Apidima Cave fossils provide earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Eurasia
Apidima Cave fossils provide earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Eurasia
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DOI：
10.1038/s41586-019-1376-z
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发表时间：
2019-07-25
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Kouloukoussa, Mirsini
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Harvati, Katerina;Roeding, Carolin;Kouloukoussa, Mirsini
希腊南部阿皮迪马洞穴的两个化石人类头骨（阿皮迪马1号和阿皮迪马2号）于20世纪70年代末被发现，但由于其不完整的性质，埋藏学的扭曲以及缺乏考古背景和年代学，仍然是个谜。在这里，我们几乎重建两个颅骨，提供详细的比较描述和分析，并使用U系列辐射测量方法确定它们的日期。Apidima 2可以追溯到17万年前，具有尼安德特人的形态模式。相比之下，Apidima 1可以追溯到21万年前，呈现出现代人类和原始特征的混合体。这些结果表明，两个晚中更新世人类群体出现在这个网站-早期智人人口，其次是尼安德特人人口。我们的研究结果支持早期现代人类在非洲的多次扩散，并强调了更新世人类进化和现代人类在东南欧存在的复杂人口过程。
Two fossilized human crania (Apidima 1 and Apidima 2) from Apidima Cave, southern Greece, were discovered in the late 1970s but have remained enigmatic owing to their incomplete nature, taphonomic distortion and lack of archaeological context and chronology. Here we virtually reconstruct both crania, provide detailed comparative descriptions and analyses, and date them using U-series radiometric methods. Apidima 2 dates to more than 170 thousand years ago and has a Neanderthal-like morphological pattern. By contrast, Apidima 1 dates to more than 210 thousand years ago and presents a mixture of modern human and primitive features. These results suggest that two late Middle Pleistocene human groups were present at this site-an early Homo sapiens population, followed by a Neanderthal population. Our findings support multiple dispersals of early modern humans out of Africa, and highlight the complex demographic processes that characterized Pleistocene human evolution and modern human presence in southeast Europe.