Henry T. Bunn’s research while affiliated with University of Wisconsin–Madison and other places

The growth of plants, animals, and humans can give rise to layered structures associated with annual periodicity. Thickness variations are often correlated to nutrition supply and stress factors. The annual layers in a tree trunk with millimeter thickness can be directly counted, whereas the layers in tooth cementum with micrometer thickness are made visible using optical microscopy. These optical techniques rely on the surface evaluation or thin, optically transparent slices. Hard X-ray tomography with micrometer resolution, however, provides a three-dimensional view without physical slicing. We have developed a procedure to enhance the tomography data of annual layers in human and bovid tooth cementum. The analysis of a substantial part of an archeological human tooth demonstrated that the detected number of layers depended on the selected region and could vary between 13 and 27. The related average thickness of the annual layers was found to be (5.4 $\pm$ 1.9) $\mu$m for the human tooth, whereas the buffalo tooth exhibited a layer periodicity of 46 $\mu$m. The present study elucidates the potential of combining computational tools with high-quality micro computed tomography data to quantify the annual layers in tooth cementum for a variety of purposes including age-at-death determination.

Original article: https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2019/5911 Due to an error in the reference plane, the elevation range shown for the digital elevation model (DEM) in Figure 5a is incorrect. The correct elevation range is 1629.41–1679.64 m. The DEM and orthomosaic map data were reprocessed using Agisoft Metashape 1.7.4. Processing parameters for the corrected DEM and orthomosaic differ slightly from those in Supplementary table 1 as a result of correcting the reference plane and differences in technical specifications of the computers used to process data. The corrected DEM, orthomosaic, and processing parameters are available for download at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4592344. The corrected Figure 5 and Supplementary table 1 appear in the PDF. The error does not affect the interpretation of data in the original article. We thank Rebecca Bateman and Richard Bates for bringing the error to our attention and for sharing their data, as well as Pastory Bushozi and Philbert Katto for sharing their field data.

Isimila is a Middle Pleistocene archaeological site located in southern Tanzania. The site is known for large surface assemblages of later Acheulean lithics such as hand axes, cleavers, scrapers and cores. While hominin remains have yet to be discovered at the site, Isimila offers a unique window into Middle Pleistocene Homo behaviour. Although Isimila has been studied extensively, the last published map of the site and surrounding area was made available in the 1970s. Here, we present an updated high-resolution map of Isimila. Data for the map were collected during aerial survey with an uncrewed(unmanned) aerial vehicle. With this map, we identified new archaeological localities, erosional patterns, newly exposed geological features and changes in site topography. The map demonstrates patterns of stone tool and raw material distribution that may support previous hypotheses of short-distance raw material transport into the area by hominins. This open-access map establishes a baseline for tracking changes to site topography in the future and serves as a unique tool to enable collaboration between researchers, museum personnel and local populations to better conserve Isimila. Significance: • New potential archaeological localities and significant changes to erosional patterns at Isimila were identified. • The open access map and associated raw data provided enable researchers to track seasonal and erosional changes and anthropogenic effects, and to develop protocols for conservation of this unique site. Open data set: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1470770

At Elandsfontein, a Middle Pleistocene marsh deposit preserves an abundance of mammalian fossils, along with a partial cranium of Homo heidelbergensis and a significant number of Acheulean stone tools. Most of this material was collected from the surface of eroding deposits in the 20th century, and it seemed to derive from a combination of hominin foraging activities and other, natural processes. Prior archaeological research on the fossil collection has emphasized natural, carnivore-related mortality and accumulation of large ungulates and downplayed the potential role of hominin hunting or scavenging at the marsh and more broadly at this time period in human evolution (Klein et al., 2007). Here, reanalysis of the most abundant large bovid taxa yields new, comprehensive estimates of the minimum number of individual (MNI) bovids and their age at death. The MNI = 125 for six species of size group 3 bovids, and the MNI = 37 for one species of size group 4 bovid. Analysis of these mortality profiles on triangular graphs reveals a consistent living-structure (i.e., catastrophic) profile for the pooled size group 3 taxa but an attritional profile for the size group 4 taxon. These results are contrary to prior reports for the collection, and they may indicate a larger role for hunting by H. heidelbergensis than heretofore reconstructed. The Elandsfontein mortality profiles, when compared to older and younger profiles from Stone Age and modern contexts in Africa and Europe, indicate more broadly that capable ambush hunting of large ungulate prey occurred throughout the past two million years of evolution of the genus Homo.

