Human Prehistory (3.3 million years BC – 3500 BC)

[weatheriscool]

Khufu branch of Nile River once flowed close enough to Giza to carry the stones needed to build the pyramids
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-khufu-nil ... tones.html
by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in France, working with a colleague from China and another two from Egypt, has found evidence that shows the Khufu branch of the Nile River once ran so close to Giza that it could have been used to carry the stones that were used to build the famous pyramids. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their study of fossilized pollen grains found in the sediments around Giza and what it showed them about the history of the Khufu branch.

In their work, the researchers obtained core sediment samples that have been collected from several sites in and around Giza over the years and then took a close look at the fossilized pollen grains trapped in them for thousands of years.

By combining results from prior studies that involved studying the rock layers surrounding the pyramids, they found that they were able to reconstruct the history of the Khufu branch as it flowed and ebbed in the area over the prior 8,000 years. Then, looking at the timeline and flow of the branch, they found its levels were high enough that it reached nearly all the way to Giza—7 kilometers from the Nile—during the times when three of the major pyramids (Menkaure, Khafre and Khufu) were built—approximately 4,000 years ago.

[weatheriscool]

Archaeologists discover monumental evidence of prehistoric hunting across Arabian desert
https://phys.org/news/2022-09-archaeolo ... abian.html
by University of Oxford

Archaeologists at the University of Oxford's School of Archaeology have used satellite imagery to identify and map more than 350 monumental hunting structures known as "kites" across northern Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq—most of which had never been previously documented.

Led by Dr. Michael Fradley, a team of researchers in the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) project used a range of open-source satellite imagery to carefully study the region around the eastern Nafud desert, an area little studied in the past. The surprising results, published in the journal The Holocene, have the potential to change our understanding of prehistoric connections and climate change across the Middle East.

Termed kites by early aircraft pilots, these structures consist of low stone walls making up a head enclosure and a number of guiding walls, sometimes kilometers long. They are believed to have been used to guide game such as gazelles into an area where they could be captured or killed. There is evidence that these structures may date back as far as 8,000 BCE in the Neolithic period.

Kites cannot be observed easily from the ground, however the advent of commercial satellite imagery and platforms such as Google Earth have enabled recent discoveries of new distributions. While these structures were already well-known from eastern Jordan and adjoining areas in southern Syria, these latest results take the known distribution over 400km further east across northern Saudi Arabia, with some also identified in southern Iraq for the first time.

[caltrek]

Archaeological Excavations in Romania Show Life of Earliest Modern Humans in Europe
September 13, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) A new article provides insights in the life and craftsmanship of the earliest modern humans in Europe around 40 thousand years ago, allowing an important glimpse into how early Homo sapiens adapted to their environment on the newly populated continent. The study, which was published in Nature: Scientific Reports’, reports on recent excavations in western Romania at Româneşti, one of the most important sites in southeastern Europe associated with the earliest Homo sapiens. The excavation was led by archaeologist Dr Wei Chu from the University of Cologne (Germany) and Leiden University (Netherlands) with contributions by Dr Jacopo Gennai from the University of Cologne (Germany) and University of Pisa (Italy).

Many early Homo sapiens fossils have been found in southeastern Europe, presumably because they first entered the continent through the Balkan Peninsula. Still, few Homo sapiens fossils have been found in association with cultural remains. Româneşti, however, offers numerous artefacts and is therefore an important window into observing how the first European Homo sapiens coped with their new environments.

The researchers found that artefacts at Româneşti were geared towards producing highly standardized chipped stone bladelets that could have been used as inserts for arrows or spears. Also, particular grindstones might have been used to straighten wooden shafts, suggesting that Româneşti was a kind of a projectile workshop. This is further corroborated by microscopic analyses of the artefact surfaces, which demonstrate that most of them were not used. This suggests that the site may have been used as a place for manufacturing tools that were later transported offsite.

Thousands of artefacts, some of which must have been carried to the site from over 300 km away based on geochemical evidence, combined with evidence for onsite fire use demonstrate that Româneşti was an important place in the landscape. Apparently, the early Homo sapiens of the area repeatedly returned to it.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/964530

[caltrek]

Ancient Poop Suggests Humans Tended Animals 2,000 Years Earlier Than We Thought
by Tessa Koumoundouros
September 15, 2022

Introduction:

(Science Alert) Clues within ancient animal poop challenge the current prevailing theory that humans tamed plants before beasts.

