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Early arrivals in Europe Anatomically modern humans are thought to have arrived in Europe 44,000–42,000 years ago. Physical evidence for early humans is scarce, and these dates are based largely on studies of stone tool assemblages. Two papers published this week use the latest radiocarbon dating and morphological analysis techniques to reassess museum hominid samples. Higham et al . examine a human maxilla from the Aurignacian site at Kent's Cavern in the United Kingdom, discovered in 1927 and previously dated at around 35,000 years old, and arrive at an age of 44,200–41,500 years. The dental morphology of the jawbone indicates that its attribution as early human, rather than Neanderthal, is reliable. Benazzi et al . reanalyse two teeth from the Uluzzian site Grotta del Cavallo in southern Italy and conclude that they are definitively modern, not Neanderthal, and date to 45,000–43,000 years old. A further conclusion from this work is that the Uluzzian culture of southern Europe — always found stratigraphically below the Aurignacian signature culture of the modern humans — may represent the earliest modern humans in Europe rather than the last Neanderthals. The earliest anatomically modern humans in Europe are thought to have appeared around 43,000–42,000 calendar years before present (43–42 kyr cal bp ), by association with Aurignacian sites and lithic assemblages assumed to have been made by modern humans rather than by Neanderthals. However, the actual physical evidence for modern humans is extremely rare, and direct dates reach no farther back than about 41–39 kyr cal bp , leaving a gap. Here we show, using stratigraphic, chronological and archaeological data, that a fragment of human maxilla from the Kent’s Cavern site, UK, dates to the earlier period. The maxilla (KC4), which was excavated in 1927, was initially diagnosed as Upper Palaeolithic modern human 1 . In 1989, it was directly radiocarbon dated by accelerator mass spectrometry to 36.4–34.7 kyr cal bp 2 . Using a Bayesian analysis of new ultrafiltered bone collagen dates in an ordered stratigraphic sequence at the site, we show that this date is a considerable underestimate. Instead, KC4 dates to 44.2–41.5 kyr cal bp . This makes it older than any other equivalently dated modern human specimen and directly contemporary with the latest European Neanderthals, thus making its taxonomic attribution crucial. We also show that in 13 dental traits KC4 possesses modern human rather than Neanderthal characteristics; three other traits show Neanderthal affinities and a further seven are ambiguous. KC4 therefore represents the oldest known anatomically modern human fossil in northwestern Europe, fills a key gap between the earliest dated Aurignacian remains and the earliest human skeletal remains, and demonstrates the wide and rapid dispersal of early modern humans across Europe more than 40 kyr ago.

Neanderthals occurred widely across north Eurasian landscapes, but between ~ 70 and 50 thousand years ago (ka) they expanded southwards into the Levant, which had previously been inhabited by Homo sapiens . Palaeoanthropological research in the first half of the twentieth century demonstrated alternate occupations of the Levant by Neanderthal and Homo sapiens populations, yet key early findings have largely been overlooked in later studies. Here, we present the results of new examinations of both the fossil and archaeological collections from Shukbah Cave, located in the Palestinian West Bank, presenting new quantitative analyses of a hominin lower first molar and associated stone tool assemblage. The hominin tooth shows clear Neanderthal affinities, making it the southernmost known fossil specimen of this population/species. The associated Middle Palaeolithic stone tool assemblage is dominated by Levallois reduction methods, including the presence of Nubian Levallois points and cores. This is the first direct association between Neanderthals and Nubian Levallois technology, demonstrating that this stone tool technology should not be considered an exclusive marker of Homo sapiens .

An exclusive connection between Homo sapiens and Nubian Levallois technology has been posited, but remains to be demonstrated 1. Our re-evaluation of the fossil and lithic material from Shukbah Cave confounds such assumptions due to the identification of a Neanderthal molar tooth alongside Nubian Levallois cores and points at the site 2. Hallinan and colleagues 3 question this finding, instead supporting the use of Nubian Levallois technology as a fossile directeur to track expansions of Homo sapiens. We tackle these critiques, highlighting the problematic foundations in the assertion that Nubian Levallois technology is a unique, discrete entity, resulting in its misuse to support simplistic culture-historical narratives.

In 2006, six isolated hominin teeth were excavated from Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits at the Magubike rockshelter in southern Tanzania. They comprise two central incisors, one lateral incisor, one canine, one third premolar, and one fourth premolar. All are fully developed and come from the maxilla. None of the teeth are duplicated, so they may represent a single individual. While there is some evidence of post-depositional alteration, the morphology of these teeth clearly shares features with anatomically modern Homo sapiens. Both metric and non-metric traits are compared to those from other African and non-African dental remains. The degree of biological relatedness between eastern and southern African Stone Age hunter-gatherers has long been a subject of interest, and several characteristics of the Magubike teeth resemble those of the San of southern Africa. Another notable feature is that the three incisors are marked on the labial crown by scratches that are much coarser than microwear striations. These non-masticatory scratches on the Magubike teeth suggest that the use of the front teeth as tools included regularly repeated activities undertaken throughout the life of the individual. The exact age of these teeth is not clear as ESR and radiocarbon dates on associated snail shells give varying results, but a conservative estimate of their minimum age is 45,000 years.

