Neanderthal

Dating the Drimolen hominins Fossil hominins from South Africa are enriching the story of early human evolution and dispersal. Herries et al. describe the geological context and dating of the hominin-bearing infilled cave, or palaeocave, at a site called Drimolen in South Africa (see the Perspective by Antón). They focus on the age and context of a recently discovered Homo erectus sensu lato fossil and a Paranthropus robustus fossil, which they dated to ∼2.04 million to 1.95 million years ago. This makes Drimolen one of the best-dated sites in South Africa and establishes these fossils as the oldest definitive specimens of their respective species ever discovered. The age confirms that species of Australopithecus, Paranthropus , and early Homo overlapped in the karst of South Africa ∼2 million years ago. Science , this issue p. eaaw7293 ; see also p. 34

In December 1998, we presented a Special section on great finds and publications of 1848. The discovery of the Gibraltar skull was in that famous year, Now, 150 years later, new excavations and a recent conference have once again focused interest on this, the first place where Neanderthal remains were found.

The question of the mode of origin of modern humans (Homo sapiens) has dominated palaeoanthropological debate over the last decade. This review discusses the main models proposed to explain modern human origins, and examines relevant fossil evidence from Eurasia, Africa and Australasia. Archaeological and genetic data are also discussed, as well as problems with the concept of 'modernity' itself. It is concluded that a recent African origin can be supported for H. sapiens, morphologically, behaviourally and genetically, but that more evidence will be needed, both from Africa and elsewhere, before an absolute African origin for our species and its behavioural characteristics can be established and explained.

This paper, which was published in 2008, predicted that modern lineages from outside sub-Saharan Africa would have a small admixture of Neanderthal genes (up to 4%, as it turns out, from recent analyses of the Neanderthal genome) from contact with gracile Levantine Neanderthals, but would have almost none from more robust cold-weather Neanderthals to the north. The discovery that non-African lineages have some Neanderthal genes is not nearly as surprising, given the existence of fossils that show some hybridization, as the fact that all those lineages apparently have similar low amounts of Neanderthal genes. This suggests that the genes entered modern genomes after the root population of anatomically modern humans (AMHs) had left Africa around 70,000 years ago, but before it had split into separate Eurasiatic and Australian branches, during the brief period when AMHs were still limited to the relatively warm Middle East.
What’s even more surprising is that the descendants of branches that expanded northwards after the initial contact with Neanderthals did not continue to accumulate their genes to a significant degree, since some of those branches continued to have contact with our archaic cousins tens of thousands of years after AMH populations, which stayed around the Indian Ocean. That should have been plenty of time for Caucasians, for example, to acquire a much larger dose of Neanderthal genes. But Europeans have only a little more Neanderthal inheritance than do Polynesians, Australian Aborigines, or American Indians.
What could have prevented northern Moderns from adding significantly to their Neanderthal inheritance once they began encountering cold-weather Neanderthals rather than warm-weather ones?
The answer probably lies in the difference between the bones of Levantine Neanderthals, which are fairly gracile, and their cold-weather cousins, which are much more robust. They are so different that the two Neanderthal populations should probably be divided into two races or even sub-species: a Middle-Eastern one adapted to temperate conditions and the other to "hyper-arctic" conditions involving severe wind chill factors.
If the osteological and other analyses detailed in this paper are correct, then the northern Neanderthal population must have had more extreme thermoregulatory adaptations than the southern one, which would have been adapted to almost the same range of temperatures as the even more gracile AMHs coming out of Africa. Just as the similarity between the thermo-regulatory controls of southern Neanderthals and AMHs could explain why they could occasionally hybridize, the different biological approaches to temperature of AMHs and northern Neanderthals could explain why there is so little evidence that they cross-bred.
I hypothesized that the only way for AMHs and cold-weather Neanderthals to maintain such different thermoregulatory adaptations would have been for each population to have its own conservative sexual preferences. AMH preferences would have maintained whole-body cooling systems based on sweat and bald bodies, which could only be insulated against glacial conditions with seamed clothing, while northern Neanderthal preferences ensured that each new generation was equipped with bodies that grew winter insulation in the form of sub-cutaneous fat and fur, which would have required the addition of nothing more than draped clothing. The fact that AMHs and northern Neanderthals were so invested in such contrasting thermoregulatory solutions would have locked them into preferences that prevented much hybridization and the survival of many hybrids.
But the corresponding fact that neither AMHs nor the Levantine Neanderthals they encountered before 60,000 years ago were invested in biological adaptations to extreme cold - with their incompatible sets of sexual cues - would have opened the path to limited cross-breeding in the Middle East, just as the latest genetic results have demonstrated.

