Robustness despite uncertainty:Regional climate data reveal the dominant role of humans in explaining global extinctions of Late Quaternary megafauna

Debate over the late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions has focussed on whether human colonisation or climatic changes were more important drivers of extinction, with few extinctions being unambiguously attributable to either. Most analyses have been geographically or taxonomically restricted and the few quantitative global analyses have been limited by coarse temporal resolution or overly simplified climate reconstructions or proxies. We present a global analysis of the causes of these extinctions which uses high-resolution climate reconstructions and explicitly investigates the sensitivity of our results to uncertainty in the palaeological record. Our results show that human colonisation was the dominant driver of megafaunal extinction across the world but that climatic factors were also important. We identify the geographic regions where future research is likely to have the most impact, with our models reliably predicting extinctions across most of the world, with the notable exception of mainland Asia where we fail to explain the apparently low rate of extinction found in in the fossil record. Our results are highly robust to uncertainties in the palaeological record, and our main conclusions are unlikely to change qualitatively following minor improvements or changes in the dates of extinctions and human colonisation

INTRA- AND INTER-CULTURAL VARIABILITY IN MESOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC MORTUARY PRACTICES IN THE NEAR EAST.

Abstract not availabl

INTRA- AND INTER-CULTURAL VARIABILITY IN MESOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC MORTUARY PRACTICES IN THE NEAR EAST.

Abstract not availabl

Did Pre-Clovis People Inhabit the Paisley Caves (and Why Does It Matter)?

The date and processes of initial human colonization of the Americas are crucial issues for the understanding of human biological and cultural development. For example, Soares et al. (2009) cited the American archaeological record to validate their proposed revision of the human mitochondrial molecular clock. Their suggested mutation rate puts the date of rapid expansion of Native American clades at around 13,500–15,000 cal BP. Similarly, Poznik et al. (2013) have used the “high-confidence archaeological dating” of the initial peopling of the Americas to calibrate the rates of both Y-chromosome and mtDNA mutation and thereby to reconcile the ages of the common ancestors of human males and females. They use a date of ca. 15,000, based on purported archaeological evidence from Monte Verde, Chile, dated to 14,600 cal BP

Initial Human Colonization of the Americas: An Overview of the Issues and the Evidence

The Radiocarbon archives are made available by Radiocarbon and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202

Radiocarbon Date Frequency as an Index of Intensity of Paleolithic Occupation of Siberia: Did Humans React Predictably to Climate Oscillations?

From the 19th International Radiocarbon Conference held in Keble College, Oxford, England, April 3-7, 2006.Upper Paleolithic humans occupied southern Siberia by about 43,000-38,000 BP (14C yr), and afterward continued to live there despite the very cold climate. If climatic conditions limited expansion of the colonizing population in northern Siberia, the Paleolithic ecumene should have contracted during the coldest episodes within the last 40,000 yr, and fewer 14C-dated sites should be known from those periods. In fact, the human population seems to have remained stable or even expanded during cold periods. Comparison of calibrated 14C dates for Siberian occupations with Greenland ice cores fails to demonstrate a simple correlation between climatic fluctuations and the dynamics of human colonization and persistence in Siberia between about 36,000 and 12,000 BP. Cold climate does not appear to have posed any significant challenge to humans in Siberia in the Late Pleistocene, and a supposed Last Glacial Maximum hiatus in population dynamics seems illusory.The Radiocarbon archives are made available by Radiocarbon and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202