Middle Pleistocene Homo behavior and culture at 140,000 to 120,000 years ago and interactions with Homo sapiens

Yossi Zaidner; Laura Centi; Marion Prévost; Norbert Mercier; Christophe Falguères; Gilles Guérin; Hélène Valladas; Maïlys Richard; Asmodée Galy; Christophe Pécheyran; Olivier Tombret; Edwige Pons-Branchu; Naomi Porat; Ruth Shahack-Gross; David E. Friesem; Reuven Yeshurun; Zohar Turgeman-Yaffe; Amos Frumkin; Gadi Herzlinger; Ravid Ekshtain; Maayan Shemer; Oz Varoner; Rachel Sarig; Hila May; Israel Hershkovitz

doi:10.1126/science.abh3020

Middle Pleistocene Homo behavior and culture at 140,000 to 120,000 years ago and interactions with Homo sapiens

Yossi Zaidner, Laura Centi, Marion Prévost, Norbert Mercier, Christophe Falguères, Gilles Guérin, Hélène Valladas, Maïlys Richard, Asmodée Galy, Christophe Pécheyran, Olivier Tombret, Edwige Pons-Branchu, Naomi Porat, Ruth Shahack-Gross, David E. Friesem, Reuven Yeshurun, Zohar Turgeman-Yaffe, Amos Frumkin, Gadi Herzlinger, Ravid EkshtainMaayan Shemer, Oz Varoner, Rachel Sarig, Hila May, Israel Hershkovitz

Department of Bible Studies, Archeology and the Ancient Near East

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fossils of a Middle Pleistocene (MP) Homo within a well-defined archaeological context at the open-air site of Nesher Ramla, Israel, shed light on MP Homo culture and behavior. Radiometric ages, along with cultural and stratigraphic considerations, suggest that the fossils are 140,000 to 120,000 years old, chronologically overlapping with H. sapiens in western Asia. Lithic analysis reveals that MP Homo mastered stone-tool production technologies, previously known only among H. sapiens and Neanderthals. The Levallois knapping methods they used are indistinguishable from that of concurrent H. sapiens in western Asia. The most parsimonious explanation for such a close similarity is the cultural interactions between these two populations. These findings constitute evidence of contacts and interactions between H. sapiens and MP Homo.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1429-1433
Number of pages	5
Journal	Science
Volume	372
Issue number	6549
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abh3020
State	Published - 25 Jun 2021

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Zaidner, Y., Centi, L., Prévost, M., Mercier, N., Falguères, C., Guérin, G., Valladas, H., Richard, M., Galy, A., Pécheyran, C., Tombret, O., Pons-Branchu, E., Porat, N., Shahack-Gross, R., Friesem, D. E., Yeshurun, R., Turgeman-Yaffe, Z., Frumkin, A., Herzlinger, G., ... Hershkovitz, I. (2021). Middle Pleistocene Homo behavior and culture at 140,000 to 120,000 years ago and interactions with Homo sapiens. Science, 372(6549), 1429-1433. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abh3020

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title = "Middle Pleistocene Homo behavior and culture at 140,000 to 120,000 years ago and interactions with Homo sapiens",

abstract = "Fossils of a Middle Pleistocene (MP) Homo within a well-defined archaeological context at the open-air site of Nesher Ramla, Israel, shed light on MP Homo culture and behavior. Radiometric ages, along with cultural and stratigraphic considerations, suggest that the fossils are 140,000 to 120,000 years old, chronologically overlapping with H. sapiens in western Asia. Lithic analysis reveals that MP Homo mastered stone-tool production technologies, previously known only among H. sapiens and Neanderthals. The Levallois knapping methods they used are indistinguishable from that of concurrent H. sapiens in western Asia. The most parsimonious explanation for such a close similarity is the cultural interactions between these two populations. These findings constitute evidence of contacts and interactions between H. sapiens and MP Homo.",

author = "Yossi Zaidner and Laura Centi and Marion Pr{\'e}vost and Norbert Mercier and Christophe Falgu{\`e}res and Gilles Gu{\'e}rin and H{\'e}l{\`e}ne Valladas and Ma{\"i}lys Richard and Asmod{\'e}e Galy and Christophe P{\'e}cheyran and Olivier Tombret and Edwige Pons-Branchu and Naomi Porat and Ruth Shahack-Gross and Friesem, {David E.} and Reuven Yeshurun and Zohar Turgeman-Yaffe and Amos Frumkin and Gadi Herzlinger and Ravid Ekshtain and Maayan Shemer and Oz Varoner and Rachel Sarig and Hila May and Israel Hershkovitz",

