| 1. |
- Bibi, Faysal, et al.
(författare)
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Paleoecology of the Serengeti during the Oldowan-Acheulean transition at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania: The mammal and fish evidence
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Human Evolution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0047-2484 .- 1095-8606.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Eight years of excavation work by the Olduvai Geochronology and Archaeology Project (OGAP) has produced a rich vertebrate fauna from several sites within Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Study of these as well as recently re-organized collections from Mary Leakey's 1972 HWK EE excavations here provides a synthetic view of the faunal community of Olduvai during Middle Bed II at ~1.7e1.4 Ma, an interval that captures the local transition from Oldowan to Acheulean technology. We expand the faunal list for this interval, name a new bovid species, clarify the evolution of several mammalian lineages, and record new local first and last appearances. Compositions of the fish and large mammal assemblages support previous indications for the dominance of open and seasonal grassland habitats at the margins of an alkaline lake. Fish diversity is low and dominated by cichlids, which indicates strongly saline conditions. The taphonomy of the fish assemblages supports reconstructions of fluctuating lake levels with mass die-offs in evaporating pools. The mammals are dominated by grazing bovids and equids. Habitats remained consistently dry and open throughout the entire Bed II sequence, with no major turnover or paleoecological changes taking place. Rather, wooded and wet habitats had already given way to drier and more open habitats by the top of Bed I, at 1.85e1.80 Ma. This ecological change is close to the age of the Oldowan-Acheulean transition in Kenya and Ethiopia, but precedes the local transition in Middle Bed II. The Middle Bed II largemammal community is much richer in species and includes a much larger number of large-bodied species (>300 kg) than the modern Serengeti. This reflects the severity of Pleistocene extinctions on African large mammals, with the loss of large species fitting a pattern typical of defaunation or ‘downsizing’ by human disturbance. However, trophic network (food web) analyses show that the Middle Bed II communitywas robust, and comparisons with the Serengeti community indicate that the fundamental structure of foodwebs remained intact despite Pleistocene extinctions. The presence of a generalized meateating hominin in the Middle Bed II community would have increased competition among carnivores and vulnerability among herbivores, but the high generality and interconnectedness of the Middle Bed II food web suggests this community was buffered against extinctions caused by trophic interactions.
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| 2. |
- Clark, Jamie L., et al.
(författare)
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The fauna from Mughr el-Hamamah, Jordan : Insights on human hunting behavior during the Early Upper Paleolithic
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Human Evolution. - : Elsevier. - 0047-2484 .- 1095-8606. ; 190
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As a corridor for population movement out of Africa, the southern Levant is a natural laboratory for research exploring the dynamics of the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition. Yet, the number of well-preserved sites dating to the initial millennia of the Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP; ~45–30 ka) remains limited, restricting the resolution at which we can study the biocultural and techno-typological changes evidenced across the transition. With EUP deposits dating to 45–39 ka cal BP, Mughr el-Hamamah, Jordan, offers a key opportunity to expand our understanding of EUP lifeways in the southern Levant. Mughr el-Hamamah is particularly noteworthy for its large faunal assemblage, representing the first such assemblage from the Jordan Valley. In this paper, we present results from taxonomic and taphonomic analyses of the EUP fauna from Mughr el-Hamamah. Given broader debates about shifts in human subsistence across the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition, we also assess ev- idence for subsistence intensification, focusing especially on the exploitation of gazelle and the use of small game. Taphonomic data suggest that the fauna was primarily accumulated by human activity. Ungulates dominate the assemblage; gazelle (Gazella sp.) is the most common taxa, followed by fallow deer (Dama meso- potamica) and goat (Capra sp.). Among the gazelle, juveniles account for roughly one-third of the sample. While the focus on gazelle and the frequency of juveniles are consistent with broader regional trends, evidence for the regular exploitation of marrow from gazelle phalanges suggests that the EUP occupants of Mughr el-Hamamah processed gazelle carcasses quite intensively. Yet, the overall degree of dietary intensification appears low- —small game is rare and evidence for human capture of this game is more equivocal. As a whole, our results support a growing body of data showing gradual shifts in animal exploitation strategies across the Middle-to- Upper Paleolithic transition in the southern Levant.
