Search

International audience; Red cell blood group systems are crucial for safe transfusion, transplantation, and pregnancy monitoring. In addition, blood groups have long been investigated to decipher the origin of human populations, migration, adaptation, and admixture. However, since the extensive use of DNA polymorphisms in Anthropology, blood groups have been relegated to their primary application, blood transfusion. The finer genomic mapping of some Neanderthal and Denisova individuals about modern humans has provided significant evidence on the evolutionary history of both archaic and modern humans. However, despite their medical and anthropological interest, little is known about blood groups in archaic populations. To better understand the origin, expansion and encounter with Homo sapiens, we reappraised the available high-quality sequences of three Neanderthals (Vindija 33.19, Chagyrskaya 8, Altai Neandertal) and one Denisovan (Denisova 3) for 11 genes of the 7 blood group systems that are routinely screened in transfusion: ABO including H/ Se, Rh (Rhesus), Kell, Duffy, Kidd, MNS, and Diego. We show that Neanderthals and Denisova were polymorphic for ABO and shared blood group alleles recurrent in modern Sub-Saharan populations. Furthermore, we found ABO-related alleles currently preventing viral gut infection and all Neanderthal shared RHD and RHCE alleles nowadays associated with a high risk of hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn. Such a common blood group pattern across time and space is coherent with a Neanderthal population of low genetic diversity exposed to possible pregnancies with complications. Lastly, we connect the Neanderthal RHD allele to two present-day Aboriginal Australians and Papuan, suggesting that a segment of the archaic genome was introgressed in this gene in non-Eurasian populations before their expansion towards Oceania. While contributing to both the origin and late evolutionary history of Neanderthal and Denisova, our results further illustrate that blood group systems remain effective anthropological markers.

International audience

International audience

International audience

International audience

International audience

International audience; Objectives: A decisional tool was developed to select sub-adult age estimation methods referenced in a centralized database. Through a freely accessible webpage interface, this tool allows users to evaluate how much the sampling and statistical protocols of these referenced methods comply with methodological recommendations published for building and applying methods in forensic anthropology.Materials and methods: 261 publications on sub-adult age estimation were collected. Three search parameters describing the anatomical element(s) and the indicators used to obtain age estimates are chosen by the user to filter the database and present the publications that best correspond to the user’s selection. A simple algorithm was created to score age estimation methods according to their relevance and validity. “Relevance” and “Validity” parameters indicate how much a publication complies with user queries and published methodological recommendations, respectively; “Score” is a combination of “Relevance” and “Validity”. The closer these parameters are to 1, the better the method complies with the user’s choice and standardized protocols.Results: The publications resulting from the user’s query appear as search results alphabetically. They are characterized by their “Relevance”, “Validity” and “Score” values and descriptors relating to their methodology, sampling and statistical protocols. The reference of the publications and an URL to access them online are also provided.Conclusions: SAMS is a decisional tool based on a centralized database for selecting, accessing and evaluating sub-adult age estimation methods based on published methodological recommendations. Protocol validity can be easily and fully accessed to provide the necessary information for method evaluation. The database will be gradually updated and implemented as new sub-adult age estimation methods are made available online.

International audience

International audience; The causes of disappearance of the Neanderthals, the only human population living in Europe before the arrival of Homo sapiens, have been debated for decades by the scientific community. Different hypotheses have been advanced to explain this demise, such as cog-nitive, adaptive and cultural inferiority of Neanderthals. Here, we investigate the disappearance of Neanderthals by examining the extent of demographic changes needed over a period of 10,000 years (yrs) to lead to their extinction. In regard to such fossil populations, we inferred demographic parameters from present day and past hunter-gatherer populations , and from bio-anthropological rules. We used demographic modeling and simulations to identify the set of plausible demographic parameters of the Neanderthal population compatible with the observed dynamics, and to explore the circumstances under which they might have led to the disappearance of Neanderthals. A slight (

