Updating Neanderthals: Understanding Behavioural Complexity in the Late Middle Palaeolithic

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Updating Neanderthals: Understanding Behavioral Complexity in the Late Middle Paleolithic
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Contents
Contributors
Foreword
Preface
Cover caption
Chapter 1 Updating Neanderthals: Taking stock of more than 160  years of studies
	1  Discovery, first studies, and the illustration of the dumb ape
	2  The main scientific debates between 1930 and 1980: Anthropological and cultural data
	3  The end of the 20th century
	4  The 21st century: Updating Neanderthals
	5  From brutality to rehabilitation and narration
	Acknowledgements
	References
Chapter 2 The climatic and environmental context of the Late Pleistocene
	1  Introduction
	2  Orbital and abrupt climate changes through the Late Pleistocene
	3  Vegetation response to Late Pleistocene climate changes
		3.1  The Last Interglacial sensu lato (MIS 5)
		3.2  80,000  years ago, the return of the ice age
		3.3  Millennial-scale climatic variability during MIS 4 and 3 (~  73–27  ka)
			3.3.1  Rapid warming events
			3.3.2  Rapid cooling events
	4  How did Neanderthals cope with climate changes?
		4.1  The impact of the Last Interglacial environments on Neanderthal population
		4.2  Were Western European Neanderthals favoured by the entering in glaciation at 80  ka?
		4.3  Survival and disappearance of Neanderthals
	5  Final remarks
	Acknowledgements
	References
Chapter 3 Diet and ecological interactions in the Middle and Late Pleistocene
	1  Introduction
	2  Dietary ecology of animals and Neanderthals
		2.1  Primary consumers, the herbivores
		2.2  Secondary consumers, the carnivores (except the cave bear)
		2.3  Omnivores, the cave bear and the wild boar
		2.4  Dietary traits of the Neanderthals
		2.5  Role of megaherbivores as keystone species
	3  Complex interactions between Neanderthals and animals
		3.1  Prey–predator relationships
		3.2  Sharing common caves alternatively
		3.3  Confrontation between Neanderthals and carnivores
	4  Final remarks
	Acknowledgements
	References
Chapter 4 Different species on the horizon: The Denisova hominins
	1  Denisova cave and the Altai (overview)
		1.1  Stratigraphy
		1.2  Dating
		1.3  Fauna
		1.4  Archaeology
	2  Denisovan fossils from Denisova cave
	3  Xiahe
		3.1  Mandible
		3.2  Sedimentary DNA
	4  Denisovan genetics
		4.1  Denisovan gene flow into recent populations
		4.2  ‘Superarchaic’  gene flow into Denisovans
		4.3  Effects of Denisovan introgression on present populations
	5  Other Denisovans?
		5.1  East Asian Middle Pleistocene Homo
		5.2  South East Asia
	6  Final remarks
	References
Chapter 5 Neanderthals: Anatomy, genes, and evolution
	1  Introduction
	2  What are Neanderthal traits?
	3  Two explanatory evolutionary models
	4  Evolutionary anatomy of the Neanderthal phenotype
		4.1  Body mass
		4.2  Height
		4.3  Body shape
		4.4  Interlimb proportions
		4.5  Endocranium
		4.6  Neurocranium
		4.7  Face
		4.8  Mandible
		4.9  Dentition
		4.10  Thorax
		4.11  Spine vertebral column
		4.12  Pelvis
		4.13  Trunk (encompassing the pelvis, spine, and costal skeleton)
		4.14  Pectoral girdle
		4.15  Upper limbs
		4.16  Hands
		4.17  Lower limbs
		4.18  Foot
	5  Evolutionary morphology of Neanderthal characters
	6  Phase 1. Origin of H. heidelbergensis (s.s.)
	7  Phase 2. Origin of H. neanderthalensis
	8  Final remarks
	Acknowledgements
	References
Chapter 6 The Neanderthal brain: Biological and cognitive evolution
	1  How to investigate a palaeo-brain: Tools and methods
		1.1  Structural and functional anatomical brain characteristics of Neanderthals
			1.1.1  Size, volume, and shape: A mosaic evolution of the brain in Neanderthals
			1.1.2  The Neanderthal brain: Anatomical and functional structure
			1.1.3  The Neanderthal brain: Evolution
	2  The molecular basis of brain evolution in Neanderthal and H. sapiens: DNA and RNA (genes, polymorphisms, and nonco ...
