Marcel Otte

Revisiting Neandertal diversity with a 100,000 year old mtDNA sequence

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Revising the recent evolutionary history of equids using ancient DNA

The rich fossil record of the family Equidae (Mammalia: Perissodactyla) over the past 55 MY has made it an icon for the patterns and processes of macroevolution. Despite this, many aspects of equid phylogenetic relationships and taxonomy remain unresolved. Recent genetic analyses of extinct equids have revealed unexpected evolutionary patterns and a need for major revisions at the generic, subgeneric, and species levels. To investigate this issue we examine 35 ancient equid specimens from four geographic regions (South America, Europe, Southwest Asia, and South Africa), of which 22 delivered 87–688 bp of reproducible aDNA mitochondrial sequence. Phylogenetic analyses support a major revision of the recent evolutionary history of equids and reveal two new species, a South American hippidion and a descendant of a basal lineage potentially related to Middle Pleistocene equids. Sequences from specimens assigned to the giant extinct Cape zebra, Equus capensis, formed a separate clade within the modern plain zebra species, a phenotypicically plastic group that also included the extinct quagga. In addition, we revise the currently recognized extinction times for two hemione-related equid groups. However, it is apparent that the current dataset cannot solve all of the taxonomic and phylogenetic questions relevant to the evolution of Equus. In light of these findings, we propose a rapid DNA barcoding approach to evaluate the taxonomic status of the many Late Pleistocene fossil Equidae species that have been described from purely morphological analyses.

Serial population extinctions in a small mammal indicate Late Pleistocene ecosystem instability

The Late Pleistocene global extinction of many terrestrial mammal species has been a subject of intensive scientific study for over a century, yet the relative contributions of environmental changes and the global expansion of humans remain unresolved. A defining component of these extinctions is a bias toward large species, with the majority of small-mammal taxa apparently surviving into the present. Here, we investigate the population-level history of a key tundra-specialist small mammal, the collared lemming (Dicrostonyx torquatus), to explore whether events during the Late Pleistocene had a discernible effect beyond the large mammal fauna. Using ancient DNA techniques to sample across three sites in North-West Europe, we observe a dramatic reduction in genetic diversity in this species over the last 50,000 y. We further identify a series of extinction-recolonization events, indicating a previously unrecognized instability in Late Pleistocene small-mammal populations, which we link with climatic fluctuations. Our results reveal climate-associated, repeated regional extinctions in a keystone prey species across the Late Pleistocene, a pattern likely to have had an impact on the wider steppe-tundra community, and one that is concordant with environmental change as a major force in structuring Late Pleistocene biodiversity.

The Aurignacian in the Zagros region : new research at Yafteh Cave, Lorestan, Iran

The Yafteh cave in Iran has an intact Aurignacian sequence over 2m deep. First explored by Frank Hole and Kent Flannery in the 1960s, its strata and assemblage are here re-evaluated at first hand by a new international team. The authors show that the assemblage is genuine Aurignacian and dates back to about 35.5K uncal BP. They propose it as emerging locally and even as providing a culture of origin for modern humans in West Asia and Europe.

Étude des ensembles lithiques atériens de la grotte d'El Aliya à Tanger (Maroc)

Resume Le reexamen des series d’El Aliya illustre leur homogeneite typologique et leur grand raffinement technique, souvent meconnus en Europe. Des datations recentes de l’Aterien au Maroc septentrional necessitent une revision des idees couramment acceptees quant a ses influences sur le continent europeen, par exemple dans la gestation du Solutreen moyen.

Paléolithique supérieur de Géorgie

Upper Palaeolithic from Georgia. The early collections have been the object of stylistic analysis. The Upper Palaeolithic seems to have an external origin. It is composed of three broad stages : 1) Aurignacoid ; 2) with straight backed points; 3) with geometric microliths.

The Epi-Palaeolithic of Öküzini cave (SW Anatolia) and its mobiliary art

Late and Epi-Palaeolithic sequences are well known from field work and publications in southeast Europe and the Levant. Current research in Anatolia promises to shed new light on the vast region that connects these two areas. At Okuzini cave a detailed sequence of Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene assemblages contributes greatly to our understanding.

New radiocarbon dates for the Zagros Aurignacian from Yafteh cave, Iran

Département de Préhistoire, Université de Liège, Place du XX-Août 7, B-4000 Liège, Belgium b Institut de Préhistoire et de Géologie du Quaternaire, PACEA-IPGQ/UMR 5199 du CNRS, Avenue des Facultés, Université Bordeaux 1, F-33405 Talence, France Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany Charge de recherches FNRS, Département de Préhistoire, Université de Liège, Place du XX-Août 7, B-4000, Liège, Belgium

The Anatolian Middle Paleolithic: New Research at Karain Cave

The aims of this report are threefold: (1) to provide new information concerning the Lower and Middle Paleolithic of southern Turkey, (2) to present the shifts in lithic techniques evident in the sequence of Karain Cave during these periods, and (3) to demonstrate the significance of the new information for interpreting long-distance relations between Western Asia and Europe. In fact, in spite of the crucial geographic situation of Anatolia between the Near East and Europe, it has rarely been the subject of intensive excavations and publications concerning the Paleolithic periods. Recently obtained data are therefore of significant interest.

Did Indo-European languages spread before farming?

hypotheses have much to recommend them, they may jonathan adams and marcel otte not be the only reasonable explanations in terms of MS 6335, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak what is known of the prehistory of Europe and western Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn. 37831, Asia against a background of environmental changes. U.S.A. (Jonathan@elvis.esd.ornl.gov)/Université de The possibility that the initial dispersal event of the Liège, Service de Préhistoire, place du XX Août 7, Indo-European languages involved not Neolithic farmBâtiment A1, 4000 Liège, Belgium (prehist@ulg.ac.be). ers or Bronze Age warriors but Mesolithic hunter11 vi 98 gatherers has been mentioned briefly by several writers