Approche taphonomique en Cémentochronologie : réexamen du niveau 4 du Pech-de-l’Azé I (Carsac, Dordogne, France)

Alors que la cémentochronologie est une méthode de plus en plus utilisée pour reconstituer la saisonnalité de prédation des animaux présents en contexte archéologique, peu d’études incluent la recherche systématique des modifications taphonomiques qui peuvent affecter le cément. Ce travail propose une présentation des phénomènes de remobilisations diagénétiques de l’enregistrement saisonnier. À travers la reprise de l’analyse du niveau 4 du gisement du Pech-de-l’Azé I, nous proposons une illustration de leurs conséquences sur les études cémentochronologiques

Multi-isotope analysis of bone collagen of Late Pleistocene ungulates reveals niche partitioning and behavioural plasticity of reindeer during MIS 3

Acknowledgements This research was funded by a Leverhulme Research Project Grant (ref: RPG-2017-410 to K.B.), and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. A Philip Leverhulme Prize (ref: PLP-2019-284 to K.B.) provided support to K.B. during the production of this manuscript, and M.S. is funded by the NWO Dutch Research council (VICI award VI.C.191.07). We thank C.-H. Bachelier and Jaques Bachelier for facilitating and supporting research at Les Cottés, and the French Ministry of Culture for allowing and funding research at Les Cottés. Thanks to Sven Steinbrenner and Annabell Reiner (MPI-EVA), and Orsolya Czére (Aberdeen) for laboratory assistance, and to Jovita Fawcett and Eléa Gutierrez (Aberdeen) for proof reading and assistance with images.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Neandertal bone industry at Chagyrskaya cave, Altai Region, Russia

peer reviewedFor a long time, the rich bone industries of the Upper Palaeolithic were opposed to the opportunistic Neandertal bone tools among which the bone retoucher was the most common type. The recent finding of a few shaped bone tools into Mousterian contexts has been taken as an emergence of a “modern behaviour”. However, this outlook is based on biased corpuses. On one side, the large number of unshaped bone tools recently discovered in Upper Palaeolithic assemblages leads us to reconsider what a bone industry can be. On the other side, the increasing discoveries of bone tools in more ancient contexts indicates that this type of production is not strictly linked to Homo sapiens. Chagyrskaya cave, located in the Siberian Altai, brings us the opportunity to discuss this question. Dated around 50,000 years BP, the site yielded a local facies of Mousterian lithic industry associated to several Neandertal remains. A technological and functional analysis of the faunal remains reveal more than one thousand bone tools. Most are retouchers, but a significant part belongs to other morpho-functional categories: intermediate tools, retouched tools and tools with a smoothed end. Even though these tools were mainly manufactured by direct percussion, their number and the recurrence of their morphological and traceological features lead us to consider them as a true bone industry. Far from the Homo sapiens standards, this industry has its own coherence that needs now to be understood

Neanderthal subsistence at Chez-Pinaud Jonzac (Charente-Maritime, France): A kill site dominated by reindeer remains, but with a horse-laden diet?

During the MIS 4 in Southwestern France, Quina Neanderthal from the north of the Aquitaine was characterized by a hunting specialization on the reindeer and the lack of diversity in their diet. They developed task-specific locations dedicated to the capture, the butchery, and the consumption of reindeer, and the whole society seems, in this region, to be dependent on this food resource. In this context, the site of Chez-Pinaud at Jonzac (France) occupies a specific place. First, interpreted as a reindeer kill and butchery site, the recent recovery of the site underlines the importance of the large ungulate (horse and bison) to the faunal spectrum (30% of the NISP). Considering the quantity of meat and grease that these species can provide to hunters, the new zooarchaeological analyses suggest that at least the horse may have played a major role in the diet of the Neanderthal population. Since Jonzac is one of the largest sites for this period, these results relativize the importance of reindeer specialization of the Quina population and the lack of diversityl in their diet

Neanderthal bone tools from inside, at Jonzac, Quina level, France

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Nouvelles données sur la séquence aurignacienne de la grotte d'Isturitz (communes d'Isturitz et de Saint-Martin-d'Arberoue. Pyrénées-Atlantiques)

