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Florida State University's Anthropology Department is comprised of four subdivisions - Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, and Linguistic Anthropology, offering degrees in each subfield.
Human brains are three times larger, are organized differently, and mature for a longer period of time than those of our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees. Together, these characteristics are important for human cognition and social behavior, but their evolutionary origins remain unclear. To study brain growth and organization in the hominin species Australopithecus afarensis more than 3 million years ago, we scanned eight fossil crania using conventional and synchrotron computed tomography. We inferred key features of brain organization from endocranial imprints and explored the pattern of brain growth by combining new endocranial volume estimates with narrow age at death estimates for two infants. Contrary to previous claims, sulcal imprints reveal an ape-like brain organization and no features derived toward humans. A comparison of infant to adult endocranial volumes indicates protracted brain growth in A. afarensis, likely critical for the evolution of a long period of childhood learning in hominins., evolution, size, life-history, birth, chimpanzees, endocranial volumes, homo-erectus, lunate sulcus, pattern, primate, The publisher's version of record is availible at https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz4729
The Liang Bua hominins from Flores, Indonesia, have been the subject of intense scrutiny and debate since their initial description and classification in 2004. These remains have been assigned to a new species, Homo floresiensis, with the partial skeleton LB1 as the type specimen. The Liang Bua hominins are notable for their short stature, small endocranial volume, and many features that appear phylogenetically primitive relative to modern humans, despite their late Pleistocene age. Recently, some workers suggested that the remains represent members of a small-bodied island population of modern Austro-Melanesian humans, with LB1 exhibiting clinical signs of Down syndrome. Many classic Down syndrome signs are soft tissue features that could not be assessed in skeletal remains. Moreover, a definitive diagnosis of Down syndrome can only be made by genetic analysis as the phenotypes associated with Down syndrome are variable. Most features that contribute to the Down syndrome phenotype are not restricted to Down syndrome but are seen in other chromosomal disorders and in the general population. Nevertheless, we re-evaluated the presence of those phenotypic features used to support this classification by comparing LB1 to samples of modern humans diagnosed with Down syndrome and euploid modern humans using comparative morphometric analyses. We present new data regarding neurocranial, brain, and symphyseal shape in Down syndrome, additional estimates of stature for LB1, and analyses of inter- and intralimb proportions. The presence of cranial sinuses is addressed using CT images of LB1. We found minimal congruence between the LB1 phenotype and clinical descriptions of Down syndrome. We present important differences between the phenotypes of LB1 and individuals with Down syndrome, and quantitative data that characterize LB1 as an outlier compared with Down syndrome and non-Down syndrome groups. Homo floresiensis remains a phenotypically unique, valid species with its roots in Plio-Pleistocene Homo taxa., Grant Number: P01 HD078233, R01 HD038384, Publication Note: This NIH-funded author manuscript originally appeared in PubMed Central at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4898715.
Turtle shell rattles are percussion instruments used by Indigenous peoples of the Americas in ceremonial contexts to keep rhythm. Archaeological investigations in the southeastern United States produced several complete and partial Eastern box turtle (Terrapene Carolina) shell rattles from mortuary contexts dating from the Archaic (ca. 8000-1000 BC) through Mississippian periods (ca. AD 800-1500). Fragmentary turtle remains, some identified as Eastern box turtle, are frequently recovered from non-mortuary contexts. Traditionally, these fragmentary remains are attributed to food waste. Given the archaeological and ethnographic evidence for turtle shell rattles, we need to consider how fragmentary remains might fit into the chaine operatoire of rattle production. This paper presents the results of an experimental study designed to identify one such chaine operatoire of rattle production. During this experiment, the data on taphonomic processes such as manufacturing marks, usewear, and breakage patterns, were recorded. We then tested the taphonomic findings from the experimental study and an object trait list we compiled from known rattle specimens and documentary sources with archaeological turtle remains recovered from non-mortuary contexts at two Mississippian period (ca. AD 1000-1450) sites in Middle Tennessee. Historic indigenous groups are known to have, and still do into the present-day, make and use turtle shell rattles in the region. Ultimately, we determined that "food refuse" should not be the default interpretation of fragmentary box turtle remains, and instead the taphonomic history and contextual associations must be considered in full. The experimental process of crafting turtle shell rattles enhances our understanding of an ancient musical instrument and the success rate of identifying musical artifacts and distinguishing between other modified turtle remains in the archaeological record. This study expands our knowledge of ancient music in North America and prompts re-analysis of curated turtle remains in museums for rattlerelated modifications., Keywords: instruments, Publication Note: The publisher’s version of record is available at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201472