Applying dry bone osteometrics to virtual bone surfaces obtained via medical imaging raises the question of consistency between the variables. Variables obtained from virtual bone surfaces also need to be sufficiently repeatable and reproducible to be valid for anthropological studies. This is also true for the landmarks defining these variables and for their acquisition. The consistency between variables taken directly from dry bones and from the virtual surfaces of dry bones was tested on 40 clavicles. 30 virtual surfaces of iliae, fifth lumbar vertebrae, and clavicles reconstructed from computed tomography scans of living individuals were used to test the repeatability and reproducibility of 16 landmarks and 19 variables. Statistical tests, graphical and quantitative error evaluations, and intraclass correlation coefficients were applied. The differences between all variables taken on dry and virtual clavicles were less than ±1 mm. Bland–Altman plots showed more than 95% reliability between variables obtained on dry bone and their virtually reconstructed surfaces, confirming their consistency and thus validating their use in osteometric studies independently of the medium of study. Although not all landmarks were repeatable and reproducible, most variables were. To assess intra- or inter-observer errors, graphical representations or coefficients are more precise and accurate than statistical tests. These two evaluation methods should be given priority to test the repeatability and reproducibility of osteometric variables.

Objectives Handedness is an important marker for lateralization of humans in the modern and fossil record. For the most part, Neandertals and their ancestors are strongly right-handed. We describe a single tooth from a Neandertal level at Vergisson 4 (Vg 4-83). This left upper central incisor shows all the features typical of Neandertal incisors. It also exhibits a predominance of left-handed striations. Methods Striations on the incisor's labial surface were mapped at 20x magnification using Photoshop. Angulations of the striations were determined from their deviation from the maximum mesio-distal line and were analyzed using NIH's freeware, Image J. Results Of the 60 labial surface striations, Vg 4-83 shows a strong predominance of left-handed striations (46; 76.7%), which are statistically significantly different (p

The dispersal of Homo erectus out of Africa at some 1.9 million years ago is one of the most important, crucial, and yet controversial events in human evolution. Current opinions about this episode expose the contrast between those who see H. erectus as a highly social, cooperative species seeking out new ecological opportunities to exploit, and those preferring a passive, climate driven explanation for such an event. By using geostatistics techniques and probabilistic models, we characterised the ecological context of H. erectus dispersal, from its East African origin to the colonization of Eurasia, taking into account both the presence of other large mammals and the physical characteristics of the landscape as potential factors. Our model indicated that H. erectus followed almost passively the large herbivore fauna during its dispersal. In Africa, the dispersal was statistically associated with the presence of large freshwater bodies (Rift Valley Lakes). In Eurasia, the presence of H. erectus was associated with the occurrence of geological outcrops likely yielding unconsolidated flint. During the early phase of dispersal, our model indicated that H. erectus actively avoided areas densely populated by large carnivores. This pattern weakened as H. erectus dispersed over Europe, possibly because of the decreasing presence of carnivores there plus the later acquisition of Acheulean technology. During this later phase, H. erectus was associated with limestone and shaley marl, and seems to have been selecting for high-elevation sites. While our results do not directly contradict the idea that H. erectus may have been an active hunter, they clearly point to the fact that predator avoidance may have conditioned its long-distance diffusion as it moved outside Africa. The modelled dispersal route suggests that H. erectus remained preferentially associated with low/middle latitude (i.e., comparatively warm) sites throughout its colonization history. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd.

National audience

The diversity of approaches and the high number of publications on sub-adult age estimation is a testament to the relevance of this particular area of forensic anthropological research. However, a downside of this diversity is the many methodological, sampling and statistical discrepancies between publications, which can lead to difficulties in method definition, application and comparison. Several authors have published recommendations highlighting standardized methodological parameters that should be respected and clearly appear in the original publications for anthropological methods to be valid. This study aims to objectively evaluate a corpus of 269 publications on dental and skeletal postnatal sub-adult age estimation using these recommendations translated into descriptors. These descriptors cover five sampling and five statistical parameters that can be considered valid or invalid according to published methodological recommendations. Parameter and descriptor distributions are shown in frequency tables and graphs, illustrating the general invalidity of the sampling and/or statistical protocols. Provided our corpus of methods is an accurate representation of available publications, the extrapolation of these results leads to conclude that most sub-adult age estimates are at worst invalid, at best questionable, and almost certainly method-dependent. In view of this study, rigorous and standardized sampling and statistical approaches should be preferred when applying and building sub-adult age estimation methods.

