The Pleistocene Peopling of the North: Paleolithic Milestones and Thresholds Horizons in Northern Eurasia

Rolland, Nicolas

doi:10.1016/j.aeae.2014.10.001

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…Explanations are often linked to climatic cycles, argued to only provide suitable conditions for humans in the northern margins during the warm phases of the Pleistocene. While site density does seem to support the assumption of a centre and periphery in the early hominin range, other influential factors such as research bias, taphonomy, and sediment exposure are also likely to accentuate this pattern (Roebroeks et al, 2011; Romanowska, 2012; Rolland, 2014). Several of the peripheral regions are therefore potentially archaeologically underrepresented because they are severely understudied .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On Research History and Neanderthal Occupation at its Northern Margins

Nielsen

Riede

2018

Eur. j. archaeol

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Epistemology and research history significantly shape scientific understandings, debates, and publication strategies, albeit often implicitly. In Palaeolithic archaeology in particular, these factors are rarely examined in depth. Here, we present a historiographic analysis of how research history has influenced the debate concerning the possible Neanderthal occupation in Scandinavia. We provide a qualitative discussion of this contentious research field as well as a citation network analysis that visualizes, quantifies, and hence clarifies some of the underlying conceptual, geographic, and temporal patterns in the development of the debate. Our results show significant regionalism as a structuring principle driving this debate as well as a basic rift between professional and avocational archaeologists in how they interpret and publish the available data. We also identify a troubling lack of cross-referencing, even when taking language barriers into account. We argue that the debate about Neanderthal occupation in Scandinavia has been shaped (negatively) by the following phenomena: regionalism, nationalism, lack of research and researchers, non-cumulative work, publication in Nordic languages, science by press release/sensationalism, and a lamentable trend towards arguments ad hominem. In order to take this research field forward, we propose an epistemological turn towards a cumulative, international, and hypothesis-driven agenda based on renewed research efforts and novel citizen science tools.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On Research History and Neanderthal Occupation at its Northern Margins

Nielsen

Riede

2018

Eur. j. archaeol

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“…Our model suggests that Eastern Europe is relatively unsuitable for Neanderthals during stadial events throughout the Upper Pleistocene, indicating climate differences between Western Europe and continental Europe persisting throughout the Pleistocene. While there may have been greater abundances of megafauna in Eastern Europe within the Mammoth Steppe 69 , this does not appear to have been a draw for Neanderthal populations, possibly due to the abundances of higher ranked prey species, like reindeer, elsewhere 28 , 63 . Our model supports that refugia for Neanderthals during glacial periods existed, primarily in Western Europe and Iberia 70 , and along the Italian Peninsula, the Adriatic & Mediterranean Coasts 71 , 72 , but there is no indication in our model for the suggested northern or northeastern refugia 69 , 73 , 74 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

The Neanderthal niche space of Western Eurasia 145 ka to 30 ka ago

Yaworsky,

Nielsen,

Nielsen

2024

Sci Rep

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Neanderthals occupied Western Eurasia between 350 ka and 40 ka ago, during the climatically volatile Pleistocene. A key issue is to what extent Neanderthal populations expanded into areas of Western Eurasia and what conditions facilitated such range expansions. The range extent of Neanderthals is generally based on the distribution of Neanderthal material, but the land-altering nature of glacial periods has erased much of the already sparse material evidence of Neanderthals, particularly in the northern latitudes. To overcome this obstacle species distribution models can estimate past distributions of Neanderthals, however, most implementations are generally constrained spatially and temporally and may be artificially truncating the Neanderthal niche space. Using dated contexts from Neanderthal sites from across Western Eurasia, millennial-scale paleoclimate reconstructions, and a spatiotemporal species distribution model, we infer the fundamental climatic niche space of Neanderthals and estimate the extent of Neanderthal occupation. We find that (a.) despite the long timeframe, Neanderthals occupy a relatively narrow fundamental climatic niche space, (b.) the estimated projected potential Neanderthal niche space suggests a larger geographic range than the material record suggests, and (c.) that there was a general decline in the size of the projected potential Neanderthal niche from 145 ka ago onward, possibly contributing to their extinction.

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“…Local groups unquestionably could not survive in isolation, as they needed to access crucial resources clustered irregularly over landscapes. Benefitting from information preserved over generations and contacts with the neighboring groups, it is likely that they resorted to foraging‐areas exploration (Rolland, ). Simchenko () developed this hypothesis further and suggested that by the end of the glacial period all ancient Arctic populations from the Kola Peninsula up to the Bering Strait represent an ethnically homogeneous ancient aboriginal population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Siberian genetic diversity reveals complex origins of the Samoyedic‐speaking populations

Karafet

Osipova

Savina

et al. 2018

American J Hum Biol

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Objectives: We examined autosomal genome-wide SNPs and Y-chromosome data from 15 Siberian and 12 reference populations to study the affinities of Siberian populations, and to address hypotheses about the origin of the Samoyed peoples. Methods: Samples were genotyped for 567 096 autosomal SNPs and 147 Ychromosome polymorphic sites. For several analyses, we used 281 093 SNPs from the intersection of our data with publicly available ancient Siberian samples. To examine genetic relatedness among populations, we applied PCA, F ST , TreeMix, and ADMIXTURE analyses. To explore the potential effect of demography and evolutionary processes, the distribution of ROH and IBD sharing within population were studied. Results: Analyses of autosomal and Y-chromosome data reveal high differentiation of the Siberian groups. The Siberian populations have a large proportion of their genome in ROH and IBD segments. Several populations (ie, Nganasans, Evenks, Yukagirs, and Koryaks) do not appear to have experienced admixture with other Siberian populations (ie, producing only positive f3), while for the other tested populations the composition of mixing sources always included Nganasans or Evenks. The Nganasans from the Taymyr Peninsula demonstrate the greatest level of shared shorter ROH and IBD with nearly all other Siberian populations. Conclusions: Autosomal SNP and Y-chromosome data demonstrate that Samoyedic populations differ significantly in their genetic composition. Genetic relationship is observed only between Forest and Tundra Nentsi. Selkups are affiliated with the Kets from the Yenisey River, while the Nganasans are separated from their linguistic neighbors, showing closer affinities with the Evenks and Yukagirs.

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The Pleistocene Peopling of the North: Paleolithic Milestones and Thresholds Horizons in Northern Eurasia

Cited by 6 publications

References 81 publications

On Research History and Neanderthal Occupation at its Northern Margins

On Research History and Neanderthal Occupation at its Northern Margins

The Neanderthal niche space of Western Eurasia 145 ka to 30 ka ago

Siberian genetic diversity reveals complex origins of the Samoyedic‐speaking populations

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