Le paléolithique supérieur au sud du Portugal : le site de Vale Boi

Before the 90s, data on Paleolithic human occupation of southern Portugal was very scarce. During the last decade, the knowledge of the Upper Paleolithic of Algarve increased substantially due to the work of a research team based at the University of Algarve. The present paper is a report on the recent results from Algarve, focusing specially on the site of Vale Boi. It will present the chronology and stratigraphy of different human occupations from the early Upper Paleolithic up to the early Neolithic. It will focus on aspects of zooarchaeology and the exploitation of large and medium mammals as well as on marine fauna. In addition, we will present new data on stone and bone tools. Finally, we will also refer to the social and symbolic aspects present at the site, base on shell and teeth pendants and to an engraved plaquette with animal motifs.     

Les faunes des sites du Pléistocène supérieur du Caucase méridional : Grotte de Saka?hia, Grotte d’Ortvala et Grotte du Bronze (République de Géorgie)

The paleontological analysis of the fauna from three Late Pleistocene localities in Southern Caucasus (Saka?hia, Ortvala, and Bronze cave) confirmed the presence of Ursus spelaeus, Canis lupus, Equus ferus, Rhinocerotidae, Cervus elaphus, Capreolus capreolus, Alces alces, Bison priscus, Capra caucasica, Ovis ammon and Sus scrofa. The study also permitted the identification of new taxa for these localities. There may be the presence of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) at Saka?hia, however it has not yet been confirmed. Moreover, remains of aurochs (Bos primigenius) were identified, in particular at Bronze cave where its abundance is exceptional. Indeed, Bos and Bison are generally very rare in Southern Caucasus. The analysis of the proportion of the different species in each locality revealed the two types of occupations of the caves, one dominated by hominids and the other by carnivores. At Saka?hia, where fauna is dominated by the presence of cave bear, the cave was seasonally occupied by Neanderthal groups. On the other hand, Bronze cave corresponds to a habitat of hunters, which occupied the site for longer periods.     

C et style: La chronologie de l’art pariétal à l’heure actuelle

The chronology of the Paleolithic art proposed by A. Leroi-Gourhan had a strong installation among the specialists until his death, in the years 1980s of the last century. After that the system SMA of direct dating began to be applied producing some disagreements and a supposed revolution against the chronological-stylistic procedure that has been overvalued. There are not so many disagreements and when they appear, they can tinge the French author's procedure and to improve it partly. If we take it with enough flexibility and aperture, it continues being a non perfect model, but useful and valid to organize the graphs of the Upper Paleolithic whose systematic should continue based on the material documentation, in the represented forms and in all the technical procedures that allow to specify and to improve our chronological arguments.     

Dissecting the mechanisms responsible for the multiple insecticide resistance phenotype in Anopheles gambiae s.s., M form,from Vallée du Kou,Burkina Faso

With the exception of target site mutations, insecticide resistance mechanisms in the principle malaria vector Anopheles gambiae, remains largely uncharacterized in Burkina Faso.     

Les assemblages lithiques du site épigravettien de Buzhanka 2 (Ukraine)

In 2003, a new Epigravettian site, Buzhanka 2, was discovered in the Middle Desna region. Typologically, the tool complex of the Upper layer is close to the Mezhyrich type complex. Thus, Buzhanka 2 is the northernmost site with this type of industry. It is the only site, in the Middle Desna basin and also in the whole basin of the Middle Dnieper, where the proportion of quartzite reaches more than 40 %. In the other sites from the whole Middle Dnieper region, this proportion is usually not more than a few percent.     

Civettictis braini nov. sp. (Mammalia: Carnivora), a new viverrid from the hominin-bearing site of Kromdraai (Gauteng,South Africa)

A new Plio-Pleistocene viverrid species is described based on two newly discovered maxillae (KW 10141 and KW 10383) from the recent excavations at the hominin-bearing site of Kromdraai (Gauteng, South Africa). This major site allows us to address the conundrum of Paranthropus and Homo origins in South Africa and presents a highly diverse carnivore spectrum (at least 22 species) including herpestids and viverrids. Civettictis braini nov. sp. is a viverrid species comparable in size to the extant African civet Civettictis civetta (Schreber, 1776). However C. braini nov. sp. differs significantly from the extant species in its dental proportions. Its canine and three premolars (P1–P3) are relatively robust, while its carnassials (P4) and two molars (M1, M2) are extremely reduced. This new species supplements our knowledge on carnivore taxonomic diversity and paleoecology in Southern Africa about 2 millions of years ago.     

Nouvelles découvertes paléolithiques dans la partie nord-est du Kizilkum Central (Ouzbékistan)

Three paleolithic localities have been discovered recently in north-east of central Kizilkum desert in Ouzbekistan. Only lithic artifacts have been collected, made up of flaking products (flakes, blades and scraps), cores and tools. The used raw material is in any case some fine-grained beige quartzite. The presence of Levallois flaking and handaxes fashioning make the particularity of this paleolithic industry.     

The recent fossil turtle record of the central plain of Thailand reveals local extinctions

With more than 50 extant turtle species, Southeast Asia is currently a hotspot of turtle biodiversity. However, the distribution areas of most species are decreasing as a consequence of human activities. The causes of this decline are multiple: habitat and natural resources destruction, introduction of invasive species, hunting, etc. Historical data are however still lacking for a detailed understanding of that regional trend as well as for forecasting its evolution in the future. Indeed, while oral testimonies and text data can provide a rather good appreciation of the decline of biodiversity over the last few decades; nothing is known about the dynamic of turtle biodiversity over the Holocene. This lack of data is especially damaging in area where human activities are interacting for a long time with the wild fauna, as the central plain of Thailand, which is now dominated by agricultural landscape. In order to solve these issues, we investigated five Holocene localities in Thai central plain which provided assemblages of turtle remains ranging from Neolithic to Dvaravati periods (4000 to 1000 BP). The studied archaeological assemblages showed a very high species richness. Species such as Malayemys macrocephala, Cuora amboinensis, Heosemys annandalii, Heosemys grandis, Siebenrockiella crassicolis, Amyda ornata were among the most abundant. We also found several plates and a cranial material belonging to a species of the genus Batagur and tortoise remains including Indotestudo elongata and a few plates belonging to the genus Geochelone. The Batagur and Geochelone genera are absent from living turtle assemblages in the central plain but are present in Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia or Southern Thailand for Batagur and far in the West for Geochelone (Myanmar) respectively. Batagur is usually found in coastal areas and its disappearance from central plain is interpreted as resulting from the destruction of a fragile habitat and possibly from the rapid geomorphological evolution of the Chao-Phraya deltaic plain, the disappearance of tortoises could result from deforestation. Cutting traces showed that most turtles were used as food resources at these times, suggesting that turtle hunting was a common practise. Furthermore, occurrence of holes in the margin of the carapace of specimens from Kheed Khin (Saraburi Province) and Promthin Tai (Lopburi Province) suggests that turtles were sometimes kept captive alive or transported. This study shows that investigation of recent fossil localities allows for a better understanding of the role of past human populations in the alteration of the biodiversity through time, and for a more accurate estimation of the rates of species extinction.