John Hawks - Who were the ancestors of the Neanderthals? Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | John Hawks - Who were the ancestors of the Neanderthals?Part of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.The last 10 years have transformed the evidence concerning the early origins and evolution of Neanderthal populations. Genetic comparisons of Neanderthal and Denisovan ancient DNA suggest that the common ancestor of these populations separated from African ancestors of modern humans prior to 600,000 years ago, followed by a rapid differentiation in Eurasia. Later, additional episodes of gene flow brought genes into Neanderthal populations, including the mtDNA clade carried by all later Neanderthals. Yet, a number of western Eurasian fossil samples from the time between 600,000 and 100,000 years ago are difficult to accommodate within the category of “Neanderthals”, including European (e.g., Mala Balanica, Vértesszöllös, Bilzingleben, Ceprano) and Levantine (e.g., Qesem, Zuttiyeh) remains. In the pre-genomic framework, such samples would often have been described as generalized possible ancestors of Neanderthals, but it now appears that they may represent diverse populations that stem from deeper ancestors shared with Neanderthals and modern humans. Who were these deep ancestors of Neanderthals? This presentation weighs the known possibilities, including Homo antecessor, archaic African populations, a strict Homo heidelbergensis based upon the Mauer mandible, and Homo erectus. © Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
ROCK EXPLORERS - Crag Martins at the Gorhams Cave Complex, Gibraltar 2018 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2021-08-19 | © GBC TV (Gibraltar), 2018.A collaborative study on wintering Crag Martins between the Gibraltar National Museum, the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens and the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society.
Stewart Finlayson – Did Neanderthals live in colder climates than Modern Humans within Eurasia? Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Stewart Finlayson - Did Neanderthals live in colder climates than Modern Humans within Eurasia?Part of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.The degree to which Neanderthals were adapted to the cold conditions of Late Pleistocene Eurasia has been discussed for over three decades. The view that they were hyper-Arctic in their adaptation to cold has been challenged although others remain of the opinion that this was indeed the case. In this presentation I put forward new evidence on this subject, using birds as indicators of climatic conditions. There are many sites across Eurasia that were occupied by Neanderthals and/or Modern Humans and have a good sub-fossil record of associated bird species. This record provides an important, unique and hitherto untested source of information of the climatic conditions experienced by Neanderthals and Modern Humans. The results which will be presented provide conclusive evidence that will establish the climates of the occupation sites of Neanderthals and Modern Humans in Late Pleistocene Eurasia and will answer the question: did Neanderthals live in colder climates than Modern Humans within Eurasia? © Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Erella Hovers - Continuity and change in research about the Neanderthals in the Levant Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Erella Hovers - Continuity and change in research about the Neanderthals in the LevantPart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.Research on the Neanderthals over the last two decades has effectively put to rest the view that members of this group were inferior to contemporaneous modern humans in any aspect of their existence. For historical reasons, this change was more dramatic for researchers working in Europe than for those working in the Levant, where Neanderthals were long believed to have reached the southern boundary of their distribution. In this paper I review behavioral aspects of Neanderthals in the Levant, such as hunting strategies, territorial behavior and social ecology, as they have emerged through a rich research record. I rely on the records of two late Levantine Middle Paleolithic sites – Amud Cave and the open-air site of ‘Ein Qashish – to illustrate some of the emerging views of the behavior of the Levantine Neanderthals. This review also highlights some more general questions and ideas about the dynamics of hominin social and demographic meta-populations and how they can be addressed in the archaeological record.© Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Alex Menez - Almost Homo calpicus: an updated historiography of the Gibraltar Skull Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Alex Menez - Almost Homo calpicus: an updated historiography of the Gibraltar SkullPart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.The Gibraltar Skull, also known as the Forbes’ Quarry skull or Gibraltar 1, is Gibraltar’s most celebrated fossil. It was presented to the Gibraltar Scientific Society (at the time known as the Museum Society) in 1848 by its twenty-three-year-old Secretary Lieutenant Edmund Réné Flint. Almost nothing is known about its discovery. This is in sharp contrast to the discovery of other Neanderthal finds such as the Engis, Neander Valley, and Le Moustier fossils. The Gibraltar Skull was sent to England in 1864 where the anatomist and anthropologist George Busk declared that it “resembles, in all essential particulars . . . the far-famed Neanderthal skull; but in many respects, it is of infinitely higher value than that much-disputed relic”. And Charles Darwin, one of the first to see the skull after it arrived in England, described it as “wonderful”. How much do we know about the early history of the skull? The majority of accounts have the Gibraltar Scientific Society stashing the fossil in a drawer or on a shelf gathering dust for years, its true importance having been missed. If only, the accounts go, it had been sent to England earlier, we would today be discussing Gibraltar Man, and not Neanderthal Man. In my presentation I will show that this historiography is not quite correct.© Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Bruce Hardy - What’s for dinner? Exploring our changing understanding of Neanderthal diets Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Bruce Hardy - What’s for dinner? Exploring our changing understanding of Neanderthal dietsPart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.Historically Neanderthals have been consistently viewed as being dependent on large terrestrial herbivores for most and sometimes all of their subsistence. This began largely in the 1960s with the emergence of the ‘Man the Hunter’ hypothesis. While the preferred mode of procurement (obligate scavenging, combination of hunting and scavenging, close-quarters hunting) has changed, the emphasis was almost exclusively on large game before the 2000s. The introduction of stable isotope analysis reinforced this view, with high nitrogen values suggesting that Neanderthals were top-level carnivores. Increasingly, however, there has been a realization that a hypercarnivorous Neanderthal is ecologically unrealistic. Coupled with the application of new techniques, our understanding of Neanderthal diet has become more complex. Small mammals, birds, fish, and plants are now seen as potential menu items for Neanderthals. Different methods of dietary reconstruction however, operate at different temporal scales that can lead to divergent dietary estimates. In order to refine our understanding of Neanderthal diet, we need to: 1) be cognizant of the temporal scale of the method we are using, 2) think broadly about possible menu items and the technology needed to acquire and process them, and 3) make sure that our dietary reconstructions are ecologically viable. © Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Carles Lalueza Fox - Paleoproteomic analysis and human evolution Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Carles Lalueza Fox - Paleoproteomic analysis and human evolutionPart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.The recovery of ancient DNA from past remains has provided a new tool to study the evolutionary relationships amongst living and extinct taxa, including hominins. It has been possible to retrieve genetic material from a 560,000 to 780,000-year-old horse bone, found in conditions that are exceptional for DNA preservation such as permafrost. The most ancient human DNA yet recovered, dated to 430,000 years ago, comes from Sima de los Huesos site in Atapuerca (Spain), again an exceptional site that consists in a deep shaft located 500 m from the current cave entrance and that has a constant and low temperature along the year. Unfortunately, crucial events for understanding the complexities of human evolution took place in temperate or warm environments, were no such thermal conditions are expected. Therefore, in most parts of the world, including Africa, Melanesia or South Asia, it will not be possible to study DNA sequences that are older than few tens of thousands of years. The possibility that offers the retrieval of ancient proteins from archaic hominin fossils of going further back in time than DNA thus opens a unique possibility of exploring the complex phylogenetic relationships within the Homo genus. We will review some of the evolutionary hypothesis that could be tested with this approach, as well as the methodological problems associated to this emerging field.© Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Clive Finlayson - Neanderthal Biogeography and Evolution: Implications for the Cognitive Revolution Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Clive Finlayson - Neanderthal Biogeography and Evolution: Implications for the Cognitive RevolutionPart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.I offer a review of our current state of understanding of Neanderthal geographical distribution and evolution and I question the established replacement narrative as the cause of their extinction. I will argue that it is now time to accept that this narrative was simplistic and is unsupported. The entire notion of Modern Human is in doubt in the absence of a clear definition of what is represented by the term and how Modern Human is defined. We are at a juncture at which we are unable to define the phenotypes of a variety of human genotypes that existed in the Late Pleistocene and it follows that using archaeological proxies, particularly lithics, to map out the replacement of Neanderthals by these other humans is naïve and simply wrong. It further follows that high-resolution estimates of Neanderthal extinction and replacement dates fall into the trap of “the emperor’s new clothes” syndrome: we claim detailed dates using the latest sophisticated techniques for events but we simply don’t know “who dunnit”. These difficulties have a direct bearing on how much confidence we can place, if any at all, on the question of the cognitive superiority of undefinable humans over the definable Neanderthals, particularly as recent evidence shows that either (a) Neanderthals were modern in behaviour; or (b) the modern behavioural package as defined is farcical. I argue that it is time to stop worrying about ancestor-descendant lineages, at least until such time as we have a clearer picture of who the actors were and what they looked like. Instead, we should aim to provide a comprehensive model of human adaptation in the Late Pleistocene. After all, it is clear that the proceedings which took place at this time have to be framed within a single-species picture. It is time to produce a Late Pleistocene Homo sapiens species monograph.© Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
