Affinito, S., Eteson, B., & Karakostis, F. A. (2025). Integrating EEG and EMG data: a novel statistical pipeline for investigating brain-muscle interaction in experimental neuroarchaeology. Brain Structure and Function 2025 230:6, 230(6). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-025-02961-1 

Eteson, B., Affinito, S., & Karakostis, F. A. (2025). The mind & muscles: Introducing a validated EEG/EMG protocol for recording cognitive-muscular interactions in experimental archaeology. PLOS ONE, 20(5). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324103 

This is accompanied by a comprehensive step-by-step protoocol:  
https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.36wgqnxbygk5/v1

Karakostis, F. A. (2025). Introducing “Validated entheses-Based reconstruction of activity 2.0” (VERA 2.0): Semi-automated 3D analysis of bone surface changes. PLOS ONE, 20(4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321479 
This is linked to a detailed step-by-step protocol (including a video demonstration), available here: https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.5jyl82z8dl2w/v3

VERA 2.0 builds on the original VERA method, first introduced in 2016 and later formally named in a 2021 literature review. This updated version offers a more accessible and rapid approach, taking only about 2 minutes per enthesis for experienced users, and focuses on semi-automatically tracking and quantifying subtle bone surface deformations caused by cumulative muscle or ligament activity during life.

The paper presents experimental validation using both animal lab models and extensively documented human skeletons. It also includes an anatomical dissection and virtual analysis of a cadaveric bone, suggesting that VERA 2.0 could even help reconstruct muscle locations on dry bone (thus perhaps also in extinct fossil species, something that remains largely speculative in the evolutionary literature). The method may also prove useful for quantifying any other types of subtle surface variability, beyond bone.

The findings suggest intriguing connections between hominin brain evolution and the use of precise humanlike tool use. This work builds on other recent studies from the group on the biomechanical (muscle) requirements of efficient early stone tool use as well as fossil evidence for humanlike manual activities in certain early hominin species.

More details and pictures can be found in the press release, including a link to the publication.

In this study, a simulation framework based on empirical forensic, clinical, and archaeological data is used to compare the performance of two approaches for estimating trauma prevalence from incomplete skeletal samples: conventional frequencies and generalized linear models. Findings show that model-based estimates outperform frequencies. The former are consistently more precise across different levels of incompleteness, while frequencies increasingly often produce incorrect relative trauma patterns between samples or fail to produce any estimates as skeletal completeness decreases. Although not explicitly tested, these findings should, in principle, also apply to various types of pathological skeletal lesions scored for prevalence assessments.

Read the full study here.

The study, titled "Humanlike manual activities in Australopithecus”, is co-authored by our Center’s Principal Investigator, Prof. Dr. Katerina Harvati; Dr. Gerhard Hotz, Curator of Anthropology at the Natural History Museum of Basel and researcher at the Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science, University of Basel; and our Junior Research Group Leader, Dr. Fotios Alexandros Karakostis.

You can read the full article here:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004724842400099X.

The research team extends their gratitude to all contributors and collaborators who supported this work. Congratulations to all authors on this remarkable achievement!

This open-access article presents pioneering findings from their electromyography (EMG) experiments, shedding light on the factors influencing early stone tool efficiency—specifically in hammerstone nut-cracking and flake cutting.

These results offer valuable evolutionary insights into early hominin behaviors.

The study, titled "“How handy was early hominin ‘know-how’?” An experimental approach exploring efficient early stone tool use”, is co-authored by Junior Research Group members Brie Eteson and Simona Affinito, in collaboration with Elena T. Moos from the Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology at the University of Tübingen and the group leader, Dr. Fotios Alexandros Karakostis.

Access the full text here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.25019.

The research team extends their gratitude to all participants in the experiments and to everyone who contributed to this study.

Congratulations to the team on this significant achievement!

The publication includes contributions from our Center’s affiliates: Dr. Judith Beier, current fellow; Prof. Dr. Katerina Harvati, one of our Principal Investigators; Dr. Silvia Ghirotto, one of our external members; and Dr. Hannes Rathmann, a former fellow, now at the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen. Other collaborators include Maria T. Vizzari (University of Ferrara) and Shara E. Bailey (New York University).

Access the full article here, and read the German press release from the University of Tübingen here.

The research team expresses deep gratitude to all co-authors and additional Tübingen colleagues for their contributions. Congratulations to the team on this important achievement!

Prof. Dr. Gustavo has credited his time at Tübingen as a significant factor in his professional development, helping to pave the way for this achievement. We extend our congratulations to him on this exceptional honor.

For more information about his projects during his fellowships, click [https://uni-tuebingen.de/forschung/forschungsschwerpunkte/forschungsgruppen/words-bones-genes-tools/fellows/abstracts/#c1758880].

For details from the University of Bonn regarding the Humboldt Research Award, click [https://www.iak.uni-bonn.de/de/institut/abteilungen/altamerikanistik/ankuendigungen/alexander-von-humboldt-foundation-research-prize-2024]

Languages disfavor word forms containing sequences of similar or identical consonants, due to the biomechanical and cognitive difficulties posed by patterns of this sort. However, the specific evolutionary processes responsible for this phenomenon are not fully understood. Words containing sequences of identical consonants may be more likely to arise than those without; processes of word form mutation may be more likely to remove than create sequences of identical consonants in word forms; finally, words containing identical consonants may die out more frequently than those without. Phylogenetic analyses of the evolution of homologous word forms indicate that words with identical consonants arise less frequently than those without. However, words with identical consonants do not die out more frequently than those without. Further analyses reveal that forms with identical consonants are replaced in basic meaning functions more frequently than words without. Taken together, results suggest that the underrepresentation of sequences of identical consonants is overwhelmingly a by-product of constraints on word form coinage, though processes related to word usage also serve to ensure that such patterns are infrequent in more salient vocabulary items. These findings clarify aspects of processes of lexical evolution and competition that take place during language change, optimizing communicative systems.

Here is the link to the full article including the link to the supplementary material:

Cathcart, Chundra. 2024. Multiple evolutionary pressures shape identical consonant avoidance in the world’s languages. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121(27):e2316677121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2316677121

While static embeddings have dominated com- putational approaches to lexical semantic change for quite some time, recent approaches try to leverage the contextualized embeddings generated by the language model BERT for identifying semantic shifts in historical texts. However, despite their usability for detecting changes in the more recent past, it remains un- clear how well language models scale to inves- tigations going back further in time, where the language differs substantially from the training data underlying the models. In this paper, we present GHisBERT, a BERT-based language model trained from scratch on historical data covering all attested stages of German (going back to Old High German, c. 750 CE). Given a lack of ground truth data for investigating lexical semantic change across historical Ger- man language stages, we evaluate our model via a lexical similarity analysis of ten stable concepts. We show that, in comparison with an unmodified and a fine-tuned German BERT- base model, our model performs best in terms of assessing inter-concept similarity as well as intra-concept similarity over time. This in turn argues for the necessity of pre-training historical language models from scratch when working with historical linguistic data.

Here is the link to the full article including the link to the supplementary material: https://aclanthology.org/2023.lchange-1.4/

Time: Thursday, 19^th October 2023 at 1pm (sharp)

Location: Online via Zoom

Speakers: Prof. Dr. François Osiurak

Title: Bringing cumulative technological culture beyond copying versus reasoning

Abstract:
Cumulative technological culture refers to the increase in the efficiency and complexity of tools and techniques over generations, a phenomenon that could be restricted to humans. The dominant view (also called the cultural niche hypothesis) posits that cumulative technological culture emerges in humans because of our unique ability to learn from each other and not because of specific technical skills. More specifically, the dominant view assumes that (1) high-fidelity transmission plays a crucial role in cumulative technological culture, with the rationale that, when an innovation appears, it will quickly be lost if it cannot be faithfully transmitted to others and (2) high-fidelity transmission can emerge through a so-called high-fidelity copying ability. In other words, individuals can reproduce the tool-use actions performed by others without requiring understanding of how these technologies work, that is, without causal understanding. The cultural niche hypothesis has been mainly developed from evidence from anthropology, economics, and biology. Yet, it is also a cognitive view given the marked cognitive distinction drawn between high-fidelity copying and causal understanding. Surprisingly, this view is relatively silent on the cognitive origins of these abilities, and particularly on the copying ability. Yet, for a cognitive scientist, understanding how people copy the actions of others is not the end, but the beginning of the story. In this talk, I will discuss empirical findings from the cognitive science literature (e.g., experimental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, neuropsychology) that question the distinction between high-fidelity copying and causal understanding and, more particularly, the cognitive reality of the so-called high-fidelity copying ability. These findings suggest that causal understanding is involved in the ability to reproduce tool use actions performed by others and, more generally, in cumulative technological culture. As a result, the main assumptions of the dominant view are misleading, leading us to revisit the (neurocognitive) origin of cumulative technological culture.

Recent references
Osiurak, F., Claidière, N., & Federico, G. (2023). Bringing cumulative technological culture beyond copying versus reasoning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 27, 30–42.
Osiurak, F., Claidière, N., Bluet, A., Brogniart, J., Lasserre, S., Bonhoure, T., Di Rollo, L., Gorry, N., Polette, Y., Saude, A., Federico, G., Uomini, N., & Reynaud, E. (2022). Technical reasoning bolsters cumulative technological culture through convergent transformations. Science Advances, 8, eabl7446.
Osiurak, F., Lasserre, S., Arbanti, J., Brogniart, J., Bluet, A., Navarro, J., & Reynaud, E. (2021). Technical reasoning is important for cumulative technological culture. Nature Human Behaviour, 5, 1643–1651.
Osiurak, F., & Reynaud, E. (2020). The elephant in the room: What matters cognitively in cumulative technological culture. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 43, e156.

We welcome you all to join us via Zoom.

Zoom link (no password required): https://zoom.us/j/8999550348

Time: Thursday, 27^th July 2023 at 1pm (sharp)

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom (link will be send one day before the colloquium)

Speakers: Prof. Dr. Ammie Kalan

Title: Behavioural Flexibility in Chimpanzee Tool use

Abstract:
Using a systematic and standardized approach to studying wild chimpanzees across their range has resulted in unprecedented comparisons of over 40 chimpanzee populations. These efforts, part of the Pan African Programme initiative, have led to new discoveries regarding the chimpanzee behavioural and cultural repertoire including new tool use behaviours. In this talk I will combine both my past and present research on chimpanzee tool use behaviour to provide insight into the flexibility, diversity and cultural variation observed in the wild.  I will also briefly share my current research focus whilst a DFG Center Fellow and illustrate how my research can help inform conservation strategies on-the-ground.
 

We welcome you all to join us in-person or via Zoom.

Here is the link to the full article including the link to the supplementary material: https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/2/7/pgad217/7217023

Time: Thursday, 13^th July 2023 at 1pm (sharp)

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom

Speaker:Prof. Dr. Steven Moran and Axel Erkström

Title:Aerosols, airflow, and more: Examining the interaction of speech and the physical environment

Abstract: 

In this talk I describe ongoing efforts to better understand the interaction of spoken languages and their physical environments. First, I discuss the hypothesis that environments with very dry air place subtle pressures on how languages evolve, given the demonstrable effects of desiccation on the functioning of the vocal cords. This discussion focuses on recent experimental research suggesting that the inhalation of dry air under natural conditions impacts the functioning of the vocal cords, including new research demonstrating that dry environments yield higher jitter rates of vocal cord vibration in natural speech. It is suggested that such research can offer a way forward in relevant debates, moving beyond discussions of correlations between linguistic and non-linguistic variables. The second part of the talk focuses on the ways speech can affect the immediate physical environment. I discuss the speech-based production of airflow and aerosol particles that are buoyant in ambient air, based on some of the results in the literature. Most critically, I discuss a novel method developed by myself and colleagues to capture aerosol, airflow, and acoustic data simultaneously. This method captures airflow data via a pneumotachograph and aerosol data via an electrical particle impactor. Given the capabilities of the electrical particle impactor, which has not previously been used to analyze speech-based aerosols, the method allows for the detection of aerosol particles at temporal and physical resolutions exceeding those evident in the literature, even enabling the isolation of the role of individual sound types in the production of aerosols. I discuss how this approach could ultimately yield data that are relevant to airborne disease transmission and offer preliminary results that illustrate such relevance. The results described in this talk illustrate in new ways the unseen and unheard ways in which spoken languages interact with their physical environments.

We welcome you all to join us in-person or via Zoom. 

