The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe

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. In 1989, it was directly radiocarbon dated by accelerator mass spectrometry to 36.4-34.7 kyr cal BP. 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.     

Predicted recurrences of mass coral mortality in the Indian Ocean

In 1998, more than 90% of shallow corals were killed on most Indian Ocean reefs. High sea surface temperature (SST) was a primary cause, acting directly or by interacting with other factors. Mean SSTs have been forecast to rise above the 1998 values in a few decades; however, forecast SSTs rarely flow seamlessly from historical data, or may show erroneous seasonal oscillations, precluding an accurate prediction of when lethal SSTs will recur. Differential acclimation by corals in different places complicates this further. Here I scale forecast SSTs at 33 Indian Ocean sites where most shallow corals died in 1998 (ref. 1) to identify geographical patterns in the timing of probable repeat occurrences. Reefs located 10-15 degrees south will be affected every 5 years by 2010-2025. North and south from this, dates recede in a pattern not directly related to present SSTs; paradoxically, some of the warmest sites may be affected last. Temperatures lethal to corals vary in this region by 6 degrees C, and acclimation of a modest 2 degrees C by corals could prolong their survival by nearly 100 years.     

A massive protocluster of galaxies at a redshift of z ≈ 5.3

Massive clusters of galaxies have been found that date from as early as 3.9 billion years (3.9 Gyr; z = 1.62) after the Big Bang, containing stars that formed at even earlier epochs. Cosmological simulations using the current cold dark matter model predict that these systems should descend from 'protoclusters'-early overdensities of massive galaxies that merge hierarchically to form a cluster. These protocluster regions themselves are built up hierarchically and so are expected to contain extremely massive galaxies that can be observed as luminous quasars and starbursts. Observational evidence for this picture, however, is sparse because high-redshift protoclusters are rare and difficult to observe. Here we report a protocluster region that dates from 1 Gyr (z = 5.3) after the Big Bang. This cluster of massive galaxies extends over more than 13 megaparsecs and contains a luminous quasar as well as a system rich in molecular gas. These massive galaxies place a lower limit of more than 4 × 10(11) solar masses of dark and luminous matter in this region, consistent with that expected from cosmological simulations for the earliest galaxy clusters.     

ESR dates for the hominid burial site of Es Skhul in Israel

The Middle East has been critical to our understanding of recent human evolution ever since the recovery of Neanderthal and early anatomically modern fossils from the caves of Tabun and Skhul (Mount Carmel) over 50 years ago. It was generally believed, on archaeological and morphological grounds, that middle eastern Neanderthals (such as those from Tabun, Amud and Kebara) probably dated from more than 50,000 years ago, whereas the earliest anatomically modern specimens (from Skhul and Qafzeh) probably dated from about 40,000 years. Recent thermoluminescence and electron spin resonance (ESR) determinations, however, have supported biostratigraphy in dating the Qafzeh deposits to an earlier part of the late Pleistocene, probably more than 90,000 years ago. These dates have been questioned on unspecified technical grounds, and it has also been argued that they create explanatory problems by separating the morphologically similar Qafzeh and Skhul samples by some 50,000 years, thus implying a long-term coexistence of early modern humans and Neanderthals in the area. Here we report the first radiometric dating analysis for Skhul, using ESR on bovine teeth from the hominid burial levels. Early uptake and linear uptake ages average 81 +/- 15 and 101 +/- 12 kyr respectively. These analyses suggest that the Skhul and Qafzeh samples are of a similar age and therefore it is possible that the presence of early modern humans in the area was episodic, rather than long-term during the early late Pleistocene.     

关于绍兴印山大墓墓主问题的探讨--兼说绍兴306号墓的国属问题

绍兴印山大墓出土遗物的年代约在春秋晚期至战国前期之间.在目前已知的同时代的南方墓葬中,印山大墓的体量最大,气势最为雄伟,结构最为奇特与复杂.结合越国历史,它绝对不可能是春秋时期的允常之墓,而只能是战国时期某位越王之墓,具体王名尚难确定.若参考诸位越王的传世铜器情况,以者旨于赐之墓的可能性较大.绍兴306号墓形制与印山大墓迥异,应该是徐墓,不是越墓.     

