n = 132). We find that there are taxon-specific patterns in accessory cusp expression at the EDJ that are consistent with previous findings at the OES. For example, P. robustus M$_1$s and M$_1$s very often have a distal accessory cusp but no lingual accessory cusp, while H. habilis M$_1$s and M$_1$s show the opposite pattern. The EDJ also reveals a number of complicating factors; some apparent accessory cusps at the enamel surface are represented at the EDJ only by shouldering on the ridges associated with the main cusps, while other accessory cusps appear to have little or no EDJ expression at all. We also discuss the presence of double and triple accessory cusps, including the presence of a double lingual accessory cusp on the distal ridge of the metaconid in the type specimen of H. habilis (OH 7–M$_1$) that is not clear at the OES due to occlusal wear. Overall, our observations, as well as our understanding of the developmental underpinnings of cusp patterning, suggest that we should be cautious in our comparisons of accessory cusps for taxonomic interpretations

Dental morphology in homo habilis and its implications for the evolution of early homo.

The phylogenetic position of Homo habilis is central to debates over the origin and early evolution of the genus Homo. A large portion of the species hypodigm consists of dental remains, but they have only been studied at the often worn enamel surface. We investigate the morphology of the H. habilis enamel-dentine junction (EDJ), which is preserved in cases of moderate tooth wear and known to carry a strong taxonomic signal. Geometric morphometrics is used to characterise dentine crown shape and size across the entire mandibular and maxillary tooth rows, compared with a broad comparative sample (n = 712). We find that EDJ morphology in H. habilis is for the most part remarkably primitive, supporting the hypothesis that the H. habilis hypodigm has more in common with Australopithecus than later Homo. Additionally, the chronologically younger specimen OH 16 displays a suite of derived features; its inclusion in H. habilis leads to excessive levels of variation

The Dorothy Garrod Site: a new Middle Stone Age locality in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) is a key site for the study of human evolution as well as the origin of modern humans and the Middle Stone Age (MSA). In this study, we present a new MSA location named Dorothy Garrod Site (DGS), found in the main branch of Olduvai Gorge. The site has only one archaeological level, located stratigraphically in the Upper Ndutu. Although it has not yet been possible to radiometrically date it, it has yielded numerous archaeological remains with a functional association between the faunal remains and the lithic industry. The fauna identifed includes Alcelaphini, Hippotragini, and Equidae, some of which present percussion marks and evidence of burning. The lithic industry involved knapping using discoid methods. The retouched blanks are denticulates and retouched fakes with, up to now, a total absence of points. DGS is therefore a new site that will aid our understanding of modern human occupations in northern Tanzania in a period for which there is a dearth of properly contextualised archaeological evidence.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This study has been conducted with the funding of the Project PID2020-113547 GB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and Fundación PALARQ.Peer reviewe

Ancient DNA and deep population structure in sub-Saharan African foragers

Multiple lines of genetic and archaeological evidence suggest that there were major demographic changes in the terminal Late Pleistocene epoch and early Holocene epoch of sub-Saharan Africa(1-4). Inferences about this period are challenging to make because demographic shifts in the past 5,000 years have obscured the structures of more ancient populations(3,5). Here we present genome-wide ancient DNA data for six individuals from eastern and south-central Africa spanning the past approximately 18,000 years (doubling the time depth of sub-Saharan African ancient DNA), increase the data quality for 15 previously published ancient individuals and analyse these alongside data from 13 other published ancient individuals. The ancestry of the individuals in our study area can be modelled as a geographically structured mixture of three highly divergent source populations, probably reflecting Pleistocene interactions around 80-20 thousand years ago, including deeply diverged eastern and southern African lineages, plus a previously unappreciated ubiquitous distribution of ancestry that occurs in highest proportion today in central African rainforest hunter-gatherers. Once established, this structure remained highly stable, with limited long-range gene flow. These results provide a new line of genetic evidence in support of hypotheses that have emerged from archaeological analyses but remain contested, suggesting increasing regionalization at the end of the Pleistocene epoch. DNA analysis of 6 individuals from eastern and south-central Africa spanning the past approximately 18,000 years, and of 28 previously published ancient individuals, provides genetic evidence supporting hypotheses of increasing regionalization at the end of the Pleistocene.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A new methodological approach to the taphonomic study of paleontological and archaeological faunal assemblages: a preliminary case study from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)

International audienc

Revisiting an old profile: an updated geoarchaeological study at Nasera Rockshelter (Tanzania)

Nasera Rockshelter hosts a highly continuous sedimentary record, containing a wide array of archaeological remains from Middle Stone Age, Later Stone Age and Pastoralist occupations. Excavated by L. Leakey and M. Mehlman, geological studies carried out by R. Hay included granulometric and general mineralogical analyses but lacked individualized, detailed description and interpretation of each of the 25 levels exposed. This study presents updated detailed geological descriptions and interpretations of 17 levels exposed during excavations in 2018