Macaca ulna from new excavations at the Notarchirico Acheulean site (Middle Pleistocene, Venosa, southern Italy)

Mecozzi, Beniamino; Iannucci, Alessio; Sardella, Raffaele; Curci, Antonio; Daujeard, Camille; Moncel, Marie‐Hélène

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102946

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…MAR-1-9B represents the most complete fossil European macaque mandible. It adds to the meager fossil record of the genus in the eastern sector of the peri-Mediterranean region ( Mecozzi et al., 2021 : Fig. 4) and is the first recorded occurrence of Macaca in the Middle Pleistocene of Greece.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Although the extant M. s. sylvanus is endangered and currently geographically restricted to Morocco, Algeria (native) and Gibraltar (introduced by humans; Fooden, 2007 ), its fossil relatives were widely distributed in Europe and Northern Africa ( Delson, 1974 ; Szalay and Delson, 1979 ; Ardito and Mottura, 1987 ; Elton and O'Regan, 2014 ). Nevertheless, very few occurrences of the taxon are known from the eastern sector of the peri-Mediterranean region ( Mecozzi et al., 2021 : Fig. 4).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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First record of Macaca (Cercopithecidae, Primates) in the Middle Pleistocene of Greece

Konidaris

Athanassiou

Panagopoulou

et al. 2022

Journal of Human Evolution

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In this article, we describe an almost complete macaque mandible from the Middle Pleistocene locality Marathousa 1 in the Megalopolis Basin of southern Greece. The mandible belonged to a male individual of advanced ontogenetic age and of estimated body mass ∼13 kg. Comparative metric analysis of its teeth permits its attribution to the Barbary macaque Macaca sylvanus , a species that was geographically widely distributed in Western Eurasia during the Plio-Pleistocene. The dental dimensions of the Marathousa 1 macaque fit better within the variation of the Early Pleistocene M. s. florentina and the Middle to Late Pleistocene M. s. pliocena rather than with the extant representative M. s. sylvanus . Moreover, principal component analysis reveals a better match with M. s. pliocena . However, because no clear-cut diagnostic criteria have been defined to differentiate these European fossil subspecies, we attribute the Marathousa 1 specimen to M. s. cf. pliocena , in agreement with the chronology of the locality. Previously known only from the Early Pleistocene of Greece by some isolated teeth, this is the first record of Macaca in the Middle Pleistocene of the country and one of very few in the eastern sector of the peri-Mediterranean region. We discuss the presence of macaques in the paleolake environment of Marathousa 1, as well as their predation risks from both carnivores and hominins present at the locality.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First record of Macaca (Cercopithecidae, Primates) in the Middle Pleistocene of Greece

Konidaris

Athanassiou

Panagopoulou

et al. 2022

Journal of Human Evolution

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“…Of course, species that are genuinely rare in nature might be disproportionally affected by all the aforementioned factors. On the other hand, "rarity" in the fossil record does not necessarily imply a low demographic density, rather it can result from a taphonomic bias, which in turn can relate to several factors, for instance body size or environmental preferences [58,[61][62][63][64][65][66]. These biases can affect the representation of a taxon within a specific geographic area due to its biological and ecological characteristics, but also between areas that hosted different ecosystems A striking example is the paucity of the fossil record concerning the evolution of African great apes (chimpanzees and gorillas) in comparison to that of East African hominins [67].…”

Section: Quaternary Large Mammal Biochronologymentioning

confidence: 99%

What Does the “Elephant-Equus” Event Mean Today? Reflections on Mammal Dispersal Events around the Pliocene-Pleistocene Boundary and the Flexible Ambiguity of Biochronology

