Comparaison de l'expression de certains caractères crâniens sur les hominidés chinois du Pléistocène récent et de l'Holocène (grotte supérieure de Zhoukoudian, sites de Longxian et de Yanqing)

The human remains recovered from “Grotte supérieure de Zhoukoudian” are the best-preserved Late Pleistocene human fossils in East Asia. For decades, as the representative of the Late Pleistocene human in East Asia, the Upper Cave skulls have been playing important role in the research of origins of modern Mongoloids and American Indians. With the advance of the origin and evolution of modern humans, more attention has been paid to the details and the mechanisms for the late Pleistocene human evolution and the formation of modern human populations. Both the origin and diversification of modern humans have been stressed. Some studies further trigger the debaters on the Upper Cave Man concerning its evolutionary level and its role in the formation of modern human populations in East Asia. To further explore these problems, we examined and compared 12 non-metric features on the 3 Late Pleistocene Upper Cave skulls and 162 Holocene individuals earthed from two archaeological sites of North China (Longxian and Yanqing). Our results indicate that 8 on the 12 features have different expression patterns between Upper Cave Man and recent Chinese leading the authors to believe that more primitive expressions appeared on the Upper Cave Man than on recent Chinese populations. Based on these findings, some problems on the intragroup variation in Late Pleistocene and Holocene populations are discussed.     

山顶洞人与现代华北人头骨非测量性特征比较及中国更新世晚期人类演化的一些问题

山顶洞人化石是迄今在东亚地区发现的数量最为丰富、保存状态最为完好的更新世晚期人类化石。多年来,山顶洞人作为东亚地区更新世晚期人类的代表,在研究东亚地区现代蒙古人种及美洲印第安人起源方面发挥着重要作用。随着对现代人起源与演化研究的深入,学术界对更新世晚期人类演化及现代人群形成过程的许多细节及演化机制予以了越来越多的注意,提出了现代人群出现时间及现代人群分化时间的概念。一些研究对山顶洞人的演化程度及其在东亚地区现代人群形成上的作用也提出了不同看法。为了深入探讨这些问题,本文对12项颅骨非测量特征在山顶洞人与现代中国人的表现情况进行了对比研究。发现有8项特征在山顶洞人与现代中国人之间具有不同的表现,作者认为山顶洞人在颅骨特征表现上较现代中国人具有更多的原始性。在此基础上,作者就更新世晚期人群内部变异、现代人群特征标准等问题进行了讨论。     

Les origines de l’art et les théories sur l’évolution humaine : le cas français

In recent years, we have witnessed an international debate about the question of the origins of art. On the one hand, some specialists have suggested that art appeared for the first time at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic associated to the emergence of Homo sapiens sapiens. From this point of view, Paleolithic art as well as other hallmarks of behavioral modernity were exclusive to anatomically modern humans. On the other hand, some scholars have put into question the traditional paradigm concerning the origins of art and have suggested that artistic objects arose over a long period of time among different species, including Neanderthals. In order to contextualize this debate, we analyze in this article the history of the different interpretations and controversies concerning the question of the origins of art. Taking as reference the French case, we examine the connections between the different theories about art's origins suggested by Pleistocene art specialists during the last century and the dominant paradigms in human paleontology during the same period. Informed by one another, the question of the origins of art and that of human evolution seems to be inextricable linked.     

宾福德的周口店埋藏学研究与旧石器考古学理论建构

本文回顾了1985年美国考古学家路易斯·宾福德访华的背景和产生的影响,认为这次中美旧石器考古合作的失败原因是两国学者之间在认识论和范式上的巨大差异。宾福德对周口店的埋藏学思考是立足于过程考古学中程理论和他自己的埋藏学探索的基础之上,并体现在他的《纽纳缪特民族考古学》和《骨骼：古代人类与现代之谜》两本著作中。宾福德中程理论和参考框架建设为我们提供了一种启示和借鉴,有助于中国旧石器考古学努力构建和完善自己的考古学理论框架。这种框架需要重视材料的分析和归纳,提出研究的问题和解决的办法,然后根据埋藏学和动物考古学排除遗址形成过程中的自然改造因素,提炼人类行为的信息。最后从民族考古学类比的参考框架来达到重建文化历史、人类生存方式和文化变迁的三大目标。     

