Erik Trinkaus

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Erik Trinkaus (born December 24, 1948) is an American paleoanthropologist specializing in Neandertal and early modern human biology and human evolution. Trinkaus researches the evolution of the species Homo sapiens and recent human diversity, focusing on the paleoanthropology and emergence of late archaic and early modern humans, and the subsequent evolution of anatomically modern humanity. Trinkaus is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor Emeritus of Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. [1] He is a frequent contributor to publications such as Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PLOS One, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, and the Journal of Human Evolution and has written/co-written or edited/co-edited fifteen books in paleoanthropology. He is frequently quoted in the popular media.

Contents

Education

Trinkaus received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1970), and his master's and PhD degrees in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania, the latter in 1975. [2]

Scientific views

Trinkaus has been concerned primarily with the biology and behavior of Neandertals and early modern humans through the Middle and Late Pleistocene, in order to shed light on these past humans and to understand the emergence and establishment of modern humans. His work therefore has been primarily concerned with the comparative and functional anatomy, paleopathology, and life history of these past humans. At the same time, because it dominates paleoanthropology, he has been involved in debates concerning the ancestry of modern humans, being one of the first to argue for an African origin of modern humans but with substantial Neandertal ancestry among modern Eurasian human populations. [3] [4]

Although his early work emphasized differences between the Neandertals (and other archaic humans) and early modern humans, [5] his work since the 1990s has documented many similarities across these human groups in terms of function, levels of activity and stress, and abilities to cope socially with the rigors of a Pleistocene foraging existence. [6] His research therefore involves the biomechanical analysis of cranio-facial and post-cranial remains, patterns of tooth wear, interpretations of ecogeographical patterning, life history parameters (growth and mortality), differential levels and patterns of stress (paleopathology), issues of survival, and the interrelationships between these patterns.

Research projects

Trinkaus has conducted a series of comparative analyses, with colleagues and students, on the regional functional anatomy of Neandertals and other Pleistocene humans. He has contributed to the direct radiocarbon dating of original human fossils, and through that work to insights into their diets through the analysis of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stable isotopes. He has been involved in the primary paleontological descriptions of a number of Middle and Late Pleistocene human remains, of both archaic and early modern humans. The first project was his monograph on the Shanidar Neandertals from Iraqi Kurdistan. [7] Subsequent major projects concerned with early modern humans include the Abrigo do Lagar Velho (Portugal) [8] Dolní Věstonice and Pavlov Moravia, Czech Republic, [9] Peştera cu Oase (Romania), [10] Peştera Muierii (Romania), [11] Mladeč (Czech Republic), [12] Tianyuandong (China), [13] and Sunghir (Russia). [14] Additional Neandertal descriptions include those from Krapina (Croatia), [15] Oliveira (Portugal), [16] Kiik-Koba (Crimea), [17] and Sima de las Palomas (Spain). [18] To these can be added Middle Pleistocene human remains from Aubesier (France), [19] Broken Hill (Zambia), [20] and Hualongdong (China), [21] plus late archaic humans remains from Xujiayao and Xuchang (China). [22] [23] These paleontological descriptions include both primary data on these fossils and a diversity of paleobiological interpretations of the remains and the Pleistocene human groups from which they derive.

Trinkaus's analyses of early modern human remains, especially those from Dolní Věstonice, Pavlov, Lagar Velho and Sunghir, have raised a series of questions regarding the nature and diversity of mortuary practices among these early modern humans. [24] [25] And his paleopathological analyses of Pleistocene human remains have raised questions concerning the levels and natures of trauma [26] and developmental abnormalities among these people. [27]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early modern human</span> Old Stone Age Homo sapiens

Early modern human (EMH), or anatomically modern human (AMH), are terms used to distinguish Homo sapiens that are anatomically consistent with the range of phenotypes seen in contemporary humans, from extinct archaic human species. This distinction is useful especially for times and regions where anatomically modern and archaic humans co-existed, for example, in Paleolithic Europe. Among the oldest known remains of Homo sapiens are those found at the Omo-Kibish I archaeological site in south-western Ethiopia, dating to about 233,000 to 196,000 years ago, the Florisbad site in South Africa, dating to about 259,000 years ago, and the Jebel Irhoud site in Morocco, dated about 315,000 years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neanderthal extinction</span> Prehistoric event

Neanderthals became extinct around 40,000 years ago. Hypotheses on the causes of the extinction include violence, transmission of diseases from modern humans which Neanderthals had no immunity to, competitive replacement, extinction by interbreeding with early modern human populations, natural catastrophes, climate change and inbreeding depression. It is likely that multiple factors caused the demise of an already low population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peștera cu Oase</span> Cave and archaeological site in Romania

