Neanderthal archaeology in MIS 3 Western Europe: ecological and anthropological perspectives. (original) (raw)

An ecological niche shift for Neanderthal populations in Western Europe 70,000 years ago

Scientific Reports, 2021

Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal populations occupied Eurasia for at least 250,000 years prior to the arrival of anatomically modern humans. While a considerable body of archaeological research has focused on Neanderthal material culture and subsistence strategies, little attention has been paid to the relationship between regionally specific cultural trajectories and their associated existing fundamental ecological niches, nor to how the latter varied across periods of climatic variability. We examine the Middle Paleolithic archaeological record of a naturally constrained region of Western Europe between 82,000 and 60,000 years ago using ecological niche modeling methods. Evaluations of ecological niche estimations, in both geographic and environmental dimensions, indicate that 70,000 years ago the range of suitable habitats exploited by these Neanderthal populations contracted and shifted. These ecological niche dynamics are the result of groups continuing to occupy habitual territo...

Neanderthals in changing environments from MIS 5 to early MIS 4 in northern Central Europe -Integrating archaeological, (chrono)stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental evidence at the site of Lichtenberg

Quaternary Science Reviews, 2022

The resilience of Neanderthals towards changing climatic and environmental conditions, and especially towards severely cold climates in northern regions of central Europe, is still under debate. One way to address this is to investigate multi-layered occupation in different climatic intervals, using independently-compiled paleoenvironmental and chronological data. Unfortunately, most open-air sites on the northern European Plain lack a robust chronostratigraphy beyond the radiocarbon dating range, thereby often hampering direct links between human occupation and climate. Here we present the results of integrative research at the Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Lichtenberg, Northern Germany, comprising archaeology, luminescence dating, sedimentology, micromorphology, as well as pollen and phytolith analyses. Our findings clearly show Neanderthal presence in temperate, forested environments during the Mid-Eemian Interglacial, MIS 5e and the latest Brörup Interstadial, MIS 5c/GI 22 (Lichtenberg II). For the previously known occupation Lichtenberg I, we revise the chronology from the former early MIS 3 (57 ± 6 ka) to early MIS 4/GS 19 (71.3 ± 7.3 ka), with dominant cold steppe/tundra vegetation. The early MIS 4 occupation suggests that Neanderthals could adjust well to severely cold environments and implies recurring population in the region between MIS 5 and MIS 3. The artefact assemblages differ between the temperate and cold environment occupations regarding size, blank production, typology and tool use. We argue that this distinctness can partially be explained by different site functions and occupation duration, as well as the availability of large and high-quality flint raw material. Raw material availability is in turn governed by changing vegetation cover that hindered or fostered sediment redeposition as a provider of flint from the primary source of the glacial sediments nearby.

Roebroeks, W., Hublin, J.-J. and K. MacDonald (2011) Continuities and discontinuities in Neandertal presence: a closer look at northwestern Europe. In: N. Ashton, S.G. Lewis and C. Stringer (eds.), The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain. Elsevier: Amsterdam, 113-123.

The Ancient Human …, 2010

Due to its geographical location and climate, northwestern Europe was at the edge of the hominin range throughout most of the Palaeolithic period. The pattern of the presence and absence of hominins through time, and the implications for their survival skills, have been the focus of considerable research. Here, we take the relatively rich late Middle Palaeolithic record from northern France as a starting point for examining the demographic processes underlying hiatuses in the Palaeolithic record. What did this involve in terms of changes in the distribution and abundance of Neandertal populations, and interactions between populations, during the glacial-interglacial cycles? Definitions in the ecological literature of terms such as 'refugia' and research on the nature of population responses to Pleistocene climatic fluctuations may be helpful in posing this and other questions regarding human evolution. Current understanding of Neandertal ecology and comparative data support the argument that rather than tracking preferred habitats, northern populations of Neandertals suffered local extinctions. The archaeological record and genetic studies of Neandertals and carnivore species potentially provide information relevant to this hypothesis, but interpreting this evidence is challenging. This process of repeated regional extinction would have been an important factor in the demography of hominin populations, and may have been at the root of the development of the Neandertal lineage.

Neanderthal presence and behaviour in Central and Northwestern Europe during MIS 5e

"The dense interglacial forests of Central and Northwestern Europe are considered to have been less productive environments and therefore less favourable habitats for humans than the grasslands of glacial Europe. However, there are several sites which attest to the presence of hominids from the beginning of OIS 5e to its climatic optimum (Quercetum mixtum-Corylus phase). So far there is no evidence of hominids during the Carpinus phase and only a few archaeological sites are known from younger biozones of the Eemian. Britain seems to have been totally unpopulated due to its island position. The Early Neanderthals inhabiting Europe hunted big game and presumably cached goods and practised symbolic behaviour. Artefacts made of material found more than 60 km away from the outcrops are indicative of mobility and social networks no different to those of Neanderthals living under more continental climatic conditions. key words: Europe; Last Interglacial (Eemian); Early Neanderthals; Middle Palaeolithic; stone tools; big game hunting; caching; burial customs"

