This study developed an informative model of a nasal cavity of a Neanderthal and Anatomically Modern Human (AMH) hybrid based on the morphological measurements and nonmetric features of nonhuman primate hybrids. This study examined morphometric measurements and nonmetric traits of the interior nasal cavity of two species of baboons (olive and yellow) and their first generation hybrids to determine how hybridization affects the internal anatomy of the nasal cavity. The nasal cavity was chosen because the nasal cavities of Neanderthals and AMH are recognized as uniquely different in size and shape. This study found that functionally different regions within the baboon nasal cavity are altered in size and shape in response to hybridization. Changes in size and shape due to hybridization occurred in three regions, at the rhinion, choana, and mid-nasopharynx. In regions of more complex physiological function, the mid-bony cavity and the posterior nasopharynx, no size or shape response was observed, except a wider lateral recess. Males and females responded differently to hybridization; males showed heterosis and females showed heterosis in most areas, though dysgenesis in the inferior meatus. The opposing male and female trends may contribute to the greater sexual dimorphism observed in hybrids compared to parental taxa. This study found that frequencies of nonmetric traits in the baboon hybrid nasal cavity were no different from frequencies in parental taxa, nor were regional frequency differences observed because anterior and posterior nonmetric traits occurred at the same frequency. However, males expressed a significantly higher frequency of nonmetric traits than females. Assuming Neanderthal and AMH hybrid nasal cavities follow the trends observed in the baboon hybrid model, the Neanderthal and AMH hybrid nasal cavity would have a different shape and larger size at the rhinion, choana, and mid-nasopharynx, while the mid-bony cavity and posterior nasopharynx remained unchanged compared to parental taxa. However, because Neanderthals and AMH have been diverged for a longer time period, the traits of the nasal cavity may be very different in parental taxa due to adaptations to local conditions, which may result in hybrids with traits from one parent or the other. Further, an analysis of different hybridization scenarios between Neanderthals and AMH, based on observed hybridization in baboons and paleoanthropological evidence, suggests rapid gene swamping of the Neanderthal population by AMH during hybridization, as other authors have also concluded.

Social networks have been essential throughout hominin evolution, facilitating cooperative childrearing, transmission of cultural knowledge and the sharing of information and resources. As hominins dispersed out of Africa, these networks needed to be maintained at progressively higher latitudes. The first part of this thesis explores the impact of latitude on brain organisation and the possible implications for social cognition. I hypothesise that the lower temperatures and light levels found at higher latitudes select for larger bodies and visual systems, which in turn necessitate larger somatic and visual brain areas. Using orbit size to index eye and visual cortex size, I demonstrate a robust positive relationship between absolute latitude and orbit volume in recent humans. I show that Neanderthals, who solely inhabited high latitudes, have significantly larger orbits than contemporary anatomically modern humans (AMH), who evolved in lower latitude Africa and had only relatively recently dispersed into higher latitudes. Since Neanderthals and AMH dated 27-75kya have almost identical endocranial volumes, I argue that if a greater proportion of the Neanderthal brain was required for somatic and visual processing, this would reduce the volume of neural tissue available for other functions. Since, according to the Social Brain Hypothesis, neocortex volume is positively associated with social complexity, I propose that Neanderthals might have been limited to smaller social networks than AMH. The second part of the thesis explores the challenge of maintaining social networks across greater geographic distances at higher latitudes, where high travelling costs seem to prevent whole tribes from bonding during periodic aggregations. Using a gas model I predict that at lower latitudes daily subsistence mobility allows sufficient encounters between subgroups for the tribe to maintain connectivity, whereas in (Sub)Arctic biomes additional mechanisms are required to facilitate tribal cohesion. This may explain the apparent ‘explosion’ of Upper Palaeolithic art in Europe: symbolic representations allowed social ties to be sustained in the absence of frequent face-to-face contact. Overall, this thesis demonstrates that latitude may influence both brain organisation and cultural expression and argues that both can have a substantial impact on the maintenance of hominin social networks at high latitudes.