Defining varying spatial and temporal analytical scales is essential before evaluating the responses of late Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens to Abrupt Environmental Transitions (AETs) and environmental disasters for the period 130-25 ka. Recent advances in addressing the population histories and interactions (using both genetic and archaeological evidence) of Neanderthals and H. sapiens have encouraged consideration of more subtle dynamics of archaeological change. Descriptions of change based on methodologies pioneered some 160 years ago are no longer adequate to explain the patterning we now see in the record. New chronological results, using multiple dating methods, allow us to begin to unpick the spatial and temporal scales of change. Isochronic markers (such as specific volcanic eruptions) can be used to create temporal frameworks (lattices), and results from other dating techniques compared against them. A combination of chronological lattices and direct dating of diagnostic artefacts and human fossils permits us, for the first time, to have greater confidence in connecting human (recent hominin) species and their behavioural responses to environmental conditions, and in quantifying scales of change
over time and space (time-transgression). The timing of innovations, particularly those in bone, antler and ivory, can be directly quantified and tested, and used to re-evaluate longstanding models of cultural change. This paper also uses these new chronologies to explore the ecologies of late Neanderthals and early H. sapiens: their population densities, mobilities, resources exploited and possible interactions.
Environmental productivity estimates are used to generate new questions of potential population densities and mobilities, and thus the sensitivity of these groups to environmental perturbations. Scales and intensities of effect on environments from natural disasters and AETs (notably Heinrich Events and the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption) are defined as a scale from “proximal” to “distal,” with local conditions (topographic shelter or exposure) serving to intensify or mitigate those effects.

Defining varying spatial and temporal analytical scales is essential before evaluating the responses of late Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens to Abrupt Environmental Transitions (AETs) and environmental disasters for the period 130e25 ka. Recent advances in addressing the population histories and interactions (using both genetic and archaeological evidence) of Neanderthals and H. sapiens have encouraged consideration of more subtle dynamics of archaeological change. Descriptions of change based on methodologies pioneered some 160 years ago are no longer adequate to explain the patterning we now see in the record. New chronological results, using multiple dating methods, allow us to begin to unpick the spatial and temporal scales of change. Isochronic markers (such as specific volcanic eruptions) can be used to create temporal frameworks (lattices), and results from other dating techniques compared against them. A combination of chronological lattices and direct dating of diagnostic artefacts and human fossils permits us, for the first time, to have greater confidence in connecting human (recent hominin) species and their behavioural responses to environmental conditions, and in quantifying scales of change over time and space (time-transgression). The timing of innovations, particularly those in bone, antler and ivory, can be directly quantified and tested, and used to re-evaluate longstanding models of cultural change. This paper also uses these new chronologies to explore the ecologies of late Neanderthals and early H. sapiens: their population densities, mobilities, resources exploited and possible interactions. Environmental productivity estimates are used to generate new questions of potential population densities and mobilities, and thus the sensitivity of these groups to environmental perturbations. Scales and intensities of effect on environments from natural disasters and AETs (notably Heinrich Events and the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption) are defined as a scale from "proximal" to "distal," with local conditions (topographic shelter or exposure) serving to intensify or mitigate those effects.

