Fossilized crania and falsified carbon: Reconstructing modern human origins after a scientific forgery

2/19/15&

1&

D e p a r t m e n t o f A n t h r o p o l o g y �

James&C.M. Ahern &&Dept.&of&Anthropology,&University&of&Wyoming&


OVERVIEW&•&The&Most&Famous&Hoax&

•&Reiner&Protsch&&&the&U&of&Frankfurt&Radiocarbon&Lab&

•&Modern&Human&Origins&

•&The&Fraud&is&Revealed&

•&Bad&News&ConTnues:&More&‘Fossils’&Succumb&to&RedaTng&

•&Before&and&AYer:&How&Has&the&InterpretaTon&Changed?&

•&The&Rise&of&the&German&Early&Modern&Human&Fossil&Record&

•&What&Should&We&Learn?&

2/19/15&

2&


1912&\&Piltdown&

“Eoanthropus,dawsoni”,


1983&

2009&koanicsoul.com,

2/19/15&

3&

Models&of&Modern&Human&Origins&


The,Last,30,Years,

Overall&Regional&ConTnuity&

1984&

Classic&MRE&Wolpoff&et&al,&1984&

Complete&Replacement&

1990&

Classic&RAE&Stringer&&&Andrews,&1988&

African&Origin&+&

Admixture&

Today&2006&

AssimilaTon&Smith&et&al,&2005&


Thousand Years Before Present

Biology

Culture

200 60 30 0

2/19/15&

4&


Ins$tut'de'Paléontologie'humaine'1912'


Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger

Krapina Hominid 3 The �C� Skull

Excavations at Krapina

2/19/15&

5&


Feldhofer The Original “Neandertal”


1931:'Vogelherd'Cave'Modern,human,remains,,

associated,with,Aurignacian,

1952:'Kelsterbach'Modern,human,remains,

31,200±600,BP,,

(FraH5;,Protsch,&,Semmel,1978),

1973:'Hahnöfersand'Modern,human,remains,

36,300±300,BP,,

(FraH24;,Bräuer,1980),

1974:'Binshof'Modern,human,remains,

21,300±320,BP,,

(FraH40;,Henke,1980),

1976:'Paderborn'Modern,human,remains,

27,400±600,BP,,

(FraH15;,Henke,&,Protsch,1978),

2/19/15&

6&


1993&

Neandertals&

Modern&Humans&

Neandertals'Replaced'by'‘HyperLModerns’'


Danube&Corridor&Hypothesis&Modern&Humans&=&Aurignacian&

2/19/15&

7&


Thomas&Terberger&Ernst\Moritz\Arndt\Universität&Greifswald&

OstseeHseitung.de,


40 30 20

Thousand Years Before Present 0

Culture

Biology

10

36&ka&

31.2&ka&

27.4&ka&

21.3&ka&

Hahnöfersand'

Kelsterbach'

Paderborn'

Binshof'

7500&BP&

238&BP&

3090&BP&

?&

2/19/15&

8&


On&trial&in&2009&koanicsoul.com,

Revisions&in&Chronology:&Western&Central&Europe&


Binshof & && 21.3±0.32&ka& 0.31±0.05&ka&

Hahnöfersand& 36.3±0.30&ka& 7.5±0.06&ka&

Kelsterbach& 31.2±0.05&ka& missing&

Paderborn& 27.4±0.60&ka& 0.24±0.04&ka&

Vogelherd '' Aurignacian' 3.98±0.03'ka'4.99±0.04'ka'

Old' New'

2/19/15&

9&

Revisions&in&Chronology:&Eastern&Central&Europe&

Svitávka& Aurignacian?& 1.18±0.05&ka&

Velika&Pećina& 33.9±0.52&ka& 5.05±0.04&ka&

Zlatý&Kůn& 27.4±0.60&ka& 12.9±0.07&ka&

Balla && ≈20\22.3&ka&

Krems\Hundssteig&&

Graveqan?&

6.67±0.05&ka&

≈3.5&ka&

Velika&Pećina&


Old' New'


