IMPORTANT DATES Paleoanthropology and Paleolithic Archaeology Last Update: May 2008 |
||
|
|
19th
CENTURY
1823: William Buckland discovered the "red lady of Paviland" in the United Kingdom. It is best described as the skeleton of Homo sapiens associated with shell and ivory pendants. It was described by Buckland as being covered with red ochre. The skeleton was later identified to be a male. It remains the first hominid fossil find and identified soon after its discovery. Publications by W. Buckland. 1830: Philippe-Charles Schmerling discovered the skull (crania) of 3 year-old Neandertal child in Belgium at the site of Engis Cave. If it is the first Neandertal ever uncovered, it was only identified in 1936 as such. 1848: Discovery of a skull at the Forbes Quarry. It was identified as Neandertal in 1863 by George Busk. 1853 (or 1855): Dr. Jean-Paul Rigollot discovered stone tools (Acheulean bifaces) associated with large extinct mammals fossils in gravel beds in the Somme river valley. Rigollot first opposed to the idea of the existence of hominid fossils (prior to the Biblical Account, the Big Flood). The primary goal of his field research in the Somme river valley was to disprove this idea. His discoveries however led him to change his opposition. He became, with J. de Boucher de Perthes, one of the strong supporter of the existence of "a man before the Big Flood" (ante-diluivian man). 1856: Lime quarry workers discovered a skull cap and some long bones in the Feldhoffer Cave in the Neander valley in Germany. They quickly gave the bones to Johann Karl Fuhlrott (highschool teacher at Elberfeld) who identified the bones as humans but recognized some oddities. The same year, Fuhlrott showed the bones to Hermann Shaffhausen (Professor of Anatomy at the University of Bonn). Together in 1857, they published the finds as belonging to an old human race. 1859: Charles Darwin published On the Origins of Species. The role of natural selection was put forward to explain evolutionary theory. 1863: William King proposed the first fossil hominid species, Homo neandertalensis, at the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The specimen from the Feldhofer cave (Germany, found 7 years before) was used as the type-specimen. King considered Homo neandertalensis a separate species from Homo sapiens. 1866: Edouart Dupont discovered a mandible, an ulna and a metacarpal at the site of Trou de la Naulette in Belgium. The association of the fossils with extinct animal species allowed him to demonstrate the antiquity of the fossil attributed to Neandertals. The fossils of Trou de la Naulette can be considered as the first ones to be safely "dated" and to demonstrate Neandertals' antiquity (mostly due to the remarkable work of E. Dupont). 1867: Gabriel de Mortillet proposed one of the first subdivisions of the Paleolithic. His classification is based on a series of French site-types where these "civilizations" were first identified. He is responsible for coining the terms of Chellean (Chelles), Acheulean (site of Saint-Acheul), Mousterian (site of Le Moustier), Solutrean (site of Solutre), Aurignacian (site of Aurignac) and Magdalenian (site of La Madeleine). 1868: Local farmers discovered 6 Homo sapiens skeletons in the small rockshelter of Cro Magnon near the village of Les Eyzies in Western France. Associated with Aurignacian stone tools, ivory pendants and pierced shells, they are the next big find after the Red Lady of Paviland (1823). Ernst Haekel proposed the same year a human phylogeny composed of a single lineage from apes to Homo sapiens including a common ancestor (Pithecanthropus alalus). 1871: Publication of The Descent of Man and Selection in relation to sex by C. Darwin. 1872: Paul Riviere discovered the Grimaldi Caves and argued in favor of deliberate Homo sapiens burials including the presence of clothing. 1874: Neandertal fossils were discovered at the site of Pontnewydd in Wales (UK). 1876: Neandertal fossils are discovered at the site of Rivaux in France. 1880: 1886: Marcel de Puydt and Max Lohest discovered 2 almost complete Neandertal skeletons at the site of Betche-aux-Roches in Spy in Belgium (aka Spy Cave). Associated with Mousterian stone tools, this discovery confirmed the findings of Dupont at the site of Trou de la Naulette in 1866. Unfortunately, the morphology of the lower limb bones were wrongly interpreted to suggest that Neandertals walked with bent knees. 1891: Eugene Dubois found the skull and leg bones of the first Homo erectus at Trinil in Java (Indonesia). He described as belonging to the now defunct species Anthropopithecus javenensis or Pithecanthropus (aka Java Man, Pithecanthropus of Java), now classified as Homo erectus. 1899: Karl Gorjanovic-Kramberger first discovered a human-looking molar at the site of Krapina in Croatia. This led to the full excavation of the site, which yielded hundreds of Neandertal bones for a total of about 70 Neandertal individuals described in direct association with stone tools and extinct animal species. These fossils have been recently re-analyzed and many bones show stone tools marks suggesting cannibalism.