Iannucci

Sardella

2023

Quaternary

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The dispersal of primitive elephantines and monodactyl equids in Eurasia has long been regarded as representative of a substantial turnover in mammal faunas, denoting the spread of open environments linked to the onset of cold and dry conditions in the Northern Hemisphere. During the 1980s, this event was named the “Elephant-Equus event” and it was correlated with the Gauss-Matuyama reversal, today corresponding to the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition and the beginning of the Quaternary, dated at ~2.6 Ma. Therefore, the Elephant-Equus event became a concept of prominent biochronological and paleoecological significance, especially in western Europe. Yet, uncertainties surrounding the taxonomy and chronology of early “elephant” and “Equus”, as well as conceptual differences in adopting (or understanding) the Elephant-Equus event as an intercontinental dispersal event or as a stratigraphic datum, engendered ambiguity and debate. Here, we provide a succinct review of the Elephant-Equus event, considering separately the available evidence on the “elephant” and the “Equus”. Elephantines dispersed out of Africa during the Pliocene (Piacenzian). Their earliest calibrated occurrences from eastern Europe date at ~3.2 Ma and they are usually referred to Mammuthus rumanus, although the allocation of several samples to this species is tentative. Available dating constraints for other localities do not resolve whether the dispersal of Mammuthus was synchronous across Eurasia, but this possibility cannot be ruled out. The spread of Mammuthus was part of an intercontinental faunal exchange between Africa and Eurasia that occurred during the Piacenzian, but in this scenario, Mammuthus is quite unique in being the only genus of African origin dispersing to western Eurasia. The arrival of monodactyl equids from North America coincides with the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition, with several occurrences dated or calibrated at ~2.6 Ma and no compelling evidence prior to this age. In Europe, early monodactyl equids are often aligned to Equus livenzovensis, but the material from the type locality of this species is chronologically time-averaged and taxonomically heterogeneous, and western European samples are seldom abundant or informative. Regardless, this does not diminish the biochronological significance of the “Equus event”. Indeed, while the term “Elephant-Equus event” should no longer be used, as the appearance of elephantines in the European fossil record markedly precedes that of monodactyl equids, we endorse the use of the “Equus event” as a valid alternative to refer to the intercontinental dispersal event that characterizes the middle Villafranchian faunal turnover, epitomized by but not limited to monodactyl equids.

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Revealing Evolutionary Patterns Behind Homogeneity: the Case of the Palaeolithic Assemblages from Notarchirico (Southern Italy)

Rineau

Moncel

Zeitoun³

2022

J Archaeol Method Theory

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Notarchirico is at a nodal point in time and space for understanding the settlement of Europe in terms of migration or in situ evolution. Former technological analyses have not shown significant differences between the different lithic assemblages at Notarchirico. Our approach here is to produce a phylogenetic analysis of the lithic assemblages taken as the terminal of the analysis and interpreted as cultural units. In the cladistic framework, characters are hypotheses of relationships between lithic assemblages, and homologies are hypotheses of relationships between lithic objects; cores, flakes, nodules. To effectively grasp informative lithic innovations in the assemblages, we formalise cladistic hypotheses as hierarchical characters in the framework of three-item analysis, and propose a new algorithm to remove the high number of repeated terminals among trees inherent to a cladistic analysis of assemblages. Beyond the classic distinction of the presence or absence of bifaces, our analysis of the five Notarchirico layers, dated between 670 and 700 ka, highlights a well-supported cladogram grounded on complex hierarchical characters on lithic artefacts. This cladogram shows a paralogy event between the flakefree layer H, representing short-term occupancy, and the other layers representing long-term settlements. The resulting cladogram shows that relationships between lithic assemblages at Notarchirico do not follow the stratigraphy. Moreover, the Notarchirico lithic assemblages cannot be explained in an entirely local way, but seem to be part of a more complex European history.

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Macaca ulna from new excavations at the Notarchirico Acheulean site (Middle Pleistocene, Venosa, southern Italy)

Cited by 10 publications

References 32 publications

First record of Macaca (Cercopithecidae, Primates) in the Middle Pleistocene of Greece

First record of Macaca (Cercopithecidae, Primates) in the Middle Pleistocene of Greece

What Does the “Elephant-Equus” Event Mean Today? Reflections on Mammal Dispersal Events around the Pliocene-Pleistocene Boundary and the Flexible Ambiguity of Biochronology

Revealing Evolutionary Patterns Behind Homogeneity: the Case of the Palaeolithic Assemblages from Notarchirico (Southern Italy)

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