Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-v2bm5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-07T22:43:45.331Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chronology of Late Pleistocene Humans in Eurasia: Results and Perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Susan G Keates ,
Yaroslav V Kuzmin  and
George S Burr
Yaroslav V Kuzmin
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology & Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Koptyug Ave. 3, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
George S Burr
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona AMS Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0081, USA Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

A compilation of direct age determinations for Late Pleistocene human fossils in eastern Europe and Asia is presented in this paper, and current problems with the dating of hominids in these regions are discussed. Only 25 human finds (4 Neanderthals and 21 modern humans) have been directly dated from Pleistocene eastern Europe and Asia. Indirect dating of human remains (using presumably associated organics) often is insecure, especially when information about the exact provenance of human fossils is lacking. Continuation of direct dating of Late Pleistocene humans in Eurasia, primarily with the help of the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C method, is therefore an urgent task.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 54 , Issue 3-4 , 2012 , pp. 339 - 350
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Akimova, E, Higham, T, Stasyuk, I, Buzhilova, A, Dobrovolskaya, M, Mednikova, M. 2010. A new direct radiocarbon AMS date for an Upper Palaeolithic human bone from Siberia. Archaeometry 52(6):1122–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, G, Barton, H, Bird, M, Daly, P, Datan, I, Dykes, A, Farr, L, Gilbertson, D, Harrisson, B, Hunt, C, Higham, T, Kealhofer, L, Krigbaum, J, Lewis, H, McLaren, S, Paz, V, Pike, A, Piper, P, Pyatt, B, Rabett, R, Reynolds, T, Rose, J, Rushworth, G, Stephens, M, Stringer, C, Thompson, J, Turney, C. 2007. The ‘human revolution’ in lowland tropical Southeast Asia: the antiquity and behavior of anatomically modern humans at Niah Cave (Sarawak, Borneo). Journal of Human Evolution 52(3):243–61.Google Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O. 1994. The contribution of Southwest Asia to the study of the origin of modern humans. In: Nitecki, MH, Nitecki, DV, editors. Origins of Anatomically Modern Humans. New York: Plenum Press. p 23–66.Google Scholar
Benazzi, S, Douka, K, Fornai, C, Bauer, CC, Kullmer, O, Svoboda, J, Pap, I, Mallegni, F, Bayle, P, Coquerelle, M, Condemi, S, Ronchitelli, A, Harvati, K, Weber, GW. 2011. Early dispersal of modern humans in Europe and implications for Neanderthal behaviour. Nature 479(7374):525–9.Google Scholar
Brock, F, Bronk Ramsey, C, Higham, T. 2007. Quality assurance of ultrafiltered bone dating. Radiocarbon 49(2):187–92.Google Scholar
Brock, F, Higham, T, Bronk Ramsey, C. 2010a. Pre-screening techniques for identification of samples suitable for radiocarbon dating of poorly preserved bones. Journal of Archaeological Science 37(4):855–65.Google Scholar
Brock, F, Higham, T, Ditchfield, P, Bronk Ramsey, C. 2010b. Current pretreatment methods for AMS radiocarbon dating at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU). Radiocarbon 52(1):103–12.Google Scholar
Brothwell, D. 1960. Upper Pleistocene human skull from Niah Caves, Sarawak. Sarawak Museum Journal 9:323–49.Google Scholar
Clark, PU, Dyke, AS, Shakun, JD, Carlson, AE, Clark, J, Wohlfarth, B, Mitrovica, JX, Hostetler, SW, McCabe, AM. 2009. The Last Glacial Maximum. Science 325(5941):710–4.Google Scholar
Conard, NJ, Grootes, PM, Smith, FH. 2004. Unexpectedly recent dates for human remains from Vogelherd. Nature 430(6996):198–201.Google Scholar
