Life and Death at the Pestera cu Oase: A Setting for Modern Human Emergence in Europe

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Erik Trinkaus (Professor of Anthropology, Professor of Anthropology, Washington University) Silviu Constantin (senior researcher, senior researcher, Emil Racovita Institute of Spelology)

Life and Death at the Pestera cu Oase

A Setting for Modern Human Emergence in Europe

Erik Trinkaus (Professor of Anthropology, Professor of Anthropology, Washington University), Silviu Constantin (senior researcher, senior researcher, Emil Racovita Institute of Spelology), Joco Zilhco (Research Professor, Research Professor, University of Barcelona)

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English

Oxford University Press Inc
27 December 2012

Anthropology; Physical anthropology & ethnography; Mathematics & Sciences; Evolution; Palaeontology

Series: Human Evolution Series

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.

Edited by: Erik Trinkaus (Professor of Anthropology Professor of Anthropology Washington University), Silviu Constantin (senior researcher, senior researcher, Emil Racovita Institute of Spelology), Joco Zilhco (Research Professor, Research Professor, University of Barcelona)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 221mm, Width: 282mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 1.497kg
ISBN: 9780195398229
ISBN 10: 019539822X
Series: Human Evolution Series
Pages: 452
Publication Date: 27 December 2012
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

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. Joao Zilhao 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.