A focus on the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in the Mediterranean area

Search ScienceDirect Advanced Outline 1. Introduction References Further reading Elsevier Quaternary International Volume 551, 20 June 2020, Pages 1-6 Quaternary International A focus on the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in the Mediterranean area Author links open overlay panelStefanoBenazzi Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Via Degli Ariani, 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz, 604103, Leipzig, Germany Author links open overlay panelSimonaArrighi Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Via Degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Della Terra e Dell'Ambiente, U. R. Preistoria e Antropologia, Università di Siena. Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy Author links open overlay panelFedericaBadino Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Via Degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy C.N.R. - Istituto per La Dinamica Dei Processi Ambientali, Via Mario Bianco 9, 20126, Milano, Italy Author links open overlay panelEugenioBortolini Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Via Degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy Author links open overlay panelCarlaFigus Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Via Degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy Author links open overlay panelFedericoLugli Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Via Degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Giuseppe Campi 103, 41125, Modena, Italy Author links open overlay panelGiuliaMarciani Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Via Degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Della Terra e Dell'Ambiente, U. R. Preistoria e Antropologia, Università di Siena. Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy Author links open overlay panelGregorioOxilia Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Via Degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy Author links open overlay panelMatteoRomandini Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Via Degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Università di Ferrara, Corso Ercole I D'Este 32, 44100, Ferrara, Italy Author links open overlay panelSaraSilvestrini Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Via Degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy Author links open overlay panelPaoloBoscato Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Della Terra e Dell'Ambiente, U. R. Preistoria e Antropologia, Università di Siena, Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy Author links open overlay panelAnnaCipriani Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Giuseppe Campi 103, 41125, Modena, Italy Author links open overlay panelAdrianaMoroni Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Della Terra e Dell'Ambiente, U. R. Preistoria e Antropologia, Università di Siena. Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy Author links open overlay panelFabioNegrino Dipartimento di Antichità, Filosofia e Storia, Università Degli Studi di Genova, Via Balbi 2, 16126, Genova, Italy Author links open overlay panelMarcoPeresani Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Università di Ferrara, Corso Ercole I D'Este 32, 44100, Ferrara, Italy Author links open overlay panelRobertaPini C.N.R. - Istituto per La Dinamica Dei Processi Ambientali, Via Mario Bianco 9, 20126, Milano, Italy Author links open overlay panelCesareRavazzi C.N.R. - Istituto per La Dinamica Dei Processi Ambientali, Via Mario Bianco 9, 20126, Milano, Italy Author links open overlay panelAnnamariaRonchitelli Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Della Terra e Dell'Ambiente, U. R. Preistoria e Antropologia, Università di Siena, Via Laterina 8, 53100, Siena, Italy Author links open overlay panelEnzaSpinapolice Dipartimento di Scienze Dell’Antichità, Università Degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Roma, Italy Available online 30 June 2020. crossmark-logo https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.06.029Get rights and content Previous article in issueNext article in issue 1. Introduction Modern humans (MHs) are the only extant members of the genus Homo (i.e., Homo sapiens). Fossil evidence supports an African origin of H. sapiens sometime between 350,000 and 280,000 years ago (kya) (Hublin et al., 2017; Scerri et al., 2018). Nevertheless, the exact timing and geographic routes of migration out of Africa into Eurasia are still a matter of contention (e.g., Beyin, 2011; Petraglia et al., 2012; Groucutt et