The spread of modern humans in Europe

Abstract

The earliest credible evidence of Homo sapiens in Europe is an archaeological proxy in the form of several artifact assemblages (Bohunician) found in South-Central and possibly Eastern Europe, dating to <48,000 calibrated radiocarbon years before present (cal BP). They are similar to assemblages probably made by modern humans in the Levant (Emiran) at an earlier date and apparently represent a population movement into the Balkans during a warm climate interval [Greenland Interstadial 12 (GI 12)]. A second population movement may be represented by a diverse set of artifact assemblages (sometimes termed Proto-Aurignacian) found in the Balkans, parts of Southwest Europe, and probably in Eastern Europe, and dating to several brief interstadials (GI 11-GI 9) that preceded the beginning of cold Heinrich Event 4 (HE4) (Ϸ40,000 cal BP). They are similar to contemporaneous assemblages made by modern humans in the Levant (Ahmarian). The earliest known human skeletal remains in Europe that may be unequivocally assigned to H. sapiens (Peçstera cu Oase, Romania) date to this time period (Ϸ42,000 cal BP) but are not associated with artifacts. After the Campanian Ignimbrite volcanic eruption (40,000 cal BP) and the beginning of HE4, artifact assemblages assigned to the classic Aurignacian, an industry associated with modern human skeletal remains that seems to have developed in Europe, spread throughout the continent.archaeology ͉ Neanderthals ͉ Homo sapiens ͉ Western Eurasia

Using ZooMS to identify fragmentary bone from the Late Middle/Early Upper Palaeolithic sequence of Les Cottés, France

“…This would include the identification of hominins, which contain unique mass values for three peptide markers (1219.6 þ 1235.6, 1477.8 and 2832.4 for peptide markers A, B and E, respectively; Buckley and Kansa, 2011). The proteomic identification of such fragmentary bone specimens as hominins in key archaeological contexts would facilitate subsequent proteomic and genomic analysis, thereby providing a much needed detailed temporal and geographic understanding of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, an issue raised previously as well (Churchill and Smith, 2000;Hoffecker, 2009;Hublin, in press). A similar argument pertains to identifying faunal taxa whose fragmentation (history) effectively removes morphological diagnostic criteria for identification.…”

“…In addition, identification of hominin bones for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition are important because only a small number of specimens are currently available for late Neanderthals, and almost none for early modern humans in Western Europe (Churchill and Smith, 2000;Hoffecker, 2009;Hublin, in press.). Molecular identification methods have the potential to identify additional hominin remains among fragmentary bone assemblages, allowing additional genomic and proteomic study of these complex technocomplexes.…”

Evolutionary Narratives: A Cautionary Tale

“…They existed in diverse forms. Except in hindsight it is difficult to see these forms as stepping stones to Homo sapiens, each one better adopted than its historical predecessor (Hoffecker, 2009;Hublin, 2009;Reich et al, 2010).…”

The RESET project: constructing a European tephra lattice for refined synchronisation of environmental and archaeological events during the last c. 100 ka

“…It is even hypothesised that some stages in human development can be attributed, at least in part, to individual AETs triggered, for example, by climatic influences (e.g. Tzedakis et al, 2007;Hoffecker, 2009), volcanic catastrophe (Golovanova et al, 2010;Fitzsimmons et al, 2013) or a combination of both (e.g. Fedele et al, 2002Fedele et al, , 2008Costa et al, 2012).…”

“…Important and controversial threads within this developing discourse include the origins and spread of modern humans (e.g. Smith et al, 2005;Trinkaus, 2005;Carto et al, 2009;Hoffecker, 2009); the causes of human demographic fluctuations (e.g. Blockley et al, 2006;Blome et al, 2012;Eriksson et al, 2012) and of sudden cultural innovations (e.g.…”