Datation d’un vestige humain provenant de la Rochette (Saint Léon-sur-Vézère, Dordogne) par la méthode du carbone 14 en spectrométrie de masse

Les vestiges humains découverts par O. Hauser lors de ses fouilles en 1910 du site de La Rochette ont été attribués par ce dernier à l’Aurignacien. Il a été possible de faire une attribution chronologique exacte d’une de ces pièces (datation absolue SMA), présente dans les collections de l’Université de Tübingen en Allemagne. Elle est maintenant rapportée au Gravettien supérieur.The human remains found during the excavations by Otto Hauser in 1910 in the Middle and Upper Paleolithic site of La Rochette were originally dated to the Aurignacien by stratigraphical observations of the excavator. The exact chronological position of the human remains was estimated by direct accelerator dating. The remains housed at the Osteological Collection at Tübingen, Germany are now attributed to the late Gravettian.Die menschlichen Skelettreste, die während der Grabungen von Otto Hauser im Jahre 1910 in der mittel - und jungpaläolithischen Fundstelle von La Rochette entdeckt wurden, wurden vom Ausgräber aufgrund stratigrafischer Beobachtungen dem Aurignacien zugewiesen. Durch eine AMS Beschleunigerdatierung konnte die exakte chronologische Zuordnung der in der Osteologischen Sammlung in Tübingen inventarisierten menschlichen Skelettreste festgestellt werden. Demnach muß der Fund von La Rochette in das späte Gravettien datiert werden

Datation d’un vestige humain provenant de la Rochette (Saint Léon-sur-Vézère, Dordogne) par la méthode du carbone 14 en spectrométrie de masse

Les vestiges humains découverts par O. Hauser lors de ses fouilles en 1910 du site de La Rochette ont été attribués par ce dernier à l’Aurignacien. Il a été possible de faire une attribution chronologique exacte d’une de ces pièces (datation absolue SMA), présente dans les collections de l’Université de Tübingen en Allemagne. Elle est maintenant rapportée au Gravettien supérieur.The human remains found during the excavations by Otto Hauser in 1910 in the Middle and Upper Paleolithic site of La Rochette were originally dated to the Aurignacien by stratigraphical observations of the excavator. The exact chronological position of the human remains was estimated by direct accelerator dating. The remains housed at the Osteological Collection at Tübingen, Germany are now attributed to the late Gravettian.Die menschlichen Skelettreste, die während der Grabungen von Otto Hauser im Jahre 1910 in der mittel - und jungpaläolithischen Fundstelle von La Rochette entdeckt wurden, wurden vom Ausgräber aufgrund stratigrafischer Beobachtungen dem Aurignacien zugewiesen. Durch eine AMS Beschleunigerdatierung konnte die exakte chronologische Zuordnung der in der Osteologischen Sammlung in Tübingen inventarisierten menschlichen Skelettreste festgestellt werden. Demnach muß der Fund von La Rochette in das späte Gravettien datiert werden

Secondary burial in the Magdalenian: The Brillenhöhle (Blaubeuren, Southwest Germany)