Researchers found the preserved dung in question alongside buried remains of ancient hunter-gatherer dwellings in Syria that date back to around 13,000 years ago.

"We were surprised when we realized that hunter-gatherers were bringing live animals to Abu Hureyra between 12,800 and 12,300 years ago and keeping them outside of their hut," the researchers explain in a statement.

"This is almost 2,000 years earlier than what we have seen elsewhere, although it is in line with what we might expect for the Euphrates Valley."
Back in the early 1970s, excavations Abu Hureyra in what's now Syria revealed one of the longest known sequences of humanity's transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-p ... e-thought

[caltrek]

Donkey Genome Reveals Journey to Domestication
by Tory Moore
September 15, 2022

Introduction:

(Futurity) Sometimes overlooked, donkeys have their own unique and significant history, which tells how they evolved right alongside humans. The new research clarifies the key role they played in daily human life dating back thousands of years.

Researchers sequenced the genome of donkeys from regions around the world. To tell the story of the donkey, researchers analyzed the genome of existing populations as well as DNA from donkey fossils.

The donkey’s domestication story differs greatly from that of the horse. Horses were domesticated twice, and the first attempt failed. Donkeys were domesticated once and spread rapidly.

Among the populations scientists sampled, the animals originated from Africa roughly 7,000 years ago and spread quickly into Asia and Europe. Also, unlike horses, donkeys appear to have equal genetic representation for both males and females.

Before this study, it was unclear where and when donkeys were domesticated.

Read more here: https://www.futurity.org/donkey-domest ... -2800322/

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'Extremely rare' Rameses II-era burial cave found in Israel

https://phys.org/news/2022-09-extremely ... urial.html

The cave was uncovered on a beach when a mechanical digger hit its roof, with archaeologists using a ladder to descend into the spacious, man-made square cave.

Israeli archaeologists on Sunday announced the "once-in-a-lifetime" discovery of a burial cave from the time of ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II, filled with dozens of pottery pieces and bronze artifacts.

The cave was uncovered on a beach Tuesday, when a mechanical digger working at the Palmahim national park hit its roof, with archaeologists using a ladder to descend into the spacious, man-made square cave.

In a video released by the Israel Antiquities Authority, gobsmacked archaeologists shine flashlights on dozens of pottery vessels in a variety of forms and sizes, dating back to the reign of the ancient Egyptian king who died in 1213 BC.

Bowls—some of them painted red, some containing bones—chalices, cooking pots, storage jars, lamps and bronze arrowheads or spearheads could be seen in the cave.

The objects were burial offerings to accompany the deceased on their last journey to the afterlife, found untouched since being placed there about 3,300 years ago.

[wjfox]

Swedish geneticist wins Nobel prize for Neanderthal research

Mon 3 Oct 2022 13.25 BST

A Swedish geneticist has been awarded the 2022 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine.

Svante Pääbo won the 10m Swedish kronor (£867,000) prize announced on Monday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.

Pääbo won for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins including Neanderthals and human evolution, according to the formal citation from the Nobel committee.

His discoveries also have implications for modern medicine. Chunks of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA are peppered throughout the human genome and their analysis is beginning to shed light on what makes our physiology unique, or similar, to that of our ancestors.

For instance, a Denisovan version of the gene EPAS1 has been found to help people survive at high altitudes and is common among modern-day Tibetans. Neanderthal genes have also been identified that affect our immune responses to different types of infections, including the risk of severe Covid-19.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... ante-paabo

[weatheriscool]

Hominid prenatal growth rates found to have increased after lineage split from chimps
https://phys.org/news/2022-10-hominid-p ... himps.html
by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

A combined team of researchers from Western Washington University and the University of California, Berkeley, has found evidence indicating that the human linage that split from chimps underwent an increase in prenatal growth rate soon after the split. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their study of prenatal growth rates in modern primates and models showing such rates in ancient primates.

Prior research has shown that the prenatal growth rate for humans is faster than for all of the other primates—a human fetus, for example, grows by approximately 11.6 grams a day, while gorillas grow by just 8.2 grams per day. It has been suggested by some researchers that the faster prenatal growth rate led to the relatively speedy evolution of a larger brain. In this new effort, the researchers wondered when the increased growth rate began in the human linage.

