@article{CohenCampisanoArrowsmithetal.2016, author = {Cohen, Andrew and Campisano, C. and Arrowsmith, J. Ram{\´o}n and Asrat, Asfawossen and Behrensmeyer, A. K. and Deino, A. and Feibel, C. and Hill, A. and Johnson, R. and Kingston, J. and Lamb, Henry F. and Lowenstein, T. and Noren, A. and Olago, D. and Owen, R. B. and Potts, R. and Reed, Kate and Renaut, R. and Sch{\"a}bitz, Frank and Tiercelin, J. -J. and Trauth, Martin H. and Wynn, J. and Ivory, S. and Brady, K. and Rodysill, J. and Githiri, J. and Russell, J. and F{\"o}rster, Verena and Dommain, Ren{\´e} and Rucina, S. and Deocampo, D. and Russell, J. and Billingsley, A. and Beck, C. and Dorenbeck, G. and Dullo, L. and Feary, D. and Garello, D. and Gromig, R. and Johnson, T. and Junginger, A. and Karanja, M. and Kimburi, E. and Mbuthia, A. and McCartney, T. and McNulty, E. and Muiruri, V. and Nambiro, E. and Negash, E. W. and Njagi, D. and Wilson, J. N. and Rabideaux, N. and Raub, T. and Sier, M. J. and Smith, P. and Urban, J. and Warren, M. and Yadeta, M. and Yost, C. and Zinaye, B.}, title = {The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project: inferring the environmental context of human evolution from eastern African rift lake deposits}, series = {Scientific Drilling}, volume = {21}, journal = {Scientific Drilling}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, issn = {1816-8957}, doi = {10.5194/sd-21-1-2016}, pages = {1 -- 16}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The role that climate and environmental history may have played in influencing human evolution has been the focus of considerable interest and controversy among paleoanthropologists for decades. Prior attempts to understand the environmental history side of this equation have centered around the study of outcrop sediments and fossils adjacent to where fossil hominins (ancestors or close relatives of modern humans) are found, or from the study of deep sea drill cores. However, outcrop sediments are often highly weathered and thus are unsuitable for some types of paleoclimatic records, and deep sea core records come from long distances away from the actual fossil and stone tool remains. The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) was developed to address these issues. The project has focused its efforts on the eastern African Rift Valley, where much of the evidence for early hominins has been recovered. We have collected about 2 km of sediment drill core from six basins in Kenya and Ethiopia, in lake deposits immediately adjacent to important fossil hominin and archaeological sites. Collectively these cores cover in time many of the key transitions and critical intervals in human evolutionary history over the last 4 Ma, such as the earliest stone tools, the origin of our own genus Homo, and the earliest anatomically modern Homo sapiens. Here we document the initial field, physical property, and core description results of the 2012-2014 HSPDP coring campaign.}, language = {en} } @misc{CohenCampisanoArrowsmithetal.2016, author = {Cohen, Abby and Campisano, Christopher and Arrowsmith, J. Ramon and Asrat, Asfawossen and Behrensmeyer, A. K. and Deino, A. and Feibel, C. and Hill, A. and Johnson, R. and Kingston, J. and Lamb, Henry F. and Lowenstein, T. and Noren, A. and Olago, D. and Owen, Richard Bernhart and Potts, R. and Reed, Kate and Renaut, R. and Sch{\"a}bitz, F. and Tiercelin, J.-J. and Trauth, Martin H. and Wynn, J. and Ivory, S. and Brady, K. and O'Grady, R. and Rodysill, J. and Githiri, J. and Russell, Joellen and Foerster, Verena and Dommain, Ren{\´e} and Rucina, J. S. and Deocampo, D. and Russell, J. and Billingsley, A. and Beck, C. and Dorenbeck, G. and Dullo, L. and Feary, D. and Garello, D. and Gromig, R. and Johnson, T. and Junginger, Annett and Karanja, M. and Kimburi, E. and Mbuthia, A. and McCartney, Tannis and McNulty, E. and Muiruri, V. and Nambiro, E. and Negash, E. W. and Njagi, D. and Wilson, J. N. and Rabideaux, N. and Raub, Timothy and Sier, Mark Jan and Smith, P. and Urban, J. and Warren, M. and Yadeta, M. and Yost, Chad and Zinaye, B.