The bony labyrinth of Neanderthals Spoor, Fred; Hublin, Jean-Jacques; Braun, Marc ...
Journal of human evolution,
02/2003, Volume:
44, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
This paper presents a comprehensive comparative analysis of the Neanderthal bony labyrinth, a structure located inside the petrous temporal bone. Fifteen Neanderthal specimens are compared with a ...Holocene human sample, as well as with a small number of European Middle Pleistocene hominins, and early anatomically modern and European Upper Palaeolithic humans. Compared with Holocene humans the bony labyrinth of Neanderthals can be characterized by an anterior semicircular canal arc which is smaller in absolute and relative size, is relatively narrow, and shows more torsion. The posterior semicircular canal arc is smaller in absolute and relative size as well, it is more circular in shape, and is positioned more inferiorly relative to the lateral canal plane. The lateral semicircular canal arc is absolutely and relatively larger. Finally, the Neanderthal ampullar line is more vertically inclined relative to the planar orientation of the lateral canal. The European Upper Palaeolithic and early modern humans are most similar, although not fully identical to Holocene humans in labyrinthine morphology. The European Middle Pleistocene hominins show the typical semicircular canal morphology of Neanderthals, with the exception of the arc shape and inferiorly position of the posterior canal and the strongly inclined ampullar line. The marked difference between the labyrinths of Neanderthals and modern humans can be used to assess the phylogenetic affinities of fragmentary temporal bone fossils. However, this application is limited by a degree of overlap between the morphologies. The typical shape of the Neanderthal labyrinth appears to mirror aspects of the surrounding petrous pyramid, and both may follow fromthe phylogenetic impact of Neanderthal brain morphology moulding the shape of the posterior cranial fossa. The functionally important arc sizes of the Neanderthal semicircular canals may reflect a pattern of head movements different from that of modern humans, possibly related to aspects of locomotor behaviour and the kinematic properties of their head and neck.
Rad donosi rezultate arheoloških istraživanja provedenih u sklopu
projekta Hrvatske zaklade za znanost pod nazivom „Prapovijesni
lovci i sakupljači u Istri i obližnjim regijama: obrasci života
...tijekom kasnog pleistocena (PREHISTRIA)“ u sezoni 2021. kada
su provedena sustavna istraživanja Ljubićeve pećine kraj Marčane,
te Abri Kontije 002 u Limskom kanalu. U Ljubićevoj pećini
proširena je postojeća sonda u manjoj pećinskoj dvorani te su u
njoj otkriveni arheološki nalazi (keramika, litički nalazi, ljudski i
životinjski ostaci) iz različitih prapovijesnih razdoblja (brončano
doba, eneolitik, neolitik i paleolitik). Nadalje, provedena su i manja
sustavna istraživanja u postojećoj arheološkoj sondi na lokalitetu
Abri Kontija 002. Otkriveni su brojni litički i faunski nalazi
iz razdoblja gornjeg paleolitika. Na oba lokaliteta uzeti su uzorci
za radiometrijsko datiranje, analize sedimentne DNA, geoarheološke,
arheobotaničke i analize sirovinskog materijala, ZooMS te
druge vrste analiza. Analize ova dva nalazišta omogućit će bolje
razumijevanje gornjopaleolitičkih obrazaca ponašanja i korištenja
resursa tijekom posljednjeg glacijalnog maksimuma i kasnog
glacijala na prostoru Istre.
The study area in Mysliborz Lakeland (Western Pomerania), NW Poland, is located in the glaciomarginal zone of the Pomeranian Phase (Weichselian glaciation). Three subenvironments of deposits are ...exposed in the six analysed pits: glacial ice-contact subenvironment, transitional subenvironment and glaciofluvial subenvironment. The glacial ice-contact subenvironment is dominated by coarse-grained, massive and thick beds derived from debris flows and also horizontally laminated sand and gravel deposited by sheet flows. The transitional subenvironment represents deposits between end moraine and proximal outwash plain (sandur). The transitional subenvironment is dominated by coarse-grained diamicton derived from debris flows, horizontally laminated beds deposited by sheet flows, and additionally cross-stratified sediments from channel flows and massive sand from hyper-concentrated flows. The glaciofluvial subenvironment corresponds with the distal part of the glaciomarginal zone. The processes of sediment deposition in the glaciofluvial subenvironment are derived from shallow sheet flows and channelized flows. Architectural element analysis highlights the change in lithofacies associations from glacial ice-contact, through transitional to glaciofluvial subenvironments. This sedimentological zonation of the glaciomarginal zone may have been developed in other glaciomarginal belts and remains to be recognized.