During excavations at the Brillenhöhle near Blaubeuren, a paleolithic cave site on the Swabian Alp, Baden-Württemberg, Southwest Germany, human skeletal remains of the Magdalenian were found in 1956. They were grouped inside a fire place in the centre of the cave. The skeletal remains were very fragmentary and consisted of an adult skullcap, numerous heavily damaged elements of the postcranial skeleton of three other adults and a few skeleton parts of an infant. It is to point out that long bones were missing at the site and that only small skeletal remains or bones broken into small pieces were found. During the first study of the bones, several cut marks were noticed on the remains. As a result, the find was interpreted as evidence for cannibalistic activity. A complete reexamination of the surfaces of all skeletal remains was undertaken using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). With the SEM, chop and scratch marks accompanying the cut marks were identified. A comparison with Magdalenian butchering marks on animal remains uncovered major discrepancies. The greatest difference is that on the human remains the frequency of cut marks was much more important than those discovered on contemporary animal remains. The scratch marks on the human bones show that they have been intensively cleaned from flesh. That means that the manipulation of the human bones was far more intense than the work on the animal bones. In addition to these anthropogenic manipulation marks, taphonomic processes are evident. The bone surfaces, especially on the skullcap, show erosion, and one skeletal element had a puncture mark left by the tooth of a carnivore. As the conditions for preservation are extremely good at the site, and carnivores had no evident means to influence them, the skeletal remains must have been at a different place before they finally came to the site. The finds' context and the high frequency of butchering and defleshing marks in combination with the evident selection of the skeletal elements allow an identification of the finds in the Brillenhöhle as a secondary burial of human skeletal remains.Durant les fouilles menées à Brillenhöhle près de Blaubeuren, un site en grotte du Paléolithique dans le Jura Souabe (Baden-Württemberg, Allemagne du Sud-Ouest), des restes humains rapportés au Magdalénien ont été mis au jour en 1956. Ces vestiges étaient groupés dans une zone de combustion au milieu de la grotte. Les restes osseux étaient fragmentaires et consistaient en une calotte crânienne, des éléments nombreux, mais très endommagés, du squelette post-crânien de trois adultes différents et quelques restes squelettiques d’un enfant. Il faut noter qu’il n’y a pas de fragments d’os longs et que seuls des restes très fragmentés de petits os, furent découverts. Lors d’un premier examen des vestiges, quelques traces de découpe, ont été remarquées. La découverte fut alors interprétée comme le résultat d’une activité cannibale.Un réexamen complet des surfaces de la totalité du matériel a été réalisé en utilisant un microscope électronique à balayage (MEB). Lors de cette étude, des marques de coups et de grattages, accompagnant les traces de découpes, furent identifiées. Une comparaison avec les traces de boucherie trouvées sur des vestiges de faune magdalénienne permet de souligner l’existence de très grandes divergences. La différence principale réside dans le fait que les traces de découpe sont deux fois plus nombreuses sur les restes humains que sur ceux, contemporains, de faune. Les marques de grattage sur les ossements humains montrent qu’ils ont été intensément nettoyés pour retirer la chair. Cela signifie que le travail effectué sur les ossements humains était beaucoup plus important que celui réalisé sur les ossements de faune. En plus de ces manipulations d’origine humaine, des traces d’atteintes d’ordre taphonomique sont évidentes. La surface des ossements, surtout la calotte crânienne, est érodée et une pièce osseuse présente une marque ponctiforme laissée par une dent de carnivore. Comme les conditions de préservation des vestiges archéologiques sont très bonnes dans le site, et que les activités des carnivores n’ont eu qu’une faible influence, les restes humains doivent avoir séjourné dans un endroit distinct de celui de leur découverte. Le contexte des découvertes, la haute fréquence de marques de boucherie et de décarnisation combinés à la sélection évidente des éléments squelettiques permet de supposer l’existence dans le site de Brillenhöhle d’une sépulture secondaire humaine. (Traduit par Bruno Maureille)Während der Ausgrabungen in der Brillenhöhle bei Blaubeuren, einer paläolithischen Höhlenfundstelle auf der Schwäbischen Alp in Baden Württemberg, Südwestdeutschland wurden im Jahre 1956 menschliche Skelettreste aus dem Magdalenien entdeckt. Die Skelettreste fanden sich innerhalb einer Feuerstelle in der Mitte des Höhlenraumes. Die fragmentarischen Reste bestehen aus dem Schädeldach eines Erwachsenen und zahlreichen Resten des postkranialen Skelettes von drei weiteren Erwachsenen und einigen Skelettelementen eines Kindes. Bemerkenswerterweise fehlten Reste von Langknochen, lediglich kleine Knochen oder kleinere Bruchstücke wurden entdeckt. Während der ersten Untersuchung der Knochen wurden zahlreiche Schnittspuren festgestellt. Der Fund wurde daraufhin zunächst als Beleg für kannibalistische Aktivitäten interpretiert. Eine vollständige Neuuntersuchung aller Knochenoberflächen wurde mit Hilfe des Rasterelektronenmikroskopes (REM) durchgeführt. Bei der REM Untersuchung konnten neben Schnittspuren auch Schlag- und Kratzspuren identifiziert werden. Anhand eines Vergleiches mit Schlacht- und Zerlegungsspuren an Tierresten aus dem Magdalenien ließen sich deutliche Unterschiede erkennen. Der auffälligste Unterschied besteht in der hohen Schnittspurenfrequenz an den menschlichen Resten, diese war doppelt so hoch wie bei Tierknochen. Die Kratzspuren an den menschlichen Resten zeigen, dass diese intensiv von Weichteilen gereinigt wurden. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass die Manipulationen an den menschlichen Resten wesentlich intensiver als an Tierknochen durchgeführt wurden. Neben diesen anthropogenen Manipulationen liegen auch Hinweise auf taphonomische Prozesse vor. Die Knochenoberflächen sind vor allem am Schädeldach verwittert. Ein Skelettelement weist eine Bissspur eines Karnivoren auf. Da die Erhaltungsbedingungen in der Fundstelle sehr gut sind und Karnivoren die Fundsituation nicht beeinflusst haben, deutet dies darauf hin, dass sich die menschlichen Reste zuvor an einem anderen Ort befunden haben müssen, bevor sie in die Fundstelle eingebracht wurden. Der Fundkontext und die hohe Frequenz der Schlacht- und Zerlegungsspuren deuten zusammen mit einer deutlichen Selektion der Skelettreste auf eine sekundäre Bestattung menschlicher Skelettreste in der Brillenhöhle hin