The researchers began their work by studying prenatal growth rates in multiple types of modern primates—they found that measurement of the first and third molar provided a good correlation ratio. They then created a model for calculating prenatal growth rate in ancient primates based on their fossilized teeth and used it to calculate the prenatal growth rate for 13 hominid species.

[weatheriscool]

6,000-year-old skull found in cave in Taiwan possibly confirms legend of Indigenous tribe
https://phys.org/news/2022-10-year-old- ... sibly.html
by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

A team of researchers with members from Australia, Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam found a 6,000-year-old skull and femur bones in a cave in a mountainous part of Taiwan that might prove the existence of an ancient Indigenous tribe. In their paper published in the journal World Archaeology, the group describes the skull, where it was found and what it might represent.

In Taiwan, there have been stories passed down through the generations about a tribe of short, dark-skinned people that once lived in mountainous parts of the island. But until now, there has been no physical evidence of them. In this new effort, the researchers found a skull and leg bones in a cave that have been dated back to approximately 6,000 years ago—a time before the ancestors of people alive on the island arrived.

In studying DNA from the skull, the researchers found it close to African samples from around the same time period. But they also found that its size and shape resemble that of Negritos, who lived in parts of what is now South Africa and in the Philippines. Study of bones left behind in those areas showed them to be quite short with a small body size. Femur bones found near the skull were from the same person as the skull, a young woman. The researchers estimate she stood approximately 1.3 meters tall.

The researchers suggest their findings confirm the existence of the ancient people on Taiwan but they do not explain what might have happened to them. They were apparently gone by the time other early Austronesian groups of people began arriving. The researchers also note that mention of small, dark-skinned people was made in documents from the Quin Dynasty, and all but one of the 16 Austronesian groups living in Taiwan today have stories that describe small, dark-skinned people who once lived in the mountains. Such tales differ, however, between groups, the researchers note, with some believing that the earlier people were ancestors of theirs. Others see them as former enemies. One group claims to have killed off the last of the ancient people 1,000 years ago.

[ººº]

[...] from the Quin Dynasty,

https://phys.org/news/2022-10-year-old- ... :text=quin
Fail.

[caltrek]

New Discoveries About Human Prehistory are Opening Up Revolutionary Possibilities
by Jan Ritch-Frel
and
October 13, 2022

Introduction:

(Alternet) Discoveries in the fields of human origins, paleoanthropology, cognitive science, and behavioral biology have accelerated in the past few decades. We occasionally bump into news reports that new findings have revolutionary implications for how humanity lives today—but the information for the most part is still packed obscurely in the worlds of science and academia.

Some experts have tried to make the work more accessible, but Deborah Barsky’s new book, Human Prehistory: Exploring the Past to Understand the Future (Cambridge University Press, 2022), is one of the most authoritative yet. The breadth and synthesis of the work are impressive, and Barsky’s highly original analysis on the subject—from the beginnings of culture to how humanity began to be alienated from the natural world—keeps the reader engaged throughout.

Long before Jane Goodall began telling the world we would do well to study our evolutionary origins and genetic cousins, it was a well-established philosophical creed that things go better for humanity the more we try to know ourselves.

Barsky, a researcher at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution and associate professor at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona, Spain, who came to this field through her decades of studying ancient stone tool technologies, writes early in her book that lessons learned from the remote past could guide our species toward a brighter future, but “that so much of the information that is amassed by prehistoric archeologists remains inaccessible to many people” and “appears far removed from our daily lives.” I reached out to Barsky in the early stage of her book launch to learn more.

Read more here: https://www.alternet.org/2022/10/disco ... bilities/

caltrek’s comment: There are so many areas of study in which I have an interest that I am not sure I will actually get around to reading Barsky’s new book. From the interview contained in the link above, I think that her book is a very nice fit for this forum. It not only studies the past, but seeks to actively link those studies to understanding our future. What closer match could you ask for to this forum?

[caltrek]

Study Finds Ancient Humans Were Apex Predators For 2 Million Years
by Mike McRae
October 17, 2022

Introduction:

(Science Alert) Paleolithic cuisine was anything but lean and green, according to a study on the diets of our Pleistocene ancestors.

For a good 2 million years, Homo sapiens and their ancestors ditched the salad and dined heavily on meat, putting them at the top of the food chain.
It's not quite the balanced diet of berries, grains, and steak we might picture when we think of 'paleo' food.