David W Frayer, Janet Monge, Davorka Radovčić & Jakov Radovčić Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | David W Frayer, Janet Monge, Davorka Radovčić & Jakov Radovčić - Krapina and the casefor complex behavior in Neandertals - Krapina and the case for complex behavior in Neandertalspart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.The Krapina Neandertal site, dated at 130,000 years ago, was excavated by Gorjanović- Kramberger between 1899-1905. He was a meticulous archaeologist and ~900 human remains were found, which have been the main focus of more than a 1000 scientific studies since 1899. Even more animal bones/teeth were collected and 1000 stone tools and flakes complete the sample. Our recent work on the Krapina material has provided new evidence for Neandertal complex behavior. Among these are: the 35+ apparent ritual marks on the Krapina 3 cranium, eight white-tailed eagle talons and a phalanx showing cut marks and other evidence that they were incorporated into a necklace or bracelet. Recently we located in the collections, what appears to be a ‘curio’ rock that was selected, brought to the site and saved by Neandertals, presumably because of its special visual features. Coupled with secondary burials/cannibalism and evidence for care for sick and wounded individuals, Krapina provides remarkable proof that Neandertals, before any possible interaction with modern sapiens, had skills and concepts typical of moderns.In the past decade there has been a wealth of evidence from other sites for Neandertal complex behavior ranging from cave painting to portable objects to modern-like subsistence patterns. Coupled with evidence from earlier discoveries, often ignored or rejected out of hand by many people, there is now extensive, unequivocal confirmation that Neandertals practiced many of the same behaviors as modern sapiens. © Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Francesco d’Errico - Neandertals and the end of the one-fossil-species-one-cognition axiom Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | part of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.© Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Geraldine Finlayson - Neanderthal Ecology – Gibraltar as a Case Study Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Geraldine Finlayson - Neanderthal Ecology – Gibraltar as a Case StudyPart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.This paper aims to dissect the bioclimatic conditions and habitats occupied by Neanderthals at Gibraltar during the Late Pleistocene. This site, using principally the rich subfossil plant and animal evidence from Gorham’s, Vanguard and Ibex Caves as well as from the Devil’s Tower Rock Shelter, is unique in the level of detail which has enabled a fine-grained reconstruction of a Neanderthal world. It is estimated that 80% of this world is now submerged. This ecosystem was situated in a Thermo-Mediterranean, Sub-humid, bioclimatic regime even during the coldest episodes of MIS 4 and 3. Plants, molluscs, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals bear testimony to the existence of an important glacial refugium. The great biodiversity of the Gibraltar Peninsula offered a range of food resources and hunting/gathering options for the Neanderthals who occupied the site for a minimum of 100, 000 years. © Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Hervé Bocherens - Neanderthal palaeoecology: Insights from stable isotopes Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Hervé Bocherens - Neanderthal palaeoecology: Insights from stable isotopesPart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.Since almost three decades, carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of fossil bone collagen has been used to reconstruct the diet of Neanderthals. Based on the fact that “you are what you eat”, at least in terms of isotopic composition of your body tissues, and since different food resources have different isotopic signatures, it is possible to quantify the consumption of specific food resources by ancient hominins, provided that some collagen is still preserved in their bones. The comparison of the isotopic composition of bone collagen in Neanderthals, in their potential prey and in coeval predators allows us to determine where the Neanderthals fit in a given trophic system, i.e. which prey they consumed the most and with which predators they were in competition. So far about 30 Neanderthals specimens were analyzed with this approach, but not all comply with the reliability criteria. Moreover, analyzing cut-marked bones from Middle Palaeolithic sites also provide valuable information on the habitat of the prey consumed by Neanderthals. Comparing isotopic results from sites from different climatic contexts provides information about the ecological flexibility of Neanderthals. In temperate contexts, it is possible to test to which extent were the Neanderthals able to exploit forested environments. However, bone collagen reflects essentially the protein part of the diet, so it biased towards protein-rich food resources, such as meat and fish, and tends to underestimate plant foods. Fortunately, additional approaches are available to evaluate the whole diet in complement to the protein part of the diet, such as carbonate isotopic analysis and the newly developed isotopic analysis of single amino acids from bone collagen. Carbonate in tooth enamel has a better potential for long-term preservation than collagen, especially in warm contexts. Single amino acid isotopic analysis is able to reconstruct the trophic position of an omnivore, i.e. the relative proportion of plant and animal food consumed, as well as helping deciphering the possible contribution of aquatic resources in ancient hominin diet. Finally, new Bayesian model approaches yield more statistical results about proportions of food resources. All these methodological developments open new possibilities for a more accurate diet reconstruction of Neanderthals and to understand better their position in their respective ecosystem. © Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
