Abstracts for the 2003 Meetings

Determining early hominid habitats in the Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia, using paleosol stable isotopes 

S. H. Ambrose¹, G. WoldeGabriel², Y. Haile-Selassie³, and T.White^4
1 Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 U.S.A. ambrose@uiuc.edu
² Earth Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 U.S.A. wgiday@lanl.gov
³ Physical Anthropology Department, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio 44106 U.S.A. yhailese@cmnh.org
⁴ Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 U.S.A. timwhite@socrates.Berkeley.edu 

The rich hominid fossil record in the Middle Awash region of the Afar Rift of Ethiopia spans the Late Miocene to Pleistocene.  Associated fossils and sediments can be used to investigate fundamental questions about the environmental contexts of early hominids.  Paleosol (fossil soil) carbonate and organic matter carbon isotope ratios provide direct, quantitative evidence for floral microhabitat composition, specifically the proportions of trees to grasses.  Pedogenic carbonate oxygen isotope ratios are influenced by several factors, including temperature, humidity, evapotranspiration, elevation, proximity to oceans, and global ice volume (Cerling 1984).  Paleosol carbonates were analyzed from twelve localities associated with early hominid fossil horizons along the western margin and rift floor of the Middle Awash.  Samples from Late Miocene sites (5.8-5.2 Myr) associated with Ardipithecus ramidus kadabba (Haile-Selassie 2001) have the lowest δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values, reflecting grassy woodland to closed woodland habitats (WoldeGabriel et al. 2001).  Woodland habitats persisted until at least 3.8 Myr.  Samples from Late Pliocene sites (2.5 Myr) associated with Australopithecus garhi (de Heinzelin et al. 1999) have intermediate values, reflecting a mosaic of grassy woodland and wooded grassland microhabitats.  Early Pleistocene sites associated with Homo erectus (1.0 Myr) (Asfaw et al. 2002), and late Pleistocene sites associated with an advanced Acheulean industry (0.3 Myr) (Schick and Clark 2000) have the highest carbon and oxygen isotope ratios, reflecting predominantly lightly wooded to open dry grasslands. 

Oxygen isotope ratios increase by approximately 18‰ from the Late Miocene to the Pleistocene, reflecting local increases in temperature, decreases in humidity and increased global ice volumes.  The high magnitude of this shift suggests decreased elevation, caused by subsidence of the Afar Rift Valley, contributed to the high rate of increase in δ¹⁸O values through time.

Isotopic analysis supported by the University of Illinois Research Board, and NSF grant SBR 98-71480.

An assessment of patterns of geographic variation in the frontal bone morphology of Middle Pleistocene Homo 

S. Athreya
Department of Anthropology, Washington University, Campus Box 1114, One Brookings Dr., St. Louis, MO  63130  U.S.A.  sathreya@artsci.wustl.edu

This study examines the predictions embodied in competing models of the evolutionary history of Middle Pleistocene Homo through a detailed analysis of geographical variation in frontal bone morphology.  Evidence that geographically proximate populations are morphologically more similar and those further apart are more dissimilar would lend support to a clinal model of variation.  A significant correlation between lower morphological and geographic distance classes but not among higher ones would suggest that isolation-by-distance and multiple dispersals are likely sources of craniofacial variation among these populations.  A final alternative hypothesis sees variation as the product of cladogenesis and thus significant at the species level, whereby no geographic patterning in the distribution of morphological features would be observed.

Six sagittal, parasagittal and coronal outlines of the frontal bone were collected on forty-five Early, Middle and Late Pleistocene fossils.  These outlines were quantified using Elliptical Fourier Analysis.  The amplitude measurements were reduced using principal components analysis and a Euclidean distance matrix was calculated.  A geographic distance matrix was then constructed using pairwise sets of fossils.  These matrices were compared using Mantel’s test to determine if morphological distance was significantly correlated with geographic distance.  A second analysis on the original principal components scores, using Moran’s spatially autocorrelated I statistic, was used to determine if these variables at various geographic locations were significantly different, and what the pattern of those differences was. This analysis indicates that there is no significant correlation between the degree of morphological differentiation and the geographic distance of these fossils, thus failing to support a model of clinal patterning in the observed variability.  However, morphological differences are consistently smaller between specimens within the same or neighboring regions.  Thus, an explanation proposing a high degree of cladogenesis among these fossils is also not a supported.  These results suggest that isolation-by-distance is a likely source of craniofacial variation among Middle Pleistocene Homo.  This would be consistent with a scenario proposing low population densities and multidirectional dispersal patterns among the groups of this time period 

Environmental context and taphonomy of the A.L. 333 Locality, Hadar, Ethiopia 

A. K. Behrensmeyer¹, E. H. Harmon² and W. H. Kimbel^2
1Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 U.S.A. behrensmeyer.kay@nmnh.si.edu
²Institute of Human Origins and Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287-4101 U.S.A. eharmon@asu.edu, wkimbel.iho@asu.edu 

The A.L. 333 locality in the Denen Dora Member of the Hadar Formation is one of the most enigmatic concentrations of early hominid remains ever found.  As of 2002, 257 specimens representing at least 17 individuals have been recovered, and excavation and surface screening indicate that most if not all are derived from a single stratum within a restricted area of outcrop.  In 2001-02, microstratigraphic study of well-exposed strata surrounding the site revealed that the bone concentration was preserved in the uppermost fill of a channel system, which has been traced across an area of paleolandscape approximately 2.0 by 0.8 km.  When active, the channel was up to 3m deep, 40m wide and flowed north, with smaller and shallower tributaries feeding in from the south and southwest.  At the time of burial of the hominids, the abandoned channel formed a shallow swale that carried only low-energy, silt-bearing flow during flood events.  The hominid-bearing zone at the excavation site is heavily bioturbated with carbonate nodules and root casts, indicating pedogenesis associated with the channel fill silts. Other faunal remains from the excavations include only fragments of rodent, amphibian, snake, fish, bird, mollusk, eggshells, and a few crocodile and large mammal teeth. Throughout the area examined, the channel has relatively few fossils, highlighting the uniqueness of the hominid concentration.  Overall sedimentary context, skeletal part preservation, and lack of abrasion on the remains as well as their degree of spatial and stratigraphic concentration all indicate that the hominids died where they were buried in a slight depression formed by an abandoned channel. Bone modification features suggest that scavenging and weathering affected some remains prior to final burial. The evidence argues against death caused by an unusual flood or miring and leaves open the possibility of predation or another cause of sudden mass mortality. 

Two steps away from the end of the world:
the Upper Paleolithic site of Vale Boi, southwestern Portugal 

N. Bicho¹, J. Lindly², M. Stiner³, and C. R. Ferring^4
1FCHS, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8000 Faro Portugal nbicho@ualg.pt
² SWCA Environmental Consultants, Inc., 2120 N. Central Avenue, Suite 130, Phoenix, AZ 85004 U.S.A. jlindly@swca.com
³ Department of Anthropology, Building 30, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ  85721 U.S.A.
mstiner@email.arizona.edu
⁴ Dept. of Geography, University of North Texas, P.O.Box 13078 N. Station, Denton, TX 76203 U.S.A. Ferring@unt.edu  

The site of Vale Boi is located 2 km from the modern Atlantic shoreline, on the southwestern tip of Europe. The long cultural sequence preserved at Vale Boi begins in the late Middle Paleolithic, and nearly all of the Upper Paleolithic is represented. It is a rich site marked by good faunal preservation, with thousands of bones and shells, several bone tools, and some perforated shell and tooth ornaments. Also, it is represented a very diverse lithic assemblage. This paper will focus on two aspects. The first concerns evidence of resource intensification as seen through bone grease rendering (in the Gravettian deposits) and overall changes in prey diversity.  The second aspect is related to the interregional connections between Algarve and other areas in the Iberian Peninsula implied by the presence of raw material coming from the Rio Maior area, near 500 Km to the North of Vale Boi, as well as by typological and technological traits resembling those from the Spanish Levante, some 500 Km to the East. 