Isimila is a Middle Pleistocene archaeological site located in southern Tanzania. The site is known for large surface assemblages of later Acheulean lithics such as hand axes, cleavers, scrapers, and cores. While hominin remains have yet to be discovered at the site, Isimila offers a unique window into Middle Pleistocene Homo behavior. Although Isimila has been studied extensively, the last published map of the site and surrounding area was made available in the 1970s. Here, we present an updated high-resolution map of Isimila. Data for the map were collected during aerial survey with an uncrewed/unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). With this map, we identify new archaeological localities, erosional patterns, newly exposed geological features, and changes in site topography. The map reveals patterns of stone tool and raw material distribution that may support previous hypotheses of raw material transport into the area by hominins. This open-access map establishes a baseline for tracking changes to site topography in the future and serves as a unique tool to enable collaboration between researchers, museum personnel, and local populations to better conserve Isimila.

Geological deposits extending back two million years at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, provide well‐preserved fossil and archaeological evidence chronicling the biological and behavioral evolution of ancestral humans. Decades of research in the 20th century by Mary and Louis Leakey revealed key ancestral human fossils and archaeological sites of Early Pleistocene age, establishing the East African Rift Valley as the actual cradle of humankind and demonstrating the value of a team‐oriented approach in paleoanthropology.

Located in the southern highlands of Tanzania, the Middle Pleistocene site of Isimila contains one of the most abundant Acheulean stone assemblages in Africa, if not the world. Although the extensive riverine erosional beds are littered with innumerable artifacts which include hand-axes, hammerstones, and flaked tools, few faunal remains have been discovered. The sheer density of artifacts, exceeding that of Olorgesaille in Kenya, has made it difficult to ascertain the behavioral patterns and site formation processes that led to their accumulation. Dated at ~260ka, Isimila represents an important juncture in the evolution of the genus Homo and the emergence of our species; therefore, understanding Isimila as a product of Mid-Pleistocene Homo behavior remains crucial. To the best of our knowledge, there have not been any extensive excavation projects conducted at the site in decades; instead smaller excavations have taken place. Recent advances in technology have allowed for fresh approaches to survey of large sites such as Isimila, allowing for greater ease when establishing large-scale research questions. Through the use of a remote-controlled aerial drone and photogrammetry, a high-resolution map of the entire Isimila Korongo system was created. This includes a southern section that does not appear on earlier maps, where in situ stone tools were discovered during pedestrian survey. This map allows for an absolute visualization of stone tool deposits, aids in determining future excavation locations and identifies outlier deposits. The map presented here serves as an important tool in determining the roles of natural processes versus Homo behavior, determines possible usage patterns of the site, examines the distribution of artifacts, and enables future large-scale excavation at Isimila.

Besides active hunting by hominins, there are two methods of scavenging that can provide primary access to intact ungulate carcasses: first-access scavenging from non-predator-related accidents and early-access aggressive scavenging from carnivore kills. Patterns in mortality profiles of prey animals at archaeological sites provide evidence of prey acquisition strategies, which is an important factor in reconstructing hominin adaptability. The Xujiayao site is an early Late Pleistocene site in the Nihewan Basin, China. Its faunal assemblage is dominated by Equus przewalskii and Equus hemionus. Evidence from previous taphonomic analysis has implied that Archaic Homo was the dominant taphonomic agent in the accumulation of the animal remains. This research applies mortality profile analysis to determine a follow-up question: how were the equid carcasses acquired? The results of this study indicate that Archaic Homo at Xujiayao probably used both active hunting and scavenging to acquire equids in the early period (lower cultural layer), but mainly used active hunting in the later period (upper cultural layer) due to the fact that the climate changed to much colder conditions in the later period. This research provides new information on the subsistence adaptations of Archaic Homo in northern latitudinal climates of China in the early Late Pleistocene.