93 research outputs found
The Tien Shan vole (Microtus ilaeus; Rodentia: Cricetidae) as a new species in the Late Pleistocene of Europe
No full textAbstract Grey voles (subgenus Microtus) represent a complex of at least seven closely related and partly cryptic species. The range of these species extends from the Atlantic to the Altai Mountains, but most of them occur east of the Black Sea. Using ancient DNA analyses of the Late Pleistocene specimens, we identified a new mtDNA lineage of grey voles in Europe. Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b sequences from 23 voles from three caves, namely, Emine?Bair?Khosar (Crimea, Ukraine), Cave 16 (Bulgaria), and Bacho Kiro (Bulgaria), showed that 14 specimens form a previously unrecognized lineage, sister to the Tien Shan vole. The average sequence divergence of this lineage and the extant Tien Shan vole was 4.8%, which is similar to the divergence of grey vole forms, which are considered distinct species or being on the verge of speciation; M. arvalis and M. obscurus or M. mystacinus and M. rossiaemeridionalis. We estimated the time to the most recent common ancestor of the grey voles to be 0.66 Ma, which is over twice the recent estimates, while the divergence of the extant Tien Shan vole and the new lineage to be 0.29 Ma. Our discovery suggests that grey voles may have been more diversified in the past and that their ranges may have differed substantially from current ones. It also underlines the utility of ancient DNA to decipher the evolutionary history of voles
Saving old bones: A non-destructive method for bone collagen prescreening
No full textBone collagen is an important material for radiocarbon, paleodietary, and paleoproteomic analyses, but it degrades over time, making such analyses more difficult with older material. Collagen preservation between and within archaeological sites is also variable, so that much time, effort, and money can go into the preparation and initial analysis of samples that will not yield meaningful results. To avoid this, various methods are employed to prescreen bone for collagen preservation (e.g., %N, microporosity, and FTIR spectroscopic analyses), but these are often destructive and/or require exportation for analysis. Here, we explore near-infrared spectroscopy as a tool for gauging the collagen content of ground and whole bone from about 500 to 45,000 years ago. We show that a portable spectrometer’s ability to quantify collagen content and classify specimens by preservation status is comparable to that of other popular prescreening methods. Moreover, near-infrared spectroscopy is non-destructive and spectra can be acquired in a few seconds
Is there Initial Upper Palaeolithic in Western Tian Shan? Example of an open-air site Katta Sai 2 (Uzbekistan)
No full textThe paper presents the results of multidisciplinary studies on the open-air loess site Katta Sai 2 located in the
western piedmonts of Tian Shan in Uzbekistan. Two archaeological horizons contain features associated with the
Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) - both Levallois and blade/bladelet volumetric technology, together with an
Upper Palaeolithic toolkit. The cultural traits observed in Katta Sai 2 might have local roots dating back to MIS 5a
and can be found in so-called Obirakhmatian technocomplex determined in several archaeological sites in the
region. Thus, the obtained results question the hypothesis of non-local origins of IUP complexes associated with
the early modern human migration from the Near East to Mongolia along the piedmonts of Pamir and Tian Shan.
Until reliable anthropological and genetic data are obtained, it seems to be too early to conclude about the
relationship between modern human migration and the appearance of IUP assemblages, at least across the
western parts of Central Asia
“Here we go again”: the inspection of collagen extraction protocols for 14C dating and palaeodietary analysis
No full textArchaeological bone collagen is highly useful for radiocarbon (14C) dating and palaeodietary reconstruction. However, collagen preservation and carbon contamination are essential considerations when extracting collagen, becoming especially crucial close to the limit of the method (50,000 years before present = BP). Strong progress has been achieved in the past two decades by 14C and stable isotopic laboratories in removing contamination from archaeological bones, but different pretreatment protocols have been proven to produce varying results. Here we compare three collagen extraction protocols used for palaeodietary studies and 14C dating, considering collagen yield, elemental and stable isotopic data, FTIR analysis, and 14C dates. We focus on the impact of ultrafiltration on the yield and quality of the extracted material. The results again underline the importance of rigorous decontamination methods to gain accurate 14C dates and demonstrate that different protocols have significant effects on the quality and yield of extracted collagen
Author Correction: New perspectives on Neanderthal dispersal and turnover from Stajnia Cave (Poland)
No full textThe Author contributions section now reads:“W.N., A.N. and S.T. designed research; A.P., M.H., W.N., S.B., M.U., A.M., H.F., M.D.B., P.S., K.S., M.Ż., A.W., A.N. and S.T. performed research; A.P., M.H., W.N., S.B., M.U., A.M., H.F., M.D.B., P.S., K.S., M.Ż., A.W., A.N. and S.T. analysed data; A.P., M.H., S.T., W.N. and S.B. wrote the paper with the collaboration of all the co-authors.
