Double child burial from Sunghir (Russia): pathology and inferences for upper paleolithic funerary practices.

The double child burial from Sunghir (Russia) is a spectacular Mid Upper Palaeolithic funerary example dated to about 24,000 BP. A boy (Sunghir 2) and a girl (Sunghir 3), about 12-13 and 9-10 years old, respectively, were buried at the same time, head to head, covered by red ocher and ornamented with extraordinarily rich grave goods. Examination of the two skeletons reveals that the Sunghir 3 femora are short and exhibit marked antero-posterior bowing. The two femora do not show any asymmetry in the degree of shortening and bowing. Bowing affects the whole diaphysis and shows a regularly incurved profile, with the highest point at midshaft. Pathology is confined to the femora, and no other part of this well-preserved specimen shows abnormality. The isolated nature of the Sunghir 3 anomalies points to cases reported in the medical literature under the label of "congenital bowing of long bones" (CBLB). These are a group of rare conditions exhibiting localized, sometimes bilateral, bowing and shortening which are nonspecific and may result from different causes, including abnormalities of the primary cartilaginous anlage (i.e., the aggregation of cells representing the first trace of an organ). Localized ossification disturbances, possibly linked to a diabetic maternal condition, might explain the shortening and the coincidence of maximum midshaft curvature with the position of the primary ossification center, as well as the lack of involvement of other skeletal parts. This scenario, rather than other possibilities (early bilateral midshaft fracture, acute plastic bowing deformities, or faulty fetal posture), provides the most likely explanation for the Sunghir 3 femoral deformities. The intriguing combination of a pathological condition apparent since birth with a spectacular burial of unusually positioned young individuals of different sexes recalls significant aspects of the triple burial from the contemporary site of Dolní Vestonice (Moravia), evoking a patterned relationship between physical abnormality and extraordinary Upper Paleolithic funerary behavior.     

Adaptive biological trends in the European upper palaeolithic: the case of the Sunghir remains

Sunghir is one of the most important Upper Palaeolithic sites in the world because of its most Northern location, the extraordinary richness of the artifacts, and the state of human bone preservation. The skeletal finds give evidence for the study both of adult and subadult body builds in the group. For the reconstruction of patterns of postcranial morphology, total measurements of bones and X-ray observations have been used. We have determined the basic structural traits typical for Sunghirians: small corticalisation of adult postcranial skeletons; large volume of the bone marrow cavity relative to the general size; quick tempo of attainment in early ontogenesis of large adult size combined with late synostoses ensuring prolonged linear growth; macroskelia combined with extreme andromorphy in the shoulder belt structure; capacious chest. The above traits can be interpreted in terms of adaptation to such formative factors as low temperature stress, deficit of atmospheric oxygen, high protein nutrition, and mechanical loads.     

Geographic views of human development

Human development can be divided into three stages: human ancestors (Lower Palaeolithic), early human races (Middle Palaeolithic) and modern humans (Upper Palaeolithic). Regional differentiation has been detected in the Lower Palaeolithic and is strongly developed in the Middle Palaeolithic but continues into the Upper Palaeolithic less marked. Clearly mixture at all levels accounts for this. Early humans absorbed the pre-existing regionalizations even as they further differentiated. Modern humans resulted from Upper Palaeolithic people spreading across the world and again absorbing the previous differentiations.     

The molecular genetics of European ancestry

In an earlier paper we proposed, on the basis of mitochondrial control region variation, that the bulk of modern European mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA) diversity had its roots in the European Upper Palaeolithic. Refining the mtDNA phylogeny and enlarging the sample size both within Europe and the Middle East still support this interpretation and indicate three separate phases of colonization: (i) the Early Upper Palaeolithic about 50,000 BP; (ii) the Late Upper Palaeolithic 11,000-14,000 BP; and (iii) the Neolithic from 8500 BP.     

