Hunters of the Ice Age: The biology of Upper Paleolithic people

Abstract

The Upper Paleolithic represents both the phase during which anatomically modern humans appeared and the climax of hunter-gatherer cultures. Demographic expansion into new areas that took place during this period and the diffusion of burial practices resulted in an unprecedented number of well-preserved human remains. This skeletal record, dovetailed with archeological, environmental, and chronological contexts, allows testing of hypotheses regarding biological processes at the population level. In this article, we review key studies about the biology of Upper Paleolithic populations based primarily on European samples, but integrating information from other areas of the Old World whenever possible. Data about cranial morphology, skeletal robusticity, stature, body proportions, health status, diet, physical activity, and genetics are evaluated in Late Pleistocene climatic and cultural contexts. Various lines of evidence delineate the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) as a critical phase in the biological and cultural evolution of Upper Paleolithic populations. The LGM, a long phase of climatic deterioration culminating around 20,000 BP, had a profound impact on the environment, lifestyle, and behavior of human groups. Some of these effects are recorded in aspects of skeletal biology of these populations. Groups living before and after the LGM, Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) and Late Upper Paleolithic (LUP), respectively, differ significantly in craniofacial dimensions, stature, robusticity, and body proportions. While paleopathological and stable isotope data suggest good health status throughout the Upper Paleolithic, some stress indicators point to a slight decline in quality of life in LUP populations. The intriguing and unexpected incidence of individuals affected by congenital disorders probably indicates selective burial practices for these abnormal individuals. While some of the changes observed can be explained through models of biocultural or environmental adaptation (e.g., decreased lower limb robusticity following decreased mobility; changes in body proportions along with climatic change), others are more difficult to explain. For instance, craniodental and upper limb robusticity show complex evolutionary patterns that do not always correspond to expectations. In addition, the marked decline in stature and the mosaic nature of change in body proportions still await clarifications. These issues, as well as systematic analysis of specific pathologies and possible relationships between genetic lineages, population movements and cultural complexes, should be among the goals of future research. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 51: 70-99, 2008. V

Gracility of the modernHomo sapiensskeleton is the result of decreased biomechanical loading

“…These results strongly emphasize the importance of physical activity and exercise for bone health and the attenuation of age-related bone loss. trabecular bone | gracilization | human evolution | biomechanics | mobility C ompared with other hominoids and extinct hominin species, more recent humans possess relatively gracile postcranial skeletons (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9). One of the consequences of this gracility in contemporary humans is an increased fracture risk associated with age-related bone loss and osteoporosis [hip fractures alone are projected to reach 6.26 million per year globally by 2050 (10)] (11)(12)(13)(14)(15).…”

The Upper Palaeolithic of Europe

“…In this respect, it must be noted that of the twenty-nine suficiently complete juveniles and adults that were buried in the Gravettian, a high percentage (31%) are pathologically unusual (i.e., display abnormalities that go beyond the minor trauma and healing related to a mobile way of life), which is all the more remarkable because the skeletal evidence as a whole shows that these populations were in quite good health (Holt & Formicola 2008;Trinkaus & Buzhilova 2010). The unusual pathologies include (a) congenital or inherited diseases (such as inner ear malformation resulting in hearing deiciency, bowing of the long bones possibly in relation to a diabetic condition of the mother, and skeletal malformations related to abnormal calciication of the joints), (b) chronical infections (periostitis and histiocytosis), (c) deformations caused by major trauma, and (d) in the case of the Sungir 1 adult individual, death provoked by a projectile.…”

Nutrigenetics in the Light of Human Evolution

“…H. sapiens spread from Africa to southern Eurasia by approximately 100 kya, and by about 50-30 kya appears to have replaced, apparently with no interbreeding, all the continental Eurasian human variants that had evolved from the earlier dispersal of H. erectus , such as the well-known Neanderthals in Europe. However, the spread of H. sapiens was not limited to Eurasia, as its mobility and technology very soon allowed colonization of Australia, and, later, near the end of the last glaciation, of the Americas [60] . Nonetheless, because of our relatively recent origin, the genetic legacy of our species is African, and the highest diversity of the human genome is still to be found in Africa, where variation accumulated and was selected over a much longer period of time [57] .…”

“…The advantage that permitted the rapid spread of H. sapiens , to the detriment of other human forms, appears to lie in the ability to develop better technology, symbolic conceptualization and more complex social structures, which must have allowed more efficient hunting and better adaptation to environmental, seasonal and geographic variables [60] . The ability to exploit the large mammalian faunas of the Ice Ages is widely documented at several archaeological sites, most strikingly in the Franco-Cantabric region of Europe, where symbolic Ice Age art ( fig.…”

“…The food choices of the ancient H. sapiens hunter-gatherers living in cold northern climates during the last glaciation must have been prioritized relative to energy return rates, so that whenever and wherever ecologically possible, animal food -particularly the fattiest parts -would have been preferred, and larger game animals to smaller [63] . Nonetheless, given its spread and adaptability, H. sapiens remained a flexible eater, with a combination of cultural and genetic traits that allowed quick dietary shifts in relation to geography, seasons, climatic change and social factors [60] .…”