1 Ancient Biomolecules Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, 2 Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, 3 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton... more
1 Ancient Biomolecules Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, 2 Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, 3 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, United States of America, 4 Government of the Yukon, Cultural Services Branch, Whitehorse, Canada, 5 Quaternary Paleontology Program, Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, 6 Natural History Museum, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America, 7 Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Celular (IMBICE), La Plata, Argentina, 8 Instituto de la Patagonia, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile, 9 Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science, University of Alberta, Canada, 10 San Bernardino County Museum, Redlands, California, United States of America, 11 China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China
The fauna from the Große Grotte, a cave site in the Blau valley (southwestern Germany) is presented. Quantitatively, Ursus spelaeus is by far the main component. Its remains represent individuals – mostly juveniles – which died in the... more
The fauna from the Große Grotte, a cave site in the Blau valley (southwestern Germany) is presented. Quantitatively, Ursus spelaeus is by far the main component. Its remains represent individuals – mostly juveniles – which died in the cave during hibernation. The cave was also used by other carnivores as well as by neanderthals. A relatively large proportion of the bones shows gnawing marks, whereas not a single butchering mark was recorded. Thus, the relative contribution of hominids to the accumulation of the carnivores and herbivore remains seems to have been limited at best. In any event, this fauna cannot be used to explore the subsistence practices of Middle Palaeolithic hominids. According to the microand macrofaunal remains, at least the upper layers (IV–II) were deposited under a cold spell within the first half of the Wuermian Glacial.
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The horse is central to many Indigenous cultures across the American Southwest and the Great Plains. However, when and how horses were first integrated into Indigenous lifeways remain contentious, with extant models derived largely from... more
The horse is central to many Indigenous cultures across the American Southwest and the Great Plains. However, when and how horses were first integrated into Indigenous lifeways remain contentious, with extant models derived largely from colonial records. We conducted an interdisciplinary study of an assemblage of historic archaeological horse remains, integrating genomic, isotopic, radiocarbon, and paleopathological evidence. Archaeological and modern North American horses show strong Iberian genetic affinities, with later influx from British sources, but no Viking proximity. Horses rapidly spread from the south into the northern Rockies and central plains by the first half of the 17th century CE, likely through Indigenous exchange networks. They were deeply integrated into Indigenous societies before the arrival of 18th-century European observers, as reflected in herd management, ceremonial practices, and culture.
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Research Interests: Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Archaeology, Genomics, Biology, and 15 moreAncient DNA Research, Archaeology of Central Asia, Central Asian Archaeology, Animal domestication, Biological Sciences, Horses in Prehistory, Ancient DNA, Cell, Domestication, Domestication of the Horse, Horses, Horse Domestication, Archaeology of Horse and Riders, Horse genetics, and Ancient genomics
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Hippidions were equids with very distinctive anatomical features. They lived in South America 2.5 million years ago (Ma) until their extinction approximately 10 000 years ago. The evolutionary origin of the three known Hippidion... more
Hippidions were equids with very distinctive anatomical features. They lived in South America 2.5 million years ago (Ma) until their extinction approximately 10 000 years ago. The evolutionary origin of the three known Hippidion morphospecies is still disputed. Based on palaeontological data, Hippidion could have diverged from the lineage leading to modern equids before 10 Ma. In contrast, a much later divergence date, with Hippidion nesting within modern equids, was indicated by partial ancient mitochondrial DNA sequences. Here, we characterized eight Hippidion complete mitochondrial genomes at 3.4-386.3-fold coverage using target-enrichment capture and next-generation sequencing. Our dataset reveals that the two morphospecies sequenced (H. saldiasi and H. principale) formed a monophyletic clade, basal to extant and extinct Equus lineages. This contrasts with previous genetic analyses and supports Hippidion as a distinct genus, in agreement with palaeontological models. We date the...
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Research Interests: Science, Multidisciplinary, TIME, Mitochondrial DNA, Fossils, and 7 moreAnimals, Skull, Animal migration, Yukon Territory, Ursidae, Time, and Alaska
Research Interests: Earth Sciences, Zooarchaeology, Ancient DNA Research, Genetic Diversity, Patagonia, and 13 moreMitochondrial DNA, Late Pleistocene, Quaternary Science, History and archaeology, Camelids zooarchaeology, South America, Caza de vicuñas, Early Holocene, Geographic distribution, Quaternary Science Reviews, Control Region, Cytochrome B Gene, and Molecular Sequence Data
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Research Interests: Genetics, Molecular Evolution, Vertebrate Paleontology, Ancient DNA Research, Palaeontology, and 19 moreBiological Sciences, Phylogeny, Fossil record, Mitochondrial DNA, Late Pleistocene, Equidae, Fossils, Animals, Ancient DNA, Equus, Old World, New World, Horse Evolution, Horses, South America, North America, North American, Base Sequence, and Bone and Bones
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Research Interests: Genetics, Geography, Paleontology, Climate Change, Phylogeography, and 23 morePhylogenetics, Speciation, Molecular Evolution, Siberia, Ancient DNA Research, Pleistocene, Molecular Ecology, Ukraine, Biological Sciences, Molecular, Phylogeny, Mitochondrial DNA, Sequence alignment, Europe, Fossils, Animals, Ancient DNA, Extinction, Brown bear, Wolves, Ursidae, Geographic Range, and DNA sequence
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Despite decades of research, the roles of climate and humans in driving the dramatic extinctions of large-bodied mammals during the Late Quaternary period remain contentious. Here we use ancient DNA, species distribution models and the... more
Despite decades of research, the roles of climate and humans in driving the dramatic extinctions of large-bodied mammals during the Late Quaternary period remain contentious. Here we use ancient DNA, species distribution models and the human fossil record to elucidate how climate and humans shaped the demographic history of woolly rhinoceros, woolly mammoth, wild horse, reindeer, bison and musk ox. We show that climate has been a major driver of population change over the past 50,000 years. However, each species responds differently to the effects of climatic shifts, habitat redistribution and human encroachment. Although climate change alone can explain the extinction of some species, such as Eurasian musk ox and woolly rhinoceros, a combination of climatic and anthropogenic effects appears to be responsible for the extinction of others, including Eurasian steppe bison and wild horse. We find no genetic signature or any distinctive range dynamics distinguishing extinct from survivi...