A Lithic Perspective on Ecological Dynamics in the Upper Pleistocene of Western Eurasia (unc proofs) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Rebuilding the daily scenario of Neanderthal settlement
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2020
Isolating the various occupational events in the Palaeolithic record is hard work, because the remains from different occupations commonly overlap, creating archaeological palimpsests. We can differentiate two different types of palimpsest: vertical and horizontal ones. These two types are very important for identifying and defining short-or long-term human occupation. We present the different methods used in each case and their application in one of the archaeo-levels of the Abric Romaní rock shelter. After deconstructing the vertical palimpsest of level O through archaeostratigraphy and a meticulous lithic analysis of the Oa archaeo-level, we present a transdisciplinary study (lithic and faunal analysis, spatial patterning of structures, and faunal and lithic refits) of this archaeo-level. The Oa archaeo-level is characterised by clear habitat organisation, with combustion structures and faunal/lithic remains produced by domestic activities. In this study, the lithic and faunal analyses allow us to interpret the habitation unit. We first discuss the static perspective, determined from the distribution of remains, and we then look at the dynamic perspective, obtained from lithic and faunal refits. Using the two approaches we identify which activities were carried out in this settlement and the movements of the Neanderthals in Abric Romani, at around 54 ka BP. Archaeo-level Oa was defined as a short occupation organised into six accumulations. We have identified the function of three accumulations: "Accumulation A" results from a sleeping zone, while "Accumulation E" and "D" represent domestic areas.
Over the last two decades, much of the recent efforts dedicated to the Levantine Middle Paleolithic has concentrated on the role of open-air sites in the settlement system in the region. Here focus on the site of 'Ein Qashish as a cases study. Located in present-day northern Israel, the area of this site is estimated to have been >1300 m 2 , of which ca. 670 were excavated. The site is located at the confluence of the Qishon stream with a small tributary running off the eastern flanks of the Mt. Carmel. At the area of this confluence, water channels and alluvial deposits created a dynamic depositional environment. Four Archaeological Units were identified in a 4.5-m thick stratigraphic sequence were dated by Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) to between-71 and 54 ka, and probably shorter time span-~70-~60 ka. Here we present the diverse material culture remains from the site (lithics, including refitted sequences; modified limestone pieces; molluscs; faunal remains) against their changing paleogeographic backdrop. Skeletal evidence suggests that these remains were associated with Neanderthals. The large-scale repeated accumulation of late Middle Paleolithic remains in the same place on the landscape provides a unique opportunity to address questions of occupation duration and intensity in open-air sites. We find that each occupation was of ephemeral nature, yet presents a range of activities, suggesting that the locale has been used as a generalized residential site rather than specialized task-PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.
The discipline of archaeozoology holds the potential to considerably contribute to knowledge about the social behaviour of Neandertals. However, the translation of proposed subsistence strategies into predictions about Neandertal social organisation still remains a challenge. The paper discusses the current state of archaeozoological research with respect to Neandertal subsistence. It is concluded that the methodological research focus in archaeozoology has shifted from its original holistic perspective to intensified/specialised studies of particular taphonomic components. The authors argue for a return to a more holistic perspective to develop the full potential of archaeolozoology in order to obtain a comprehensive overall perspective of Neandertal social behaviour. Here, two avenues are suggested to reflate the processual character of taphonomy: 1. by conducting actualistic studies, which should serve to test the homogeneity of a faunal assemblage; and 2. by concentrating on sites from ecologically welldefined environments with high temporal resolution, such as interglacial sites.