中国与日本旧石器时代晚期人类的关系

按照歧异系数,柳江人与港川人很接近,其程度和港川人二女性之间或山顶洞二女性之间接近的程度相似,柳江人与山顶洞人相去较远,山顶洞人与港川人相去较远,身材的比较也支持这些看法。     

Modern hunting behavior in the early Middle Paleolithic: faunal remains from Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel

Understanding the behavioral adaptations and subsistence strategies of Middle Paleolithic humans is critical in the debate over the evolution and manifestations of modern human behavior. The study of faunal remains plays a central role in this context. Until now, the majority of Levantine archaeofaunal evidence was derived from late Middle Paleolithic sites. The discovery of faunal remains from Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel (>200 ka), allowed for detailed taphonomic and zooarchaeological analyses of these early Middle Paleolithic remains. The Misliya Cave faunal assemblage is overwhelmingly dominated by ungulate taxa. The most common prey species is the Mesopotamian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica), followed closely by the mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella). Some aurochs (Bos primigenius) remains are also present. Small-game species are rare. The fallow deer mortality pattern is dominated by prime-aged individuals. A multivariate taphonomic analysis demonstrates (1) that the assemblage was created solely by humans occupying the cave and was primarily modified by their food-processing activities; and (2) that gazelle carcasses were transported complete to the site, while fallow deer carcasses underwent some field butchery. The new zooarchaeological data from Misliya Cave, particularly the abundance of meat-bearing limb bones displaying filleting cut marks and the acquisition of prime-age prey, demonstrate that early Middle Paleolithic people possessed developed hunting capabilities. Thus, modern large-game hunting, carcass transport, and meat-processing behaviors were already established in the Levant in the early Middle Paleolithic, more than 200 ka ago.     

1/f2 Characteristics and Isotropy in the Fourier Power Spectra of Visual Art,Cartoons, Comics,Mangas, and Different Categories of Photographs

Art images and natural scenes have in common that their radially averaged (1D) Fourier spectral power falls according to a power-law with increasing spatial frequency (1/f² characteristics), which implies that the power spectra have scale-invariant properties. In the present study, we show that other categories of man-made images, cartoons and graphic novels (comics and mangas), have similar properties. Further on, we extend our investigations to 2D power spectra. In order to determine whether the Fourier power spectra of man-made images differed from those of other categories of images (photographs of natural scenes, objects, faces and plants and scientific illustrations), we analyzed their 2D power spectra by principal component analysis. Results indicated that the first fifteen principal components allowed a partial separation of the different image categories. The differences between the image categories were studied in more detail by analyzing whether the mean power and the slope of the power gradients from low to high spatial frequencies varied across orientations in the power spectra. Mean power was generally higher in cardinal orientations both in real-world photographs and artworks, with no systematic difference between the two types of images. However, the slope of the power gradients showed a lower degree of mean variability across spectral orientations (i.e., more isotropy) in art images, cartoons and graphic novels than in photographs of comparable subject matters. Taken together, these results indicate that art images, cartoons and graphic novels possess relatively uniform 1/f² characteristics across all orientations. In conclusion, the man-made stimuli studied, which were presumably produced to evoke pleasant and/or enjoyable visual perception in human observers, form a subset of all images and share statistical properties in their Fourier power spectra. Whether these properties are necessary or sufficient to induce aesthetic perception remains to be investigated.     

Re-analysis of the hominid radii from Cave of Hearths and Klasies River Mouth, South Africa

Two of the few postcranial fragments from the late Early Stone Age and/or the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa are the proximal radii from the Cave of Hearths and Klasies River Mouth. The Cave of Hearths fossil is metrically indistiguishable from both archaic (e.g., Neandertals) and recent humans, and presents a mosaic of primitive and modern features. The primitive include a relatively slender neck and thick cortical bone (the latter of which distinguishes recent humans from archaic, Early Modern, and Upper Paleolithic hominids); the modern includes an anteromedially (rather than medially) facing radial tuberosity. Its extreme collo–diaphyseal angle is unusual, although it can be matched by modern homologues. The neck–shaft angle of some Neandertal and Early Modern radii also appears to match that of the Cave of Hearths specimen. The Klasies River Mouth radius also has thick cortical bone of the neck. It is morphologically indistinguishable from Early Modern and Neandertal homologues. These, and other fossils, suggest a mosaic pattern of evolution in the postcranial skeleton of the late Early Stone Age and/or Middle Stone Age inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa.     

