Maxime Aubert

The Later Stone Age Calvaria from Iwo Eleru, Nigeria: Morphology and Chronology

Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)

Date: 15-09-2011

DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0024024

Confirmation of a late middle Pleistocene age for the Omo Kibish 1 cranium by direct uranium-series dating

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 11-2012

DOI: 10.1016/J.JHEVOL.2012.07.006

Abstract: While it is generally accepted that modern humans evolved in Africa, the specific physical evidence for that origin remains disputed. The modern-looking Omo 1 skeleton, discovered in the Kibish region of Ethiopia in 1967, was controversially dated at ~130 ka (thousands of years ago) by U-series dating on associated Mollusca, and it was not until 2005 that Ar-Ar dating on associated feldspar crystals in pumice clasts provided evidence for an even older age of ~195 ka. However, questions continue to be raised about the age and stratigraphic position of this crucial fossil specimen. Here we present direct U-series determinations on the Omo 1 cranium. In spite of significant methodological complications, which are discussed in detail, the results indicate that the human remains do not belong to a later intrusive burial and are the earliest representative of anatomically modern humans. Given the more archaic morphology shown by the apparently contemporaneous Omo 2 calvaria, we suggest that direct U-series dating is applied to this fossil as well, to confirm its age in relation to Omo 1.

Correspondence on “Erosion rates and weathering history of rock surfaces associated with Aboriginal rock art engravings (petroglyphs) on Burrup Peninsula, Western Australia, from cosmogenic nuclide me

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 05-2014

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUASCIREV.2013.10.004

A Holocene sequence from Walufeni Cave, Southern Highlands Province, and its implications for the settlement of the Great Papuan Plateau, Papua New Guinea

Publisher: Informa UK Limited

Date: 02-01-2023

DOI: 10.1080/03122417.2023.2175960

Late-Holocene climatic variability indicated by three natural archives in arid southern Australia

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Date: 23-12-2014

DOI: 10.1177/0959683613515732

Abstract: Three terrestrial climate proxies are used to investigate the evolution of Holocene palaeoenvironments in southern central Australia, all of which present a coherent record of palaeohydrology. Single-grain optically stimulated luminescence from sediments supplemented by 14 C from charcoal and lacustrine shells was obtained to date shoreline deposits (Lake Callabonna) and the adjacent Mt Chambers Creek alluvial fan. Our findings are complemented by a U/Th-based record of speleothem growth in the Mt Chambers Creek catchment, which we interpret to reflect increased precipitation. Together, these archives shed light on the timing of, and possible sources of water for, Holocene pluvial intervals. We identified several phases of elevated lake levels dated at ~5.8–5.2, 4.5, 3.5–2.7 and 1 kyr, most of which correspond to fluvial activity resulting from increased precipitation in the adjacent ranges. The enhanced hydrology during phases of the late Holocene likely increased the reliability of resources for regional human populations during a time of reduced winter rainfall. When considered within the framework of the current understanding of Holocene palaeoclimate in central Australia, our data suggest that the pattern of landscape response was broadly synchronous with larger scale climatic variability and punctuated by pluvial periods greater than today.

The IRHUM (Isotopic Reconstruction of Human Migration) database – bioavailable strontium isotope ratios for geochemical fingerprinting in France

Publisher: Copernicus GmbH

Date: 25-03-2014

DOI: 10.5194/ESSD-6-117-2014

Abstract: Abstract. Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr / 86Sr) are a key geochemical tracer used in a wide range of fields including archaeology, ecology, food and forensic sciences. These applications are based on the principle that the Sr isotopic ratios of natural materials reflect the sources of strontium available during their formation. A major constraint for current studies is the lack of robust reference maps to evaluate the source of strontium isotope ratios measured in the s les. Here we provide a new data set of bioavailable Sr isotope ratios for the major geologic units of France, based on plant and soil s les (Pangaea data repository doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.819142). The IRHUM (Isotopic Reconstruction of Human Migration) database is a web platform to access, explore and map our data set. The database provides the spatial context and metadata for each s le, allowing the user to evaluate the suitability of the s le for their specific study. In addition, it allows users to upload and share their own data sets and data products, which will enhance collaboration across the different research fields. This article describes the s ling and analytical methods used to generate the data set and how to use and access the data set through the IRHUM database. Any interpretation of the isotope data set is outside the scope of this publication.