Phylogenetic significance of endocranial features and the problem of variation:
A CT-based study 

G. Bräuer¹, C. Groden², F. Gröning³, K. Kupczik⁴, E. Mbua⁵, and A. Pommert^6
1Institute of Human Biology, University of Hamburg, Allende-Platz 2, 20146 Hamburg, Germany guenter.braeuer@uni-hamburg.de
²Department of Neuroradiology Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, 68135 Mannheim, Germany christoph.groden@rad.ma.uni-heidelberg.de
³Institute of Human Biology, University of Hamburg, Allende-Platz 2, 20146 Hamburg, Germany flora.groening@gmx.net
⁴Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, University College London, Rockefeller Building, University Street, London WC 1E 6JJ, U.K. ucgakfk@ucl.ac.uk
⁵ National Museums of Kenya, P.O. Box 40658, Nairobi, Kenya. enmbua@yahoo.com
⁶ Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science in Medicine, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20251 Hamburg, Germany pommert@uke.uni-hamburg.de 

Over many decades and especially since computed tomography has entered paleoanthropology, numerous endocranial features have been suggested to be of phylogenetic relevance for human evolution. These include e.g. the positions of the cribriform plate and the pituitary fossa, the inclination of the anterior cranial fossa and the crista galli, the orientation of the posterior petrousal surface, the occurrence of an arcuate eminence, etc. In the course of our virtual study of the endocranial morphology of the matrix-filled archaic Homo sapiens cranium from Eliye Springs, Kenya, we examined a large number of such features in order to determine where this hominid exhibits ancestral or more derived modern conditions. In addition to the Eliye Springs specimen, a small sample of final Pleistocene/early Holocene crania from Tanzania was also scanned and 3D reconstructed using the VOXEL MAN program. Even this limited number of specimens revealed the great variation that exists for many features, often clouding their phylogenetic significance. Moreover, it became evident that clear, reproducible definitions are needed for many traits, when they are assessed by virtual tools. Earlier endocranial descriptions mainly based on fragmentary specimens need to be re-assessed in the light of the current methodological possibilities. Finally, larger recent and fossil samples have to be examined to provide an increasingly better basis for analysing the phylogenetic relevance of most endocranial features.

Quantifying Oldowan Lithic Reduction Sequences:
Theoretical and Methodological Considerations 

D. R. Braun¹, S. L. Arnow¹, J. V. Ferraro², J. C. Tactikos¹, M. P. Noll³, and J. W. K. H. Harris^1
1Anthropology Department, Rutgers University, 131 George Street, New Brunswick NJ 08901 U.S.A. drbraun@eden.rutgers.edu, super_shira@yahoo.com, tactix@rci.rutgers.edu, jwharris@rci.rutgers.edu
² Anthropology Department, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553 U.S.A. kanjera@hotmail.com
³ Smithsonian Institution, Human Origins Program, P.O. Box 37012, Washington D.C. 20013 U.S.A. noll.mike@nmnh.si.edu

The wealth of recent research in the Oldowan continues to expand our understanding of tool using hominid behaviors. New data suggest that the behavior of Oldowan hominids may be more diverse than previously indicated. Studies of artifact manufacture, use, and transport have the advantage of interpreting behavioral patterns from one of the largest body of data on early hominid behavior: stone tools. Models developed in the 1980s to understand processes of stone tool production (reduction sequences) provide a basis for comparing patterns of artifact use, transport, and discard across archaeological locales. Results derived from a recent analysis of reduction sequences at Olduvai Gorge by Kimura (2002) suggest regional and temporal variability within the Oldowan. This variability is explained as evolutionary changes within the Oldowan focused on increased intensity of artifact transport through time. This increase in artifact transport is seen as a corollary to increases in hominid ranging patterns through time.

However, investigating the manufacture and transport of stone tools in the Oldowan may be more complicated than previously thought. Models of Oldowan artifact use and transport are based on reduction sequences that may be influenced by size-related factors. Here we report on experimental and comparative archaeological evidence that begins to address the influence of cobble size on patterns of artifact manufacture and reduction in the Oldowan. This analysis suggests that existing reduction sequences are limited in their ability to elucidate patterns of transport and discard in Oldowan assemblages. Inferences about Oldowan behavior based on current models of artifact reduction and discard may thus be questionable. Replicative experimental data are used to improve upon previous models of reduction sequences in the Oldowan. Using multivariate techniques, a continuum-based size-independent model is developed for understanding Oldowan artifact reduction and transport. This model is then tested against data from refitted Oldowan artifact sets from the Koobi Fora Formation in northern Kenya. 

Sahelanthropus tchadensis (Late Miocene of Chad), the earliest hominid 

M. Brunet¹ & M.P.F.T.^2
1 Faculty of Sciences. Lab. and UMR CNRS 6046 Geobiology Biochronology and Human Palaeontology. F86022 Poitiers Cedex. France michel.brunet@univ-poitiers.fr
² Mission Paleoanthropologique Franco-Tchadienne (scientific collaboration between University of Poitiers, University and C.N.A.R. of N'Djamena) 

The new Chadian hominid Sahelanthropus tchadensis Brunet et al., 2002, nicknamed Toumaï, recovered by the M.P.F.T. from the Late Miocene of Toros-Menalla (Djurab desert) is associated with a fauna (42 species) of which the mammalian component (24 species) indicates a biochronological age close to 7 million years.

            The fauna comprises aquatic (fish, turtles, crocodiles) and amphibious (anthracotheriids, hippopotamids) vertebrates, but also species inhabiting gallery forest (monkeys), wooded savanna (proboscideans, giraffids, suids, etc) and grassland (bovids, tridactyl equids). Sedimentological data (Aeolian sandstones, perilacustrine sandstones, diatomites) are in agreement with this mosaic of environments, indicating a vegetated perilacustrine belt between lake and desert.

            The new hominid displays a unique combination of primitive and derived characters that clearly shows that it is not related to chimpanzees or gorillas, but rather suggests that it is an ancestor of later hominids, and probably temporally close to the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans.

            The geographic location of Toumaï, 2500 km west of the Rift Valley, along with its great antiquity, suggest an early (at least by 6 to 7 million years ago) widespread hominid distribution (Sahel and East Africa), and a somewhat earlier chimpanzee-human divergence (at least 7 million years ago) than previously indicated by many molecular studies. 

Is old age really old? An analysis of longevity in the hominid fossil record 

R. Caspari¹ and S. Lee^2
1Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 U.S.A. rcaspari@umich.edu
² Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521 U.S.A. sang-hee.lee@ucr.edu  

Over the last decade the evolution of hominid longevity has become the focal point of the “new” grandmother hypothesis, where an increase in longevity is seen to be adaptive, leading to the inclusive fitness of grandmothers who invest in their reproductive age daughters and their offspring. It has been suggested that increased hominid longevity may be associated with the increased encephalization, secondary altriciality and prolonged offspring dependence that emerged in members of the genus Homo in the early Pleistocene.  However, no fossil evidence bearing on changes in life span has been introduced to support this model.

