The Cambay Formation at Vastan Mine in Gujarat yields the oldest fossil primates known from India. New age estimates suggest that the fossils date from approximately 54.5 Ma (early Ypresian), about 2 million years older than initially thought and comparable in age to early Wasatchian Wa-4 faunas from North America. The Vastan primate fauna comprises predominantly the asiadapine adapoids Marcgodinotius and Asiadapis. Two species of omomyid primates, Vastanomys gracilis and V. major, are much rarer, each known from a single dental specimen. In addition to primate dental remains, Vastan Mine has produced the best preserved early Eocene primate postcranial elements known from anywhere in the world. Here we present new limb bones, including humeri, ulnae, femora, tibiae, and a talus, from three of the recognized primate species. They include the first omomyid postcrania from India: two femora, a talus, and a potential proximal tibia. We also report additional asiadapine postcrania: a pristine femur of Marcgodinotius and the first complete tibia of Asiadapis. Five new humeri (two complete) consist of one asiadapine and four that lack specializations of either group, making allocation difficult. Two ulnae are attributed to indeterminate euprimates due to lack of adequate comparative material. The elements attributed to Vastanomys are more primitive than any other known omomyid postcrania and are only subtly different from those of asiadapines, in contrast to the more distinct postcranial bones of their middle and late Eocene relatives. The femora attributed to Vastanomys exhibit features suggestive of leaping behavior (cylindrical femoral heads, lateral condyle higher than medial, proximal position of the third trochanter), as in other omomyids. However, while the talus of Vastanomys resembles those of omomyids more than those of other primates, features such as the relatively short, medially angled neck, and oval rather than spherical head suggest that Vastanomys was not as specialized for leaping as younger omomyids. Although asiadapines have been described as close to notharctids in morphology, the relatively wider distal femur and symmetrical condyles of Marcgodinotius resemble adapids more than notharctids and may also reflect less leaping. The revised age of the fossils, together with the similarity in morphology of omomyid and asiadapine postcrania, suggests that the postcrania, like the teeth of the most primitive members of each family, are converging toward a common morphology as we approach the base of the Eocene.
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There is ample evidence of human occupation across Northern Europe throughout various periods of the Upper Paleolithic. However, the biological characteristics of the Northern European Upper Paleolithic humans and their mortuary practices remain largely unknown because of a dearth of human fossils. In Belgium, although the presence of humans has been verified at multiple archeological sites, no Upper Paleolithic fossil has yet been identified. In this context, the recent discovery of Upper Paleolithic human remains at Goyet (Belgium) fills in an important chronological gap. The “Troisième caverne” of Goyet, excavated at the end of the 19th and early 20th century, yielded a rich archeological sequence ranging from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic to historical times. In 2008, we began documenting the Paleolithic occupations of the “Troisième caverne” by reassessing the collections from the site which heretofore had only been partially studied. The updated inventory of human remains was accomplished by conducting a detailed sorting of the paleontological collections in order to identify human remains that may have been overlooked thus far. As a result, the collections from the “Troisième caverne” now include nearly 200 human bones/bone fragments and isolated teeth that correspond to various materials from different periods. The morphometric study of the human specimens from Goyet, completed by direct radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis, shows that they represent two main samples—a series of Late Neandertal remains (Rougier et al. 2012) and a set of modern human specimens from three periods of the Upper Paleolithic, namely the Aurignacian, Gravettian, and Magdalenian. The latter include fragmentary elements from the cranial and infracranial skeleton. Interestingly, those from the Gravettian and Magdalenian present anthropogenic traces and ochre traces. We will discuss the importance of these new fossils in the context of the human population of Northern Europe during the Upper Paleolithic.
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