Femoral curvature in Neanderthals and modern humans: a 3D geometric morphometric analysis

Since their discovery, Neanderthals have been described as having a marked degree of anteroposterior curvature of the femoral shaft. Although initially believed to be pathological, subsequent discoveries of Neanderthal remains lead femoral curvature to be considered as a derived Neanderthal feature. A recent study on Neanderthals and middle and early Upper Palaeolithic modern humans found no differences in femoral curvature, but did not consider size-corrected curvature. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to use 3D morphometric landmark and semi-landmark analysis to quantify relative femoral curvature in Neanderthals, Upper Palaeolithic and recent modern humans, and to compare adult bone curvature as part of the overall femoral morphology among these populations.Comparisons among populations were made using geometric morphometrics (3D landmarks) and standard multivariate methods. Comparative material involved all available complete femora from Neanderthal and Upper Palaeolithic modern human, archaeological (Mesolithic, Neolithic, Medieval) and recent human populations representing a wide geographical and lifestyle range. There are significant differences in the anatomy of the femur between Neanderthals and modern humans. Neanderthals have more curved femora than modern humans. Early modern humans are most similar to recent modern humans in their anatomy. Femoral curvature is a good indicator of activity level and habitual loading of the lower limb, indicating higher activity levels in Neanderthals than modern humans. These differences contradict robusticity studies and the archaeological record, and would suggest that femoral morphology, and curvature in particular, in Neanderthals may not be explained by adult behavior alone and could be the result of genetic drift, natural selection or differences in behavior during ontogeny.     

Origine des différentes traditions culturelles au Paléolithique supérieur ancien en Europe Centrale

In the early phase of the Upper Palaeolithic the cultural traditions that were expressed in lithic technology, way of life, also in various elements of symbolic culture had a complex nature. They can be divided in terms of derivation, occupied territory, chronology, and – partially – the anthropological type of a given population. The traditions whose origins were local were in all likelihood related to the Neanderthals, whereas those whose origins were exogeneous were connected with Anatomically Modern Humans. In terms of technologal-stylistics in the initial phase of the Upper Palaeolithic, we can distinguish autochthonous traditions rooted in a local Levallois or Moustero-Levallois substratum, traditions developped from a local Micoquian substratum with bifacial technology, and traditions rooted in the industries with blade and bifacial technologies of the Middle Palaeolithic. These are opposed to allochtonous traditions that can be related to the migrations of Anatomically Modern Humans from the Near East.     

Humanizing European Paleolithic art: A new visual evidence of human/bird interactions at L’Hort de la Boquera site (Margalef de Montsant,Tarragona, Spain)

This paper reports the discovery of a new example of portable art in North-eastern Iberia dating to the Late Upper Palaeolithic (12.250 ± 60 BP). The piece is analysed in relation to the European Palaeolithic art assemblage to determine its significance and how it contributes to our understandings of Palaeolithic artistic practices. Both the motifs depicted (birds and humans) and the patterns of composition (a narrative scene) are unusual in Palaeolithic assemblages. In addition, this new find contributes to filling a geographic gap in the artistic record as evidence of Palaeolithic art is rare in Catalonia. The anatomical features of one of the birds suggest that it is a crane, a species that has been depicted in a limited number of sites, as summarized in this paper. Moreover, there are only three known example of birds and humans interacting in a narrative scene in Palaeolithic art. Exhibiting innovations in media, subject matter and compositional norms, this new find has the potential to change the classic definition of European Upper Palaeolithic art and integrate the region in the artistic trends circulating along Mediterranean Iberia during the Upper Magdalenian.     

Le site de Nepryakhino sur la moyenne Volga (Russie)

The site is located East of the Saratov region, between the rivers Volga and Ural. The stratigraphy is the following: the 1st upper layer is Eneolithic and the bottom layers complexes belong to the Palaeolithic and yield numerous quartzite artefacts. The preliminary data allow to assign layer 2 to the Upper Pleistocene (Ostashkovo). Layer 7 matches the limit between Late Middle Palaeolithic and archaïc Upper Palaeolithic. The implement complexes are mainly represented by Mousterian tools and the typical Upper Palaeolithic ones are less numerous (cores and blades). Handaxes are numerous; so are bifacial subtriangular points. It is possible to assume a connection of the bottom layers from Nepryahino with the earliest complexes of Kostienky-Streletskaya culture.     

The Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition in Cova Gran (Catalunya, Spain) and the extinction of Neanderthals in the Iberian Peninsula

The excavations carried out in Cova Gran de Santa Linya (Southeastern PrePyrenees, Catalunya, Spain) have unearthed a new archaeological sequence attributable to the Middle Palaeoloithic/Upper Palaeolithic (MP/UP) transition. This article presents data on the stratigraphy, archaeology, and ¹⁴C AMS dates of three Early Upper Palaeolithic and four Late Middle Palaeolithic levels excavated in Cova Gran. All these archaeological levels fall within the 34-32 ka time span, the temporal frame in which major events of Neanderthal extinction took place. The earliest Early Upper Palaeolithic (497D) and the latest Middle Palaeolithic (S1B) levels in Cova Gran are separated by a sterile gap and permit pinpointing the time period in which the Mousterian disappeared from Northeastern Spain. Technological differences between the Early Upper Palaeolithic and Late Middle Palaeolithic industries in Cova Gran support a cultural rupture between the two periods. A series of 12 ¹⁴C AMS dates prompts reflections on the validity of reconstructions based on radiocarbon data. Thus, results from excavations in Cova Gran lead us to discuss the scenarios relating the MP/UP transition in the Iberian Peninsula, a region considered a refuge of late Neanderthal populations.     

The Exploitation of Ungulate Bones in Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens

Analysis of ungulate bones recovered from a number of Upper and Middle Palaeolithic sites in southern Italy revealed differences in the presence of anatomical elements. There is a lack of clear evidence of carnivore activities, and differences can be attributed to human activity. Indeed, these differences were probably due to different patterns of skeletal exploitation between Homo neanderthalensis and H. sapiens. Small limb bones (carpals, tarsals, sesamoids, long bone epiphyses and especially phalanges) are rarely found in Middle Palaeolithic deposits, but are abundant in the Upper Palaeolithic. The observation of unidentified bone fragments at these sites indicates that during the middle Palaeolithic, marrow extraction regarded essentially the treatment of long bones. First and second phalanges were not frequently used for this practice, but they were often fragmented by H. sapiens. Lack of these bones among the remains of meals of Neanderthal suggests that these bones were probably destroyed by their utilisation as fuel.     

Chronostratigraphy and the Palaeoenvironment of the Bistrița Valley. New Interpretations and a Critical Retrospective Evaluation

The Carpathian Arch was certainly a difficult obstacle for the Palaeolithic communities of Eastern and Central Europe, at least during certain stages of the Upper Pleistocene glaciation, such as the Last Glacial Maximum. The density and perennity of the Palaeolithic occupations in the Bistri?a Valley were favoured by the propitious conditions of living and developing long-term survival strategies. The importance of the Bistri?a Valley lies in the fact that it is strongly embedded in the mountainous landscape, with a route extended in the Sub-Carpathian area and a generous opening towards the east to the plateau region and further towards the Great Russian Plain. The Bistri?a Valley is a landmark of the Romanian Palaeolithic due to the number of investigated Palaeolithic settlements, the wealth and variety of archaeological materials and the extensive interdisciplinary studies. All this has entailed a better assessment of the evolution of the palaeoenvironment and of the chronostratigraphy of the Palaeolithic occupations. In a matter of speaking, the Bistri?a Valley is to Romania what the Vézère Valley is to the Dordogne region in France.     

Some aspects of the Upper Palaeolithic period in Sindh,Pakistan

The study of the Upper Palaeolithic of Sindh is still in its infancy. Although it has slightly improved during the last twenty years, and a few more sites have been discovered in different parts of the province, we are still far from achieving a good knowledge of the sequence of the events that took place during the final stages of the Pleistocene in this region of the Indian Subcontinent. Despite the archaeological importance of the southern part of the country, the Arabian Sea coast in particular, which represents the suggested route followed by Modern Humans to move to India and farther east, most of this territory has not yielded any tangible trace of their passage. The scope of this paper is to update the evidence available for the Upper Palaeolithic of Sindh, and to discuss it within the general framework of the Upper Palaeolithic period of the Indian Subcontinent.     

