Vestiges humains des niveaux de l’Aurignacien ancien du site de Brassempouy (Landes)

Le gisement de Brassempouy est localisé au sud du département des Landes (France), à deux kilomètres du village de Brassempouy et à quarante kilomètres au sud de Mont-de-Marsan, en Chalosse. Il comprend plusieurs cavités (grotte du Pape, grotte des Hyènes, galerie Dubalen, galerie du Mégacéros) qui appartiennent à un réseau karstique complexe creusé dans une formation calcaire éocène à quelques mètres sous le sol naturel. Les vestiges humains étudiés dans cet article ont été découverts de 1981 à 1996 par H. Delporte dans des niveaux de la grotte des Hyènes, de la galerie Dubalen et de la grotte du Pape attribués à l’Aurignacien ancien. Ces niveaux se placent dans l’intervalle 34 000 ans BP-30 000 ans BP. L’échantillon de vestiges humains comprend 13 dents, un fragment de mandibule, un fragment de crâne et deux phalanges distales de la main représentant des adultes et des enfants. Ces vestiges sont intéressants à un double titre. D’une part, les vestiges humains en contexte aurignacien ancien sont rares et, d’autre part, quatre des dents d’adulte ont une racine perforée ou rainurée intentionnellement et le fragment de crâne présente des cassures effectuées vraisemblablement sur os frais. L’objectif majeur de cet article est de présenter les caractéristiques morphométriques des différents vestiges et de discuter leur position taxinomique. L’analyse de ces vestiges, en particulier celle des dents isolées, montre qu’ils s’intègrent dans la variabilité des hommes d’anatomie moderne du Paléolithique moyen du Proche-Orient et du Gravettien d’Europe ainsi que dans celle des rares Aurignaciens d’Europe et des Néandertaliens du Würm. Il est impossible de conclure sur leurs affinités taxinomiques. Ailleurs en Europe, les vestiges humains découverts en contexte aurignacien sont aussi très fragmentaires et peu diagnostiques. Les mieux conservés sont en effet souvent mal datés. Aussi l’anatomie des artisans de l’Aurignacien en Europe reste très mal connue de telle sorte qu’il est actuellement impossible d’affirmer que les techno-complexes aurignaciens anciens relèvent uniquement de populations d’anatomie moderne. Bien que l’analyse détaillée des modifications artificielles soit présentée dans un autre article, on peut d’ores et déjà noter qu’en l’absence de sépultures primaires aurignaciennes, les dents percées de Brassempouy constituent un des rares indices d’intervention anthropique sur le corps, susceptible de relever d’un geste funéraire.The Brassempouy locality is situated in the Chalosse region in the southern part of the French department of Landes, two kilometers from the village of Brassempouy and forty kilometers south of Mont-de-Marsan. It includes several caves (grotte du Pape, grotte des Hyènes, galerie Dubalen, galerie du Mégacéros) which are part of a complex karstic system developed in an Eocene limestone formation just a few meters beneath the natural ground surface. The human remains described in the present article were discovered by H. Delporte between 1981 and 1996, in levels attributed to the early Aurignacian in the grotte des Hyènes, the galerie Dubalen and the grotte du Pape. These levels date to between 34,000 and 30,000 years BP. The sample of human remains, representing both adults and children, is comprised of 13 teeth, one mandibular fragment, one cranial fragment and two distal phalanges of the hand. The scientific interest of these remains is two-fold. First, human remains are rare in Aurignacian contexts. Second, four of the adult teeth show intentionally perforated or circum-incised roots, and the cranial fragment shows fracture patterns consistant with breakage of fresh bone. The primary goal of this article is to outline the morphometric characters of the different remains and to evaluate their taxonomic status. The analysis of these remains, especially the isolated teeth, shows that they fall within the range of variation, not only of anatomically modern humans of the Near Eastern Middle Paleolithic and the European Gravettian, but also of the few known European Aurignacians and of the Wurm II Neandertals. It is, therefore, impossible to draw conclusions concerning their precise taxonomic affiliation. Elsewhere in Europe, Aurignacian remains are also very fragmentary and equally undiagnostic. Those that are best preserved are often poorly dated. In sum, the anatomy of the European makers of the Aurignacian is so poorly known that it remains impossible to confirm that the early Aurignacian techno-complex is uniquely the product of anatomically modern populations. Although the intentional modifications of the Brassempouy human remains are presented in detail in a separate publication, we wish to emphasize here that, with primary Aurignacian burials being completely unknown, the modified human teeth from Brassempouy represent one of the rare traces of human intervention with dead bodies that might be interpreted as funerary behavior