But according to a study last year by anthropologists from Israel's Tel Aviv University and the University of Minho in Portugal, modern hunter-gatherers have given us the wrong impression of what we once ate.

"This comparison is futile, however, because 2 million years ago hunter-gatherer societies could hunt and consume elephants and other large animals – while today's hunter gatherers do not have access to such bounty," researcher Miki Ben‐Dor from Israel's Tel Aviv University explained in 2021.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-h ... udy-finds

For a lengthy presentation on the results of the study as published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10 ... jpa.24247

[Yuli Ban]

[caltrek]

Ancient DNA Analysis Sheds Light on the Early Peopling of South America
November 1, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert)The Americas were the last continent to be inhabited by humans. An increasing body of archaeological and genomic evidence has hinted to a complex settlement process. This is especially true for South America, where unexpected ancestral signals have raised perplexing scenarios for the early migrations into different regions of the continent.

Many unanswered questions still persist, such as whether the first humans migrated south along the Pacific coast or by some other route. While there is archaeological evidence for a north-to-south migration during the initial peopling of the Americas by ancient Indigenous peoples, where these ancient humans went after they arrived has remained elusive.

Using DNA from two ancient human individuals unearthed in two different archaeological sites in northeast Brazil – Pedra do Tubarão and Alcobaça – and powerful algorithms and genomic analyses, Florida Atlantic University researchers in collaboration with Emory University have unraveled the deep demographic history of South America at the regional level with some unexpected and surprising results.

Not only do researchers provide new genetic evidence supporting existing archaeological data of the north-to-south migration toward South America, they also have discovered migrations in the opposite direction along the Atlantic coast – for the first time. The work provides the most complete genetic evidence to date for complex ancient Central and South American migration routes.

Among the key findings, researchers also have discovered evidence of Neanderthal ancestry within the genomes of ancient individuals from South America. Neanderthals are an extinct population of archaic humans that ranged across Eurasia during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/969421

[weatheriscool]

Earliest human fossils in the UK reveal how ancient Europeans were connected
https://phys.org/news/2022-11-earliest- ... eveal.html
by Emma Caton, Natural History Museum

Piecing together the story of human evolution is an undeniably complex task.

However, new research has brought us closer to understanding how early humans in Britain may have been related to other European populations over 400,000 years ago.

In the 1990s, part of a lower leg bone and two fossil teeth were unearthed at an archaeological site in Boxgrove, West Sussex.

Dating to around 480,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene, the Boxgrove fossils are the oldest human remains discovered in the U.K. and were identified as most likely belonging to the ancient human species Homo heidelbergensis.

Scientists are now trying to determine if the Boxgrove humans belong to the same population as other early human fossils discovered at the archaeological site Sima de los Huesos (meaning "pit of bones") in Spain which date to a similar time period.

The new study, published in the Journal of Human Evolution, found that the incisor teeth from Boxgrove fit comfortably within the range of fossil teeth found at the Sima site in Spain. Therefore, they could potentially represent similar populations. However, the Boxgrove leg bone, or tibia, differed significantly from those discovered in Spain, suggesting it could be from entirely separate populations.

[weatheriscool]

Scientists discover southward migration of Arctic Ocean species during the last glacial period
https://phys.org/news/2022-11-scientist ... ocean.html
by The University of Hong Kong

In order to survive, a species must find the most favorable habitat to pass on its genes. Therefore, learning how species migrated with climate change is very important for protecting species from environmental threats.

In light of this, a research team led by Dr. He Wang and Dr. Moriaki Yasuhara from the School of Biological Sciences (SBS) and the Swire Institute of Marine Science (SWIMS) of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) studied the impact of East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM).

They identified two southward migration events of polar species of Arctic ostracods during the last glacial period and determined the ages of these two events for the first time. The results will help researchers better understand Asian monsoon dynamics and their impacts on the marine ecosystem and polar species, thereby reducing the risk of species extinction. The study has recently been published in Geophysical Research Letters.

[caltrek]

Oldest Known Dog Bone Hints Our Best Friends Were With Us Earlier Than Thought
by Michele Starr
November 30, 2022

Introduction:

(Science Alert) An ancient bone is helping scientists refine the timeline of humanity's relationship with our best friends – the canine companions that have brightened our lives for millennia.

