The life history pattern of recent humans is uniquely derived in many of its aspects including an... more The life history pattern of recent humans is uniquely derived in many of its aspects including an extended post-reproductive lifespan combined with short interbirth intervals. A number of theories have been proposed to explain the evolution of this unusual pattern. However most have been difficult to test due to the fragmentary nature of the hominin fossil record and the lack of methods capable of inferring such later life history events. In search of a method we tested the hypothesis that the physiologically impactful events of parturition and menopause are recorded in dental cementum microstructure. We performed histomorphological analyses of 47 teeth from 15 individuals with known life history events and were able to detect reproductive events and menopause in all females. Furthermore, we found that other stressful events such as systemic illnesses and incarceration are also detectable. Finally, through the development of a novel analytical method we were able to time all such ev...
The Rising Star cave system has produced abundant fossil hominin remains within the Dinaledi Cham... more The Rising Star cave system has produced abundant fossil hominin remains within the Dinaledi Chamber, representing a minimum of 15 individuals attributed to Homo naledi. Further exploration led to the discovery of hominin material, now comprising 131 hominin specimens, within a second chamber, the Lesedi Chamber. The Lesedi Chamber is far separated from the Dinaledi Chamber within the Rising Star cave system, and represents a second depositional context for hominin remains. In each of three collection areas within the Lesedi Chamber, diagnostic skeletal material allows a clear attribution to H. naledi. Both adult and immature material is present. The hominin remains represent at least three individuals based upon duplication of elements, but more individuals are likely present based upon the spatial context. The most significant specimen is the near-complete cranium of a large individual, designated LES1, with an endocranial volume of approximately 610 ml and associated postcranial ...
The Protoaurignacian culture is pivotal to the debate about the timing of the arrival of modern h... more The Protoaurignacian culture is pivotal to the debate about the timing of the arrival of modern humans in Western Europe and the demise of Neandertals. However, which group is responsible for this culture remains uncertain. We investigated dental remains associated with the Protoaurignacian. The lower deciduous incisor from Riparo Bombrini is modern human, based on its morphology. The upper deciduous incisor from Grotta di Fumane contains ancient mitochondrial DNA of a modern human type. These teeth are the oldest human remains in an Aurignacian-related archeological context, confirming that by 41,000 calendar years before the present, modern humans bearing Protoaurignacian culture spread into Southern Europe. Because the last Neandertals date to 41,030 to 39,260 calendar years before the present, we suggest that the Protoaurignacian triggered the demise of Neandertals in this area.
The Upper Paleolithic human remains from the Solutrean and Solutrean to Magdalenian levels of the... more The Upper Paleolithic human remains from the Solutrean and Solutrean to Magdalenian levels of the Gruta do Caldeirao, Tomar (Portugal) are described paleontologically. The remains, which include maxillary and mandibular pieces, associated and isolated teeth, and small postcranial elements, derive from a series of individuals between childhood and early adulthood. The teeth are relatively large, similar to those of earlier Upper Paleolithic Europeans, and the postcranial elements derive from a relatively small and gracile individual. All are notable for their lack of pathological alterations.
The Galeria da Cisterna yielded an ensemble of human remains in Pleistocene remnant deposits radi... more The Galeria da Cisterna yielded an ensemble of human remains in Pleistocene remnant deposits radiocarbon–dated to the later part of the Magdalenian, in good agreement with their scarce stone tool and faunal content. The archeological context also includes a set of perforated shell beads, suggesting that the human remains entered the site as a result of burial practices. The dental remains of Cisterna 1 to 3 represent minimally a young child, a late juvenile, and an adolescent/young adult, and the three isolated manual and pedal remains (Cisterna 4 to 6) could belong to the same individuals. The remains are notable for their absence of developmental or degenerative lesions and the dimensions of the teeth, generally larger than those of most Late Upper Paleolithic Europeans and similar to those of earlier Upper Paleolithic Europeans.