Time: Thursday, 13^th July 2023 at 12pm (sharp)

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom

Speaker:Prof. Dr. Steven Moran and Axel Erkström

Title: Comparative phonetics: towards insights into the evolution of speech

Abstract: 

While great apes such as chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and orangutans (Pongo abelii) both produce vowel-like hoots, the acoustic and perceptual qualities of which overlap with human back vowels, reverse engineering efforts of species’ vocal tracts suggest such apparent continuity in sounds produced is likely result of acoustically fortuitous phenomena. Rather, continuity with human speech appears to be mainly in the domain of morphology, with apes possessing large fleshy, extendable lips, which are readily used in production of speech and speech-like sounds. Through analyses of novel learned vocalizations of chimpanzees in captivity, we demonstrate that both (1) the essential morphological underpinnings of human syllables and (2) the imitative abilities that underlie speech acquisition, were likely present at a much earlier stage of evolution than previously thought. Next, we review archaeological findings in search of a timeline during which features of the modern human articulatory morphology emerged. The incorporation of processed food in the Homo lineage likely facilitated the reduction of the jaw, oral cavity, teeth, and face. A mutation leading to inactivation of predominant myosin heavy chain expressed in masticatory muscles may have removed a constraint on brain expansion; and was possibly maintained in the lineage because food processing had already been outsourced to the hands and rudimentary stone tools during the Oldowan cultural niche (removing selection pressure for heavy jaws). The chain of events allows us to posit early Homo as a likely change-point in articulator evolution.

We welcome you all to join us in-person or via Zoom. 

Time: Thursday, 29^th June 2023 at 1pm (sharp)

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom

Speaker:Prof. Dr. Nina Dobrushina

Title:Grammatical categories channeled through speech practices tend to be super-diffusible: the case of wishes and optatives in Daghestan

Abstract: 

There is a hypothesis that areal diffusion of grammatical categories can be mediated by the spread of discourse phenomena (Beier et al. 2002, De Vries 2006, Nikitina 2017, Epps & Michael 2017, Mithun 2008). In this talk, I will contribute to this discussion by focusing on the grammatical category of the optative (a form which expresses the speaker’s wish or hope that something would happen) in the languages of Daghestan (Northern Caucasus), and the related discourse phenomenon of wish formulas (blessings and curses) in the same area. I will show that inflectional optatives proved to be super-diffusible in the Caucasus. They are found in genealogically unrelated languages; they may use old (non-analyzable) morphology or be innovative within the same family or even branch; one language can have several optatives with the same or similar function. High diffusibility of the optatives and abundance of other wish expressions points to a special scenario of language contact. I believe that the maintenance and diffusion of the optatives is supported by the discourse practice of blessings and curses, thus showcasing the link between structural linguistic phenomena and cultural environment.

We welcome you all to join us in-person or via Zoom. 

Time: Thursday, 22^th June 2023 at 1pm (sharp)

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom

Speaker:Dr. Chundra Cathcart

Title:Exploring the co-evolution of sound patterns and lexical items: a phylogenetic approach

Abstract:

Languages vary widely in terms of the sound patterns they permit: a hypothetical word *bnick would not be possible in English, but similar words are found in other languages. At the same time, a number of trends are found to recur across genetically diverse languages.

In this talk, I investigate the origins and maintenance of two of these quasi-universal phenomena: (1) the statistical under-representation of proximate consonants sharing a place of articulation within words (similar place avoidance; Frisch, Pierrehumbert, and Broe 2004; van de Weijer 2005; Pozdniakov and Segerer 2007; Wilson and Obdeyn 2009) and (2) robust sound-meaning correspondences (Dingemanse et al. 2015; Blasi et al. 2016; Johansson et al. 2020).

Both of these phenomena are plausibly rooted in cognitive and communicative preferences, and contribute to a communicatively optimized system. At the same time, not much is known regarding the specific diachronic mechanisms that bring about and foster these patterns, with the exception of some detailed studies limited to individual languages (Carling and Johansson 2014).

I use phylogenetic methods to explore the evolutionary dynamics of these phenomena in a number of language families. The models I employ allow me to clarify whether similar place avoidance is largely an artifact of constraints on mutation (i.e., words violating this constraint are unlikely to be coined) or selection of word forms (i.e., words violating this constraint are likely to die out). Additionally (in joint work with G. Jäger), I use similar approaches to quantify the stability of certain sound classes within concepts (e.g., +NASAL in NOSE) in a dynamic fashion, clarifying aspects of the dynamics of renewal of sound-meaning associations.

References

Blasi, Damián E, Søren Wichmann, Harald Hammarström, Peter F Stadler, and Morten H Christiansen. 2016. “Sound–Meaning Association Biases Evidenced Across Thousands of Languages.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113 (39): 10818–23.

Carling, Gerd, and Niklas Johansson. 2014. “Motivated Language Change: Processes Involved in the Growth and Conventionalization of Onomatopoeia and Sound Symbolism.” Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 46 (2): 199–217.

Dingemanse, Mark, Damián E Blasi, Gary Lupyan, Morten H Christiansen, and Padraic Monaghan. 2015. “Arbitrariness, Iconicity, and Systematicity in Language.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 19 (10): 603–15.

Frisch, Stefan A, Janet B Pierrehumbert, and Michael B Broe. 2004. “Similarity Avoidance and the OCP.” Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 22 (1): 179–228.

Johansson, Niklas Erben, Andrey Anikin, Gerd Carling, and Arthur Holmer. 2020. “The Typology of Sound Symbolism: Defining Macro-Concepts via Their Semantic and Phonetic Features.” Linguistic Typology 24 (2): 253–310.

Pozdniakov, Konstantin, and Guillaume Segerer. 2007. “Similar Place Avoidance: A Statistical Universal

We welcome you all to join us in-person or via Zoom. 

Time: Thursday, 15^th June 2023 at 1pm (sharp)

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom

Speaker: Dr. Christin Beck und Dr. Marisa Köllner

Title: Learning the Language of the Past: Historical Linguistics, Machine Learning and the detection of loanword adaption and lexical semantic change

Abstract: 

With the recent advances and success of contextualized language models (LMs) in NLP, there has also been a surge of interest in applying such models for investigations into historical language change. Yet, while these models have been successfully applied to research on lexical semantic change, i.e., changes in word meaning over time, it remains unclear as to how the models can be leveraged for historical linguistic research more broadly, e.g. for loanword adaptation and lexical semantic change.

In this talk, we will give an update on our research in terms of the usability of LMs for historical linguistic research. For one, we will present the background of LMs and their usage in linguistics for investigating lexical semantic change. For another, we will give insights into using language data of different languages stages as learning data to gain more temporal depth and discuss the adaptation of loanwords and lexical semantic change in a historical setting. For this research project, we focused on the German language, for which we rely on different large-scale corpora as training data and well-founded etymological dictionaries to evaluate our findings in the trained language data. For now, we focus on the adaptation of loanwords and lexical semantic change over time, mainly on the changes between Middle High German and New High German. Since this project brought some challenges that have to be solved before answering our research questions, our research is still work in progress, which we aim to complete within the next weeks.
 

We welcome you all to join us in-person or via Zoom. 

The article is freely accessible under: https://apnews.com/article/greece-archaeology-oldest-site-stone-tools-3e84007cde4d77a2725b7877b9b38335

Time: Thursday, 1^st June 2023 at 1pm (sharp)

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Amina Mettouchi

Title: Milky ways in the Sahara

Abstract:
Berber (also called Amazigh) languages are currently spoken across a vast area stretching from the Nile to the Atlantic, and from the Mediterranean to the Sahel. They are a branch of the Afroasiatic family, whose homeland has been hypothesized to be either the horn of Africa, or the Levant, or the Sahara/Sahel. 

While the time-depth of AfroAsiatic is reconstructed at 15 000 - 10 000 BCE, Proto-Berber, if calibrated according to standard assumptions about rates of language change, should only date back to the beginning of the current era. However, epigraphic evidence is attested in the first millenium BCE at least, and most probably, the Berber branch is much older.

In order to investigate this mystery, and because pastoralism is a key cultural feature of Berber groups, I explore the lexicon of milk production and products (livestock, milk preparations, churns, ladles and pots...), in parallel with multidisciplinary evidence from archaeology (evidence of milk processing, faunal remains, rock art…), genetics, and anthropology (food preparation techniques, prophylactic rituals, oral tradition). My proposal is that Berber languages spread across North Africa as a result of the aridification of the Green Sahara around 4500 BP.
 

We welcome you all to join us in-person or via Zoom. 

Time: Thursday, 4^th May 2023 at 1pm (sharp)

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom (the link will shared one day before the talk)

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Nick Evans

Title: Plant use in ancient Sahul: evidence from linguistics

Abstract:

Ancient plant use leaves fewer traces than either bones or stones, yet
knowledge and use of the botanical world was arguably more important
than meat, hunting or stone-tool use, to our deep ancestors. In
addition to food, plants supplied key elements in some of the
less-visible elements of tool-making, such as string, bags, nets,
paint fixatives, medicines and mosquito repellent. In this talk I
bring the tools of historical linguistics, especially etymology, to
bear on two 'hemi-continents' – New Guinea and Australia – of the
once-united continent known as Sahul.

In the New Guinea part of the talk I focus on the origins of gardening
practices in Southern New Guinea, which appear to represent a fairly
recent transition from gathering of wild fruits and roots,
supplemented by casual cultivation of sago, to the construction of
fenced and intensively-worked gardens for growing yams. The linguistic
evidence of semantically-shifted cognates in the domain of words for
swidden gardens, fences, and the plants grown there sheds particular
light on the cultural transition needed to fertilise the earth by
removing large trees, and to keep out animal freeloaders (originally
bandicoots, now pigs) from consuming garden produce.

In the Australian part of the talk, which represents joint work with
Alexandra Marley and Rachel Nordlinger, I examine the question of how
far it is possible to reconstruct a panoply of plant terms, and infer
their uses, among hunter-gatherers, focussing on the non-Pama-Nyungan
languages which occupy most of the Australian tropics, including the
likely entry-point of humans to Australia. Plant use in northern
Australia has been remarkably stable since the first humans arrived c.
65,000 years ago, and it turns out we can reconstruct dozens of plant
names to the earliest common ancestor of Australian languages. For
some of them, such as the screwpalm (Pandanus Spiralis) the existence
of at least four cognate sets, including languages contrasting at
least three of them, points to distinct terms focussing on different
useful parts of the plants involved; for others, such as the tree
orchid (Dendrobium Caniculatum) deep-time cognate sets correlate with
their use as paint fixatives in rock-painting traditions, from the
same region, going back at least 25,000 years and probably longer.

I conclude by emphasising the need to combine extensive in-depth field
recording of Indigenous languages (ideally by teams combining
linguistic and botanical expertise) with approaches to historical
linguistics that maximise what we can infer from comparative data, in
the spirit of Vavilov and Haudricourt.
 

We welcome you all to join us in-person or via Zoom.

Time: Thursday, 27^th April 2023 at 1pm (sharp)

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom (the link will be send around the day before the colloquium)

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Terry Harrison

Title: The paleoecology of Laetoli and its implications for early hominin speciation and extinction

Abstract: 

Paleoanthropologists have been painstakingly piecing together the human fossil record so that we now have an excellent understanding of the major steps that took place in our evolutionary history. However, we are just beginning to tackle the more fundamental question of what were the major environmental drivers of speciation, evolutionary change, and extinction. What role did global climate, regional tectonics, and local environmental factors play? This colloquium explores how the study of paleoecology at the Pliocene site of Laetoli in Tanzania has yielded important new clues for understanding the environmental context in which Australopithecus afarensis went extinct and was replaced by Paranthropus aethiopicus.  At the same time, the presentation highlights the empirical limits of the paleoecological paradigm for drawing inferences about the drivers of early hominin evolutionary events.

We welcome you all to join us in-person or via Zoom. 

Time: Thursday, 20^th April 2023 at 1pm (sharp)

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom (the Zoom Link will be send around the day before the colloquium)

Speaker: Dr. Maciej T. Krajcarz

Title: Toward the isotopic ecology of the Altai Neanderthals

Abstract:

The Altai mountains in southern Siberia were the furthest and easternmost outpost of the Neanderthal ecumene. The region was settled at least two times by Neanderthal populations coming from Europe, with almost a 3,000 km gap between the known sites in Altai and the easternmost sites in Europe: in Crimea and Caucasus. Despite this huge distance, the Altai Neanderthals were closely related to their European cousins in terms of genetic similarities and lithic technology. This evokes essential questions about their environment and their subsistence habits. Arriving at Altai, did they still roam within the same widespread ecosystem and could exploit it following the European strategies? Or maybe, did they face there another ecology, that they had to adapt to? In my project, I try to find answers to these questions in the frame of the “Words, Bones, Genes, Tools” fellowship. The research method is isotopic paleoecology using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values recorded in bone collagen of Neanderthal and animal fossils from Altai. The project aims to collect and critically evaluate all published and unpublished isotopic data. The final goal is to compare the isotopic ecology of the Altai ecosystem and the well-studied Late Pleistocene ecosystems of Europe. This will provide key information for our understanding of the Neanderthal adaptability to the extreme conditions at the fringes of their ecumene.

We welcome you all to join us in-person or via Zoom. 

Time: Thursday, 13^th April 2023 at 1pm (sharp)

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom

Speaker: Dr. Ronald Planer

Title: Control of Bullies and the Hominin Cooperation Expansion

Abstract:
The social lives of non-human great apes—and of chimpanzees, in particular—are pervasively shaped by bullying aggression. Imposing aggressors can and often do take what they want by sheer force. Such aggression is toxic for a variety of forms of cooperation and collaboration which have been plausibly seen as foundational to the evolution of hominin social and cognitive uniqueness. Thus, how our ancestors came to control physically powerful bullies is a major question in hominin social evolution. Despite this, the question has attracted relatively little attention by comparison with other forms of cooperation destabilizing, anti-social behavior. In this article, I explain the bully problem and its consequences for collaborative foraging and reproductive cooperation, in particular. I argue that there is good reason to think our ancestors must have been exercising increasing control over bullies by as early as the Pliocene. This early date clashes with the few anti-bullying models that have been offered. Accordingly, I present and argue for an alternative model which I call the “affordable killing model.” The main idea behind this model is that, as hominin intergroup conflict decreased, so did the costs of killing or ostracizing physically powerful bullies in our social groups. The benefits, however, remained fixed. This allowed greater social control over bullying to evolve, I suggest. The causal factors highlighted by the other anti-bullying models are still seen as important, but as relevant only later on.
 

We welcome you all to join us in-person or via Zoom.

The full interview is available under: https://www.wissenschaftsjahr.de/2022/fragen/antworten/detailansicht/warum-sprechen-nicht-alle-menschen-dieselbe-sprache

Time: Thursday, 23^rd March 2023 at 1pm (sharp)

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom

Speaker: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet İhsan Aytek

Title:  A new Turolian Fossil Locality of Kayaca (Sw Anatolia, Denizli)
 

Abstract:

The timing and route of mammalian dispersals among continents are among the most important issues currently discussed in paleontology. Anatolian peninsula constitutes a migration pathway for faunal groups due to its geographic position being a land-bridge extending between Asia, Africa and Europe. Its special geographic setting enables to host mammalian groups and serves a pathway as a natural land-bridge allowing the migrations for the terrestrial biota throughout the time. To reveal Pleistocene and Miocene mammalian (especially hominin and hominoid) movements in Aegean and thus Anatolia, I conducted intensive fieldwork between 2017-2021 in Denizli and Aydın provincec with a multidisciplinary team. We visited known Pleistocene and Miocene localities and found new ones during this fieldwork. After 5 years, we found hundreds of fossils belong to 39 different mammalian species in 9 different localities. Although most of localities are potential areas for an excavation, one of them -Kayaca Locality- yielded numerous fossils in very good preservation conditions. In 2022, we conducted a preliminary excavation for 15 days, to see the potential of the site. Despite its short duration, a total of 159 identifiable fossils in very good preservation were unearthed. Initial morphological observations on the fossils suggest the existence of 13 different families in the site (Hyenidae, Mustelidae, Mephitidae, Ursidae, Gomphoteridae, Deinotheriidae, Bovidae, Giraffidae, Suidae, Equidae, Rhinocerotidae, Orycteropodidae, Testudinidae). The timing and route of mammalian dispersals among continents are among the most important issues currently discussed in paleontology. 

Our leading aim is to discover new fossils in the highly promising locality in the next seasons of excavation. Reconstructing the paleoenvironmental setting of proposed research area is essential to understand the migration patterns of hominoids and other mammalian groups. Therefore, this excavation is considered as the beginning of a long-term research project of excavation and analysis.
 

We welcome you all to join us in-person or via Zoom. The Zoom link will be sent the day before the colloquium.

The article can be accessed through a paywall under:
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/artikel/wissen/eiszeit-hoehlenmalereien-symbole-schrift-e278052/

Abstract: Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants.

The full article is available under: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05726-0

The Pressemitteilung of the University of Tübingen is available under: https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/university/news-and-publications/press-releases/press-releases/article/ice-age-survivors/

Abstract: The use of non-destructive approaches for digital acquisition (e.g. computerised tomography—CT) allows detailed qualitative and quantitative study of internal structures of skeletal material. Here, we present a new R-based software tool, Icex, applicable to the study of the sizes and shapes of skeletal cavities and fossae in 3D digital images. Traditional methods of volume extraction involve the manual labelling (i.e. segmentation) of the areas of interest on each section of the image stack. This is time-consuming, error-prone and challenging to apply to complex cavities. Icex facilitates rapid quantification of such structures. We describe and detail its application to the isolation and calculation of volumes of various cranial cavities. The R tool is used here to automatically extract the orbital volumes, the paranasal sinuses, the nasal cavity and the upper oral volumes, based on the coordinates of 18 cranial anatomical points used to define their limits, from 3D cranial surface meshes obtained by segmenting CT scans. Icex includes an algorithm (Icv) for the calculation of volumes by defining a 3D convex hull of the extracted cavity. We demonstrate the use of Icex on an ontogenetic sample (0–19 years) of modern humans and on the fossil hominin crania Kabwe (Broken Hill) 1, Gibraltar (Forbes' Quarry) and Guattari 1. We also test the tool on three species of non-human primates. In the modern human subsample, Icex allowed us to perform a preliminary analysis on the absolute and relative expansion of cranial sinuses and pneumatisations during growth. The performance of Icex, applied to diverse crania, shows the potential for an extensive evaluation of the developmental and/or evolutionary significance of hollow cranial structures. Furthermore, being open source, Icex is a fully customisable tool, easily applicable to other taxa and skeletal regions.

The full article is available under: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joa.13843

Time: Thursday, 2^nd March 2023 at 1pm (sharp)

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom

Speaker: Dr. Christin Beck

Title:Learning the Language of the Past: Historical Linguistics, Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning

Abstract: 
With the recent advances and success of contextualized language models (LMs) in NLP, there has also been a surge of interest in applying such models for investigations into historical language change. Yet, while these models have been successfully applied to research on lexical semantic change, i.e., changes in word meaning over time, it remains unclear as to how the models can be leveraged for historical linguistic research more broadly, e.g., for investigations into syntactic change, i.e., changes involving more functional language structures. In this talk, I aim at shedding light on the usability of  LMs for historical linguistic research. For one, I will present my own work showing how a contextualized language model can be used for investigating lexical semantic change at the word level. For another, I will discuss some of the limitations of these language models in terms of what they really learn, i.e., which kind of linguistic information is captured by the contextualized embeddings generated by LMs. This discussion is supported by my own (collaborative) research which investigates whether LMs are able to model the functional nature of function words adequately by examining more closely how function words are contextualized, i.e., captured in the embeddings, and how (or if) functionality is learned during training. Lastly, with these limitations in mind, I will present my research proposal for my upcoming fellowship at the DFG Center 'Words, Bones, Genes, Tools', where I intend to investigate lexical semantic change across language stages, developing a new methodology which combines LMs with phylogenetic methodologies for cognate identification.

We welcome you all to join us via Zoom and we will send around the specific link on the day before the talk.

Time: Thursday, 23^rd February 2023 at 1pm (sharp)

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom

Speaker: Dr. Chundra Cathcart

Title: The evolution of similar place avoidance: phylogenetic approaches to phonotactic change

Abstract: 

The world’s languages exhibit considerable variation in terms of the static sound patterns displayed by individual words. At the same time, a number of recurrent phonotactic patterns are found in a large sample of genetically diverse languages. One such tendency is the statistical underrepresentation of adjacent identical consonants or consonants sharing a place of articulation within uninflected morphologically simple lexical items. While this pattern is likely rooted in pressures toward communicative efficiency, not much is understood regarding the specific diachronic mechanisms that bring it about. A working hypothesis found in the literature but as yet untested is that word usage is involved in its maintenance: language users are less likely to coin or adopt and more likely to phase out words containing similar consonants (Frisch et al. 2004, Martin 2007).

In this talk, I employ a Bayesian phylogenetic model to investigate the evolutionary dynamics that underlie this phenomenon. I additionally sketch out implications of these results for the study of human language at a deep time scale.

References
Blust, R. and S. Trussel (2013). The Austronesian comparative dictionary: a work in progress. Oceanic Linguistics 52(2), 493–523.
Frisch, S. A., J. B. Pierrehumbert, and M. B. Broe (2004). Similarity avoidance and the OCP. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 22(1), 179–228.
Martin, A. T. (2007). The evolving lexicon. Ph. D. thesis, University of California, Los Angeles.

We welcome you all to join us in person or via Zoom. We will send around the specific link on the day before the talk.

You can listen to the full interview on the following link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct38tq

Time: Thursday, 9.02.2023, 1pm sharp

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom

Speaker: Dr. Michael Daniel

Title: Geography and language divergence: The case of Andic languages

Abstract:

Ezequiel Koile, Ilya Chechuro, Michael Daniel and George Moroz
We study the correlation between phylogenetic and geographic distances for the languages of the Andic branch of the East Caucasian (Nakh-Daghestanian) language family. For several alternative phylogenies, we find that geographic distances correlate with linguistic divergence. Notably, qualitative classifications show a better fit with geography than cognacy-based phylogenies. We interpret this result as follows: The better fit may be due to implicit geographic bias in qualitative classifications. We conclude that approaches to classification other than those based on cognacy run a risk to implicitly include geography and geography-related factors as one basis of genealogical classifications.

We welcome you all to join us in person or via Zoom. We will send out the specific Zoom link one day before the talk.

Time: Thursday, 2.02.2023, 1pm sharp

Location: Rümelinstraße 23, Room 602 or via Zoom

Speaker: Bruno de Souza Barreto

Title: Long-Term History, Interaction, and Change: The role of language dispersals and exchange networks at the Amazon estuary (AD 0 – 1650).

Abstract:

At the time of the European invasion, it is said that some parts of Amazonia were characterized by the existence of plural multi-ethnic and multi-lingual social formations. Although it is now known that distinct gradients in population density and political structure existed across different Amazonian settings, some general patterns are also clearly visible. The transition to AD 1000, e.g., is coupled with major socio-political changes throughout the Amazon, when the increase of cultural diversity, conflict evidence, and large-scale integrated societies are seen in the archaeological record. Such a process is evident in Lower Amazon, and it is partially related to the demographic growth for the last five centuries before the European invasion. In the regional setting of Amapá and the Amazon estuary, those transformations are also present through the appearance of a plethora of ceramic styles, modes of deposition, as well as the inception of megalithism and other forms of monumental engineering. These changes seem to be an outcome of phenomena ignited by a two-folded process: 1) the cultural transmission historically given by long-term linguistic expansions and 2) the supposedly strengthening of interaction networks during the last centuries before the European arrival, which could have produced ethnogenesis processes by means of assimilation, intermarriage, war, trade, and borrowings. This presentation aims to discuss the emergence of this cultural mosaic at the mouth of the Amazon River, considering particularly the Amapá coast and hinterland, and raise some hypotheses on borders, interaction, and change in this setting.

We welcome you all to join us in person or via Zoom, where we will send around the specific link on the day before the talk.  Please contact marisa.koellnerspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de for more information.

The official article (including supplementary material) is available under: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/lingvan-2021-0054/html?lang=en

The Newspaper article is available under: https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ciencia/2023/01/nao-ha-lingua-mais-ou-menos-complexa-que-as-outras-indica-estudo.shtml

Citation of the article: Bentz, Christian, Gutierrez-Vasques, Ximena, Sozinova, Olga and Samardžić, Tanja. "Complexity trade-offs and equi-complexity in natural languages: a meta-analysis" Linguistics Vanguard, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2021-0054

Time: 13th January, 10:00

Speaker: Dr. Maciej Krajcarz

Title: Geoarchaeology of Chagyrskaya Cave--the easternmost Neanderthal site.

Abstract: Chagyrskaya Cave in Altai Mountains (southern Siberia) is one of three sites of the easternmost Neanderthals. This site yielded the largest number of Neanderthal skeletal remains and associated lithic artifacts in Altai. Excavations continuing since 2007 revealed complex stratigraphic situation: several strata contain Neanderthal remains and similar lithic assemblages. Moreover, some artifacts were found is a very old stratum dated to around 300 ka. These observations highlighted research problems, crucial for understanding the Neanderthal colonization of Altai: why are the archaeological assemblages repeated in several stratigraphic units? Why are there Middle Paleolithic artifacts in so early chronological context? Are these archaeological finds situated in their primary position? How can we date the assemblage(s)? In this talk, I present geological approach undertaken by our team to address these questions. I present the importance of field works (allostratigraphy and understanding of the architecture of sedimentary bodies) supported by general sedimentological analyses (such as grain size distribution) and followed by micromorphological investigation. The general overview of the Chagyrskaya Neanderthals and the newest discoveries will also be presented.

Dr. Maciej Krajcarz is a current fellow at the Center „Words, Bones, Genes, Tools“ and presents his current work at the ASHE Colloquium.  For more info, see https://uni-tuebingen.de/fakultaeten/mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche-fakultaet/fachbereiche/geowissenschaften/arbeitsgruppen/urgeschichte-naturwissenschaftliche-archaeologie/ina/

Time: 1st December, 13:00

Speaker: Rainer Grün

Title: Dating hominid sites: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Abstract: Geochronology is a tool box to find out how old things are. Sometimes the results are as expected (all is good), sometimes the results lead to new insights into human evolution, and sometimes the results are simply confusing. There are a number of studies that seemingly try to make human fossils older, others to make them younger. The difference is that the "oldest" and the "youngest" have good chances to get into Nature and Science, while the rest is lucky to make the Journal of Human Evolution. I will discuss the sites of Liang Bua, Omo, Callao, Ngandong and Mungo in more detail to provide an appreciation of how complicated it can be to arrive at reasonable age estimations.

If you are interested in joining the Colloquium, please send a mail to miri.mertnerspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de.

Time: 24th November, 13:00

Speaker: Dr. Mihailo Jovanovic

Title: Pleistocene small vertebrates studies in Western Balkan Peninsula (SE Europe): Methodological state of the art,  paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions, and future perspectives.

Abstract: Geologically, the terrain in the Balkan Peninsula is favorable for the formation of limestone caves where
small vertebrate remains are usually recovered, as well as Neanderthals remains occasionally. According
to the available data, this work includes small vertebrate remains from Baranica, Hadži Prodanova,
Pešturina, Smolućka and Crvena Stijena caves that are used for paleoclimatic reconstructions in an
attempt to present AMS dated layers from these sites within the chronological context of the
Mousterian-Aurignacian-Gravettian cultural succession. Therefore, changes in the faunal composition
have been recognized in relation to the successive cultural context. Taxonomical habitat indexes and
bioclimatic analysis have been applied on small mammals. In addition, hierarchical clustering and
correspondence analysis have been applied to herpetofaunal assemblages as a comparative proxy for
reconstructing the paleoclimate and paleoenvironment. MIS 5 (Smolućka) is found in reconstruction to
have been much warmer than present, and the data from the small vertebrates remains in Serbia did
not seem to have registered any dramatic climatic oscillations during MIS 3 and early MIS 2. When
compared with present local situation, the paleoecological and paleoclimatological reconstructions for
these four caves suggest that climate was somewhat colder (presence in the sites of mountain species
like Chionomys nivalis) and dryer (mainly due to the detection of Coronella austriaca and Lacerta agilis).
The application of taxonomical habitat indexes to the different assemblages suggests that the associated
environment was probably more open with the presence of forest species (Clethrionomys glareolus and
Apodemus ex gr. sylvaticus-flavicollis), but never representing more than 10% of the total assemblage.
Even during the MIS 2, results suggest that the Balkans had milder and humid climate compared to
Central Europe, with average temperature ranging from 2.2 to 4.5 ºC lower than presently. Overall,
there were no important ecological changes during the transition between Mousterian and Aurignacian,
i.e. the transition between Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans. This conclusion is generally
in line with common opinion that climate change was not a crucial factor in Neanderthal extinction in
the Balkan Peninsula. Instead, it had the effect similar to Iberian and Apennine Peninsulas, where milder
climate allowed Neanderthals to find refuge and survive longer than in the rest of the Europe.
Nevertheless, this topic remains still open for debate. Regarding the Middle and the Late Pleistocene it
would be very important to establish a pattern of appearances and disappearances of small vertebrates
as they are a very good proxy for paleoreconstructions. Such an attempt is an ongoing process that will
be further reinforced by future exploration. Such a program is obviously very ambitious and would need
many years and funds for studies specialized in different disciplines. However, perspectives for the
future should continue in such a direction.

If you are interested in joining the Colloquium, please send a mail to miri.mertnerspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de.

Official press release

Time: 27th October, 13:00

Speaker: Gustavo G. Politis

Title: Were the Tropical Rain Forests a limitation for the expansion of Homo sapiens in America?

Abstract: Since the 1980s, there has been a discussion about the potentiality of Tropical Rain Forests for sustaining hunter-gatherers without the contribution of some crops. If this were the case, these environments would have been converted into a barrier for the expansion of Homo sapiens in South America. In this presentation, I will summarize how contemporary hunter-gatherers manage the Amazonian Forest, and I will also discuss the Late Pleistocene archaeological evidence in the region. I will integrate these two sources of information in order to test the putative limitations of the Tropical Rain Forest in the peopling of South America.

If you are interested in joining the Colloquium, please send a mail to miri.mertnerspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de.

Time: 20th October, 13:00

Speaker: Dr. Yamandú H. Hilbert

Title: Palaeolithic surface sites in Arabia: sampling methodology, analytical protocols, limitations and potential for interpreting prehistoric human settlement

Abstract: Stone tools (lithics) are the most durable of human cultural expressions and constitute a highly abundant source of information on the productive activities undertaken by our ancestors. Due to their resilient nature lithics are often incorporated into geomorphological processes including, but not limited to, erosion, deposit, redeposition etc and bear complex taphonomic trajectories. Furthermore, as products of specific task-bound activities undertaken by anthropic agents, their interpretation can be a daunting endeavour due to their, at times, chaotic nature. This is particularly true for most surface lithic scatters found across arid and semi-arid environments, given that geological processes have, in most cases, erased all direct traces of sediment cover; thus, rendering an absolute chronological attribution impossible. The data that can be gleaned from such assemblages, however, is considerable and provides an additional layer of information on resource management, technical know-how and, to some extent, landscape use. This presentation will show how to approach lithic surface sites based on a series of case studies from Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UEA ranging chronologically from the Lower, Middle, Upper and Late Palaeolithic periods.

If you are interested in joining the Colloquium, please send a mail to miri.mertnerspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de.

https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/university/news-and-publications/press-releases/press-releases/article/what-fossils-reveal-about-hybridization-of-early-humans/

https://www.livescience.com/denisovans-extinct-human-relative

Time: 21st July, 13:00

Speaker: Dr. April Nowell

Title: Growing Up Gravettian: A study of Adolescence in the European Middle Upper Paleolithic

Abstract: Adolescence is a period of transition from childhood to adulthood biologically, cognitively, socially, and often spiritually. However, it is more than simply a shift from one state to another. It is also a unique stage of life unto itself, a period of (self) exploration and intense relationships, when individuals begin to take or, rather, try on, adult roles often without the serious consequences that accompany these roles later in life. For this reason, we can expect adolescence to have been a noted and notable phase of life related to, but differentiated from, childhood and adulthood in the  European Gravettian (35,000-25,000 BP). Building on a general framework of adolescence in Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherer societies we explore the direct bioarchaeological evidence for the lived lives of adolescents in the Gravettian/MUP, including placing them in a wider context by comparing them with buried individuals of other age categories. While our findings suggest that adolescents were valued members of society, there are notable differences related to social norms and mortality patterns.

If you are interested in joining the Colloquium, please send a mail to miri.mertnerspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de.

Time: 14th July, 13:00

Speaker: Prof. Mirjana Roksandic

Title: Movement Interaction Resilience and Adaptation: Conceptualizing a more dynamic palaeoanthropology of the Central Balkans

Abstract: The last decade of research in palaeoanthropology has generated an increased awareness of the complexity of hominin interactions across the continents, and pushed for a dynamic and multireticular understanding of human evolution. This is particularly true for the areas of the world where the palaeolithic is relatively understudied. Fitting within a push to diversify science (especially the Western dominated palaeoanthropology) these new areas open a number of different perspectives, and call for a more open approaches in our science - one in which the established paradigm can change more swiftly in response to new knowledge and new perspectives. I will be discussing these new finds in the context of the dynamic Eastern Mediterranean, and current debates about the origins and movements of Neanderthals, number of incursions of modern humans and their ancestors into Europe and the changes in perspective it entails.

If you are interested in joining the Colloquium, please send a mail to monika.dollspam prevention@ifu.uni-tuebingen.de.

Time: 30rd June, 13:00

Speaker: Prof. Lauren Schröder

Title: Decolonization, diversity and the scientific process

If you are interested in joining the Colloquium, please send a mail to monika.dollspam prevention@ifu.uni-tuebingen.de.

Time: 23rd June, 13:00

Speaker: Victoria Nyst and Timothy Hadjah

Title: Cross-cultural variation in gesture and its impact on sign language typology

Abstract: In West Africa, deaf education was introduced in the 1950s and up till today most deaf children do not have access to formal education. Coinciding with a relatively much higher incidence of deafness, this situation explains the large variety of types of signing and sign languages found there. Locally evolved West African sign languages, both established and emerging ones, are found to differ in a number of respects from sign languages studied so far. Most of the well-studied sign languages have their roots in Europe.
The field of emerging sign languages has revealed an important relation with hearing co-speech gesturing. This introduced many sign language scholars to the field of gesture studies, opening up new perspectives on gesturing. Our current research shows an important alignment in variation between cross-cultural variation in gesture on the one hand, and cross-linguistic variation between sign languages on the other.
In our presentation, we will report on three studies that aim to understand a) the geographical distribution of conventional gestures (emblems) across West Africa, b) their impact on sign language lexicons, and c) cross-linguistic/cultural variation in gestures illustrating size and shape, evaluating the sociolinguistic features driving that variation.
We will also touch on the question when sign languages are susceptible to influence from their gestural environment; only during their emergence, of after being fully established as well? The results imply that structural and lexical similarities between sign languages may not only follow from a shared history of descendance or contact, but also from similarities in gestural environment.

If you are interested in joining the Colloquium, please send a mail to monika.dollspam prevention@ifu.uni-tuebingen.de.

Time: 12th May, 13:00

Speaker: Dr. Marco Cherrin

Title: Steps of human evolution in northern Tanzania

Abstract: East Africa represents one of the areas of greatest interest worldwide for the study and reconstruction of crucial phases of human evolution. In particular, Tanzania is very rich in paleontological and archeological sites that have provided, since the first half of the twentieth century, some of the key findings for the understanding of our evolutionary history, in the context of East African paleoenviromental changes during the Pliocene and Pleistocene.
Two important Tanzanian sites, Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli, are located in the northern part of the country, within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a wide protected area recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, Biosphere Reserve, and Global Geopark. The extraordinary geodiversity and biodiversity of these ecosystems today, included between the Great Rift Valley to the east and the Serengeti Plains to the west, are the result of millions of years of geological-morphological and biological evolution, which also involved several hominin species.
The THOR (Tanzania Human Origins Research) project, born as a branch of the School of Paleoanthropology of the University of Perugia, has been active in the areas of Laetoli and Olduvai since 2010, thanks to the collaboration with the University of Dar es Salaam and other local institutions. The main aim of the project is to study poorly-known geological, paleontological, and archeological contexts in these amazing African sites, to help reconstruct the paleoenvironmental framework in which our ancestors took their steps.

If you are interested in joining the Colloquium, please send a mail to monika.dollspam prevention@ifu.uni-tuebingen.de.

Postdoctoral Researcher (m/f/d, E 13 TV-L, 100%) in Paleoanthropology.

The area of expertise should be human evolution, with emphasis on early hominin adaptation. A background in virtual anthropology or biomechanics is desirable. The position should start October 1st, 2022 and will be limited to 2 years.

The successful candidate should show an excellent research and publication record. He or she will be expected to contribute to the research, teaching and dissemination activities of the Center (symposia, colloquia, retreats). Requirements for the position include a Ph.D. in Human Evolution or equivalent and an outstanding research record. 

Salary will be according to the German Salary System TV-L 13, 100%. The University of Tübingen wishes to enhance the share of employed women in research and teaching. Individuals with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply and having the same occupational aptitude will be preferred. The employment will be handled by the central administration of the University of Tübingen.

Applications should be submitted electronically no later than June 15, 2022. They should include (1) a statement of research achievements and future directions (not to exceed 3 pages), (2) a curriculum vitae, (3) reprints of up to 3 key publications, (4) and the names and contact information of three referees.

Please send applications to the following email address:
monika.dollspam prevention@ifu.uni-tuebingen.de

Time: 5th May, 13:00

Speaker: Dr. Ivan Roksandic

Title: Reclaiming the Land One Name at a Time: Colonization of the Xavante territory in the light of Linguistics and Archaeology

Abstract: TBA

If you are interested in joining the Colloquium, please send a mail to monika.dollspam prevention@ifu.uni-tuebingen.de.

Time: 17th February, 13:00

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Rainer Grün

Title: Direct Dating of Human Fossils and the ever changing story of Human Evolution

Abstract: The last 20 years have seen a rapid expansion of our knowledge on human evolution. Firstly, fossils of a surprisingly significant number of new species were found: Homo floresiensis, Homo naledi, Homo luzonensis, Homo longi.  In addition, as the result of ancient DNA analysis, the Denisovans were found.
The dating of Irhoud pushed back the age of the earliest Homo sapiens to around 300,000 years ago. Direct dating also demonstrated that anatomical associations, for example for Homo floresiensis or Homo naledi, may lead to erroneous age assessments. This presentation will give an overview of the results published in the last years, showing that the phylogenetic tree of humans has gained considerable complexity. It can be expected that new discoveries in geographical areas that have not yet seen systematic investigations will further contribute to the complex and exciting story of human evolution.

If you are interested in joining the Colloquium, please send a mail to monika.dollspam prevention@ifu.uni-tuebingen.de.

Time: 27th January, 13:00

Speaker: Prof. John Nerbonne

Title: Linguistic traces of migrations in Gabon

Abstract: 
Gabon is an African country located very close to the homeland of Bantu languages (Cameroun). Starting about 5,000 years ago, Bantu-speaking populations diffused into almost all of sub-Saharan Africa. By examining two independently-collected lexical datasets recording the pronunciation of 88 and 158 words in more than 50 linguistic varieties spoken in Gabon, using a variant of Levenshtein distance, we obtain a numerical classification of the major linguistic groups. We compare this classification to available ones based on historical linguistics methods (cognate-sharing defined by experts), and find them overlapping, which indicates that the two methods capture the same signal of linguistic difference (and relatedness). To focus on the historical relatedness between major linguistic clusters, we control for the linguistic similarity related to contact (proportional to geographic vicinity) and suggest that the first Bantu-speaking groups to people Gabon were those speaking KOTA-KELE (B20) languages. The other varieties concern five different immigration waves (B10; B30; B40; B50-B60-B70 – Guthrie nomenclature) that penetrated Gabon later in history. To conclude, we suggest a scenario of settlement that incorporates available paleoclimatic, archeological and population genetic evidence.

If you are interested in joining the Colloquium, please send a mail to monika.dollspam prevention@ifu.uni-tuebingen.de.

Time: 16th December, 13:00

Speaker: Dr. Tsenka Tsanova

Title: Reevaluation and prospects of the transition Middle to Upper Palaeolithic in the Eastern Balkans: Initial Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens from Bacho Kiro Cave in the context of the regional record from Kozarnika and Temnata caves

Abstract:
The Middle to Upper Paleolithic (MP-UP) transition is generally associated with the replacement of local Neanderthal populations by Homo sapiens in western Eurasia. The methodological advances in dating the MP-UP transition and the genomic reconstruction of the oldest UP modern humans in Europe from Bacho Kiro Cave provide more understanding of the replacement of local Neanderthal populations. Today, we know that this replacement by Homo sapiens is not a single pan-European event, but rather took place at different times in different regions and through the introduction of different cultures and technologies.
The Balkans peninsula is a crossroad between Asia, Europe and, indirectly, Africa and it reveals the oldest evidence of prehistoric movement of populations and innovations into Europe. Bacho Kiro Cave and the Palaeolithic sites in North Bulgaria are located at the geographical lobby of the migration routes along the Danube corridor.
The human remains found recently within the well preserved context in Bacho Kiro Cave, along with Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) artefact assemblages, have been directly dated (Fewlass et al. 2020). The morphological analysis of a tooth and the mitochondrial DNA analysis of 5 other human remains, captured by proteomic screening, assign all finds to Homo sapiens (Hublin et al. 2020). Paleogenomics studies provide evidence of recent Neanderthal genetic contribution into all four IUP individuals (Hajdinjak et al. 2021).  Moreover, the techno-typological analysis of the lithic assemblages has revealed the link with IUP technological expansion into mid-latitude of Eurasia 45 000 years ago. The Homo sapiens from Bacho Kiro Cave were using blade technology similar to MP Levallois one and their symbolic behaviour resembles the subsequent Aurignacian technocomplex.
The new interdisciplinary data obtained from Bacho Kiro Cave permits roughly chrono-stratigraphical correlation with those from Kozarnika and Temnata Caves. Subsequent to the MP assemblages (normally assigned to Neanderthals), two distinct consecutive technocomplexes, produced likely by Homo sapiens in the Eastern Balkans, have emerged in the record: blade technology from Bacho Kiro and Temnata caves (presented also in Samuilitsa II Cave) and bladelet technology from Kozarnika Cave (called Early Kozarnikian) (Tsanova 2008). Both technocomplexes present overlapping radiocarbon chronologies and they were probably coexisting. New data from previously excavated and new MP-UP sites is needed in order to establish more precise regional chronology and further proves interactions between both human species.

If you are interested in joining the Colloquium, please send a mail to monika.dollspam prevention@ifu.uni-tuebingen.de.

References:
Fewlass, H., Talamo, S., Wacker, L., Kromer, B., Tuna, T., Fagault, Y., Bard, E., McPherron, S.P., Aldeias, V., Maria, R., Martisius, N.L., Paskulin, L., Rezek, Z., Sinet-Mathiot, V., Sirakova, S., Smith, G.M., Spasov, R., Welker, F., Sirakov, N., Tsanova, T., Hublin, J.-J., 2020. A 14C chronology for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition at Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria. Nature Ecology & Evolution 4, 794-801.

Hajdinjak, M., Mafessoni, F., Skov, L., Vernot, B., Hubner, A., Fu, Q., Essel, E., Nagel, S., Nickel, B., Richter, J., Moldovan, O.T., Constantin, S., Endarova, E., Zahariev, N., Spasov, R., Welker, F., Smith, G.M., Sinet-Mathiot, V., Paskulin, L., Fewlass, H., Talamo, S., Rezek, Z., Sirakova, S., Sirakov, N., McPherron, S.P., Tsanova, T., Hublin, J.J., Peter, B.M., Meyer, M., Skoglund, P., Kelso, J., Paabo, S., 2021. Initial Upper Palaeolithic humans in Europe had recent Neanderthal ancestry. Nature 592, 253-257.

Hublin, J.-J., Sirakov, N., Aldeias, V., Bailey, S., Bard, E., Delvigne, V., Endarova, E., Fagault, Y., Fewlass, H., Hajdinjak, M., Kromer, B., Krumov, I., Marreiros, J., Martisius, N.L., Paskulin, L., Sinet-Mathiot, V., Meyer, M., Pääbo, S., Popov, V., Rezek, Z., Sirakova, S., Skinner, M.M., Smith, G.M., Spasov, R., Talamo, S., Tuna, T., Wacker, L., Welker, F., Wilcke, A., Zahariev, N., McPherron, S.P., Tsanova, T., 2020. Initial Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria. Nature. 581, 299–302.

Tsanova, T., 2008. Les débuts du Paléolithique supérieur dans l’Est des Balkans. Réflexion à partir des études taphonomique et techno-économique des ensembles lithiques des grottes Bacho Kiro (couche 11), Temnata (couche VI et 4) et Kozarnika (niveau VII). British Archaeological Reports 1752.

Time: 9th December, 13:00

Speaker: Dr. Antonio Profico

Title: Comparison of antimeric bones to identify asymmetry of loading history

Abstract:
During life, the distribution of cortical bone is influenced by loading history, and bone remodelling seems to be significantly associated with high-frequency daily action. Side preference leads to asymmetry of loading. Therefore, an asymmetric distribution of cortical thickness between antimeric long bones is expecting to result from this scenario. Despite many case studies based on the analysis of archaeological skeletal material have been published regarding long bone lateralization, only a few of them deal with theoretical aspects regarding the interaction between bone remodelling and mechanical loading. Here, I present preliminary results of the extensive analysis (shape analysis, cross-sectional geometry and cortical thickness mapping) of the tibial diaphysis in Wistar rats in which muscle activation was induced only on the left limb. Cross-sectional geometry parameters and relative cortical thickness distribution successfully discriminate stimulated and unstimulated limbs. Lastly, the use of a multidisciplinary approach in a controlled experimental environment shows the potentiality and limitations in reconstructing past physical behaviour in past human populations from the analysis of the long bone geometric architecture.

If you are interested in joining the Colloquium, please send a mail to monika.dollspam prevention@ifu.uni-tuebingen.de.

Time: 25th November, 16:00

Speaker: Dr. Mark Hubbe

Title: The role of punctuated equilibrium and stabilizing selection on the evolution of Homo cranial morphology

Abstract:
The fossil record of the genus Homo shows a great diversity of cranial shapes and sizes, which is a direct result of the complex evolution of our lineage. The evolution of cranial morphology must strike a balance between maintaining the functionality of the several anatomical and developmental modules that define the skull and the external environmental pressures acting on individuals’ fitness over time. As such, the myriad of intrinsic and extrinsic evolutionary forces acting on cranial morphology can result in several different evolutionary processes, which ultimately produced the speciation events that defined our lineage. Despite the complex nature of the evolution of cranial morphology, few studies have explored the possible evolutionary pathways that led to the diversity of shapes seen in the genus Homo, especially when it comes to the role of stabilizing selection and non-linear evolutionary forces like punctuated equilibrium. In this talk, I will discuss the initial results of my work with Prof. Harvati during my recent visit to the DFG Center “Words, Bones, Genes, Tools”. Using data on over 50 fossil specimens of Homo as well as modern humans, we evaluated the likelihood of different evolutionary models to explain the morphological changes observed in our genus, through the incorporation of methods developed for paleontological series. For most of the anatomical regions of the skull, our analyses show much stronger support for evolutionary models that explain their differentiation as a product of stabilizing selection and quick periods of differentiation (Punctuated Equilibrium). With these results in hand, I will discuss the necessity of understanding better the developmental, functional, and evolutionary constrains that shape the evolution of the human head.

We welcome you all to join us on Zoom. The link will be sent around via email before the talk.

Time: Tuesday, 09.11.2021, 11am

Speaker: Dr. Kenan Hochuli

Title: The evolution of interactive constellations

Abstract: 
What are relevant constellations of interaction that not only accompanied but even facilitated the emergence of language? What evidence do prehistoric architectures and objects offer for milestones in the development of new configurations of co-presence?
In my talk I will explain how I address these questions from an interactional linguistic perspective. First, I present insights to empirical research on the relationship between language, body and space in everyday interaction (on markets, digital platforms and public squares). Then, I discuss findings from archaeology and primatology that offer clues to the evolution of interactional foci.
There will be no results presented in my talk. Rather, I understand my contribution as an invitation to a joint discussion of hypotheses, theories, and problems.

We welcome you all to join us via Zoom and we will send around the specific link on the day before the talk.

Sciene article: H. Matsumae, P. Ranacher, P. E. Savage, D. E. Blasi, T. E. Currie, K. Koganebuchi, N. Nishida, T. Sato, H. Tanabe, A. Tajima, S. Brown, M. Stoneking, K. K. Shimizu, H. Oota, B. Bickel, Exploring correlations in genetic and cultural variation across language families in northeast Asia. Sci. Adv. 7, eabd9223 (2021).

Time: Thursday, 22.07.2021, 4pm sharp (please note the change in time)

Speaker: Dr. Hugo Reyes-Centeno

Title: Evolution of cranial macromorphoscopic trait variation in modern humans

Abstract:
Cranial macromorphoscopic traits are non-metric, morphological markers routinely used to assess population provenience of modern human skeletons. While a suite of statistical approaches applied to quantitative trait scores has underscored their utility in forensic investigations, little is known about the etiology and evolution of cranial macromorphoscopic traits. In order to investigate the evolutionary mechanisms that produce their variation in modern human populations, here I quantify the association between commonly used macromorphoscopic traits and genomic variation at neutral genetic loci. In addition, I quantify the utility of each macromorphoscopic trait and combinations thereof, accounting for stochasticity inherent to an evolutionary model. Results show a statistically significant relationship between macromorphoscopic trait variation and neutral genomic variation (r = 0.64, p = 0.009), similar to previous studies on other cranio-dental anatomical makers. Macromorphoscopic traits expressed in the zygomatic region were found to have the highest association with neutral genomic variation. These results provide support for the utility of macromorphoscopic traits in reflecting human population history and further isolate those that have evolved under neutrality.

We welcome you all to join us via Zoom and we will send around the specific link on the day before the talk.

Time: Tuesday, 13th July 2021, 4pm sharp (please note the change in time)

Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/97793997281?pwd=ZmtaSGM0WlY1YlFBRWh0dDJoZW01Zz09
Meeting-ID: 977 9399 7281
Kenncode: 918294

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Caleb Everett (University of Miami)

Title:  The sounds of prehistoric speech

Abstract: 
Evidence is reviewed for widespread phonological and phonetic tendencies in contemporary languages. The evidence is based largely on the frequency of sound types in word lists and in phoneme inventories across the world's languages. The data reviewed point to likely tendencies in the languages of the Upper Palaeolithic. These tendencies include the reliance on specific nasal and voiceless stop consonants, the relative dispreference for posterior voiced consonants and the use of peripheral vowels. More tenuous hypotheses related to prehistoric languages are also reviewed. These include the propositions that such languages lacked labiodental consonants and relied more heavily on vowels, when contrasted to many contemporary languages. Such hypotheses suggest speech has adapted to subtle pressures that may in some cases vary across populations.

Link to the full paper: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2020.0195

We welcome you all to join us via Zoom and we will send around the specific link on the day before the talk.

A new article has been published by our former scientific coordinator Dr. Hugo Reyes-Centeno in cooperation with former visiting teaching scholar Dr. Mark Grabowski, former fellow George Perry, and former visiting student Audrey Arne.