How many millennia? Well, no one knows for sure. But precision carbon dating is helping narrow it down.

A canine humerus recovered from Erralla cave in the Basque Country, Spain in 1985 has now been dated to between 17,410 and 17,096 years ago. And multiple lines of analysis confirm it's not from a wolf, but a dog: Canis familiaris. This means that old, cracked humerus represents the oldest dog bone to date.

That's an incredible datapoint for contextualizing dog domestication, and opens up new discussions about the timeline and the nature of remains of "dog-like wolves" thought to be an intermediate stage between wolves and dogs.

When and how dogs diverged from their wolf (Canis lupus) ancestors, and when they became domesticated, are subjects of some debate.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/oldest-kn ... n-thought

[caltrek]

An Unknown "Ghost" Human Species Has Been Found By Computers
by Tom Hale
November 29, 2022. (The original version of this article was published in 2020)

Introduction:

(IFL Science) The ancient ancestors of people living in West Africa appear to have interbred with a mysterious “ghost” hominin – another missing character in the story of humans.

The research suggests that some populations living in West Africa today have traces of an archaic hominin species laying within their DNA, much like how Neanderthal DNA can still be found in many populations of non-African descent and Denisovan DNA lives on in people of Asian heritage. However, unlike these two relatives of Homo sapiens, no physical remains of this ancient hominin have ever been found by modern science.

Reported in the journal Science Advances in 2020, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles' School of Medicine looked to find segments of archaic ancestry within the genomes of over 400 people from four West African populations from the 1,000 Genomes Project, including the Yoruba and Mende populations.

Using a computer-modeling technique, they found that between 2 and 19 percent of their genetic ancestry was derived from an unaccounted-for source, creating the big question: "who" was this?

The researchers argue the best bet is that the genes of an unknown hominin entered the gene pool through introgression, the flow of genes that occurs when members of two populations mate and the resulting hybrid individuals then breed with members of the parent populations. It’s perfectly feasible that the hominin in question could even be a whole new species of early human, say the researchers, whose ancestors most likely split off from the human family tree before the ancestors of Neanderthals and Denisovans.

Read more here: https://www.iflscience.com/an-unknown- ... ers-66427

[weatheriscool]

Jawbone may represent earliest presence of humans in Europe
https://phys.org/news/2022-12-jawbone-e ... urope.html
by Binghamton University

For over a century, one of the earliest human fossils ever discovered in Spain has been long considered a Neandertal. However, new analysis from an international research team, including scientists at Binghamton University, State University of New York, dismantles this century-long interpretation, demonstrating that this fossil is not a Neandertal; rather, it may actually represent the earliest presence of Homo sapiens ever documented in Europe.

In 1887, a fossil mandible was discovered during quarrying activities in the town of Banyoles, Spain, and has been studied by different researchers over the past century. The Banyoles fossil likely dates to between approximately 45,000–65,000 years ago, at a time when Europe was occupied by Neandertals, and most researchers have generally linked it to this species.

"The mandible has been studied throughout the past century and was long considered to be a Neandertal based on its age and location, and the fact that it lacks one of the diagnostic features of Homo sapiens: a chin," said Binghamton University graduate student Brian Keeling.

[caltrek]

Switch to Farming Led to First Domestication of Cats
by Brian Consiglio
December 5, 2022

Introduction:

(Futurity) Cat genes reveal how invention of agriculture bonded cats with people in ancient Mesopotamia, leading to worldwide feline migration with humans, researchers report.

Nearly 10,000 years ago, humans settling in the Fertile Crescent, the areas of the Middle East surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, made the first switch from hunter-gatherers to farmers.

They developed close bonds with the rodent-eating cats that conveniently served as ancient pest-control in society’s first civilizations.

The researchers’ new study finds this lifestyle transition for humans was the catalyst that sparked the world’s first domestication of cats, and as humans began to travel the world, they brought their new feline friends along with them.

Leslie A. Lyons, a feline geneticist and Gilbreath-McLorn, professor of comparative medicine in the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, collected and analyzed DNA from cats in and around the Fertile Crescent area, as well as throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, comparing nearly 200 different genetic markers.

Read more of the Futurity article here: https://www.futurity.org/cats-domestic ... -2840272/

Read a presentation of the study results in Heredity here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41437-022-00568-4