Most research on Neandertal teeth has focused on shovel shaped incisors and/or taurodont molars. ... more Most research on Neandertal teeth has focused on shovel shaped incisors and/or taurodont molars. In the past 15 years there has been a renewed interested in Neandertal dental morphology, especially with regard to how they compare to recent and fossil modern humans. However, no complete description of Neandertal dental morphology has been published since the mid-1950s. Many more Neandertals and other fossil hominins have been discovered since then and are available for a comparative study. This paper provides a description of Neandertal dental morphology and places that morphology in a comparative fossil hominin context. It differs from previous work by focusing on fossil hominin variation (as opposed to contemporary modern human variation) and provides a comparative baseline in which Neandertal dental morphology can be assessed. The four comparative samples include European and West Asian Neandertals, European non-Neandertal archaics, South African/West Asian early modern humans and...
The recently described Denisovan hemimandible from Xiahe, China [F. Chen et al., (2019) Nature 56... more The recently described Denisovan hemimandible from Xiahe, China [F. Chen et al., (2019) Nature 569, 409–412], possesses an unusual dental feature: a 3-rooted lower second molar. A survey of the clinical and bioarchaeological literature demonstrates that the 3-rooted lower molar is rare (less than 3.5% occurrence) in non-Asian Homo sapiens. In contrast, its presence in Asian-derived populations can exceed 40% in China and the New World. It has long been thought that the prevalence of 3-rooted lower molars in Asia is a relatively late acquisition occurring well after the origin and dispersal of H. sapiens. However, the presence of a 3-rooted lower second molar in this 160,000-y-old fossil hominin suggests greater antiquity for the trait. Importantly, it also provides morphological evidence of a strong link between archaic and recent Asian H. sapiens populations. This link provides compelling evidence that modern Asian lineages acquired the 3-rooted lower molar via introgression from D...
The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Europe witnessed the replacement and partial absor... more The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Europe witnessed the replacement and partial absorption of local Neanderthal populations by Homo sapiens populations of African origin1. However, this process probably varied across regions and its details remain largely unknown. In particular, the duration of chronological overlap between the two groups is much debated, as are the implications of this overlap for the nature of the biological and cultural interactions between Neanderthals and H. sapiens. Here we report the discovery and direct dating of human remains found in association with Initial Upper Palaeolithic artefacts2, from excavations at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria). Morphological analysis of a tooth and mitochondrial DNA from several hominin bone fragments, identified through proteomic screening, assign these finds to H. sapiens and link the expansion of Initial Upper Palaeolithic technologies with the spread of H. sapiens into the mid-latitudes of Eurasia before 45 thousand years ago3. The excavations yielded a wealth of bone artefacts, including pendants manufactured from cave bear teeth that are reminiscent of those later produced by the last Neanderthals of western Europe4–6. These finds are consistent with models based on the arrival of multiple waves of H. sapiens into Europe coming into contact with declining Neanderthal populations7,8. Direct dates for human remains found in association with Initial Upper Palaeolithic artefacts at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria) demonstrate the presence of Homo sapiens in the mid-latitudes of Europe before 45 thousand years ago.
The study uses analyses of Mean Measure of Divergence (MMD) to assess the affinities of ten popul... more The study uses analyses of Mean Measure of Divergence (MMD) to assess the affinities of ten populations representing early anatomically modern humans, Upper Paleolithic Europeans, recent modern humans, and Neandertals. The 18-triat MMD analysis demonstrates that, dentally, Neandertals are quite divergent from all modern humans. The results of cluster analyses based on MMD values suggest two major clusters: Neandertals and modern humans. The data also suggest two sub-clusters within the modern human cluster. One links Upper Paleolithic Europeans with recent North Africans and Europeans. The other links early anatomically modern humans with Late Pleistocene Africans and recent Sub-Saharan Africans. These results do not support a close relationship between Neandertals and any modern human groups samples. They also tentatively suggest that, if the two populations were interbreeding, it is not reflected in their dental morphology. The results showing a close affinity between early anatom...
Scholars endeavor to understand the relationship between human evolution and climate change. This... more Scholars endeavor to understand the relationship between human evolution and climate change. This is particularly germane for Neanderthals, who survived extreme Eurasian environmental variation and glaciations, mysteriously going extinct during a cool interglacial stage. Here, we integrate weekly records of climate, tooth growth, and metal exposure in two Neanderthals and one modern human from southeastern France. The Neanderthals inhabited cooler and more seasonal periods than the modern human, evincing childhood developmental stress during wintertime. In one instance, this stress may have included skeletal mobilization of elemental stores and weight loss; this individual was born in the spring and appears to have weaned 2.5 years later. Both Neanderthals were exposed to lead at least twice during the deep winter and/or early spring. This multidisciplinary approach elucidates direct relationships between ancient environments and hominin paleobiology.
