Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- File Type
Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Further Evidence For Small-Bodied Hominins From The Late Pleistocene Of Flores Indonesia, Michael Morwood, P. Brown, Jatmiko, T. Sutikna, E.W. Saptomo, Kira Westaway, R. A. Due, Richard Roberts, T Maeda, S Wasisto, T Djubiantono
Further Evidence For Small-Bodied Hominins From The Late Pleistocene Of Flores Indonesia, Michael Morwood, P. Brown, Jatmiko, T. Sutikna, E.W. Saptomo, Kira Westaway, R. A. Due, Richard Roberts, T Maeda, S Wasisto, T Djubiantono
Richard G Roberts
Homo floresiensis was recovered from Late Pleistocene deposits on the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia, but has the stature, limb proportions and endocranial volume of African Pliocene Australopithecus 1. The holotype of the species (LB1), excavated in 2003 from Liang Bua, consisted of a partial skeleton minus the arms. Here we describe additional H. floresiensis remains excavated from the cave in 2004. These include arm bones belonging to the holotype skeleton, a second adult mandible, and postcranial material from other individuals. We can now reconstruct the body proportions of H. floresiensis with some certainty. The finds further demonstrate …
Late-Surviving Megafauna In Tasmania Australia, Implicate Human Involvement In Their Extinction, Christian Turney, T Flannery, Richard Roberts, Craig Reid, Keith Fifield, T Higham, Zenobia Jacobs, Noel Kemp, Eric Colhoun, R.M. Kalin
Late-Surviving Megafauna In Tasmania Australia, Implicate Human Involvement In Their Extinction, Christian Turney, T Flannery, Richard Roberts, Craig Reid, Keith Fifield, T Higham, Zenobia Jacobs, Noel Kemp, Eric Colhoun, R.M. Kalin
Richard G Roberts
Establishing the cause of past extinctions is critical if we are to understand better what might trigger future occurrences and how to prevent them. The mechanisms of continental late Pleistocene megafaunal extinction, however, are still fiercely contested. Potential factors contributing to their demise include climatic change, human impact, or some combination. On the Australian mainland, 90% of the megafauna became extinct by ≈46 thousand years (ka) ago, soon after the first archaeological evidence for human colonization of the continent. Yet, on the neighboring island of Tasmania (which was connected to the mainland when sea levels were lower), megafaunal extinction appears …
Astronomically Calibrated 40ar/39ar Age For The Toba Supereruption And Global Synchronization Of Late Quaternary Records, Michael Storey, Richard Roberts, Mokhtar Saidin
Astronomically Calibrated 40ar/39ar Age For The Toba Supereruption And Global Synchronization Of Late Quaternary Records, Michael Storey, Richard Roberts, Mokhtar Saidin
Richard G Roberts
The Toba supereruption in Sumatra, ∼74 thousand years (ka) ago, was the largest terrestrial volcanic event of the Quaternary. Ash and sulfate aerosols were deposited in both hemispheres, forming a time-marker horizon that can be used to synchronize late Quaternary records globally. A precise numerical age for this event has proved elusive, with dating uncertainties larger than the millennial-scale climate cycles that characterized this period. We report an astronomically calibrated (40)Ar/(39)Ar age of 73.88 ± 0.32 ka (1σ, full external errors) for sanidine crystals extracted from Toba deposits in the Lenggong Valley, Malaysia, 350 km from the eruption source and …
Late Palaeolithic Core Reduction Strategies In Dhofar, Oman, Yamandu Hilbert, Jeffrey Rose, Richard Roberts
Late Palaeolithic Core Reduction Strategies In Dhofar, Oman, Yamandu Hilbert, Jeffrey Rose, Richard Roberts
Richard G Roberts
Systematic surveys conducted in the Dhofar Governorate of Oman have produced over 300 surface sites, as well as excavation of in situ archaeological deposits. A number of these assemblages have been classified as part of the Nejd Leptolithic Tradition (NLT).This study describes a selection of these assemblages from sites distributed across the southern and central Najd plateau in Dhofar,including both surface scatters and stratified rock shelters. The NLT is broadly characterized by the reduction of blades struck from single-platform cores with flat flaking surfaces, in conjunction with the faconnage manufacture of bifacial implements. Based on technological analysis and artefact conjoins, …
Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating Of Single And Multiple Grains Of Quartz From Perennially Frozen Loess In Western Yukon Territory, Canada: Comparison With Radiocarbon Chronologies For The Late Pleistocene Dawson Tephra, Richard Roberts, Lee Arnold, Martina Demuro, F Brock, D Froese, C Bronk Ramsey
Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating Of Single And Multiple Grains Of Quartz From Perennially Frozen Loess In Western Yukon Territory, Canada: Comparison With Radiocarbon Chronologies For The Late Pleistocene Dawson Tephra, Richard Roberts, Lee Arnold, Martina Demuro, F Brock, D Froese, C Bronk Ramsey
Richard G Roberts
No abstract provided.
