Prof Christopher Ramsey

Abstract:

The timing of Neanderthal disappearance and the extent to which they overlapped with the earliest incoming anatomically modern humans (AMHs) in Eurasia are key questions in palaeoanthropology1,2. Determining the spatiotemporal relationship between the two populations is crucial if we are to understand the processes, timing and reasons leading to the disappearance of Neanderthals and the likelihood of cultural and genetic exchange. Serious technical challenges, however, have hindered reliable dating of the period, as the radiocarbon method reaches its limit at ∼50,000 years ago3. Here we apply improved accelerator mass spectrometry 14C techniques to construct robust chronologies from 40 key Mousterian and Neanderthal archaeological sites, ranging from Russia to Spain. Bayesian age modelling was used to generate probability distribution functions to determine the latest appearance date. We show that the Mousterian ended by 41,030–39,260 calibrated years bp (at 95.4% probability) across Europe. We also demonstrate that succeeding ‘transitional’ archaeological industries, one of which has been linked with Neanderthals (Châtelperronian)4, end at a similar time. Our data indicate that the disappearance of Neanderthals occurred at different times in different regions. Comparing the data with results obtained from the earliest dated AMH sites in Europe, associated with the Uluzzian technocomplex5, allows us to quantify the temporal overlap between the two human groups. The results reveal a significant overlap of 2,600–5,400 years (at 95.4% probability). This has important implications for models seeking to explain the cultural, technological and biological elements involved in the replacement of Neanderthals by AMHs. A mosaic of populations in Europe during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition suggests that there was ample time for the transmission of cultural and symbolic behaviours, as well as possible genetic exchanges, between the two groups.

Abstract:

The African origins of Egyptian civilisation lie in an important cultural horizon, the ‘primary pastoral community’, which emerged in both the Egyptian and Sudanese parts of the Nile Valley in the fifth millennium BC. A re-examination of the chronology, assisted by new AMS determinations from Neolithic sites in Middle Egypt, has charted the detailed development of these new kinds of society. The resulting picture challenges recent studies that emphasise climate change and environmental stress as drivers of cultural adaptation in north-east Africa. It also emphasises the crucial role of funerary practices and body decoration.

Abstract:

© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. An open-access database has been set up to support the research project studying the 'Response of Humans to Abrupt Environmental Transitions' (RESET). The main methodology underlying this project was to use tephra layers to tie together and synchronise the chronologies of stratigraphic records at archaeological and environmental sites. The database has information on occurrences, and chemical compositions, of glass shards from tephra and cryptotephra deposits found across Europe. The data includes both information from the RESET project itself and from the published literature. With over 12,000 major element analyses and over 3000 trace element analyses on glass shards, relevant to 80 late Quaternary eruptions, the RESET project has generated an important archive of data. When added to the published information, the database described here has a total of more than 22,000 major element analyses and nearly 4000 trace element analyses on glass from over 240 eruptions.In addition to the database and its associated data, new methods of data analysis for assessing correlations have been developed as part of the project. In particular an approach using multi-dimensional kernel density estimates to evaluate the likelihood of tephra compositions matching is described here and tested on data generated as part of the RESET project.