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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Human Dispersal From Siberia To Beringia: Assessing A Beringian Standstill In Light Of The Archaeological Evidence, Kelly E. Graf, Ian Buvit Dec 2017

Human Dispersal From Siberia To Beringia: Assessing A Beringian Standstill In Light Of The Archaeological Evidence, Kelly E. Graf, Ian Buvit

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

With genetic studies showing unquestionable Asian origins of the first Americans, the Siberian and Beringian archaeological records are absolutely critical for understanding the initial dispersal of modern humans in the Western Hemisphere. The genetics-based Beringian Standstill Model posits a three-stage dispersal process and necessitates several expectations of the archaeological record of northeastern Asia. Here we present an overview of the Siberian and Beringian Upper Paleolithic records and discuss them in the context of a Beringian Standstill. We report that not every expectation of the model is met with archaeological data at hand.


Middle Paleolithic Occupation On A Marine Isotope Stage 5 Lakeshore In The Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia, Michael Petraglia, Abdullah Alsharekh, Remy Crassard, Nick Drake, Huw Groucutt, Adrian Parker, Richard Roberts Mar 2013

Middle Paleolithic Occupation On A Marine Isotope Stage 5 Lakeshore In The Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia, Michael Petraglia, Abdullah Alsharekh, Remy Crassard, Nick Drake, Huw Groucutt, Adrian Parker, Richard Roberts

Richard G Roberts

No abstract provided.


Middle Paleolithic Assemblages From The Indian Subcontinent, Before And After The Toba Super-Eruption, Michael Petraglia, Ravi Korisettar, Nicole Boivin, Christopher Clarkson, Peter Ditchfield, Sacha Jones, Jinu Koshy, Marta Lahr, Clive Oppenheimer, David Pyle, Richard Roberts, Jean-Luc Schwenninger, Lee Arnold, Kevin White Mar 2013

Middle Paleolithic Assemblages From The Indian Subcontinent, Before And After The Toba Super-Eruption, Michael Petraglia, Ravi Korisettar, Nicole Boivin, Christopher Clarkson, Peter Ditchfield, Sacha Jones, Jinu Koshy, Marta Lahr, Clive Oppenheimer, David Pyle, Richard Roberts, Jean-Luc Schwenninger, Lee Arnold, Kevin White

Richard G Roberts

The Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT) eruption, which occurred in Indonesia 74,000 years ago, is one of Earth's largest known volcanic events. The effect of the YTT eruption on existing populations of humans, and accordingly on the course of human evolution, is debated. Here we associate the YTT with archaeological assemblages at Jwalapuram, in the Jurreru River valley of southern India. Broad continuity of Middle Paleolithic technology across the YTT event suggests that hominins persisted regionally across this major eruptive event.


Single-Grain Osl Dating At La Grotte Des Contrebandiers ('Smugglers' Cave'), Morocco: Improved Age Constraints For The Middle Paleolithic Levels, Richard Roberts, Zenobia Jacobs, Michael Meyer, V Aldeias, M El Hajraoui, H Dibbie Mar 2013

Single-Grain Osl Dating At La Grotte Des Contrebandiers ('Smugglers' Cave'), Morocco: Improved Age Constraints For The Middle Paleolithic Levels, Richard Roberts, Zenobia Jacobs, Michael Meyer, V Aldeias, M El Hajraoui, H Dibbie

Richard G Roberts

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurements of individual quartz grains are reported for Middle Paleolithic (MP) or Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits in La Grotte des Contrebandiers, Morocco. Single-grain measurements enable rejection of grains that may lead to under- or over-estimation of age due to malign luminescence properties or remobilisation of grains after burial. We identified the former using a range of experimental procedures and objective rejection criteria. Three post-depositional factors influenced the distribution pattern of equivalent dose (De) values for the remaining single grains: the disintegration of roof spall liberating unbleached, older grains into otherwise well-bleached sediments; the intrusion of …


The Primitive Hunter Culture, Pleistocene Extinction, And The Rise Of Agriculture, Vernon L. Smith Jan 1975

The Primitive Hunter Culture, Pleistocene Extinction, And The Rise Of Agriculture, Vernon L. Smith

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

The hypothesis that megafauna extinction some 10,000 years ago was due to "overkill" by Paleolithic hunters is examined using an economic model of a replenishable resource. The large herding animals that became extinct, such as mammoth, bison, camel, and mastodon, presented low hunting cost and high kill value. The absence of appropriation provided incentives for the wastage killing evident in some kill sites, while the slow growth, long lives, and long maturation of large animals increased their vulnerability to extinction. Free-access hunting is compared with socially optimal hunting and used to interpret the development of conservationist ethics, and controls, in …