Author Correction:A 41,500 year-old decorated ivory pendant from Stajnia Cave (Poland)
No full textCorrection to: Scientific Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01221-6, published online 25 November 2021The original version of this Article contained errors in the author list where Marjolein D. Bosch was omitted from the author list, and Mikołaj Urbanowski was incorrectly listed as an author of the original Article, and has subsequently been removed.The Author contributions section now reads:“S.T. W.N. and A.N. conceived the project; S.T., W.N., A.P., M.B., S.C., M.D., H.F., A.M., M.D. B., D.P., M.P.R., C.M.R., V.S-M., G.M.S., P.S., M.S., K.S., A.V., F.W., H.W., A.W., M.Z., S.B., A.N., J-J. H., performed research; S.T., A.P., W.N., M.B., M.D.B., S.C., M.D., H.F., A.M., D.P., M.P.R., C.M.R., V.S-M., G.M.S., P.S., M.S., K.S., A.V., F.W., H.W., A.W., M.Z., S.B., A.N., J-J. H. analysed all archaeological data; S.T. and A.P. wrote the paper with the collaboration of all the co-authors.”The original Article and its accompanying Supplementary Information file have been corrected
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A 41,500 year-old decorated ivory pendant from Stajnia Cave (Poland)
No full textEvidence of mobiliary art and body augmentation are associated with the cultural innovations
introduced by Homo sapiens at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. Here, we report the discovery
of the oldest known human-modified punctate ornament, a decorated ivory pendant from the
Paleolithic layers at Stajnia Cave in Poland. We describe the features of this unique piece, as well
as the stratigraphic context and the details of its chronometric dating. The Stajnia Cave plate is a
personal ’jewellery’ object that was created 41,500 calendar years ago (directly radiocarbon dated). It
is the oldest known of its kind in Eurasia and it establishes a new starting date for a tradition directly
connected to the spread of modern Homo sapiens in Europe
New perspectives on Neanderthal dispersal and turnover from Stajnia Cave (Poland)
No full textThe Micoquian is the broadest and longest enduring cultural facies of the Late Middle Palaeolithic that spread across the periglacial and boreal environments of Europe between Eastern France, Poland, and Northern Caucasus. Here, we present new data from the archaeological record of Stajnia Cave (Poland) and the paleogenetic analysis of a Neanderthal molar S5000, found in a Micoquian context. Our results demonstrate that the mtDNA genome of Stajnia S5000 dates to MIS 5a making the tooth the oldest Neanderthal specimen from Central-Eastern Europe. Furthermore, S5000 mtDNA has the fewest number of differences to mtDNA of Mezmaiskaya 1 Neanderthal from Northern Caucasus, and is more distant from almost contemporaneous Neanderthals of Scladina and Hohlenstein-Stadel. This observation and the technological affinity between Poland and the Northern Caucasus could be the result of increased mobility of Neanderthals that changed their subsistence strategy for coping with the new low biomass environments and the increased foraging radius of gregarious animals. The Prut and Dniester rivers were probably used as the main corridors of dispersal. The persistence of the Micoquian techno-complex in South-Eastern Europe infers that this axis of mobility was also used at the beginning of MIS 3 when a Neanderthal population turnover occurred in the Northern Caucasus
Tracing the mobility of a Late Epigravettian (~ 13 ka) male infant from Grotte di Pradis (Northeastern Italian Prealps) at high-temporal resolution