Accepting the premise that changes in longevity have occurred over the course of human evolution, we use a resampling approach to examine the nature of that change, with particular interest in whether there is a  pattern of gradual change, or if there is a significant increase in longevity with the emergence of Homo erectus.  Our sample consists of ages at death derived from the literature and includes over 150 specimens ranging from the late Miocene to the Upper Pleistocene.  These were plotted against time using a resampling method that avoids the problems of time dependence and the interpretation of slope that are inherent in linear regressions. To avoid error introduced by dates, we considered the data in 100,000 and 50,000 year intervals and focused on increments of change (D) between individual observations in adjacent intervals. Random resampling with replacement was done an equal number of times for each increment generating a distribution for each resampling run as well as a total distribution of D. These distributions suggest no significant change in longevity with the emergence of Homo erectus; rather, such change occurs later in human evolution.   

What’s in a name? An empirical review of the compositional integrity of the eurasian Aurignacian 

G. A. Clark and J. Riel-Salvatore
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Box 872402, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402  U.S.A. gaclark@asu.edu, julienrs@asu.edu  

At the SAA meetings last year, we asserted that the basic analytical units used in Upper Paleolithic archaeological research are (1) ‘accidents of history’, created by French prehistorians between c. 1880 and c. 1940 in order to solve chronological problems, (2) that they are based ultimately on typological systematics and have become essentialized by subsequent workers, (3) that they have no compositional integrity across space and time, (4) are defined differently by different workers, and (5) that there is no consensus about what they mean or represent behaviorally. Here we put empirical ‘teeth’ into these assertions in respect of the most visible of them - the Aurignacian - taken by many to mark the appearance of modern humans in western Eurasia.

For the Aurignacian to have heuristic validity, it must share a number of defining characteristics that co-occur systematically across time and space. To test its compositional integrity, we examine data from Aurignacian layers in Kebara, Hayonim, Warwasi, Bacho Kiro, Siuren-I, Geissenklosterle, Trou Magrite, Abri Pataud, La Ferrassie, La Laouza, Fumane, Riparo Mochi, Castelcivita, El Castillo, and Cueva Morin. All sites are compared to one another on the basis of (1) relative frequencies of endscrapers, burins, and Dufour bladelets; (2) aspects of technology based on the prevalence of blades and bladelets, tool:core ratios, and debitage characteristics; and (3) observations about bone technology, art, and personal ornaments. Classical indicators of the French Aurignacian are reviewed and are used as a yardstick to contextualize data from other regions, allowing for quantitative assessment of whether or not the Aurignacian can be considered a single, coherent archaeological ‘entity’, and thus its heuristic utility as an analytical device. 

Relating vegetation structure to hominid plant resource availability based on an actualistic study in modern East African savannas 

S. Copeland
Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.  U.S.A. and Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 U.S.A. sandicopeland@yahoo.com  

Although paleoenvironmental reconstructions have become key components of human evolution research, we lack an actualistic basis for translating those reconstructions to terms of hominid resource availability. For example, the paleoenvironments of African early hominid sites are reconstructed using categories like grassland, bushland, and forest, but there is no basis for predicting the classes of plant food items available in each category, nor can one predict the ecological and physiological strategies required by hominids to utilize particular resources in those habitats.

In order to address this gap in paleoanthropological knowledge, I conducted a study of modern vegetation in northern Tanzania that was aimed at predicting plant food availability across the Plio-Pleistocene Olduvai landscape.  In modern vegetation plots I assessed the relationships between structurally defined habitat types (woodland, grassland, etc.), geomorphologically-defined landscape units, and plant food abundance.

The distribution of vegetation structural types across semi-arid savannas depended not on rainfall, but on the redistribution of groundwater. In summary, forests contained trees with edible fruits, bushland had trees with edible seeds/pods and shrubs with edible fruits, bush grassland and grassland provided edible herbs only during the wet season, and wetlands had edible underground parts: rhizomes, stem bases, and bulbs.

Only at the relatively fine spatial scale of the landscape facet (a "local habitat" with homogeneous ecology) are vegetation structure and plant food availability predictable.

Areas larger than a facet contained a mosaic of habitat types, and plant foods differed across the mosaic.

            The time scale at which vegetation structure changes depends on the landscape unit. Interfluves in the Serengeti Woodlands fluctuate from grassland to woodland over centuries, but

riverine forests, wetlands at permanent springheads, and edaphic grasslands such as the Serengeti Plains remain in place for tens of thousands of years. 

Middle Paleolithic human teeth digested by carnivores (Les Pradelles, Marillac-le-Franc, France) 

S. Costamagno¹, C. Beauval², B. Vandermeersch³ A. Mann⁴, B. Maureille^5
1 UMR 5608 CNRS, Toulouse – France, costamag@univ-tlse2.fr
² UMR 5808 CNRS, Talence – France, c.beauval@iquat.u-bordeaux.fr
³ Seccion de Antropologia, Madrid – Spain, bvanderm@bio.ucm.es
⁴ Princeton University, New Jersey U.S.A., mann@princeton.edu
⁵ UMR 5809 CNRS, Talence – France, b.maureille@anthropologie.u-bordeaux.fr  

            Human remains are uncommon in Upper Pleistocene sites. Each fossil find, therefore, represents a discovery of importance. Even with incomplete fossil fragments, which cannot be utilized for comparative studies, other data can be obtained: extraction of genetic material, trace chemical analysis, etc.

In carnivore dens, fragmentary human remains which exhibit traces of carnivore activity are sometimes found. These modifications alter the morphology of hard tissue fragments and makes anatomical and taxonomic determinations difficult.

This paper describes a specific kind of carnivore modification to hard tissues: the partial digestion and regurgitation of teeth. Examples of this activity have been identified, for the first time, on human teeth discovered at the Les Pradelles Mousterian site.

Traces left by gastric juice action on the surface of bones have been described in the literature. They include loss of bone mineral though acidic action and destruction of the organic portion by means of enzyme activity. Hyenas are often responsible for large accumulations of these sorts of modified fragments. Bones are not the only faunal elements they routinely chew and swallow: horns, hoofs and teeth are also consumed. Indeed, bovid and equid dental remains with traces of digestion are frequently found in modern hyena dens. Because of their high mineral content, teeth are better able than are bones to resist the action of the digestive process. However, teeth are degraded by gastric activity, with modifications to their morphology resulting in spatial thinning, more strongly marked on the root than on the crown and an opening of the apical extremity. These traits are often employed to distinguish deciduous from permanent teeth as well as in the identification of ungulate and human incisors. In this fashion, regurgitated human incisors could be mistaken for ungulate anterior teeth.

Human teeth modified by carnivore digestive action have been identified initially at the Les Pradelles site. But, it is possible that other examples of regurgitated human teeth could be present in the faunal collections from other sites, especially early hominid cave sites from South Africa, but identified as deciduous ungulate teeth. 

