http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=73 Numéros en texte intégral fr Thu, 14 Nov 2024 15:03:50 +0100 Mon, 18 Nov 2024 10:30:54 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=73 0 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=108 Thu, 14 Nov 2024 16:48:34 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=108 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1925 Tue, 14 Jan 2025 14:58:30 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1925 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1958 Wed, 15 Jan 2025 14:46:38 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1958 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1960 Wed, 15 Jan 2025 14:50:17 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1960 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1962 The Neanderthals are commonly thought of as a bizarre variant of our own species Homo sapiens, even by many who do not consider them to represent a "stage" in our own ancestry. But careful scrutiny of the record indicates otherwise. Both fossil and molecular evidence suggests that Neanderthals and modern humans last shared an ancestor more than 500 kyr ago, and the enlarging European hominid fossil record suggests that Homo neanderthalensis is actually the last surviving species of a fairly diverse endemic clade that flourished in the subcontinent between that time and about 27 kyr ago. For the scattering of fossils making up this record, including the crania from Steinheim, Reilingen, and the Sima de los Huesos, all show some but not all of the Neanderthal cranial hallmarks. For example, Steinheim possesses many of the typical Neanderthal features of the cranial rear and upper face, but lacks the puffy and retreating midface, while the best Sima cranium has Neanderthal-like supraorbital morphology and pterygoid tubercles in the lower jaw, but lacks the typical Neanderthal medial nasal projections, the ovoid coronal profile of the cranium, and Neanderthal features of the cranial rear such as the strongly undercut occipital torus. The resulting cluster of morphologies strongly supports the notion not only that Homo neanderthalensis was indeed a distinctive species, but that it emerged from a local adaptive radiation that occurred subsequent to the first successful implantation of hominids in Europe at some time between about 1.0 and 0.5 myr ago. The distinctiveness of the Neanderthals is further underlined by a new composite reconstruction of an entire Neanderthal skeleton recently made at the American Museum of Natural History. Combining elements from a half-dozen skeletons from almost as many countries, this new reconstruction contains sufficient continuity of elements from a single individual (La Ferrassie 1) to impart considerable confidence as to the reliability of its body proportions as well as its morphologies. And it shows that Neanderthals would have cut a very distinctive figure on the landscape, particularly with its narrow-topped and wide-bottomed rib-cage that tapers out below to match its wide, flaring pelvis with virtually no waist. As to lifestyles, while it is clear that at least in pre-contact (with Cro-Magnons) times the lives of Neanderthals were largely symbol-free, it is less obvious that the Neanderthals exploited a different range of food resources than that used by their clearly symbolic successors. Indeed it has been argued recently that the major shift in hunting-gathering subsistence strategies took place in the early Holocene, rather than in the "transition" between Middle and Upper Paleolithic ways of economic life. The Neanderthals were clearly ecological opportunists, successfully coping with a wide variety of environments through flexibility of behavioral response. Yet equally clearly they did not perceive and interact with the world around them as we Homo sapiens do today. We do the Neanderthals no favors by classifying them as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis simply because they had big brains. Instead, we should be trying to understand these unique hominids as the unique and separate evolutionary entity they undoubtedly were. Wed, 15 Jan 2025 15:01:31 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1962 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1964 The colonization of Eurasia by early humans is a key event after their spread out of Africa, but the nature, timing and ecological context of the earliest human occupation of northwest Europe is uncertain and has been the subject of intense debate (Dennell 2003). The southern Caucasus was occupied about 1.8 million years (Myr) ago (Gabunia 2000), whereas human remains from Atapuerca-TD6, Spain (more than 780 kyr ago) (Carbonell et al. 1995) and Ceprano, Italy (about 800 kyr ago) (Manzi 2004) show that early Homo had dispersed to the Mediterranean hinterland before the Brunhes–Matuyama magnetic polarity reversal (780 kyr ago). Until now, the earliest uncontested artefacts from northern Europe were much younger, suggesting that humans were unable to colonize northern latitudes until about 500 kyr ago (Gamble 1999; Dennell & Roebroeks 1996). Here we report flint artefacts from the Cromer Forest-bed Formation at Pakefield (52°N), Suffolk, UK, from an interglacial sequence yielding a diverse range of plant and animal fossils. Event and lithostratigraphy, palaeomagnetism, amino acid geochronology and biostratigraphy indicate that the artefacts date to the early part of the Brunhes Chron (about 700 kyr ago) and thus represent the earliest unequivocal evidence for human presence north of the Alps. Thu, 16 Jan 2025 09:34:18 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1964 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1984 It is hard to believe that opinions about any fossil sample could vary as wildly and completely as opinions about Neandertals and their place in human evolution (compare Wolpoff et al. 2004 & Tattersall 2002). The Neandertal sample is more than adequate, and evolutionary theory is the universally held explanatory principle, so there must be more to the story. Part of this is the role Neandertals have come to play in our culture, but even this post-modernist explanation will not suffice. The most compelling explanation of how Neandertal studies landed in so deep a quagmire is that in determining how different Neandertals were from the human condition, the wrong question was being asked. Thu, 16 Jan 2025 09:41:58 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1984 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1989 This paper begins with a review of the range of techniques which are available for the absolute dating of sites of Neanderthal age. Descriptions are given of the types of material that are commonly dated, and the circumstances in which it is useful to measure their