Subadult age estimation should rely on sampling and statistical protocols capturing development variability for more accurate age estimates. In this perspective, measurements were taken on the fifth lumbar vertebrae and/or clavicles of 534 French males and females aged 0-19 years and the ilia of 244 males and females aged 0-12 years. These variables were fitted in nonparametric multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) models with 95% prediction intervals (PIs) of age. The models were tested on two independent samples from Marseille and the Luis Lopes reference collection from Lisbon. Models using ilium width and module, maximum clavicle length, and lateral vertebral body heights were more than 92% accurate. Precision was lower for postpubertal individuals. Integrating punctual nonlinearities of the relationship between age and the variables and dynamic prediction intervals incorporated the normal increase in interindividual growth variability (heteroscedasticity of variance) with age for more biologically accurate predictions.

The funerary practices of the Taforalt population (Morocco, about 15-12500 Cal BP), already investigated by the authors in previous studies, were reconstructed through anthropological analyses of human remains (excavated by J. Roche in the 1950s) and examination of the available field documentation. The results indicated that the burial area included primary and secondary depositions, sometimes within the same grave, of approximately 40 adolescents and adults, as well as several children. There is evidence of treatment of the cadavers (disarticulation and defleshing) and manipulation of dry bones. The funerary practices at Taforalt involved a sequence of actions revealing a ritual character. These reflect the tripartite structure of Van Gennep's rites of passage, implying that death was conceived as a passage into another social dimension.The aim of this study is to analyse thepost morteminterventions on these human remains (corpses and bones) and to offer interpretative hypotheses as to their possible meaning, drawing on the findings of ethnographic research. We suggest that the collective dimension of the group was valued more highly than the members of the group as individuals, and that dry bones were imbued with symbolic meaning. We also suggest that the cultural and social management (through rites) of natural events (death), associated with a strengthening of the bonds with earth (inhumation) and territory (cemetery), may be interpreted as heralding the emergence of a Neolithic pattern of thought.

International audience; Le site de Vergisson I’ est un abri effondré (post-Würm) et constitue une autre entrée de la grotte fouillée au XIXème siècle, Vergisson I. Il forme avec quatre autres localités (Vergisson II, III, IV et V) un ensemble de cinq cavités creusées dans la Roche de Vergisson, roche sœur de la Roche de Solutré (Bourgogne, France), située à moins de deux kilomètres. Le site fut fouillé de 1965 à 1972 par Marcel Jeannet. Une industrie lithique moustérienne associée à une faune abondante fut mise au jour. Nous présentons les premiers résultats archéozoologiques et taphonomiques de cet assemblage faunique permettant la reconstruction de son histoire afin d’appréhender les occupations humaines et carnivores ainsi que leur comportement alimentaire.Le Renne domine nettement l’assemblage, suivi par le Cheval et les Bovinés. Les carnivores sont aussi représentés avec l’Hyène, le Loup et l’Ours. Sur le plan des représentations squelettiques, on retrouve essentiellement les os ou les parties des os les plus résistants : des os courts (phalanges, carpes et tarses), des dents isolées et les épiphyses des os longs. Les diaphyses sont très fragmentées, réduites à de petites esquilles osseuses.