Not only Chauvet: Dating Aurignacian rock art in Altxerri B Cave (northern Spain)

The discovery and first dates of the paintings in Grotte Chauvet provoked a new debate on the origin and characteristics of the first figurative Palaeolithic art. Since then, other art ensembles in France and Italy (Aldène, Fumane, Arcy-sur-Cure and Castanet) have enlarged our knowledge of graphic activity in the early Upper Palaeolithic. This paper presents a chronological assessment of the Palaeolithic parietal ensemble in Altxerri B (northern Spain). When the study began in 2011, one of our main objectives was to determine the age of this pictorial phase in the cave. Archaeological, geological and stylistic evidence, together with radiometric dates, suggest an Aurignacian chronology for this art. The ensemble in Altxerri B can therefore be added to the small but growing number of sites dated in this period, corroborating the hypothesis of more complex and varied figurative art than had been supposed in the early Upper Palaeolithic.     

Human dental microwear from Ohalo II (22,500-23,500 cal BP), southern Levant

Dietary hardness and abrasiveness are inferred from human dental microwear at Ohalo II, a late Upper Palaeolithic site (22,500-23,500 cal BP) in the southern Levant. Casts of molar grinding facets from two human skeletons were examined with a scanning electron microscope. The size and frequency of microwear was measured, counted, and compared to four prehistoric human groups from successive chronological periods in the same region: pre-pottery Neolithic A, Chalcolithic (this study); Natufian, pre-pottery Neolithic B (Mahoney: Am J Phys Anthropol 130 (2006) 308-319). The Ohalo molars had a high frequency of long narrow scratches, and a few small pits, suggesting a tough abrasive diet that required more shearing rather than compressive force while chewing. These results imply that the diet of the two late Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers did not focus on very hard foods. Aquatic foods with adherent contaminants, as well as grit from plant grinding tools seemed likely causal agents. The size of the pits and scratches on the Ohalo molars were most similar to microwear from the pre-pottery Neolithic A period, though they also compared well to the Chalcolithic period. These results contrasted with the larger pits and scratches from the Natufian hunter-gatherers and pre-pottery Neolithic B farmers, implying that there is no simple increase or decrease in dietary hardness and abrasiveness across the late Upper Palaeolithic to Chalcolithic development in the Southern Levant.     

中国旧石器时代晚期文化的划分

本文作者主张以素材、技术和类型的区分为主要依据,将中国旧石器时代晚期文化归纳为四个大致平行发展的系列。中国旧石器时代晚期文化明显地具有继承和发展的特点。中国旧石器时代晚期文化的多样性和复杂性的形成可能同地质地理条件、技术类型的继承和发展不平衡性有关。     

Parure,pigment et art mobilier du Paléolithique supérieur au Japon

In the Japanese Archipelago, Upper Palaeolithic Accessories, Pigment and Portable Art are discovered, but very few. We introduce the Palaeolithic Art in Japan including new discoveries. The majority of accessories is discovered in Hokkaido, for example the sites of Yunosato 4, Pirika 1, Kashiwadai1 and Obarubetsu 2, but very few in Honshu, the largest island of Japan: Togeyamabokujo 1 in Iwate and Fujiishi in Shizuoka. A lot of pigments are discovered in Hokkaido like Kawanishi C, Kashiwadai 1, Marukoyama and Kiusu 5, without those of Deguchi-Kanezuka in Chiba in Honshu. Kashiwadai 1 in Hokkaido and Kamihikikiri in Chiba are the sites with portable art. In Ehime in Shikoku, one of four large islands of Japan, engraved pebbles called “Kamikuroiwa Venus”, of the Incipient Jomon followed after the Upper Palaeolithic period, before about 14,500 years, are researched again recently. The Palaeolithic art in Japan has a strong relation with Northeast Asia's art, because the lithic materials of Palaeolithic accessories in Hokkaido came from the Continent, and the engraved pebbles have some characters common with Siberian figurines, but also there are accessories and pigment of which the stones are native of the region from the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic period.     