Coppa, A, Grün, R, Stringer, C, Eggins, S, Vargiu, R. 2005. Newly recognized Pleistocene human teeth from Tabun Cave, Israel. Journal of Human Evolution 49(3):301–15.Google Scholar
Daura, J, Sanz, M, Pike, AWG, Subirà, ME, Fornós, JJ, Fullola, JM, Julià, R, Zilhão, J. 2010. Stratigraphic context and direct dating of the Neandertal mandible from Cova del Gegant (Sitges, Barcelona). Journal of Human Evolution 59(1):109–22.Google Scholar
Demeter, F, Sayavongkhamdy, T, Patole-Edoumba, E, Coupey, A-S. 2009. Tam Hang rockshelter: preliminary study of a prehistoric site in northern Laos. Asian Perspectives 48(2):291–308.Google Scholar
Derevianko, AP. 2010. Three scenarios of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition. Scenario 1: the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Northern Asia. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 38(3):2–32.Google Scholar
Derevianko, AP. 2011. The Upper Paleolithic in Africa and Eurasia and the Origin of Anatomically Modern Humans. Novosibirsk: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography Press. 560 p. In Russian and English.Google Scholar
Détroit, F, Dizon, E, Falguères, C, Hameau, S, Ronquillo, W, Sémah, F. 2004. Upper Pleistocene Homo sapiens from the Tabon cave (Palawan, the Philippines): description and dating of new discoveries. Comptes Rendus Paleovol 3(8):705–12.Google Scholar
Dizon, E, Détroit, F, Sémah, F, Falguères, C, Hameau, S, Ronquillo, W, Cabanis, E. 2002. Notes on the morphology and age of the Tabon Cave fossil Homo sapiens. Current Anthropology 43(4):660–6.Google Scholar
Dobrovolskaya, M, Richards, MP, Trinkaus, E. 2012. Direct radiocarbon dates for the mid Upper Paleolithic (eastern Gravettian) burials from Sunghir, Russia. Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris. doi: 10.1007/s13219-011-0044-4.Google Scholar
Farrand, WR. 1994. Confrontation of geological stratigraphy and radiometric dates from Upper Pleistocene sites in the Levant. In: Bar-Yosef, O, Kra, RS, editors. Late Quaternary Chronology and Paleoclimates of the Eastern Mediterranean. Tucson: Radiocarbon. p 33–53.Google Scholar
Grün, R. 2006. Direct dating of human fossils. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 49:2–48.Google Scholar
Grün, R, Stringer, CB. 2000. Tabun revisited: revised ESR chronology and new ESR and U-series analyses of dental material from Tabun C1. Journal of Human Evolution 39(6):601–12.Google Scholar
Grün, R, Stringer, CB, Schwarcz, H. 1991. ESR dating of teeth from Garrod's Tabun cave collection. Journal of Human Evolution 20(3):231–48.Google Scholar
Grün, R, Stringer, C, McDermott, F, Nathan, R, Porat, N, Robertson, S, Taylor, L, Mortimer, G, Eggins, S, McCulloch, M. 2005. U-series and ESR analyses of bones and teeth relating to the human burials from Skhul. Journal of Human Evolution 49(3):316–34.Google Scholar
Harrisson, T. 1958. Carbon-14 dated palæoliths from Borneo. Nature 181(4611):792.Google Scholar
Harrisson, T. 1959. Radiocarbon datings from Niah: a note. Sarawak Museum Journal 9:136–8.Google Scholar
Higham, T. 2011. European Middle and Upper Palaeolithic radiocarbon dates are often older than they look: problems with previous dates and some remedies. Antiquity 85(327):235–49.Google Scholar
Higham, T, Bronk Ramsey, C, Karavani, I, Smith, FH, Trinkaus, E. 2006a. Revised direct radiocarbon dating of the Vindija G1 Upper Paleolithic Neandertals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 103(3):553–7.Google Scholar
Higham, TFG, Jacobi, RM, Bronk Ramsey, C. 2006b. AMS radiocarbon dating of ancient bone using ultrafiltration. Radiocarbon 48(2):179–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higham, TFG, Barton, H, Turney, CSM, Barker, G, Bronk Ramsey, C, Brock, F. 2009. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from tropical sequences: results from the Niah Great Cave, Sarawak, and their broader implications. Journal of Quaternary Science 24(2):189–97.Google Scholar