1906: K. Gorjanovic-Kramberger published the Krapina fossils demonstrating great antiquity for Neandertal. He also proposed the presence of cannibalistic activities at the site. 1907: William Sollas analyzed the skull from the Forbes Quarry (Gibraltar, found in 1848) and identified the remains as Neandertal. Joseph Rosch discovered a mandible at the site of Mauer in Germany. Otto Schoetensack studied the mandible and described it as belonging to a new fossil species, older than Neandetal, Homo heidelbergensis. 1908: Otto Hauser discovered a complete Neandertal skeleton at the site of Le Moustier in France. He claimed that the skeleton was found in a burial. The skull was lost during World War II. Amedee and Jean Bouyssonie discovered an almost complete Neandertal skeleton at the site of La Chapelle-aux-Saints (aka Bouffia Bonneval) in France. They claimed the specimen was part of a burial including stone tools and animal bones. Marcellin Boule used that skeleton to support his views of Neandertal as brutish caveman walking with bent knees. The skeleton belonged to an old man showing signs of arthritis (neck), damaged patella, 1909: Denis Peyrony discovered 2 Neandertal skeletons (1 male, 1 female) at the site of La Ferrassie in France. 1910: D. Peyrony discovered bones of 5 Neandertal infants at the site of La (France). Henri Martin discovered the remains of 2 Neandertal individuals at the site of La Quina. The remains were associated with Mousterian stone tools. 1911: Marcellin Boule published the first series of articles in the Annales de Paleontologie. In particular, he is responsible for describing the Neandertal individual from La Chapelle-aux-Saints (found in 1908) as a primitive brutish caveman with bent knees, forward general posture, slouching gait and even divergent big toe. The rest of his description will be published in 1912 and 1913. 1921: A Neandertal looking skull was found in Zambia/Rhodesia at the site of Broken Hill. The skull was first analyzed by Arthur Smith Woodward. 1924: Raymond Dart discovered and published the discovery of an infant skull at the site of Taung Cave in South-Africa. Composed of a face and a naturally-made endocast, this fossil was the first member of the genus Australopithecus, term coined by R. Dart himself. The "Taung Child" was attributed to the new fossil species Australopithecus africanus. The analysis and the attribution of the fossil were highly debated at that time. 1925: Francis Turville-Petre discovered the fragment of a Neandertal skull (upper section of the face) at the site of Zuttiyeh Cave in Israel. 1926: Dorothy Garrod discovered the skull of a Neandertal child at the site of Devil's Tower Cave in Gibraltar. 1927: Ales Hrdlicka published a series of article establishing Neandertals as an evolutionary moment on the human lineage. Davidson Black discovered a molar and a skull at the site of Zhoukoutian (Choukoutien) in China. He attributed the fossil to Sinanthropus pekinensis or "Peking Man". It is now attributed to Homo erectus. 1929: Discovery of fragment of Neandertal cranium at the Saccopastore quarry near Rome (Italy) 1930: Dorothy Garrod excavated a series of cave sites at Mount Carmel (Israel; sites included El Wad, El Tabun and Es Skuhl). Early modern and Neandertal specimens were unearthed at these sites. 1931: W.F.F. Oppenoorth discovered several skull caps in the Solo river terrace near Ngandong (Java, Indonesia). The fossils show similarities with Homo erectus but early Australians. 1933: discovery of a cranium near Steinheim (Germany) identified as "early Europeans" 1933-35: discovery of 6 early moden skeleton at the site of Jebel Qafzeh (Israel). Published in 1951. 1935: Alberto Blanc unearthed a Neandertal cranium at the site of Grotta Guattari (Monte Cicreo, Italy). He claimed to have identified the presence of a circle of stones near the specimen. 1935-36: discovery of fragmentary hominid skull at the site of Swanscombe (England). The fossils show similarities with both Neandertals and modern humans. 1939: In The Races of Europe, Carleton Coon demonstrated that the Neandertal specimen from La Chapelle-aux-Saints (France) was far from looking like the description made earlier by M. Boule. The Neandertal specimen is shown wearing a hat, tie, shirt and coat, much like a modern human. 