Archaeological bones are usually dated by radiocarbon measurement of extracted collagen. However, low collagen content, contamination from the burial environment or museum conservation work have previously lead to inaccurate results, especially for old bones, compromising the ability to reconstruct reliable past chronologies. It is reported, for example, that up to 70% of Palaeolithic radiocarbon dates on bones are likely to be underestimates of the real age, blurring the picture of modern human dispersals and Neanderthal extinction. In this thesis, a method for isolating and radiocarbon dating the collagen amino acid hydroxyproline is described. Hydroxyproline consists of about 10% of bone collagen but is not found in significant amounts elsewhere in nature. The hydroxyproline dating method uses a mixed-mode (i.e. ion-exchange combined with hydrophobic chemistry), semi preparative HPLC methodology. The amino acids do not require derivatisation, and no organic solvents are used, thereby avoiding addition of carbon. The hypothesis of this thesis is that the hydroxyproline can be used as a bone specific biomarker, improving dating accuracy and making it possible to obtain radiocarbon determinations where previously it has been impossible. It was calculated that on average 3.3±1.4μg of contaminant carbon are added to each sample in the process of isolating the hydroxyproline, a low level suitable for 14C dating. It was investigated whether a deliberately contaminated bone and 'naturally' contaminated archaeological bones, yielding erroneous dates when dated using the normal pretreatment method, could be dated accurately using this method. In addition, a hydroxyproline date was obtained for a bone with too little surviving collagen to be dateable by the bulk collagen method. Finally, using the hydroxyproline dating method, the earliest direct ages for the presence of anatomically modern humans on the Russian Plain were obtained. The method proved to be a powerful tool that can help resolve longstanding archaeological questions.

abstract: Despite nearly five decades of archaeological research in the Romanian Carpathian basin and adjacent areas, how human foragers organized their stone artifact technologies under varying environmental conditions remains poorly understood. Some broad generalizations have been made; most work in the region is concerned primarily with descriptive and definitional issues rather than efforts to explain past human behavior or human-environmental interactions. Modern research directed towards understanding human adaptation to different environments remains in its infancy. Grounded in the powerful conceptual framework of evolutionary ecology and utilizing recent methodological advances, this work has shown that shifts in land-use strategies changes the opportunities for social and biological interaction among Late Pleistocene hominins in western Eurasia, bringing with it a plethora of important consequences for cultural and biological evolution. I employ, in my Dissertation, theoretical and methodological advances derived from human behavioral ecology (HBE) and lithic technology organization to show how variability in lithic technology can explain differences in technoeconomic choices and land-use strategies of Late Pleistocene foragers in Romanian Carpathians Basin and adjacent areas. Set against the backdrop of paleoenvironmental change, the principal questions I addressed are whether or not technological variation at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic can account for fundamental changes at its end. The analysis of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic strata, from six archaeological sites, shows that the lithic industries were different not because of biocultural differences in technological organization, landuse strategies, and organizational flexibility. Instead the evidence suggests that technoeconomic strategies, the intensity of artifact curation and how foragers used the land appear to have been more closely related to changing environmental conditions, task-specific activities, and duration of occupation. This agrees well with the results of studies conducted in other areas and with those predicted from theoretically-derived models based on evolutionary ecology. My results lead to the conclusion that human landuse effectively changes the environment of selection for hominins and their lithic technologies, an important component of the interface between humans and the natural world. Foragers move across the landscape in comparable ways in very different ecological settings, cross-cutting both biological morphotypes and prehistorian-defined analytical units. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2015

Previous studies proposed that Neandertals had one third higher energetic cost of locomotion than anatomically modern humans. Greater cost of locomotion could disadvantage Neandertals in competition with anatomically modern humans and could be a factor in their extinction. Greater cost of Neandertal locomotion was ascribed to their shorter lower limb and greater body mass. However, Neandertals differed also in other morphological parameters that were not considered in estimation of their locomotor cost. In this dissertation we model locomotor cost of Neandertals and anatomically modern humans using previously described relation between muscle force production and energetic cost of movement. We estimate the key locomotor parameters using a model developed by us from osteometric data from literature (n =50) and from our measurement (n = 21), and from kinematic data of 26 individuals. Further, we analyze the effect of relative lower limb length (in relation to body mass) and crural index on energetic cost of locomotion. Our results suggest that walking of Neandertal males was 9-14% energetically more demanding than walking of anatomically modern males. Nevertheless, the walking cost of Neandertal females was similar to that of anatomically modern females. Inclusion of lower limb proportions into the...