Oblazowa&31.0±0.55&ka&14C&

Krems\Wachtberg&26.58±0.16&ka&14C&

Oase&1:&34.29+0.97/\0.87&ka&14C&Oase&2:&28.89&+∞/\0.17&ka&14C&&

Görömby\&Tapolca&

30.3+0.3&ka&14C&

Western&CE&•&Mostly&isolated&teeth&

&\&uncertain&affiniTes&

•&Uncertain&daTng&

Cioclovina&29.0\30.0&ka&14C&

Muierii&28.5\29.0&ka&14C&

Mladeč&Chamber&D&30.7\31.5&ka&14C&

Central'European'Early'Moderns'

2/19/15&

10&


85&

90&

95&

100&

105&

110&

115&

120&

125&

0& 0.5& 1& 1.5& 2& 2.5& 3& 3.5&

15&

20&

25&

30&

35&

40&

45&

0& 0.5& 1& 1.5& 2& 2.5& 3& 3.5&12&

14&

16&

18&

20&

22&

24&

26&

28&

30&

0& 0.5& 1& 1.5& 2& 2.5& 3& 3.5&

Parietal&Sub

tense&

(mm)&

Neand

ertals& e.&M

oderns&

Recent&Euro.&

Paderborn&

Kelsterbach&

Neand

ertals&

e.&M

oderns&

Recent&Euro.& Paderborn&

Kelsterbach&

Occipital&Sub

tense&

(mm)&

Paderborn&

Kelsterbach&

Neand

ertals&

e.&M

oderns&

Recent&Euro.&

Maxim

um&Frontal&Breadth&

(mm)&

Neandertal& Early&Modern& Recent&European&


15&

14&

13&

12&

11&

10&

&9&

&8&

&7&

&6&

&5&

Early&Neand

ertals&

Early&Mod

erns&

Recent&Euro.&

Late&Neand

ertals&

Redated&“Early&M

oderns”&

Lateral&Sup

raorbital&Thickne

ss&

(mm)&

Neandertal& Early&Modern& Paderborn&“Early&Modern”&

Recent&Modern&

2/19/15&

11&


Oase&2&

Muierii& Cioclovina&

Mladeč&6&

Mladeč&5&

•&Long,&flat&frontal&&•&Occipital&bunning&or&&&&&&&hemi\bunning&&•&No&ext.&occipital&protub.&&•&Medially&limited&nuchal&&&&&&torus&&•&Oval&suprainiac&fossa&&•&Prominent&juxtamastoid&&•&H\O&mandibular&foramen&&•&Asymmetrical&&&&&&mandibular&notch&&•&Medially&displaced&&&&&mandibular&notch&crest&

See:&Trinkaus&2007.&

Exhib i t ing Neanderta l Features &


Vindija,Cave,

2/19/15&

12&


1,–,4%,Neandertal,contribu]on,to,living,Eurasians,

≈20%,of,the,Neandertal,genome,survives,in,living,humans,

BBC.com,


Overall&ConTnuity&

Complete&Replacement&

Very&unlikely&

Very&unlikely&

AssimilaTon& Likely&

Available,evidence,is,,

unable,to,falsify,any,

but,the,extreme,

hypotheses.,

2/19/15&

13&


A&scenario&whereby&there&was&a&gradient&of&gene&flow&&commensurate&with&the&AssimilaTon&Model&(Smith&et&al.,&1989,&2005;&Ahern&et&al.,&2013)&


•&RedaTng&of&specimens&has&changed&our&understanding&

•&Recently&discovered&fossils&have&also&shiYed&our&&&&&&understanding&of&the&transiTon.&

•&The&earliest&modern&humans&were&not&“hyper\modern”&

•&Recent&genomic&results&have&focused&our&a|enTon&on&the&&&&&explanatory&middle&ground&

•&Persistence&of&Neandertal&traits&is&commensurate&with&&&&&AssimilaTon&

2/19/15&

14&


Franfurter,Rudnschau,&June&17&2009,

•&Science&works&.&.&.&but&too&slowly?&

•&No&academic&should&be&above&scruTny&&\&Academics&should&not&be&untouchable&

•&Importance&of&replicaTon&of&results&&\&Must&be&encouraged,&not&discouraged&& &Funding&agencies&& &University&hiring&and&T&P&

•&Importance&of&teaching&scienTfic&ethics&

•&More&severe&consequences&for&misconduct&

Documents

Fossilized crania and falsified carbon: Reconstructing modern human origins after a scientific forgery