		2.1  Neural genes and their possible role in the evolution of the Neanderthal brain: A few examples
	3  Not only technology: The graphical record of the Neanderthals as a window on their cognitive traits
		3.1  Considerations on Neanderthal engravings and their formal makeup
			3.1.1  Formal structure, syntax, perception as cognitive modalities
			3.1.2  Neanderthal, not only signs
			3.1.3  Neanderthalian signs, the how s, and the whys—Technological artefacts or symbolic meaning?
			3.1.4  Is it possible to study the Neanderthal sense of beauty?
	4  Cognitive studies and archaeological evidence for the creation of meaning
	5  Final remarks
	References
Chapter 7 Selection versus opportunism: A view from Neanderthal subsistence strategies
	1  Introduction
	2  Selection at a regional scale
	3  Selection at a local scale
	4  The hunter’s choice
	5  Selection within animal carcasses
	6  Diversification of the diet and the exploitation of nonungulate animals
	7  Final remarks
	Acknowledgements
	References
Chapter 8 Small animal use by Neanderthals
	1  Introduction
	2  Rabbits and hares
	3  Birds
	4  Tortoises
	5  Aquatic resources
	6  Final remarks
	Author contributions
	Acknowledgements
	References
Chapter 9 The use of plants by Neanderthals as food, medicine, and raw materials
	1  Introduction
	2  Methods used in recovery of evidence for plant use
		2.1  Microfossils
		2.2  Biomolecules, DNA
		2.3  Use wear and residues
	3  Archaeological evidence for plants
		3.1  Food
		3.2  Medicine and plant secondary compounds
		3.3  Raw materials
	4  Behavioural implications of the plant evidence
	5  Final remarks
	References
Chapter 10 Neanderthal technological variability: A wide-ranging geographical perspective on the final Middle Palaeolithic
	1  The ‘Mousterian debate’ today
	2  Concepts and abbreviations
	3  The Levant
		3.1  Raw material types, catchment areas, and mobility settings
		3.2  Strategies of lithic production
		3.3  Retouched items and transported toolkits
	4  The eastern regions: From the Altai to Eastern Europe
		4.1  Main Middle Palaeolithic industries
			4.1.1  The Micoquian of eastern Europe and the Altai: Spatial distribution, raw material transport, strategies of lithi ...