1946: Earnest Hooton published a review of what he defined as "classic Neandertals" (from Western Europe) and more "modern Neandertals" (from Central Europe and the Near East). 1947: F. Weidenreich published about the Multiregional Model 1948: Kenneth Oakley contributed to the direct dating of fossils by developing fluorine dating. 1952: the spelling Neandertal without a "h" was proposed by Henri Vallois and William Howells following changes in modern German. 1953: the Piltdown Hoax is debunked by dating of the skull by K. Oakley, J. Weinder and L. Clark using fluorine dating. 1953: Ralph Solecky started the excavation of the cave of Shanidar in Northern Iraq. During his excavation, he and his team uncovered a total of 9 Neandertal specimens. One of these specimens was identified as having a healed wounded arm and having been buried with flowers based on the presence of pollens in the direct vicinity of the skeleton. 1955: Camille Arambourg conducted a new analysis of the Neandertal specimen from La Chapelle-aux-Saints concluding that Neandertals did not walk with bent knees in contradiction with M. Boule's analysis. 1957: a new analysis of the Neandertal specimen of La Chapelle-aux-Saints by W. Straus and A. Cave concluded that the specimen showed signs of arthritis. They further concluded that the specimen would have been able to walk fully upright without the arthritis. 1959: publication of Makind in the Making by William Howells. 1960: F. Howell argued that it exists only two genera of hominid (Australopithecus and Homo). 1962: publication of The Origin of Races by Carleton Coon. New arguments for the Multiregional Model of Modern Human origins. publication of Refocusing on the Neandertal Problem by C.L. Brace. Arguments against the Replacement model based on the continuity between Mousterian and Upper Paleolithic stone tool kits. 1964: publication by C.L. Brace. Arguments for the Multiregional Model stating that Neandertals were directly ancestral to Modern Humans. 1965: Bernard Vandermeersch started the re- excavation of the site of Jebel Qafzeh in Israel (from 1965 to 1980). 1971: David Brose and Milford Wolpoff published that Neandertals are directly ancestral to anatomically modern humans. Phillip Lieberman and Edmund Crelin published a paper of the reconstruction of the vocal apparatus of the Neandertal specimen of La Chapelle-aux-Saints. They stated that Neandertals were not able to pronounce certain vowel sounds (compared to modern humans). 1974: Christopher Stringer published an article stating that Neandertals were too different in terms of morphology to be human ancestors based on a strict comparison of morphological traits. 1975: Erik Trinkaus published an article on the morphology of the Neandertal foot concluding that they walked like modern humans. 1976: Fred Smith studied the Neandertal specimens from Krapina to conclude that they could our ancestors. Gunter Bauer defined the "Out of Africa" theory. 1978: Jean-Jacques Hublin defended his PhD dissertation on Pleistocene hominid crania concluding that modern humans did not evolve from Neandertals. 1979: Francois Leveque discovered of a Neandertal burial with Chatelperronian tools, dated to 36,000 BP. The skeleton was soon identified as a female (nicknamed "Pierrette") at the French site of Saint-Cesaire. 1981: Eitan Tchernov 1983: E. Trinkaus published The Shanidar Neanderthals. Discovey of a possible burial of Neandertal adult specimen at the sit eof Kebara Cave (Israel). 1987: Rebeca Cann, Mark Stoneking and Allan Wilson published an article introducing the idea of a "mitochondrial Eve", a hypothetical woman being ancestral to all anatomically modern humans based on their analysis of mtDNA haplotypes in living populations. H. Valladas and her team published new thermolumiscence dates of layers from the sites of Kebara Cave (Neandertals; 60,000 BP), Qafzeh Cave (modern humans; 90,000 BP) and Skhul Cave (modern humans; 80,000 BP). 1991: publication of new Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) dates of some other specimens from the Middle East demonstrating that the Neandertal specimens from Tabun Cave are contemporaneous with modern humans from the sites of Skhul Cave and Qafzeh Cave. M. Stoneking and Linda Vigilant 1992:
2000:
|
|