Der Verfasser behandelt die Entwicklung des Gebietes der Stadt Haan (Nordrhein - Westfalen, Deutschland) in der Zusammensetzung von 1975.  Eingehend besprochen wird die Ur- und Frühgeschichte, die Geschichte des Mittelalters und die Ausgrabungen der mittelalterlichen Haaner Kirche.

The inference of Neanderthal cognition, including their cultural and linguistic capabilities, has persisted as a fiercely debated research topic for decades. This lack of consensus is substantially based on inherent uncertainties in reconstructing prehistory out of indirect evidence as well as other methodolog-ical limitations. Further factors include systemic difficulties within interdisci-plinary discourse, data artifacts, historic research biases, and the sheer scope of the relevant research. Given the degrees of freedom in interpretation ensuing from these complications, any attempt to find approximate answers to the yet unsettled pertinent discourse may not rest on single studies, but instead a careful and comprehensive interdisciplinary synthesis of findings. Triangulat-ing Neanderthals' cognition by considering the plethora of data, diverse perspectives and aforementioned complexities present within the literature constitutes the currently most reliable pathway to tentative conclusions. While some uncertainties remain, such an approach paints the picture of an extensive shared humanity between anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals.

Carbon and nitrogen isotopic abundances of fossil bone collagen reflect those of the average diet, and they can be preserved for tens of thousands of years under favourable conditions. Spy Neandertals offer a favourable case for the use of the isotopic approach to reconstruct their diet and ecology. The collagen preservation in Late Pleistocene Belgium caves is extremely good. The new radiocarbon dates obtained on Neandertal and faunal specimens from Spy allow relevant comparison between contemporaneous organisms, from Spy or nearby caves, such as Scladina and Goyet. Comparisons of prey selection patterns based on isotopic results were made between Spy Neandertals and animal predators, such as hyaenas and cave lions. Prey selection of Spy Neandertals was oriented on megafauna, such as woolly mammoths and woolly rhinoceros, while hyaenas were more opportunistic and cave lions more oriented on reindeer. The results obtained on Spy Neandertals
were compared with those obtained on other Belgian Neandertals (Scladina, Engis), other European Neandertals (Saint-Césaire,
Les Pradelles), and with those of early Holocene hunter-gatherers from Belgium. The focus of late Neandertals from Spy on megafauna was also visible on the late Neandertal from Saint-Césaire. The carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures of Spy Neandertals are not found in any analysed Holocene modern humans from Belgium.

This paper explores the impact of major glacial/interglacial paleohydrologic variations in the Middle-Paleolithic Levant on hominin migration and occupation. The climatic reconstruction is based primarily on the most straight-forward paleohydrologic records recently published. These terrestrial proxies convey direct paleoenvironmental signals of effective precipitation and aquifer recharge. The two main proxies are temporal changes of terminal lake levels in the Dead Sea basin and periods of deposition or non-deposition of speleothems. Other records, such as stable isotopes, if interpreted correctly, correspond well with these two direct proxies. All the records consistently indicate that the last two glacial periods in the central Levant were generally wet and cool, while the last two interglacials were dry and warm, so more water was available for the ecosystem and thus hominins during glacial periods than during interglacials. Some proxies indicate that the higher precipitation/evaporation ratio during glacial periods involved higher precipitation rather than only reduced evaporation. Beyond the general mean glacial/interglacial climate suggested here, variations occurred at all temporal scales throughout glacial or interglacial periods. In the Sahara-Negev arid barrier, moister conditions occurred during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6a-5e, when Anatomically Modern Humans apparently migrated out of Africa. We suggest that this migration, as well as the later Neanderthal expansion from Southeast Europe or the Anatolian plateau into the Levant during early MIS 4, could be facilitated by the observed major climatic variations.