Palaeontology: early Neolithic tradition of dentistry

Prehistoric evidence for the drilling of human teeth in vivo has so far been limited to isolated cases from less than six millennia ago. Here we describe eleven drilled molar crowns from nine adults discovered in a Neolithic graveyard in Pakistan that dates from 7,500-9,000 years ago. These findings provide evidence for a long tradition of a type of proto-dentistry in an early farming culture.     

Woody cover and hominin environments in the past 6 million years

The role of African savannahs in the evolution of early hominins has been debated for nearly a century. Resolution of this issue has been hindered by difficulty in quantifying the fraction of woody cover in the fossil record. Here we show that the fraction of woody cover in tropical ecosystems can be quantified using stable carbon isotopes in soils. Furthermore, we use fossil soils from hominin sites in the Awash and Omo-Turkana basins in eastern Africa to reconstruct the fraction of woody cover since the Late Miocene epoch (about 7 million years ago). (13)C/(12)C ratio data from 1,300 palaeosols at or adjacent to hominin sites dating to at least 6 million years ago show that woody cover was predominantly less than ～40% at most sites. These data point to the prevalence of open environments at the majority of hominin fossil sites in eastern Africa over the past 6 million years.     

南海夏季风建立日期的预报研究

利用1958-2001年ECMWF和1948-2006年NCEP的全球再分析气象资料,研究南海夏季风爆发迟早与前期气象要素场之间的关系。结果表明,南海夏季风建立日期与当年2月份全球风场(u、v、ω分量)、位势高度场、气温场等气象要素场之间都存在显著相关区。把各要素场中的显著高相关区视为影响季风建立日期的关键区,并定义关键区内的要素平均值为建立日期的预报因子,从中选取10个与建立日期关系最为紧密的预报因子建立预报方程,对季风建立日期进行预测。分析发现,有10个预报因子与季风建立日期有密切联系,对季风爆发迟早有一定的指示能力和预测作用。最后,经过SAS系统的分析和试验选择最好的回归预测方案,利用10个预测因子建立南海夏季风建立日期回归预报方程(简称回归预报方程)。对回归预测方程进行回报实验发现,拟合得到的南海夏季风建立日期与许多学者确定的建立日期之间的相关系数都达到95%以上的置信度,拟合误差基本控制在2候以内,有一定的预报能力。可以说,该方法是作为预报南海夏季风爆发迟早的一种新的尝试。     

Thermoluminescence dating of the late Neanderthal remains from Saint-Césaire

Anatomically modern humans have long been thought to have been responsible for the Aurignacian and Chatelperronian industries of the early Upper Palaeolithic of Western Europe, whereas the Middle Palaeolithic Mousterian industry has been attributed to Neanderthals. The presence of both Middle and Upper Palaeolithic strata at Saint-Césaire in France offers an excellent opportunity for studying the cultural transition between the two. Saint-Césaire is the only Chatelperronian site that has yielded really diagnostic hominid fossils, and the discovery there of Neanderthal remains alongside Chatelperronian tools cast doubt on the exclusive association between industries and taxon. We report thermoluminescence dates for 20 burnt flints from the site. Those found near the Neanderthal remains were dated at 36,300 +/- 2,700 years BP (before present), making this specimen the youngest Neanderthal dated so far. This date places the stratum close in age to several French but much younger than some Spanish Aurignacian sites believed to have been occupied by modern humans. The possibility of contact between the West European Neanderthals and the intrusive modern humans who replaced them cannot therefore be excluded.     