Peștera cu Oase is a system of 12 karstic galleries and chambers located near the city Anina, in the Caraș-Severin county, southwestern Romania, where some of the oldest European early modern human (EEMH) remains, between 42,000 and 37,000 years old, have been found.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peștera Muierilor</span> Cave and archaeological site in Romania

Peștera Muierilor, or Peștera Muierii, is an elaborate cave system located in the Baia de Fier commune, Gorj County, Romania. It contains abundant cave bear remains, as well as a human skull. The skull is radiocarbon dated to 30,150 ± 800, indication an absolute age between 40,000 and 30,000 BP. It was uncovered in 1952. Alongside similar remains found in Cioclovina Cave, they are among the most ancient early modern humans in Romanian prehistory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Jacques Hublin</span> French paleoanthropologist

Jean-Jacques Hublin is a French paleoanthropologist. He is a professor at the Max Planck Society, Leiden University and the University of Leipzig and the founder and director of the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. He is best known for his work on the Pleistocene hominins, and on the Neandertals and early Homo sapiens, in particular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vindija Cave</span> Cave and archaeological site in Croatia

Vindija Cave is an archaeological site associated with Neanderthals and modern humans, located in the municipality of Donja Voća, northern Croatia. Remains of three Neanderthals were selected as the primary sources for the first draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome project in 2010. Additional research was done on the samples and published in 2017.

The multiregional hypothesis, multiregional evolution (MRE), or polycentric hypothesis, is a scientific model that provides an alternative explanation to the more widely accepted "Out of Africa" model of monogenesis for the pattern of human evolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neanderthal</span> Extinct Eurasian species or subspecies of archaic humans

Neanderthals are an extinct group of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. The type specimen, Neanderthal 1, was found in 1856 in the Neander Valley in present-day Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neanderthal anatomy</span> Anatomical composition of the Neanderthal body

Neanderthal anatomy differed from modern humans in that they had a more robust build and distinctive morphological features, especially on the cranium, which gradually accumulated more derived aspects, particularly in certain isolated geographic regions. This robust build was an effective adaptation for Neanderthals, as they lived in the cold environments of Europe. In which they also had to operate in Europe's dense forest landscape that was extremely different from the environments of the African grassland plains that Homo sapiens adapted to with a different anatomical build.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neanderthal behavior</span> Behavior of Neanderthal people

Almost everything about Neanderthal behaviour remains controversial. From their physiology, Neanderthals are presumed to have been omnivores, but animal protein formed the majority of their dietary protein, showing them to have been carnivorous apex predators and not scavengers. Although very little is known of their social organization, it appears patrilines would make up the nucleus of the tribe, and women would seek out partners in neighbouring tribes once reaching adolescence, presumably to avoid inbreeding. An analysis based on finger-length ratios suggests that Neanderthals were more sexually competitive and promiscuous than modern-day humans.

Hominid dispersals in Europe refers to the colonisation of the European continent by various species of hominid, including hominins and archaic and modern humans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interbreeding between archaic and modern humans</span> Evidence of human hybridization during the Paleolithic

Interbreeding between archaic and modern humans occurred during the Middle Paleolithic and early Upper Paleolithic. The interbreeding happened in several independent events that included Neanderthals and Denisovans, as well as several unidentified hominins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nazlet Khater</span> Archaeological site in Upper Egypt

Nazlet Khater is an archeological site located in Upper Egypt that has yielded evidence of early human culture and anatomically modern specimens dating to approximately thirty to fifty thousand years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chancelade man</span> Hominin fossil

Chancelade man is an ancient anatomically modern human fossil of a male found in Chancelade in France in 1888. The skeleton was that of a rather short man, who stood a mere 1.55 m (5.1 ft) tall.

Zhiren Cave is a karstic cave in the Mulan Mountains that overlooks the Hejiang River in Chongzuo, Guangxi, China. Zhiren Cave is an early Late Pleistocene site that has yielded the fossil remains of possibly anatomically modern humans with some mixed archaic human features.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neanderthals in Southwest Asia</span> Neanderthals who lived in Turkey, the Levant, Iraq, and Iran

Southwest Asian Neanderthals were Neanderthals who lived in Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Iraq, and Iran - the southernmost expanse of the known Neanderthal range. Although their arrival in Asia is not well-dated, early Neanderthals occupied the region apparently until about 100,000 years ago. At this time, Homo sapiens immigrants seem to have replaced them in one of the first anatomically-modern expansions out of Africa. In their turn, starting around 80,000 years ago, Neanderthals seem to have returned and replaced Homo sapiens in Southwest Asia. They inhabited the region until about 55,000 years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krapina Neanderthal site</span> Archaeological site in Croatia