In this paper we present a brief synthesis of the Middle Paleolithic in Portugal, focusing both the lithic and faunal assemblages, along with the settlement patterns. Despite the number of sites being small, it seems clear that the Portuguese territory might have been that where the last Neanderthals have lived. At the same time, it also seems that since ~240ka these communities presented a spectrum of particular behavioral features that allow us to distinct them from those located at East of the Pyrenees. In fact, while these were specialized in hunting and exploitation of reindeer with flint tools, those located in Portugal were specialized in the exploitation of a wider diversity of available resources. Such difference might be related with strong differences on environment and landscape, once this territory did not present evidence of strong impact in the most rigorous phases of the glacial periods. This diverse exploitation might have been the base of the survival of Neanderthal populations in the southwesternmost part of Iberia.

La grotte Castaigne, commune de Torsac en Charente a été fouillée par L. Duport dans les années soixante. En dehors de courtes mentions dans quelques publications et de deux travaux princeps (Duport 1966 ; Duport et Vandermeersch 1965), le matériel archéologique et paléoanthropologique issu de ces recherches de terrain avait-jusqu'à présent-échappé à l'attention de la communauté scientifique. Après l'acquisition de la collection par le Musée national de Préhistoire des Eyzies, nous avons entrepris une première révision de ce matériel. Nos résultats préliminaires sont mitigés d'autant plus qu'une partie du matériel (lithique, faunique ou potentiellement humain) est manquant. Quelques éléments de parure provenant probablement de la couche 1 (conservée à l'entrée de la cavité) s'intègrent bien au sein de la diversité connue de ce type d'objets dans des sites régionaux du début de l'Aurignacien. Mais une partie de l'archéostratigraphie établie par L. Duport n'est pas validée par notre étude en raison des mélanges (fauniques) caractérisant la couche 2 supposée moustérienne. Le matériel qui en est issu traduit des débitages Levallois et Discoïde. On peut aussi supposer la présence d'un techno-complexe lithique caractérisant la fin du Paléolithique moyen. Les vestiges fauniques pour partie rapportés à cette couche sont pour un tiers d'entre eux récents. Ceux pléistocènes sont majoritairement des restes d'ours des cavernes et traduisent un lieu d'hivernation. C'est la collection paléoan-thropologique qui fournit le plus d'informations avec des dents isolées et des éléments du squelette infra-crânien permettant d'établir un NMI de cinq néandertaliens (et d'au moins un individu anatomiquement moderne) qui représentent différentes classes d'âges plaidant plutôt pour un site résidentiel. Dans cette contribution, nous n'avons pas mené d'étude descriptive ou comparative détaillée de ces vestiges humains. Outre la nécessité d'obtenir des datations absolues sur le matériel faunique et humain, notre étude a fourni les premiers résultats globaux sur ce gisement oublié alimentant l'histoire du peuplement humain et faunique de ce territoire durant le Pléistocène supérieur. Nous les considérons comme suffisamment importants pour programmer de nouvelles analyses (datation, paléogénétique, isotopes) et la reprise de recherches de terrain. PALEO 30 | t. 2 JUILLET 2020 PAGES 196 À 221 Moustérien, Aurignacien ancien, humain, carnivore, dent, fémur, humérus, clavicule, parure.

Industrial variability within the Middle Paleolithic Micoquian complex of the Crimea is reflected in the
varied occurrence and frequencies of stone tools. Aside from bifacial shaping / thinning flakes and blades within the
debitage (items ≥ 3 cm), there are 5 chip types and their subdivisions (mostly items > 1.5–2.9 cm) reflecting differing
primary and secondary reduction strategies for Crimean Micoquian Tradition (CMT)assemblages. Detailed study of
such chips provides valuable insights into tool production, reshaping and rejuvenation. There is increasing intensity of
secondary treatment and re-treatment of flint, and associated activities from Ak-Kaya-genuine assemblages (ephemeral
killing / primary butchery stations) through Starosele assemblages (various short-term primary and/or secondary
butchery camps) to the Kiik-Koba assemblages (short-term primary and secondary butchery camps). The study confirms
that CMT variability reflects a spectrum of anthropogenic and natural influences rather than representing discrete
cultural traditions.