John Shea - Why Is It So Difficult to Relate Stone Tools to Major Issues in Human Origins Research? Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | John Shea - Why Is It So Difficult to Relate Stone Tools to Major Issues in Human Origins Research?Part of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.Archaeological stone tool systematics prevents us from testing hypotheses about human evolution derived from morphological, molecular, and other evidence. Largely unchanged for nearly a century, Paleolithic age-stages, named stone tool industries and artifact-types reflect early archaeologists’ intuitions about stone tools. Those intuitions arose from digging stone tools up rather than from making and using them or observing people who did. All too many paleoanthropologists see traditional stone tool systematics as intrinsic properties of the lithic evidence. They aren’t. Age-stages, industries, and artifact-types conceal more than they reveal about hominin behavior. Paleoanthropology is better off without them. This paper discusses an alternative “predictive and strategic modeling” approach to the stone tool evidence, one focused on behavioral differences among technological primates (humans and our nearest stone-tool-using relatives). It illustrates this approach using a case study from its author’s recent book, Stone Tools in Human Evolution (2017). Between 1.6-1.8 million years ago, changes in Homo ergaster/erectus locomotor anatomy suggest improved capacities for carrying things (for “logistical mobility”). Inasmuch as hominins had been using stone tools for more than 1.5 million years previously, one ought to expect correlated shifts in stone tool designs towards efficient transportability. Studies of modern-day artifacts specifically designed to be efficiently portable provide clues about what evidence we should find of this hypothesis is correct. New features of the stone tool evidence ca. 1.6-1.8 Ma are consistent with this prediction. Research focused on behavioral differences among technological primates can bring archaeological lithic research where it belongs, at the heart of major debates about human origins and evolution.© Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Karen Hardy - Omnivorous Neanderthals Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Karen Hardy - Omnivorous Neanderthals: Plants as food, medicine and raw materials in theMiddle PalaeolithicPart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.There is little surviving evidence for plant use in the Middle Palaeolithic yet what there is, suggests plants were important as food, medicine and as raw materials. The evidence for plant food fits well with basic nutritional requirements while the presence of traces of medicinal plants in dental calculus correlates with widespread plant-based self-medication among animals. Plant-based technologies such as the manufacture of pitch and twisting fibres were most likely developed by Neanderthals, illustrating a deep understanding of the properties of wood and of fire. The ecological knowledge carried by all hominins provided a safety net when moving into new regions, while varying levels of neophobia would have enabled adaptation to new environments as hominin populations moved and climates changed. Recent plant use among traditional societies in high latitudes shows that even in locations with reduced biodiversity, plant resources can fulfil essential dietary requirements. Here, I will summarise the evidence for plants and explore the way this can be used to enrich perceptions of Neanderthals. © Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Lukas Bokelmann: Novel DNA Library Preparation Method allows first Retrieval of DNA from the Gibr... Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Lukas Bokelmann, Mateja Hajdinjak, Selina Brace, Ian Barnes, Svante Pääbo, MatthiasMeyer, Chris Stringer - Novel DNA Library Preparation Method allows first Retrieval of DNAfrom the Gibraltar NeanderthalsPart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.The Neanderthals of Gibraltar represent a challenge for ancient DNA retrieval because the local climatic conditions are less than optimal for DNA preservation and the long period of human handling has led to an accumulation of modern human DNA on the specimens.To determine whether any traces of Neanderthal DNA can be detected in the specimens, we sampled 36 and 20 mg petrous bone powder of the Neanderthals from Forbes’ Quarry and Devil’s Tower, respectively, extracted DNA and generated single-stranded libraries for sequencing. As expected, the vast majority of the DNA fragments that could be identified as hominin derive from recent human contamination. However, we also detected the presence of trace amounts of Neanderthal DNA. In order to allow the generation of genomic data from these and other difficult samples, we developed a new library generation protocol, which selects for molecules carrying deaminated cytosine residues more efficiently than previous protocols. Since deaminated cytosine residues occur much more frequently in ancient DNA molecules than in contaminating present-day DNA, it allows us to preferentially isolate ancient DNA molecules rather than modern human DNA molecules before sequencing. When we employ this new protocol we are able to retrieve 0.3% and 4% of the nuclear genomes of the Devil’s Tower and Forbes’ Quarry Neanderthals respectively. We are currently analyzing these data to establish their relationships to other Neanderthals whose genomes have been previously sequenced, particularly late Neanderthals from Europe.We hope that the improvement of methods for sequencing library preparation will allow genomic data generation over a broader geographical and temporal scale, and thus enhance our understanding not only of Neanderthal population history but also of other organisms.© Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Karen Rosenberg - The Neandertal pelvis: a view from the Middle Pleistocene Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Karen Rosenberg - The Neandertal pelvis: a view from the Middle PleistocenePart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.Since the time of McCown and Keith’s descriptions of the fossils excavated at Mt. Carmel, paleoanthropologists have written about what they thought were distinctive features of the pelvis in Neandertals. They offered many hypotheses to account for these including different life histories leading to larger newborns, cold-adaptation and locomotor-related morphology. In fact, it is likely that several of these (and other) factors are important -- the pelvis in humans evolved as the result of selective pressures from a number of possibly competing functions, including locomotion, childbirth, thermoregulation and visceral support. An understanding of Neandertal pelvic morphology (or modern human pelvic morphology for that matter) can come only by considering all of these forces and the ancestral condition from which it evolved, in an evolutionary context. In this talk, I examine Neandertal pelvic morphology in light of two relatively recently discovered and described specimens from the middle Pleistocene, namely, the Jinniushan specimen, a female archaic Homo sapiens from northeastern China dating to about 260,000 years ago and Pelvis 1 from Sima de los Huesos in Spain, a male specimen attributed to Homo heidelbergensis by its describers, dating to about 430,000 year ago. An additional comparative specimen, Arago 44 from France, is less complete and is similar in age to Sima de los Huesos Pelvis 1. Jinniushan and Sima de los Huesos represent a male and female from opposite ends of the range of human habitation during the middle Pleistocene. A comparison of these specimens reveals differences similar to the pattern of pelvic sexual dimorphism which we see in later humans. This suggests that obstetrical pressures that we see operating on human form today were already in operation in the Middle Pleistocene and by extension, among Neandertals. This in turn allows us to make inferences about birth mechanism and behavior in the middle and late Pleistocene. In addition to adaptations to the selective forces mentioned above, we must take into account the morphology of earlier hominid from which Neandertals evolved. In overall body shape and specifically in pelvic breadth (transverse dimensions), Neanderthals reflect the primitive condition for hominids, that is they had broad trunks, (including broad pelvic girdles), a characteristic which goes back to the time of australopithecines and which we see in the Gona specimen from Ethiopia about 1.0 mya. This is in spite of the fact that there were significant changes in the mechanism of birth (the evolution of rotational birth) in the time period from australopithecines up until Neanderthals that accompanied increasing body size and encephalization and that probably required accommodations of the pelvis in the anterior-posterior dimension. An understanding of Neandertal pelvic morphology must take into account ancestral hominid and middle Pleistocene body forms and the interaction of all significant selective pressures that operated on them. © Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Mauricio Anton - Reconstructing the life and times of the Gibraltar Neanderthals Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Mauricio Anton - Almost a Time Portal: Reconstructing the life and times of the GibraltarNeanderthalsPart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.Paleoanthropological illustration is a combination of art and science that allows the presentation of packages of information about the anatomy, behaviour and ecology of fossil hominins in an efficient and friendly format. One recent example is the creation of a collection of art pieces depicting various aspects of the life of the Neanderthal populations that inhabited Gibraltar. The collaboration between the artist and the paleoanthropologists, geologists and archaeologists has led to the production five environmental scenes based on evidences from the Gibraltar sites, that show novel interpretations about Neanderthal behaviour, including body ornamentation, art, hunting and scavenging. The images also reflect the current knowledge about the fauna and landscape of the Gibraltar area during the later part of the Pleistocene. Striking scenes show ground-breaking hypotheses: the Neanderthals creating the famous Gorham’s Cave engraving, wearing vulture-wing body ornaments or scavenging on beached sea mammals. In this presentation, after a brief historical overview, the working methodology of this project is explained, expanding on details of both the artistic and the scientific aspects of the reconstructions. From the field visits to the sketching stage to the different phases of the final artwork, constant feedback between artist and scientists results in a dynamic and evolving process eventually leading to the finished artwork. © Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Milford Wolpoff - The Origin of Homo: Complicated but Clear Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Milford Wolpoff - The Origin