In the American South white-tailed deer remains are recovered in abundance from late prehistoric archaeological sites and have been used to identify numerous social and cultural phenomena including status based differences in food consumption, feasting, inter-site transport of foodstuffs, and regional variation in subsistence strategies. Meat, marrow, bone, antler, and hide were important physical contributions of deer to the daily lives of southeastern native peoples. However, deer also play(ed) an important role in self-identity and social structure (Deer clan). In this paper we bring together multiple lines of evidence to offer a nuanced interpretation of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) antler objects recovered from Native American archaeological sites in the pre-European Southeastern United States in the traditional homelands of the Cherokees of the American South. We review the importance of the culturally appropriate interactions with deer as taught in deer hunting lore and taboos recorded in ethnographic and ethnohistoric sources. With this understanding, we then identify the material manifestations of deer hunting amulets from several archaeological sites in our study area. Ultimately our study of antler objects shows that combining indigenous knowledge with material studies gives us new insights into how humans perceived and interacted with the animals that lived in their shared environment, and fosters new interpretations of material culture., Keywords: animals, Antler, Cherokee, Deer, Ethnozooarchaeology, Hunting amulet, Velvet, Publication Note: The publisher’s version of record is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.10.028
Stone tools and mastodon bones occur in an undisturbed geological context at the Page-Ladson site, Florida. Seventy-one radiocarbon ages show that ~14,550 calendar years ago (cal yr B.P.), people butchered or scavenged a mastodon next to a pond in a bedrock sinkhole within the Aucilla River. This occupation surface was buried by ~4 m of sediment during the late Pleistocene marine transgression, which also left the site submerged. Sporormiella and other proxy evidence from the sediments indicate that hunter-gatherers along the Gulf Coastal Plain coexisted with and utilized megafauna for ~2000 years before these animals became extinct at ~12,600 cal yr B.P. Page-Ladson expands our understanding of the earliest colonizers of the Americas and human-megafauna interaction before extinction., Keywords: Archaeology, Florida, Late Pleistocene, Megafauna Extinction, Page-Ladson, Paleoindian, Pre-Clovis, Prehistoric America, Sporormiella, Underwater archaeology, Publication Note: This NIH-funded author manuscript originally appeared in PubMed Central at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4928949.
Large-scale changes in global climate at the end of the Pleistocene significantly impacted ecosystems across North America. However, the pace and scale of biotic turnover in response to both the Younger Dryas cold period and subsequent Holocene rapid warming have been challenging to assess because of the scarcity of well dated fossil and pollen records that covers this period. Here we present an ancient DNA record from Hall's Cave, Texas, that documents 100 vertebrate and 45 plant taxa from bulk fossils and sediment. We show that local plant and animal diversity dropped markedly during Younger Dryas cooling, but while plant diversity recovered in the early Holocene, animal diversity did not. Instead, five extant and nine extinct large bodied animals disappeared from the region at the end of the Pleistocene. Our findings suggest that climate change affected the local ecosystem in Texas over the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, but climate change on its own may not explain the disappearance of the megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene., behavior, age, communities, plant, dna, cave, central texas, deglaciation, holocene, pollen, The publisher's version of record is availible at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16502-3
Turtle shell rattles are percussion instruments used by Indigenous peoples of the Americas in ceremonial contexts to keep rhythm. Archaeological investigations in the southeastern United States produced several complete and partial Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina) shell rattles from mortuary contexts dating from the Archaic (ca. 8000-1000 BC) through Mississippian periods (ca. AD 800-1500). Fragmentary turtle remains, some identified as Eastern box turtle, are frequently recovered from non-mortuary contexts. Traditionally, these fragmentary remains are attributed to food waste. Given the archaeological and ethnographic evidence for turtle shell rattles, we need to consider how fragmentary remains might fit into the chaîne opératoire of rattle production. This paper presents the results of an experimental study designed to identify one such chaîne opératoire of rattle production. During this experiment, the data on taphonomic processes such as manufacturing marks, use-wear, and breakage patterns, were recorded. We then tested the taphonomic findings from the experimental study and an object trait list we compiled from known rattle specimens and documentary sources with archaeological turtle remains recovered from non-mortuary contexts at two Mississippian period (ca. AD 1000-1450) sites in Middle Tennessee. Historic indigenous groups are known to have, and still do into the present-day, make and use turtle shell rattles in the region. Ultimately, we determined that "food refuse" should not be the default interpretation of fragmentary box turtle remains, and instead the taphonomic history and contextual associations must be considered in full. The experimental process of crafting turtle shell rattles enhances our understanding of an ancient musical instrument and the success rate of identifying musical artifacts and distinguishing between other modified turtle remains in the archaeological record. This study expands our knowledge of ancient music in North America and prompts re-analysis of curated turtle remains in museums for rattle-related modifications., Publication Note: This NIH-funded author manuscript originally appeared in PubMed Central at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6072095.
