Gabriele A Macho, Cinzia Fornai, Christine Tardieu, Philip Hopley, Martin Haeusler, Michel Toussaint
The discovery of the nearly complete Plio-Pleistocene skeleton StW 573 Australopithecus prometheus from Sterkfontein Member 2, South Africa, has intensified debates as to whether Sterkfontein Member 4 contains a hominin species other than Australopithecus africanus. For example, it has recently been suggested that the partial skeleton StW 431 should be removed from the A. africanus hypodigm and be placed into A. prometheus. Here we re-evaluate this latter proposition, using published information and new comparative data. Although both StW 573 and StW 431 are apparently comparable in their arboreal (i.e., climbing) and bipedal adaptations, they also show significant morphological differences. Surprisingly, StW 431 cannot be unequivocally aligned with either StW 573 or other hominins from Sterkfontein commonly attributed to A. africanus (nor with Paranthropus robustus and Australopithecus sediba). This finding, together with considerations about the recent dating of Plio-Pleistocene hominin-bearing sites in South Africa and palaeoecological/palaeoclimatic conditions, raises questions whether it is justified to subsume hominins from Taung, Makapansgat and Sterkfontein (and Gladysvale) within a single taxon. Given the wealth of fossil material and analytical techniques now available, we call for a re-evaluation of the taxonomy of South African Plio-Pleistocene hominins. Such an endeavour should however go beyond the current (narrow) focus on establishing an A. africanus-A. prometheus dichotomy.
在南非Sterkfontein Member 2发现的几乎完整的上新世至更新世的StW 573南方古猿普罗米修斯骨架,加剧了关于Sterkfontein Member 4是否包含非洲南方古猿以外的人类物种的争论。例如,最近有人建议将非洲南方古猿的部分骨架StW 431从非洲南方古猿中移除,并将其放入普罗米修斯古猿中。在这里,我们重新评估后一个命题,使用已发表的信息和新的比较数据。虽然StW 573和StW 431在树栖(即攀爬)和两足适应方面具有明显的可比性,但它们也表现出显著的形态差异。令人惊讶的是,StW 431不能明确地与StW 573或其他来自Sterkfontein的古人类一致,这些古人类通常被认为是非洲古猿(也不能与傍人粗笨猿和南方古猿源泉种)。这一发现,再加上最近对南非上新世-更新世古人类遗址的年代测定和古生态/古气候条件的考虑,提出了一个问题,即把来自Taung、Makapansgat和Sterkfontein(以及Gladysvale)的古人类归为一个分类群是否合理。鉴于现有的丰富的化石材料和分析技术,我们呼吁对南非上新世-更新世人族的分类进行重新评估。然而,这样的努力应该超越目前(狭隘的)关注于建立一个非洲类群。普罗米修斯的二分法。
{"title":"The partial skeleton StW 431 from Sterkfontein - Is it time to rethink the Plio-Pleistocene hominin diversity in South Africa?","authors":"Gabriele A Macho, Cinzia Fornai, Christine Tardieu, Philip Hopley, Martin Haeusler, Michel Toussaint","doi":"10.4436/JASS.98020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/JASS.98020","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The discovery of the nearly complete Plio-Pleistocene skeleton StW 573 Australopithecus prometheus from Sterkfontein Member 2, South Africa, has intensified debates as to whether Sterkfontein Member 4 contains a hominin species other than Australopithecus africanus. For example, it has recently been suggested that the partial skeleton StW 431 should be removed from the A. africanus hypodigm and be placed into A. prometheus. Here we re-evaluate this latter proposition, using published information and new comparative data. Although both StW 573 and StW 431 are apparently comparable in their arboreal (i.e., climbing) and bipedal adaptations, they also show significant morphological differences. Surprisingly, StW 431 cannot be unequivocally aligned with either StW 573 or other hominins from Sterkfontein commonly attributed to A. africanus (nor with Paranthropus robustus and Australopithecus sediba). This finding, together with considerations about the recent dating of Plio-Pleistocene hominin-bearing sites in South Africa and palaeoecological/palaeoclimatic conditions, raises questions whether it is justified to subsume hominins from Taung, Makapansgat and Sterkfontein (and Gladysvale) within a single taxon. Given the wealth of fossil material and analytical techniques now available, we call for a re-evaluation of the taxonomy of South African Plio-Pleistocene hominins. Such an endeavour should however go beyond the current (narrow) focus on establishing an A. africanus-A. prometheus dichotomy.</p>","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"98 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38391896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Francesc Ribot Trafí, Mario García Bartual, Eulalia García-Nos, Alfredo José Altamirano Enciso, Alexander J Nevgloski, Qian Wang
{"title":"Another interpretation of Homo antecessor.","authors":"Francesc Ribot Trafí, Mario García Bartual, Eulalia García-Nos, Alfredo José Altamirano Enciso, Alexander J Nevgloski, Qian Wang","doi":"10.4436/JASS.98016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/JASS.98016","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"98 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38552780","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Armando Falcucci, Nicholas J Conard, Marco Peresani
The cultural dynamics that led to the appearance of the Aurignacian have intrigued archaeologists since the start of Paleolithic research. However, cultural reconstructions have often focused on a restricted region of Europe, namely the northern Aquitaine Basin. The Mediterranean Basin, though, is also a region worthy of consideration when testing if the Protoaurignacian was followed by the Early Aurignacian adaptive system. Fumane Cave is a pivotal site for tackling this issue because it contains evidence of repeated human occupations during the time span of the European Aurignacian. Here we investigate the diachronic variability of the lithic assemblages from five cultural units at Fumane Cave using a combination of reduction sequence and attribute analyses. This paper also reassesses the presence and stratigraphic reliability of the organic artifacts recovered at Fumane Cave. Our results show that the features of the Protoaurignacian techno-typology are present throughout the stratigraphic sequence, and by extension, to the onset of Heinrich Event 4. Additionally, the appearance of split-based points in the youngest phase is evidence of extensive networks that allowed this technological innovation to spread across different Aurignacian regions.
{"title":"Breaking through the Aquitaine frame: A re-evaluation\u0000on the significance of regional variants during the\u0000Aurignacian as seen from a key record in southern Europe","authors":"Armando Falcucci, Nicholas J Conard, Marco Peresani","doi":"10.4436/JASS.98021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4436/JASS.98021","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The cultural dynamics that led to the appearance of the Aurignacian have intrigued archaeologists since the start of Paleolithic research. However, cultural reconstructions have often focused on a restricted region of Europe, namely the northern Aquitaine Basin. The Mediterranean Basin, though, is also a region worthy of consideration when testing if the Protoaurignacian was followed by the Early Aurignacian adaptive system. Fumane Cave is a pivotal site for tackling this issue because it contains evidence of repeated human occupations during the time span of the European Aurignacian. Here we investigate the diachronic variability of the lithic assemblages from five cultural units at Fumane Cave using a combination of reduction sequence and attribute analyses. This paper also reassesses the presence and stratigraphic reliability of the organic artifacts recovered at Fumane Cave. Our results show that the features of the Protoaurignacian techno-typology are present throughout the stratigraphic sequence, and by extension, to the onset of Heinrich Event 4. Additionally, the appearance of split-based points in the youngest phase is evidence of extensive networks that allowed this technological innovation to spread across different Aurignacian regions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Sciences","volume":"98 ","pages":"99-140"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38733108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}