Higham, T, Compton, T, Stringer, C, Jacobi, R, Shapiro, B, Trinkaus, E, Chandler, B, Gröning, F, Collins, C, Hillson, S, O'Higgins, P, FitzGerald, C, Fagan, M. 2011. The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe. Nature 479(7374):521–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hüls, M, Grootes, PM, Nadeau, M-J. 2007. How clean is ultrafiltration cleaning of bone collagen? Radiocarbon 49(2):193–200.Google Scholar
Hüls, M, Grootes, PM, Nadeau, M-J. 2009. Ultrafiltration: boon or bane? Radiocarbon 51(2):613–25.Google Scholar
Jacobi, RM, Higham, TFG. 2008. The “Red Lady” ages gracefully: new ultrafiltration AMS determinations from Paviland. Journal of Human Evolution 55(5):898–907.Google Scholar
Keates, SG. 2010. The chronology of Pleistocene modern humans in China, Korea, and Japan. Radiocarbon 52(2):428–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keates, SG, Hodgins, GWL, Kuzmin, YV, Orlova, LA. 2007. First direct dating of a presumed Pleistocene hominid from China: AMS radiocarbon age of a femur from the Ordos Plateau. Journal of Human Evolution 53(1):1–5.Google Scholar
Kondo, M, Matsu'ura, S. 2005. Dating of the Hamakita human remains from Japan. Anthropological Science 113(2):155–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krause, J, Orlando, L, Serre, D, Viola, B, Prüfer, K, Richards, MP, Hublin, J-J, Hänni, C, Derevianko, AP, Pääbo, S. 2007. Neanderthals in central Asia and Siberia. Nature 449(7164):902–4.Google Scholar
Krause, J, Fu, Q, Good, GM, Viola, B, Shunkov, MV, Derevianko, AP, Pääbo, S. 2010. The complete mitochondrial DNA genome of an unknown hominin from southern Siberia. Nature 464(7290):894–7.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV. 2009. Radiocarbon and Old World archaeology: shaping a chronological framework. Radiocarbon 51(1):149–72.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV, Burr, GS, Jull, AJT, Sulerzhitsky, LD. 2004. AMS 14C age of the Upper Palaeolithic skeletons from Sungir site, Central Russian Plain. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 223–224:731–4.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV, Kosintsev, PA, Razhev, DI, Hodgins, GWL. 2009. The oldest directly-dated human remains in Siberia: AMS 14C age of talus bone from the Baigara locality, West Siberian Plain. Journal of Human Evolution 57(1):91–5.Google Scholar
Latham, AG. 2001. Uranium-series dating. In: Brothwell, DR, Pollard, AM, editors. Handbook of Archaeological Sciences. Chichester: John Wiles & Sons. p 63–72.Google Scholar
Mannino, MA, Di Salvo, R, Schimmenti, V, Di Patti, C, Incarbona, A, Sineo, L, Richards, MP. 2011. Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer subsistence in Mediterranean coastal environments: an isotopic study of the diets of the earliest directly-dated humans from Sicily. Journal of Archaeological Science 38(11):3094–100.Google Scholar
Marom, A, McCullagh, JSO, Higham, TFG, Sinitsyn, AA, Hedges, REM. 2012. Single amino acid radiocarbon dating of Upper Paleolithic modern humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 109(18):6878–81.Google Scholar
Matsu'ura, S. 1999. A chronological review of Pleistocene human remains from the Japanese Archipelago. In: Omoto, K, editor. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Origins of the Japanese. Kyoto: International Research Center for Japanese Studies. p 181–96.Google Scholar
Matsu'ura, S, Kondo, M. 2001. Dating of the Mikkabi human remains from Japan. Anthropological Science 109(4):275–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellars, P. 2011. The earliest modern humans in Europe. Nature 479(7374):483–5.Google Scholar
Mercier, N, Valladas, H. 1994. Thermoluminescence dates for the Paleolithic Levant. In: Bar-Yosef, O, Kra, RS, editors. Late Quaternary Chronology and Paleoclimates of the Eastern Mediterranean. Tucson: Radiocarbon. p 13–20.Google Scholar