Journal of anthropological sciences = Rivista di antropologia : JASS, 2018
The Uluzzian techno-complex is commonly considered to be a "transitional industry" most... more The Uluzzian techno-complex is commonly considered to be a "transitional industry" mostly on the basis of some inferred characteristics such as a chiefly flake-based production, a small amount of Upper Palaeolithic-like tools and a combination of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic elements both in the toolkit and in the technical systems. Following its discovery, the Uluzzian was identified as the Italian counterpart of the French Châtelperronian and attributed to Neandertals. However, a study issued in 2011 has established the modern character of the two deciduous teeth found in 1964 in the Uluzzian deposit of Grotta del Cavallo, fostering renewed interests to the Uluzzian culture, which real nature is almost unknown to the international scientific community. Here we provide preliminary results of the study on the lithic assemblage from the earliest Uluzzian layer and on backed pieces from the whole Uluzzian sequence of Grotta del Cavallo (Apulia, Italy), the type site of the ...
A new species of Homo, Homo naledi, was described in 2015 based on the hominin skeletal remains f... more A new species of Homo, Homo naledi, was described in 2015 based on the hominin skeletal remains from the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star cave system, South Africa. Subsequent craniodental comparative analyses, both phenetic and cladistic, served to support its taxonomic distinctiveness. Here we provide a new quantitative analysis, where up to 78 nonmetric crown and root traits of the permanent dentition were compared among samples of H. naledi (including remains from the recently discovered Lesedi Chamber) and eight other species from Africa: Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus boisei, Paranthropus robustus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Middle Pleistocene Homo sp., and Pleistocene and Holocene Homo sapiens. By using the mean measure of divergence distance statistic, phenetic affinities were calculated among samples to evaluate interspecific relatedness. The objective was to compare the results with those previously obtained, to assess further the ...
The life history pattern of recent humans is uniquely derived in many of its aspects including an... more The life history pattern of recent humans is uniquely derived in many of its aspects including an extended post-reproductive lifespan combined with short interbirth intervals. A number of theories have been proposed to explain the evolution of this unusual pattern. However most have been difficult to test due to the fragmentary nature of the hominin fossil record and the lack of methods capable of inferring such later life history events. In search of a method we tested the hypothesis that the physiologically impactful events of parturition and menopause are recorded in dental cementum microstructure. We performed histomorphological analyses of 47 teeth from 15 individuals with known life history events and were able to detect reproductive events and menopause in all females. Furthermore, we found that other stressful events such as systemic illnesses and incarceration are also detectable. Finally, through the development of a novel analytical method we were able to time all such ev...
The Rising Star cave system has produced abundant fossil hominin remains within the Dinaledi Cham... more The Rising Star cave system has produced abundant fossil hominin remains within the Dinaledi Chamber, representing a minimum of 15 individuals attributed to Homo naledi. Further exploration led to the discovery of hominin material, now comprising 131 hominin specimens, within a second chamber, the Lesedi Chamber. The Lesedi Chamber is far separated from the Dinaledi Chamber within the Rising Star cave system, and represents a second depositional context for hominin remains. In each of three collection areas within the Lesedi Chamber, diagnostic skeletal material allows a clear attribution to H. naledi. Both adult and immature material is present. The hominin remains represent at least three individuals based upon duplication of elements, but more individuals are likely present based upon the spatial context. The most significant specimen is the near-complete cranium of a large individual, designated LES1, with an endocranial volume of approximately 610 ml and associated postcranial ...
The Protoaurignacian culture is pivotal to the debate about the timing of the arrival of modern h... more The Protoaurignacian culture is pivotal to the debate about the timing of the arrival of modern humans in Western Europe and the demise of Neandertals. However, which group is responsible for this culture remains uncertain. We investigated dental remains associated with the Protoaurignacian. The lower deciduous incisor from Riparo Bombrini is modern human, based on its morphology. The upper deciduous incisor from Grotta di Fumane contains ancient mitochondrial DNA of a modern human type. These teeth are the oldest human remains in an Aurignacian-related archeological context, confirming that by 41,000 calendar years before the present, modern humans bearing Protoaurignacian culture spread into Southern Europe. Because the last Neandertals date to 41,030 to 39,260 calendar years before the present, we suggest that the Protoaurignacian triggered the demise of Neandertals in this area.