No full text: We present the results of a multi-disciplinary investigation on a deciduous human tooth (Pradis 1), recently recovered from the Epigravettian layers of the Grotte di Pradis archaeological site (Northeastern Italian Prealps). Pradis 1 is an exfoliated deciduous molar (Rdm2), lost during life by an 11-12-year-old child. A direct radiocarbon date provided an age of 13,088-12,897 cal BP (95% probability, IntCal20). Amelogenin peptides extracted from tooth enamel and analysed through LC-MS/MS indicate that Pradis 1 likely belonged to a male. Time-resolved 87Sr/86Sr analyses by laser ablation mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICPMS), combined with dental histology, were able to resolve his movements during the first year of life (i.e. the enamel mineralization interval). Specifically, the Sr isotope ratio of the tooth enamel differs from the local baseline value, suggesting that the child likely spent his first year of life far from Grotte di Pradis. Sr isotopes are also suggestive of a cyclical/seasonal mobility pattern exploited by the Epigravettian human group. The exploitation of Grotte di Pradis on a seasonal, i.e. summer, basis is also indicated by the faunal spectra. Indeed, the nearly 100% occurrence of marmot remains in the entire archaeozoological collection indicates the use of Pradis as a specialized marmot hunting or butchering site. This work represents the first direct assessment of sub-annual movements observed in an Epigravettian hunter-gatherer group from Northern Italy
Integration of direct radiocarbon dating, genetic studies and taxonomy of small mammals to investigate the chronology of past climatic oscillations: The Last Glacial Maximum sequence of Grotta della Ferrovia (Fabriano, Italy)
No full textThe recent developments in palaeoecological reconstruction methods, collagen extraction of small bone samples and ancient DNA analyses led us to test new approaches to enhance the chronological resolution of past climate reconstructions inferred from small mammal assemblages.Grotta della Ferrovia (Fabriano, Ancona, Italy, 40°25′36″N, 13°0′11″E, 215 m a.s.l.) is a small cave that opens on the southern bank of the Esino river, around 45 km west of Ancona. Discovered in 1966, it is famous among scholars because it is the first locality where the fossil birch mouse was recorded in Italy and because of the remarkable archaeological lithic evidence assemblage found in the cave related to the Late Epigravettian. Across the small mammal sequence, distributed into seven layers (from GDF7 to GDF2), two main phases can be recognized: in the first phase, from GDF7 to GDF5, Microtus arvalis is dominant over Microtus agrestis, in a poorly diversified assemblage. The sequence gradually changes in GDF4 and a second phase can be observed in GDF3 and GDF2, where Apodemus gr. sylvaticus-flavicollis dominates, but combined with a higher number of taxa. From GDF7 to GDF3, few individuals of Sicista cf. subtilis and Alexandromys oeconomus are recorded. Environmental and climatic reconstructions calculated with the Habitat Weighting and the Bioclimatic methods show a dominance of open meadows (GDF7 to GDF4) that were gradually replaced by closed or semi-closed forests (GDF3 and GDF2) in a context of gradually increasing temperature, shifting from a cold phase to conditions similar to the current ones in the area.Direct radiocarbon dates on 18 rodent bones and aDNA analyses on three Microtus arvalis teeth helped us to better understand the significance of the oscillation inferred from the small mammal sequences. A robust series of nine radiocarbon measurements from GDF7 to GDF5 shows that this part of the sequence accumulated between ∼24,600–19,600 cal BP (95.4% probability), which includes the final phases of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The ancient DNA from Microtus arvalis confirmed the chronological framework and the presence of italic populations in this area during the LGM, similar to the slightly more ancient Grotta del Sambuco on the western side of the central Peninsula. The small mammal radiocarbon dates from GDF4 and above are less consistent with their stratigraphic position, probably related to post-depositional disturbance of the sediments, but suggest that the last part of the sequence accumulated during the Late Glacial.Our results show that it is now possible to validate and enhance paleoclimatic and paleoenvironment inferences from small mammal sequence studies with direct radiocarbon dates and ancient DNA analyses, using these integrated methods as a high resolution tool for studying the past
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