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| 3. |
- Gustafsson, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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Human size evolution : no allometric relationship between male and female stature
- 2004
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Ingår i: Journal of Human Evolution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0047-2484 .- 1095-8606. ; 47:4, s. 253-266
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In many animal groups, sexual size dimorphism tends to be more pronounced in species with large body size. Similarly, in a previous cross-cultural analysis, male and female stature in humans were shown to be positively allometrically related, indicating a similar relationship where populations with larger stature were more dimorphic. In this study, we re-examine the hypothesis of an allometric relationship between the sexes using phylogenetic methodology. First, however, we tested whether there exist phylogenetic signals in male and female stature. Data on mean stature from 124 human populations was gathered from the literature. A phylogenetic test showed that male and female stature were significantly associated with phylogeny. These results indicate that comparative methods that to some degree incorporate genetic relatedness between populations are crucial when analyzing human size evolution in a cross-cultural context. Further, neither non-phylogenetic nor phylogenetic analyses revealed any allometric relationship between male and female stature. Thus, we found no support for the idea that sexual dimorphism increases with increasing stature in humans
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| 4. |
- Högberg, Anders, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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Lithic technology and behavioural modernity : New results from the Still Bay site, Hollow Rock Shelter, Western Cape Province, South Africa
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of Human Evolution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0047-2484 .- 1095-8606. ; 61:2, s. 133-155
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Hollow Rock Shelter site in Western Cape Province, South Africa, was excavated in 1993 and 2008. This study presents new results from a technological analysis of Still Bay points and bifacial flakes from the site. The results show that Still Bay points from the site are standardized tools. The points in the assemblage consist of a complex mixture of whole and fragmented points in all phases of production. The fragmentation degree is high; approximately 80% of the points are broken. A high proportion of bending fractures shows that several of the points were discarded due to production failures, and points with impact damage or hafting traces show that used points were left in the cave. This illustrates that the production of points as well as replacement of used points took place at the site. The result also shows that worked but not finished preforms and points were left at the site, suggestive of future preparation.The points were produced within the framework of three different chaînes opératoires, all ending up in a typologically uniform tool. This shows that the manufacture of Still Bay points should be regarded as a special bifacial technology, only partly comparable with other bifacial technologies. A raw material analysis shows that locally available quartz and quartzite were used in the production, and that points made of silcrete were brought to the site.Based on the technological analysis, a discussion of behavioural modernity, focusing on hypotheses about social interaction, experimentation, different strategies for learning to knap, and landscape memories, results in an interpretation that behavioural modernity was established at Hollow Rock Shelter in the Still Bay phase of the southern African Middle Stone Age.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Ito, Tsuyoshi, et al.
(författare)
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Computed tomography examination of the face of Macaca anderssoni (Early Pleistocene, Henan, northern China) : Implications for the biogeographic history of Asian macaques
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Human Evolution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0047-2484 .- 1095-8606. ; 72, s. 64-80
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Macaca anderssoni, a fossil macaque from the Early Pleistocene of northern China, has attracted much attention from researchers in terms of reconstructing the biogeographic history of Asian macaques, while its phylogenetic position remains debatable. In the present study, we evaluated patterns of variation in external and internal craniofacial morphologies among four phylogenetic groups of extant macaques (the fascicularis, sinica, silenus, and sylvanus groups), using computed tomography and multivariate analyses. We also reassessed the holotype of M. anderssoni, a partial cranium preserving the face and palate, to evaluate the phylogenetic group to which M. anderssoni is most closely related. Facial elongation was found to be significantly influenced by size. The particular combination of some allometric and non-allometric shape components was found to reflect phylogenetic relationships; however, these features of M. anderssoni fall intermediate among the four phylogenetic groups, with no typical similarities to any one group. The variations in nasal cavity shape were found to reflect phylogenetic relationships but those of the maxillary sinus did not. Macaca anderssoni has a nasal cavity that is laterally expanded anteriorly and constricted posteriorly, a unique morphology among macaques and shared only with larger members of the sinica group. This unique feature is considered to be a derived condition among macaques, suggesting that M. anderssoni is phylogenetically related to the sinica group (especially M. assamensis, M. thibetana, and M. arctoides) and that the populations of the sinica group were distributed in northern China during the Early Pleistocene. Currently, the populations of the sinica group are not distributed in northern East Asia, while those of the fascicularis group are. Thus, probably due to climatic deterioration in the Late Pleistocene, the former lineage has retreated southward or has become extinct in this region, being replaced by the latter lineage. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 7. |
- Lombard, Marlize, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic data and radiocarbon dating question Plovers Lake as a Middle Stone Age hominin-bearing site
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Human Evolution. - : Elsevier. - 0047-2484 .- 1095-8606. ; 131, s. 203-209
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have sampled five out of the eleven previously identified human specimens and some faunal remains from the Plovers Lake site in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa, for ancient DNA. We were successful in obtaining positive results for three of the human individuals and three 'buffalo' teeth. Based on ages obtained for flowstone and one bovid tooth, the site was interpreted previously as a hominin-bearing Middle Stone Age site of more than 60 000 years old. Our work, however, revealed that not all the material accumulated during the Pleistocene. Instead, the sampled humans and bovids most likely represent a Bantu-speaking Iron Age population (mtDNA haplogroup L3d) and their Nguni cattle. Newly obtained radiocarbon dates confirmed that these remains are probably no older than the last 500 years bp. This study demonstrates the usefulness of inter-disciplinary investigation into the human past, and the depositional and stratigraphic complexities that researchers in the Cradle of Humankind need to contend with before interpreting their assemblages.