Background to Neanderthal presence in Western Mediterranean Europe

Quaternary Science Reviews, 2018

This paper provides a background to Neanderthal presence in Western Mediterranean Europe. Habitual tool-use underpinned human survival in late Early Pleistocene western Mediterranean Europe. By the onset of the early Middle Pleistocene, early humans (descendants of Homo antecessor in all likelihood) were exploiting diverse biotopes, sometimes (perhaps often) attaining primary access to large game, and deploying a variety of stone artifacts and rock types, which implies not only manual dexterity but also technical competence and cognitive versatility. Late Early Pleistocene human behaviour foreshadowed that of Middle Pleistocene pre-Neanderthal humans whose background conceivably had deep regional roots. By the mid-Middle Pleistocene Homo heidelbergensis, some of whose anatomical features herald Neanderthal morphology, was exploiting a wide range of natural resources in western Mediterranean environments, including small game and plants. Neanderthal morphology began to emerge during the second half of the Middle Pleistocene, accompanied by increasing technological diversity and an expanding variety of small tools, conjecturally favoured by hafting, perhaps following development of wooden spears (or other tools) and adhesive and binding technologies, and generation and heat-control of fire (which undoubtedly was necessary for activities inside Bruniquel cave). By the onset of the last interglacial period, Neanderthal morphology and Mousterian artifacts are widespread, and there are indications of coordinated retrieval and treatment of body-parts of large ungulates.

Late Neanderthal occupation in North‐

Journal of Quaternary Science

In 2011, a programme of field research was undertaken to effect the stabilization of an unstable section in the West Ravine at the key Neanderthal occupation site of La Cotte de St Brelade on the Channel Island of Jersey. As part of this essential remedial work the threatened section was analysed to characterize its archaeological and palaeoenvironmental potential as well provide optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates. The work determined, through two concordant OSL dating programmes, that the section formed part of an extensive sequence of sedimentation spanning >105 to

Investigating Neanderthal dispersal above 55 N in Europe during the Last Interglacial Complex

When dealing with the northern boundary of Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) and the question of whether or not they dispersed into Southern Scandinavia, two contradictory hypotheses can be identified. The first, and also the most widely endorsed, hereafter, hypothesis A, argues primarily that Nean-derthals did not occupy regions above 55 N because of 1) climatic constraints and 2) dispersal barriers. The second, hypothesis B, argues that they possibly occasionally dispersed above 55 N, but that factors such as 1) research-and/or 2) taphonomic bias are responsible for their archaeological invisibility. Here, we report an evaluation of these competing hypotheses. To this end, we reconstruct the environment for the time period and region of interest (the Last Interglacial Complex and Northern Germany and Southern Scandinavia), based on three lines of evidence: palaeoenvironmental reconstruction combined with a novel habitat modelling approach, a review of relevant archaeological localities, and a discussion of the possible impacts of both research biases and the taphonomic effects on the archaeological data. We focus particularly on the climatic and geological explanatory factors relevant to the two hypotheses. Our results are inconsistent with the claim that climatic constraint and/or a lack of suitable habitats can fully explain the absence of Neanderthals in Southern Scandinavia during the Eemian Interglacial and Early Weichselian Glaciation. We do, however, find evidence that a geographic barrier may have impeded northerly migrations during the Eemian. The evidence reviewed here suggests that both research bias and taphonomy e consistent with hypothesis B e could account for the archaeological invisibility of Neanderthals in Southern Scandinavia, highlighting the need for further strategic survey and/or excavation efforts in the region.

Neanderthals in Europe. Proceedings of the International Conference, held in the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren (September 17-19th 2004), Atuatuca 2, Publications of the Gallo-Roman Museum of Tongeren / Erault 117, Tongeren / Liège, 2006. COMPLETE EDITION

Atuatuca 2, Publications of the Gallo-Roman Museum of Tongeren / Erault 117, 2006

COMPLETE EDITION Demarsin B. & Otte M. (Dirs), Neanderthals in Europe. Proceedings of the International Conference, held in the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren (September 17-19th 2004), Atuatuca 2, Publications of the Gallo-Roman Museum of Tongeren /Erault 117, Tongeren / Liège, 2006.

First evidence of Neanderthal presence in Northwest Europe during the Late Saalian 'Zeifen Interstadial'(MIS 6.01) found at the VLL and VLB Sites at …

The Middle Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene transition (MIS 6/5e transition), which has been observed within the loamy sediments of the VLL and VLB sites at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater, was a period of remarkable change in both climate and environment. Indeed, the incipient VLL-VLB soil horizons at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater seem to represent Late Saalian phases of pedogenesis under boreal conditions just prior to the MIS 6/5e transition. The pedostratigraphical position provides a firm basis to conclude that the VLL and VLB soil horizons at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater represent the terrestrial equivalent of the Late Saalian 'Zeifen Interstadial' (MIS 6.01), whereas the capping GSL unit seems to represent the terrestrial equivalent of the so-called 'Kattegat Stadial'. Indeed, assuming that Northwest Europe was too hostile for humans during the extremes of MIS 6 and given the pattern highlighted by Gamble (1986) that Northwest Europe seems to be a bit of a wasteland during MIS 5e, then...