Almeida, Francisco

aubry, thierry

Dimuccio, Luca Antonio

Gameiro, Cristina

Gomes, Telmo

Matias, Henrique

Maurício, João

Pinto, Adelaide

English

Universidade de Lisboa: Repositório.UL

9th AnnuAl Meeting of theEuropean Society for the study of Human Evolution  19-21 September 2019LiègE/BelgiumPoster Presentation Number 103, Session 1,Th. 12:15-14:00Sexual dimorphism of theMiddle Pleistocene hominins from Sima de los Huesos (Burgos, Spain): astudy the enamel and dentine dimensions of the permanent caninesCecilia García-Campos1,2, MarioModesto-Mata1,2, María Martinón-Torres1,2, MarinaMartínez de Pinillos1,2, LauraMartín-Francés1,3, Juan Luis Arsuaga4, JoséMaría Bermúdez de Castro1,21 - Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Burgos, Spain · 2 - Anthropology Department, UniversityCollege London, London, UK · 3 - Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR 5199 F - 33615, Pessac Cedex,France. · 4 - Centro Mixto UCM - ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, SpainSexual dimorphism, as an important part of the total variation seen in populations, plays a key role in taxonomic debates. In thiscontext, Sima de los Huesos (SH) hominins, from Sierra de Atapuerca in Spain, offer an exceptional opportunity to investigatewithin-population variability. For this reason, these fossil remains have been used in previous research to study sexual dimorphismduring the Middle Pleistocene [1,2,3,4]. However, all these studies have had to face the same limitation: this exceptional humancollection has a predominance of adolescents and prime-age adults [1]. In modern humans, most of the dimorphism in body size isgenerated during adolescence; nevertheless, intersexual variation in dental crown size is generated between birth and the 12th year[5]. That is why teeth, in general, and canines, in particular, are very useful in assessing sexual dimorphism in extinct populationswith SH demographic characteristics. In 1993 and in 2001, Bermúdez de Castro and colleagues studied the pattern of dental sizevariation of the SH lower dentition [1,2]. Since then, the dental sample of the Middle Pleistocene population from Atapuerca hasincreased and novel imaging analytical techniques like micro-computerized tomography (micro-CT) have emerged, permittingreanalysis of this issue from a new perspective. In this study, micro-CT techniques have been applied to a sample of hominin teethfrom the site of Sima de los Huesos. Dental tissue proportions of the permanent canines are here assessed with the aim of charac-terizing the pattern and degree of sexual dimorphismwithin this population. A combination of classical statistical approaches withmore novel ones has allowed us not only to bolster the sex allocation of the individuals previously assigned in the literature, but alsoto estimate the sex of the youngest individuals, which were not assessed in previous studies. Likewise, the sex of some extensivelyworn canines and isolated pieces has been also estimated. As a result, the sex ratio observed in our dental sample from Sima de losHuesos population is 5:8 (Nm:Nf ), showing a higher female representation.The canines of Sima de losHuesos population have, ingeneral terms, a degree of sexual dimorphism in the permanent canines tissue proportions that is lower or similar to that of modernhumans.Theirmandibular canines aremore dimorphic than themaxillary ones among other things, due to themarked dimorphismof their root dimensions. In light of our results, we can conclude that this EuropeanMiddle Pleistocene population cannot be con-sidered more dimorphic than modern humans, although the differences in their canine tissue proportions are enough to allowestimating the sex with a high degree of confidence. One reasonable interpretation of our results would be that the sexual dimor-phism of dental tissue patterns could have already decreased duringMiddle Pleistocene regarding earlyHomo, andwasmaintained,to either greater or lesser extents, in subsequent groups. However, this decrease in intersexual variability may have not happened atthe same time in all skeletal structures, showing amosaic evolution of the expression of sexual dimorphism in the different bone ele-ments. Future studies of the SHhominins, as well as other EuropeanMiddle Pleistocene samples, would help to test this hypothesis.This study has been supported by the Dirección General de Investigación of the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) grant number: PGC2018-093925-B-C31. We also wish toacknowledgeThe Leakey Foundation for the personal support provided by Gordon Getty and Dub Crook (2014-2019) to one of the authors (MM-T). CG-C andMM-M are funded by a doctoral grantfinanced by the European Social Funds through the Consejería de Educacion. LM-F received financial support from the French State as part of the ‘Investments for the future’ Programme IdEx Bordeaux,reference ANR-10-IDEX-03-02. MMP is the recipient of a post-doctoral research grant at Atapuerca Fundation. We thank all the members of the Atapuerca research team, in particular those whoexcavate the Sima de los Huesos site, for their dedicated work. We also acknowledge several people for providing access to the studied material.References:[1] Bermúdez de Castro, J.M., Durand, A.I., Ipiña, S.L., 1993. Sexual dimorphism in the human dental sample from the SH site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain): a statistical approach. Journal ofHuman Evolution. 24, 43–56.[2] Bermúdez de Castro, J.M., Sarmiento, S., Cunha, E., Rosas, A., Bastir, M., 2001. Dental size variation in the Atapuerca-SHMiddle Pleistocene hominids. Journal ofHuman Evolution. 41, 195–209.