Abstract
A key event in human evolution is the expansion of modern humans of African origin across Eurasia between 60 and 40 thousand years (kyr) before present (bp), replacing all other forms of hominins1. Owing to the scarcity of human fossils from this period, these ancestors of all present-day non-African modern populations remain largely enigmatic. Here we describe a partial calvaria, recently discovered at Manot Cave (Western Galilee, Israel) and dated to 54.7 ± 5.5 kyr bp (arithmetic mean ± 2 standard deviations) by uranium–thorium dating, that sheds light on this crucial event. The overall shape and discrete morphological features of the Manot 1 calvaria demonstrate that this partial skull is unequivocally modern. It is similar in shape to recent African skulls as well as to European skulls from the Upper Palaeolithic period, but different from most other early anatomically modern humans in the Levant. This suggests that the Manot people could be closely related to the first modern humans who later successfully colonized Europe. Thus, the anatomical features used to support the ‘assimilation model’ in Europe might not have been inherited from European Neanderthals, but rather from earlier Levantine populations. Moreover, at present, Manot 1 is the only modern human specimen to provide evidence that during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic interface, both modern humans and Neanderthals contemporaneously inhabited the southern Levant, close in time to the likely interbreeding event with Neanderthals2,3.
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Acknowledgements
The excavation at Manot Cave was initiated and supported throughout the years by the late D. David, founder of the ‘Dan David Prize’, and his son A. David. The ongoing research is financially supported by the Dan David Foundation, the Israel Antiquities Authority, Case Western Reserve University, the Leakey Foundation, the Irene Levi Sala CARE Archaeological Foundation, the Keren Kayemet L’Israel and the Israel Science Foundation. Radiocarbon dating research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Exilarch’s Foundation and the Max Planck Society–Weizman Institute Joint Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology. Geological research was supported by The Bertha and Louis Weinstein Research Fund. We thank other research members of the Manot team: J.-M. Tejero and S. Weiner. We thank A. Behar and L. Barda for their drawings, C. Amit for the photography of the skull, and V. Essman and Y. Shmidov for surveying and drafting the cave. We thank I. Mureinik for editorial assistance. Special thanks are due to the following students and scholars: L. Weissbrod, D. Stein, H. Cohen, B. Medlej, M. Feldman, O. Hay, T. Abulafia, L. Davis, N. Schneller-Pels, D. Yegorov, M. Ullman and G. Hertzelinger. Thanks are also due to the Maale Yossef Regional Council, the residents of modern Manot and N. Reuven. We are also grateful to the late S. Dorfman, U. Dahari, D. Barshad, E. Stern and J. Goldberg. We thank I. Gilead and O. Bar-Yosef for reading and commenting on a previous version of this paper. We are grateful to C. Stringer for comments and suggestions.
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I.H., O.B. and O.M. are directing the Manot cave research project. I.H., P.G., B.L., V.S., G.W.W., H.M., M.G.H. and R.L.H. performed the various aspects of the anthropological study of the Manot 1 calvaria. O.B., O.M., R.L. and M.G.G. conducted the archaeological studies at the cave. A.A., M.B.-M., G.Y. and A.M. conducted the U–Th dating of the calcitic crust on the Manot 1 calvaria and of speleothems in the cave. A.F. and F.B. conducted the geological study of the cave. E.B., V.C. and B.A. performed the radiocarbon dating and charcoal analysis. G.B.-O., R.Y. and D.B.-Y.M. conducted the study of the faunal remains.
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Extended data figures and tables
Extended Data Figure 1 Plan of Manot Cave.
The excavation areas are shown. The upper photograph shows the chamber in which Manot 1 was found (yellow circle) (looking east). The lower photograph shows the stratigraphic profile of Area C (looking west). Note the eight different sedimentological units.
Extended Data Figure 2 Diagnostic flint and bone artefacts from Area C.
Upper Palaeolithic, a–k; Initial Upper Palaeolithic, l–n; Middle Palaeolithic, o. a, Aurignacian endscrapers. b, Carinated endscrapers. c, Nosed endscrapers. d, Curved–twisted bladelet. e, Antler spear points. f, Ahmarian blades. g, Ahmarian blade cores. h, Retouched blade. i, Endscraper on a blade. j, Burin on truncation on a blade. k, El-Wad points. l, Wide blade cores. m, Blades with faceted butts. n, Endscraper. o, Levallois points and flakes.
Extended Data Figure 3 Crust sampling for dating.
The outer (a) and inner (b) parts of the skull showing the locations of sampling for U–Th dating and the dating results. Ages are in thousands of years, errors are at 2σ.
Extended Data Figure 4 Dating results for Area C.
a, U–Th dates (white boxes) are of flowstone layers and the crust covering an archaeological artefact (sample 1029). Radiocarbon dates (yellow box) are of the archaeological accumulation between the flowstone layers of square M65. b, Dates of radiocarbon samples from Squares M65 and J65. Radiocarbon sample number, material type, 14C age ± 1σ, calibrated range for 68.2% and 95.4% confidence intervals, sample identity, percentage of carbon after pre-treatment and stable carbon isotopes ratio are given. Samples from square M65 are ordered according to absolute height above sea level.
Extended Data Figure 5 U–Th ages of stalagmites 1020, 1044, 1045 and 1048.
a-d, Photographs of the stalagmites, showing the position of the dated laminae. Ages are in thousands of years, errors are at 2σ. e, U–Th ages of the four stalagmites, plotted in stratigraphic sequence (open symbols, uncorrected ages; solid symbols, corrected ages). Grey and black bars indicate errors on uncorrected and corrected ages, respectively. f, 230Th/234U versus 232Th/234U isochron plots from eight different laminae, sampled from the four speleothems.
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Supplementary Information
This file contains Supplementary Text and Supplementary References – see Contents for details. (PDF 1535 kb)
Supplementary Table 1
This file contains detailed age determination results of flowstones, stalagmites and calcitic crusts. (XLSX 21 kb)
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Hershkovitz, I., Marder, O., Ayalon, A. et al. Levantine cranium from Manot Cave (Israel) foreshadows the first European modern humans. Nature 520, 216–219 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14134
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14134
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