Messages from the Paleolithic-SECOND DRAFT

Johannnes Meller Blog Sample, 2022

 Abstract— An analysis of the Neanderthal Bruniquel cave is presented with an entirely new proposal of how the animal-human relationship was born. The Venus figurines and the European and Sulawesi cave paintings are briefly analyzed and explained in terms of a simultaneous qualitative change in the brain of some anatomically modern humans. Composite creatures are explained in terms of the new idea and without assuming an initial need of to consume psychoactive plants or mushrooms.

2009

Since its discovery in 2000, the DIK-1-1 partial skeleton ("Selam") has been under careful cleaning, preparation, and investigation, with preliminary results published in 2006. In addition to documenting the anatomy of the earliest and most complete infant skeleton dated to 3.3 Ma, the find enabled us to address several critical questions pertaining to the locomotion, behavior, and ontogeny of Australopithecus afarensis with implications for that of other early hominin species. When discovered, the upper part of the skeleton included the whole skull, scapulae, clavicles, vertebrae, and ribs, which were in a non-anatomical articulation and encased in a very compact sand stone block. Particularly, the occlusal aspect of the deciduous dentition was completely inaccessible, because the maxilla and mandible were in occlusion. Due to this, only parts of the labial and buccal sides of these teeth were examined thus far. Even though CT scan images were used to investigate growth patterns of the unerupted permanent dentition, allowing us to determine the age at death and sex of "Selam," we were not able to capture the occlusal morphology of the milk teeth using this technique. Cleaning and preparation of this extraordinary specimen has continued and we have made remarkable progress, recently including the separation of the very delicate jaws, making it possible to study the occlusal morphology of both upper and lower deciduous dentition for the first time. In this paper I will report on preparation work accomplished since 2006 and discuss the morphology and metrics of the DIK-1-1 milk teeth, comparing them with that of Au. afarensis, Au. africanus, and other available and relevant early hominin dentition.

American Journal of Archaeology, 2002

Periodisations a/'the Palaeolithic, while in fail mere working h\potheses. lend to he taken Ion se/ ion\l\ h\ main researchers. Using various archacolttgical ease studies we show how tlifjerentiiillv phenomena are treated depending upon their position in relation to the 'Art hait-Modern' boundary. The hat k ground to these scientifically unhealthy />;</< lu i's is anahsctl. and it is concluded that the essentialist thinking at the root of this double standard constitutes a major prohlem for a discipline whit h tries to i hart and e\phnn cultural developments in terms <>/ e\olutionar\ trends rather than in l\pological modes.

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2007

Bulletin of the History of Archaeology, 1995

retired from the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley in 1991. At Berkeley, and earlier while at the Un iversity of Chicago, he was responsible for training a number of specialists in human biocnltural evolution, or palaeoanthropology. In fact, Howell is credited with developing the concept of palaeoanthropology (and def ming the term itself); he cerrainly created the framework for this integrated, multidisciplinary approach to human evolution. For his retirement, fo rmer students and colleagues collaborated to produce this volume. Some of the papers were presented at a one day symposium

Reviews in Anthropology, 1999

chapter references and index. $35.00 hardcover. Some years ago when I traveled to Beijing for the first time, and met my colleagues at the Institute for Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, I was puzzled about why their English comprehension was so excellent and yet their pronunciation of certain words so unusual. I later realized it was because when they practiced English, they only spoke to each other.

The transition from the Middle Paleolithic to the Upper Paleolithic is considered one of the major revolutions in the prehistory of humankind. Explanations of the observable archaeological phenomena in Eurasia, or the lack of such evidence in other regions, include biological arguments (the role of Cro-Magnons and the demise of the Neanderthals), as well as cultural-technological, and environmental arguments. The paper discusses issues of terminological ambiguities, chronological and geographical aspects of change, the emergence of what is viewed as the arch-types of modern forager societies, and the hotly debated and loaded issue of modern behavior. Finally, the various causes for the Upper Paleolithic revolution are enumerated, from the biological through the technocultural that relies on the analogy with the Neolithic revolution.