High adult mortality among Hiwi hunter-gatherers: implications for human evolution

Extant apes experience early sexual maturity and short life spans relative to modern humans. Both of these traits and others are linked by life-history theory to mortality rates experienced at different ages by our hominin ancestors. However, currently there is a great deal of debate concerning hominin mortality profiles at different periods of evolutionary history. Observed rates and causes of mortality in modern hunter-gatherers may provide information about Upper Paleolithic mortality that can be compared to indirect evidence from the fossil record, yet little is published about causes and rates of mortality in foraging societies around the world. To our knowledge, interview-based life tables for recent hunter-gatherers are published for only four societies (Ache, Agta, Hadza, and Ju/'hoansi). Here, we present mortality data for a fifth group, the Hiwi hunter-gatherers of Venezuela. The results show comparatively high death rates among the Hiwi and highlight differences in mortality rates among hunter-gatherer societies. The high levels of conspecific violence and adult mortality in the Hiwi may better represent Paleolithic human demographics than do the lower, disease-based death rates reported in the most frequently cited forager studies.     

福建漳平奇和洞新石器时代早期人类身体大小

身高、体重、颅容量等是反映人类身体大小,探讨人类体质特征、生长发育水平及营养健康状况的重要指标。本文采用公式推算法,对2011年在福建漳平奇和洞遗址出土的、距今约9500年的奇和洞II号女性个体的身高、体重、颅容量等身体大小特征进行了研究。结果显示,奇和洞II号的身高和体重约为160.3cm和59.9kg,在新石器时代成年女性个体中属于较高水平,同时高于福建地区现代成年女性的平均水平;颅容量约为1369m L,在新石器时代成年女性个体中处于中间水平。奇和洞II号较好的身体特征发育,提示处于更新世晚期向全新世过渡这一时期的奇和洞人可能具有较好的营养状况;与新、旧石器时代各组的比较显示,这一时期我国华南地区古人类身体大小、形状特征已经形成;我国南、北方地区人群身高、体重差异已经出现。     

L'analogie et la représentation de l'art primitif à la fin du XIX siècle

In this paper, we will examine the foundations of Western representation of Paleolithic art at the end of the nineteenth century. Taking the period of 1864-1902 into account, we will prove the leading role of analogy between “modern primitive societies” and “prehistoric societies” in the very definition of “primitive art”. According to us, the representation of the “primitive artist” at that time was largely based in comparison between art which came from modern primitive societies living in Africa, Australia or America, and prehistoric art which was authenticated at about 1865. Through this examination, we will show the way in which analogy functions as a main category in the construction of scientific knowledge.     

Reassessment of TL age estimates of burnt flints from the Paleolithic site of Tabun Cave, Israel

The stratigraphy of Tabun Cave (Mt. Carmel), which comprises one of the longest sequences of Lower and Middle Paleolithic of the Near East, is widely used as a reference in debates on the evolution of Paleolithic industries and on the origin of modern humans and their relationship to the Neandertals. Considering the methodological improvements during the last ten years, the thermoluminescence (TL) dates of heated flints frequently quoted in the literature require an update. New TL results are discussed and compared with radiometric data recently obtained for this site, in particular by the ESR method, and with those obtained for other Levantine sites. The chronological framework previously proposed for the Paleolithic industries of the area is then re-examined.     