The extent of Late Quaternary glaciation in the northwest Nelson region of New Zealand has traditionally been regarded as minor, with small-scale valley glaciation in confined upland reaches. New ...geomorphological evidence, including moraines, kame terraces, till-mantled bedrock and outwash terraces, indicate that greatly expanded valley glaciers flowed into the lowland valley system at the mouths of the Cobb-Takaka and Anatoki drainages. The timing for this ice advance into lowland valleys is constrained by lowland landform characteristics and a single cosmogenic exposure age, suggesting Late and Middle Pleistocene ice expansion, respectively. Evidence for expanded upland ice on the Mount Arthur Tableland and adjacent areas includes trimlines, boulder trains and roche moutonées. Two cosmogenic exposure ages on upland bedrock surfaces suggest that major ice expansion occurred during MIS 3 and/or 4, while previously published exposure dating from Cobb Valley suggests large MIS 2 ice expansion as well. The inferred, markedly expanded ice left little or no clear geomorphic imprint on the Cobb-Takaka Gorge, and required temperature depression of 4-6°C with near-modern precipitation levels.
New exposures created during the construction of highway E20 near Götene, Sweden, reveal poorly sorted gravelly sand overlain and underlain by varved clay. The stratigraphy at Pellagården consists ...of, from the bottom up, striated gneiss, till, varved marine clay, the gravelly sand unit, and varved marine clay. The varves represent deglacial marine sediment deposited in 40-50 m deep water. The gravelly sand unit contains graded bedding, indistinct horizontal bedding, mud clasts and interstitial mud. It is poorly sorted and poorly organised. The unit has a pebble fabric indicating flow to the northwest. These characteristics and the great water depth suggest that the gravelly sand was deposited from a hyperconcentrated traction current or from concentrated to hyperconcentrated density flows. We interpret the gravelly sand bed to be sediment deposited during the Baltic Ice Lake drainage at around 10,000
14
C years BP. The unit likely represents rapidly deposited sediment at the very start of the drainage and does not indicate the duration of the drainage event. The bed was deposited during a single drainage event rather than as a series of events over a few weeks or months. Based on the number of varves and regional ice retreat rates, the ice-margin was 0.2 to 5 km north of Götene at the time of the drainage. These sites represent the first reported occurrences of the drainage sediment in a stratigraphic sequence since the work of Simon Johansson (1926, 1937, and 1941).
In Discovering the Ice Ages Tobias Krüger explores the discovery of the Ice Ages over the course of the 19th century, how the idea was received, and what further research it stimulated for the first ...time from an international perspective.
Conventional Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating using the equivalent dose distributions of 8 mm aliquots have been extended to key stratigraphical sites in southernmost Sweden and the ...island of Bornholm. The objective has been to bridge the lack of an independent chronology, which might catalyze a new understanding of the ice flow patterns related to the initiation of the Last Glacial Maximum, and the stratigraphical development during the deglaciation sequence. Sediments from proximal environments are usually 10-15 kyr older than expected from regional stratigraphical correlations and radiocarbon dates of mammoth tusks. We propose that OSL signals are inherited from reworked sediments that were sufficiently bleached prior to glacial or glaciofluvial transportation and deposition. Sediments from distal and beach environments seem to indicate proper depositional ages. Thus, the main Weichselian stadial was preceded by almost 20 kyr of ice free conditions, succeeded by an ice advance from south-southeast before northeasterly ice flow predominated. Major inconsistencies still exists for the final deglaciation. Two distinct environmental reconstructions of the uppermost diamict at two separate sites, both superimposed on a periglacial surface, predict either deposition during subaquatic conditions associated with drifting icebergs after 16 kyr or subglacial sedimentation associated with an ice advance in Öresund. It remains unsolved whether the periglacial surface at the two sites can be correlated or if they represent two different stratigraphical levels. In perspective, the introduction of OSL dates in Skåne has identified the periglacial marker horizon or horizons as targets for future intensive dating.
Tijekom duge geološke prošlosti mijenjali su se uvjeti života na našem planetu. Mnoge vrste u potpunosti su izumrle, a neke nove su nastale. Često postavljamo pitanja: kako, zašto, na koji način, ...kako to znamo i slično. Upravo je i to slučaj s pronalascima fosilnih ostataka velikih pleistocenskih životinja na području Podravine, odnosno uz rijeku Dravu i nekoliko šljunčara. Danas je paleontologija, nažalost, jedna arhaična znanstvena disciplina koja počiva na principima aktualizma, no da je to još uvijek »živa« disciplina s nepresušnim novim znanstvenim spoznajama, dokazuju nam fosili kao što su vunasti i stepski mamut, pragovedo, veliki los i jelen, stepski bizon i drugi. Sve te izumrle vrste često nas podsjećaju na razne filmove za djecu, ali prizori s takvim životinjama zaista su postojali baš na podravskoj ravnici prije više od 125 000 godina. Zahvaljujući ljudima koji njeguju kulturnu i prirodnu baštinu podravskog kraja, a u sinergiji s kulturnim institucijama, možemo biti sigurni da će prirodna baština jednoga kraja zasigurno ostati u nasljeđe onima koji dolaze.