of Homo: Complicated but ClearPart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.Understanding when and how the genus Homo originated addresses a complexity of observations, and hypotheses to explain them. Key elements include how Homo is defined, how it is identified, and whether a phylogenetic approach it taken. Three approaches to defining and identifying Homo are considered here: phenetic, adaptive, and phylogenetic. Phenetic definitions began with Homo habilis, for a long time the earliest recognized Homo species. The farsighted workers involved in the discovery and early interpretation, Louis Leakey, Phillip Tobias, and John Robinson, ultimately agreed that something was happening at that time and recognized it was related to the association of the newly discovered hominids with the Oldowan. They did not agree on distinguishing anatomy for Homo and subsequently different ideas about this period of human evolution were developed. Thusly some of the earlier, more recently discovered specimens were unambiguously (and I believe quite correctly) placed in an early Homo species: AL 666-1 is an example. Others such as the Ledi-Geraru jaws and teeth are more problematic because of anatomical similarities to some Australopithecus specimens.The earliest adaptive definitions of Homo were based on the behavioral changes reflected in stone tool making, site structure, and functional analysis of the artifacts. As long as the Oldowan was recognized as the first stone tool industry, it was synonymous with Homo habilis and helped describe a novel adaptation. Hunting came to play a dominant role in understanding this adaptation, and this was supported by ideas about running vs fighting and the evolution of aggression in early hominids. The seed-eaters hypothesis was an alternative explanation of adaptive change, and a third emphasized male provisioning and parenting as the solution to a demographic dilemma unique to early hominids. Phylogenetic definitions for Homo are appropriate and desired because early Homo defines the beginning of a unique clade among the evolving hominids. Here I review evidence that Australopithecus garhi is the earliest member of this clade that can be identified and accurately dated. The hypothesis it is con-specific with Australopithecus africanus cannot be disproved. By itself the Garhi cranium is not persuasive evidence for an early appearance of Homo, but as part of the penecontemporary Australopithecus africanus sample the case is more compelling. While Garhi is a relatively recent discovery, Robinson proposed that the Australopithecus africanus remains be included in Homo as its earliest member some 35 years earlier.My point is that these are three different approaches to Homo provide different insights, not contradictory interpretations. Their roles in helping to understand the origin of Homo are complimentary and additive, not competitive.© Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Mina Weinstein Evron - Early Middle Paleolithic Misliya Cave Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Mina Weinstein Evron - Early Middle Paleolithic Misliya Cave (Mount Carmel, Israel) and theearliest modern humans outside Africa.Part of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel contains rich Acheulo-Yabrudian (late Lower Paleolithic) and Early Middle Paleolithic (EMP) layers [1]. The lithic assemblages exhibit a rather abrupt boundary between the two, with marked typological and technological differences [2]. The Acheulo-Yabrudain, with its bifaces and thick Quina-retouched scrapers [3] gave way to a Levallois-rich and laminar EMP industry, with an abundance of retouched points [4], around 250/240 ky BP [5].While information regarding the Acheulo-Yabrudian at the site is still relatively scarce, the EMP layers, comprising Early Levantine Mousterian industries, also contain a rich faunal assemblage, largely anthropogenic in origin, documenting sophisticated hunting and further on-site butchering [6]. The use of plant material is implied from a detailed use-wear analysis [7], as well as the micromorphological indication of bedding or matting, comprising the earliest evidence of such a practice to date [8]. Well-constructed hearths appear along the EMP sequence [2] and a spatial analysis suggests repeated occurrence of activities. The marked cultural change may well have been related to the appearance of the first modern humans on the Levantine (and probably global) scene. This is evidenced by Misliya-1, a modern human hemi-maxilla, discovered in the upper part of the EMP sequence of the site [9]. A variety of measurements and observations (including Micro-CT, 2D morphometrics, 3D geometric morphometrics) clearly indicate that Misliya-1 represents a modern human and is distinct from Neanderthals and Middle Pleistocene specimens from Europe, Africa, and Asia. An early MIS 6 age range (between 177-194 ky [9]) for the fossil renders it roughly contemporaneous with other early Homo sapiens from East Africa (e.g., Herto, Omo) and is consistent with several other lines of evidence, including the recent dating of early Homo sapiens in Morocco to MIS8 [10], and genetic evidence arguing deeper roots of our species [e.g., 11] and an introgression of H. sapiens mtDNA into Neanderthals before MIS 6 [12]. Misliya-1 marks the earliest documented dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, considerably pushing back previous estimates which were largely based on the Skhul/Qafzeh human remains, uncovered in later Levantine Middle Paleolithic contexts, currently dated to 90-120 ky. The intricate possible interactions between the Misliya people and others along their dispersal route, as well as with earlier Levantine populations, are yet to be deciphered. Yet, Misliya-1 already contributes significantly to burgeoning debates regarding the antiquity of our species and its evolutionary path.References: [1] Weinstein-Evron, M. et al. Eurasian Prehistory 1: 31-55 (2003). [2] Weinstein-Evron, M. & Zaidner, Y. In: Marom, A. and Hovers, E. (Eds.), Human Paleontology and Prehistory, Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology, pp. 187-201 (2017). [3] Zaidner, Y. & Weinstein-Evron, M. Quaternary International 409: 9-12 (2016). [4] Zaidner, Y., & Weinstein-Evron, M. Before Farming 2012/4 article 1 (2014). [5] Valladas, H. et al. Journal of Human Evolution 65: 585-593 (2013). [6) Yeshurun R. et al. Journal of Human Evolution 53: 656-677 (2007). [7] Groman-Yaroslavski, I. et al. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 7: 312-323 (2016). [8] Weinstein-Evron, M. et al. PaleoAnthropology 2012: 202-228 (2012). [9] Hershkovitz, I. et al. Science 359: 456-459 (2018). [10] Hublin J.-J. et al. Nature 546: 289-292 (2017). [11] Schlebusch, C.M. et al. Science 358: 652-655 (2017). [12] Posth, C. et al. Nature Communications 8 (2017).© Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Peter Wheeler - Neanderthal morphology and thermoregulatory energetics Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Peter Wheeler - Neanderthal morphology and thermoregulatory energetics : How strong isthe evidence for evolutionary adaptations to low temperature environments?Part of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.Although Neanderthals had a wide spatial and temporal range, and a varied morphology, particular attention has always been given to aspects of body form which have been interpreted as cold adaptations. Inferences have also been made about the impact of low environmental temperatures on the metabolic rates of Neanderthals.How significant would the potential thermoregulatory benefits resulting from these anatomical and physiological factors actually have been to Neanderthals, and would they necessarily have entirely been the result of evolutionary adaptation?© Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Rachel Casapari - Missing the Forest for the Trees Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Rachel Casapari - Missing the Forest for the Trees: Race, Neandertals and the Significance of Population Relationships among Archaic Populations of Genus HomoPart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.Race and Human Evolution (Wolpoff and Caspari 1997) was published over two decades ago. One main theme was that interpreting relationships among archaic populations of genus Homo was historically informed by the race concept. Throughout the history of our science, social constructions of race played a role in how human evolution, and particularly Neandertal evolution was interpreted and, conversely, how evolutionary science was used to sociopolitical ends. Concurrently, a general consensus gradually emerged in US anthropology, reflected in a special issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology (Edgar and Hunley 2009), that human “races” do not exist in part because the apportionment of diversity of living humans is not patterned in ways consistent with the concept of race. Yet, in 2018, race is once again both politically important and a topic of controversy in human evolutionary studies, as, for instance, with the recent publication of books and articles promoting arguments for the existence of race and the use of fossil and genetic data to discuss their evolution. Here, I explore the validity of these arguments and their relationship to our knowledge of how Neandertal and other archaic Homo populations are structured and related. I conclude that while assertions for the existence of biological races are highly flawed, the race concept remains a powerful influence in science and society and for that reason must be addressed when considering the evolution of genus Homo and the place of Neandertals within it.Edgar, H. J. H. and K. L. Hunley. 2009. Race Reconciled? How Biological Anthropologists View Human Variation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 139:1-4.Wolpoff MH, Caspari R. 1997. Race and Human Evolution. New York: Simon and Schuster.© Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Savante Paabo - Neandertal Genomics Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2019-02-11 | Savante Paabo - Neandertal GenomicsPart of #NEANDERTHAL: The Conference which was organised by the Gibraltar National Museum from 13th to 15th September 2018 at the University of Gibraltar.Our laboratory works on methods to retrieve DNA from ancient bones and other tissue remains as well as sediments found at archaeological excavations. We take a particular interest in Neandertals, the closest evolutionary relative of present-day humans. We have generated genomes from a number of Neandertals and shown that gene flow occurred among modern human ancestors and different archaic hominins. Consequently, about 2.0% of the genomes of people living outside Africa come from Neandertals. Some of the genetic variants inherited from Neandertals and Denisovans were advantageous to modern humans and many are involved in susceptibility to diseases today. I will describe recent work that begin to unravel the population history of Neandertals based on Neandertal and early modern human genomes ranging in time between more than 400,000 years ago and about 40,000 years ago. I will also describe direct evidence from ancient genome of interbreeding between Neandertals and other hominins.© Gibraltar National Museum, 2018
Griffon Vulture - Through the Lens 01 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2017-03-02 | Short clip on the Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) as part of a series on the birds of Iberia for the GBC TV show Rock Explorer's.Narrated by Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.