The Oldest Cutmarked Bones: Pliocene Hominid Faunal Exploitation at Bouri, Ethiopia 

D. DeGusta¹, Y. Beyene², B. Asfaw³, H. Gilbert¹, and T. White^1
1Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and Dept. of Integrative Biology; University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3160 U.S.A. degusta@uclink.berkeley.edu
²Dept. of Archaeology and Anthropology, Ministry of Information and Culture, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
³Rift Valley Research Service, PO Box 5717, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 

Hominid acquisition and consumption of large mammals has been suggested as a driving force of encephalization, increased social organization, and even migration out of Africa.  The evaluation of these hypotheses requires analysis of the physical evidence for such exploitation.  We report here the analysis of the hominid-induced modifications to the faunal remains from vertebrate paleontology locality 12 on the Bouri peninsula (BOU-VP-12) in the Middle Awash study area of Ethiopia.

The deposits at BOU-VP-12 are assigned to the Hata formation and dated to 2.5 million years ago by single-grain 40Ar/39Ar dating, a result confirmed by paleomagnetic and biochronological analysis.  These deposits have yielded the type cranium of Australopithecus garhi, as well as hominid postcranial remains.  Initial reconstructions suggest that the paleoenivronment of BOU-VP-12 was the broad, featureless margin of a shallow freshwater lake.  Rare, isolated, widely scattered cores and flakes of Mode I technology apparently eroded from Hata beds have been encountered, but no surface concentrations or in situ Mode 1 artifacts have been located.

A portion of the faunal remains from BOU-VP-12 bear clear signs of hominid-induced modification, especially cutmarks produced by stone tools.  This is the earliest known evidence of such behavior.  These fossils, which are primarily from excavated in situ contexts, provide information about the acquisition and processing of various animals by Pliocene hominids. These data allow us to test hypotheses regarding early hominid tool use, diet, behavior, and evolution.

This research is based on fieldwork supported by NSF grants BNS-9632389 and BCS-9910344 to TW and analytical work supported by the Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies and a LSB Leakey Foundation grant to DD. 

Recent Excavations at the Mousterian Site of Pech de l’Azé IV 

H. L. Dibble¹, S. P. McPherron², F. d’Errico³, P. Goldberg⁴, H. Jones⁵, W. J Rink⁶, and M. Soressi^7
1 University of Pennsylvania, Department of Anthropology, 33^rd and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19104 U.S.A. hdibble@sas.upenn.edu
² University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Anthropology, 409 Graham, 1000 Spring Garden Street, Greensboro, NC 27403 U.S.A. mcpherron@uncg.edu
³ Charge de recherches au CNRS, UMR 5808 du CNRS, Institut de Prehistoire et de Geologie du Quaternaire, Batiment B18- Geologie, Av. des Facultes, 33405 Talence, France f.derrico@iquat.u-bordeaux.fr
⁴ Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Ave.,,Boston, MA  02215 U.S.A. paulberg@bu.edu
⁵ Louisiana State University, Department of Geology and Geophysics, 235 Howe Russell Bldg.
Baton Rouge, LA U.S.A. 70803-4101U.S.A.
⁶ School of Geography and Geology,,McMaster University, 1280 Main St. West, Hamilton, Ontario,,Canada L8S 4M1 rinkwj@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca
⁷ Institut de Prehistoire et de Geologie du Quaternaire, Batiment B18- Geologie, Av. des Facultes 33405 Talence, France Msoressi@aol.com  

F. Bordes excavated Pech IV from 1970 to 1977 and found over 100,000 artifacts from a deep and varied sequence of Mousterian industries.  His findings, however, were not fully published.  In 1999, we finished a four year project to re-inventory and publish the existing collections, and last summer we finished three years of excavation at the site.  These excavations were focused on the following goals: 1) collect new dating samples to establish the site’s chronology, 2) excavate controlled artifact samples to assess the degree of collection bias in the existing collections, 3) complete geological descriptions of the sediments, and 4) assess and begin to unravel the site formation processes.  While the analyses are still ongoing, some of the significant results to date are reported on here.  First, Pech IV was almost certainly a cave much like Pech I and even Pech II, rather than the rockshelter that Bordes had suggested, and much of the deposits, particularly in the upper layers, have yet to be uncovered.  Second, the deposits are largely intact with minimal post-depositional movement.  Third, due to ideal burial conditions that yielded very minor uranium uptake into teeth, electron spin resonance (ESR) ages on five enamels recovered from MTA levels yielded statistically indistinguishable mean early uptake (EU) and linear uptake (LU) ages of 50 +/- 3 and 52 +/- 5 ka.  Fourth, significant burning is evident in the basal layers with horizontal variability that includes some intact burned features, as well as more human-modified areas.  Fifth, Pech IV has produced 25 pieces of manganese 16 of which show traces of utilization.  Sixth, the industries are indeed highly variable and include an industry apparently deliberately geared towards the production of small flakes using a variety of technologies.  One more field season is currently planned for Pech IV to further investigate the burned features. 

Cutmarked Bones from Late Pliocene Archaeological Sites at Gona, Afar, Ethiopia: Implications for the Function of the World’s Oldest Stone Tools 

M. Domínguez-Rodrigo ¹, T. R. Pickering ² , S. Semaw ³ , and M. J. Rogers^4
1  Departamento de Prehistoria, Universidad Complutense, 28040, Madrid, Spain manueldr@ghis.ucm.es
²  Department of Anthropology, and, CRAFT Research Center, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 47405, U.S.A., and, Sterkfontein Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa; trpicker@indiana.edu
³  CRAFT Research Center, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 47405, U.S.A. ssemaw@indiana.edu
⁴  Department of Anthropology, Southern Connecticut State University, 501 Crescent Steet,     New Haven, Connecticut, 06515-1355, U.S.A. rogersm1@southernct.edu 

Newly discovered archaeological sites at Gona (Ethiopia) preserve both stone tools and faunal remains.  These sites have also yielded the largest sample of cutmarked bones known from the time interval 2.6 – 2.3 million years ago (Ma).  Most of the cutmarks on the Gona fauna possess obvious macroscopic (e.g., deep V-shaped cross-sections) and microscopic (e.g., internal microstriations, Herzinian cones, shoulder effects) features that allow us to identify them confidently as instances of stone tool-imparted damage caused by hominid butchery.  In addition, the anatomical placement of the cutmarks on several of the recovered bone specimens suggests that Gona hominids eviscerated carcasses and defleshed fully muscled upper and intermediate limb bones of ungulates—activities which further suggest hominids gained early access to large mammal carcasses.  These observations support the hypothesis that the earliest stone artifacts functioned primarily as butchery tools and also imply that hunting and/or aggressive scavenging of large ungulate carcasses may have been part of the behavioral repertoire of hominids by c. 2.6 – 2.5 Ma, although a larger sample of cutmarked bone specimens is necessary to support the latter inference.

Our field permit was issued by the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) of the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sports Affairs of Ethiopia.  The project was organized from the CRAFT Research Center, Indiana University, and the overall contributions made to the project by Kathy Schick and Nicholas Toth (Co-Directors, CRAFT) and the Friends of CRAFT are very much appreciated.  Research grants were provided by the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the Wenner-Gren Foundation and the National Science foundation.  M.D-R.’s travel to Ethiopia was supported by Complutense University. 