Neandertal Archaeology—Implications for Our Origins

This article identifies key aspects of the metaphysical paradigms under which European Paleolithic archaeological research is conducted and contrasts the anthropological approaches typical of anglophone New World workers with those of the "his- tory-like" natural science-based traditions of Latin Europe. Because the Middle–Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe is thought by many to correspond to the biological replacement of Neandertals by modern humans over the ten millennia bracketing 40 kyr B.P., generalizations about the archaeological transition invoked in support of biological replacement are examined and are found to lack empirical support. Patterns in lithic technology, typology, raw material variability, reduction strategies, blank frequencies, bone and antler technologies, Paleolithic art, subsistence strategies, and settlement patterns all indicate a temporal-spatial mosaic of changing monitors of human adaptation over the transition interval that cannot be reconciled with any construal of a relatively abrupt and complete biological replacement. [Key words: conceptual frameworks, research traditions, archaeological systematic, Middle–Upper Paleolithic transition, Neandertals, adaptation]     

Ecosystem engineering in the Quaternary of the West Coast of South Africa

Despite advances in our understanding of the geographic and temporal scope of the Paleolithic record, we know remarkably little about the evolutionary and ecological consequences of changes in human behavior. Recent inquiries suggest that human evolution reflects a long history of interconnections between the behavior of humans and their surrounding ecosystems (e.g., niche construction). Developing expectations to identify such phenomena is remarkably difficult because it requires understanding the multi‐generational impacts of changes in behavior. These long‐term dynamics require insights into the emergent phenomena that alter selective pressures over longer time periods which are not possible to observe, and are also not intuitive based on observations derived from ethnographic time scales. Generative models show promise for probing these potentially unexpected consequences of human‐environment interaction. Changes in the uses of landscapes may have long term implications for the environments that hominins occupied. We explore other potential proxies of behavior and examine how modeling may provide expectations for a variety of phenomena.     

New thinking: the evolution of human cognition

Humans are animals that specialize in thinking and knowing, and our extraordinary cognitive abilities have transformed every aspect of our lives. In contrast to our chimpanzee cousins and Stone Age ancestors, we are complex political, economic, scientific and artistic creatures, living in a vast range of habitats, many of which are our own creation. Research on the evolution of human cognition asks what types of thinking make us such peculiar animals, and how they have been generated by evolutionary processes. New research in this field looks deeper into the evolutionary history of human cognition, and adopts a more multi-disciplinary approach than earlier 'Evolutionary Psychology'. It is informed by comparisons between humans and a range of primate and non-primate species, and integrates findings from anthropology, archaeology, economics, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, philosophy and psychology. Using these methods, recent research reveals profound commonalities, as well striking differences, between human and non-human minds, and suggests that the evolution of human cognition has been much more gradual and incremental than previously assumed. It accords crucial roles to cultural evolution, techno-social co-evolution and gene-culture co-evolution. These have produced domain-general developmental processes with extraordinary power-power that makes human cognition, and human lives, unique.     

马属动物全基因组高通量测序研究进展

马属(Equus)动物的祖先大约在5500万年前出现,经过持续分化形成现今的马、驴和斑马,统称马属动物。马作为家畜中的重要一员,是推动人类文明发展的载体,在人类的饮食、战争、农耕、运输和娱乐等领域做出了巨大贡献。然而,人类为了满足需求,或多或少影响着马的进化方向,从而在长时间自然和人工选择过程中形成了多种独具特色性状的不同马种。驴和骡在全球的存栏量也较多,在人类的生产和生活中起到的作用同样不可忽视,不但为人类提供了生产力而且还提供了食物和营养保健品。可见,马属动物对人类的重要性。近年来,高通量测序技术和生物信息学分析方法被广泛运用于家畜的遗传学研究。人们利用高通量测序手段探索马属动物在进化过程中的种群变化历史,解析形成独特性状的分子机制,为其育种工作提供有效的数据支持。本文综述了马属动物全基因组高通量测序的研究进展,以及利用该技术在马属动物的进化历史和功能基因挖掘研究领域所取得的成就,以期今后对马属动物的深入研究、产业开发和利用等方面提供参考信息。     

Child's play: Reflections on the invisibility of children in the paleolithic record

Were there children in Early Paleolithic times? At first glance, this seems a stupid question. We are obviously descended from Paleolithic ancestors. Yet, in archeological models of Paleolithic stone tool variability and assemblage formation processes, children might as well be invisible. There have been some efforts to identify byproducts of children's activities in a few Late Paleolithic contexts, but their possible role in broader patterns of Paleolithic industrial variability remains largely unexplored. 1 In this paper I argue that the reason we know so little about children's knapping behavior in prehistory is not that this behavior was genuinely absent, but rather that we have not looked hard enough or in the right way at the lithic record. This is a pity, because of all the behaviors we archeologists attempt to reconstruct in our research, child‐rearing must certainly number among those with the most immediate and important evolutionary consequences.     