This paper extends an earlier proposal in Rock Art Research (2008, Vol. 25, No. 1 (May), pp. 101–116) that the Neanderthal lineage adapted to cold climates by acquiring one or more forms of biological insulation. It also adjusts parallel proposals concerning Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) population dynamics. Topics covered include:
• A refined wording of the insulation hypothesis.
• An explanation of why Neanderthal cranial and neck robusticity may have evolved independently from that of the lower body, suggesting why such robusticity may not be incompatible with the insulation hypothesis.
• Explanations of why the functionally hairless bodies of cold-weather Inuits, Fuegians and Tasmanians may not be strong counter-arguments against the fur component of the insulation hypothesis.
• A second insulation hypothesis, this time concerning Holocene Tasmanian women, whose adaptations to apnea diving and long-distance swimming in cold water may provide a partial explanation for the disappearance of bone tools and a change of diet in Tasmania before 3500 BP.
• Proposals for why Neanderthals and Early Moderns may have had different motivations for making coverings, including clothing.
• Fossil and lithic evidence supporting the previous article’s contention that a wave of genes derived largely from African Moderns spread from Asia into Europe during the IUP, creating a western Eurasian population with only modest admixtures of indigenous archaic populations. This involves evidence for an association between the earliest Aurignacian, Bohunician and Bachokirian behavioural packages and certain late Middle Palaeolithic and IUP Asian sites.
• An argument that the changing morphology of Europeans during the transition from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Upper Palaeolithic can not be explained by anything as simple as in-situ evolution from robusticity to gracile traits, since the process on the bulbous chins of Moderns throughout the world shows that our lineage actually acquired a bony process during its period of overall gracilisation — a process which first appears in early African Moderns, before becoming generalised.
• A discussion of the relevance of the ulcer-creating bacteria, Helicobacter pylori, to the contention that Middle Palaeolithic European Robusts (Neanderthals) account for a large part of the legacy of modern Europeans.
• Most importantly, a review of evidence that Neanderthals collected seeds and starchy plant storage organs, which contained their greatest energy potential during the autumn and winter. This provides a partial explanation for how Neanderthals could have built up a seasonal sub-cutaneous fat layer for insulation before the advent of weather-tight clothing.

Childhood is a core stage in development, essential in the acquisition of social, practical and cultural skills. However, this area receives limited attention in archaeological debate, especially in early prehistory. We here consider Neanderthal childhood, exploring the experience of Neanderthal children using biological, cultural and social evidence. We conclude that Neanderthal childhood experience was subtly different from that of their modern human counterparts, orientated around a greater focus on social relationships within their group. Neanderthal children, as reflected in the burial record, may have played a particularly significant role in their society, especially in the domain of symbolic expression. A consideration of childhood informs broader debates surrounding the subtle differences between Neanderthals and modern humans.

In this paper we present a brief synthesis of the Middle Paleolithic in Portugal, focusing both the lithic and faunal assemblages, along with the settlement patterns. Despite the number of sites being small, it seems clear that the Portuguese territory might have been that where the last Neanderthals have lived. At the same time, it also seems that since ~240ka these communities presented a spectrum of particular behavioral features that allow us to distinct them from those located at East of the Pyrenees. In fact, while these were specialized in hunting and exploitation of reindeer with flint tools, those located in Portugal were specialized in the exploitation of a wider diversity of available resources. Such difference might be related with strong differences on environment and landscape, once this territory did not present evidence of strong impact in the most rigorous phases of the glacial periods. This diverse exploitation might have been the base of the survival of Neanderthal populations in the southwesternmost part of Iberia.

In dit artikel staat een bijzonder Neanderthaler-artefact centraal, namelijk een zogeheten ‘bladspits’ uit het late Midden-Paleolithicum. Het werktuig is gevonden in de omgeving van Venray en is zonder twijfel een van de fraaiste voorbeelden van bladspitsen van het zogeheten ‘Mauern-type’ uit Nederland.