Interim Report on the Geology of the Dmanisi Site, Republic of Georgia 

R. Ferring¹  and  D. Lordkipanidze^2
1 Department of Geography, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas 76203 U.S.A.  ferring@unt.edu
² Department of Geology and Paleontology, Georgian State Museum, 3 Purtseladze Street, 380007, Tblisi, Republic of Georgia geonathist@ip.osgf.ge  

During the 2000-2002 seasons at Dmanisi, geologic studies centered on the stratigraphy, site formation processes and basin-wide geologic context of this important Plio-Pleistocene locality in the Georgian Caucasus Mountains. In Block 2, numerous hominin fossils, artifacts and vertebrate remains were recovered. The fossil-bearing sediments overlie the topographically lowest surface thus far exposed of the Masavera Basalt (1.85 Ma, normal polarity). Stratum A volcaniclastics (normal polarity) overlying the basalt, exhibit the same lithologic and pedogenic features seen in other exposures, and also have a very abrupt erosional contact with the superjacent Stratum B (reverse polarity) deposits. The greatest concentration of hominin and other fossils in this area occur in a well-defined, elongated cavity which follows the dip of the basalt surface towards the valley axis, and is joined to the A-B erosional paleosurface by a distinct collapse feature, quite similar to those associated with piping in present day semi-arid settings. Stratum B1a ashes cover the paleosurface and infill fractures and the collapse feature.  Lithic artifacts and manuports are concentrated in lower Stratum B.  Testing west (upslope) from Block 2, revealed thick sections of Stratum B, with superposed concentrations of artifacts and highly fragmented faunal remains that appear to register occupation surfaces of repeated occupations. These overlie eroded Stratum A deposits having numerous complete bones, including a hominin phalange.  We have now exposed in trenches ca. 25 m of lacustrine sediments, rich in plant macrofossils and faunal remains, that fill the lake basin formed when the Masavera lava dammed the Pinazouri river immediately below the Dmanisi site.  Correlations with the site deposits will be established by absolute dating and detailed paleomagnetic studies of the lacustrine sections.  About 20 km west of Dmanisi, we have discovered a new thick section of ashes between the Masavera Basalt and the Zemo Orzmani Basalt (1.76 Ma, reverse polarity) which provides an excellent opportunity to firmly bracket the age of the Dmanisi occupations and hominin fossils. 

Anghilak cave, Uzbekistan: documenting Neandertal occupation at the periphery 

M. Glantz¹, and R. Suleymanov^2
1 Department of Anthropology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 U.S.A. mglantz@lamar.colostate.edu
² Department of Archaeology, National University of the Republic of Uzbekistan  

In 1938, Okladnikov excavated the site of Teshik-Tash in the Baisun region of Uzbekistan and found a complete cranium of a Neandertal child.  This discovery anchored the eastern boundary of the Neandertal range in Uzbekistan and linked the manufacture of Mousterian assemblages from the region to this hominid group.  Although Uzbekistan has a relatively rich record of Paleolithic occupation, previous excavations have not benefited from contemporary archaeological methods and many well-known sites such as Teshik-Tash have been emptied of deposits, making reanalysis impossible.  Moreover, the collapse of the Soviet Union brought Paleolithic research to a halt in most of the Central Asian Republics.  The purpose of this paper is to present preliminary results from test excavations of a new Mousterian cave site in the Kashkadariya region of southeastern Uzbekistan. Anghilak cave represents the first new discovery of this type in the country in over sixty years.  Located in the foothills of the southern face of the Zerafshan mountain range, Anghilak (39° 17’07.4”N, 66° 41’13.1”E, 796 m.) is a relatively small east-facing cave formed from a vertical karst.  In 2002, two test units were excavated to a depth of 1.45 m. and yielded 485 pieces of chipped stone and over 2200 animal bones.  A typological inventory reflects the Middle Paleolithic character of the lithic assemblage.  Over 50% of the faunal material is tortoise and the remainder appears to be sheep and goat with a high frequency of green breakage patterns.  Questions concerning the Central Asian Middle Paleolithic, the geographic distribution of the Neandertals and their possible interactions with modern humans in the this region of the Old World as well as the origins of the Upper Paleolithic in Uzbekistan will be discussed in the context of Anghilak cave and the new insights that analysis of its material provides.

A Late Miocene Hominid from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia, and Its
Relationship with Contemporary Hominoid Taxa 

 Y. Haile-Selassie
 Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Drive, Cleveland OH, 44106 U.S.A. yhailese@cmnh.org 

The number of late Miocene hominoid taxa dated to between 5 Ma and 7 Ma has substantially increased in the last couple of years.  The discovery of Orrorin tugenensis from the Tugen Hills of Kenya marked the first hominoid from ca. 6 Ma.  This was followed by the discovery of Ardipithecus ramidus kadabba from the Middle Awash of Ethiopia, which extended the early hominid record to ca. 5.8 Ma.  The most recent discovery of Sahelanthropus tchadensis from Chad in Central Africa further extended the record of early hominids back to between 6 Ma and 7 Ma.

             Phylogenetic relationships among these late Miocene hominoids are currently far from being clearly understood.  Although this is largely due to the paucity of the available fossil record from the latest Miocene period, the variability of analytical methods used by various researchers has further complicated understanding of phylogenetic relationships among early hominoids.  Critical observation of the fossil evidence is what yields the most accurate information on such relationships.  Now, the additional recovery of fossil specimens of Ardipithecus ramidus  kadabba has shed additional light on the phylogenetic relationships between O. tugenesis, A. r. kaddaba, and S. tchadensis. 

Paleoclimate during early modern human occupation at Qafzeh, Israel: the stable isotope data 

K. A. Hallin¹, M. J. Schoeninger² and H. P. Schwarcz^3
1Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, U.S.A krishallin@hotmail.com
²Department of Anthropology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92023, U.S.A. mjschoen@weber.ucsd.edu
³School of Geography and Geology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1 Canada schwarcz@mcmaster.ca  

Much debate in paleoanthropology has focused on the complex pattern of human evolution in Israel during the Late Pleistocene under the premise that climate change was the primary determinant for observed changes in human activity. One of the paramount questions is whether Neandertal and early modern human occupations, in Israel, alternated as environmental cnditions fluctuated. Bar-Yosef proposes that early modern humans occupied Israel during a warm, dry period of the Emian interglacial, Oxygen Isotope Stage 5 (OIS 5), approximately 110 ka.  Nandertals, on the other hand, entered the region approximately 70-40 ka as a result of European climate degeneration at the onset of the Wurm glaciation (OIS 4).

We tested Bar-Yosef’s hypothesis through stable oxygen and carbon isotope analyses of fossil herbivore enamel carbonate from the early modern human site, Qafzeh (~92-115 Ky.), Lower Galilee, to reconstruct paleoclimatic conditions during the Late Pleistocene. A baseline omparative sample, established from the teeth of modern analogues across Israel, represent present climatic conditions--a long, dry summer and a rainy winter.

Through zoning profiles and information on eruption and mineralization patterns for modern analogues, seasonal patterns in the δ¹⁸O of rainfall were determined. Data obtained from Qafzeh, layer XXI, show a trend in δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C that is similar to the modern proxy data.  That is, drier conditions with rainfall occurring only in the winter. In contrast to present conditions, however, δ¹³C values demonstrate the presence of mixed C₃/C₄ vegetation indicating a drier and more open environment near the cave. A previous study of the Neandertal site, Amud, demonstrates that Neandertals lived under wetter conditions with more closed woodland (Hallin et al., 2002).  It appears thus far that early modern humans (Qafzeh XXI) and Neandertals (Amud) lived under different climatic conditions during the late Pleistocene.  Supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation (to K.A.H.).