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| 8. |
- Stutz, Aaron Jonas, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Early Upper Paleolithic chronology in the Levant : new ABOx-SC accelerator mass spectrometry results from the Mughr el-Hamamah Site, Jordan
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Human Evolution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0047-2484 .- 1095-8606. ; 85, s. 157-183
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Methodological developments and new paleoanthropological data remain jointly central to clarifying the timing and systemic interrelationships between the Middle-Upper Paleolithic (MP-UP) archaeological transition and the broadly contemporaneous anatomically modern human-archaic biological turnover. In the recently discovered cave site of Mughr el-Hamamah, Jordan, in situ flint artifacts comprise a diagnostic early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) assemblage. Unusually well-preserved charcoal from hearths and other anthropogenic features associated with the lithic material were subjected to acid-base-wet oxidation-stepped combustion (ABOx-SC) pretreatment. This article presents the ABOx-SC accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates on nine charcoal specimens from a single palimpsest occupation layer. Date calibration was carried out using the INTCAL13 radiocarbon calibration dataset. With the bulk of the material dating to 45-39 ka cal BP (thousands of years calibrated before present), the Mughr el-Hamamah lithic artifacts reveal important differences from penecontemporaneous sites in the region, documenting greater technological variability than previously known for this time frame in the Levant. The radiocarbon data from this EUP archaeological context highlight remaining challenges for increasing chronological precision in documenting the MP-UP transition.
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| 9. |
- Werdelin, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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A contextual review of the Carnivora of Kanapoi
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Human Evolution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0047-2484 .- 1095-8606.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Early Pliocene is a crucial time period in carnivoran evolution. Holarctic carnivoran faunas suffered a turnover event at the Miocene-Pliocene boundary. This event is also observed in Africa but its onset is later and the process more drawn-out. Kanapoi is one of the earliest faunas in Africa to show evidence of a fauna that is more typical Pliocene than Miocene in character. The taxa recovered from Kanapoi are: Torolutra sp., Enhydriodon (2 species), Genetta sp., Helogale sp., Homotherium sp., Dinofelis petteri, Felis sp., and Parahyaena howelli. Analysis of the broader carnivoran context of which Kanapoi is an example shows that all these taxa are characteristic of Plio-Pleistocene African faunas, rather than Miocene ones. While some are still extant and some went extinct in the Early Pleistocene, P. howelli is unique in both originating and going extinct in the Early Pliocene.
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| 10. |
- Koivisto-Korander, Riitta, et al.
(författare)
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Second primary malignancies among women with uterine sarcoma
- 2012
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Ingår i: Gynecologic Oncology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1095-6859 .- 0090-8258. ; 126:1, s. 30-35
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective. Uterine sarcomas (US) are rare malignancies with unclear aetiology. Studies on uterine sarcomas in the setting of second primary malignant tumours can provide clues to aetiology and identify side effects of different treatments. Methods. A cohort of 8606 cases of US was extracted from the data from 13 cancer registries and followed for second primary cancers within the period 1943-2000. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) were calculated, and Poisson regression analyses were performed. Results. There were 499 cancer cases observed after a first diagnosis of US (SIR 1.26, 95%CI 1.16-1.38). SIRs were elevated for cancers of the mouth and pharynx (2.16, 95%CI 1.15-3.69), colorectum (1.60, 95%CI 1.28-1.98), lung (1.73, 95%CI 1.27-2.29), breast (1.25, 95%CI 1.05-1.49), urinary bladder (1.74, 95%CI 1.02-2.79), kidney (2.00, 95%CI 1.24-3.06), thyroid gland (2.74, 95%CI 1.42-4.79), and soft tissue sarcoma (5.23, 95%CI 2.51-9.62). The risk of breast cancer increased along with increasing age of US diagnosis (p trend 0.040). The risk of kidney cancer increased along with decreasing age of US diagnosis (p trend 0.004) and short time since the US diagnosis (p trend 0.018). Conclusions. Our study demonstrated increased risk of certain cancers following a diagnosis of US. The elevated risk for breast cancer may indicate shared hormonal aetiology, while the increased risk of colorectal and bladder cancers after US may be caused by radiation therapy of US. The clustering of smoking-related cancers after US is worth exploring in the future. (c) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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