Krapina 3 cut marks

Incisions on the frontal of the Krapina 3 cranium differ from other cut marks from the site. Thirty-five, mostly parallel marks course up the frontal from right of the midline, just posterior to the supraorbitale point to left of the midline, slightly anterior to bregma. They are angled mostly perpendicular to the midsagittal plane, averaging 5.2 mm in length and are on average 1.2 mm apart. The marks' characteristics are not consistent with scalping, cannibalism, defleshing or other perimortem activities described for Neandertals or modern groups. These marks represent a type of funereal behavior yet to be documented in Neandertals and suggest a kind of ritual treatment of the deceased

Western visitors at the Blätterhöhle (city of Hagen, southern Westphalia) during the Younger Dryas? A new final palaeolithic assemblage type in western Germany

Until now, it was considered certain that the last reindeer hunters of the Ahrensburgian (tanged point groups) existed exclusively in northwestern Central Europe during the Younger Dryas Cold Period (~ Greenland Stadial 1). The excavations carried out since 2006 on the forecourt (Vorplatz) of the small Blätterhöhle in Hagen on the northern edge of the Sauerland uplands of southern Westphalia (North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany) have now changed this view. Beneath a surprisingly extensive sequence of Mesolithic find horizons, Pleistocene sediments could be reached whose excavations yielded a Final Palaeolithic lithic ensemble of the Younger Dryas, unusual for the region and beyond. It is characterised by numerous backed lithic projectile points of high variability. Comparisons suggest a typological-technological connection with the Western European Laborian / Late Laborian. Neither in the nearer nor in the wider surroundings has a comparable lithic find ensemble been found so far. In addition, there is a lack of clear evidence for the reindeer in the fauna. Surprisingly, the vast majority of radiocarbon dates of bones and charcoals from the investigated archaeological horizon of the Final Pleistocene proved to be significantly older than expected from their stratigraphic position. This phenomenon has not yet been clarified

Ancient pigs reveal a near-complete genomic turnover following their introduction to Europe

