Dwarfism in an adolescent from the Italian late Upper Palaeolithic

There have been numerous reports of pathological conditions in the hominid fossils, but these have only involved trauma or age-related deterioration in the health of otherwise normal individuals. Here we describe a skeleton of a young male from Riparo del Romito in Calabria, dated to the Epi-Gravettian of southern Italy. The preserved skeletal elements show that this individual (Romito 2) had the skull and long-bone morphology consistent with a mesomelic form of dwarfism, most probably the autosomal recessive disorder acromesomelic dysplasia. Generally recognized at birth, persons with acromesomelic dysplasia usually have normal intelligence and are free of serious medical problems. However, growth deficiency is severe (adult height typically is 110-120 cm) and mobility at the elbows is restricted. These physical impairments would have greatly interfered with the individual's participation in subsistence activities and would have been a substantial handicap in a nomadic hunting and gathering group. Thus, besides being the earliest known case of dwarfism in the human record, this skeleton provides evidence of tolerance of, and care for, a severely deformed individual in the Palaeolithic.     

Direct dating of Early Upper Palaeolithic human remains from Mladec

The human fossil assemblage from the Mladec Caves in Moravia (Czech Republic) has been considered to derive from a middle or later phase of the Central European Aurignacian period on the basis of archaeological remains (a few stone artefacts and organic items such as bone points, awls, perforated teeth), despite questions of association between the human fossils and the archaeological materials and concerning the chronological implications of the limited archaeological remains. The morphological variability in the human assemblage, the presence of apparently archaic features in some specimens, and the assumed early date of the remains have made this fossil assemblage pivotal in assessments of modern human emergence within Europe. We present here the first successful direct accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating of five representative human fossils from the site. We selected sample materials from teeth and from one bone for 14C dating. The four tooth samples yielded uncalibrated ages of approximately 31,000 14C years before present, and the bone sample (an ulna) provided an uncertain more-recent age. These data are sufficient to confirm that the Mladec human assemblage is the oldest cranial, dental and postcranial assemblage of early modern humans in Europe and is therefore central to discussions of modern human emergence in the northwestern Old World and the fate of the Neanderthals.     

Use-wear evidence confirms the earliest hafted chipped-stone adzes of Upper Palaeolithic in northern China

Chipped-stone adze-shaped objects (ASOs) were identified from a few Upper Palaeolithic sites in northern China. Its morpho- logical form resembles to ground-stone type-specific adze, but the function of the ASO has never been assessed. The objective of this study is to investigate the use function of this particular tool type recovered from the Hutouliang site in the Nihewan Basin of northern China. In this study, the lithic use-wear analysis is applied to examining microscopically edge-damages and sur- fac...     

Processing of wild cereal grains in the Upper Palaeolithic revealed by starch grain analysis

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and wheat (Triticum monococcum L. and Triticum turgidum L.) were among the principal 'founder crops' of southwest Asian agriculture. Two issues that were central to the cultural transition from foraging to food production are poorly understood. They are the dates at which human groups began to routinely exploit wild varieties of wheat and barley, and when foragers first utilized technologies to pound and grind the hard, fibrous seeds of these and other plants to turn them into easily digestible foodstuffs. Here we report the earliest direct evidence for human processing of grass seeds, including barley and possibly wheat, in the form of starch grains recovered from a ground stone artefact from the Upper Palaeolithic site of Ohalo II in Israel. Associated evidence for an oven-like hearth was also found at this site, suggesting that dough made from grain flour was baked. Our data indicate that routine processing of a selected group of wild cereals, combined with effective methods of cooking ground seeds, were practiced at least 12,000 years before their domestication in southwest Asia.     

A Middle Palaeolithic human hyoid bone

The origin of human language, and in particular the question of whether or not Neanderthal man was capable of language/speech, is of major interest to anthropologists but remains an area of great controversy. Despite palaeoneurological evidence to the contrary, many researchers hold to the view that Neanderthals were incapable of language/speech, basing their arguments largely on studies of laryngeal/basicranial morphology. Studies, however, have been hampered by the absence of unambiguous fossil evidence. We now report the discovery of a well-preserved human hyoid bone from Middle Palaeolithic layers of Kebara Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel, dating from about 60,000 years BP. The bone is almost identical in size and shape to the hyoid of present-day populations, suggesting that there has been little or no change in the visceral skeleton (including the hyoid, middle ear ossicles, and inferentially the larynx) during the past 60,000 years of human evolution. We conclude that the morphological basis for human speech capability appears to have been fully developed during the Middle Palaeolithic.     

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.     

Palaeolithic ivory sculptures from southwestern Germany and the origins of figurative art

Archaeologists have always viewed the origin of figurative art as a crucial threshold in human evolution. Here I report the discovery of three figurines carved from mammoth ivory at Hohle Fels Cave in the Swabian Jura of southwestern Germany, which provides new evidence for the appearance of figurative art more than 30,000 years ago. The finds include the oldest known representation of a bird, a therianthropic sculpture and an animal that most closely resembles a horse. The Aurignacian sculptures of the Swabian Jura belong to one of the oldest traditions of figurative art known worldwide and point to the Upper Danube as an important centre of cultural innovation during the early Upper Palaeolithic period.     