International audience; The opening of the Deux-Ouvertures cave is on the left bank of the Ardèche River, just before the canyon exit on the land of the village of Saint-Martin d’Ardèche in the Southwest of France. Although it has been known since 1896, the deep part of one of the galleries was not discovered until 1985. The surface of this gallery was covered by animal bones, 90% of which belonged to Ursus spelaeus. In 2007, two osseous human fragments were discovered: the distal part of an adult humerus and the diaphysis of a radius belonging to a young individual. These two specimens are the topic of the present paper. Although the date of the humerus (34,440–33,730 cal BP) corresponds to the period when bears frequented the caves, the dates of the diaphysis of the radius (4410–4570 cal BP), found at the heart of the “decorated Paleolithic sector”, lead us to assume that it was transported there, perhaps deliberately. The study of the two human bones originating in the Deux-Ouvertures cave illustrates that the diaphysis of the radius, belonging to a young individual of the Neolithic period, does not exhibit any differences in comparison to modern radii. By contrast, the distal part of the adult humerus, although it is incomplete and altered, is the first example that has been dated in the Ardèche of adult human remains associated with a decorated Paleolithic cave. This specimen, aside perhaps from the width of its median column, is rather slender and does not present any significant difference in relation to other upper Paleolithic humeri.; La grotte des Deux-Ouvertures s’ouvre en rive gauche peu avant la sortie des gorges de l’Ardèche, sur le territoire de la commune de Saint-Martin-d’Ardèche. Bien que connue depuis 1896, ce n’est qu’en 1985 qu’était découverte la partie profonde du réseau : une galerie qui présentait des ossements éparpillés sur le sol, dont plus de 90 % appartiennent à Ursus spelaeus. En 2007, deux fragments osseux humains – une partie distale d’un humérus adulte et une diaphyse de radius appartenant à un jeune sujet – ont été également mis au jour. Ils font l’objet de cet article. La datation de l’humérus (34 440–33 730 cal BP) s’inscrit au sein de la phase de fréquentation par les ours des cavernes, alors que la datation de la diaphyse du radius (4410–4570 cal BP) en plein cœur du « secteur orné paléolithique » laisse supposer qu’il a été déposé, peut-être, de façon délibérée. L’étude des deux os humains provenant de la grotte des Deux-Ouvertures montre que la diaphyse radiale, appartenant à un sujet jeune, d’âge Néolithique, ne présente pas de différence en regard de radius modernes. En revanche, la partie distale de l’humérus d’un sujet adulte, bien qu’incomplète et altérée, est le premier reste humain d’adulte, associé à une grotte ornée paléolithique en Ardèche, à avoir été daté. Ce dernier, exception faite peut-être pour la largeur du pilier médian, est plutôt gracile et ne présente pas de différence significative avec les autres restes du Paléolithique supérieur.

International audience

Juvenile age estimation methods used in forensic anthropology generally lack methodological consistency and/or statistical validity. Considering this, a standard approach using nonparametric Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) models were tested to predict age from iliac biometric variables of male and female juveniles from Marseilles, France, aged 0-12 years. Models using unidimensional (length and width) and bidimensional iliac data (module and surface) were constructed on a training sample of 176 individuals and validated on an independent test sample of 68 individuals. Results show that MARS prediction models using iliac width, module and area give overall better and statistically valid age estimates. These models integrate punctual nonlinearities of the relationship between age and osteometric variables. By constructing valid prediction intervals whose size increases with age, MARS models take into account the normal increase of individual variability. MARS models can qualify as a practical and standardized approach for juvenile age estimation.

This paper deals with two teeth (an upper right M1 and an upper right dM2) from the Epigravettian found in the site of Paglicci (Southern Italy) showing interproximal grooves that are situated below the crown, on the root walls just apical to the cementum–enamel junction. These grooves have been examined on a digital microscope which displays 3D images of the analysed surfaces. The images obtained made it possible to interpret these interproximal grooves as tooth picking activities that can be interpreted as an attempt to alleviate sore gums. The comparison with experimental images from available literature made it possible to form hypotheses concerning the nature of the probes that might have been used by the humans. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Iberomaurusian necropolis of Taforalt (Morocco) was excavated by Jean Roche in the 1950s and contains 28 multiple graves. The presence of particular sepulchral structures, mouflon horns and the use of ochre testify to complex funerary practices. Given the absence of detailed excavation records, the mortuary behavior was investigated in previous works analyzing the human skeletal collection (the contents of each grave reconstructed through the ID number on bones; the distribution of intentionally modified specimens: ochre-dyeing, cut marks). The results suggested that the burial area included primary and secondary depositions of about 40 adolescents and adults. Treatment of the cadaver and manipulation of dry bones were attested, and intentional violence and cannibalism could be hypothesized. Recently, Jean Roche kindly made available some unpublished field photographs and plots regarding the 1950s excavations of the necropolis. In this work we analyze these ‘new’ documents in order to test the validity of the hypotheses previously advanced, especially regarding the presence of contextual primary and secondary depositions, the division of the bones of the same individual in different graves, each containing the bones of several persons, and the deliberate intervention in previous burial sites. We also describe some additional aspects of the funerary customs of the Taforalt population (e.g. bovid horns and stones associated to the graves). This study supports our previous conclusions and reveals a complex of funerary rituals with the structure of the rites of passage, which probably reflect specific conceptions of life and death, enabling the establishment of group identity. These rituals had probably evolved during the time period in which the necropolis was used.