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doi = "10.1126/science.abh3020",

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Zaidner, Y, Centi, L, Prévost, M, Mercier, N, Falguères, C, Guérin, G, Valladas, H, Richard, M, Galy, A, Pécheyran, C, Tombret, O, Pons-Branchu, E, Porat, N, Shahack-Gross, R, Friesem, DE, Yeshurun, R, Turgeman-Yaffe, Z, Frumkin, A, Herzlinger, G, Ekshtain, R, Shemer, M, Varoner, O, Sarig, R, May, H & Hershkovitz, I 2021, 'Middle Pleistocene Homo behavior and culture at 140,000 to 120,000 years ago and interactions with Homo sapiens', Science, vol. 372, no. 6549, pp. 1429-1433. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abh3020

TY - JOUR

T1 - Middle Pleistocene Homo behavior and culture at 140,000 to 120,000 years ago and interactions with Homo sapiens

AU - Zaidner, Yossi

AU - Centi, Laura

AU - Prévost, Marion

AU - Mercier, Norbert

AU - Falguères, Christophe

AU - Guérin, Gilles

AU - Valladas, Hélène

AU - Richard, Maïlys

AU - Galy, Asmodée

AU - Pécheyran, Christophe

AU - Tombret, Olivier

AU - Pons-Branchu, Edwige

AU - Porat, Naomi

AU - Shahack-Gross, Ruth

AU - Friesem, David E.

AU - Yeshurun, Reuven

AU - Turgeman-Yaffe, Zohar

AU - Frumkin, Amos

AU - Herzlinger, Gadi

AU - Ekshtain, Ravid

AU - Shemer, Maayan

AU - Varoner, Oz

AU - Sarig, Rachel

AU - May, Hila

AU - Hershkovitz, Israel

PY - 2021/6/25

Y1 - 2021/6/25

N2 - Fossils of a Middle Pleistocene (MP) Homo within a well-defined archaeological context at the open-air site of Nesher Ramla, Israel, shed light on MP Homo culture and behavior. Radiometric ages, along with cultural and stratigraphic considerations, suggest that the fossils are 140,000 to 120,000 years old, chronologically overlapping with H. sapiens in western Asia. Lithic analysis reveals that MP Homo mastered stone-tool production technologies, previously known only among H. sapiens and Neanderthals. The Levallois knapping methods they used are indistinguishable from that of concurrent H. sapiens in western Asia. The most parsimonious explanation for such a close similarity is the cultural interactions between these two populations. These findings constitute evidence of contacts and interactions between H. sapiens and MP Homo.

AB - Fossils of a Middle Pleistocene (MP) Homo within a well-defined archaeological context at the open-air site of Nesher Ramla, Israel, shed light on MP Homo culture and behavior. Radiometric ages, along with cultural and stratigraphic considerations, suggest that the fossils are 140,000 to 120,000 years old, chronologically overlapping with H. sapiens in western Asia. Lithic analysis reveals that MP Homo mastered stone-tool production technologies, previously known only among H. sapiens and Neanderthals. The Levallois knapping methods they used are indistinguishable from that of concurrent H. sapiens in western Asia. The most parsimonious explanation for such a close similarity is the cultural interactions between these two populations. These findings constitute evidence of contacts and interactions between H. sapiens and MP Homo.

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U2 - 10.1126/science.abh3020

DO - 10.1126/science.abh3020

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85108656603

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 372

SP - 1429

EP - 1433

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6549

ER -

Middle Pleistocene Homo behavior and culture at 140,000 to 120,000 years ago and interactions with Homo sapiens

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