Geology and preliminary dating of the hominid-bearing sedimentary fill of the Sima de los Huesos Chamber, Cueva Mayor of the Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain

Bischoff, James L.; Fitzpatrick, Joan; León, Liliana; Arsuaga, Juan Luís; Falguères, Christophe; Bahain, Jean‐Jacques; Bullen, Thomas D.

doi:10.1006/jhev.1997.0130

Cited by 110 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…fo ssiIis, and Clethrionomys acrorhiza are in agreement with these dates and would suggest that SH corresponds to Marine Isotope Stage (MI5) 15/16 (500-600 ka) (Garcia and Arsuaga, 2010). The fact that all the fossils were deposited during the same sedi mentation episode (Bischoff et al, 1997), together with their rela tive homogeneity, supports the hypothesis that all the individuals belong to the same biological population. This site has been put forth as the first hominin evidence of anthropic accumulation possibly associated with a symbolic ritual, which is based on the discovery of a handaxe with exceptional characteristics .…”

supporting

confidence: 70%

Morphological description and comparison of the dental remains from Atapuerca-Sima de los Huesos site (Spain)

Martinón‐Torres

Castro

Gómez‐Robles

et al. 2012

Journal of Human Evolution

220

258

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supporting

confidence: 70%

Morphological description and comparison of the dental remains from Atapuerca-Sima de los Huesos site (Spain)

Martinón‐Torres

Castro

Gómez‐Robles

et al. 2012

Journal of Human Evolution

220

258

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“…Combined ESR and U-series dating of two sets of cave bear bones from Sima de los Huesos have previously suggested minimum ages of 200 ka for one set and 300 ka for the other (38), but based on the macro-and microfaunal associations, an age >300 ka seems very likely for all bears in the site (39). We attempted molecular dating of the fossil via tip calibration (40) using the radio-carbon and stratigraphic dates associated with 14 of the Late Pleistocene cave bear sequences (SI Text, section 8), yielding an age estimate of 409 ka, but with poor resolution (95% confidence interval: 179-680 ka).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a Middle Pleistocene cave bear reconstructed from ultrashort DNA fragments

Dabney

Knapp

Glocke

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

1,185

1,094

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Although an inverse relationship is expected in ancient DNA samples between the number of surviving DNA fragments and their length, ancient DNA sequencing libraries are strikingly deficient in molecules shorter than 40 bp. We find that a loss of short molecules can occur during DNA extraction and present an improved silica-based extraction protocol that enables their efficient retrieval. In combination with single-stranded DNA library preparation, this method enabled us to reconstruct the mitochondrial genome sequence from a Middle Pleistocene cave bear (Ursus deningeri) bone excavated at Sima de los Huesos in the Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain. Phylogenetic reconstructions indicate that the U. deningeri sequence forms an early diverging sister lineage to all Western European Late Pleistocene cave bears. Our results prove that authentic ancient DNA can be preserved for hundreds of thousand years outside of permafrost. Moreover, the techniques presented enable the retrieval of phylogenetically informative sequences from samples in which virtually all DNA is diminished to fragments shorter than 50 bp.T race amounts of DNA can occasionally survive the decomposition of organic matter for long periods of time after the death of an organism. However, the retrieval of these ancient DNA molecules is severely impeded by their small size. DNA fragmentation is at least partly driven by depurination (1, 2), a continually occurring process. It is thus predicted that the degree of DNA fragmentation increases with sample age. This correlation has, in fact, been established in a recent study that analyzed samples of different ages from the same archeological sites (3), but the correlation vanishes in comparisons across different sites (4). The important role of environmental conditions, especially temperature, in DNA preservation is well recognized and reflected-for example, in the concept of thermal age (5). Unsurprisingly, permafrost environments have yielded the oldest credible records of DNA survival, including short stretches of plant and invertebrate DNA with an estimated age of up to 800,000 y that were amplified by PCR from Artic ice cores (6, 7) and the genome sequence of a 700,000-y-old horse published recently (8). More temperate environments have yielded many DNA sequences from the Holocene and the Late Pleistocene, some as old as ∼100,000 (9) or ∼120,000 y (10), but only a single study has convincingly raised the possibility of DNA survival extending far into the Middle Pleistocene outside of permafrost (11). In this study, short PCR products of ∼50 bp were retrieved from several bone samples of Middle Pleistocene cave bears from European caves, the oldest coming from the site of Sima de los Huesos (Atapuerca, Spain) and estimated to be >300,000 y old.It is important to note that direct PCR amplification provides limited power to reconstruct sequences from short DNA fragments, because only fragments that are long enough to allow for the hybridization of two PCR primers around a stretch of informative sequence are amena...

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“…The Sima de los Huesos at Atapuerca confirms that Neanderthal features are present in an assemblage that may be close to 300,000 years in age. 53 As described by Arsuaga and his colleagues, 47,52 the Sima skulls present a combination of plesiomorphic and derived characters. The well-preserved face of cranium 5 is quite large in relation to the braincase.…”

Section: Alternative Views Of Homo Heidelbergensismentioning

confidence: 92%

Human evolution in the Middle Pleistocene: The role ofHomo heidelbergensis

Rightmire¹

1998

Evol. Anthropol.

257

139

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For paleoanthropologists working in the Middle Pleistocene, these are interesting times. New discoveries of artifacts and human fossils have been reported from western Europe, so that it now looks as though this continent was populated 800,000 years ago, if not earlier. One of the fossils, from Ceprano in Italy, is described as Homo erectus. Whether this ancient species ever reached Europe has been repeatedly questioned, but the Ceprano cranium is complete enough to provide some hard evidence.Other finds from Spain are even more spectacular. The Sima de los Huesos (''Pit of Bones'') in the Sierra de Atapuerca has yielded a wealth of skeletons that are best interpreted as early Neanderthals, perhaps close to 300,000 years in age. Older but unfortunately more fragmentary remains, also from Atapuerca, display no Neanderthal features and are claimed as representatives of a new species. Homo antecessor will require close study.These European discoveries focus fresh attention on the evidence accumulating from Africa and Asia. Human bones are known from the earlier Middle Pleistocene of Africa at localities such as Bodo in Ethiopia and Broken Hill in Zambia. The crania

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Geology and preliminary dating of the hominid-bearing sedimentary fill of the Sima de los Huesos Chamber, Cueva Mayor of the Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain

Cited by 110 publications

References 20 publications

Morphological description and comparison of the dental remains from Atapuerca-Sima de los Huesos site (Spain)

Morphological description and comparison of the dental remains from Atapuerca-Sima de los Huesos site (Spain)

Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a Middle Pleistocene cave bear reconstructed from ultrashort DNA fragments

Human evolution in the Middle Pleistocene: The role ofHomo heidelbergensis

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