Isturitz Cave is located in the western Pyrenees in the heart of the zone of passage and contact between the Aquitaine region and the Vasco-Cantabrian ledge. Excavations during the first half of the 20th century yielded a remarkable archaeological sequence covering the Middle Palaeolithic and the entire Upper Palaeolithic. New research conducted in the Saint-Martin chamber has revealed intensive Aurignacian occupations attributed to the archaic and early phases of this techno-complex. In this paper, we present a synthesis of the principal data that make Isturitz a key site in the study of this period.Située dans les Pyrénées occidentales, au coeur de la zone de passage et de contact entre l'Aquitaine et la corniche vasco-cantabrique, la grotte d'Isturitz a fait l'objet, dans la première moitié du XXe siècle, de fouilles qui ont livré un remarquable ensemble archéologique couvrant le Paléolithique moyen et la quasi-totalité du Paléolithique supérieur. De nouvelles recherches menées dans la salle de Saint-Martin ont mis en évidence d'importantes occupations aurignaciennes attribuées aux phases archaïques et anciennes de ce technocomplexe. Nous ferons dans cet article une synthèse des principales données qui font de la grotte d'Isturitz un site clef pour l'étude de celles-ci

In Silico Screening Based on Predictive Algorithms as a Design Tool for Exon Skipping Oligonucleotides in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

The use of antisense 'splice-switching' oligonucleotides to induce exon skipping represents a potential therapeutic approach to various human genetic diseases. It has achieved greatest maturity in exon skipping of the dystrophin transcript in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), for which several clinical trials are completed or ongoing, and a large body of data exists describing tested oligonucleotides and their efficacy. The rational design of an exon skipping oligonucleotide involves the choice of an antisense sequence, usually between 15 and 32 nucleotides, targeting the exon that is to be skipped. Although parameters describing the target site can be computationally estimated and several have been identified to correlate with efficacy, methods to predict efficacy are limited. Here, an in silico pre-screening approach is proposed, based on predictive statistical modelling. Previous DMD data were compiled together and, for each oligonucleotide, some 60 descriptors were considered. Statistical modelling approaches were applied to derive algorithms that predict exon skipping for a given target site. We confirmed (1) the binding energetics of the oligonucleotide to the RNA, and (2) the distance in bases of the target site from the splice acceptor site, as the two most predictive parameters, and we included these and several other parameters (while discounting many) into an in silico screening process, based on their capacity to predict high or low efficacy in either phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (89% correctly predicted) and/or 2'O Methyl RNA oligonucleotides (76% correctly predicted). Predictions correlated strongly with in vitro testing for sixteen de novo PMO sequences targeting various positions on DMD exons 44 (R² 0.89) and 53 (R² 0.89), one of which represents a potential novel candidate for clinical trials. We provide these algorithms together with a computational tool that facilitates screening to predict exon skipping efficacy at each position of a target exon

Identifying the unidentified fauna enhances insights into hominin subsistence strategies during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition

Understanding Palaeolithic hominin subsistence strategies requires the comprehensive taxonomic identification of faunal remains. The high fragmentation of Late Pleistocene faunal assemblages often prevents proper taxonomic identification based on bone morphology. It has been assumed that the morphologically unidentifiable component of the faunal assemblage would reflect the taxonomic abundances of the morphologically identified portion. In this study, we analyse three faunal datasets covering the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition (MUPT) at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria) and Les Cottés and La Ferrassie (France) with the application of collagen type I peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS). Our results emphasise that the fragmented component of Palaeolithic bone assemblages can differ significantly from the morphologically identifiable component. We obtain contrasting identification rates between taxa resulting in an overrepresentation of morphologically identified reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and an underrepresentation of aurochs/bison (Bos/Bison) and horse/European ass (Equus) at Les Cottés and La Ferrassie. Together with an increase in the relative diversity of the faunal composition, these results have implications for the interpretation of subsistence strategies during a period of possible interaction between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens in Europe. Furthermore, shifts in faunal community composition and in carnivore activity suggest a change in the interaction between humans and carnivores across the MUPT and indicate a possible difference in site use between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. The combined use of traditional and biomolecular methods allows (zoo)archaeologists to tackle some of the methodological limits commonly faced during the morphological assessment of Palaeolithic bone assemblages