Data for the dating of the earliest human art from cave sites at Maros in Sulawesi, Indonesia; Lascaux, Pech Merle, and Chauvet in southern France, and Altamira and El Castillo in Spain are reviewed. Arguments that western Europe was the locus for the development of artistic expression are evaluated and challenged in the light of the dates obtained for Maros cave. The weight of evidence now points to the widespread presence of parietal art across the Eurasian continent from c.40,000 BP, the ultimate origin of which may lie in the African continent c.60,000 BP. This contradicts the Eurocentric notion that a creative explosion took place uniquely in western Europe c.40,000, leading to the establishment of human culture. A further consequence of the dating evidence from Maros cave is to undermine the theory that Neanderthals were the creator of the earliest cave art. As the distribution of Neanderthals was limited to Europe they cannot be relied upon to explain paintings in Asia, which either predate or are contemporary with those found in Europe.

KEYWORDS
PLEISTOCENE, UPPER PALAEOLITHIC, ORIGINS OF ART, PARIETAL ART, CAVE ART, MAROS CAVE, LASCAUX CAVE, PECH MERLE CAVE, CHAUVET CAVE, ALTAMIRA CAVE, EL CASTILLO CAVE, NEANDERTHAL, CREATIVE EXPLOSION, COGNITION

The late Middle Palaeolithic (MP) settlement patterns in the Levant included the repeated use of caves and open landscape sites. The fossil record shows that two types of hominins occupied the region during this period-Neandertals and Homo sapiens. Until recently, diagnostic fossil remains were found only at cave sites. Because the two populations in this region left similar material cultural remains, it was impossible to attribute any open-air site to either species. In this study, we present newly discovered fossil remains from intact archaeological layers of the open-air site 'Ein Qashish, in northern Israel. The hominin remains represent three individuals: EQH1, a nondiagnostic skull fragment; EQH2, an upper right third molar (RM(3)); and EQH3, lower limb bones of a young Neandertal male. EQH2 and EQH3 constitute the first diagnostic anatomical remains of Neandertals at an open-air site in the Levant. The optically stimulated luminescence ages suggest that Neandertals repeat...

The late Middle Palaeolithic (MP) settlement patterns in the Levant included the repeated use of caves and open landscape sites. The fossil record shows that two types of hominins occupied the region during this period-Neandertals and Homo sapiens. Until recently, diagnostic fossil remains were found only at cave sites. Because the two populations in this region left similar material cultural remains, it was impossible to attribute any open-air site to either species. In this study, we present newly discovered fossil remains from intact archaeological layers of the open-air site 'Ein Qashish, in northern Israel. The hominin remains represent three individuals: EQH1, a nondiagnostic skull fragment; EQH2, an upper right third molar (RM(3)); and EQH3, lower limb bones of a young Neandertal male. EQH2 and EQH3 constitute the first diagnostic anatomical remains of Neandertals at an open-air site in the Levant. The optically stimulated luminescence ages suggest that Neandertals repeat...

Abstract In Palaeolithic archaeology, the resumption of fieldwork in previously excavated sites is a common practice, often motivated by the inadequacy of past recovery protocols for modern archaeological studies. Considering that areas open to new excavations are often limited at such sites, new fieldwork should integrate archival data as much as possible in order to combine old and new information. However, correlations between earlier and modern excavations often prove difficult given the absence of detailed spatial information from previous fieldwork. In many cases, the only available documents consist of schematic drawings, imprecise field notes, and a handful of poor-quality photographs. Here we investigate how photogrammetry can be used to extract valuable spatial information from archive photographs. Examples from three Middle Palaeolithic sites in southwestern France (Combe–Grenal, Le Moustier, and Regourdou) show how interactively combining fieldwork with photogrammetry in the analysis of archival documentation can assist decision making during archaeological excavations.