Preliminary taphonomic analysis of hominin remains from A.L. 333, Hadar Formation, Ethiopia 

E. H. Harmon¹, A. K. Behrensmeyer², W. H. Kimbel¹ and D. C.  Johanson^1
1 Institute of Human Origins and Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287-4101 U.S.A. eharmon@asu.edu, wkimbel.iho@asu.edu; johanson.iho@asu.edu
² Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 U.S.A. behrensmeyer.kay@nmnh.si.edu 

            The A.L. 333 locality, Hadar, Ethiopia, occurs stratigraphically in the Hadar Formation between the 3.22 myr TT4 tuff and the 3.18 myr KHT tuff.  Among Pliocene open air sites, this site is unusual in preserving multiple individuals of Australopithecus afarensis.  Our study is designed to assemble taphonomic and geological evidence to test alternative hypotheses concerning the genesis of the hominin assemblage. Initial discovery, survey and excavation (1975-77) recovered over two hundred specimens, including 19 in situ.  Dental estimates placed the minimum number of individuals (MNI) at nine adults and four juveniles (White and Johanson 1989).  Renewed fieldwork in the 1990s increased the number of hominin specimens to 257.  New MNI estimates for the A.L. 333 hominin assemblage are based on a reassessment of all specimens collected between 1975 and 2001. The updated estimate derived from cranial and dental material, which comprises 40% of the sample, identifies at least 17 individuals; nine adult, three adolescent and five juveniles, with the youngest represented by an unworn deciduous incisor.  Preserved postcranial remains are primarily fore- and hindlimb elements, with bones from the axial skeleton being proportionately underrepresented.  We conservatively sorted most postcranial specimens into groups that represent separate individuals (MNI) based on appraisal of non-overlapping elements, similar age, size and state of preservation.  There are several examples of convincing antimeres, as well as articulating and conjoining elements.  The MNI based on this conservative assessment of postcrania is sixteen, including juveniles and adults.  With further study of age, size, preservation, and taphonomy, these may reasonably be grouped with individuals identified on the basis of cranial/gnathic remains.  The assemblage as a whole contains small and large individuals among both adults and adolescents.  Preliminary estimates based on hominoid data in McHenry (1992) indicate that the range of adult body mass is 38-57 kg.   

New chrono-cultural data on the Cro-Magnon and Combe-Capelle human remains (Dordogne, France): consequences for the biocultural origins of modern humans in Europe 

D. Henry-Gambier¹, and R. White^2
1 CR, CNRS UMR 5809 , Laboratoire d’Anthropologie, Université de Bordeaux I, Avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence , France. dgambier@pop.reaumur.u-bordeaux.fr
² Department of Anthropology, New York University, 25 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10003, U.S.A. rwcalvaire@aol.com  

    The question of the age of the Cro-Magnon and Combe-Capelle human fossils is clearly of considerable importance. Hominid specimens from both sites have played a critical role in the development of current perspectives on modern human origins in Western Europe.

    The Cro-Magnon skeletal remains, discovered en 1868 near les Eyzies-de-Tayac by workmen and excavated by L. Lartet are routinely attributed to the Aurignacian culture. An AMS C14 date (27 680 ± 270 BP, Beta — 157439) of a shell associated with the human remains  as well as cultural indications, demonstrates that these specimens postdate 28000 BP. The Cro-Magnon burials should not be attributed to the earliest Aurignacian, but rather to the Gravettian.

    The Combe-Capelle skeleton was discovered by O. Hauser at the beginning of the twentieth century. According to him, the burial occurred at the interface between a Mousterian and an early Aurignacian (i.e. Châtelperronian) level. The supposedly Châtelperronan age of the skeleton (and the very authenticity of the skeleton itself), and its morphology, have long been the subject of debate. As the remains had until recently been thought to have been lost or destroyed during the last war, it was impossible to check the original data.

    In 1990, the Combe-Capelle remains were rediscovered by A. Hoffmann and D. Wegner at the  Museum für Vorund Frühgeschichte, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin(RFA). The morphological study of the Combe-Capelle skull, the analyses of associated shell ornaments and of  available archives provide some new insight into the probable age of this specimen. This new analysis has quite important implications for our understanding of cultural and biological processes at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe.

Early Dates for the European Upper Paleolithic from Kostenki (Russia) 

J.F. Hoffecker¹, A.A. Sinitsyn², M.V. Anikovich² , S.L. Forman³, V.T. Holliday⁴, and P. Goldberg^5
1Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450 U.S.A. hoffecke@spot.colorado.edu
²Institute of the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, 191186 Saint Petersburg, Russia a.sinitsyn@AS6238.spb.edu, kate_archae@freemail.ru
³Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607-7059 U.S.A.  slf@uic.edu
⁴Departments of Anthropology and Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0030 U.S.A. vthollid@email.arizona.edu
⁵Department of Archaeology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215 U.S.A. paulberg@bu.edu 

During 2002, field research continued at Kostenki on the west bank of the Don River near the city of Voronezh in Russia.  New excavations were conducted in the lower occupation levels at Kostenki 12 (Layers III and IV) and Kostenki 14 (Layer IVb).  These levels are found stratigraphically beneath a horizon of volcanic ash dating between 35,000 and 40,000 years BP.  They contain artifacts and vertebrate remains in layers of silt that seem to have been deposited by a complex interplay of slope and low-energy stream processes.  A series of five luminescence (IRSL) dates on these sediments at Kostenki 12 yielded estimates between 43,470 and 51,060 years ago.  Buried soils are present at both localities and some of them are associated with occupation levels. 

The lowest occupation level at Kostenki 14 (Layer IVb) contains prismatic blade cores, end-scrapers, burins, and bifaces, along with tools of bone, antler, and ivory (e.g., points).  Other artifacts include a perforated shell (imported from a remote source) and carved ivory fragment that appears to represent the head of a figurine.  An isolated tooth recovered from this level in 2001 has been assigned to modern humans.  A broadly correlative level at Kostenki 12 (Layer III) contains an assemblage of bifacial points, end-scrapers, and side-scrapers that lacks non-lithic tools, ornaments, and art objects (assigned to the Streletskaya kul’tura).  In 2002, a large bone bed comprising fragmented remains of reindeer and horse was uncovered in Layer III.  The underlying level (Layer IV) may contain an assemblage similar to that of Layer IVb at Kostenki 14, but the sample size is small.

The new discoveries at Kostenki indicate that an Upper Paleolithic industry—most probably created by modern humans—was present as early as ca. 45,000 years BP on the central East European Plain.  This suggests that modern humans may have initially occupied some of the coldest and driest areas of mid-latitude Europe during the earlier Middle Pleniglacial.  It is unclear if Neanderthals were also present in the region at this time, although they might have produced the assemblage from Layer III at Kostenki 12.

Supported by an NSF grant in archaeology (BCS-0132553). 