Aurignacian structural features and burials at Cueva Morín (Santander, Spain)

The discovery of what seems to be the foundation of a hut, an alignment of six post holes, and two graves, one of which contains human remains in a remarkable state of preservation, provides important new information about the earliest Aurignacian occupation of northern Spain.     

Use-wear analysis confirms the use of Palaeolithic bone tools by the Lingjing Xuchang early human

During 2007–2008 excavations at the Lingjing site near Xuchang, Henan Province, dated back to around 100–80 ka ago, a large quantity of mammalian fossil remains were recovered along with a remarkable cluster of Early Modern Human (EMH) skull fragments in situ. Observably some of those animal bones were probably modified into tools. A use-wear analysis was carried out to examine the functions of modified bone tools. The results suggest that Lingjing bone tools were used for drilling, penetrating, and scraping animal substances, and that some might have been hafted during the use. This study confirms that early existence of intentionally-modified bone tools at human occupations of the early Late Pleistocene in northern China. This discovery suggests making and use of bone tools were inevitably a part of early human behaviors and cultural development, as such of stone tools.     

Newly discovered Palaeolithic artefacts from loess deposits and their ages in Lantian,central China

Eight new Palaeolithic open-air sites were identified and 770 stone artefacts were collected from 2009 to 2011 in the Lantian area of the Bahe River valley, central China. Because the famous Homo erectus fossils were unearthed at the Gongwangling and Chenjiawo localities, and more than 30 Palaeolithic open-air sites were investigated in the 1960s in this region, the catchment of Bahe River is regarded as one of the most important hominin sites from the late early Pleistocene to the middle Pleistocene. These eight newly discovered open-air sites are located at the second(n = 6), third(n = 1) or higher terraces(n = 1) of the Bahe River. The Diaozhai section on the second terrace was sampled in detail. Two samples were collected for optically stimulated luminescence dating(OSL). The OSL results suggest that a buried lithic artefact layer at the Diaozhai site spans approximately 70–30 ka. The lithic assemblage analysis suggests that the stone artefacts were made of local pebbles/cobbles such as greywacke, quartz, sandstone and igneous rocks. The main percussion techniques that were used were direct hard hammer percussion and bi-polar techniques. The lithic artefacts comprise hammer stones, cores, flakes, retouched tools and flaking debris. Acheulian-type large cutting tools(LCTs) such as hand-axes, picks and cleavers were indentified in the Lantian region as well. This is the first time Acheulian-type LCTs from the late Pleistocene have been identified in this region. This study distinguishes age gaps between Western world and East Asian Acheulian-type tools.     

Uranium series dates from Qesem Cave,Israel, and the end of the Lower Palaeolithic

Israel is part of a geographical 'out of Africa' corridor for human dispersals. An important event in these dispersals was the possible arrival of anatomically modern humans in the Levant during the late Middle Pleistocene. In the Levant the Lower Palaeolithic ends with the Acheulo-Yabrudian complex, characterized by technological developments, including the introduction of technological innovations such as the systematic production of blades and the disappearance of hand-axes. These reflect new human perceptions and capabilities in lithic technology and tool function. Qesem Cave, discovered in 2000, has a rich, well-preserved Acheulo-Yabrudian deposit holding great promise for providing new insights into the period. Here we report the dates of this deposit obtained by uranium isotopic series on associated speleothems and their implications. The results shed light on the temporal range of the Acheulo-Yabrudian and the end of the Lower Palaeolithic, suggesting a long cultural phase between the Lower Palaeolithic Acheulian and the Middle Palaeolithic Mousterian phases, starting before 382 kyr ago and ending at about 200 kyr ago.     

溢洪道上层开挖及支护施工

阐述溢洪道特大洞室上层开挖通过溶洞群地段的超前地质钻探、上下分部短台阶开挖，自钻式锚杆及小导管注浆结合钢格栅、喷锚支护等综合处理措施的施工技术，与各位同行共同探讨。     

上消化道结石的内镜下治疗

目的:探讨上消化道结石内镜下治疗的操作方法与临床效果。方法:对42例上消化道结石采取内镜下介入治疗,将结石用异物钳、圈套器、网篮及胃石切割器反复碎石、取石。结果:42例上消化道结石内镜下一次性碎石成功34例,2次碎石6例,3次碎石1例,总成功率97.62%。并发症2例,占4.76%。结论:上消化道结石的内镜下治疗是一种安全、简便、有效的方法。     

覆盖粗糙集上近似的研究

分析Pawlak粗糙集上下近似具有的性质,结合上下近似的含义和近似精度,讨论覆盖粗糙集上近似的定义方法,提出覆盖粗糙集最小上近似的概念,对其存在性及唯一性进行分析。最后,讨论最小上近似与其他上近似的关系,并对此作了证明。