Back to the future: The advantage of studying key events in human evolution using a new high resolution radiocarbon method

Talamo, Sahra; Kromer, Bernd; Richards, Michael P.; Wacker, Lukas

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0280598

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 67 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We conclude by stressing that this work does not oppose the idea of ancient interbreeding between Hs and Hn. After all, they both are hominin species with long generation times who probably diverged relatively recently and likely had overlapping distributions for thousands of years (Talamo et al, 2023). This likely provided opportunity for them to interact and possibly interbreed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Questioning Neanderthal admixture: on models, robustness and consensus in human evolution

Tournebize

Chikhi

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Genomic and ancient DNA data have revolutionized palaeoanthropology and our vision of human evolution, with indisputable landmarks like the sequencing of Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes. Yet, using genetic data to identify, date and quantify evolutionary events—like ancient bottlenecks or admixture—is not straightforward, as inferences may depend on model assumptions. In the last two decades, the idea that Neanderthals and members of the Homo sapiens lineage interbred has gained momentum. From the status of unlikely theory, it has reached consensus among human evolutionary biologists. This theory is mainly supported by statistical approaches that depend on demographic models minimizing or ignoring population structure, despite its widespread occurrence and the fact that when ignored, population structure can lead to infer spurious demographic events. We simulated genomic data under a structured and admixture-free model of human evolution, and found that all the tested admixture approaches identified long Neanderthal fragments in our simulated genomes and an admixture event that never took place. We also observed that several published admixture models failed to predict important empirical diversity or admixture statistics, and that our model was best at predicting these statistics jointly. Our results suggest that models accounting for population structure are fundamental to improve our understanding of human evolution, and that admixture between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens needs to be re-evaluated in the light of structured models. Beyond the Neanderthal case, we argue that ancient hybridization events, which are increasingly documented in many species, including with other hominins, may also benefit from such reevaluation.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Questioning Neanderthal admixture: on models, robustness and consensus in human evolution

Tournebize

Chikhi

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In fact, an advanced evaluation and discussion on the earliest Homo sapiens in Europe and their temporal relationship with Neanderthals have been carried out (Talamo et al, 2023). We used:…”

Section: When the Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going!mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The concise amalgamation of these three aspects, called 'radiocarbon 3.0', leads to a new level of temporal interrelation between Homo sapiens at the site of Bacho Kiro, Bulgaria, and, for the first time, a link between the respective presence of modern humans to climatic events (warm and cold phases) in the glacial, documented in Greenland ice cores (Talamo et al, 2023).…”

Section: When the Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going!mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Four direct dates of Homo sapiens were obtained as well. Only the high-precision dates of Bach Kiro allow us to assign the presence of Homo sapiens at this site during the cold phase of GS 12 (Talamo et al, 2023). In this way, we have shown that the human occupation at Bacho Kiro did not occur at once, but there were three different occupations (one around 44 650 to 44 430, one at 44 200 to 43 420 and one at 43 110 to 42 700 cal BP) or two different ones (one around 44 650 to 44 430, one at 44 310 to 43 710 cal BP), depending on the 14 C dates considered and the Bayesian model used.…”

Section: When the Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going!mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Experience the precision of time: radiocarbon 3.0

Talamo

2023

The Project Repository Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Experience the precision of time: radiocarbon 3.0 RESOLUTION aims to achieve an accurate and highly resolved chronology back to 55 000 years BP (Before Present), using some new floating sections of fossil trees. In fact, with tree rings, the resolution will be an order of magnitude higher, and using the most recent advances in the AMS technique, we will obtain confidence intervals of only a few centuries in glacial times. In this way, we can establish in a precise way the timing of when Homo sapiens arrived in Europe, their interaction with Neanderthals and the final cause of the Neanderthal extinction. The project involves fieldwork in the Mediterranean and Southeast Europe to find more glacial trees, study the exist-ing collection of glacial conifers, exceptional 14C precision for 14C dates in the glacial, and the cutting-edge methodolo-gy linking floating tree-ring chronologies to 10Be on the ice core scale.

show abstract

The Beginning of the Early Upper Paleolithic in Poland

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research on the timing of Homo sapiens dispersals in Central Europe is pivotal for understanding the behavioral trajectories of human adaptation to low biomass environments and cold climates. Previous studies on the Early Upper Paleolithic of Poland described a different scenario from the European panorama characterized by the local development of a laminar/lamellar technology from the foregoing Middle Paleolithic and the coexistence of different Aurignacian variants after 35 ka BP. In this paper, we examine this technical diversity by reassessing and revising the chronological and technological information of the key Aurignacian sites in Poland. Our study reveals that the distinctive techno-typological features of the different Aurignacian types are most likely the result of the mixing of artifacts from different chronologies. In our view, Poland was visited intermittently by Homo sapiens since the Early Aurignacian. The deterioration of the climatic conditions during the second half of MIS 3 converted the Polish territories into a satellite area of the Aurignacian settlement system.

show abstract

Back to the future: The advantage of studying key events in human evolution using a new high resolution radiocarbon method

Cited by 4 publications

References 67 publications

Questioning Neanderthal admixture: on models, robustness and consensus in human evolution

Questioning Neanderthal admixture: on models, robustness and consensus in human evolution

Experience the precision of time: radiocarbon 3.0

The Beginning of the Early Upper Paleolithic in Poland

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About