ages. Some of the difficulties that are faced by dating laboratories are then explained, with consideration of the different types of uncertainties that are inherent in date measurements. It is emphasised that no dating technique is invariably accurate, and that a comparative dating study, involving several methods, is the most reliable means of determining the age of an archaeological event. Thu, 16 Jan 2025 09:47:37 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1989 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1994 Thu, 16 Jan 2025 10:44:04 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1994 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1996 The age of Palaeolithic sites is often a matter of debate. Absolute dating is problematic for the older records with an age beyond the limit of radiocarbon dating (>50 ka) and hence, other methods have to be applied. A classical method is the use of biostratigraphical data, using knowledge of the changes in flora and fauna that are caused by the evolution, extinction and migration or dispersal of species. The Quaternary larger and smaller mammal records are subdivided into a number of biozones that form a biostratigraphical framework that is widely applied among Quaternary continental stratigraphers. The Quaternary biozonation, described in this paper, plays an important role in Palaeolithic research. Thu, 16 Jan 2025 10:59:46 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=1996 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=2000 The physical and cultural remnants of Neanderthals have been found within a large variety of environmental contexts, and, obviously, there was no Neanderthal standard environment. Despite the fact that Neanderthals are widely regarded as having anatomically adapted to survive under cold climatic conditions, we must probably accept them as potentially ubiquist hominids. Through 100.000 years of Neanderthal (in strict sense) existence, between 130.000 and 30.000 years B.P., their environment changed several times under the influence of major climatic oscillations. A variety of different landscapes all over Europe and the Near East was inhabited and used by Neanderthals. Thu, 16 Jan 2025 11:05:59 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=2000 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=2001 Dès la phase ancienne du Paléolithique moyen, les Néanderthaliens d’Europe possèdent des techniques d’acquisition de viande diversifiées (chasse et charognage). Ils ont pratiqué différents modes cynégétiques avec cependant une capture préférentielle de deux ou trois espèces (chasse orientée) ou d’une seule (chasse spécialisée). L’abattage des animaux a été souvent sélectif, avec des choix effectués en fonction de l’âge, du sexe, de la taille et de l’éthologie des proies. Les traditions culturelles ont également guidé leur choix. En effet, les espèces rares dans l’environnement ou peu "rentables" ou encore difficiles à capturer ont parfois été préférées. L’animal est considéré par les Néanderthaliens comme un ensemble de ressources alimentaires et non alimentaires. Il est dépouillé, dépecé, désarticulé et décharné selon des chaînes opératoires identiques à celles qui seront élaborées au Paléolithique supérieur. La pratique de chasses saisonnières avec occupations récurrentes de certains sites souligne la grande mobilité des Néanderthaliens au sein d’un vaste territoire de subsistance. Mettre en œuvre des stratégies, planifier et gérer l’alimentation quotidienne, nécessite une pensée complexe, avec des capacités cognitives individuelles, que possédaient les Néanderthaliens, et une organisation sociale qu’ils ont su développer au fil du temps. Thu, 16 Jan 2025 11:16:22 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=2001 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=2003 Thu, 16 Jan 2025 11:40:47 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=2003 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=2005 Thu, 16 Jan 2025 11:45:04 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=2005 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=2007 Le site de plein air à Veldwezelt-Hezerwater, Belgique, riche de plusieurs niveaux du Paléolithique moyen, offre la possibilité de procéder à une étude diachronique des diverses occupations. Les traveaux technologiques permettent d’évaluer les caractéristiques techniques des assemblages, où se côtoient (1) une "Production Levallois Spécialisée de Tendance Laminaire" au site ZNB (Fin du Saalien), (2) une "Production Laminaire à partir de nucleus prismatique à débitage semi-tournant" avec des "petits outils" aux sites VLL et VLB (fin du Saalien - Interstadiaire de Zeifen), (3) une "Production Levallois Récurrente Centripète" avec des outils bifacials au site VBLB (St. Germain II) et (4) une "Production Linéale à éclat Levallois Quadranulaire" et une "Production Levallois Récurrente Bipolaire" avec des outils de type "Quina" aux sites TL (Interstadiaire de Goulotte) et WFL (Interstadiaire de Pile). At the open-air site at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater, Belgium, several Middle Palaeolithic horizons have been discovered. This allowed the diachronic analysis of the various occupation levels. The technological analysis of the lithic assemblages showed that (1) "Specialised Levallois Blade Reduction" was employed at the ZNB Site (Late Saalian), (2) "Semi-rotating Prismatic Core Reduction" together with "small tools" were present at the VLL and VLB Sites (Late Saalian - Zeifen Interstadial), (3) "Recurrent Centripetal Levallois Reduction" together with medium-sized bifacial tools were found at the VBLB Site (St Germain II) and (4) "Lineal Levallois Reduction" and "Bipolar Recurrent Levallois Reduction" together with big "Quina" tools were present at the TL Site (Goulotte Interstadial) and at the WFL Site (Pile Interstadial). Thu, 16 Jan 2025 11:55:02 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=2007 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=2021 Excavated since 1868, generally without any method, the caves of Goyet are comprised of three principal areas of archaeological interest: the terrace and its caves entrances, the Upper Shelter and Trou du Moulin. They yielded rich occupations from the Middle Palaeolithic, Aurignacian, Gravettian and Magdalenian, as well as traces from later periods: Protohistory, Roman and Middle Ages. Bone and teeth remains from the first excavations (1868-70) and recently identified in the collections from the former excavations might be attributed to Neandertal Man. Thu, 16 Jan 2025 15:21:43 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=2021 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=2022 Thu, 16 Jan 2025 15:23:59 +0100 http://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?id=2022