Using the fossil record to estimate the age of the last common ancestor of extant primates

Divergence times estimated from molecular data often considerably predate the earliest known fossil representatives of the groups studied. For the order Primates, molecular data calibrated with various external fossil dates uniformly suggest a mid-Cretaceous divergence from other placental mammals, some 90 million years (Myr) ago, whereas the oldest known fossil primates are from the basal Eocene epoch (54-55 Myr ago). The common ancestor of primates should be earlier than the oldest known fossils, but adequate quantification is needed to interpret possible discrepancies between molecular and palaeontological estimates. Here we present a new statistical method, based on an estimate of species preservation derived from a model of the diversification pattern, that suggests a Cretaceous last common ancestor of primates, approximately 81.5 Myr ago, close to the initial divergence time inferred from molecular data. It also suggests that no more than 7% of all primate species that have ever existed are known from fossils. The approach unites all the available palaeontological methods of timing evolutionary events: the fossil record, extant species and clade diversification models.     

Optical dating of the Jingshuiwan Paleolithic site of Three Gorges, China

The Three Gorges region is located in the transi- tional zone between the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, known as an important area for studying human origins and cultural developments in China. In the mid 1990s, a large scale Paleolithic …     

The timing of the last deglaciation in North Atlantic climate records

To determine the mechanisms governing the last deglaciation and the sequence of events that lead to deglaciation, it is important to obtain a temporal framework that applies to both continental and marine climate records. Radiocarbon dating has been widely used to derive calendar dates for marine sediments, but it rests on the assumption that the 'apparent age' of surface water (the age of surface water relative to the atmosphere) has remained constant over time. Here we present new evidence for variation in the apparent age of surface water (or reservoir age) in the North Atlantic ocean north of 40 degrees N over the past 20,000 years. In two cores we found apparent surface-water ages to be larger than those of today by 1,230 +/- 600 and 1,940 +/- 750 years at the end of the Heinrich 1 surge event (15,000 years BP) and by 820 +/- 430 to 1,010 +/- 340 years at the end of the Younger Dryas cold episode. During the warm B?lling-Aller?d period, between these two periods of large reservoir ages, apparent surface-water ages were comparable to present values. Our results allow us to reconcile the chronologies from ice cores and the North Atlantic marine records over the entire deglaciation period. Moreover, the data imply that marine carbon dates from the North Atlantic north of 40 degrees N will need to be corrected for these highly variable effects.     

A eudicot from the Early Cretaceous of China

The current molecular systematics of angiosperms recognizes the basal angiosperms and five major angiosperm lineages: the Chloranthaceae, the magnoliids, the monocots, Ceratophyllum and the eudicots, which consist of the basal eudicots and the core eudicots. The eudicots form the majority of the angiosperms in the world today. The flowering plants are of exceptional evolutionary interest because of their diversity of over 250,000 species and their abundance as the dominant vegetation in most terrestrial ecosystems, but little is known of their very early history. In this report we document an early presence of eudicots during the Early Cretaceous Period. Diagnostic characters of the eudicot fossil Leefructus gen. nov. include simple and deeply trilobate leaves clustered at the nodes in threes or fours, basal palinactinodromous primary venation, pinnate secondary venation, and a long axillary reproductive axis terminating in a flattened receptacle bearing five long, narrow pseudo-syncarpous carpels. These morphological characters suggest that its affinities are with the Ranunculaceae, a basal eudicot family. The fossil co-occurs with Archaefructus sinensis and Hyrcantha decussata whereas Archaefructus liaoningensis comes from more ancient sediments. Multiple radiometric dates of the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation place the bed yielding this fossil at 122.6-125.8 million years old. The earliest fossil records of eudicots are 127 to 125 million years old, on the basis of pollen. Thus, Leefructus gen. nov. suggests that the basal eudicots were already present and diverse by the latest Barremian and earliest Aptian.     

云南松采种期与种子品质关系的研究

本文对1985年12月至1986年3月期间7次在四川省西昌地区所采云南松种子的品质和活力进行了研究。结果表明:2月上旬以后采集的种子比较成熟,出种率和发芽率高,抗逆性强,耐贮性好,活力高;2月上旬至3月上旬为西昌地区云南松种子最适宜的采种期;球果含水量可作为确定采种期的指标之一。在本研究的采种期内,种子中脂肪和可溶性糖含量变化不明显。     

Determination of spatial domains of zygotic gene expression in the Drosophila embryo by the affinity of binding sites for the bicoid morphogen

The maternal gene bicoid is a key component of the system that determines the pattern of the anterior half of Drosophila embryos. The bicoid protein forms a concentration gradient in early embryos, and is known to bind DNA. Specific binding sites are now shown to confer expression in a region of the embryo that depends on their affinity for bicoid protein: sites of high affinity allow expression further down the bicoid protein gradient than sites of low affinity.     