Mijares, AS, Détroit, F, Piper, P, Grün, R, Bellwood, P, Aubert, M, Champion, G, Cuevas, N, De Leon, A, Dizon, E. 2010. New evidence for a 67,000-year-old human presence at Callao Cave, Luzon, Philippines. Journal of Human Evolution 59(1):123–32.Google Scholar
Nakagawa, R, Doi, N, Nishioka, Y, Nunami, S, Yamauchi, H, Fujita, M, Yamazaki, S, Yamamoto, M, Katagiri, C, Mukai, H, Matsuzaki, H, Gakuhari, T, Takigami, M, Yoneda, M. 2010. Pleistocene human remains from Shiraho-Saonetabaru Cave on Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, Japan, and their radiocarbon dating. Anthropological Science 118(3):173–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ono, A, Oda, S, Matsu'ura, S. 1999. Palaeolithic cultures and Pleistocene hominids in the Japanese Islands: an overview. Daiyonki Kenkyu 38:177–83.Google Scholar
Ovchinnikov, IV, Götherström, A, Romanova, GP, Kharitonov, VM, Liden, K, Goodwin, W. 2000. Molecular analysis of Neanderthal DNA from the northern Caucasus. Nature 404(6777):490–3.Google Scholar
Pettitt, PB, Bader, NO. 2000. Direct AMS radiocarbon dates for the Sungir mid Upper Palaeolithic burials. Antiquity 74(284):269–70.Google Scholar
Pike, AWG, Pettitt, PB. 2003. U-series dating and human evolution. In: Bourdon, B, Henderson, GM, Lundstrom, CC, Turner, SP, editors. Uranium-Series Geochemistry. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry. Volume 52. Washington, DC: Mineralogical Society of America. p 607–30.Google Scholar
Pinhasi, R, Higham, TFG, Golovanova, LV, Doronichev, VB. 2011. Revised age of late Neanderthal occupation and the end of the Middle Paleolithic in the northern Caucasus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 108(21):8611–6.Google Scholar
Prat, S, Péan, SC, Crépin, L, Drucker, DG, Puaud, SJ, Valladas, H, Lázniková-Galetová, M, van der Plicht, J, Yanevich, A. 2011. The oldest anatomically modern humans from far southeast Europe: direct dating, culture and behavior. PLoS ONE 6(6):e20834.Google Scholar
Reich, D, Green, RE, Kircher, M, Krause, J, Patterson, N, Durand, EY, Viola, B, Briggs, AW, Stenze, U, Johnson, PLF, Maricic, T, Good, JM, Marques-Bonet, T, Alkan, C, Fu, Q, Mallick, S, Li, H, Meyer, M, Eichler, EE, Stoneking, M, Richards, M, Talamo, S, Shunkov, MV, Derevianko, AP, Hublin, J-J, Kelso, J, Slatkin, M, Pääbo, S. 2010. Genetic history of an archaic hominin group from Denisova Cave in Siberia. Nature 468(7327):1053–60.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE, Burr, GS, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Hajdas, I, Heaton, TJ, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, McCormac, FG, Manning, SW, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Southon, JR, Talamo, S, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J, Weyhenmeyer, CE. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51(4):1111–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, MP, Pettitt, PB, Stiner, MC, Trinkaus, E. 2001. Stable isotope evidence for increasing dietary breadth in the European mid-Upper Paleolithic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 98(11):6528–32.Google Scholar
Schmitz, RW, Serre, D, Bonani, G, Feine, S, Hillgruber, F, Krainitzki, H, Pääbo, S, Smith, FH. 2002. The Neandertal type site revisited: interdisciplinary investigations of skeletal remains from the Neander Valley, Germany. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 99(20):13,342–7.Google Scholar
Schulting, RJ, Trinkaus, E, Higham, T, Hedges, R, Richards, M, Cardy, B. 2005. A mid-Upper Palaeolithic human humerus from Eel Point, South Wales, UK. Journal of Human Evolution 48(5):493–505.Google Scholar
Schwarcz, HP. 1994. Chronology of modern humans in the Levant. In: Bar-Yosef, O, Kra, RS, editors. Late Quaternary Chronology and Paleoclimates of the Eastern Mediterranean. Tucson: Radiocarbon. p 21–31.Google Scholar
