But did they encounter Neanderthals?
Hershkovitz et al report the discovery report the discovery of a partial skullcap at Manot Cave, Western Galilee. The skullcap has been dated by uranium/thorium methods to 54,700 +/- 5,500 years old. Its describers note archaic features such an occipital bun but claim that it is ‘unequivocally modern’.
500,000-year-old shell cutting tool could explain Acheulean hand-axe puzzle
The teardrop shaped Acheulean hand-axe is without doubt the signature artefact of the Lower Palaeolithic, remaining in use for nearly one and a half million years. The tools first came into use about 1.75 million years ago and persisted until around 250,000 years ago. While chiefly associated with Homo erectus, they remained in use into the time of the larger-brained Homo heidelbergensis.
500,000-year-old shells provide earliest yet evidence for symbolic behaviour
Archaeologists studying freshwater mussel shells excavated in the nineteenth century at Trinil, Java, have discovered geometric patterns carved by Homo erectus 500,000 years ago and unambiguous evidence that one shell had been sharpened and polished for use as a cutting tool. In addition, the number of large adults in the shell assemblage suggests that they were intentionally collected for eating.
Barley and sheep enabled agriculturalists to live at high altitude
A new study, published in the journal Science, has documented human adaptations to living at high altitudes on the Tibetan Plateau. This vast elevated region in Central Asia includes most of Tibet and Qinghai Province, together with a part of the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. Measuring 1,000 km (620 miles) from north to south and 2,500 km (1,600 miles) east to west, it has an area of 2,500,000 sq. km (970,000 sq. miles) or roughly five times the size of France. With an average elevation exceeding 4,500 m (14,800 ft.), the Tibetan Plateau is the world’s highest and largest plateau, for which reason it is popularly known as “the roof of the world”.
Bone abnormality suggests repetitive movements similar to those documented for professional throwing athletes
Three long bones from a Neanderthal left arm have been found at Tourville-la-Rivière, Normandy. The bones are somewhere between 183,000 and 236,000 years old and paleo-ecological indicators suggest an date towards the end of the MIS 7 interglacial (245,000 to 190,000 years ago).
U-series re-dating suggests that Indonesian cave art is almost 40,000 years old
The arrival of modern humans in Europe is marked by the appearance in the archaeological record of a sophisticated artistic tradition, which includes portable art objects and cave art. Archaeologists have long been puzzled by an apparent lack of antecedents for this artwork, either in Africa or on early modern human migration routes. It is difficult to see how a seemingly mature artistic tradition could arise de novo in Upper Palaeolithic Europe – but if the 40,000 year old cave paintings at sites such as Altamira and El Castillo really were the earliest cave art anywhere in the world, this must have been the case. Continue reading
Armenian findings provide insight into Lower to Middle Palaeolithic transition
The Middle Stone Age/Middle Palaeolithic saw a shift in emphasis from hand-axe (biface) manufacture to prepared-core methods. In the former, flakes detached from a stone core are regarded as waste products; in the latter, flakes detached from a pre-shaped stone core are the desired products. The shift to prepared-core industries probably came about as toolmakers began to recognise that debitage (waste flakes) could often be useful tools in their own right. Such methods are economical in their use of raw materials, because many flakes may be struck from the same core. Continue reading