The quintessential cavemen, Neanderthals bring to mind muscular, hulking, hairy, club-wielding brutes who communicate with grunts, gestures and cave paintings, and "boink" their prospective mates over the head and drag them back to their cave by the hair. Somehow the females of the species seem to look like Raquel Welch (One Million Years B.C.), Rae Dawn Chong (Quest for Fire), and Darryl Hannah (Clan of the Cave Bear). Alas, we can't forget about Captain Caveman, who looks like a hairy peanut with legs, and who hides a prehistoric arsenal in his fur.

Domestication in essence represents a set of human interactions with other species, in which behavior has a leading role. At the same time, recent findings from neurochemical research highlight the importance of an opioid system for such interactions. A combination of these neurochemical mechanisms and the peculiar social behavior of Neanderthal males could facilitate interactions between humans and wild species, and this type of behavior could be adopted by our ancestors in Eurasia from Neanderthals. These facilitative interactions could later lead to domestications. We propose that domestication is an artificial, social, and personal system of the repeated use of results gained from the behavior and existence of specific representatives of animal and plant species, often obtained by means of genetic selection, with the initial aim of producing a greater amount of endogenous opioids and related neurohormones in the human organism. The new perspective can help generate empirically t...

The article presents evidence about the Middle Palaeolithic and Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition interval in the karst area of the Danube Gorges in the Lower Danube Basin. We review the extant data and present new evidence from two recently investigated sites found on the Serbian side of the Danube River-Tabula Traiana and Dubočka-Kozja caves. The two sites have yielded layers dating to both the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic and have been investigated by the application of modern standards of excavation and recovery along with a suite of state-of-the-art analytical procedures. The presentation focuses on micromorphological analyses of the caves' sediments, characterisation of cryptotephra, a suite of new radiometric dates (accelerator mass spectrometry and optically stimulated luminescence) as well as proteomics (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) and stable isotope data in discerning patterns of human occupation of these locales over the long term.

In the course of the last 500,000 years, the Neandertal lineage was the first human group to extensively colonize the middle latitudes of western Eurasia up to 55 • N. Although Neandertals were able to adapt to a variety of environments, their ability to cope with extreme glacial environments seems to have been very limited. Depending on the climatic cycles, their presence in the northern environments was essentially discontinuous. The periodical abandonment of some areas is generally interpreted as resulting in a movement of northern populations into southern refuges and a subsequent recolonisation of the northern regions. Here, we argue that the current palaeo-ecological, archaeological and palaeogenetic evidence supports a model of local extinctions rather than a habitat tracking model. To cite this article:

It has been shown that Neanderthals contributed genetically to modern humans outside Africa 47,000-65,000 years ago. Here we analyse the genomes of a Neanderthal and a Denisovan from the Altai Mountains in Siberia together with the sequences of chromosome 21 of two Neanderthals from Spain and Croatia. We find that a population that diverged early from other modern humans in Africa contributed genetically to the ancestors of Neanderthals from the Altai Mountains roughly 100,000 years ago. By contrast, we do not detect such a genetic contribution in the Denisovan or the two European Neanderthals. We conclude that in addition to later interbreeding events, the ancestors of Neanderthals from the Altai Mountains and early modern humans met and interbred, possibly in the Near East, many thousands of years earlier than previously thought.

La découverte inattendue de gravures paléolithiques de plein air dans la vallée du Côa et la décision de leur conservation in situ ont servi d’impulsion pour la recherche de leur contexte archéologique. Depuis 1995, on sait que cette vallée conserve des vestiges d’occupation humaine qui vont du Gravettien à l’Azilien. Les études ont révélé l’exploitation d’une zone écotone de son bassin versant et les origines des silex et silcrètes utilisés montrent l'existence d'un vaste réseau de contact social. Depuis 2014, et dans le cadre du projet PalæoCôa nous avons cherché à reconstituer son occupation humaine, en particulier pour le Tardiglaciaire, l’évolution des dépôts quaternaires et leur relation avec les occupations humaines et l’art rupestre. A l’instar des résultats complètement nouveaux obtenus entre 1995 et 2001 qui révélèrent une dense occupation de cette région en limite de la Meseta septentrionale, les nouveaux acquis montrent que ce territoire a aussi été exploité par ...