Schwarcz, H, Simpson, JJ, Stringer, CB. 1998. Neanderthal skeleton from Tabun: U-series data by gamma-ray spectrometry. Journal of Human Evolution 35(6):635–45.Google ScholarPubMed
Semal, P, Rougier, H, Crevecoeur, I, Jungels, C, Flas, D, Hauzeur, A, Maureille, B, Germonpré, M, Bocherens, H, Pirson, S, Cammaert, L, De Clerck, N, Hambucken, A, Higham, T, Toussaint, M, van der Plicht, J. 2009. New data on the late Neandertals: direct dating of the Belgian Spy fossils. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 138(4):421–8.Google Scholar
Shang, H, Tong, H, Zhang, S, Chen, F, Trinkaus, E. 2007. An early modern human from Tianyuan Cave, Zhoukoudian, China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 104(16):6573–8.Google Scholar
Shutler, R Jr, Head, JM, Donahue, DJ, Jull, AJT, Barbetti, MF, Matsu'ura, S, De Vos, J, Storm, P. 2004. AMS radiocarbon dates on bone from cave sites in southeast Java, Indonesia, including Wajak. In: Keates, SG, Pasveer, JM, editors. Quaternary Research in Indonesia. Modern Quaternary Research in Southeast Asia 18. Leiden: A.A. Balkema Publishers. p 89–94.Google Scholar
Soficaru, A, Doboş, A, Trinkaus, E. 2006. Early modern humans from the Peştera Muierii, Baia de Fier, Romania. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 103(46):17,196–201.Google Scholar
Soficaru, A, Petrea, G, Doboş, A, Trinkaus, E. 2007. The human cranium from Peştera Cioclovina Uscată, Romania: context, age, taphonomy, morphology and paleopathology. Current Anthropology 48(4):611–9.Google Scholar
Street, M, Terberger, T, Orschiedt, J. 2006. A critical review of the German Paleolithic hominin record. Journal of Human Evolution 51(6):551–79.Google Scholar
Svoboda, J, van der Plicht, J, Kuzelka, V. 2002. Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic human fossils from Moravia and Bohemia (Czech Republic): some new 14C dates. Antiquity 76(294):957–62.Google Scholar
Talamo, S, Richards, M. 2011. A comparison of bone pretreatment methods for AMS dating of samples >30,000 BP. Radiocarbon 53(3):443–9.Google Scholar
Trinkaus, E, Ruff, CB. 1996. Early modern human remains from eastern Asia: the Yamashita-cho 1 immature postcrania. Journal of Human Evolution 30(4):299–314.Google Scholar
Trinkaus, E, Milota, Ş, Rodrigo, R, Mircea, G, Moldovan, O. 2003. Early modern human cranial remains from the Peştera cu Oase, Romania. Journal of Human Evolution 45(3):245–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Klinken, GJ. 1999. Bone collagen quality indicators for palaeodietary and radiocarbon measurements. Journal of Archaeological Science 26(6):687–95.Google Scholar
Wild, EM, Teschler-Nicola, M, Kutschera, W, Steier, P, Trinkaus, E, Wanek, W. 2005. Direct dating of early Upper Palaeolithic human remains from Mladeč. Nature 435(7040):332–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolpoff, MH. 1999. Paleoanthropology. 2nd edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill. 878 p.Google Scholar
Wood, R, Bronk Ramsey, C, Higham, TFG. 2010. Refining background correction for radiocarbon dating of bone collagen at ORAU. Radiocarbon 52(2):600–11.Google Scholar
Wood, RE, Higham, TFG, De Torres, T, Tisnérat-Laborde, N, Valladas, H, Ortiz, JE, Lalueza-Fox, C, Sánchez-Moral, S, Cañaveras, JC, Rosas, A, Santamaría, D, De La Rasilla, M. 2012. A new date for the Neanderthals from El Sidrón Cave (Asturias, northern Spain). Archaeometry. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4754.2012.00671.x.Google Scholar
Yokoyama, Y. 1992. Gendai-jin no kigen wo saguru [Quest for the origins of modern humans]. Kagaku 62:195–6. In Japanese.Google Scholar
Yokoyama, Y, Falguères, C, Sémah, F, Jacob, T, Grün, R. 2008. Gamma-ray spectrometric dating of late Homo erectus from Ngandong and Sambungmacan, Central Java, Indonesia. Journal of Human Evolution 55(2):274–7.Google Scholar