The aim of this study is to provide information regarding the development of aDNA research. The essay also strives to distinguish eventual impact on previous and contemporary conceptions concerning Neanderthal and modern human genetic divergence and possible interbreeding between the two species. Relatively recent Neanderthal genetic research will provide a glimpse into future explorations. Hominin species, other than Neanderthals, will be excluded from this paper as well as morphological studies and modern human evolution theories. Nature, Cell, Science, American anthropologist are examples of important publications constituting the study’s source material generated through the mandatory literature search. Genetic data results reveal genetic divergence between Neanderthals and modern humans approximately around 270 000 to 440 000 years ago or 550 000 to 765 000 years ago. The estimations for genetic divergence continue to alter with the advent of additional data. Contemporaneous genomic data results show interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans which contradict some prior perceptions surrounding the subject. New engendered Neanderthal genomic data indicate further exploration concerning the Neanderthal inherited genes effect on modern day human biology and physiology. / Syftet med denna studie är att delge informativ upplysning kring utvecklingen av aDNA forskning. Uppsatsen strävar även efter att urskilja eventuell påverkan på föregående och nuvarande uppfattningar angående genetisk splittring mellan Neandertalare och moderna människor och möjlig korsning mellan de två arterna. Relativt ny genetisk Neandertal forskning kommer att ge en inblick i framtida utforskningar. Andra homininer, undantagsvis för Neandertalarna, kommer att exkluderad från denna uppsats liksom morfologiska studier och teorier kring den moderna människans evolution. Nature, Cell, Science, American anthropologist är exempel på viktiga publiceringar som utgör studiens källmaterial vilket genererats genom den obligatoriska litteratursökningen. Genetiska data resultat visar genetisk splittring mellan Neandertalare och moderna människor proximalt kring 270 000 till 440 000 år sedan eller 550 000 till 765 000 år sedan. Beräkningarna för genetisk splittring ändras kontinuerligt på grund av ankomsten av nytillkommande data. Nya genomiska data resultat visar korsning mellan Neandertalare och moderna människor vilket motsäger en del föregående föreställningar kring ämnet. Ny framställd Neandertal genomiska data indikerar vidare utforskning av de ärvda Neandertal genernas möjliga påverkan på den moderna människans biologi och fysiologi.

F. Bordes marque de son empreinte la construction de la préhistoire dans la seconde moitié du XXe siècle. Une analyse thématique de son oeuvre en trois parties permet de mettre en lumière ses principaux aspects.Une première partie, intitulée « Une approche normative », est consacrée à la démarche de F. Bordes qui est caractérisée par un renouvellement méthodologique. Une seconde partie, au titre de « Les industries lithiques comme fil d’Ariane », est consacrée aux interprétations de F. Bordes concernant l’évolution des cultures préhistoriques et à ses recherches pour reconstituer la vie quotidienne matérielle au Paléolithique. Une troisième partie, « La construction d’une école de pensée », aborde la place particulière de F. Bordes au sein de la communauté des préhistoriens. Enfin, F. Bordes est également Francis Carsac, un auteur de science-fiction, dont l’étude des récits permet de donner un éclairage complémentaire sur ses préoccupations. En conclusion de cette thèse, un regard est porté ce qu’il reste de sa contribution scientifique. / F. Bordes brand of its print the construction of Prehistory in second half of the 20 th century. An analysis set of themes of its work in three parts makes it possible to clarify its principal aspects. A first part, entitled “a normative approach” is devoted to the approach of F. Bordes which is characterized by a methodological renewal. A second part, entitled ”lithic industries like wire of Ariane”, is devoted to interpretations of F. Border concerning the evolution of the prehistoric cultures and with its research to reconstitute the material daily life during the Paleolithic. A third part, “the construction of a school of thought”, analyses the particular place of F. Border within the community of the prehistorians. F. Bordes is also Francis Carsac, a science fiction writer, whose stories study makes it possible to provide supplementary illumination on its concerns. In conclusion of this thesis, a look is carried what it remains of his scientific contribution.

Doctorat effectué en cotutelle Pour le département d'histoire de l'Université de Montréal, M.M. Jacques G. Ruelland et Othmar Keel, Pour le laboratoire P.A.C.E.A.– U.M.R. 5199. C.N.R.S., de l'École doctorale des sciences Terre-Mer, directeurs successifs, M. P.-Y. Demars, puis M. Michel Lenoir. Thèse soutenue à Bordeaux le 6 juin 2012. / Cette thèse a pour objectif d’étudier sur le plan historique une controverse scientifique persistante en préhistoire : le problème de la transition entre Paléolithiques moyen et supérieur, en tentant d’en expliquer la durée en termes de construction et de transformation des modèles antagoniques, ainsi que le rôle de cette controverse dans l’acquisition de connaissances, afin d’élucider comment s’est produit le déplacement des enjeux que présente son état actuel. Il s’agit de dresser un historique de la controverse entourant la transition entre Paléolithiques moyen et supérieur afin de circonscrire sur le plan chronologique les persistances et l’évolution des positions antagonistes dans leurs composantes épistémologiques. Pour clarifier cette démarche, il faut d’abord caractériser ce qui constitue cette controverse particulière pour les préhistoriens à l’aide de l’apport de l’histoire des sciences, et quelle méthode d’analyse sera utilisée dans le présent travail. Il sera ainsi possible de relier ces éléments au problème scientifique choisi comme sujet d’étude, présenté dans ses caractères généraux et spécifiques, pour modéliser la définition structurale des modèles explicatifs protagonistes au débat sur la transition entre Paléolithiques moyen et supérieur. La méthodologie proposée sera ensuite appliquée à la controverse, pour découper son déroulement chronologique en trois phases historiques distinctes par leur axe de recherche spécifique, chacune des phases étant décrite sur trois niveaux structuraux (données et méthodologie, paradigmes opératoires, paradigme métaphysique), afin d’isoler les constantes et les inflexions, et d’établir un modèle explicatif de sa dynamique historique jusqu’à son état actuel. L’ambition de cette thèse est de s’appuyer sur l’histoire des sciences pour clarifier sur le plan théorique pour les préhistoriens la dynamique historique de cette controverse centrale à l’étude du changement culturel en préhistoire, et des modèles qui s’y confrontent toujours, et tenter, à partir de l’étude de ce problème d’archéologie préhistorique, d’ébaucher en retour un modèle historique et structural d’étude de cas d’une controverse spécifique et de son apport au niveau du changement conceptuel en science qui pourrait être utile à l’histoire des sciences. / This thesis’ main object is to study on an historical level a long-lasting scientific controversy in Prehistoric archaeology, the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, by attempting to explain the persistence of that debate in terms of construction and transformation of antagonistic models of explanation, and by showing how that controversy had play a role on the acquisition of knowledge, to elucidate how the debate itself had change since its origin. On a chronological scale, the evolution of some epistemological elements inside the confrontation of opposed hypothesis could be contrasted with conservative notions. To make that process clear, it is necessary to characterize what constitute that specific controversy for prehistorians with the tool given by the history of sciences, and what kind of analytical methodology can be call upon for doing so. Then, it will be possible to link those elements with the scientific problem itself to establish a structural model of this debate’s theoretical positions of the protagonists. This methodology could then be use to separate the history of that debate in three sections, each with its specific research axis, each phase in three structural level (data and methods, paradigms, meta-paradigm) to create a general model of the evolution of that controversy. The ambition of that thesis is to use history of science’s contribution as a way to clarify on a theoretical level the goals of that debate, and its implication on the study of cultural change for prehistorical archaeologists community, and to initiate for science’s historians a historical and structural model of scientific controversies, and their weight on conceptual change base on a specific case study.