Reconstitution de gestes funéraires

Lors de fouilles archéologiques de sépultures, il est rare de retrouver les restes d’un linceul, surtout sous un climat tempéré. En revanche, le climat très sec de Nubie explique la conservation exceptionnelle de la matière organique (peau, cheveux, muscle, fécès…) sur l’ensemble des nécropoles de l’île de Saï. Dans une tombe probablement de l’époque chrétienne (postérieure à la culture ballanéenne – appelée aussi Groupe X – et antérieure à la conquête ottomane) de la grande nécropole nord (SN), la fouille a mis au jour un jeune sujet entièrement enveloppé d’un linceul. Cela nous a permis de reconstituer une partie des gestes qui ont accompagné l’inhumation de cet enfant. À la suite de cette étude, nous pouvons avancer l’hypothèse que le linceul a été conçu pour faciliter une position spécifique du corps lors de son dépôt dans la tombe. Il avait donc une grande importance en ce qui concerne la position finale du cadavre.In a temperate environment, during the excavation of burials, it is very rare to find the remains of shroud pieces. At the opposite, the very dry climate of the Middle Nubia can explain by itself the exceptional conservation of soft parts of the human body (hair, nails, brain, muscular fibres, human coprolithes) as it is frequently found at the North necropolis (SN) of the Saï island (Northern Province, Sudan). In a post X-group and ante-Muslim burial (T. 176), the excavation has allowed the discovery of a very young individual still wrapped in a shroud. It has been possible to reconstruct the shape of the shroud, the way in which it was wrapped and fixed around the body. This has allowed us to present the hypothesis that the shape of the shroud and the way to attach it have had a voluntary influence in the final position of the child in the pit, i. e. a dorsal decubitus of the body with the head hyper-flexed on the top of the trunk. Then, even if one side of the tissue of the shroud has been tear without care, its final shape is voluntary and implies a well defined funeral practice for such a child. In a Nubian archaeological context, such a practice is described for the first time —for the post X Group period in Sudan— at the Saï Island. Moreover, the limited extension of the excavated archaeological surface of this necropolis has allowed the discovery of other individuals (adults, juveniles) with important and also well preserved pieces of tissues or shrouds. Then, the taphonomical as well as the paleobiological potentialities of this necropolis seem to be very important

Les restes humains néandertaliens des grottes d'Arcy-sur-Cure (Yonne): Inventaire et nouvelles recherches = The Arcy-sur-Cure (Yonne)'s cave Neandertal human remains: Inventory and new researches

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Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1,2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1,2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

: Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1,2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants

First Early Hominin from Central Africa (Ishango, Democratic Republic of Congo)

Despite uncontested evidence for fossils belonging to the early hominin genus Australopithecus in East Africa from at least 4.2 million years ago (Ma), and from Chad by 3.5 Ma, thus far there has been no convincing evidence of Australopithecus, Paranthropus or early Homo from the western (Albertine) branch of the Rift Valley. Here we report the discovery of an isolated upper molar (#Ish25) from the Western Rift Valley site of Ishango in Central Africa in a derived context, overlying beds dated to between ca. 2.6 to 2.0 Ma. We used µCT imaging to compare its external and internal macro-morphology to upper molars of australopiths, and fossil and recent Homo. We show that the size and shape of the enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) surface discriminate between Plio-Pleistocene and post-Lower Pleistocene hominins, and that the Ishango molar clusters with australopiths and early Homo from East and southern Africa. A reassessment of the archaeological context of the specimen is consistent with the morphological evidence and suggest that early hominins were occupying this region by at least 2 Ma