Life and Death at the Pestera cu Oase

A Setting for Modern Human Emergence in Europe

Edited by Erik Trinkaus, Silviu Constantin, and Joao Zilhao

Human Evolution Series

Previously unpublished data and interpretations
Core data and interpretations for Pleistocene cave bears
Contribution to the Pleistocene geology of southeastern Europe
Core data for modern human origins

Life and Death at the Pestera cu Oase

A Setting for Modern Human Emergence in Europe

Edited by Erik Trinkaus, Silviu Constantin, and Joao Zilhao

Description

The Pestera cu Oase is a sealed limestone cavern in southwestern Romania which served principally as a hibernation den for Pleistocene cave bears and wolves, but also contained the fossil remains of the earliest modern humans in Europe. Currently inaccessible except through cave diving and rock climbing, the cave preserved its contents undisturbed for tens of thousands of years. To understand the cave, its contents, the bear and wolves, and especially the humans, an international team mapped and excavated the Pestera cu Oase from 2002 to 2005, and has since analyzed its remains in detail. The result was a wealth of information on the geology and paleontology of this cave as a reflection of life in the southwestern Carpathians 40-50 thousand years ago. This volume presents those findings. Among other things, the large cave bears provided the first solid evidence of the omnivorous nature of these not-so-gentle giants. The deer remains brought into the cave by wolves are among the largest known in Europe and document the westernmost extent of the eastern (wapiti) variant of this species. And the human remains, a complete lower jaw of a young adult and a largely complete skull of an adolescent, furhish detailed information on the anatomy of the earliet modern Europeans, who were modern without being fully modern. They combine an overall distinctly modern anatomy with traits reminescent of earlier archaic humans and among the largest rear molars in the genus Homo. They thus document the initial spread of modern humans into the cul-de-sac of Europe, the complex ancestry of those humans, and the ongoing nature of human evolution after the established of people like ourselves.

Life and Death at the Pestera cu Oase

A Setting for Modern Human Emergence in Europe

Edited by Erik Trinkaus, Silviu Constantin, and Joao Zilhao

Human Evolution Series

I. Introduction and Background

1. Introduction
Erik Trinkaus, Silviu Constantin, João Zilhão

2. Exploration and Documentation of the Pestera cu Oase
Stefan Milota, Mircea Gherase, Laurentiu Sarcina, Ricardo Rodrigo, Oana Moldovan, Erik Trinkaus, Silviu Constantin, João Zilhão

3. Problems, Approaches and Fieldwork: 2004-2005
João Zilhão, Stefan Milota, Ricardo Rodrigo, Silviu Constantin, Erik Trinkaus

II. The Cave and Its Contents

4. The Karst Geology of the Ponor-Plopa System in its Regional Context
Silviu Constantin

5. The Ponor-Plopa Cave System: Description, Sediments, and Genesis
Silviu Constantin, Cristian-Mihai Munteanu, Stefan Milota, Laurentiu Sarcina, Mircea Gherase, João Zilhão

6. Uranium-Series Dating on Speleothems from the Pestera cu Oase
Silviu Constantin, Stein-Erik Lauritzen

7. Electron Spin Resonance Dating of Vertebrate Remains from the Pestera cu Oase
Rainer Grün, Tegan Kelly, Maxime Aubert

8. Radiocarbon Dating of the Pestera cu Oase Faunal Remains
Thomas Higham, Eva Maria Wild

9. Rock Magnetic Data of Late Pleistocene sediments from the Pestera cu Oase and their Paleoclimatic Significance
Cristian Panaiotu, Catalin Petrea, Viorel Horoi, Cristina-Emilia Panaiotu, Silviu Constantin

10. The Distributions of Finds and Features
João Zilhão, Ricardo Rodrigo, Hélène Rougier, Stefan Milota

III. The Cave Bears 254

11. Cave Bear Paleontology and Paleobiology at the Pestera cu Oase: Fossil Population Structure and Size Variability
Martina Pacher, Jérôme Quilès

12. Taphonomic Analysis of the Cave Bear Remains from the Pestera cu Oase
Martina Pacher, Jérôme Quilès

13. An Ancient DNA Perspective on the Cave Bears from the Pestera cu Oase
Mathias Stiller, Michael Hofreiter

IV. The Other Vertebrates 345

14. Hyena, Wolves and Foxes from the Pestera cu Oase
Emil Stiuca, Alexandru Petculescu

15. Small Mammal Remains from the Pestera cu Oase
Alexandru Petculescu

16. The Ungulates from the Pestera cu Oase
Simon A. Parfitt, Adrian M. Lister

17. Taphonomic Considerations of the Non-Ursid Vertebrate Remains
Erik Trinkaus, Martina Pacher

18. Stable Isotopes and Dietary Patterns of the Faunal Species from the Pestera cu Oase
Erik Trinkaus, Michael P. Richards

V. The Human Remains

19. Radiocarbon Dating of the Pestera cu Oase Human Remains
Erik Trinkaus

20. The Human Mandible from the Pestera cu Oase, Oase 1
Erik Trinkaus, Hélène Rougier

21. The Human Cranium from the Pestera cu Oase, Oase 2
Hélène Rougier, Erik Trinkaus

22. Frontal Bone Contours of the Oase 2 Cranium
Sheela Athreya, Hélène Rougier

23. The Internal Cranial Morphology of Oase 2
Marcia Ponce de León, Christoph P. E. Zollikofer

24. The Dental and Alveolar Remains of Oase 1 and 2
Erik Trinkaus, Shara E. Bailey, Hélène Rougier

25. The Oase 1 Human Stable Isotopes
Michael P. Richards, Erik Trinkaus

VI. Discussion

26. The Paleoenvironmental Context of the Pestera cu Oase
Silviu Constantin, João Zilhão, Erik Trinkaus

27. Paleoanthropological Implications of the Pestera cu Oase and its Contents
Erik Trinkaus, João Zilhão

VII. References

Life and Death at the Pestera cu Oase

A Setting for Modern Human Emergence in Europe

Edited by Erik Trinkaus, Silviu Constantin, and Joao Zilhao

Human Evolution Series

Author Information

Erik Trinkaus is a Professor of Anthropology at Washington University, who has been analyzing the late archaic and early modern fossil human remains since his doctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania. He is concerned primarily with the changes in human biology that reflect the emergence of modern humans.

Silviu Constantin is a geologist and senior researcher at the "Emil Racovita" Institute of Spelology. His research covers all aspects of physical speleology and karst geology with a special interest on U/Th dating of carbonates, analysis of sedimentary sequences in caves and paleoclimate reconstructions based on speleothems.

João Zilhão is an archaeologist, currently ICREA Research Professor at the University of Barcelona. His excavation and investigation work have primarily concerned the fate of the Neandertals, the origins of art and symbolic behavior, and the emergence of farming.