Early modern human settlement of Europe north of the Alps occurred 43,500 years ago in a cold steppe-type environment.
The first settlement of Europe by modern humans is thought to have occurred between 50,000 and 40,000 calendar years ago (cal B.P.). In Europe, modern human remains of this time period are scarce and often are not associated with archaeology or originate from old excavations with no contextual infor...
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ftunivcam:oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/246006 2024-02-04T10:00:56+01:00 Early modern human settlement of Europe north of the Alps occurred 43,500 years ago in a cold steppe-type environment. Nigst, Philip R Haesaerts, Paul Damblon, Freddy Frank-Fellner, Christa Mallol, Carolina Viola, Bence Götzinger, Michael Niven, Laura Trnka, Gerhard Hublin, Jean-Jacques 2014-10-07 application/pdf https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/246006 English eng eng Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1412201111 Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/246006 Animals Archaeology Austria Cold Temperature Ecosystem Europe Fossils Geography Hominidae Humans Time Factors Article 2014 ftunivcam 2024-01-11T23:33:27Z The first settlement of Europe by modern humans is thought to have occurred between 50,000 and 40,000 calendar years ago (cal B.P.). In Europe, modern human remains of this time period are scarce and often are not associated with archaeology or originate from old excavations with no contextual information. Hence, the behavior of the first modern humans in Europe is still unknown. Aurignacian assemblages--demonstrably made by modern humans--are commonly used as proxies for the presence of fully behaviorally and anatomically modern humans. The site of Willendorf II (Austria) is well known for its Early Upper Paleolithic horizons, which are among the oldest in Europe. However, their age and attribution to the Aurignacian remain an issue of debate. Here, we show that archaeological horizon 3 (AH 3) consists of faunal remains and Early Aurignacian lithic artifacts. By using stratigraphic, paleoenvironmental, and chronological data, AH 3 is ascribed to the onset of Greenland Interstadial 11, around 43,500 cal B.P., and thus is older than any other Aurignacian assemblage. Furthermore, the AH 3 assemblage overlaps with the latest directly radiocarbon-dated Neanderthal remains, suggesting that Neanderthal and modern human presence overlapped in Europe for some millennia, possibly at rather close geographical range. Most importantly, for the first time to our knowledge, we have a high-resolution environmental context for an Early Aurignacian site in Central Europe, demonstrating an early appearance of behaviorally modern humans in a medium-cold steppe-type environment with some boreal trees along valleys around 43,500 cal B.P. We thank the Leakey Foundation (2006–2012), Max Planck Society (2006–2012), University of Vienna (2006–2011), Hugo Obermaier Society (2006), Federal Office for Scientific Affairs of the State of Belgium (projects Sc-004, Sc-09, MO/36/021), and the Hochschuljubiläumsfonds of the City of Vienna (2007) for funding our research. We further acknowledge the support of the Department of Prehistory ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository Greenland |
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Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository |
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ftunivcam |
language |
English |
topic |
Animals Archaeology Austria Cold Temperature Ecosystem Europe Fossils Geography Hominidae Humans Time Factors |
spellingShingle |
Animals Archaeology Austria Cold Temperature Ecosystem Europe Fossils Geography Hominidae Humans Time Factors Nigst, Philip R Haesaerts, Paul Damblon, Freddy Frank-Fellner, Christa Mallol, Carolina Viola, Bence Götzinger, Michael Niven, Laura Trnka, Gerhard Hublin, Jean-Jacques Early modern human settlement of Europe north of the Alps occurred 43,500 years ago in a cold steppe-type environment. |
topic_facet |
Animals Archaeology Austria Cold Temperature Ecosystem Europe Fossils Geography Hominidae Humans Time Factors |
description |
The first settlement of Europe by modern humans is thought to have occurred between 50,000 and 40,000 calendar years ago (cal B.P.). In Europe, modern human remains of this time period are scarce and often are not associated with archaeology or originate from old excavations with no contextual information. Hence, the behavior of the first modern humans in Europe is still unknown. Aurignacian assemblages--demonstrably made by modern humans--are commonly used as proxies for the presence of fully behaviorally and anatomically modern humans. The site of Willendorf II (Austria) is well known for its Early Upper Paleolithic horizons, which are among the oldest in Europe. However, their age and attribution to the Aurignacian remain an issue of debate. Here, we show that archaeological horizon 3 (AH 3) consists of faunal remains and Early Aurignacian lithic artifacts. By using stratigraphic, paleoenvironmental, and chronological data, AH 3 is ascribed to the onset of Greenland Interstadial 11, around 43,500 cal B.P., and thus is older than any other Aurignacian assemblage. Furthermore, the AH 3 assemblage overlaps with the latest directly radiocarbon-dated Neanderthal remains, suggesting that Neanderthal and modern human presence overlapped in Europe for some millennia, possibly at rather close geographical range. Most importantly, for the first time to our knowledge, we have a high-resolution environmental context for an Early Aurignacian site in Central Europe, demonstrating an early appearance of behaviorally modern humans in a medium-cold steppe-type environment with some boreal trees along valleys around 43,500 cal B.P. We thank the Leakey Foundation (2006–2012), Max Planck Society (2006–2012), University of Vienna (2006–2011), Hugo Obermaier Society (2006), Federal Office for Scientific Affairs of the State of Belgium (projects Sc-004, Sc-09, MO/36/021), and the Hochschuljubiläumsfonds of the City of Vienna (2007) for funding our research. We further acknowledge the support of the Department of Prehistory ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Nigst, Philip R Haesaerts, Paul Damblon, Freddy Frank-Fellner, Christa Mallol, Carolina Viola, Bence Götzinger, Michael Niven, Laura Trnka, Gerhard Hublin, Jean-Jacques |
author_facet |
Nigst, Philip R Haesaerts, Paul Damblon, Freddy Frank-Fellner, Christa Mallol, Carolina Viola, Bence Götzinger, Michael Niven, Laura Trnka, Gerhard Hublin, Jean-Jacques |
author_sort |
Nigst, Philip R |
title |
Early modern human settlement of Europe north of the Alps occurred 43,500 years ago in a cold steppe-type environment. |
title_short |
Early modern human settlement of Europe north of the Alps occurred 43,500 years ago in a cold steppe-type environment. |
title_full |
Early modern human settlement of Europe north of the Alps occurred 43,500 years ago in a cold steppe-type environment. |
title_fullStr |
Early modern human settlement of Europe north of the Alps occurred 43,500 years ago in a cold steppe-type environment. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Early modern human settlement of Europe north of the Alps occurred 43,500 years ago in a cold steppe-type environment. |
title_sort |
early modern human settlement of europe north of the alps occurred 43,500 years ago in a cold steppe-type environment. |
publisher |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/246006 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland |
genre_facet |
Greenland |
op_relation |
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/246006 |
_version_ |
1789966477189709824 |