Improvement of laser ablation in situ micro-analysis to identify diagenetic alteration and measure strontium isotope ratios in fossil human teeth

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 06-2016

DOI: 10.1016/J.JAS.2016.04.017

In situ oxygen isotope micro-analysis of faunal material and human teeth using a SHRIMP II: a new tool for palaeo-ecology and archaeology

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 10-2201

DOI: 10.1016/J.JAS.2012.05.002

U-series and radiocarbon analyses of human and faunal remains from Wajak, Indonesia

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 05-2013

DOI: 10.1016/J.JHEVOL.2012.11.002

Abstract: Laser ablation U-series dating results on human and faunal bone fragments from Wajak, Indonesia, indicate a minimum age of between 37.4 and 28.5 ka (thousands of years ago) for the whole assemblage. These are significantly older than previously published radiocarbon estimates on bone carbonate, which suggested a Holocene age for a human bone fragment and a late Pleistocene age for a faunal bone. The analysis of the organic components in the faunal material show severe degradation and a positive δ(13)C ratio indicate a high degree of secondary carbonatisation. This may explain why the thermal release method used for the original age assessments yielded such young ages. While the older U-series ages are not in contradiction with the morphology of the Wajak human fossils or Javanese biostratigraphy, they will require a reassessment of the evolutionary relationships of modern human remains in Southeast Asia and Oceania. It can be expected that systematic direct dating of human fossils from this area will lead to further revisions of our understanding of modern human evolution.

Uranium-series dating rock art in East Timor

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 06-2007

DOI: 10.1016/J.JAS.2006.09.017

New evidence for a 67,000-year-old human presence at Callao Cave, Luzon, Philippines

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 07-2010

DOI: 10.1016/J.JHEVOL.2010.04.008

Abstract: Documentation of early human migrations through Island Southeast Asia and Wallacea en route to Australia has always been problematic due to a lack of well-dated human skeletal remains. The best known modern humans are from Niah Cave in Borneo (40-42ka), and from Tabon Cave on the island of Palawan, southwest Philippines (47+/-11ka). The discovery of Homo floresiensis on the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia has also highlighted the possibilities of identifying new hominin species on islands in the region. Here, we report the discovery of a human third metatarsal from Callao Cave in northern Luzon. Direct dating of the specimen using U-series ablation has provided a minimum age estimate of 66.7+/-1ka, making it the oldest known human fossil in the Philippines. Its morphological features, as well as size and shape characteristics, indicate that the Callao metatarsal definitely belongs to the genus Homo. Morphometric analysis of the Callao metatarsal indicates that it has a gracile structure, close to that observed in other small-bodied Homo sapiens. Interestingly, the Callao metatarsal also falls within the morphological and size ranges of Homo habilis and H. floresiensis. Identifying whether the metatarsal represents the earliest record of H. sapiens so far recorded anywhere east of Wallace's Line requires further archaeological research, but its presence on the isolated island of Luzon over 65,000 years ago further demonstrates the abilities of humans to make open ocean crossings in the Late Pleistocene.

A review of rock art dating in the Kimberley, Western Australia

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 03-2012

DOI: 10.1016/J.JAS.2011.11.009

One Colour, (at Least) Two Minerals: A Study of Mulberry Rock Art Pigment and a Mulberry Pigment 'Quarry' from the Kimberley, Northern Australia

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 12-12-2015

DOI: 10.1111/ARCM.12073

Non-Destructive or Noninvasive? The Potential Effect of X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometers on Luminescence Age Estimates of Archaeological Samples

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 18-05-2016

DOI: 10.1002/GEA.21574

Further comment on: “Uranium–thorium dating method and Palaeolithic rock art” by Sauvet et al. (2015, in press)

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 03-2017

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUAINT.2016.04.020

Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Date: 10-2014

DOI: 10.1038/NATURE13422

Abstract: Archaeologists have long been puzzled by the appearance in Europe ∼40-35 thousand years (kyr) ago of a rich corpus of sophisticated artworks, including parietal art (that is, paintings, drawings and engravings on immobile rock surfaces) and portable art (for ex le, carved figurines), and the absence or scarcity of equivalent, well-dated evidence elsewhere, especially along early human migration routes in South Asia and the Far East, including Wallacea and Australia, where modern humans (Homo sapiens) were established by 50 kyr ago. Here, using uranium-series dating of coralloid speleothems directly associated with 12 human hand stencils and two figurative animal depictions from seven cave sites in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, we show that rock art traditions on this Indonesian island are at least compatible in age with the oldest European art. The earliest dated image from Maros, with a minimum age of 39.9 kyr, is now the oldest known hand stencil in the world. In addition, a painting of a babirusa ('pig-deer') made at least 35.4 kyr ago is among the earliest dated figurative depictions worldwide, if not the earliest one. Among the implications, it can now be demonstrated that humans were producing rock art by ∼40 kyr ago at opposite ends of the Pleistocene Eurasian world.

Naturalism, nature and questions of style in Jinsha River Rock Art, Northwest Yunnan, China

Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)

Date: 27-01-2010

DOI: 10.1017/S0959774310000053

Abstract: The naturalistic rock art of Yunnan Province is poorly known outside of China despite two decades of investigation by local researchers. The authors report on the first major international study of this art, its place in antiquity and its resemblance to some of the rock art of Europe, southern Africa and elsewhere. While not arguing a direct connection between China, Europe and other widely separated places, this article suggests that rock-art studies about the nature of style, culture contact and the transmission of iconography across space and time need to take better account of the results of neuroscience research, similar economic/ecological circumstances and the probability of independent invention.

Uranium-series age estimates for rock art in southwest China

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 02-2012

DOI: 10.1016/J.JAS.2011.10.004

Oldest cave art found in Sulawesi

Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Date: 15-01-2021

DOI: 10.1126/SCIADV.ABD4648

Abstract: An image of a pig painted at least 45,500 years ago on a cave wall in Sulawesi may be the earliest figurative rock art ever found.

The chronostratigraphy of the Haua Fteah cave (Cyrenaica, northeast Libya)

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 2014

DOI: 10.1016/J.JHEVOL.2013.10.001

Abstract: The 1950s excavations by Charles McBurney in the Haua Fteah, a large karstic cave on the coast of northeast Libya, revealed a deep sequence of human occupation. Most subsequent research on North African prehistory refers to his discoveries and interpretations, but the chronology of its archaeological and geological sequences has been based on very early age determinations. This paper reports on the initial results of a comprehensive multi-method dating program undertaken as part of new work at the site, involving radiocarbon dating of charcoal, land snails and marine shell, cryptotephra investigations, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of sediments, and electron spin resonance (ESR) dating of tooth enamel. The dating s les were collected from the newly exposed and cleaned faces of the upper 7.5 m of the ∼14.0 m-deep McBurney trench, which contain six of the seven major cultural phases that he identified. Despite problems of sediment transport and reworking, using a Bayesian statistical model the new dating program establishes a robust framework for the five major lithostratigraphic units identified in the stratigraphic succession, and for the major cultural units. The age of two anatomically modern human mandibles found by McBurney in Layer XXXIII near the base of his Levalloiso-Mousterian phase can now be estimated to between 73 and 65 ka (thousands of years ago) at the 95.4% confidence level, within Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4. McBurney's Layer XXV, associated with Upper Palaeolithic Dabban blade industries, has a clear stratigraphic relationship with C anian Ignimbrite tephra. Microlithic Oranian technologies developed following the climax of the Last Glacial Maximum and the more microlithic Capsian in the Younger Dryas. Neolithic pottery and perhaps domestic livestock were used in the cave from the mid Holocene but there is no certain evidence for plant cultivation until the Graeco-Roman period.

Université Laval

Location: Canada

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Institut National De La Recherche Scientifique

Location: Canada

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Griffith University - Gold Coast Campus

Location: Australia

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ARC Future Fellowships - Grant ID: FT170100025

Start Date: 07-2017

End Date: 06-2021

Amount: $998,804.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP110102898

Start Date: 03-2011

End Date: 03-2014

Amount: $310,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP220100462

Start Date: 06-2022

End Date: 06-2027

Amount: $848,116.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP190100159

Start Date: 07-2019

End Date: 06-2025

Amount: $549,747.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100254

Start Date: 05-2014

End Date: 05-2017

Amount: $395,205.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Linkage Projects - Grant ID: LP190100194

Start Date: 10-2020

End Date: 10-2025

Amount: $1,342,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE140100023

Start Date: 2014

End Date: 12-2014

Amount: $360,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council