Archaeological evidence indicates that pig domestication had begun by ∼10,500 y before the present (BP) in the Near East, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) suggests that pigs arrived in Europe alongside farmers ∼8,500 y BP. A few thousand years after the introduction of Near Eastern pigs into Europe, however, their characteristic mtDNA signature disappeared and was replaced by haplotypes associated with European wild boars. This turnover could be accounted for by substantial gene flow from local European wild boars, although it is also possible that European wild boars were domesticated independently without any genetic contribution from the Near East. To test these hypotheses, we obtained mtDNA sequences from 2,099 modern and ancient pig samples and 63 nuclear ancient genomes from Near Eastern and European pigs. Our analyses revealed that European domestic pigs dating from 7,100 to 6,000 y BP possessed both Near Eastern and European nuclear ancestry, while later pigs possessed no more than 4% Near Eastern ancestry, indicating that gene flow from European wild boars resulted in a near-complete disappearance of Near East ancestry. In addition, we demonstrate that a variant at a locus encoding black coat color likely originated in the Near East and persisted in European pigs. Altogether, our results indicate that while pigs were not independently domesticated in Europe, the vast majority of human-mediated selection over the past 5,000 y focused on the genomic fraction derived from the European wild boars, and not on the fraction that was selected by early Neolithic farmers over the first 2,500 y of the domestication process

The ecology, subsistence and diet of ~45,000-year-old Homo sapiens at Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Germany

Recent excavations at Ranis (Germany) identified an early dispersal of Homo sapiens into the higher latitudes of Europe by 45,000 years ago. Here we integrate results from zooarchaeology, palaeoproteomics, sediment DNA and stable isotopes to characterize the ecology, subsistence and diet of these early H. sapiens. We assessed all bone remains (n = 1,754) from the 2016-2022 excavations through morphology (n = 1,218) or palaeoproteomics (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (n = 536) and species by proteome investigation (n = 212)). Dominant taxa include reindeer, cave bear, woolly rhinoceros and horse, indicating cold climatic conditions. Numerous carnivore modifications, alongside sparse cut-marked and burnt bones, illustrate a predominant use of the site by hibernating cave bears and denning hyaenas, coupled with a fluctuating human presence. Faunal diversity and high carnivore input were further supported by ancient mammalian DNA recovered from 26 sediment samples. Bulk collagen carbon and nitrogen stable isotope data from 52 animal and 10 human remains confirm a cold steppe/tundra setting and indicate a homogenous human diet based on large terrestrial mammals. This lower-density archaeological signature matches other Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician sites and is best explained by expedient visits of short duration by small, mobile groups of pioneer H. sapiens. [Abstract copyright: © 2024. The Author(s).

Stable isotopes show Homo sapiens dispersed into cold steppes ~45,000 years ago at Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Germany

The spread of Homo sapiens into new habitats across Eurasia ~45,000 years ago and the concurrent disappearance of Neanderthals represents a critical evolutionary turnover in our species' history. 'Transitional' technocomplexes, such as the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician (LRJ), characterize the European record during this period but their makers and evolutionary significance have long remained unclear. New evidence from Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Germany, now provides a secure connection of the LRJ to H. sapiens remains dated to ~45,000 years ago, making it one of the earliest forays of our species to central Europe. Using many stable isotope records of climate produced from 16 serially sampled equid teeth spanning ~12,500 years of LRJ and Upper Palaeolithic human occupation at Ranis, we review the ability of early humans to adapt to different climate and habitat conditions. Results show that cold climates prevailed across LRJ occupations, with a temperature decrease culminating in a pronounced cold excursion at ~45,000-43,000 cal BP. Directly dated H. sapiens remains confirm that humans used the site even during this very cold phase. Together with recent evidence from the Initial Upper Palaeolithic, this demonstrates that humans operated in severe cold conditions during many distinct early dispersals into Europe and suggests pronounced adaptability. [Abstract copyright: © 2024. The Author(s).

Homo sapiens reached the higher latitudes of Europe by 45,000 years ago

The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Europe is associated with the regional disappearance of Neanderthals and the spread of Homo sapiens. Late Neanderthals persisted in western Europe several millennia after the occurrence of H. sapiens in eastern Europe1. Local hybridization between the two groups occurred2, but not on all occasions3. Archaeological evidence also indicates the presence of several technocomplexes during this transition, complicating our understanding and the association of behavioural adaptations with specific hominin groups4. One such technocomplex for which the makers are unknown is the Lincombian–Ranisian–Jerzmanowician (LRJ), which has been described in northwestern and central Europe5,6,7,8. Here we present the morphological and proteomic taxonomic identification, mitochondrial DNA analysis and direct radiocarbon dating of human remains directly associated with an LRJ assemblage at the site Ilsenhöhle in Ranis (Germany). These human remains are among the earliest directly dated Upper Palaeolithic H. sapiens remains in Eurasia. We show that early H. sapiens associated with the LRJ were present in central and northwestern Europe long before the extinction of late Neanderthals in southwestern Europe. Our results strengthen the notion of a patchwork of distinct human populations and technocomplexes present in Europe during this transitional period