The Upper Paleolithic human remains from the Solutrean and Solutrean to Magdalenian levels of the... more The Upper Paleolithic human remains from the Solutrean and Solutrean to Magdalenian levels of the Gruta do Caldeirao, Tomar (Portugal) are described paleontologically. The remains, which include maxillary and mandibular pieces, associated and isolated teeth, and small postcranial elements, derive from a series of individuals between childhood and early adulthood. The teeth are relatively large, similar to those of earlier Upper Paleolithic Europeans, and the postcranial elements derive from a relatively small and gracile individual. All are notable for their lack of pathological alterations.
The Galeria da Cisterna yielded an ensemble of human remains in Pleistocene remnant deposits radi... more The Galeria da Cisterna yielded an ensemble of human remains in Pleistocene remnant deposits radiocarbon–dated to the later part of the Magdalenian, in good agreement with their scarce stone tool and faunal content. The archeological context also includes a set of perforated shell beads, suggesting that the human remains entered the site as a result of burial practices. The dental remains of Cisterna 1 to 3 represent minimally a young child, a late juvenile, and an adolescent/young adult, and the three isolated manual and pedal remains (Cisterna 4 to 6) could belong to the same individuals. The remains are notable for their absence of developmental or degenerative lesions and the dimensions of the teeth, generally larger than those of most Late Upper Paleolithic Europeans and similar to those of earlier Upper Paleolithic Europeans.
Most research on Neandertal teeth has focused on shovel shaped incisors and/or taurodont molars. ... more Most research on Neandertal teeth has focused on shovel shaped incisors and/or taurodont molars. In the past 15 years there has been a renewed interested in Neandertal dental morphology, especially with regard to how they compare to recent and fossil modern humans. However, no complete description of Neandertal dental morphology has been published since the mid-1950s. Many more Neandertals and other fossil hominins have been discovered since then and are available for a comparative study. This paper provides a description of Neandertal dental morphology and places that morphology in a comparative fossil hominin context. It differs from previous work by focusing on fossil hominin variation (as opposed to contemporary modern human variation) and provides a comparative baseline in which Neandertal dental morphology can be assessed. The four comparative samples include European and West Asian Neandertals, European non-Neandertal archaics, South African/West Asian early modern humans and...
The recently described Denisovan hemimandible from Xiahe, China [F. Chen et al., (2019) Nature 56... more The recently described Denisovan hemimandible from Xiahe, China [F. Chen et al., (2019) Nature 569, 409–412], possesses an unusual dental feature: a 3-rooted lower second molar. A survey of the clinical and bioarchaeological literature demonstrates that the 3-rooted lower molar is rare (less than 3.5% occurrence) in non-Asian Homo sapiens. In contrast, its presence in Asian-derived populations can exceed 40% in China and the New World. It has long been thought that the prevalence of 3-rooted lower molars in Asia is a relatively late acquisition occurring well after the origin and dispersal of H. sapiens. However, the presence of a 3-rooted lower second molar in this 160,000-y-old fossil hominin suggests greater antiquity for the trait. Importantly, it also provides morphological evidence of a strong link between archaic and recent Asian H. sapiens populations. This link provides compelling evidence that modern Asian lineages acquired the 3-rooted lower molar via introgression from D...
