Hublin, J.-J., Talamo, S., Julien, M., David, F., Connet, N., Bodu, P., Vandermeersch, B., Richards, M.P., 2012. PNAS.
The Chatelperronian is a so-called
‘transitional industry’ between Middle Palaeolithic (MP: definitely associated
with Neanderthals) and Upper Palaeolithic (UP: almost definitely associated
with anatomically modern humans (AMH)) industries in Central/Southwestern
France and Northern Spain. Châtelperronian
artefacts have been found in direct association with a Neanderthal fossil at St
Césaire.
However, it has been argued that
stratigraphic mixing has created associations between Neanderthal skeletal
material, Châtelperronian tools and body ornaments by chance.
This paper reports new radiocarbon dates from
bone for late Mousterian (MP), Châtelperronian and Protoaurignacian (UP) layers
at Grotte du Renne and shows that the dates are inconsistent with strata mixing
(admixture), contrary to previous work (Higham et al 2011 PNAS). They also directly date St Césaire (41-95 –
40.66ky calBP). Their dates place the Châtelperronian
body ornaments (~41ky calBP) as post-dating
AMH dispersals into adjacent areas (e.g. 43–42 kyr cal bp in Kent: Higham et al 2011, Nature) and therefore argue that this ‘innovation’ could be the result of
acculturation (cultural diffusion from AMH) rather than independent innovation.
However, the two apparent 50ky-old pigmented shell ornaments from Spain pre-date the current earliest dates for
AMH in Europe (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/01/06/0914088107.abstract).
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