Le Paléolithique de la République Tchèque

Bohemia and Moravia, the two parts constituting together the Czech Republic, do not only represent historical countries, but they also display distinct geographies. As Bohemia is surrounded by mountains, its territory is often called the Bohemian Basin. In Moravia, the mountains in the north of the country are interrupted by the Moravian Gate, giving access to the Great Northern Plain of Europe with its rich sources of Northern flints, the best raw material for chipped stone industries available in Central Europe. The southern part opens directly towards the Danubian region with its more temperate environment, and connecting the south of Germany with the Balkans. The morphology of the territory had obviously influenced the Palaeolithic occupation. In the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic when communication did not play any major role, the two countries were settled relatively regularly, although not too densely. The Early Upper Palaeolithic brought a substantial change: In Moravia hundreds of sites proliferate, while there are only few of them in Bohemia. The Pavlovian phase of the Gravettian seems to be completely missing in Bohemia, while in Moravia it is concentrated in several megasites on the banks of the main rivers. This is certainly caused by the presence of the South-North artery of animal migrations and human communication. Since the Epigravettian, the density of occupation became balanced again. The local evolution of the Upper Palaeolithic was interrupted by the invasion of the Magdalenians coming from the West, on the one side along the Danube River, on the other by the northern route through Poland. The Late Palaeolithic, subject to influences coming from the North, gradually transformed into the Mesolithic.     

Datations SMA et nouveaux regards sur l’archéo-séquence du Rond-du-Barry (Polignac,Haute-Loire)

A series of 36 radiocarbon AMS ages produced from separate bone fragments has prompted a new appraisal of the archaeological sequence of the Rond-du-Barry Cave (Polignac, Haute-Loire). A huge rock-fall of unknown age underlies Unit H, which contains evidence of the oldest human occupation of the site consisting of a Middle Palaeolithic assemblage dated to between 40 and 33 kyr. The first Upper Palaeolithic occupation of the Cave occurred later. In Unit F, three Badegoulian occupation sectors can be identified that are dated to between 20 and 17.5 kyr. The uppermost units, E and D yielded Middle and Upper Magdalenian dates of between 15.4 and 12.4 kyr. Within Unit E, a tephra related layer (E6) is likely to belong to a distal southern lobe of an eruptive event that was centred in the Chaîne des Puys, 100 km to the north. Unit D shows evidence of being re-worked at least during Mesolithic/Neolithic times, circa 6.5/4.9 kyr. The sum of this new evidence demonstrates the existence of a previously unrecognised stratigraphic and spatial complexity within the Rond-du-Barry archaeological deposits, which demands that new investigations be made in this cave.     

Chronologie du Paléolithique supérieur dans le Nord-Est de la principale île du Japon

Palaeolithic archaeology in Tohoku region has long been discussed on constructing chronology, however it is difficult to build reliable chronological order because of poor stratigraphic excavations. In recent radiocarbon dating has advanced. In this paper I discuss the relation between chronology and radiocarbon dating in Tohoku region. At first, I categorize the Palaeolithic industries and establish the chronology by analyzing tool typology, lithic technology, and stratigraphic data. I correlate it with radiocarbon data from sites in Tohoku region. The result of analysis shows that Upper Palaeolithic industries are divided into 18 categories and 8 periods on chronology. The calibration curve IntCal 13 indicated that oldest Early Upper Palaeolithic site appeared around 37,000 cal BP, and late Upper Palaeolithic started about 27,000 cal BP. The pottery first appeared as far back as around 16,000 cal BP. Now we do not have enough radiocarbon data, so we have to gather and examine more ¹⁴C data.     

Les occupations humaines du Nord du Maroc,du Paléolithique Moyen et du Paléolithique Supérieur. Nouvelles données sur la base des recherches archéologiques des projets de 2005 à 2020

In this work, we present a synthetic panorama of the human occupations of northern Morocco, with an emphasis on the association of anthropological with cultural records, within the framework of the Middle Palaeolithic (MSA) and the Upper Palaeolithic. We also present the projects developed over the past 15 years and the most interesting results we have obtained. And we conclude bay providing some reflections on the cultural and historical evaluation of the archaeological records from the Tetouan region in the Middle and the Upper Palaeolithic phases.