Ancient Plasmodium genomes shed light on the history of human malaria

Malaria-causing protozoa of the genus Plasmodium have exerted one of the strongest selective pressures on the human genome, and resistance alleles provide biomolecular footprints that outline the historical reach of these species1. Nevertheless, debate persists over when and how malaria parasites emerged as human pathogens and spread around the globe1,2. To address these questions, we generated high-coverage ancient mitochondrial and nuclear genome-wide data from P. falciparum, P. vivax and P. malariae from 16 countries spanning around 5,500 years of human history. We identified P. vivax and P. falciparum across geographically disparate regions of Eurasia from as early as the fourth and first millennia bce, respectively; for P. vivax, this evidence pre-dates textual references by several millennia3. Genomic analysis supports distinct disease histories for P. falciparum and P. vivax in the Americas: similarities between now-eliminated European and peri-contact South American strains indicate that European colonizers were the source of American P. vivax, whereas the trans-Atlantic slave trade probably introduced P. falciparum into the Americas. Our data underscore the role of cross-cultural contacts in the dissemination of malaria, laying the biomolecular foundation for future palaeo-epidemiological research into the impact of Plasmodium parasites on human history. Finally, our unexpected discovery of P. falciparum in the high-altitude Himalayas provides a rare case study in which individual mobility can be inferred from infection status, adding to our knowledge of cross-cultural connectivity in the region nearly three millennia ago.This project was funded by the National Science Foundation, grants BCS-2141896 and BCS-1528698; the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, grants 851511-MICROSCOPE (to S. Schiffels), 771234-PALEoRIDER (to W.H.) and starting grant 805268-CoDisEASe (to K.I.B.); and the ERC starting grant Waves ERC758967 (supporting K. Nägele and S.C.). We thank the Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean for supporting M. Michel, E. Skourtanioti, A.M., R.A.B., L.C.B., G.U.N., N.S., V.V.-M., M. McCormick, P.W.S., C.W. and J.K.; the Kone Foundation for supporting E.K.G. and A.S.; and the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Helsinki for grants to E.K.G. A.S. thanks the Magnus Ehrnrooth Foundation, the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Academy of Finland, the Life and Health Medical Foundation and the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters. M.C.B. acknowledges funding from: research project PID2020-116196GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033; the Spanish Ministry of Culture; the Chiang Ching Kuo Foundation; Fundación Palarq; the EU FP7 Marie Curie Zukunftskolleg Incoming Fellowship Programme, University of Konstanz (grant 291784); STAR2-Santander Universidades and Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports; and CEI 2015 project Cantabria Campus Internacional. M.E. received support from the Czech Academy of Sciences award Praemium Academiae and project RVO 67985912 of the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague. This work has been funded within project PID2020-115956GB-I00 ‘Origen y conformación del Bronce Valenciano’, granted by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain, and grants from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (MZI187236), Research Nova Scotia (RNS 2023-2565) and The Center for Health Research in Developing Countries. D.K. is the Canada research chair in translational vaccinology and inflammation. R.L.K. acknowledges support from a 2019 University of Otago research grant (Human health and adaptation along Silk Roads, a bioarchaeological investigation of a medieval Uzbek cemetery). P.O. thanks the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Academy of Finland. S. Peltola received support from the Emil Aaltonen Foundation and the Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation. D.C.S.-G. thanks the Generalitat Valenciana (CIDEGENT/2019/061). E.W.K. acknowledges support from the DEEPDEAD project, HERA-UP, CRP (15.055) and the Horizon 2020 programme (grant 649307). M. Spyrou thanks the Elite program for postdocs of the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung. Open access funding provided by Max Planck Society