New evidence of the Middle- Upper Paleolithic transition from Riparo Bombrini (Grimaldi, Italy) 

B. M. Holt¹, S. E. Churchill¹, F. Negrino², V. Formicola³, G. Vicino⁴, P. Pettit⁵, A. Del Lucchese^6
1  Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Box 90383, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708 U.S.A. holtmb@hotmail.com
²  Dipartimento di Scienze Archeologiche, Università di Pisa, 56126 Pisa,  Italy.
³  Dipartimento di Etologia, Ecologia ed Evoluzione, Università di Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
⁴  Civico Museo del Finale, 17024 Finale Ligure Borgo (SV), Italy
⁵  Keble College, Oxford, OX1 3PG, UK
⁶  Soprintendenza Archeologica della Liguria, 16126 Genova, Italy

The site of Riparo Bombrini (Grimaldi, Liguria, Italy) belongs to a complex of caves and rock shelters that has produced some of the earliest and most complete early Upper Paleolithic human skeletons in Europe. In 1976, Giuseppe Vicino exposed rich early Aurignacian and late Mousterian deposits. The Aurignacian assemblage includes numerous “Dufour” bladelets, bone points, decorated bone, perforated shells, ochre, and an isolated human deciduous tooth. The basal Aurignacian at nearby Riparo Mochi has been dated at 35,7 ky. Given the resemblance in assemblage composition and depositional history between the two sites, Riparo Bombrini may have one of the earliest Aurignacian deposits associated with anatomically modern human remains in Europe. In July 2002, a team from Duke University, University of Pisa and the Soprintendenza Archeologica della Liguria reopened excavation of Bombrini with the specific goal in mind to clarify the nature of the Mousterian-Aurignacian transition in northern Italy. Several questions framed the project: 1) Is the Mousterian-Aurignacian transition in northern Italy an abrupt event? 2) What is the timing of this transition (was there an overlap between Mousterian and Aurignacian)? 3) Are there distinct differences between two time periods in provisioning and use of raw material?          

Preliminary analysis point to marked differences in raw material utilization between Mousterian and Aurignacian assemblages. With a few exceptions, Mousterian industry was made of low quality local material, while the flint used to make Aurignacian tools generally came from sources located as far as 200 kilometers away. There seems to have been no overlap between the makers of the Mousterian and Aurignacian. The two assemblages are markedly distinct and separated by a semi-sterile layer, confirming the pattern suggested by other sites in northern Italy that Aurignacian groups either replaced local Mousterian populations or perhaps moved into areas that had been vacated by the latter.      

Laetoli paleoecology reconsidered: The isotopic evidence 

J. D. Kingston¹and T. Harrison^2
1Department of Anthropology, Emory University, 1557 Pierce Dr., Atlanta, GA  30322 U.S.A. jkingst@emory.edu
²Department of Anthropology, New York University, 25 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10003 U.S.A. terry.harrison@nyu.edu 

Sediments exposed at the site of Laetoli in northern Tanzania have yielded an extensive assemblage of Pliocene vertebrates, including early hominins. While traditionally interpreted as a grassland or savanna habitat, with patches of acacia woodland, accumulating faunal evidence suggests a more complex scenario with a greater representation of woodland and bushland ecosystems in the Laetolil Beds (4.3-3.5 Ma), transitioning to semi-arid bushland/grassland communities in the Upper Ndolanya Beds (2.6-2.7 Ma). To establish corroborating evidence, over 250 samples of fossil mammal tooth enamel, struthionid eggshells, invertebrates, and paleosol organic residues and carbonates from the Laetolil and Ndolanya Beds were analyzed isotopically to constrain aspects of vegetation and climate at Laetoli during the Pliocene. Collectively, the data indicate environmental variability within the temporal range represented by the Laetolil Beds, but consistently suggest woodland components regionally if not locally. Isotopic profiles of multiple enamel samples of 15 herbivore taxa collected from horizons throughout the upper and lower Laetolil Beds reflect diverse dietary strategies including obligate browsers, obligate grazers, and mixed C₃/C₄ feeders. While an isotopic shift in two vertebrate taxa between the Upper Laetolil and Upper Ndolanya Beds indicates an increasing reliance on C₄ graze, there is no obvious overall dietary change reflecting significant habitat modification or trends in the succession. Within the interpretive limitations associated with small analytical data sets, habitat reconstructions at Laetoli based on isotopic enamel signatures cannot be differentiated from those documented at other early hominin sites, including Tabarin, Olduvai Bed I and Lothagam, as well as for modern East African ecosystems, such as at Amboseli. Within the stratigraphic resolution of sampling, isotopic signatures of the Laetoli material indicate that the fossil hominins potentially had access to a mosaic of habitats ranging from grasslands to woodlands in the Laetoli region at ~5-2.5 Ma. 

The early human remains from Niah Cave’s West Mouth (Sarawak, Malaysia) 

J. Krigbaum¹, J. Manser², G. Barker³, H. Barton³, M. Bird⁴, Ipoi Datan⁵, D. Gilbertson⁶, C. Hunt⁷, T. Reynolds⁸, W. Sanders⁹, and C. Stringer^10
1  Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, U.S.A. krigbaum@ufl.edu
²  Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, NY 10003 U.S.A.
³  School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH U.K.
⁴  National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 637616, Singapore
⁵  Sarawak Museum, Kuching, 93566, Sarawak, Malaysia
⁶  School of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth University, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB, U.K.
⁷  Department of Geographical and Environmental Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH, U.K.
⁸  Cambridgeshire County Council, Castle Court, Shire Hall, Cambridge, CB3 0AP, U.K.
⁹  Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI  48109 U.S.A.
¹⁰ Department of Paleontology, The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, U.K. 

One of the most significant sites producing early modern humans in island Southeast Asia is that of Niah Cave’s West Mouth in northern Borneo (Sarawak, Malaysia).  In 1958 a human cranium was discovered there, in situ, associated with a radiocarbon date on charcoal from a neighboring unit yielding an age of ca. 40 ka.  Associated post-cranial material was mentioned in passing, however, attention focused on the “Deep Skull” and its early date for modern humans in Southeast Asia.  Since that time, Niah Cave is no longer considered the earliest site in the region—sites in Australia date to at least 55 ka.  However, its equatorial setting on the Sundaland subcontinent has important implications towards inferring the prehistoric lifeways of early modern humans in a tropical forest setting. 

Recently, new finds of human skeletal material directly associated with the “Deep Skull” were re-discovered at the Sarawak Museum and at The Natural History Museum (London).  This material consists of (1) additional skull fragments not included in the original reconstruction by Brothwell (1960), and (2) a 90% complete adult left femur.  Given the paucity of late Pleistocene human skeletal material from Southeast Asia, these new finds are significant, especially so considering the different interpretations the “Deep Skull” has received over the years.  This paper reviews these interpretations with respect to the age/sex of the “Deep Skull” and associated remains and their morphological affinities.  Analyses by Brothwell and Birdsell are reviewed and new interpretations are offered.  Geological context and age of the early human remains in light of recent fieldwork with the Niah Cave Project is discussed.  

Is the variation in cranial capacity of the Dmanisi sample too high to be from one species? 

S. Lee
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0418 U.S.A.  sang-hee.lee@ucr.edu  

The three early Homo crania discovered in Dmanisi contribute to the important question in paleoanthropology: is the variation in a fossil sample from a single species or multiple species?  I test the null hypothesis that the degree of variation in the cranial capacity of the Dmanisi sample is within the expected range of a single species variation.  Using a method based on a data resampling approach, I ask the likelihood that sexual dimorphism or intrasexual individual variation can explain the observed variation in the Dmanisi fossil sample.  Statistical significance of the variation in the Dmanisi sample is examined using distributions generated from resampling data sets consisting of single species.  Results indicate that the largest difference between two of the Dmanisi cranial capacities is well within the range of variation from male-female pairs of comparative species of modern humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas.  Furthermore, results do not completely reject the hypothesis of intrasexual individual variation.  The observed value from the Dmanisi sample can easily be observed in male populations of gorillas and chimpanzees.  However, it is not likely to observe such difference from modern men nor from any female population of the three species compared.  The results of this paper are consistent with the one by the original researchers of the Dmanisi sample, that they belong to a single species. 