La fin du Pléistocène et le début de l’Holocène sont marqués par des bouleversements environnementaux d’une ampleur et d’une intensité exceptionnelles en Europe de l’Ouest. Ces quelque huit millénaires ont été scindés en périodes chronoculturelles principalement à partir de critères typotechnologiques de l’industrie lithique, correspondant au Paléolithique final, et au premier et au second Mésolithique. L’identité biologique des groupes humains de cette période n’avait jusqu’alors jamais été étudiée de façon spécifique et la réalité anthropologique de ces partitions pose question. À partir d’un corpus réactualisé de 70 sites couvrant les territoires actuels de la France, de l’Allemagne, de la Belgique, du Luxembourg, de la Suisse, de l’Italie, de l’Espagne et du Portugal, ce sont 617 spécimens pour les restes osseux et 251 pour les restes dentaires qui ont été analysés. Des caractéristiques squelettiques ont été enregistrées et analysées selon un protocole unique : proportions squelettiques comme la stature, l’indice brachial et l’indice crural, morphométrie crânienne et mandibulaire, analyse par morphométrie géométrique de la conformation du neurocrâne et variations anatomiques non métriques crâniennes et dentaires. L’ensemble des données recueillies a fait l’objet de traitements statistiques adaptés, descriptifs, multivariés et exploratoires. Parmi les résultats obtenus, l’analyse métrique et morphologique de la mandibule révèle des changements microévolutifs de la morphologie mandibulaire en lien avec l’intensification de l’élargissement du spectre des ressources consommées au cours du Mésolithique. Un fonctionnement différent des groupes est proposé entre ceux établis sur les zones côtières et les continentaux. Les groupes côtiers seraient organisés selon un système plutôt fermé, traduit par la structuration régionale des données anthropobiologiques, alors que les groupes continentaux, bien qu’ayant un ancrage local, possèderaient des réseaux d’échanges plus larges et/ou plus réguliers. Enfin, la permanence des groupes humains du Paléolithique final au Mésolithique est avancée, ainsi qu’au sein des zones côtières durant tout le Mésolithique, alors qu’une discontinuité populationnelle entre premier et second Mésolithique est mise en évidence dans l’aire continentale. L’hypothèse d’une arrivée de nouveaux groupes depuis les régions situées plus à l’est, poussés par la progression néolithique en Europe centrale à partir du VIIème millénaire cal BC est avancée, rejoignant un des scenarii proposés à partir de l’analyse de l’ADN ancien. / Environmental changes of exceptional magnitude and intensity occurred during the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene in Western Europe. These- some eight millennia- have been divided into chronocultural periods based on typotechnological lithic industries, corresponding to the Late Palaeolithic and the Early and Late Mesolithic. The biological identity of the human groups from this lengthy period of time has never previously been studied in a systematic way, and the anthropological meaning of these divisions remains unclear. In order to fill this gap in knowledge, this thesis presents the results of analyses of an up-to-date sample of 617 skeletal specimens and 251 dental remains covering 70 sites from France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Skeletal characteristics, including skeletal proportions- stature, brachial and crural indices -, cranial and mandibular morphometrics, geometric morphometric analysis of the neurocranium, and non-metric skeletal and dental traits were recorded and analysed using a single protocol. All data collected were subjected to suitable descriptive, multivariate and exploratory statistical treatments. Among the results obtained, the metric and morphological analysis of the mandible reveals micro-evolutionary morphological changes related to the intensified exploitation of a broader spectrum of food resources during the Mesolithic. Human groups in coastal zones differ from those located further inland. Coastal groups evince a rather closed system, reflected by a regional structure of bioanthropological data, whereas inland groups, while locally based, are characterized by broader and/or more regular networks of population interaction. Finally, there appears to be continuity between human groups from the Late Palaeolithic to the Early Mesolithic, as well as throughout the Mesolithic in coastal areas, while population discontinuity between the Early and Later Mesolithic is highlighted in the continental area. The arrival of new groups from areas further east, driven by Neolithic population advances through Central Europe from the 7th millennium BC cal is hypothesised, similar to one of the scenarios proposed from the analysis of aDNA.