Fossil hominins in the central Balkans and their implications for human evolution in Europe

最近在塞尔维亚的Mala Balanica发现了一个下颌骨(BH-1)，没有衍生的尼安德特人特征和一套可与早更新世下颌标本相媲美的原始特征状态，产生了出人意料的113+72-43ka的放射性年龄，并得到了动物群和地质考古学数据的证实。原始形态和上更新世时代的结合表明，在解剖学上的现代人(AMH)到来之前，欧洲的原始人进化可能遵循多线性而不是单线性模式，尼安德特人与更原始的原始人种群共享巴尔干半岛。巴尔干地区正逐渐成为古生物学研究的一个日益重要的区域，成为“生物多样性热点”(Griffiths et al，2004；Lesbarreres，2008)，以及冰川期间保留了大量遗迹生物群的避难区(Randi，2007)。在这个阶段，任何来自该地区的更新世人类化石都必然是相关的，但更重要的是，这种保存相对完好的半下颌骨，与尼安德特人和AMH相比，显示出许多原始特征。与其他更新世标本相比，它与早更新世标本聚在一起，远离尼安德特人，尼安德特人作为一个独立的群体聚在一起。虽然BH-1与早期更新世人类不太可能有直接的生物学联系，但BH-1显然代表了一个来自古老的非尼安德特人群体的个体，其一系列特征属于变异范围的原始末端。

A recent discovery of a mandible (BH-1) from Mala Balanica (Serbia), with no derived Neandertal traits and a set of primitive character states comparable to Early Pleistocene mandibular specimens, produced an unexpectedly young radiometric date of 113 +72-43 ka, corroborated by faunal and geoarchaeological data. The combination of primitive morphology and an Upper Pleistocene age suggests that hominin evolution in Europe, prior to the arrival of the anatomically modern humans (AMH), could have followed a multilinear rather than a unilinear model and that Neandertals shared the Balkan Peninsula with a more primitive hominin population. The Balkans is emerging as an increasingly important area for paleontological study as a "hotspot of biodiversity" (Griffiths et al, 2004; Lesbarreres, 2008), and a refugial area during glaciations that retained substantial relic biota (Randi, 2007). At this stage, any Pleistocene hominin fossil from the region is bound to be relevant but even more importantly, this relatively well preserved semi-mandible, displays a number of primitive traits in comparison to both Neandertals and AMH. When compared to other Pleistocene specimens it clusters with Early Pleistocene ones and far from Neandertals, which cluster as a distinct group. While a direct biological connection to the Early Pleistocene hominins is unlikely, BH-1 clearly represents an individual from an archaic, non-Neandertal population with a suite of features falling at the primitive end of variational ranges.