The latest Yanshanian magmatic and metallogenic events in the middle-lower Yangtze River belt: Evidence from the Ningzhen region

The Ningzhen region in Jiangsu Province represents the easternmost magmatic region in the middle-lower Yangtze River belt.The formation of the polymetallic deposits has close genetic relationships with Early Cretaceous intermediate-acid intrusions.In this study,LA-ICP-MS zircon geochronology of two Mesozoic intermediate-acid intrusive rocks(including the Shima porphyritic granodiorite and Gaozi quartz diorite porphyry)in the Ningzhen region were systematically investigated.These new geochronological data demonstrate that the intermediate-acid magmatism in the Ningzhen region dates to approximately between 109 and101 Ma.We present new40Ar-39Ar phlogopite ages for the Cishantou skarn iron deposits that constrain the timing of the mineralisation in the Ningzhen region.The phlogopite in the Cishantou skarn deposits yielded a40Ar-39Ar plateau age of 104±1 Ma.This result coincides with the ages of the Anjishan and Tongshan Cu(Mo)deposits in the Ningzhen region.Our high-precision geochronological data together with recent high-precision geochronological studies(such as zircon LA-ICP-MS U-Pb,zircon SHRIMP U-Pb,molybdenite Re-Os and single-mineral40Ar-39Ar dates)reveal that there were four periods(152-135 Ma,135-127 Ma,127-121 Ma,109-101 Ma)of magmatism and ore formation in the middle-lower Yangtze River metallogenic belt.The Mesozoic intermediate-acid magmatism and mineralisation in the Ningzhen region belong to the latest episode in the middle-lower Yangtze River metallogenic belt.     

Spatiotemporal variability of vegetation phenology with reference to altitude and climate in the subtropical mountain and hill region, China

Understanding the seasonal behaviour of a subtropical forest and its inter-annual variation is crucial to understanding and monitoring its ecosystem function in the context of global warming. Based on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Enhanced Vegetation Index dataset, a wavelet transform method was used to investigate the inter-annual variations of vegetation phenology in a subtropical mountain and hill region in Fujian, China, during 2001-2010. The results show a distinct inter-annual variation of vegetation phenology related to climate variability even if most areas presented non-significant trends. The start dates significantly advanced and end dates delayed in 2003 and 2008, due to anomalously warm conditions. There was generally a gradient of increasing start dates, and earlier end dates of vegetation growing season, due to colder temperatures at higher altitudes. However, the altitudinal phenology relationship also depends on its corresponding rainfall conditions. Earlier start dates were observed at higher altitudes during rainfall deficit years such as 2008, which coincides with relatively abundant rainfall at higher altitudes. This paper reveals that vegetation phenology was coupled with altitudinal gradient, with distinct responses at different combinations of alternate temperature and precipitation conditions variability.     

Palaeolithic paintings. Evolution of prehistoric cave art

Sophisticated examples of European palaeolithic parietal art can be seen in the caves of Altamira, Lascaux and Niaux near the Pyrenees, which date to the Magdalenian period (12,000-17,000 years ago), but paintings of comparable skill and complexity were created much earlier, some possibly more than 30,000 years ago. We have derived new radiocarbon dates for the drawings that decorate the Chauvet cave in Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, Ardèche, France, which confirm that even 30,000 years ago Aurignacian artists, already known as accomplished carvers, could create masterpieces comparable to the best Magdalenian art. Prehistorians, who have traditionally interpreted the evolution of prehistoric art as a steady progression from simple to more complex representations, may have to reconsider existing theories of the origins of art.