Single-Grain Osl Chronologies For Middle Palaeolithic Deposits At El Mnasra And El Harhoura 2, Morocco: Implications For Late Pleistocene Human-Environment Interactions Along The Atlantic Coast Of Northwest Africa, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard Roberts, Roland Nespoulet, M El Hajraoui, Andre Debenath
Single-Grain Osl Chronologies For Middle Palaeolithic Deposits At El Mnasra And El Harhoura 2, Morocco: Implications For Late Pleistocene Human-Environment Interactions Along The Atlantic Coast Of Northwest Africa, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard Roberts, Roland Nespoulet, M El Hajraoui, Andre Debenath
Richard G Roberts
Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurements were made on individual, sand-sized grains of quartz from Middle Palaeolithic deposits at two cave sites (El Harhoura 2 and El Mnasra) on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. We were able to calculate OSL ages for 32 of the 33 samples collected from the Middle Palaeolithic deposits, including the earliest and latest Aterian levels at both sites. These ages reveal periods of occupation between about 110 and 95 ka (thousands of years ago), and at ~75 ka. A late Middle Palaeolithic occupation of El Harhoura 2 is also recorded at ~55 ka. Our single-grain OSL …
Late Acheulean Hominins At The Marine Isotope Stage 6/5e Transition In North-Central India, Michael Haslam, Richard Roberts, Ceri Shipton, J Pal, Jacqueline Fenwick, Peter Ditchfield, Nicole Boivin, A Dubey, M Gupta, Michael Petraglia
Late Acheulean Hominins At The Marine Isotope Stage 6/5e Transition In North-Central India, Michael Haslam, Richard Roberts, Ceri Shipton, J Pal, Jacqueline Fenwick, Peter Ditchfield, Nicole Boivin, A Dubey, M Gupta, Michael Petraglia
Richard G Roberts
Single-grain optically stimulated luminescence dating was applied to Late Quaternary sediments at two sites in the Middle Son Valley, Madhya Pradesh, India. Designated Bamburi 1 and Patpara, thesse sites contain Late Acheulean stone tool assemblages, which we associate with non-modern hominins. Age determinations of 140-120. ka place the formation of these sites at around the Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 6-5 transition, placing them among the youngest Acheulean sites in the world. We present here the geochronology and sedimentological setting of these sites, and consider potential implications of Late Pleistocene archaic habitation in north-central India for the initial dispersal of modern …
Afromontane Foragers Of The Late Pleistocene: Site Formation, Chronology And Occupational Pulsing At Melikane Rockshelter, Lesotho, Brian Stewart, Genevieve Dewar, Mike Morley, Robyn Inglis, Mark Wheeler, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard Roberts
Afromontane Foragers Of The Late Pleistocene: Site Formation, Chronology And Occupational Pulsing At Melikane Rockshelter, Lesotho, Brian Stewart, Genevieve Dewar, Mike Morley, Robyn Inglis, Mark Wheeler, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard Roberts
Richard G Roberts
This paper provides a preliminary chronostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental framework for the Late Pleistocene archaeological sequence at Melikane Rockshelter in mountainous eastern Lesotho. Renewed excavations at Melikane form part of a larger project investigating marginal landscape use by Late Pleistocene foragers in southern Africa. Geoarchaeological work undertaken at the site supports in-field observations that Melikane experienced regular, often intensive, input of groundwater via fissures in the shelter’s rear wall. This strong hydrogeological connection resulted in episodic disturbances of the sedimentary sequence, exacerbated by other processes such as bioturbation. Despite this taphonomic complexity, a robust chronology for Melikane has been developed, based …