al., 2015; López et al., 2015; Langgut et al., 2018; Bons et al., 2019; Mihailović, 2020). Findings from Misliya in Israel document the earliest dispersal of H. sapiens into the Levant through the “Nile corridor” (the so called “Northern route”) by approximately 194–177 kya, during the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 (Hershkovitz et al., 2018), supporting genetic (Posth et al., 2017) and potentially fossil (Harvati et al., 2019) evidence both of which suggest that migration out of Africa probably predates 200 kya. The site of Jebel Faya (United Arab Emirates) suggests that MHs also crossed the Bab al Mandab Straits (from East Africa to Arabia) about 125 kya, through the so called “Southern route” (Armitage et al., 2011). The archaeological sites of Qafzeh and Skhul in Israel confirm that MHs were still present in the Levant at the same time (between 130 and 100 kya; Mercier et al., 1995), and human remains from Fuyan Cave in Daoxian (southern China), dated between 120 and 80 kya, point at an eastward dispersal of these MH groups (Liu et al., 2015). While fossil evidence suggests that MHs have been resilient in southeast Asia until today, as advocated by the 73–63 kya old human teeth from Lida Ajer, Sumatra (Westaway et al., 2017), and by a human cranium and mandible dated 63–46 kya from TamPa Ling, Laos (Demeter et al., 2015), at present there are no MH remains in the rest of Eurasia dating between 90 and 60 kya. The partial skull from Manot Cave in Western Galilee, Israel, attests that after 55 kya (Hershkovitz et al., 2015) MHs colonized Eurasia through a new dispersal either from Africa or from southern Eurasian refugia. A modern human femur from Ust’-Ishim, western Siberia (Fu et al., 2014), was dated ca. 45 kya. Human remains from Uçağizli Cave, Turkey (Güleç et al., 2007) and Ksar Akil, Lebanon (Douka et al., 2013), generally attributed to MHs, date between 45 and 40 kya, and a MH femur from Tianyuan Cave outside Beijing, China, was dated 40 kya (Fu et al., 2013). In Europe, the spread of MHs took place during the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic Transition, when dramatic changes in human behaviour are mirrored by a well documented change in the archaeological record, marked by the appearance of a number of local technocomplexes (e.g., the Châtelperronian in central and southwestern France and northern Spain, the Uluzzian in Italy and Greece, the Neronian in south-eastern France, the Szeletian in Czech Republic and Slovakia, the Bohunician in Central Europe, the Jerzmanivician-Lincombian-Ranisian in the north of Europe) that replaced the pre-existing Mousterian material cultures (Hublin, 2015). Some scholars (e.g., Mellars, 2005) suggested that the appearance of marked expressions of modern human behaviour in Europe fall in the timeframe of the appearance and dispersal of MHs. Modern human behaviour is characterized by the exploitation of a wider range of (marine and terrestrial) faunal and vegetal resources, as well as typical stone tool production, including mechanically delivered projectile technology (Sano et al., 2019), wider catchment basins for lithic raw material procurement, the appearance of cave art, mobile art, and music (all of which are currently not attested, or rarely observed, for Neandertals; Churchill, 2014), as well as a systematic use of ornaments (e.g., shell beads), pigments (such as ochre) and bone tools. The variability of lithic raw material (specifically) and subsistence strategies (in general) may account for different mobility patterns between MHs and Neandertals (Wißing et al., 2019). Nevertheless, other scholars postulate that at least part of such cultural innovations were either independently achieved by Neandertals, and that MHs entered Europe after Neandertals had disappeared (d'Errico et al., 1998; Zilhão, 2007), or were produced by late Neandertals as a result of some level of cultural transmission from MHs to Neandertals (Hublin et al., 2012). Neandertals may indeed be characterized by a more complex sociocultural behaviour than previously believed. For example, recent studies suggest that Neandertals had a more varied diet than previously considered (e.g., Hardy and Moncel, 2011; Fiorenza et al., 2015; Weyrich et al., 2017), including a wide range of plant foods (e.g., Henry et al., 2014; Power et al., 2018) and possibly cooked food (Henry et al., 2011). There is evidence pointing to the use of personal ornaments (e.g., Peresani et al., 2011; Romandini et al., 2014), cave paintings (Hoffmann et al., 2018; but see debate in Slimak et al., 2018; White et al., 2019; Hoffmann et al., 2019), and complex technology (Niekus et al., 2019).