New Catarrhine Fossils from the Lower Miocene of Uganda, with Implications for the Ape-Monkey Split 

L. MacLatchy¹, W. Downs², R. Kityo, M. Mafabi, and E. Musiime
¹ Boston University, 232 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215 U.S.A. maclatch@bu.edu
² Department of Geology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, 86011-4099 U.S.A. w.downs@nau.edu
³ Museum of Zoology, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda zoology@imul.com
⁴ Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, & Researcher, National Museum of Uganda, Kampala, Uganda mmmafabi@yahoo.co.uk
⁵ National Museum of Uganda, Kampala, Uganda dams@infocom.co.ug 

            The Napak (~19 Ma) and Moroto (>20.6 Ma) fossil localities in northeast Uganda comprise some of the oldest Miocene sites in Africa.  Among the fauna from these sites are several catarrhine taxa, including the earliest records of the superfamilies Cercopithecoidea (?Victoriapithecus, Napak) and, arguably, Hominoidea (Morotopithecus, Moroto), as well as more primitive catarrhines (e.g. Limnopithecus, Dendropithecus and Micropithecus, Napak and Moroto).  During June, 2002, field efforts resulted in the recovery of several new catarrhine specimens.  An adult maxilla and facial fragments, as well as a juvenile mandible attributable to Micropithecus were collected from the Napak IX locality.  From the Moroto II locality, part of the spinous process, neural arch and transverse process of a lumbar vertebra of Morotopithecus (perhaps from the same individual (i.e. UMP 67-28) found in the 1960's), and a fragment of a cercopithecoid maxilla (dP4M1) were collected. 

            Since the Moroto localities seem to predate the Napak ones, the new cercopithecoid specimen is now the oldest of its kind.  Molecular estimates have put the cercopithecoid-hominoid divergence in the range of 20-25 Ma, and the recent finds provide additional evidence that it occurred before 20.6 Ma, although how much before is debatable.  In addition, co-occurrence at Moroto II shows that some of the earliest apes and monkeys lived in relatively close spatial proximity, although the niches they occupied may have been quite different.  Future research will attempt to elaborate on paleoenvironmental reconstructions of the Napak and Moroto localities so that we may better understand the ecological context that immediately succeeded the divergence of the two modern catarrhine groups.  Research was funded by the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation and the N.S.F. (BCS-0215877). 

Vertebrae and Language Ability in Early Hominids 

M. R. Meyer
325 University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, U.S.A. meyer2@sas.upenn.edu  

It has been suggested that the size of thoracic vertebral foramina in WT-15000 reflects the degree of neurological control of the intercostal muscles, providing insight into Nariokotome's motor capabilities for spoken language.  This is due to the putative relationship between the intercostals and fine-tuned breath control utilized during speech.  However, while intercostal muscles act to brace the ribcage during strenuous activities, analysis of spinal cord injury patients shows that their function in precision breathing and speech production is negligible. By contrast, the diaphragm is almost exclusively responsible for breath management during speech.  Cervical vertebrae may be more useful in the study of language evolution, as the phrenic nerve serving the diaphragm exits cervical vertebral elements.  Moreover, a reassessment of salient vertebral morphometric features is presented here in apes, modern humans, and early hominids.  It is suggested that WT-15,000 vertebral elements are highly anomalous, as size-corrected values lie below ape values, while the contemporaneous fossil specimen ER-164 is well within modern values.

Evaluating the structure-function relationship of the apical tuft of the hominid distal phalanx 

E. Mittra
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Psychology-A Bldg., 3^rd Floor, Stony Brook University  Stony Brook, NY  11794-2580 U.S.A. erik.mittra@stonybrook.edu           

            The enlarged apical tuft of the distal phalanx is a unique structure found almost exclusively in hominids.  It is commonly considered to be a reliable marker of enhanced grip.  Among hominids, Neandertals consistently show some of the largest apical tufts relative to their distal phalanx length.  Musgrave (1971) suggested that instead of the manual hypothesis, the enlarged tufts in Neandertals might be indicative of an increased vascular supply to the distal finger, which would prove adaptive in their cold environment.  Neither idea, however, has been formally tested thus far.

            In an attempt to do so, morphometric as well as micro-CT (mCT) imaging studies were done on specimens of modern human distal phalanges with a focus on comparing measurements from populations of cold or warm adapted modern humans.  Ipiutak Indians from Alaska represents the recent human cold adapted population (n = 31).  Aborigines from Africa (n = 11) and Native Americans from the Southwestern U.S. (n = 48) account for the warm adapted group.  mCT analysis was performed on a subset of 12 bones.

            Surprisingly, the warm adapted humans had a higher ratio of apical tuft to maximum proximal breadth than the cold adapted group (p < 0.01).  This was supported by preliminary mCT results in that the warm adapted samples had an overall greater bone volume fraction, trabecular number and thickness, and reduced trabecular spacing.  In relation to the apical width to maximum proximal breadth ratio, positive correlations were found with bone volume fraction (r² = 0.35; p < 0.05) and trabecular thickness (r² = 0.32; p = 0.052), and a negative correlation with the structural model index (r² = 0.31; p = 0.059).  Taken together, these results indicate a need to reevaluate the cold adaptation hypothesis of distal phalangeal expansion, while lending credence to the mechanical hypothesis.

The Art of Taphonomy and the Taphonomy of Art: An analysis of  Molodova I, Level IV: Putative Symbolic Evidence 

A. Nowell¹, F. d’Errico², A. Sytnyk^3
1 Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada  anowell@uvic.ca
² Charge de recherches au CNRS, UMR 5808 du CNRS,Institut de Prehistoire et de Geologie du Quaternaire, Batiment B18- Geologie, Av. des Facultes, 33405 Talence, France f.derrico@iquat.u-bordeaux.fr
³ Ukrainian Institute of Science, Lviv, Ukraine sytnyk@lviv.farlep.net 

During the 1950’s-1980’s excavators recovered two to three thousand faunal remains from Level IV of Molodova I, an open-air Middle Paleolithic site in the Ukraine. This site has been described by some researchers as a possible source of evidence for early symboling behavior.  Drawing on experimental data the authors examined 300 unpublished mammoth bone objects from this layer that were identified by Ukrainian researchers as exhibiting possible engravings.  These purportedly grooved and incised objects include two anthropomorphic figures.

            The mammoth bone objects were analyzed initially by optical microscopy to establish whether the observed modifications were the result of anthropogenic or natural causes.  While our analysis is on-going, using patina, the position of rootmarks relative to cutmarks, the presence or absence of striations as well as other indicators preliminary results of this study suggest that the engravings and other modifications are best explained by carnivore activity, blood vessel markings and post-depositional trauma incurred during excavation including human trampling and deliberate engraving to record provenience.

While we have determined there is no evidence of symbolic activity at Molodova I, the database we have created, with its systematic recording of traces left by taphonomic agents on faunal remains, is providing a better understanding of the overall site taphonomy. This is exceedingly important because this site is well known for its striking evidence of habitation structures.  While MP cave sites and rockshelters are relatively common, open-air sites are exceedingly rare.  Large horizontal excavations at Molodova I have revealed the remnants of several large tent rings up to 8 meters in diameter comprised mainly of mammoth bones. Inside these rings are dense scatters of lithics, faunal remains and ash scatters/hearths. Recreating the depositional history and related taphonomic processes of this site is one key to understanding long term use of the site as well as area specific activities.