[3] Lorenzo, C., Carretero, J.M., Arsuaga, J.L., Gracia, A., Martínez, I., 1998. Intrapopulational body size variation and cranial capacity variation in middle pleistocenehumans:The Sima de los Huesos sample (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 106, 19–33.[4] Rosas, A., Bastir, M., Martínez-Maza, C., Bermúdez de Castro, J.M.,2002. Sexual dimorphism in the Atapuerca-SH hominids: the evidence from the mandibles. Journal of Human Evolution. 42, 451–474.[5] Simpson, S.W., Kunos, C.A., 1998. A radiographic study of thedevelopment of the human mandibular dentition. Journal of Human Evolution. 35, 479–505.69Poster Presentation Number 74, Session 2, Sa. 12:15-14:00Portela II (Leiria, Portugal): a specialized lithic workshop for the production of Vale Comprido pointsin Proto-Solutrean times?Cristina Gameiro1, Francisco Almeida5, Thierry Aubry1,2, Luca Dimuccio1,3, Telmo Gomes4, Henrique Matias1, JoãoMaurício6, Adelaide Pinto61 - UNIARQ - School of Arts andHumanities, University of Lisbon, Portugal · 2 - Fundação Côa Parque, Portugal · 3 - CEGOT-Centre of Studies on Geography and Spatial Planning, Universities of Coimbra-Porto-Minho, Department of Geography andTourism, University of Coimbra, Portugal · 4 - SMAS Leiria, Portugal · 5 - Taungurung Clans Aboriginal Corporation, Australia ·6 - Crivarque, PortugalThe severe cooling and the consequent expansion of the ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), 27–19 ky ago, had amajor impact on plant, animal and human populations. In Southwest Europe, a pan-European technocomplex, using bone or woodprojectile points armed with lithic barbs (Gravettian), was replaced by a regional technocomplex using stone points as huntingweaponry: the Solutrean.The origin of the Solutrean has been a central issue in the study of the European Upper Paleolithic. Different authors placedthe origins of the Solutrean in Africa (Santa-Olalla and Almagro Basch saw similarities with the Aterian), France (Smith thoughtthat Gravettian Font Robert points could be related) or Iberia (a human refuge with a milder climate, according to Strauss). Thus,this cultural change was explained by human migrations or simple adaptation to a colder environment [1].Nevertheless, in the mid-1990s, a transition phase between the Gravettian and the Solutrean was identified in the littoral ofcentral Portugal, Estremadura [5;3].This phase is characterized by the presence of a particular type of stone tool: theValeCompridopoint [4]. Since then, its use as an index fossil of this phase has been successful in Spain (Peña Capón and Cueva Ambrósio) and inFrance (Abri Casserole andMarseillon), for example.The Portela II archaeological site was identified in 2009, during the construction of a sewerage piping. A preventive excavationwas carried out, only in the area directly affected by the works (10m2); the site is thought to extend beyond the limits of theexcavated area. About 800 lithic artefacts were recovered, including 15 Vale Comprido points and a high refitting potential wasidentified. This poster will present the results of the technological study of the lithic assemblage. A single reduction sequence wasidentified: the production of elongated, naturally-pointed blanks that were subsequently transformed into Vale Comprido points,the only tools recovered at Portela II. Chippage found at the site indicates that the typical dorsal basal thinning retouch of the ValeComprido points was performed locally.The characteristics of this site lead us to consider a new archaeological intervention in 2020, in the scope of the PALEORES-CUEproject. In fact, only the enlargement of the excavated surface can confirmwhether thiswas aValeComprido pointsworkshopor whether the previous excavation hit a specialized knapping area of the base camp.This site shows some similar features to the oneexcavated by M. Heleno in the 1940s at Vale Comprido Encosta, in the Rio Maior region. Current excavation methodology willclarify this issue and will enable testing the common assumption, within the Portuguese archaeological community, of Heleno’ssampling bias [2].PALEORESCUE is funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (PTDC/HAR-ARQ/30779/2017). A special thanks to Câmara Municipal de Leiria, SMAS Leiria and Crivarque.References:[1] Alcaraz-Castaño, M., 2015. Central Iberia around the Last Glacial Maximum, Journal of Anthropological Research,71, 565-578.[2] Almeida, F., 2000.The terminal Gravettian ofPortuguese Estremadura. [PhD Southern Methodist University, USA].[3] Almeida, F., Matias, H., Carvalho, R., Pereira, T., Pinto, A., Holliday, T., 2010. New data on the transition from the Gravettian tothe Solutrean on Portuguese Estremadura. Abstracts of the PaleoAnthropology Society 2010 Meetings. PaleoAnthropology 2010: A0001 ISSN 1545-0031 doi:10.4207/PA.2010.ABS8.[4] Zilhão, J., Aubry,T., 1995. La pointe de Vale Comprido et les origines du Solutrén. L’ Anthropologie 99 (1), 125-142.[5] Zilhão, J., Aubry, T., Almeida, F., 1999. Un modèle technologique pour le passage du Gravettien auSolutréen dans le Sud-Ouest de l’Europe. XXIVème Congrès Préhistorique de France, 165-183.68

Portela II (Leiria, Portugal): a specialized lithic workshop for the production of Vale Comprido points in Proto-Solutrean times?

Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa

https://repositorio.ul.pt/bitstream/10451/42996/1/CGetal_PESHE_2019_OnlinePESHE.pdf

Portela II (Leiria, Portugal): a specialized lithic workshop for the production of Vale Comprido points in Proto-Solutrean times?

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Universidade de Lisboa: Repositório.UL

Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa