WS 2011/2012

Prof. Eric Delson (Lehman College and the Graduate School, City University of New York; NYCEP; and the American Museum of Natural History)

Title: "Paradolichopithecus, a large-bodied European terrestrial cercopithecoid: paleobiology and relationships"

Abstract: The large cercopithecine, Paradolichopithecus, is known across Europe (and perhaps into Asia) from ca. 4-2 Ma. Most sites are located in southern Europe, in France, Spain, Romania and Greece, but one tooth has recently been recognized from Slovakia. The unique type specimen of P. arvernensis (Depéret, 1929) was recovered in the 1920s at Senèze, France, and I recently co-directed new excavations there in hopes of clarifying the age, paleoenvironment and site formation system, as well as trying unsuccessfully to find additional primates. A more extensive collection was recovered in the 1960s from Graunceanu, Romania, and additional material was found in the late 1990s at Vatera, on Lesvos island, Greece. Significantly smaller-sized specimens have been discussed from Malusteni, Romania; Vialette, France; Cova Bonica, Puebla del Valverde and Moreda, Spain; and one tooth from Nova Vieska, Slovakia, also appears referable to the genus (being larger than a macaque tooth).

Ongoing research on these fossils has several goals:

1. to clarify the relationships of the genus, to macaques or to baboons;
2. to determine how many species or subtaxa can be recognized;
3. to determine the relationships of these European poulations to Asian fossils termed either Paradolichopithecus or Procynocephalus;
4. to evaluate the level of sexual dimorphism within populations (linked to point b above);
5. to clarify the locomotor adaptation of Paradolichopithecus.

Both traditional and geometric morphometric analyses have been applied to questions a and e (and colleagues have analyzed CT scans), broadly confirming previous results that Paradolichopithecus is linked to Eurasian macaques and represents a highly terrestrial lineage. Some of the other questions are as yet unresolved.

Dr. Jamie Clark (Institut für Naturwissenschafliche Archäologie)

"The Howieson’s Poort: New Insights from the Faunal Record at Sibudu Cave (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)"

Abstract: The Howieson’s Poort (HP; ~65-60,000 years ago), an enigmatic substage of the southern African Middle Stone Age (MSA), continues to receive attention from scholars interested in human behavioral evolution during the Later Pleistocene. This is in large part because the HP preserves evidence for innovative technologies (including finely made bone points and geometric backed tools) and for symbolically mediated behavior (engraved ostrich eggshell). The HP is also of interest because the disappearance of the innovative behaviors associated with this phase is not well understood. In this talk, I will utilize faunal data from the HP and immediately post-HP MSA deposits at Sibudu Cave in order to address a number of issues relevant to our understanding of the HP. I will begin by exploring the nature of human subsistence behavior during this phase, including an evaluation of the hypothesis that remote capture technology was employed during the HP. I will then discuss the nature and extent of variability in subsistence behavior evidenced between the HP and post-HP MSA, closing with a consideration of how variability in the faunal record may relate to documented changes in technology, environment, and site use across these two phases.

Dr. Tracy Kivell (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)

"The hand of Australopithecus sediba: Handier than Homo habilis?"

Abstract: In 2009, a new species of fossil hominin, Australopithecus sediba, was discovered at the ~2 million-year old site of Malapa, South Africa. Since this initial announcement, further fossil discoveries at Malapa have been uncovered and described, yielding two of the most complete and well-preserved australopith skeletons ever found. The Au. sediba fossils present a unpredictable and unique mosaic of primitive, australopith-like features and derived, more Homo-like features. Among these remains is an almost complete hand, displaying a mix of morphology indicative of both arboreal climbing behaviours and fine manipulative, precision-grip abilities. Comparisons to the Homo habilis "handy man" fossils suggest that there were at least two distinct types of hominin hand morphology around the Plio-Pleistocene transition and that the morphology of Au. sediba may represent a basal condition associated with early stone tool use and production.

Dr. Verena Schuenemann (Institut für Naturwissenschafliche Archäologie AB: Paläogenetik)

"Fishing for ancient pathogens: A draft genome of a Yersinia pestis strain from the medieval Black Death"

Abstract: The Black Death is considered to be one of the most devastating epidemics in human history. In the first five years, between 1347 and 1352, approximately 30% -50% of Europeans died. Until recently the causative agent of this epidemic was discussed highly controversial, several pathogens –Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis or an unknown Filovirus- were taken into account as putative agents. Previous genetic studies were often criticized as possible contaminants of modern DNA or closely related soil bacteria. Novel methodical approaches to prove the authenticity of ancient DNA using characteristic damage patterns enabled us to show that Yersinia pestis was at least one of the causative agents of the Black Death. For this study DNA of skeletal remains from over 100 medieval plague victims buried in the East Smithfield cemetery in London were analyzed. In the next step the ancient genome of Y. pestis from four of the victims was reconstructed to 30-fold genomic coverage. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the ancient pathogen is ancestral to most recent plague strains and very close to the root of all genome wide sequenced human pathogenic Y. pestis strains. These findings indicate that the plague originated as a human pathogen in the late medieval age and suggests that all previous plague epidemics were caused by an extinct or so far not sequenced branch of Y. pestis or a different pathogen. Thus, the first genome of an ancient bacterial pathogen offers a novel opportunity to study the evolution of pathogens.