Raphaël Hanon

• PhD
• PostDoc Position at University of Bordeaux

The origin of animal tissue consumption within the hominin lineage remains a central question in palaeoanthropology and taphonomy. This question is mostly addressed through the study of bone surface modifications (e.g., butchery marks) observed on fossils from East African sites. Albeit somewhat overlooked compared to East Africa, South Africa prov...

Remains of mesomammals, i.e. intermediate-sized mammals, are ubiquitous in southern African fossil sites. Even though they do not constitute a taxonomically cohesive group, medium-sized mammals share common ecological traits and are subject to similar taphonomic processes, making them essential for understanding past ecosystems. This study focuses...

The site of Kromdraai is known for the first discovery of Paranthropus robustus remains. Research conducted at Kromdraai shows its rich fossiliferous deposits, geological complexity and potential to highlight the evolutionary history of Plio-Pleistocene hominin lineages in a dynamic and changing environment. Here, we provide the results of the firs...

Climate has played a significant role in shaping the distribution of mammal species across the world. Mammal community composition can therefore be used for inferring modern and past climatic conditions. Here, we develop a novel approach for bioclimatic inference using machine learning (ML) algorithms, which allows for accurate prediction of a set...

The Cradle of Humankind (Gauteng, South Africa) provides an important fossil record of the evolutionary history of PlioPleistocene hominins. Cooper's Cave deposits have yielded a rich fossil faunal assemblage, as well as six remains attributed to Paranthropus robustus. This study provides the first taxonomic, taphonomic and palaeoecological descrip...

LESEDI Carnets de terrain #25 https://issuu.com/french-institute/docs/2022-lesedi25

In South Africa, there is an important concentration of karst deposits in a region called the "Cradle of Humankind", dated between 4.5 and 1 million years ago, which have yielded the remains of Hominini (Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Homo), abundant faunas as well as various bone and lithic industries. Within these accumulations, several phase...

Carnivores have long been identified as one of the most important taphonomical agents of the Plio-Pleistocene hominin-bearing caves of South Africa. Cooper's D is an eroded cave deposit dated between 1.3 and 1.0 Ma and has yielded an abundant and diverse large mammal faunal assemblage. It has been previously argued that brown hyenas (Parahyaena bru...

The Cooper’s D deposit has been dated by U-Pb at a maximum age of 1.37 Ma ± 0.113 and has yielded seven Hominini remains, six of them are attributed to the Southern African endemic species Paranthropus robustus Broom, 1938. However, the taxonomic composition of the faunal assemblage recovered at this site, especially ruminants, remains poorly under...

Evidence of the consumption of meat through hunting or scavenging by Early Pleistocene hominins is scarce, particularly in South Africa. Moreover, the interpretations of taphonomic evidence are subject to an important discussion commonly called the 'hunting-vs-scavenging debate.' Until today, only the Swartkrans Members 1e3 site has yielded a butch...

By producing pellets rich in micromammal remains, owls are important contributors to small vertebrate accumulations in archaeological sites. Neotaphonomic studies are necessary to evaluate predation and fossilization biases before using pellet-derived assemblages to assess palaeoenvironmental reconstructions and micromammal community changes in pli...

Bone tool-use by Early Pleistocene hominins is at the centre of debates in human evolution. It is especially the case in South Africa, where 102 bone tools have been described from four Early Stone Age archaeological sites, which have yielded Oldowan and possibly Acheulean artefacts, as well as Paranthropus robustus and early Homo remains. Here we...

Linear marks were observed on the maxillary zygomatic process of the early Pleistocene hominin fossil Stw53 from the Sterkfontein cave site. The taxonomic allocation of this specimen is still under debate, as it has been attributed either to the genus Homo or Australopithecus. Two alternative hypotheses have been proposed regarding the taphonomic a...