Krapina Neanderthal site, also known as Hušnjakovo Hill is a Paleolithic archaeological site located near Krapina, Croatia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sima de las Palomas</span> Archaeological site with Neanderthal remains in the Murcia region of Spain

Sima de las Palomas is on Cabezo Gordo, located between Balsicas and San Javier in the Murcia region of Spain. It was inhabited for tens of thousands of years, by Neanderthals and others. The shaft was filled in with brecciated material in the Late Pleistocene, and was partly excavated by miners in the nineteenth century. In the rubble, fossil remains of humans, including those of Neanderthals, were found in the 1990s, and after excavations in the shaft, in 2006-2007 a skeleton of a young Neanderthal woman was found, possibly buried with her child.

The Hualongdong people are extinct humans that lived in eastern China around 300,000 years ago during the late Middle Pleistocene. Discovered by a research team led by Xiujie Wu and Liu Wu, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, from the Hualong Cave in Dongzhi County at Anhui Province in 2006, they are known from about 30 fossils that belong to 16 individuals. The first analysis of the skull fragments collected in 2006 suggested that they could be members of Homo erectus. For some of the specimens, their exact position as a human species is not known. More complete fossils found in 2015 indicate that they cannot be directly assigned to any Homo species as they also exhibit archaic human features. They are the first humans in Asia to have both archaic and modern human features. They are likely a distinct species that form a separate branch in the human family tree.