European Shag - Through the Lens 02 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2017-03-02 | Short clip on the European Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis desmarestii) as part of a series on the birds of Iberia for the GBC TV show Rock Explorer's.Narrated by Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.
White Stork - Through the Lens 03 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2017-03-02 | Short clip on the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) as part of a series on the birds of Iberia for the GBC TV show Rock Explorer's.Narrated by Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.
Black Kite - Through the Lens 04 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2017-03-02 | Short clip on the Black Kite (Milvus migrans) as part of a series on the birds of Iberia for the GBC TV show Rock Explorer's.Narrated by Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.
Egyptian Vulture - Through the Lens 05 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2017-03-02 | Short clip on the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) as part of a series on the birds of Iberia for the GBC TV show Rock Explorer's.Narrated by Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.
Golden Eagle - Through the Lens 06 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2017-03-02 | Short clip on the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) as part of a series on the birds of Iberia for the GBC TV show Rock Explorer's.Narrated by Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.
European Bee-Eater - Through the Lens 07 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2017-03-02 | Short clip on the European Bee-Eater (Merops apiaster) as part of a series on the birds of Iberia for the GBC TV show Rock Explorer's.Narrated by Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.
Little Owl - Through the Lens 09 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2017-03-02 | Short clip on the Little Owl (Athene noctua) as part of a series on the birds of Iberia for the GBC TV show Rock Explorer's.Narrated by Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.
Black Eared Wheatear - Through the Lens 10 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2017-03-02 | Short clip on the Black Eared Wheatear (Oenanthe hispanica) as part of a series on the birds of Iberia for the GBC TV show Rock Explorer's.Narrated by Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.
European Roller - Through the Lens 11 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2017-03-02 | Short clip on the European Roller (Coracias garrulus) as part of a series on the birds of Iberia for the GBC TV show Rock Explorer's.Narrated by Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.
Eurasian Jackdaw - Through the Lens 12 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2017-03-02 | Short clip on the Eurasian Jackdaw (Corvus monedula) as part of a series on the birds of Iberia for the GBC TV show Rock Explorer's.Narrated by Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.
Iberian Magpie - Through the Lens 13 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2017-03-02 | Short clip on the Iberian Magpie (Cyanopica cooki) as part of a series on the birds of Iberia for the GBC TV show Rock Explorer's.Narrated by Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.
Schreibers bat (Miniopterus schreibersii) Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2016-09-17 | Schreibers' bat (Miniopterus schreibersii)
Rocks Explorers - Leonora`s Caves, Gibraltar Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2016-09-01 | © GBC TV (Gibraltar), 2015.
The making of Nana & Flint Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2016-07-22 | The making of 'Nana & Flint' - forensic reconstructions of the Gibraltar 1 (1848) and Gibraltar 2 (1926) Neanderthal fossil skulls by artists Kennis & Kennis© The Gibraltar Museum
Our Neanderthals - Episode 3 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2016-07-18 | Episode 3The Rediscovery of Archaeology© GBC TV (Gibraltar) 2016
Our Neanderthals - Episode 4 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2016-07-18 | Episode 4A World Class Site© GBC TV (Gibraltar) 2016
Our Neanderthals - Episode 1 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2016-07-18 | Episode 1The History of Science and Neanderthal Studies in Gibraltar© GBC TV (Gibraltar) 2016
Our Neanderthals - Episode 2 Gorhams Cave Gibraltar 2016-07-18 | Episode 2The Life of the Neanderthals© GBC TV (Gibraltar) 2016
