Shells and ochre in Middle Paleolithic Qafzeh Cave, Israel: indications for modern behavior

Mayer, Daniella E. Bar-Yosef; Vandermeersch, Bernard; Bar‐Yosef, Ofer

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.10.005

Cited by 215 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…S7) would have long erased any perforation-associated use wear evidence. Shallow notches observed on the internal contour of the perforations of two Glycymeris from Qafzeh, where they were interpreted as caused by friction from a string (23), are also apparent in the Aviones specimens ( Fig. 1 and SI Appendix, Section I, Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…S15 and S16), were found while cleaning the carbonate coating around the perforation of the larger shell. As argued for the comparable modern human-associated material from Near Eastern sites of the MP and early Upper Paleolithic (UP) (Qafzeh, Ksar 'Akil, Üçağizli), the parsimonious interpretation of Glycymeris shells, even in the absence of pigment residues and irrespective of the origin of the perforation, is that they are personal ornaments (23,24).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian Neandertals

Zilhão

Angelucci

Badal-Garcia

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

544

306

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Two sites of the Neandertal-associated Middle Paleolithic of Iberia, dated to as early as approximately 50,000 years ago, yielded perforated and pigment-stained marine shells. At Cueva de los Aviones, three umbo-perforated valves of Acanthocardia and Glycymeris were found alongside lumps of yellow and red colorants, and residues preserved inside a Spondylus shell consist of a red lepidocrocite base mixed with ground, dark red-to-black fragments of hematite and pyrite. A perforated Pecten shell, painted on its external, white side with an orange mix of goethite and hematite, was abandoned after breakage at Cueva Antón, 60 km inland. Comparable early modern human-associated material from Africa and the Near East is widely accepted as evidence for body ornamentation, implying behavioral modernity. The Iberian finds show that European Neandertals were no different from coeval Africans in this regard, countering genetic/cognitive explanations for the emergence of symbolism and strengthening demographic/social ones.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian Neandertals

Zilhão

Angelucci

Badal-Garcia

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

544

306

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, H. sapiens and Neanderthals occupied a fluctuating border for tens of thousands of years in the Levant (Tchernov 1994), without either habitually expressing the combination of technological, ornamental and artistic traits that are typically accepted as the signature of modern human behaviour. This is despite evidence suggesting that the capacity for such culture was already present (and perhaps even ancestral, Joordens et al 2015) in both populations (Vanhaeren et al 2006;Bouzouggar et al 2007;Bar-Yosef Mayer et al 2009;Peresani et al 2011;Peresani et al 2013;Rodríguez-Vidal et al 2014). The later expansion of H. sapiens populations deeper into west Asia and Europe, however, probably induced novel developments in Neanderthal behaviours (Hublin et al 2012;Higham et al 2014) and was characterised by an efflorescence of technological and artistic expression in H. sapiens.…”

Section: Hybridization Can Also Explain Variation and Innovation Assomentioning

confidence: 74%

The Hybrid Origin of “Modern” Humans

2015

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Recent genomic research has shown that hybridization between substantially diverged lineages is the rule, not the exception, in human evolution. However, the importance of hybridization in shaping the genotype and phenotype of Homo sapiens remains debated. Here we argue that current evidence for hybridization in human evolution suggests not only that it was important, but that it was an essential creative force in the emergence of our variable, adaptable species. We then extend this argument to a reappraisal of the archaeological record, proposing that the exchange of cultural information between divergent groups may have facilitated the emergence of cultural innovation. We discuss the implications of this Divergence and Hybridization Model for considering the taxonomy of our lineage.

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“…That Levantine IMP humans possessed a symbolic capacity similar to that of post-50 Ka humans seems clear from the numerous burials, perforated shells, and fragments of mineral pigment recovered from Skhul, Qafzeh, and other sites (Bar-Yosef Mayer et al 2009;Vanhaeren et al 2006). Nevertheless, there are a few differences.…”

Section: Symbol Use and Population Densitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2010

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This paper proposes that complex projectile weaponry was a key strategic innovation driving Late Pleistocene human dispersal into western Eurasia after 50 Ka. It argues that complex projectile weapons of the kind used by ethnographic hunter-gatherers, such as the bow and arrow, and spearthrower and dart, enabled Homo sapiens to overcome obstacles that constrained previous human dispersal from Africa to temperate western Eurasia. In the East Mediterranean Levant, the only permanent land bridge between Africa and Eurasia, stone and bone projectile armatures like those used in the complex weapon systems of recent humans appear abruptly ca 45-35 Ka in early Upper Paleolithic contexts associated with Homo sapiens fossils. Such artifacts are absent from Middle Paleolithic contexts associated with Homo sapiens and Neandertals. Hypotheses concerning the indigenous vs. exogenous origins of complex projectile weaponry in the Levant are reviewed. Current evidence favors the hypothesis that complex projectile technology developed as an aid to ecological niche broadening strategies among African populations between 50-100 Ka. It most likely spread to western Eurasia along with dispersing Homo sapiens populations. Neandertals did not routinely deploy projectile weapons as subsistence aids. This puzzling gap in their otherwise impressive record for survival in some of the harshest environments ever occupied by primates may reflect energetic constraints and time-budgeting factors associated with complex technology. INTRODUCTION

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Shells and ochre in Middle Paleolithic Qafzeh Cave, Israel: indications for modern behavior

Cited by 215 publications

References 36 publications

Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian Neandertals

Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian Neandertals

The Hybrid Origin of “Modern” Humans

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