References

  1. ↑ Washington University (4 May 2017). "Faculty Page for Erik Trinkaus". Washington University in St Louis. Washington University. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  2. ↑ Trinkaus, Erik. "Erik Trinkaus". Washington University. Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  3. ↑ Trinkaus, Erik (2007). "European early modern humans and the fate of the Neandertals". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 104 (18): 7367–7372. Bibcode:2007PNAS..104.7367T. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0702214104 . PMC   1863481 . PMID   17452632.
  4. ↑ Trinkaus, Erik (1981). Aspects of Human Evolution. London: Taylor & Francis. pp. 187–224.
  5. ↑ Trinkaus, Erik (1986). "The Neandertals and modern human origins". Annual Review of Anthropology. 15 (15): 193–218. doi:10.1146/annurev.an.15.100186.001205.
  6. ↑ Trinkaus, Erik (2013). Origins of Modern Humans: Biology Reconsidered (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 393–434. doi:10.1002/9781118659991.ch12. ISBN   978-0-470-89409-5 . Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  7. ↑ Trinkaus, Erik (1983). The Shanidar Neandertals (1st ed.). New York: Academic Press. ISBN   978-0-12-700550-8 . Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  8. ↑ Duarte, Cidalia; João Maurício; Paul B. Pettitt; Pedro Souto; Erik Trinkaus; Hans van der Plicht; João Zilhão (June 22, 1999). "The early Upper Paleolithic human skeleton from the Abrigo do Lagar Velho (Portugal) and modern human emergence in Iberia". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 96 (13): 7604–7609. Bibcode:1999PNAS...96.7604D. doi: 10.1073/pnas.96.13.7604 . PMC   22133 . PMID   10377462.
  9. ↑ Trinkaus E, Svoboda, J. (2005). Early Modern Human Evolution in Central Europe: The People of Dolni Vestonice and Pavlov. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-516699-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ Trinkaus, E., Moldovan, O., Milota, Ş., Bîlgăr, A., Sarcina, L., Athreya, S., Bailey, S.E., Rodrigo, R., Mircea, G., Higham, T. and Ramsey, C.B. (2003). "An early modern human from the Peştera cu Oase, Romania". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 100 (20): 11231–11236. Bibcode:2003PNAS..10011231T. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2035108100 . hdl: 1969.1/182639 . PMC   208740 . PMID   14504393.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ Doboş, Adrian; Soficaru, Andrei; Trinkaus, Erik (2012). The prehistory and paleontology of the Peştera Muierii (Romania). Liege: Université de Liège, Service de Préhistoire. ISBN   9782930495095 . Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  12. ↑ Trinkaus, E., Smith, F.H., Stockton, T.C. & Shackelford, L.L. (2006). Early Modern Humans at the Moravian Gate: The Mladeč Caves and their Remains. Vienna: Springer Verlag. pp. 385–445. doi:10.1007/978-3-211-49294-9_13. ISBN   978-3-211-23588-1 . Retrieved 14 March 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Shang, H., Trinkaus, E. (2010). The Early Modern Human from Tianyuan Cave, China. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. p. 245. ISBN   978-1-60344-177-3 . Retrieved 14 March 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ Trinkaus, E., Buzhilova, A.P., Mednikova, M.B., Dobrovolskaya, M.V. (2014). The People of Sunghir: Burials, Bodies and Behavior in the Earlier Upper Paleolithic. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 339. ISBN   978-0-19-938105-0 . Retrieved 14 March 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ Trinkaus, Erik (2016). The Krapina Human Postcranial Remains. Morphology, Morphometrics and Paleopathology (PDF). Zagreb: FF Press. p. 152. ISBN   978-953-175-591-7 . Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  16. ↑ Willman, J.C., Maki, J., Bayle, P., Trinkaus, E., Zilhão, J (2012). "Middle Paleolithic human remains from the Gruta da Oliveira (Torres Nova), Portugal". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 149 (1): 39–51. doi:10.1002/ajpa.22091. PMID   22610966 . Retrieved 14 March 2024.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ↑ Trinkaus, E., Mednikova, M.B., Cowgill, L.W. (2016). "The appendicular remains of the Kiik-Koba 2 Neandertal infant". PaleoAnthropology: 185–210. doi:10.4207/PA.2016.art103 (inactive 2024-03-14). Retrieved 14 March 2024.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of March 2024 (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ↑ Trinkaus, E., Walker, M.J. (2017). The People of Palomas: The Neandertals from the Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo, Southeastern Spain. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. p. 278. ISBN   978-1-62349-479-7 . Retrieved 14 March 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ↑ Lebel, S. & Trinkaus, E (2002). "Middle Pleistocene human remains from the Bau de l'Aubesier". Journal of Human Evolution. 43 (5): 659–685. doi:10.1006/jhev.2002.0598. PMID   12457854 . Retrieved 14 March 2024.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ↑ Trinkaus, Erik (2009). "The human tibia from Broken Hill, Kabwe, Zambia". PaleoAnthropology: 145–165. ISSN   1545-0031 . Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  21. ↑ Wu, X.J., Pei, S.W., Cai, Y.J., Tong, H.W., Li, Q., Dong, Z., Sheng, J.C., Jin, Z.T., Ma, D.D., Xing, S., Li, X.L., Cheng, X., Cheng, H., de la Torre, I., Edwards, R.L., Gong, X.C., An, Z.S., Trinkaus, E., Liu, W. (2019). "Archaic human remains from Hualongdong, China, and Middle Pleistocene human continuity and variation". Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences USA. 116 (20): 9820–9824. Bibcode:2019PNAS..116.9820W. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1902396116 . PMC   6525539 . PMID   31036653.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  22. ↑ Trinkaus, E., Wu, X.J. (2017). "External auditory exostoses in the Xuchang and Xujiayao human remains: Patterns and implications among eastern Eurasian Middle and Late Pleistocene crania". PLOS One. 12 (12): e0189390. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1289390T. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189390 . PMC   5726651 . PMID   29232394.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ↑ Li, Z.Y., Wu, X.J., Zhou, L.P., Liu, W., Gao, X., Nian, X.M., Trinkaus, E (2017). "Late Pleistocene archaic human crania from Xuchang, China". Science. 355 (6328): 969–972. Bibcode:2017Sci...355..969L. doi:10.1126/science.aal2482. PMID   28254945 . Retrieved 18 March 2024.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. ↑ Trinkaus, E., Sázelová, S., Svoboda, J. (2019). "Pieces of people in the Pavlovian: Burials, body parts and bones in the earlier Upper Palaeolithic". Human Remains and Violence. 50 (1): 70–87. doi: 10.7227/HRV.5.1.6 . Retrieved 14 March 2024.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. ↑ Trinkaus, E., Buzhilova, A.P. (2018). "Diversity and differential disposal of the dead at Sunghir". Antiquity. 92 (361): 7–21. doi:10.15184/aqy.2017.223 . Retrieved 14 March 2024.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ↑ Wu, X.J., Schepartz L.A., Liu, W., Trinkaus, E. (2011). "Antemortem trauma and survival in the Late Middle Pleistocene human cranium from Maba, south China". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 108 (49): 19558–19562. Bibcode:2011PNAS..10819558W. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1117113108 . PMC   3241811 . PMID   22106311.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  27. ↑ Trinkaus, Erik (2018). "An abundance of developmental anomalies and abnormalities in Pleistocene people". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (47): 11941–11946. Bibcode:2018PNAS..11511941T. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1814989115 . PMC   6255161 . PMID   30397116.
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