}, title = {The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {611}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-41249}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-412498}, pages = {16}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The role that climate and environmental history may have played in influencing human evolution has been the focus of considerable interest and controversy among paleoanthropologists for decades. Prior attempts to understand the environmental history side of this equation have centered around the study of outcrop sediments and fossils adjacent to where fossil hominins (ancestors or close relatives of modern humans) are found, or from the study of deep sea drill cores. However, outcrop sediments are often highly weathered and thus are unsuitable for some types of paleoclimatic records, and deep sea core records come from long distances away from the actual fossil and stone tool remains. The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) was developed to address these issues. The project has focused its efforts on the eastern African Rift Valley, where much of the evidence for early hominins has been recovered. We have collected about 2 km of sediment drill core from six basins in Kenya and Ethiopia, in lake deposits immediately adjacent to important fossil hominin and archaeological sites. Collectively these cores cover in time many of the key transitions and critical intervals in human evolutionary history over the last 4 Ma, such as the earliest stone tools, the origin of our own genus Homo, and the earliest anatomically modern Homo sapiens. Here we document the initial field, physical property, and core description results of the 2012-2014 HSPDP coring campaign.}, language = {en} } @article{BarnettWestburySandovalVelascoetal.2020, author = {Barnett, Ross and Westbury, Michael V. and Sandoval-Velasco, Marcela and Vieira, Filipe Garrett and Jeon, Sungwon and Zazula, Grant and Martin, Michael D. and Ho, Simon Y. W. and Mather, Niklas and Gopalakrishnan, Shyam and Ramos-Madrigal, Jazmin and de Manuel, Marc and Zepeda-Mendoza, M. Lisandra and Antunes, Agostinho and Baez, Aldo Carmona and De Cahsan, Binia and Larson, Greger and O'Brien, Stephen J. and Eizirik, Eduardo and Johnson, Warren E. and Koepfli, Klaus-Peter and Wilting, Andreas and Fickel, J{\"o}rns and Dalen, Love and Lorenzen, Eline D. and Marques-Bonet, Tomas and Hansen, Anders J. and Zhang, Guojie and Bhak, Jong and Yamaguchi, Nobuyuki and Gilbert, M. Thomas P.}, title = {Genomic adaptations and evolutionary history of the extinct scimitar-toothed cat}, series = {Current biology}, volume = {30}, journal = {Current biology}, number = {24}, publisher = {Cell Press}, address = {Cambridge}, issn = {0960-9822}, doi = {10.1016/j.cub.2020.09.051}, pages = {14}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Homotherium was a genus of large-bodied scimitar-toothed cats, morphologically distinct from any extant felid species, that went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene [1-4]. They possessed large, saber-form serrated canine teeth, powerful forelimbs, a sloping back, and an enlarged optic bulb, all of which were key characteristics for predation on Pleistocene megafauna [5]. Previous mitochondrial DNA phylogenies suggested that it was a highly divergent sister lineage to all extant cat species [6-8]. However, mitochondrial phylogenies can be misled by hybridization [9], incomplete lineage sorting (ILS), or sex-biased dispersal patterns [10], which might be especially relevant for Homotherium since widespread mito-nuclear discrepancies have been uncovered in modern cats [10]. To examine the evolutionary history of Homotherium, we generated a -7x nuclear genome and a similar to 38x exome from H. latidens using shotgun and target-capture sequencing approaches. Phylogenetic analyses reveal Homotherium as highly divergent (similar to 22.5 Ma) from living cat species, with no detectable signs of gene flow. Comparative genomic analyses found signatures of positive selection in several genes, including those involved in vision, cognitive function, and energy consumption, putatively consistent with diurnal activity, well-developed social behavior, and cursorial hunting [5]. Finally, we uncover relatively high levels of genetic diversity, suggesting that Homotherium may have been more abundant than the limited fossil record suggests [3, 4, 11-14]. Our findings complement and extend previous inferences from both the fossil record and initial molecular studies, enhancing our understanding of the evolution and ecology of this remarkable lineage.}, language = {en} }