The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Europe witnessed the replacement and partial absor... more The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Europe witnessed the replacement and partial absorption of local Neanderthal populations by Homo sapiens populations of African origin1. However, this process probably varied across regions and its details remain largely unknown. In particular, the duration of chronological overlap between the two groups is much debated, as are the implications of this overlap for the nature of the biological and cultural interactions between Neanderthals and H. sapiens. Here we report the discovery and direct dating of human remains found in association with Initial Upper Palaeolithic artefacts2, from excavations at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria). Morphological analysis of a tooth and mitochondrial DNA from several hominin bone fragments, identified through proteomic screening, assign these finds to H. sapiens and link the expansion of Initial Upper Palaeolithic technologies with the spread of H. sapiens into the mid-latitudes of Eurasia before 45 thousand years ago3. The excavations yielded a wealth of bone artefacts, including pendants manufactured from cave bear teeth that are reminiscent of those later produced by the last Neanderthals of western Europe4–6. These finds are consistent with models based on the arrival of multiple waves of H. sapiens into Europe coming into contact with declining Neanderthal populations7,8. Direct dates for human remains found in association with Initial Upper Palaeolithic artefacts at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria) demonstrate the presence of Homo sapiens in the mid-latitudes of Europe before 45 thousand years ago.
The study uses analyses of Mean Measure of Divergence (MMD) to assess the affinities of ten popul... more The study uses analyses of Mean Measure of Divergence (MMD) to assess the affinities of ten populations representing early anatomically modern humans, Upper Paleolithic Europeans, recent modern humans, and Neandertals. The 18-triat MMD analysis demonstrates that, dentally, Neandertals are quite divergent from all modern humans. The results of cluster analyses based on MMD values suggest two major clusters: Neandertals and modern humans. The data also suggest two sub-clusters within the modern human cluster. One links Upper Paleolithic Europeans with recent North Africans and Europeans. The other links early anatomically modern humans with Late Pleistocene Africans and recent Sub-Saharan Africans. These results do not support a close relationship between Neandertals and any modern human groups samples. They also tentatively suggest that, if the two populations were interbreeding, it is not reflected in their dental morphology. The results showing a close affinity between early anatom...
Scholars endeavor to understand the relationship between human evolution and climate change. This... more Scholars endeavor to understand the relationship between human evolution and climate change. This is particularly germane for Neanderthals, who survived extreme Eurasian environmental variation and glaciations, mysteriously going extinct during a cool interglacial stage. Here, we integrate weekly records of climate, tooth growth, and metal exposure in two Neanderthals and one modern human from southeastern France. The Neanderthals inhabited cooler and more seasonal periods than the modern human, evincing childhood developmental stress during wintertime. In one instance, this stress may have included skeletal mobilization of elemental stores and weight loss; this individual was born in the spring and appears to have weaned 2.5 years later. Both Neanderthals were exposed to lead at least twice during the deep winter and/or early spring. This multidisciplinary approach elucidates direct relationships between ancient environments and hominin paleobiology.
Journal of anthropological sciences = Rivista di antropologia : JASS, 2018
The Uluzzian techno-complex is commonly considered to be a "transitional industry" most... more The Uluzzian techno-complex is commonly considered to be a "transitional industry" mostly on the basis of some inferred characteristics such as a chiefly flake-based production, a small amount of Upper Palaeolithic-like tools and a combination of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic elements both in the toolkit and in the technical systems. Following its discovery, the Uluzzian was identified as the Italian counterpart of the French Châtelperronian and attributed to Neandertals. However, a study issued in 2011 has established the modern character of the two deciduous teeth found in 1964 in the Uluzzian deposit of Grotta del Cavallo, fostering renewed interests to the Uluzzian culture, which real nature is almost unknown to the international scientific community. Here we provide preliminary results of the study on the lithic assemblage from the earliest Uluzzian layer and on backed pieces from the whole Uluzzian sequence of Grotta del Cavallo (Apulia, Italy), the type site of the ...
A new species of Homo, Homo naledi, was described in 2015 based on the hominin skeletal remains f... more A new species of Homo, Homo naledi, was described in 2015 based on the hominin skeletal remains from the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star cave system, South Africa. Subsequent craniodental comparative analyses, both phenetic and cladistic, served to support its taxonomic distinctiveness. Here we provide a new quantitative analysis, where up to 78 nonmetric crown and root traits of the permanent dentition were compared among samples of H. naledi (including remains from the recently discovered Lesedi Chamber) and eight other species from Africa: Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus boisei, Paranthropus robustus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Middle Pleistocene Homo sp., and Pleistocene and Holocene Homo sapiens. By using the mean measure of divergence distance statistic, phenetic affinities were calculated among samples to evaluate interspecific relatedness. The objective was to compare the results with those previously obtained, to assess further the ...
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Papers by Shara Bailey