Microscopic analysis of backed lithic pieces from the Uluzzian technocomplex (45-40kya) at the Grotta del Cavallo (southern Italy) reveals their use as mechanically delivered projectile weapons, attributed to Anatomically Modern Humans. Use-wear and residue analysis indicates the lithics were hunting armatures hafted with complex adhesives, while experimental and ethnographic comparison supports their use as projectiles. The use of projectiles conferred a hunting strategy with a higher impact energy and a potential subsistence advantage over other populations and species. Users may view, print, copy, and download text and data-mine the content in such documents, for the purposes of academic research, subject always to the full Conditions of use:

Maritime adaptation was one of the essential factors that enabled modern humans to disperse all over the world. However, geographic distribution of early maritime technology during the Late Pleistocene remains unclear. At this time, the Indonesian Archipelago and eastern New Guinea stand as the sole, well-recognized area for secure Pleistocene evidence of repeated ocean crossings and advanced fishing technology. The incomplete archeological records also make it difficult to know whether modern humans could sustain their life on a resource-poor, small oceanic island for extended periods with Paleolithic technology. We here report evidence from a limestone cave site on Okinawa Island, Japan, of successive occupation that extends back to 35,000−30,000 y ago. Well-stratified strata at the Sakitari Cave site yielded a rich assemblage of seashell artifacts, including formally shaped tools, beads, and the world’s oldest fishhooks. These are accompanied by seasonally exploited food residue. The persistent occupation on this relatively small, geographically isolated island, as well as the appearance of Paleolithic sites on nearby islands by 30,000 y ago, suggest wider distribution of successful maritime adaptations than previously recognized, spanning the lower to midlatitude areas in the western Pacific coastal region.

The palaeobiological record of 12 million to 7 million years ago (Ma) is crucial to the elucidation of African ape and human origins, but few fossil assemblages of this period have been reported from sub-Saharan Africa. Since the 1970s, the Chorora Formation, Ethiopia, has been widely considered to contain ~10.5 million year (Myr) old mammalian fossils. More recently, Chororapithecus abyssinicus, a probable primitive member of the gorilla clade, was discovered from the formation. Here we report new field observations and geochemical, magnetostratigraphic and radioisotopic results that securely place the Chorora Formation sediments to between ~9 and ~7 Ma. The C. abyssinicus fossils are ~8.0 Myr old, forming a revised age constraint of the human-gorilla split. Other Chorora fossils range in age from ~8.5 to 7 Ma and comprise the first sub-Saharan mammalian assemblage that spans this period. These fossils suggest indigenous African evolution of multiple mammalian lineages/groups between 10 and 7 Ma, including a possible ancestral-descendent relationship between the ~9.8 Myr old Nakalipithecus nakayamai and C. abyssinicus. The new chronology and fossils suggest that faunal provinciality between eastern Africa and Eurasia had intensified by ~9 Ma, with decreased faunal interchange thereafter. The Chorora evidence supports the hypothesis of in situ African evolution of the Gorilla-Pan-human clade, and is concordant with the deeper divergence estimates of humans and great apes based on lower mutation rates of ~0.5 × 10(-9) per site per year (refs 13 - 15).

The effect of disorder on the electronic properties near the Mott transition is studied in an organic superconductor κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu[N(CN)2]Br, which is systematically irradiated by X-ray. We observe that X-ray irradiation causes Anderson-type electron localization due to molecular disorder. The resistivity at low temperatures demonstrates variable range hopping conduction with Coulomb interaction. The experimental results show clearly that the electron localization by disorder is enhanced by the Coulomb interaction near the Mott transition.PACS numbers: 74.70. Kn, 71.30.+h, 72.15.Rn Metal-insulator (MI) transitions are of considerable importance for strongly correlated electron systems. Among the various types of the MI transitions, the Mott transition due to electron-electron (e-e) interactions is one of the most attractive phenomena [1]. A Mott insulator derives from the large on-site Coulomb energy with respect to the bandwidth. The electrons in the Mott insulator are localized on the individual sites to minimize the mutual Coulomb repulsion, which results in the opening of a charge gap at the Fermi level. Another way of the electron localization originates from the interference of the electron wave functions due to randomness. This is the Anderson insulator derived by introducing disorder into the material [2]. In contrast to Mott insulators, in Anderson insulators, there is no opening of a gap in the density of states in principle. Since the randomness in the correlated electron system is essentially important in real materials, systematic studies of disorder effects are desired in systems nearby a Mott transition for understanding their physical properties. The e-e interaction effects in disordered systems have been considered in the weak localization (WL) effect of electrons [3,4]. Recently, several theoretical studies have been performed in consideration of the Mott transition [5][6][7], but there has been few experimental approaches so far [8] because of limited suitable materials and ways of introducing disorder.Organic charge-transfer salts based on a donor molecule bis(ethylenedithio)-tetrathiafulvalene (abbreviated as BEDT-TTF) have been recognized as highly correlated electron systems [9]. Among them, κ-(BEDT-TTF) 2 X, where X is anion molecule, has attracted considerable attention as a bandwidth-controlled Mott transition system [10]. One can control the strength of electron correlation relative to the bandwidth by small pressure [11] or partial molecule substitution [12], which leads to a Mott insulator -metal transition. Recently, X-ray irradiation effects in κ-(BEDT-TTF) 2 X have been examined [13][14][15]. It has been known that X-ray irradiation causes molecular disorder and this remains permanently in organic materials [16]. In case of the superconductor κ-(BEDT-TTF) 2 Cu(NCS) 2 (hereafter κ-NCS), the molecular disorder causes an increase of the residual resistivity and then suppresses the superconductivity [13]. On the other hand in case of the Mott insulator κ-(BEDT-TTF) 2 Cu[N(CN) 2 ]...

The vertebrate fossil localities of the Chorora Formation, Ethiopia, comprise one of only a few sub-Saharan African paleontological research areas that illuminate Late Miocene African mammalian and primate evolution. Field work at Chorora since 2007 has resulted in the establishment of new vertebrate fossil localities and a revised chronostratigraphic framework. The new Chorora Formation fossils include the earliest known records of Cercopithecinae, Hippopotaminae, and Leporidae in Africa. Two lineages of hipparionins are recognized at Chorora, a larger and smaller morph, forming potential phyletic links between the earlier Samburu Hills hipparionins and later Eurygnathohippus turkanensis and E. feibeli from Lothagam, Kenya. The Chorora colobines are larger than the >9 Ma Microcolobus and morphologically conservative with only moderate molar cusp notches. The Chorora cercopithecines represent the earliest documented occurrence of the subfamily.