I have just gotten a printout of the abstracts for the Paleoanthropology
meeting upcoming in April. Over the next few days I will be posting
abstracts which might beof some interest. Several of the abstracts are of
some interest to those apologetically minded people who are on this list.
First a new level at Cueva del Castillo shows that the beginning of the
Upper Paleolithic technology and culture took place in NEANDERTHAL Spain
38,000 years ago. For all those apologists who thought that only modern
humans could be creative, here is a counter example of Neandertal
creativity. The earliest well dated anatomically modern human skeleton
found in Europe dates from 26,000 years ago in Central Europe. Spain was
one of the last stands of the Neanderthal around 30,000 years ago. Here is
the Abstract.
The beginnings of the Upper Paleolithic in Cantabria (Spain): levels 18B
and 18C of the Cueva del Castillo
V. Cabrera', A. Pike-Ta~ and F. Bemaldo De Quiros3
I Departamento de Prehistoria, UniversidadNacinal de Educacion a Distancia,
Madrid 28040
Spain
"Department of Anthropology, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY12604
3 Area de Prehistoria, Universidad de Leon, Leon 24071, Spain
The Cueva del Castillo was first excavated by H. Obermaier between 1910 and
1914. The recent excavation ofCastillo's level 18 has contributed to the
more precise establishment of the beginnings of the Upper Paleolithic in
the region. Several recent papers have challenged our proposition that a
very early Aurignacian, such as that recovered from level 18, actually
existed in Cantabria. In this paper we provide evidence confirming the
integrity of the level and its archaeological attribution. The
archaeological integrity of level 18 is demonstrated by the fact that it is
separated from two other find-bearing strata -level 16 with Aurignacian
lhaterials above, and Mousterian level 20 below- by archaeologically
sterile levels 17 and 19. Geologically, layer 18 is situated between two
periods of rock fall. Chronologically, all of level 18 is attributed to
38,000 to 40,000 BP on the basis ofAMS and ESR determinations from three
different laboratories. The recent excavations have subdivided level 18.
Lowermost level 18C has yielded nosed endscrapers, dihedral burins,
Aurignacian blades, bladelets, and simple sidescrapers. In addition,
decorated bones and a sagaie point have been found in 18C. Uppermost level
18B displays similar technological characteristics, though with
finer-quality endscrapers and the presence of an atypical and isolated
Chatelperronian point. Five operational chains have been identified; three
for obtaining flakes and two for blades. In sum, the Middle Paleolithic
"look" of the assemblage, combined with an Upper Paleolithic class of
blades, leads us to propose that this is a transitional level. Faunal
analyses from the recent excavations of level 18 demonstrate an emphasis on
red deer. The population structure and reconstructed hunting patterns for
the prey animals of 18C are very similar to those reconstructed for the
Mousterian faunas, again corroborating the transitional nature of this
Aurignacian level." Abstracts for the Paleoanthropology Society Meeting,
The University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.,
April 4-5, 2000
**
Also there are some interesting similarities between a Homo erectus brain
discovered in 1997 with modern humans. Here is the abstract:
The endocast of Sambungmachan 3 (SM-3): a new Homo erectus from Java
Douglas C. Broadfield''2'3 Ralph L. Hollowa~'4, Kenneth Mowbray~6, Michael
Yuan3'4
Adam Silvers', Jeffrey T. Laitman''2'3 and Samuel Marquez''2J
' Department of Cell Biology & Anatomy, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New
York, NY 10029
' Ph.D. Program in Anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY 10016
3NYCEP (New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology)
~Departmentt of Anthropology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
"Department of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York,
NY10024
~Department ofAnthropology, Rutgers University, NewBrunswick, NJ 08903
7Department of Radiology, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY 10029
The taxon Homo erectus occupies a considerable timeframe in hominid
evolution. Accordingly, variations or changes in their paleoneurology may
be of great value in interpreting brain evolution. Indonesian H. erectus is
characterized by a long, low cranial vault, sloping forehead, and angled
occipital region. These features are reflected on the endocasts, which
range in size from 813cc to 1059cc. While we can witness the increase in
brain volume in H. erectus over the course of a million years or more,
there has been little evidence of the development of modern Homo-like
traits in their endocasts. The endocast of a new calvaria discovered near
Sambungmachan, Java, however, offers evidence suggesting the appearance of
more modem characteristics in H. erectus.
"A rhodorsil silicon rubber endocast was made from the Sambungmachan 3
calvaria (SM-3), and the base of the endocast was reconstructed so that an
accurate endocranial volume could be obtained. Water displacement
techniques yielded an average cranial capacity of920cc. In addition, CT
imaging was performed on SM-3 along with 4 other representative Indonesian
and Chinese endocasts using helical fast tract scanning (mA = 140, kV =
170, I mm slice intervals), generating 2-D and 3-D reconstructions.
Frontal, temporal, and parietal-occipital lobes were quantified using
tracing techniques for each incremental slice based on neuroanatomical
landmarks. Our preliminary comparative paleoneurological analyses shows
that while SM-3 has a mosaic of features that are similar to both
Indonesian and Chinese H. erectus, it also possesses significant apomorphic
features. These include a greater degree of asymmetry characterized by a
strong left-occipital, right-frontal petalial pattern; left- right
volumetric asymmetry exhibited in the frontal and parieto-occipital lobes;
and significant asymmetry in Broca's cap. Moreover, the frontal lobe offers
a more shortened, rounded appearance in contrast to the flat, elongated
appearance of other Indonesian fossils (e.g., Sangiran 17). Another
apomorphic trait is exhibited in the transverse plane where the widest
breadth of SM-3 occurs more superiorly than in other Indonesian H. erectus.
"The endocast of SM-3 presents a unique morphology not seen previously in
the fossil record. While the strong modem human characteristics in this
endocast may not represent a particular ancestry, they do allow us to
recognize a new dimension of the remarkable variation in Indonesian Homo
erectus."
glenn
Foundation, Fall and Flood
Adam, Apes and Anthropology
http://www.flash.net/~mortongr/dmd.htm
Lots of information on creation/evolution
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