Exploitation of the natural environment by Neanderthals from Chagyrskaya Cave (Altai)
2019
The article presents the first results of studies concerning the raw material procurement and fauna exploitation of the Easternmost Neanderthals from the Russian Altai. We investigated the Chagyrskaya Cave-a key-site of the Sibiryachikha Middle Paleolithic variant. The cave is known for a large number of Neanderthal remains associated with the Sibiryachikha techno-complex, which includes assemblages of both lithic artifacts and bone tools. According to our results, a Neanderthal population has used the cave over a few millennia. They hunted juvenile, semi-adult and female bisons in the direct vicinity of the site. Human impact on the paleontological remains provides additional evidence about the exploitation and consumption of at least part of the carcasses at the spot, which is characteristic for a consumption site. The first seasonal data available for the Altai Middle Paleolithic indicates that the death of the animals occurred at the end of the warm season, which corresponds to the annual migration of the Bison priscus from the plains to the Altai foothills. The results of the attribute analysis of lithic artifacts suggest that raw pebbles from the nearby riverbed had been transported to the cave in one piece. The spatial data, the large amounts of lithic tools, the presence of bones with cut marks as well as the quantity of bone tools indicate a high intensity of the cave occupations. The composition of the artifact assemblage from Chagyrskaya Cave is characterized by a relatively high percentage of tools and débitage and a low percentage of cores and bifacial tools. The large number of cortical flakes, a significant number of partly cortical flakes (including different varieties of débordant core-trimming elements), as well as the presence of bifacial thinning flakes and chips are a clear indication of on-site core reduction and tool production. The metrical parameters of the cortical and non-cortical regular flakes testify to the complete reduction sequence on the site. In order to produce tools, the biggest blanks available have been chosen intentionally. The results obtained from the assemblage from Chagyrskaya Cave do not fit to the existing functional variability of the Altai Middle Paleolithic, which was dominated by "ephemeral" hunting camps and base camps with relatively low-intensive raw material utilization. The techno-typological characteristics of the Chagyrskaya Cave assemblage are completely consistent with the characteristics of the Crimean Miсoquian techno-complex, which is an integral part of the European Miсoquian. With regard to the settlement pattern, Chagyrskaya Cave is typical for a recurrently visited base camp with the exploitation and consumption of animal carcasses and an intensive lithic reduction as well as bone tool production. Such a site function demonstrates a considerable overlap with the Eastern and Central European Micoquian. Zusammenfassung-In dem vorliegenden Artikel werden erste Ergebnisse zu Strategien der Rohmaterialbeschaffung und Faunennutzung aus dem östlichsten Bereich des Verbreitungsgebietes der Neandertaler bekannt gegeben. Untersucht wurde die Chagyrskaya Cave im Russischen Altai, eine Schlüsselfundstelle der Sibiryachikha-Fazies des dortigen Mittelpaläolithikums mit Erhaltung nicht nur umfangreicher Steingeräte-Inventare und Überresten der Jagdbeute, sondern auch-zum ersten Mal in der Region-mit Knochenartfakten. Die Höhle erfuhr bereits große Popularität durch die Entdeckung zahlreicher fossiler Überreste des Neandertalers, die innerhalb der Abfolge in der Chagyrskaya Cave ausschließlich mit der Sibiryachikha-Fazies vergesellschaftet sind. Die vorläufigen Ergebnisse lassen bereits jetzt den Schluss zu, dass die Höhle über mehrere Jahrtausende hinweg von einer Neandertaler-Population genutzt wurde. Im Zuge der Begehungen wurden vor allem juvenile und semi-adulte weibliche Bisons in der unmittelbaren der Fundstelle Umgebung gejagt. Anthropogene Manipulationen an den Faunenresten deuten auf
Coward, F. and Grimshaw, L. Hunter-Gatherers in Early Prehistory
in 'Investigating prehistoric hunter-gatherer identities: case studies from Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Europe, eds. Cobb, H., Coward, F., Grimshaw, L. and Price, S. Oxford: Archaeopress. BAR International Series 141. , 2005
The success of the post-processual critique of processual models of prehistory has led to the development of models of human behaviour that prioritise people and their activities in a social milieu. However, although some aspects of these approaches have crept in to the late Mesolithic, the vast majority of illustrations of such paradigms in archaeology have been post-Neolithic. Why is there no social archaeology of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic? Firstly, the nature of the data is argued to be insufficient both quantitatively and qualitatively to address the lifeways of people in the past. The questions considered appropriate for the study of the Palaeolithic have thus been largely restricted to those considering the economics of subsistence or raw material procurement and lithic manufacture. Secondly, the problem is one of identification; the attitudes of researchers towards post-Neolithic farmers and Mesolithic and Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer (and particularly pre-human hunter-gatherer) populations have meant that the two branches of research are considered fundamentally different. The effect of this process of estrangement of hunter-gatherer archaeology from the rest of the discipline is the establishment of an a-personal Palaeolithic. The pre-eminence of the evolutionary paradigm, which equates change and evolution, identifies the process of evolution as purely a factor of time; change is conditional only on time passing, and is thus virtually unrelated to humans and their activities. The focus of research into Pleistocene archaeology has been at continent-wide geographical scales and geological timescales, which have removed the possibility of accessing personal experiences and actions. In addition, the conception of a culture as a system seeking homeostasis means that change requires external causality – usually, in the Palaeolithic, the environment. This session would like to reintroduce the not-so-radical notion of ‘people’ to the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic, as creators of the archaeological record, and as inhabitants of the Pleistocene world. How can we access aspects of the prehistoric hunter-gatherer past that would have had meaning for its inhabitants/creators? How does the recognition of hunter-gatherer ‘persons’ in prehistory affect the generalizing, continent- and geological/climatic- scale models of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic which are current in the discipline? We invite papers that use new perspectives to ‘crack open’ the ‘black box’ of hunter-gatherer ‘persons’ of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic to access new perspectives on and understandings of the period.
Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, 2020
The ongoing refinement of archaeological excavation and recording methods over the last decades has led to a significant increase in quantitative Middle Palaeolithic datasets that provide a record of past Neanderthal behaviour. Stone tools and butchered animal remains are the two main categories of Middle Palaeolithic archaeological remains and both provide distinctive insights into site formation and Neanderthal behaviour. However, the integration of these quantitative lithic and zooarchaeological datasets is key for achieving a full understanding of both site-specific and broader-scale patterns of Middle Palaeolithic subsistence. To explore novel ways to enhance the incorporation of these datasets, we organised a session at the 82nd annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Vancouver. An underlying theme was the problem of linking lithic and faunal variability. Are variations in subsistence strategies reflected by changes in tool-making decisions? This paper will briefly introduce the possible ways these Middle Palaeolithic datasets can be integrated, illustrated with the papers included in this special volume, and discuss its potential for understanding the variability and interconnectedness of Neanderthal technologies and subsistence strategies.
Quaternary International 247, 2010
The discipline of archaeozoology holds the potential to considerably contribute to knowledge about the social behaviour of Neandertals. However, the translation of proposed subsistence strategies into predictions about Neandertal social organisation still remains a challenge. The paper discusses the current state of archaeozoological research with respect to Neandertal subsistence. It is concluded that the methodological research focus in archaeozoology has shifted from its original holistic perspective to intensified/specialised studies of particular taphonomic components. The authors argue for a return to a more holistic perspective to develop the full potential of archaeolozoology in order to obtain a comprehensive overall perspective of Neandertal social behaviour. Here, two avenues are suggested to reflate the processual character of taphonomy: 1. by conducting actualistic studies, which should serve to test the homogeneity of a faunal assemblage; and 2. by concentrating on sites from ecologically welldefined environments with high temporal resolution, such as interglacial sites.
Neanderthal subsistence change around 55 kyr
The Abric Romaní archaeological site (Capellades, Barcelona, Spain) is one of the most important Upper Pleistocene archaeological sites in Western Europe. This is due to the extensive stratigraphic sequence and high sedimentary resolution, which makes it one of the key sites for understanding the cultural and social behaviour of Neanderthal groups. This article presents zooarchaeological, taphonomical, technological and spatial distribution data analysis of level O from Abric Romaní site. These data allow us to obtain information about patterns of acquisition, management and consumption of natural resources and spatial organization of intra-site activities. The approximate date of this level is 55 Kyr, a period which corresponds to one of the most arid phases within the glacial trend of this period, named pollen phase 3. Level O has been excavated since 2004 until today. It includes an area of 300m2, except a small part which is currently under/ or excavated excavation. Based on the data obtained during the field work and on the preliminary results of the analysis, we have observed some differences in level O in comparison with the other levels of the sequence. These differences are related to a change in procurement, management and spatial organization of Neanderthal groups. This study allows us to address a hypothesis of a cultural change in the internal dynamics of the Abric Romaní site around 55 000 years ago.