			4.1.2  The Levallois-Mousterian of south-eastern Europe and the Altai
			4.1.3  The Blade Mousterian of the Don and Lower Volga basins
	5  Central Europe
		5.1  Raw material types, catchment areas, and mobility settings
		5.2  Strategies of lithic production
		5.3  Retouched items and transported toolkits
	6  North-western Europe and southern France
		6.1  Raw material types, catchment areas, and mobility settings
		6.2  Strategies of lithic production
		6.3  Retouched items and transported toolkits
	7  Mediterranean Europe
		7.1  The Iberian Peninsula
			7.1.1  Raw material types, catchment areas, and mobility settings
			7.1.2  Strategies of lithic production
			7.1.3  Retouched items and transported toolkits
		7.2  Italy
			7.2.1  Raw material types, catchment areas, and mobility settings
			7.2.2  Strategies of lithic production
			7.2.3  Tools and transported toolkits
		7.3  The Balkans
			7.3.1  Raw material: Types, catchment areas, and mobility settings
			7.3.2  Strategies of lithic production
			7.3.3  Tools and transported toolkits
	8  Neanderthal variability
	9  Final remarks
	Acknowledgements
	References
Chapter 11 The organisation of living spaces in Neanderthal campsites
	1  Introduction
	2  Constructing the paradigm: What does a hunter–gatherer camp look like?
	3  Ethnographic concepts, archaeological facts
	4  Spatial units in Middle Palaeolithic sites
	5  Beyond activity areas: Time uncertainties in campsite layout
	6  Final remarks
	Acknowledgement
	References
Chapter 12 Fire among Neanderthals
	1  Introduction
	2  Background to research on European Middle Palaeolithic fire: History, archaeological evidence, and debates
	3  Methods and techniques
		3.1  Experiments and ethnography
		3.2  Fire as an artefact
		3.3  Soil micromorphology
		3.4  Archaeobotany
		3.5  Biogeochemistry
		3.6  Geophysics
	4  Fire among Neanderthals
		4.1  Neanderthal pyrotechnology
		4.2  Fuel
		4.3  Lighting fire
		4.4  Fire use
		4.5  Fire reuse, abandonment, and taphonomy
		4.6  From fire to hearth: The social meaning of combustion features in Neanderthal lifeways
	5  Final remarks
	Author contributions
	Acknowledgements
	References
Chapter 13 ‘Art’: Neanderthal symbolic graphic behaviour
	1  Portable graphic symbolism
	2  Parietal graphic symbolism
	3  Cognitive implications
	4  Final remarks
	References
Chapter 14 Spiritual and symbolic activities of Neanderthals
	1  Introduction
	2  Neanderthal funerary activities
	3  Marine shells and pigment use
	4  Wings and feathers
	5  Raptor claws
	6  Non-utilitarian objects, curiosa
	7  Appropriation of the darkness of the underground world
	8  Final remarks
	Acknowledgements
	References
Chapter 15 Beyond European boundaries: Neanderthals in the Armenian Highlands and the Caucasus
	1  Eco-geography and Pleistocene palaeoenvironment of the Armenian Highlands and the Caucasus
	2  Middle Palaeolithic sites in the Armenian Highlands and the Caucasus. Site types, chronology, and distribution
	3  Middle Palaeolithic technological concepts, traditions or cultural features, and the regional sequence
	4  Middle Palaeolithic technological organisation, land use, and regional artefact discard patterns
	5  Middle Palaeolithic hunter–gatherer subsistence and hunting strategies and use of fire
	6  Art and symbolic behaviour? Modified cave bear bones and teeth from Middle Palaeolithic deposits in the Armenian Hig ...
	7  The problem of replacement of Neanderthals by Homo sapiens in the study area
	8  Final remarks
	Acknowledgements
	References
Chapter 16 Methodological advances in Neanderthal identification, phylogeny, chronology, mobility, climate, and diet
	1  Introduction
	2  Neanderthals and their contemporaries
		2.1  Ancient DNA
			2.1.1  The first Neanderthal DNA
			2.1.2  Nuclear DNA from Neanderthals
			2.1.3  The Denisovans and their relationship to Neanderthals
			2.1.4  How to sequence a Neanderthal?
			2.1.5  The potential of DNA from sediments
		2.2  Palaeoproteomics
			2.2.1  Collagen peptide mass fingerprinting
			2.2.2  Shotgun proteomics
	3  The radiocarbon dating and the last Neanderthal. Present status quo
		3.1  The radiocarbon from two-hand clock to three-hand precision
			3.1.1  From the out-of-date to the up-to-date radiocarbon calibration
			3.1.2  From conventional to AMS measurements
			3.1.3  The importance of constraints
		3.2  Why bones?
			3.2.1  Sample selection and collagen extraction
		3.3  The ‘statistic’ surrounding Neanderthals and Homo sapiens chrono-interaction
	4  Reconstructing Neanderthal’s way of life (diet, habitat, weaning, mobility)
		4.1  Neanderthal isotopes
			4.1.1  Diet and habitat reconstruction
			4.1.2  Neanderthal mobility and isotope studies
		4.2  Dental macrowear and microwear, dietary traits, and tooth use in Neanderthals
			4.2.1  Dental macrowear and dietary variability in Neanderthals
			4.2.2  Dental microwear and dietary traits in Neanderthals
			4.2.3  Dental microwear and nondietary anterior tooth-use behaviour and activities
	5  Final remarks
	References
Chapter 17 The arrival of Homo sapiens in the Near East and Europe
	1  Introduction
	2  The Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP)
		2.1  Levantine Initial Upper Palaeolithic
		2.2  Bachokirian
		2.3  Bohunician
		2.4  Uluzzian
	3  The Early Upper Palaeolithic (EUP)
		3.1  Ahmarian
		3.2  Proto-Aurignacian and Early Aurignacian
		3.3  An overview from the East European Plains
	4  The transitional industries
	5  Final remarks
	Acknowledgements
	References
Afterword—From a homogeneous population to a great diversity: Discussing perspectives on Middle Palaeolithic studies for t ...
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