现代人的出现与扩散——中国的化石证据

自2002年在周口店附近的田园洞发现大约4万年前的现代人化石以来,相继在湖北郧西黄龙洞、广西崇左智人洞等地点发现了早期现代人化石。这些化石发现证实大约10万年前早期现代人在华南地区已经出现。最近在湖南道县福岩洞发现的人类牙齿化石及相关研究进一步揭示具有完全现代形态的人类8万-12万年前在华南局部地区已经出现;而在这个时间段的华北地区,以许家窑人为代表的人类化石形态仍较原始,其演化尚未进入早期现代人阶段。这些研究发现提示,在中国地区,华南是现代人形成与扩散的中心区域,早期现代人以及完全现代类型的人类都可能首先在华南地区出现,然后向华北地区扩散。现有的化石形态证据显示,更新世晚期华南地区人类具有较大的演化变异,可能同时生存有几种不同的演化类群。智人洞属于从古老型智人向现代人演化的过渡类型,而道县则代表着演化进入完全现代类型的人类。基于前人研究及本文的分析,作者认为柳江、资阳、丽江、田园洞等更新世晚期人类化石特征比较进步,在演化上属于与道县相似的现代类型人类。值得注意的是,这些研究进展在引起对现代人在东亚地区出现和扩散关注的同时,古人类学界对其中涉及的许多问题还存在争论。本文在回顾分析这些研究进展的基础上,就相关问题进行了讨论。     

柳江人头骨形态特征及柳江人演化的一些问题

为深入探讨柳江人化石形态特征的表现特点、进化程度及其与其年代数据的吻合性,本文对柳江、山顶洞、资阳、丽江等主要中国更新世晚期人类头骨化石及1 114例全新世以来不同地区现代中国人头骨进行了对比分析,结果发现:柳江人头骨绝大多数特征的出现情况位于现代中国人的变异范围,只有极个别特征与现代人不同;柳江人头骨具有的低眶等特征也可见于其他中国更新世晚期人类化石,说明柳江人化石上保留有少量常见于更新世晚期人类的原始特征,但与其他中国更新世晚期人类,尤其是山顶洞人头骨相比,柳江人显得要现代的多;柳江人与山顶洞人之间头骨形态特征的差异以体现头骨原始性及粗硕强壮程度上的差别居多,而个别特征差异或许与气候环境适应有关。我们认为:柳江人在形态进化上与现代中国人已经非常接近,他们之间的差别非常小;柳江人与山顶洞人头骨特征表现上的差异主要反映了他们之间在演化程度上的差异,同时也在一定程度上体现了各自的生存环境;现有的形态学证据不大可能为柳江人较早的时代提供支持。     

Genomics and the Ark: an ecocentric perspective on human history

Views of ourselves in relationship to the rest of the biosphere are changing. Theocentric and anthropocentric perspectives are giving way to more ecocentric views on the history, present, and future of humankind. Novel sciences, such as genomics, have deepened and broadened our understanding of the process of anthropogenesis, the coming into being of humans. Genomics suggests that early human history must be regarded as a complex narrative of evolving ecosystems, in which human evolution both influenced and was influenced by the evolution of companion species. During the agricultural revolution, human beings designed small-scale artificial ecosystems or evolutionary "Arks," in which networks of plants, animals, and microorganisms coevolved. Currently, our attitude towards this process seems subject to a paradoxical reversal. The boundaries of the Ark have dramatically broadened, and genomics is not only being used to increase our understanding of our ecological past, but may also help us to conserve, reconstruct, or even revivify species and ecosystems to whose degradation or (near) extinction we have contributed. This article explores the role of genomics in the elaboration of a more ecocentric view of ourselves with the help of two examples, namely the renaissance of Paleolithic diets and of Pleistocene parks. It argues that an understanding of the world in ecocentric terms requires new partnerships and mutually beneficial forms of collaboration and convergence between life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities.