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Paleoanthropology Our understanding of the origin, distribution, and evolution of early humans and their close relatives has been greatly refined by recent new information. Adding to this trend, Hershkovitz et al. have uncovered evidence of a previously unknown archaic Homo population, the “Nesher Ramla Homo ” (see the Perspective by Mirazon Lahr). The authors present comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analyses of fossilized remains from a site in Israel dated to 140,000 to 120,000 years ago indicating the presence of a previously unrecognized group of hominins representing the last surviving populations of Middle Pleistocene Homo in Europe, southwest Asia, and Africa. In a companion paper, Zaidner et al. present the radiometric ages, stone tool assemblages, faunal assemblages, and other behavioral and environmental data associated with these fossils. This evidence shows that these hominins had fully mastered technology that until only recently was linked to either Homo sapiens or Neanderthals. Nesher Ramla Homo was an efficient hunter of large and small game, used wood for fuel, cooked or roasted meat, and maintained fires. These findings provide archaeological support for cultural interactions between different human lineages during the Middle Paleolithic, suggesting that admixture between Middle Pleistocene Homo and H. sapiens had already occurred by this time. Science , abh3169 and abh3020, this issue p. [1424][1] and p. [1429][2]; see also abj3077, p. [1395][3] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.abh3169 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.abh3020 [3]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.abj3077

Paleoanthropology The Border Cave site in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa has been a rich source of archaeological knowledge about Stone Age humans because of its well-preserved stratigraphic record. Wadley et al. now report the discovery of grass bedding in Border Cave, dated to approximately 200,000 years ago. The bedding, identified with a range of microscopic and spectroscopic techniques, was mingled with layers of ash. It also incorporated debris from lithics, burned bone, and rounded ochre grains, all of which were of clear anthropogenic origin. The authors speculate that the ash may have been deliberately used in bedding to inhibit the movement of ticks and other arthropod irritants. These discoveries extend the record of deliberate construction of plant bedding by at least 100,000 years. Science , this issue p. [863][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.abc7239

Paleoanthropology Fossil hominins from South Africa are enriching the story of early human evolution and dispersal. Herries et al. describe the geological context and dating of the hominin-bearing infilled cave, or palaeocave, at a site called Drimolen in South Africa (see the Perspective by Anton). They focus on the age and context of a recently discovered Homo erectus sensu lato fossil and a Paranthropus robustus fossil, which they dated to ∼2.04 million to 1.95 million years ago. This makes Drimolen one of the best-dated sites in South Africa and establishes these fossils as the oldest definitive specimens of their respective species ever discovered. The age confirms that species of Australopithecus, Paranthropus , and early Homo overlapped in the karst of South Africa ∼2 million years ago. Science , this issue p. [eaaw7293][1]; see also p. [34][2] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aaw7293 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.abb4590

Thirty-nine years ago, a Buddhist monk meditating in a cave on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau found something strange: a human jawbone with giant molars. Now, almost 4 decades later, a groundbreaking new way to identify human fossils based on ancient proteins shows the jaw belonged to a Denisovan, a mysterious extinct cousin of Neanderthals. The jawbone is the first known fossil of a Denisovan outside of Siberia9s Denisova Cave in Russia and gives paleoanthropologists their first real look at the face of this lost member of the human family. Together, the jaw9s anatomy and the new method of analyzing ancient proteins could help researchers learn whether other mysterious fossils in Asia are Denisovans.

In a find that some are calling one of the most spectacular hominin discoveries of the decade, fossil hunters working in northeastern Ethiopia have uncovered a nearly complete, 3.8-million-year-old cranium belonging to the oldest known species of australopiths, Australopithecus anamensis. The ancient hominin, long thought to be the direct precursor to the "Lucy" species, A. afarensis, was previously known mostly from jawbones and teeth. Most researchers tend to think A. anamensis gradually transitioned into and was replaced by A. afarensis. But in a pair of studies describing and interpreting the new skull, paleoanthropologists argue there9s now evidence the two australopith species actually overlapped for about 100,000 years. Other researchers caution that many more fossils will need to be found before they accept that version of hominin history.

Paleoanthropology Recent archaeological research has produced evidence of the earliest human occupation of high-altitude habitats in the Andes and the Tibetan Plateau. Ossendorf et al. now present the oldest evidence of human settlement and adaptation to areas above 4000-meter elevation in Africa (see the Perspective by Aldenderfer). Their excavations at a rock shelter in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia reveal obsidian artifacts and faunal remains, including abundant burnt bones, mostly of giant mole-rats. The findings reveal the environmental conditions and show how Late Pleistocene humans adapted to the harsh environments of these glaciated high-altitude African landscapes. Science , this issue p. [583][1]; see also p. [541][2] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aaw8942 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aay2334

A strange new species may have joined the human family. Fossils found in a cave on Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines, include tiny molars suggesting their owners were small; curved finger and toe bones hint they climbed trees. Homo luzonensis, as the species has been christened, lived some 50,000 to 80,000 years ago, when the world hosted multiple archaic humans, including Neanderthals and Denisovans, and when H. sapiens may have been making its first forays into Southeast Asia. The discovery echoes that of another unusual ancient hominin discovered in the region—the diminutive H. floresiensis, or "hobbit," found on the island of Flores in Indonesia. Paleoanthropologists suspect the islands of Southeast Asia may have been a cradle of diversity for ancient humans, and that H. luzonensis, like H. floresiensis, may have evolved a small body size in isolation on an island.

Anthropology In 1985, the linguist Charles Hockett proposed that the use of teeth and jaws as tools in hunter-gatherer populations makes consonants produced with lower lip and upper teeth (“f” and “v” sounds) hard to produce. He thus conjectured that these sounds were a recent innovation in human language. Blasi et al. combined paleoanthropology, speech sciences, historical linguistics, and methods from evolutionary biology to provide evidence for a Neolithic global change in the sound systems of the world's languages. Spoken languages have thus been shaped by changes in the human bite configuration owing to changes in dietary and behavioral practices since the Neolithic. Science , this issue p. [eaav3218][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aav3218

BACKGROUND The earliest fossils of Homo sapiens are located in Africa and dated to the late Middle Pleistocene. At some point later, modern humans dispersed into Asia and reached the far-away locales of Europe, Australia, and eventually the Americas. Given that Neandertals, Denisovans, mid-Pleistocene Homo , and H. floresiensis were present in Asia before the appearance of modern humans, the timing and nature of the spread of modern humans across Eurasia continue to be subjects of intense debate. For instance, did modern humans replace the indigenous populations when moving into new regions? Alternatively, did population contact and interbreeding occur regularly? In terms of behavior, did technological innovations and symbolism facilitate dispersals of modern humans? For example, it is often assumed that only modern humans were capable of using watercraft and navigating to distant locations such as Australia and the Japanese archipelago—destinations that would not have been visible to the naked eye from the departure points, even during glacial stages when sea levels would have been much lower. Moreover, what role did major climatic fluctuations and environmental events (e.g., the Toba volcanic super-eruption) play in the dispersal of modern humans across Asia? Did extirpations of groups occur regularly, and did extinctions of populations take place? Questions such as these are paramount in understanding hominin evolution and Late Pleistocene Asian paleoanthropology. ADVANCES An increasing number of multidisciplinary field and laboratory projects focused on archaeological sites and fossil localities from different areas of Asia are producing important findings, allowing researchers to address key evolutionary questions that have long perplexed the field. For instance, technological advances have increased our ability to successfully collect ancient DNA from hominin fossils, providing proof that interbreeding occurred on a somewhat regular basis. New finds of H. sapiens fossils, with increasingly secure dating associations, are emerging in different areas of Asia, some seemingly from the first half of the Late Pleistocene. Cultural variability discerned from archaeological studies indicates that modern human behaviors did not simply spread across Asia in a time-transgressive pattern. This regional variation, which is particularly distinct in Southeast Asia, could be related at least in part to environmental and ecological variation (e.g., Palearctic versus Oriental biogeographic zones). OUTLOOK Recent findings from archaeology, hominin paleontology, geochronology, and genetics indicate that the strict “out of Africa” model, which posits that there was only a single dispersal into Eurasia at ~60,000 years ago, is in need of revision. In particular, a multiple-dispersal model, perhaps beginning at the advent of the Late Pleistocene, needs to be examined more closely. An increasingly robust record from Late Pleistocene Asian paleoanthropology is helping to build and establish new views about the origin and dispersal of modern humans.

Paleoanthropology The Olorgesailie basin in the southern Kenya rift valley contains sediments dating back to 1.2 million years ago, preserving a long archaeological record of human activity and environmental conditions. Three papers present the oldest East African evidence of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) and elucidate the system of technology and behavior associated with the origin of Homo sapiens . Potts et al. present evidence for the demise of Acheulean technology that preceded the MSA and describe variations in late Acheulean hominin behavior that anticipate MSA characteristics. The transition to the MSA was accompanied by turnover of large mammals and large-scale landscape change. Brooks et al. establish that ∼320,000 to 305,000 years ago, the populations in eastern Africa underwent a technological shift upon procurement of distantly sourced obsidian for toolmaking, indicating the early development of social exchange. Deino et al. provide the chronological underpinning for these discoveries. Science , this issue p. [86][1], p. [90][2], p. [95][3] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aao2200 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aao2646 [3]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aao2216

War and Peace? Modern behavior, including the development of advanced tools, musical instruments, and art, seems to have arisen in humans in stages. The earliest hints are seen in Africa about 70 to 90,000 years ago, but later in Europe about 45,000 years ago. An ongoing discussion centers on the origins and significance of human prosociality. During early human development, could the benefits of altruistic behavior have outweighed its costs (see the Perspective by Mace )? Bowles (p. 1293 ) constructed a model of conflict between groups of humans and extracted estimates of the critical parameters from archaeological and ethnographic data sets. Provocatively, it appears that warfare might have enhanced the emergence and persistence of altruistic behavior. Powell et al. (p. 1298 ) present a population model that shows that the development of modern behaviors may rely on the attainment of critical population densities and migratory patterns required for stable cultural transmission. The model is consistent with genetic inferences of population dynamics in Africa and Europe and suggests that these cultural changes may not solely reflect increased cognitive evolution.

Human bipedalism is commonly thought to have evolved from a quadrupedal terrestrial precursor, yet some recent paleontological evidence suggests that adaptations for bipedalism arose in an arboreal context. However, the adaptive benefit of arboreal bipedalism has been unknown. Here we show that it allows the most arboreal great ape, the orangutan, to access supports too flexible to be negotiated otherwise. Orangutans react to branch flexibility like humans running on springy tracks, by increasing knee and hip extension, whereas all other primatesdothe reverse. Human bipedalism is thus less an innovation than an exploitation of a locomotor behavior retained from the common great ape ancestor.

A detailed study of the cranium of Homo floresiensis, published online this week by Science (www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1109727), reveals that the 18,000-year-old hominid apparently managed to pack a number of features of more advanced brains into its very small skull.

The recent discovery of Denisovans ( 1 , 2 ) and genetic evidence of their hybridization with modern human populations now found in Island Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Pacific ( 3 ) are intriguing and unexpected. The reference specimen for the Denisovan genome ( 4 ), a distal phalanx from a young girl, was recovered from the geographically distant Denisova Cave in the Russian Altai mountains. Three Denisovan mitochondrial genomes have been generated from material in the cave, dated by poorly associated fauna ( 5 ) at more than 50,000 years old. The diversity of these genomes indicates that the Denisovan population had a larger long-term average size than that of the Neandertals ( 6 , 7 ), suggesting that the Denisovans were formerly widespread across mainland East Asia. However, interbreeding with modern humans only appears to have occurred in remote Island Southeast Asia, requiring marine crossings and raising questions about the distribution and fossil record of Denisovans in Island Southeast Asia.

Paleoanthropology The extinction of Neandertals in Europe is commonly thought to have been the result of competition with modern humans. Gilpin et al. test this possibility mathematically, with a model that explores the interaction between the level of cultural development and population size. The model confirms that differences in cultural level can lead to competitive exclusion of a larger population by a smaller one. An advantage in learning ability, for example, would ensure that modern humans replaced Neandertals, even though the initial discrepancy in population size was large. Although the reality of the Neandertal demise is likely to have been more complex (for example, there may have been cultural exchange between Neandertals and modern humans as well as competition), these models affirm the likelihood that cultural sophistication held sway. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 10.1073/pnas.1524861113 (2016).

Paleoanthropology It has been suggested that Neandertals, as well as modern humans, may have painted caves. Hoffmann et al. used uranium-thorium dating of carbonate crusts to show that cave paintings from three different sites in Spain must be older than 64,000 years. These paintings are the oldest dated cave paintings in the world. Importantly, they predate the arrival of modern humans in Europe by at least 20,000 years, which suggests that they must be of Neandertal origin. The cave art comprises mainly red and black paintings and includes representations of various animals, linear signs, geometric shapes, hand stencils, and handprints. Thus, Neandertals possessed a much richer symbolic behavior than previously assumed. Science , this issue p. [912][1] [1]: /lookup/volpage/359/912?iss=6378

Paleoanthropology Recent paleoanthropological studies have suggested that modern humans migrated from Africa as early as the beginning of the Late Pleistocene, 120,000 years ago. Hershkovitz et al. now suggest that early modern humans were already present outside of Africa more than 55,000 years earlier (see the Perspective by Stringer and Galway-Witham). During excavations of sediments at Mount Carmel, Israel, they found a fossil of a mouth part, a left hemimaxilla, with almost complete dentition. The sediments contain a series of well-defined hearths and a rich stone-based industry, as well as abundant animal remains. Analysis of the human remains, and dating of the site and the fossil itself, indicate a likely age of at least 177,000 years for the fossil—making it the oldest member of the Homo sapiens clade found outside Africa. Science , this issue p. [456][1]; see also p. [389][2] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aap8369 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aas8954

Paleoanthropology In recent years, there has been increasing focus on the paleoanthropology of Asia, particularly the migration patterns of early modern humans as they spread out of Africa. Bae et al. review the current state of the Late Pleistocene Asian human evolutionary record from archaeology

Paleoanthropology The ontogeny of different parts of the Neandertal skeleton has been derived from isolated bones and fragments. Rosas et al. present a more complete skeleton of a Neandertal child, aged 7 to 8 years, from a 49,000-year-old site in northern Spain. The skeleton preserves dental, cranial, and postcranial material, allowing the assessment of dental and skeletal maturation with age. Most of the elements indicate an overall growth rate similar to that of modern human children. The main difference between Neandertals and modern humans is in the vertebral column. Also, several features indicate ongoing brain growth. The pattern of vertebral maturation and extended brain growth might reflect the broad Neandertal body form and physiology, rather than a fundamental difference in the overall pace of growth in Neandertals. Science , this issue p. [1282][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aan6463

This week, Science publishes five papers by Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand and his colleagues, featuring details and analysis of the 2-million-year-old remains of Australopithecus sediba (see pp. 1370 and 1402). Berger hopes the fossils will confirm his controversial views about the role of southern Africa in hominin evolution and the place of Au. sediba as a link to our own genus, Homo. But he will have to work hard to convince the field that his team9s interpretations are correct. His career has been dogged by controversy, and some of his peers find Berger, whose background includes a stint in TV news, heavy on style and light on substance. They say he has made exaggerated claims and serious errors. Yet even critics acknowledge that Berger9s strength is his passion for paleoanthropology.

TUGEN HILLS AND NAIROBI, KENYA-- A bitter dispute has erupted over rights to hunt for fossils in the Tugen Hills, an area that has yielded some dramatic finds in recent years. Turf battles among paleoanthropologists are nothing new, but the fight over the Tugen Hills seems to run deeper than most other disputes, and it has implications for the way paleontology will be managed and conducted in a country that holds vital importance for the field. Some view the battle as a power struggle between a new museum system and the National Museums of Kenya, which is the official repository for fossils unearthed in the country.

At the recent American Association of Physical Anthropology meetings, a researcher described the foot bones of an 18,000-year-old Indonesian skeleton known as the "hobbit." The tiny hominin would not have walked like we do, he said, and may offer "a window into a primitive bipedal foot."

Paleoanthropology![Figure][1] Weapon-inflicted damage on a bone from a frozen mammoth carcass PHOTO: ALEKSEI TIKHONOV Paleolithic records of humans in the Eurasian Arctic (above 66°N) are scarce, stretching back to 30,000 to 35,000 years ago at most. Pitulko et al. have found evidence of

Most researchers agree that the earliest Americans came over from Asia via the Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska, beginning at least 15,000 years ago. But many have long puzzled over findings that some of the earliest known skeletons—with long skulls and prominent foreheads—do not resemble today9s Native Americans, who tend to have rounder skulls and flatter faces. Some have even suggested that at least two migrations into the Americas were involved, one earlier and one later. But the discovery of a nearly 13,000-year-old teenage girl in an underwater cave in Mexico9s Yucatan Peninsula argues against that hypothesis. The girl had the skull features of older skeletons, but the genetic profile of some of today9s Native Americans—suggesting that the anatomical differences were the result of evolutionary changes after the first Americans left Asia, rather than evidence of separate ancestry.

ANTHROPOLOGYAnthropologists have long disagreed over whether Neandertals were basically like us or built differently enough to qualify as a separate species. The noses of these heavyset ice age bipeds hold clues to how they lived and breathed, and thus to the hard-driving Neandertal lifestyle, as a half-dozen presentations at the meetings of the Paleoanthropology Society and the American Association of Physical Anthropology this spring in Columbus, Ohio, showed. But because noses don't fossilize, researchers have to rely on models and extrapolation in using noses to answer the species question.

What would happen if tomorrow, scientists were to rediscover the entire hominid fossil record, without any preconceptions inherited from the last century? According to Ian Tattersall, curator emeritus of anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, the resulting picture of human evolution would differ dramatically from that bequeathed to today's paleontologists by their predecessors. In The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack , he traces the contingencies, false starts, and diversity of opinions that have characterized the intellectual history of paleoanthropology from Darwin to today.

A young man who lived in Romania 37,000 to 42,000 years inherited as much as one-tenth of his DNA from a Neandertal ancestor, according to a new study of ancient DNA. Ever since spelunkers found a robust jawbone in a cave in Romania in 2002, some paleoanthropologists have thought that its huge wisdom teeth and other features resembled those of Neandertals even though the fossil was a modern human. Now, by sequencing informative parts of the Romanian man9s genome, an international team of researchers has found that he had inherited 4.8% to 11.3% of his genome from a Neandertal who lived only 200 years or so previously, according to a talk this month at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. The finding confirms that Neandertals interbred with modern humans more than once, and it is the first evidence that the two types of humans had a liaison in Europe.

Paleoanthropology The fossil record of humans is notoriously patchy and incomplete. Even so, skeletal remains and artifacts unearthed in Africa in recent decades have done much to illuminate human evolution. But what is the origin of the genus Homo ? Villmoare et al. found a fossil mandible and

Paleoanthropologists announced a modern feature in a rare, 1.4-million-year-old hand bone from Kenya, filling a 1-million-year gap in the fossil record and showing when key adaptations to toolmaking arose.