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Tseveendorj D; Demeter F; Turbat T; Giscard PH. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 2008, 7(1): 51-60This preliminary study of a human skullcapdiscovered at Salkhit, Northeast Mongolia, in2006, shows a mosaic of traits. Plesiomorphiescan be seen on the frontal bone: developed browridges and a keeled squama. Apomorphies canbe observed: high and back-located parietal eminencesand absence of a sagittal keel. The skullcapseems to share also some features with Neanderthalsthat can be observed on the lower partof the frontal bone and in the nasal and orbitalregion such as a supratoral sulcus, a prominentglabella, prominent rounded lateral supraorbitalmargins, and a well-defined inward nasion. Thecomparison of the dimensions of the skullcapwith those of skullcaps of a reference sample bymultidimensional scaling analysis shows similaritieswith Neanderthals, Chinese Homo erectus,and West/Far East archaic Homo sapiens.However, the too fragmentary condition of thefossil does not allow any further comparison.Nevertheless, this discovery tackles the modernhuman origins debate in a region of the worldwhere no human fossil had been discovered before.2008040489格 鲁 吉 亚 Dmanisi 人 类 的 死 亡 可 能 是 火 山 的碰 撞 = Probable volcanic impact on the death ofthe Dmanisi Hominids. ( 法 文 ). de Lumley M-A;Bardintzeff J-M; Bienvenu P; Bilcot J-B.Comptes Rendus Palevol, 2008, 7(1): 61-79The human remains unearthed at the LowerPleistocene site of Dmanisi (Georgia), are numerous,well preserved and show no evidence oftransportation or predation. They were discoveredover a small surface and correspond to atleast five Homo georgicus individuals, whoseage at death is regularly distributed from theteenager to the elder over 40 years old. Thesecharacteristics evoke a family group who diedsuddenly. Granulometry and chemical analysesof ca. 30 volcanic tephra samples prove its unicityand its primary position. Since this tephracannot correspond to a nuée ardente, it is probablethat the Dmanisi Hominids were surprisedand asphyxiated, 1 810 000 years ago, by volcanicashfalls2008040490印 尼 弗 洛 勒 斯 发 现 的 小 型 似 人 类 化 石 是 地 方性 的 痴 呆 病 患 者 吗 ? = Are the small humanlikefossils found on Flores human endemic cretins?.( 英 文 ). Obendorf P J; Oxnard C E; KeffordB J. Proceedings of the Royal Society B:Biological Sciences, 2008, 275(1640): 1287-1296Fossils from Liang Bua (LB) on Flores, Indonesia,including a nearly complete skeleton (LB1)dated to 18kyr BP, were assigned to a new species,Homo floresiensis. We hypothesize thatthese individuals are myxoedematous endemic(ME) cretins, part of an inland population of(mostly unaffected) Homo sapiens. ME cretinsare born without a functioning thyroid; theircongenital hypothyroidism leads to severedwarfism and reduced brain size, but less severemental retardation and motor disability than neurologicalendemic cretins. We show that the fossilsdisplay many signs of congenital hypothyroidism,including enlarged pituitary fossa, andthat distinctive primitive features of LB1 such asthe double rooted lower premolar and the primitivewrist morphology are consistent with thehypothesis. We find that the null hypothesis (thatLB1 is not a cretin) is rejected by the pituitaryfossa size of LB1, and by multivariate analysesof cranial measures. We show that critical environmentalfactors were potentially present onFlores, how remains of cretins but not of unaffectedindividuals could be preserved in caves,and that extant oral traditions may provide a recordof cretinism.2008040491通 过 共 生 的 太 平 洋 鼠 确 定 史 前 后 期 波 利 尼 西亚 人 向 新 西 兰 岛 的 扩 散 年 代 = Dating the lateprehistoric dispersal of Polynesians to New Zealandusing the commensal Pacific rat. ( 英 文 ).Wilmshurst J M; Anderson A J; Higham T F G;Worthy T H. proceedings of the National Academyof Sciences, 2008, 105(22): 7676-7680 3 图版 .The pristine island ecosystems of East Polynesiawere among the last places on Earth settledby prehistoric people, and their colonizationtriggered a devastating transformation. Overhuntingcontributed to widespread faunal extinctionsand the decline of marine megafauna, firesdestroyed lowland forests, and the introductionof the omnivorous Pacific rat (Rattus exulans)led to a new wave of predation on the biota. EastPolynesian islands preserve exceptionally detailedrecords of the initial prehistoric impacts onhighly vulnerable ecosystems, but nearly all suchstudies are clouded by persistent controversiesover the timing of initial human colonization,which has resulted in proposed settlement chronologiesvarying from ≈200 B.C. to 1000 A.D.or younger. Such differences underpin radicallydivergent interpretations of human dispersalfrom West Polynesia and of ecological and socialtransformation in East Polynesia and ultimatelyobfuscate the timing and patterns of thisprocess. Using New Zealand as an example, weprovide a reliable approach for accurately datinginitial human colonization on Pacific islands by147