Simply having DEI initiatives doesn't actually make for a more diverse, equal and inclusive team.

Sometimes it means having uncomfortable conversations about your culture and how it ties to and supports your business objectives.

Itaakpa rockshelter was excavated in three short field seasons, from 1985 to 1988, during which a human maxilla and mandible were found in a context characteristic of the ceramic phase of the West African Late Stone Age (LSA). An AMS date of 2210±80 b.p. was obtained from burned palm kernels from the same level. There was no apparent stratigraphic or archaeological break between this level and the layers above, and the pottery indicates continuity of occupation; the upper part of the sequence compares well with other, more recent, sites known in the area. The dimensions of the human teeth show an affinity with those found at Shum Laka, a rockshelter in southwestern Cameroun, in an archaeological context similar to that at Itaakpa. The site is only the third to be found in Nigeria (along with Iwo Eleru and Rop Rockshelter) where human remains suitable for comparative analysis have been identified in a good stratigraphic context along with LSA artifacts.

The largest series of Neolithic human skeletal material derives from Çatalhöyük, in the Konya plain of peninsular Turkey. The excavations were carried out by James Mellaart in three seasons between 1961 and 1964 (Mellaart 1962; 1963; 1965). Larry Angel of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, and Denise Ferembach of the Musée de L'Homme, Paris, worked on the material in the mid-1960s (Angel 1971; Ferembach 1972). Angel was primarily interested in recording pathological conditions, and Ferembach in recording skeletal metrics; consequently their two sample sets are not entirely the same. Where there is overlap, in general their sex determinations agree. Neither published any detailed study of the jaws or teeth, and yet these are now the most intact part of the material. It is this collection of jaws and teeth that has been the subject of our study, which is an attempt to provide a comprehensive analysis of the dentitions of a Neolithic sample. Neolitik döneme ait en çok miktardaki insan iskeleti malzemesi Türkiye yarımadasının Konya Ovası üzerinde yer alan Catalhöyük'ten elde edilmiştir. Kazilar 1961 ve 1964 yılları arasında üç sezon boyunca James Mellaart tarafından yürütülmüştür (Mellaart 1962; 1963; 1965). Washington DC deki Smithsonian Enstitü'sünden Larry Angel ve Paris Musée de L'Homme'dan Denise Ferembach 1960'larin ortasında bu malzeme üzerinde çalişmışlardır (Angel 1971; Ferembach 1972). Angel öncelikle patolojik koşullar, Ferembach ise iskelet ölçüleri üzerinde yoǧunlaştı. Üzerlerinde çalıştıkları örnekler birbirlerinden oldukça farklıydı ve çoǧunlukla cinsiyet tesbiti konusunda aynı fikirde idiler. Şu ana kadar malzemenin en bozulmamış bölümünü oluşturan çene ve dişlerle ilgili herhangi bir detaylı çalışma yayınlamadılar. Bizim çalışmamizin konusu işte bu çene ve diş koleksiyonudur ve bu çalışmayla amacımız bir Neolitik dönem örneǧinin ‘diş çıkarması ve diş tertibinin’ kapsamlı bir analizini yapmaktır.

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Critically ill infants and children with rare diseases need equitable access to rapid and accurate diagnosis to direct clinical management. Over 2 years, the Acute Care Genomics program provided whole-genome sequencing to 290 families whose critically ill infants and children were admitted to hospitals throughout Australia with suspected genetic conditions. The average time to result was 2.9 d and diagnostic yield was 47%. We performed additional bioinformatic analyses and transcriptome sequencing in all patients who remained undiagnosed. Long-read sequencing and functional assays, ranging from clinically accredited enzyme analysis to bespoke quantitative proteomics, were deployed in selected cases. This resulted in an additional 19 diagnoses and an overall diagnostic yield of 54%. Diagnostic variants ranged from structural chromosomal abnormalities through to an intronic retrotransposon, disrupting splicing. Critical care management changed in 120 diagnosed patients (77%). This included major impacts, such as informing precision treatments, surgical and transplant decisions and palliation, in 94 patients (60%). Our results provide preliminary evidence of the clinical utility of integrating multi-omic approaches into mainstream diagnostic practice to fully realize the potential of rare disease genomic testing in a timely manner. A report from the Australian Acute Care Genomics programme shows that the integration of rapid whole-genome sequencing and multi-omic analyses informs diagnoses and treatment decisions in a prospective cohort of 290 critically ill infants and children.