Neanderthal extinction has been a matter of debate for many years. New discoveries, better chronologies and genomic evidence have done much to clarify some of the issues. This evidence suggests that Neanderthals became extinct around 40,000–37,000 years before present (BP), after a period of coexistence with Homo sapiens of several millennia, involving biological and cultural interactions between the two groups. However, the bulk of this evidence relates to Western Eurasia, and recent work in Central Asia and Siberia has shown that there is considerable local variation. Southwestern Asia, despite having a number of significant Neanderthal remains, has not played a major part in the debate over extinction. Here we report a Neanderthal deciduous canine from the site of Bawa Yawan in the West-Central Zagros Mountains of Iran. The tooth is associated with Zagros Mousterian lithics, and its context is preliminary dated to between ~43,600 and ~41,500 years ago.

This paper presents a part of an archaeological research project focused on the study of the first human occupations between Eresma and Riaza rivers (Central Spain). In this work, we show the first results of the geoarchaeological analysis of the Abrigo del Molino karstic deposit (Eresma river, Segovia). It includes a sedimentological and geoarchaeological analysis of the site. Also, a preliminary analysis of lithics and faunal remains documented in the profile of the rockshelter was developed. It is important to highlight the presence of a flint mousterian assemblage which includes levallois knapping method. Finally, we present the results of an OSL dating collected at the top of the archaeological sequence, which lets us to asign it to Middle Paleolithic period.

Bone fragments of large anadromous salmon in the Middle Palaeolithic archaeological layers of Kudaro 3 cave (Caucasus) suggested fish consumption by archaic Hominins, such as Neandertals. However, large carnivores such as Asiatic cave bears (Ursus kudarensis) and cave lions (Panthera spelaea) were also found in the cave and could have been responsible for such an accumulation. The diet of these carnivores was evaluated using carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopes in faunal bone collagen. The results suggest that anadromous fish were neither part of the diet of either cave bear (vegetarian) or cave lion (predators of herbivores from arid areas) and therefore provide indirect support to the idea that Middle Palaeolithic Hominins, probably Neandertals, were able to consume fish when it was available.

The Gruta da Oliveira was inhabited by humans during the Middle Paleolithic, between ~35.000 and ~70.000 BP. The dispersion of burnt animal bone fragments, suggests three main areas of Neanderthal occupation: (1) layers 19-17, in the crossing of 27-S Chamber entrance with the Side Passage, under a projection of the cave’s wall; (2) layers 16-12, in the 27-S Chamber; and (3) layers 11-8, in the Side Passage. Only one in situ hearth was identified, on the base of layer 14. On the basis of dimension, histology and colour of the bone fragments of layers 14 and 15 they are considered the result from intentional burning. The major motivation for the use of bone as fuel was the heating and lighting of the cave.

The Gruta da Oliveira is a Middle Palaeolithic cave located 120 km north of Lisbon, Portugal. The human occupation spans from c. 70-35000 cal BP and three different phases can be defined. Phase I comprises layer 19 to 15 and its occupation was at the cave’s mouth. Phase II is an in situ occupation of the 27-S Chamber during the deposition of layers 14 and 13. Phase III includes layers 12 to 7, when the occupation took place at the Side Passage. The Neanderthal’s diet included Testudo hermanni (Hermann’s Tortoise). These land tortoises played a significant role during the occupation of Phase I when they were intensively exploited. They were cooked with its dorsal carapace on the coals and then butchered with hammerstones. From Phase I to Phase II there was a change in the strategy of the cave’s occupation and in the food supply. In fact, there is a very low frequency of tortoise bones on the last two phases (II and III). This change appears to be a part of a more global Neanderthal cultural evolution dated from c. 44 000 cal BP.