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The Early to Middle Pleistocene Transition (EMPT) is characterised by major environmental changes and evolutionary innovations within the genus Homo but the scarcity of the African EMPT fossil and archaeological records obscures its palaeoecological context. Here, we present archaeological and faunal evidence from a newly excavated West-Turkana EMPT site--Kanyimangin. Keywords: Kenya, Early to Middle Pleistocene, lithic artefacts, geochronological analyses, Introduction One of the stumbling blocks to understanding the evolutionary history of the genus Homo concerns the impact of the Early to Middle Pleistocene Transition (EMPT) (1.2-0.75Ma) on hominin populations. [...]

In the Basilicata region, located in southern Italy and known for hosting among the first occurrences of the Acheulean culture in southwestern Europe, the Lower Paleolithic site of Loreto at Venosa is located less than a kilometer from the emblematic site of Notarchirico and less than 25 km from Cimitero di Atella. The Loreto site has not been studied as thoroughly as the two other sites and, although geological investigations have been carried out in the Venosa basin, no direct numerical dating has ever been published for the three archaeological levels brought to light during the excavation campaigns. We present a multi-method geochronological approach combining ESR/U-series, ESR, and 40Ar/39Ar permitting to refine the age of the most ancient archaeological level (A) of the Loreto site. These data allow us to propose an MIS 13 age for this level, in accordance with previous hypotheses based on geological and paleontological data. We also propose a technical review of the lithic tools preserved in the collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Venosa to integrate Loreto in the evolution scheme of the European Acheulean techno-complex emergence and diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work on thermal pools at Poggetti Vecchi in Grosseto, Italy, exposed an up to 3-meter-thick succession of seven sedimentary units. Unit 2 in the lower portion of the succession contained vertebrate bones, mostly of the straight-tusked elephant, Palaeoloxodon antiquus, commingled with stone, bone, and wooden tools. Thermal carbonates overlying Unit 2 are radiometrically dated to the latter part of the middle Pleistocene. This time span indicates that early Neanderthals produced the human artifacts from Poggetti Vecchi. The elephant bones belong to seven individuals of different ages. Sedimentary facies analysis and paleoecological evidence suggest a narrow lacustrine-palustrine embayment affected by water-level fluctuations and, at times, by hydrothermal water. Cyclic lake-level variations were predominantly forced by the rapid climatic fluctuations that occurred at Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6–7 transition and throughout the MIS 6. Possibly an abrupt, intense, and protracted cold episode during the onset of MIS 6 led to the sudden death of the elephants, which formed an unexpected food resource for the humans of the area. The Poggetti Vecchi site adds new information on the behavioral plasticity and food procurement strategies that early Neanderthals were able to develop in Italy during the middle to the late Pleistocene transition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Several Gigantopithecus faunas associated with taxonomically undetermined hominoid fossils and/or stone artifacts are known from southern China. These faunas are particularly important for the study of the evolution of humans and other mammals in Asia. However, the geochronology of the Gigantopithecus faunas remains uncertain. In order to solve this problem, a program of geochronological studies of Gigantopithecus faunas in Guangxi Province was recently initiated. Chuifeng Cave is the first studied site, which yielded 92 Gigantopithecus blacki teeth associated with numerous other mammalian fossils. We carried out combined ESR/U-series dating of fossil teeth and sediment paleomagnetic studies. Our ESR results suggest that the lower layers at this cave can be dated to 1.92±0.14Ma and the upper layers can be dated to older than 1.38±0.17Ma. Correlation of the recognized magnetozones to the geomagnetic polarity timescale was achieved by combining magnetostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and ESR data. The combined chronologies establish an Olduvai subchron (1.945-1.778Ma) for the lowermost Chuifeng Cave sediments. We also analyzed the enamel d13C values of the Gigantopithecus faunas. Our results show that southern China was dominated by C3 plants during the early Pleistocene and that the Gigantopithecus faunas lived in a woodland-forest ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The combined U-series/electron spin resonance (ESR) dating method was applied to nine teeth from two Early Pleistocene archaeological sites located in the Orce area (Guadix-Baza Basin, Southern Spain): Fuente Nueva-3 (FN-3) and Barranco León (BL). The combination of biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy places both sites between the Olduvai and Jaramillo subchrons (1.78–1.07Ma). Our results highlight the difficulty of dating such old sites and point out the limits of the combined U-series/ESR dating method based on the US model. We identified several sources of uncertainties that may lead to inaccurate age estimates. Seven samples could not be dated because the dental tissues had (230Th/234U) activity ratios higher than equilibrium, indicating that uranium had probably leached from these tissues. It was however possible to calculate numerical estimates for two of the teeth, both from FN-3. One yielded a Middle Pleistocene age that seems to be strongly underestimated; the other provided an age of 1.19±0.21Ma, in agreement with data obtained from independent methods. The latter result gives encouragement that there are samples that can be used for routine dating of old sites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]