Abstract:
Levels of sex differences for human body size and shape phenotypes are hypothesized to have adaptively reduced following the agricultural transition as part of an evolutionary response to relatively more equal divisions of labor and new technology adoption. In this study, we tested this hypothesis by studying genetic variants associated with five sexually differentiated human phenotypes: height, body mass, hip circumference, body fat percentage, and waist circumference. We first analyzed genome-wide association (GWAS) results for UK Biobank individuals (~194,000 females and ~167,000 males) to identify a total of 114,199 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) significantly associated with at least one of the studied phenotypes in females, males, or both sexes (P<5x10-8). From these loci we then identified 3,016 SNPs (2.6%) with significant differences in the strength of association between the female- and male-specific GWAS results at a low false-discovery rate (FDR<0.001). Genes with known roles in sexual differentiation are significantly enriched for co-localization with one or more of these SNPs versus SNPs associated with the phenotypes generally but not with sex differences (2.73-fold enrichment; permutation test; P = 0.0041). We also confirmed that the identified variants are disproportionately associated with greater phenotype effect sizes in the sex with the stronger association value. We then used the singleton density score statistic, which quantifies recent (within the last ~3,000 years; post-agriculture adoption in Britain) changes in the frequencies of alleles underlying polygenic traits, to identify a signature of recent positive selection on alleles associated with greater body fat percentage in females (permutation test; P = 0.0038; FDR = 0.0380), directionally opposite to that predicted by the sex differences reduction hypothesis. Otherwise, we found no evidence of positive selection for sex difference-associated alleles for any other trait. Overall, our results challenge the longstanding hypothesis that sex differences adaptively decreased following subsistence transitions from hunting and gathering to agriculture.

The full article is available under: https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1009562#ack

A media report about the study is available under: https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/male-female-body-evolution

The Young Academy of Europe (YAE) is a pan-European initiative of outstanding young scientists for networking, advocacy, scientific exchange, and science policy. For more information on the YAE, please visit https://yacadeuro.org

A new article has been published by the former PhD candidate Abel Bosman.

Abstract:

While speech and language do not fossilize, they still leave traces that can be extracted and interpreted. Here, we suggest that the shape of the hard structures of the vocal tract may also allow inferences about the speech of long-gone humans. These build on recent experimental and modelling studies, showing that there is extensive variation between individuals in the precise shape of the vocal tract, and that this variation affects speech and language. In particular, we show that detailed anatomical information concerning two components of the vocal tract (the lower jaw and the hard palate) can be extracted and digitized from the osteological remains of three historical populations from The Netherlands, and can be used to conduct three-dimensional biomechanical simulations of vowel production. We could recover the signatures of inter-individual variation between these vowels, in acoustics and articulation. While ‘proof-of-concept’, this study suggests that older and less well-preserved remains could be used to draw inferences about historic and prehistoric languages. Moreover, it forces us to clarify the meaning and use of the uniformitarian principle in linguistics, and to consider the wider context of language use, including the anatomy, physiology and cognition of the speakers.

The full article is available online: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rstb.2020.0192

Time: Tuesday, 15th June 2021, 11am sharp

Speaker: Dr. Nikolas Gestrich (Frobenius-Institute University of Frankfurt) and Prof. Dr. Henning Schreiber (University of Hamburg)

Project: „Lehnwörter und Tauschobjekte: Archäo-linguistische Netzwerkanalyse und -modellierung der kulturellen Verflechtungen entlang des Nigers, zwischen Sahara und Regenwald (700-1500 n. Chr.)"

Title: Borrowed words and shared objects

Abstract: 
This talk will present preliminary findings of a joint linguistic and archaeological research programme that focuses on the middle reaches of the Niger River in the medieval period. The project examines the nature of cultural contact and cultural change by combining the evidence from loanwords and from the distribution of archaeological objects. In this talk, we will discuss ceramics from the Dogon country as a case study, and show a method that employs elements from cognitive linguistics in a modification of the words-and-things approach.

We welcome you all to join us via Zoom and we will send around the specific link on the day before the talk.

Time: Tuesday, 8th June 2021, 11am sharp

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Marian Klamer and Dr. Phillip Endicott

Title: Using new statistical methods to detect mismatches between linguistic and genetic histories in East Timor, preliminary findings.

Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/96024533724?pwd=RFNiMGJ4Ky9iU29WaGJ1MGZMWWsrZz09

Meeting-ID: 960 2453 3724
Password: 188918

Abstract: 
A compelling motivation for combining the study of population genetics and linguistics is that languages have communities of speakers, and demographic information about those communities can provide crucial insights into the process of language change. To be informative about the history of interaction between different language communities the model must take into account components of horizontal transmission in linguistic and genetic data sets, via the analogous processes of contact-induced change and admixture. 

Contact linguistics recognises a continuum of horizontal transfer scenarios, from simple cultural contact to bilingualism and language shift, each of which should have a demographic correlate amenable to study using population genetics.

The best place to study these processes is in an ongoing contact zone between different language families, where sharp lexical and grammatical contrasts make identification of borrowed words and structures relatively easy to detect. One such place is East Timor, home to a bewildering diversity of languages of two distinct families and where the relative isolation of these small-scale, oral, societies is anticipated to lead to the retention of genetic signals that can distinguish mismatches to linguistic histories.

Here, we explore the application of Directed-Acyclic-Graphs (DAGs), to both genetic and linguistic data from four Timor-Alor-Pantar and five Malayo-Polynesian speaking communities of East Timor. These statistical models can overcome the limitations of methods based on bifurcating trees, which are often an incorrect representation of population and language histories. DAGs are computationally feasible for a large number of populations enabling detection of significant discrepancies between genetic and linguistic histories that can then be investigated using expert modelling. 

Time: Tuesday, 1st June 2021, 5pm

Speaker: Prof. Jane Buikstra

Title: The Physical Costs of Athenian Democracy: The People of Phaleron

The talk will be given by Prof. Jane Buikstra, an anthropologist whose extraordinary research has essentially defined the field of Bioarchaeology. Prof. Buikstra is giving this talk in the framework of her virtual fellowship with our DFG Center "Words, Bones, Genes, Tools" and our collaborative project focusing on human remains from Archaic Athens (Phaleron cemetery).

Time: Tuesday, 1st of June 2021, 15:15 *sharp*

Speaker: Dr. Amélie Beaudet

Title:"The evolution of the hominin head: perspectives from the Australopithecus skull"

Abstract:
Our exceptionally large and rounded brain, derived dentition with small anterior teeth, and distinct retracted face, are few examples that emphasize the intensity of evolutionary changes in the hominin head. The human head houses essential sensory organs as well as the central nervous system and the masticatory apparatus. As such, tracking time-related changes in the hominin head offers the opportunity to unravel the evolution of fundamental behaviours such as diet, locomotion or even language and, ultimately, the adaptive strategies developed by our ancestors to accommodate changing environments. In this respect, the head of Australopithecus has the potential to provide critical information about how our head evolved and its implications in the emergence of our own genus. In this talk, I will present some of the outcomes of my research on the evolution of the hominin brain and cognition, head mobility, and cranial vascular structures, with a particular focus on Australopithecus. By integrating evidence from the African Plio-Pleistocene fossil record, including the nearly complete skeleton of ‘Little Foot’, as well as advanced imaging techniques, this research provides new insight into the puzzle of human origins.

Link to the paper on "Little Foot": https://elifesciences.org/articles/64804

ZOOM Link: https://zoom.us/j/92111920660

We welcome you all to join us via Zoom.

Speaker: Dr. John Miller & Dr. Tiago Tresoldi   

Title: Using lexical language models to detect borrowings in monolingual wordlists

Abstract: 

Lexical borrowing, the transfer of words from one language to another, is one of the most frequent processes in language evolution. In order to detect borrowings, linguists make use of various strategies, combining evidence from various sources. Despite the increasing popularity of computational approaches in comparative linguistics, automated approaches to lexical borrowing detection are still in their infancy, disregarding many aspects of the evidence that is routinely considered by human experts. One example for this kind of evidence are phonological and phonotactic clues that are especially useful for the detection of recent borrowings that have not yet been adapted to the structure of their recipient languages. In this study, we test how these clues can be exploited in automated frameworks for borrowing detection. By modeling phonology and phonotactics with the support of Support Vector Machines, Markov models, and recurrent neural networks, we propose a framework for the supervised detection of borrowings in mono-lingual wordlists. Based on a substantially revised dataset in which lexical borrowings have been thoroughly annotated for 41 different languages from different families, featuring a large typological diversity, we use these models to conduct a series of experiments to investigate their performance in mono-lingual borrowing detection. While the general results appear largely unsatisfying at a first glance, further tests show that the performance of our models improves with increasing amounts of attested borrowings and in those cases where most borrowings were introduced by one donor language alone. Our results show that phonological and phonotactic clues derived from monolingual language data alone are often not sufficient to detect borrowings when using them in isolation. Based on our detailed findings, however, we express hope that they could prove to be useful in integrated approaches that take multi-lingual information into account.

Link to the full paper:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0242709

We welcome you all to join us via Zoom and we will send around the specific link on the day before the talk.

Congratulations on this great interview.

To read the full interview, please visit one of the links or access the pdf directly under downloads.

The interview is available online under:

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00481-4

The pdf of the interview is available online under:

https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0960-9822%2821%2900481-4

Speaker: Dr. Anne Le Maître

Title: Exploring morphological variability with the R packages vcvComp and prWarp, with applications to the primate skull

Abstract: 
Recent developments in morphometrics enabled quantification of complex morphological traits, with multiple applications in evolutionary biology and ecology. Whereas average shape and the magnitude of morphological variation have extensively been explored, few methods exist to describe and compare covariation patterns in a biologically relevant way. Here I will present two novel methods to address this issue, with associated R packages and applications.

The package vcvComp enables the comparison of covariance patterns using relative eigenanalysis (= relative PCA), an exploratory method in which variance ratios between two groups of individuals are maximised. With an application to the craniofacial shape of anatomically modern human populations, I will show how this method can be (1) to explore the homogeneity of the variance-covariance structure across populations, (2) to perform pairwise comparisons of covariation patterns between populations, and (3) to determine which features are under stabilising vs. divergent selection.

The package prWarp enables the study of shape variation at different spatial scales in a geometric morphometric context, either by a mathematical separation into large-scale and small-scale shape components (partial warps), or by a decomposition of the overall shape into outline and residual shape components. With the example of the midsagittal skull morphology, I will show how this approach can be applied (1) to detect coordinated vs. compensatory growth in the human skull, and (2) to disentangle phylogenetic and adaptive signals in the papionin skull.

These two approaches have numerous applications in evolution, ecology, and even medicine, either for the exploration of covariation patterns across groups for multivariate traits, or for testing hypotheses regarding development, phylogeny, and function, based on geometric morphometric data. 

We welcome you all to join us via Zoom and we will send around the specific link on the day before the talk.

Time: Tuesday, 27th April 2021, 11 am sharp
 

Speaker: Dr. Anne Le Maître  
 

Title: Exploring morphological variability with the R packages vcvComp and prWarp, with applications to the primate skull
 

Abstract: 
Recent developments in morphometrics enabled quantification of complex morphological traits, with multiple applications in evolutionary biology and ecology. Whereas average shape and the magnitude of morphological variation have extensively been explored, few methods exist to describe and compare covariation patterns in a biologically relevant way. Here I will present two novel methods to address this issue, with associated R packages and applications.

The package vcvComp enables the comparison of covariance patterns using relative eigenanalysis (= relative PCA), an exploratory method in which variance ratios between two groups of individuals are maximised. With an application to the craniofacial shape of anatomically modern human populations, I will show how this method can be (1) to explore the homogeneity of the variance-covariance structure across populations, (2) to perform pairwise comparisons of covariation patterns between populations, and (3) to determine which features are under stabilising vs. divergent selection.

The package prWarp enables the study of shape variation at different spatial scales in a geometric morphometric context, either by a mathematical separation into large-scale and small-scale shape components (partial warps), or by a decomposition of the overall shape into outline and residual shape components. With the example of the midsagittal skull morphology, I will show how this approach can be applied (1) to detect coordinated vs. compensatory growth in the human skull, and (2) to disentangle phylogenetic and adaptive signals in the papionin skull.

These two approaches have numerous applications in evolution, ecology, and even medicine, either for the exploration of covariation patterns across groups for multivariate traits, or for testing hypotheses regarding development, phylogeny, and function, based on geometric morphometric data. 

We welcome you all to join us via Zoom and we will send around the specific link on the day before the talk.

Abstract:

The Neolithic site of Ulucak (Central-Western Anatolia) presents one of the best currently available sequences for the beginning of the Neolithic way of life in the region. Ulucak’s crucial phase V features a gradual rise in the variety and importance of pottery and of other clay objects. This phase’s dating has wide implications for cultural relations within Anatolia and the Aegean. I present a joint Bayesian model for Ulucak V, resolving problems of the earlier modeling by adding an old-wood probabilistic correction. The obtained model corrects the previous estimates of 6500–6000 calBCE for Ulucak V to a likely considerably shorter period within 6400/6300–6000/5900 calBCE, and raises the possibility of a hiatus between the aceramic Ulucak VI and the pottery-bearing Ulucak V.

The full article is available under: http://maajournal.com/Issues/2021/Vol21-1/18_Yanovich_21(1).pdf

Abstract: 
An accurate reconstruction of habitual activities in past populations and extinct hominin species is a paramount goal of paleoanthropological research, as it can elucidate the evolution of human behavior and the relationship between culture and biology. Variation in muscle attachment (entheseal) morphology has been considered an indicator of habitual activity, and many attempts have been made to use it for this purpose. However, its interpretation remains equivocal due to methodological shortcomings and a paucity of supportive experimental data. Through a series of studies, we have introduced a novel and precise methodology that focuses on reconstructing muscle synergies based on three‐dimensional and multivariate analyses among entheses. This approach was validated using uniquely documented anthropological samples, experimental animal studies, histological observations, and geometric morphometrics. Here, we detail, synthesize, and critically discuss the findings of these studies, which overall point to the great potential of entheses in elucidating aspects of past human behavior.

For the full article, please visit: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/evan.21892

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/92937161883?pwd=eTRSZW9XemFveWtsVEZrTkZYNEdMUT09
Meeting ID: 929 3716 1883
Passcode: 436051

Speaker: 
Dr. Helena Miton

Title: 
Motor constraints in influence cultural evolution of rhythm

Abstract: 
While widely acknowledged in the cultural evolution literature, ecological factors-aspects of the physical environment that affect the way in which cultural productions evolve-have not been investigated experimentally. Here, we present an experimental investigation of this type of factor by using a transmission chain (iterated learning) experiment. We predicted that differences in the distance between identical tools (drums) and in the order in which they are to be used would cause the evolution of different rhythms. The evidence confirms our predictions and thus provides a proof of concept that ecological factors-here a motor constraint-can influence cultural productions and that their effects can be experimentally isolated and measured. One noteworthy finding is that ecological factors can on their own lead to more complex rhythms.

We welcome you all to join us via Zoom and we will send around the specific link on the day before the talk.

Zoom Link: 
https://zoom.us/j/98186068141?pwd=cGRoeDEydFFJcDEvN2RBcGhDWWpUUT09
Meeting ID: 981 8606 8141
Passcode: 984465

Speaker:
Dr. Christian Bentz, who is a former fellow and external member of the Center.

Title: 
Quantitative Comparison of Natural Languages and Other Sequences

Abstract: 
Geometric signs (dots, lines, crosses, etc.) are abundant in the Eurasian prehistory. They are present throughout the Upper Paleolithic, the Mesolithic, and Neolithic, before the earliest writing systems such as Sumerian cuneiform evolved around 5000BC. A crucial question is how early geometric signs differ from ancient and modern day writing, and whether the evolution between these stages proceeded in a linear fashion or rather in sudden bursts. To start addressing these question in a statistical manner, I here use data from a collection of paleolithic mobile objects displaying geometric signs (SignBase), a collection of texts written in ancient scripts, as well as a collection of currently more than 20K texts from close to 100 typologically diverse modern day languages (100 Language Corpus). In a preliminary analysis, I illustrate how geometric signs, ancient cuneiform, and modern day characters can be teased apart in terms of information-theoretic properties.   

We welcome you all to join us via Zoom and we will send around the specific link on the day before the talk.

Abstract: The fossil record from the Italian peninsula is of special interest for assessing the variability of pre-modern human populations (i.e., extinct humans non-belonging to the proper species Homo sapiens) and their evolutionary history. In 2005, a detailed “Catalogue of Italian Fossil Human Remains from the Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic” was published and still represents a milestone on the topic, which however requires a reappraisal. Here we provide a commented overview of the pre-modern human fossil record from the Italian peninsula, where we have included updated information on specimens that were already in the Cata- logue of 2005 as well as new discoveries of the recent years, thus providing a comprehensive report of this important regional samples. We hope that this work may represent a useful state-of-the-art on the topic. It also embodies notes concerning the more sophisticated technologies that have been applied in the last years to document and study such a paleoanthropological archive, allowing the acquisition of new data even from old specimens.

For reading the full article, please visit: http://amq.aiqua.it/index.php/issues-2012-2017/amq-34-1-2021-proof-copy/1068-the-pre-modern-human-fossil-record-in-italy-from-the-middle-to-the-late-pleistocene-an-updated-reappraisal/file

Time: Tuesday, 9th February 2021, 1pm sharp

Speaker: Dr. Igor Yanovich, who is a former fellow and external member of the Center. He is presenting his joined work with Silvia Ghirotto, Patricia Santos, and Andrea Benazzo.

Title: Using Approximate Bayesian Computation to understand the interplay of language diversification and language contact

Abstract: 
In this project, which started from a fellowship during the first stage of the Center, we apply an evolutionary model and the framework of Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) to study the linguistic past of the Bantu language family. The model allows us to study statistically both the signal of the early history of the family and the influence of language contact. We suggest that the early history might not be recoverable from the lexical data anymore, having been "erased" by later developments. But some of those later phenomena can be usefully studied, as we argue that meaningful inferences can be made with respect to linguistic contact within the Bantu.

We welcome you all to join us via Zoom and we will send around the specific link on the day before the talk.

Ph.D. student position in Evolutionary Sciences in the Junior Research Group on the “Co-evolution of Tool-use and Language” (m/f/d)

Each student position will start as soon as possible and run for 3 years, with a possible extension for a fourth year. Salary will be according to the German public service scale TV-L E13, 65%.

Applicants for this position must hold a Master’s or equivalent degree in prehistoric archaeology, biomechanics, neurology, applied linguistics or a related field.

The successful applicant will work in an interdisciplinary project focusing on human brain-hand movement coordination during prehistoric stone-tool use, and its potential association with verbal/non-verbal communication.

The University of Tübingen wishes to enhance the share of employed women in research and teaching Individuals with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply and, having the same occupational aptitude, will be preferred. The employment will be handled by the central administration of the University of Tübingen.

For the official announcement of the first position, please visit: https://uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet/stellenangebote/newsfullview-stellenangebote/article/phd-position-in-evolutionary-sciences-m-f-d-1/

For the official announcement of the second position, please visit: https://uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet/stellenangebote/newsfullview-stellenangebote/article/phd-position-in-evolutionary-sciences-m-f-d/

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/92255632073

Meeting ID: 922 5563 2073
Passcode: 813752

Speaker: Michael Franke, University of Osnabrück

Title: Theory-driven probabilistic modeling of language use: a case study on quantifiers, logic and typicality [joint work with Bob van Tiel (Nijmegen) and Uli Sauerland (Berlin)]

Abstract:
Theoretical linguistics postulates abstract structures that successfully explain key aspects of language. However, the precise relation between abstract theoretical ideas and empirical data from language use is not always apparent. Here, we propose to empirically test abstract semantic theories through the lens of probabilistic pragmatic modelling. We consider the historically important case of quantity words (e.g., `some’, `all’). Data from a large-scale production study seem to suggest that quantity words are understood via prototypes. But based on statistical and empirical model comparison, we show that a probabilistic pragmatic model that embeds a strict truth-conditional notion of meaning explains the data just as well as a model that encodes prototypes into the meaning of quantity words.

More information about this and past talks in the Oberseminar can be found here: https://uni-tuebingen.de/de/133999.

Click here for the article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.12.041

Abstract:

Systematic tool production and use is one of humanity’s defining characteristics, possibly originating as early as >3 million years ago.1–3 Although heightened manual dexterity is considered to be intrinsically intertwined with tool use and manufacture, and critical for human evolution, its role in the emergence of early culture re- mains unclear. Most previous research on this question exclusively relied on direct morphological compar- isons between early hominin and modern human skeletal elements, assuming that the degree of a species’ dexterity depends on its similarity with the modern human form. Here, we develop a new approach to inves- tigate the efficiency of thumb opposition, a fundamental component of manual dexterity, in several species of fossil hominins. Our work for the first time takes into account soft tissue as well as bone anatomy, integrating virtual modeling of musculus opponens pollicis and its interaction with three-dimensional bone shape form. Results indicate that a fundamental aspect of efficient thumb opposition appeared approximately 2 million years ago, possibly associated with our own genus Homo, and did not characterize Australopithecus, the earliest proposed stone tool maker. This was true also of the late Australopithecus species, Australopithecus sediba, previously found to exhibit human-like thumb proportions. In contrast, later Homo species, including the small-brained Homo naledi, show high levels of thumb opposition dexterity, highlighting the increasing importance of cultural processes and manual dexterity in later human evolution. 

Here are the links to the article in the University of Tübingen Press and some news:
https://uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet/aktuelles-und-publikationen/pressemitteilungen/newsfullview-pressemitteilungen/article/beweglicher-daumen-ebnete-den-weg-zur-menschlichen-kultur/
 

Links to TV interviews from Dr. Karakostis:
1. SWR: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/tuebingen/neue-erkenntnisse-ueber-zangengriff-des-menschen-100.html
2. ERT (National Greek television): https://www.ertflix.gr/ert1/syndeseis/09fev2021-syndeseis/ (*at minute 45.20)

CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/28/world/opposable-thumb-human-evolution-study-scn/index.html

Inside Science Magazine: https://www.insidescience.org/news/2-million-year-old-fossils-reveal-whats-ancient-thumbs

Science Magazine: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/01/your-amazing-thumb-about-2-million-years-old

Science News: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/humanlike-thumb-dexterity-hominid-evolution

MDR: https://www.mdr.de/wissen/daumen-flexibilitaet-evolution-vorteil-100.html

Zoom link:
https://zoom.us/j/96830281812?pwd=RE42ZGV5QUhPTjFrZWw5aGw0NEFYZz09
Meeting-ID: 968 3028 1812
Password: 825970

Speaker: Costantino Buzi, PhD. He joined the center last year as a long-term fellow.

Title: Inside, looking out: Virtual methods applied to the cranial cavities in the study of human evolution

Abstract: 
The cranium is a complex structure, reflecting its many functions. It encloses crucial organs and tissues, like the brain, the medium and inner ear, the optic nerves, etc. For this reason, when we deal with fossil remains, ‘empty’ shapes inside the cranium carry a highly informative value. Before the discovery of x-rays and the subsequent rise of digital imaging, the study of endocranial cavities was limited and invasive (or often destructive). It is nowadays easier to extract more and better data from these cavities, even though some traditional techniques are prone to errors and/or repeatability issues (e.g. segmentation). New techniques of Virtual Anthropology have been recently designed to overcome these problems and improve the quality of the data. With these new methods, is becoming clearer how cavities like maxillary sinuses can concur to the external morphology of the facial skeleton in providing data of considerable importance for the study of the human evolution. Of crucial importance is also the morphology of the nasal cavity, which, on the other hand, carries the inherent issue to be a very fragile structure, rarely preserved in the fossil record. It is ironic – like many cases of palaeoanthropology – that the only preserved nasal cavity in the fossil record belongs to a Neanderthal specimen from Southern Italy that is impossible to digitally acquire to date. New digital solutions have been put in place to overcome this issue and characterise, at least in part, this important source of information.

Zoomlink:

https://zoom.us/j/96210662701?pwd=MDZlUitFRjRudVk1MEFtSnZVVlowdz09

Meeting-ID: 962 1066 2701

Password: 551011

Speaker: Johannes Wahle, who is a Member of the ERC Project CrossLingference with Prof. Dr. Gerhard Jäger and former member of the center

Title:No-U-Turn sampling for phylogenetic trees

Abstract: 

Phylogenetic trees are important for our understanding of evolutionary relationships. But even for only a small number of entities the number of possible trees is immense. In order to efficiently search through this large space and analyze the distributions of these trees, different algorithmic solutions have been proposed. Bayesian inference of such trees is predominantly based on the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. For high dimensional and correlated data this algorithm is known to be inefficient. There are gradient based algorithms to speed up such inference. Building on recent research which uses gradient based approaches for the inference of phylogenetic trees in a Bayesian framework, I present an algorithm which is capable of performing No-U-Turn sampling for phylogenetic trees. As an extension to Hamiltonian Monte Carlo methods, No-U-Turn sampling comes with the same benefits, such as proposing distant new states with a high acceptance probability, but eliminates the need to manually tune hyper parameters. Evaluated on three different data sets, the new sampler shows that it converges faster to the target distribution. The results also indicate that a higher number of topologies are traversed during sampling by the new algorithm in comparison to traditional Markov Chain Monte Carlo approaches. This new algorithm leads to a more efficient exploration of the posterior distribution of phylogenetic tree topologies.

Speaker: Marisa Köllner

Abstract
The availability of machine readable data accelerated the adaptation and development of phylogenetic methods in historical linguistics. While some methods addressing the evolution of languages are successfully integrated, scarcely any attention has been paid to methods analyzing horizontal transmission. Inspired by the parallel between horizontal gene transfer and borrowing, this work aims at adapting horizontal transfer methods into computational historical linguistics to identify borrowing scenarios along with the transferred loanwords. Computational methods modeling horizontal transfer are based on the framework of tree reconciliation. The methods attempt to detect horizontal transfer by fitting the evolutionary history of words to the evolution of their corresponding languages, both represented in phylogenetic trees. The discordance between the two evolutionary scenarios indicates the influence of loanwords due to language contact. The tree reconciliation framework is introduced in a linguistic setting along with an appropriate algorithm, which is applied to linguistic trees to detect loanwords. While the reconstruction of language trees is scientifically substantiated, little research has so far been done on the reconstruction of concept trees, representing the words’ histories. One major innovation of this work is the introduction of various methods to reconstruct reliable concept trees and determine their stability in order to achieve reasonable results in terms of loanword detection. The results of the tree reconciliation are evaluated against a newly developed gold standard and compared to three methods established for the task of language contact detection in computational historical linguistics.

The link to the Pressemitteilung of the University of Tübingen:
https://uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet/aktuelles-und-publikationen/pressemitteilungen/newsfullview-pressemitteilungen/article/tuebinger-wissenschaftlerin-erhaelt-leibniz-preis/

The link to the Pressemitteilung of the DFG:

https://www.dfg.de/service/presse/pressemitteilungen/2020/pressemitteilung_nr_54/index.html

https://uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet/aktuelles-und-publikationen/attempto-online/newsfullview-attempto/article/palaeoanthropologin-und-archaeologin-erhaelt-consolidator-grant-des-europaeischen-forschungsrats/

https://www.archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id={9EC3227C-1A17-48FB-A713-98E8CDB7BCE1}

Central Andean archaeology in the light of recent perspectives from linguistics and molecular anthropology.

Joint work with former fellow Dr. Chiara Barbieri.

Speaker:

Dr. Matthias Urban, who’s Emmy Noether Group „The Language Dynamics of the ancient Central Andes“ is associated with the Center.

Time:

Tuesday, 8th December 2020, 1pm sharp

Zoom-Link:
Thema: Words Bones Genes Tools Colloquium
Uhrzeit: 8.Dez.2020 01:00 PM Amsterdam, Berlin, Rom, Stockholm, Wien

Zoom-Meeting beitreten
https://zoom.us/j/97723721384?pwd=bDNoTXZvZEFOQlMwOTh5SGtjdzdqUT09

Meeting-ID: 977 2372 1384
Kenncode: 154392

Abstract: 

Reporting on joint work with Dr. Chiara Barbieri, in this talk, I present an overview of recent activities in historical linguistics and molecular anthropology. Both suggest that the ancient Central Andes, a region of the world with a deep and rich cultural prehistory involving complex state-level societies, had an internal north-south structure in linguistic and demographic structure. I contextualize these findings with the cultural trajectory as evidenced in the archaeological record, which suggest two largely independent hotspots of cultural development, a coastal, maritimely adapted one on Peru’s North Coast, and a highland-based agropastoralist core in the southern highlands of Peru and the Titicaca basin. I discuss how simulations of the emergence of the molecular evidence suggest that the emergence of differentiated genetic profiles appears to predate the emergence of cultural complexity, creating distinct demographic substrates on which it began to flourish in north and south.

Speaker: Dr. Hannes Rathmann

Date: Tuesday, November 24 2020 at 12:45 PM

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/95767717797?pwd=SXRiRnFOcklSNXFlNmZ0VGZDVzM2UT09

Abstract:

Researchers commonly rely on human dental morphological features in order to reconstruct genetic affinities among past individuals and populations, particularly since teeth are often the best preserved part of a human skeleton. Tooth form is considered to be highly heritable and selectively neutral and, therefore, to be an excellent proxy for DNA when none is available. However, until today, it remains poorly understood whether certain dental traits or trait combinations preserve neutral genomic signatures to a greater degree than others. Here, we address this long-standing research gap by systematically testing the utility of 27 common dental traits and >134 million possible trait combinations in reflecting neutral genomic variation in a worldwide sample of modern human populations. Our analyses reveal that not all traits are equally well-suited for reconstructing population affinities. Whereas some traits largely reflect neutral variation and therefore evolved primarily as a result of genetic drift, others can be linked to nonstochastic processes such as natural selection or hominin admixture. We also demonstrate that reconstructions of population affinity based on many traits are not necessarily more reliable than those based on only a few traits. Importantly, we find a set of highly diagnostic trait combinations that preserve neutral genetic signals best (up to x∼r = 0.580; 95% r range = 0.293 to 0.758; P = 0.001). We propose that these trait combinations should be prioritized in future research, as they allow for more accurate inferences about past human population dynamics when using dental morphology as a proxy for DNA.

Speaker: Dr. Xinjun Zhang (Davis University of California)

Date: Wednesday, 4 November 17:00

Venue: Zoom, Link will be published on the day before the talk

Abstract:

The discovery of Denisovans is one of the most exciting findings in human evolution in the past decade. The striking similarity between sequences of the EPAS1 gene in Denisovans and modern Tibetans suggested adaptive introgression that facilitated high altitude adaptation. However, the time and geographic ranges where the admixture between species was made remain unknown. In this talk, I will show that ancestral Tibetans experienced two pulses of Denisovan introgression, among which a group more alike the individual from the Denisova cave introduced the adaptive EPAS1 haplotype around 43,000 years ago. The positive selection on EPAS1, on the other hand, started after the Last Glacial Maximum at around 12,000 years ago. This suggests that the Denisovan EPAS1 variants were not immediately beneficial in Tibetans, likely because introgression occurred at low altitudes. I further leveraged the up-to-date genetic and archaeological evidence and proposed two comprehensive testable models for the peopling of Tibetan Plateau.

Speaker: Dr. Thiago Chacon (University of Brasilia)

Date: Friday, 30 October, 14:00

Venue: Zoom, Link will be published on the day before the talk

Abstract:

Amazonia is home for 52 language families, a figure that corresponds to more than 10% of the world’s linguistic genetic diversity. Nevertheless, lineages are in general shallow, as only 7 language families (13%) have 10 or more languages. The high but shallow phylogenetic diversity is coupled with a considerable amount of internal grammatical and phonological diversity and a record of intense linguistic and cultural diffusion within regional and long-distance networks (Campbell 2012). While the diversity of Amazonian language families cannot be explained by a monophyletic diversification within Amazonia given the recent dates of human occupation in Amazonia (∼11.000 to 8.500 BP, Heckenberger and Neves 2009) or the Americas in general, the shallow linguistic families might be consistent with a recent radiation at multiple foci points, which correlates with the recent pattern of logarithmic increase of demographic growth achieved after about 3000 BP (Arroyo-Kalin 2017, Arroyo Kalin and Riris 2020). Language and cultural diffusion is also consistent with a gendered pattern of social mobility favoring isolation of male populations and circulation of female individuals (Tarazona-Santos et al. 2001, Arias et al. 2018), as well as with the spread of Amazonia’s largest language families (Arawakan, Tupian and Cariban).

Following up this general perspective, and given what we know about language change and changes in language ecologies, in this talk I will focus on analyzing language diversification and differentiation processes and their social and cultural correlates in Amazonia. More specifically, I will be discussing 5 general hypothesis that make specific claims about a different aspect of Amazonia’s linguistic diversification processes:

1)    Multilateral inputs: multiple sources of migrations throughout history have contributed to a continuous influx of new linguistic families into Amazonia, yet most Amazonian language families also ahve their original homeland in Amazonia

2)    Deeper genealogies: many language isolates, small and mid-sized language families may actually be demonstrated to be genetically distantly related languages, while other families may actually be shown to be more internally diverse than previously thought.

3)    Regional systems: several regional centers have been continuously occupied during long periods since pre-history, suggesting different foci points of language innovations, language contact and situ diversification

4)    Higher rates of divergence despite contact: Amazonian populations have had particular social organization and cultural practices that favored higher rates of language divergence or stronger pressure to language maintenance instead of convergence and homogenization in language contact situations

5)    Divergence after shift: language spread of major indigenous and colonial languages occurred at the expenses of previously local languages, but they produced low rates of clade extinction and triggered the emergence of new target languages as local varieties of the shifting populations

I will explore the above hypotheses from findings in my research on Northwest and Northeast Amazonia, as well as in other historical sociolinguistic contexts in Amazonia and beyond. I will focus more specifically on the different nuances behind hypotheses 3), 4) and 5) which resonates with existing broad social and cultural claims about Amazonia’s linguistic and cultural evolution, such as: (i) lack of large-scale political formations fostering greater multilingualism (Neves 2011); (ii) language functioning as an indexing element of ethnic identities and boundaries against diffusion (Epps 2015); (iii) ethnic identities and social boundaries as fluid constructs promoting diffusion of linguistic and cultural traits and inter-ethnic alliances (Hornborg and Hill 2013). These social and cultural principles are actually compatible with one and another. While varying across different contexts, and making different predictions about language and culture evolution, they can be observed in fieldwork research as well as tested against wider cross-linguistic, geographical and temporal scope. I conclude by suggesting a collaborative research project combining the narrow focus of ethnographic observation of language variation and change with traditional methods in historical linguistics and large-scale quantitative approaches to assess the role of social and cultural dynamics behind linguistic process of innovation, diffusion and change across 10 small and mid-sized linguistic families in different multilingual regions in Amazonia, aiming at covering a time span of up to 5.000 years Amazonia linguistic and cultural evolution.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-020-00704-x

Speaker: Gregorio de Souza (University Pompeu Fabra Barcelona)

Date: Thursday, 29 October, 12:00

Venue: Zoom, Link will be published on the day before the talk

Abstract:

In this talk, I examine the expansion of major archaeological cultures related to the largest language families in lowland South America during the late Holocene, testing whether they can be modelled as demic diffusion processes. Spatial gradients in the radiocarbon dates of each culture were analysed through space-time regressions, allowing for the identification of geographical centers of origin, times and speeds of expansion. To further assess the feasibility of demic diffusion as the process behind the archaeological expansions in question, agent-based simulations were developed with demographic parameters derived from the ethnography of tropical forest farmers. The results show that, while some cultural expansions can be realistically modeled as demographic processes, others are not so easily explained in the same manner, possibly because different processes (such as cultural diffusion) drove their dispersal or due to incomplete archaeological data.

Speaker: Alexandros Karakostis (University of Tübingen)

Date: Thursday, 29 October, 10:00

Venue: Zoom, Link will be published on the day before the talk

Abstract:

Reconstructing behavior in past human populations is a paramount goal of archaeological sciences, as it can elucidate the interplay between the biological and cultural factors driving human evolution. Given that habitual physical activity comprises a major component of human behavior, several methods have been proposed for assessing activity based on human skeletal variation. However, most of these approaches have been put to question due to methodological shortcomings and a lack of supportive experimental data. Through a series of studies, I have systematically addressed these concerns, introducing novel and experimentally validated methods for reconstructing physical activity in the past. The interdisciplinary spectrum of these projects involves the use of human skeletons with documented life histories, geometric morphometrics, experimental animal models, histological analyses of human tissue, and biomechanical muscle modeling. Importantly, applying these methods to the fossil record has provided crucial new insights into hominin lifestyle, reconciling anatomical and cultural lines of evidence. In this talk, I will concisely present the findings of the above studies and outline future directions in my research, focusing on a potential expansion of our methodological framework that could help addressing other major aspects of human bio-cultural evolution.

Click here for the whole article.

Abstract

Researchers commonly rely on human dental morphological features in order to reconstruct genetic affinities among past individuals and populations, particularly since teeth are often the best preserved part of a human skeleton. Tooth form is considered to be highly heritable and selectively neutral and, therefore, to be an excellent proxy for DNA when none is available. However, until today, it remains poorly understood whether certain dental traits or trait combinations preserve neutral genomic signatures to a greater degree than others. Here, we address this long-standing research gap by systematically testing the utility of 27 common dental traits and >134 million possible trait combinations in reflecting neutral genomic variation in a worldwide sample of modern human populations. Our analyses reveal that not all traits are equally well-suited for reconstructing population affinities. Whereas some traits largely reflect neutral variation and therefore evolved primarily as a result of genetic drift, others can be linked to nonstochastic processes such as natural selection or hominin admixture. We also demonstrate that reconstructions of population affinity based on many traits are not necessarily more reliable than those based on only a few traits. Importantly, we find a set of highly diagnostic trait combinations that preserve neutral genetic signals best (up to x∼_r = 0.580; 95% r range = 0.293 to 0.758; P = 0.001). We propose that these trait combinations should be prioritized in future research, as they allow for more accurate inferences about past human population dynamics when using dental morphology as a proxy for DNA.

You can find the article here:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1755-0998.13263

You can find the article here:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278416520302063