Lower and Middle Paleolithic Research Papers (original) (raw)

2025, Nature Archives of Central and Eastern Europe: from the Gelasian to the Anthropocene. Proceedings of the International Scientific and Practical Seminar, May 15-17, Chernivtsi: Chernivtsi National University

Palaeolithic sites in Ukraine form a key part of the natural archives of the Quaternary. Although early finds are considered rare, research reveals numerous locations with bipolar knapping and indistinct archaic artefacts. New detection... more

2025, Bollettino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana

At Neumark Nord 1 (NN1) (northern margin of Geiseltal, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany) a stratigraphical succession documents the environmental evolution of a small endorheic basin during various Middle to Late Pleistocene glacial-interglacial climatic cycles. Although the age of the main lacustrine fossiliferous layers (Lower, Middle and Upper Gyttja) remains controversial (MIS 5e or MIS 7), the elephant bones collected during more than ten years (1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996) in the deposits of NN1 basin represent one of the most outstanding samples of straight-tusked elephants in Europe. Herein we analyze the structural characteristics (age, body size, and gender) of the richest NN1 Palaeoloxodon sample (counting more than 50 individuals), found in the area exposed during the "second regression phase" (Middle Gyttja, 6.1 level), whose time of deposition has been estimated at about 250 years. The results obtained enhance our knowledge on body size, ontogenetic growth, sexual dimorphism, and morphological variation of European straight-tusked elephants, highlighting that the dimensional gap between males and females may have been increased by the different rate in epiphyseal fusion of limb bones. At the same time, the present results give little information on the averaged structure of Palaeoloxodon populations. Although taphonomic signatures indicate that the sample mostly includes animals that died in situ, the extremely low number of young individuals, the high number of adult and old elephants and the presence of adult males in the bone assemblage, make this population different in structure from that of most living elephant populations. The mortality profile inferred for the NN1 sample from 6.1 level differs from both the catastrophic and attritional profiles known for extant elephants. The factors causing the peculiar composition of this elephant assemblage are difficult to ascertain, though protracted phases of reduced rainfall may have affected the skeletal input during the "second regression phase". Nonetheless, it remains unclear to what extent (if any) the averaged structure of the NN1 population differed from that of the extant elephants.

2025, PLOS ONE

The Lower Paleolithic Late Acheulian in the Levant marks a fascinating chapter in human cultural and biological evolution. Nevertheless, many aspects of the Late Acheulian are still undeciphered, hindered by the complex nature of each site on the one hand, a scarcity of wide, multidisciplinary studies on the other, and by difficulties in obtaining absolute chronology for this timeframe. Therefore, subjects such as human subsistence strategies and modes of adaptation, regional diversity, and the possible existence and nature of interactions between hominin groups are largely understudied. The discovery and study of Jaljulia, a large-scale Late Acheulian site at the central Coastal Plain, Israel, add valuable insights to the research of this chapter in human history. Considered to represent recurrent occupations at a favored, water and flint-rich setting, the site has provided extensive lithic assemblages obtained from several localities. Absolute chronology places the human activity ...

2025

Lytvynenko R. O. The Vesela Gora village in Luhansk region: the first quarter of the 19th century

2025, IN SECOND USE: An archaeological and anthropological survey of recycling and reuse in the Greek WorldPublisher: Athens University Review of Archaeology | Edited by Nikolas Dimakis, Paraskevi Motsiou and Eurydice Kefalidou | AURA Supplement 13

From tool curation strategies to re-occupation of the same sites, activities that demonstrate re-use, re-shaping or re-cycling of objects and landscapes are archaeologically visible in the material record since the Palaeolithic. Discarded... more

2025, Quaternary International

New Palaeolithic sites are rare for MIS 11 to 9 in Eurasia. The discovery and the excavation of a large new site in 2012 at Etricourt-Manancourt (Somme, France) is an exceptional event. In 2010, a Palaeolithic evaluation was undertaken at a future retention basin by Emilie Goval on 170,000 square metres. The evaluation produced many flint artefacts, demonstrating the existence of at least two important Middle Palaeolithic sites. In 2012, an excavation on one of the sites was conducted by David H erisson over 6 months and covering 4500 square metres. This excavation was undertaken by a multidisciplinary scientific team, including prehistorians and geomorphologists. This allows us to apply a reliable chronostratigraphic approach based on the analysis of the Glacial-interglacial successions. Five in situ Palaeolithic occupations have been excavated, dating from 330 to 70 ka. The youngest occupation dates from 70 to 80 ka (Weichselian) and corresponds to a recent phase of the Middle Palaeolithic. The next two layers belong to the Early Middle Palaeolithic, between 190 and 240 ka (Saalian). Finally, the two oldest layers have dates between 330 and 280 ka (Saalian) and belong to the Lower Palaeolithic. In addition to the archaeology, the sedimentary sequence is very thick (11 m high) and presents for the first time in Northern France a detailed record of the three last interglacialeglacial cycles. This paper presents the first archaeological and chronostratigraphic results of the excavation of Etricourt-Manancourt and its input with high resolution data to discuss behavioural changes occurring at the end of the Lower Palaeolithic and the onset of the Middle Palaeolithic.

2025, КОНСЕНСУС

After 2014, the conditions for early Palaeolithic field research in Ukraine changed because of the Russian aggression. Firstly, these changes became noticeable in the studies of Crimea and the eastern regions. Such changes are associated with the danger of conducting fieldwork and the impossibility of planning expeditions and field practices. In 2014, we still conducted exploration and dug a test pit in the east of the Luhansk region. However, since 2015, in connection with the occupation of Luhansk, the work of the Eastern Division of the Lower Palaeolithic Expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine was forced to stop. The article aims to investigate there were no attempts to conduct archaeological reconnaissance in the east of the country in the Luhansk region. Our colleagues and patriots who found themselves in the occupied territory also carried out search operations and monitoring of Palaeolithic monuments damaged by the war whenever possible. The scientific novelty of this research lies in its first-ever analysis and systematization of information about works 2014-2021 were carried out at known and newly discovered locations: Vyshnevyi Dil, Shturmanske, Lysychansk-Zhelatyn, and Osynove in the Luhansk region. Conclusions. Part of the found artefacts were transported to the non-occupied territory of Ukraine and handed over to the Museum Fund of Ukraine. A crucial aspect of the study of the Early Palaeolithic was the processing and systematic transfer of the explored material of the Early Palaeolithic to the museum funds. In this direction, the museum fund of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve "Mezhybizh" became a hub containing scientific materials of the Early Palaeolithic from the east of Ukraine.

2025, 40. ARAŞTIRMA SONUÇLARI TOPLANTISI BİLDİRİLERİ

2025

espanolEl medio fisico y su relacion con el poblamiento humano ha sido una constante en los estudios historicos y prehistoricos. Para estudiar estas interacciones de forma objetiva y cientifi ca, en el presente trabajo se propone una metodologia consistente en la descomposicion del medio fisico en sus factores y variables elementales (pendiente, anfractuosidad, orientacion de ladera, litologia...), para cada una de las cuales se genera una cartografia del territorio a analizar. Posteriormente, estas cartografias de cada variable son integradas mediante algebra de mapas utilizando un sistema de informacion geografi ca (SIG) y evaluacion multicriterio (EMC). De esta forma, se pueden generar cartografias de sintesis de elementos del medio fisico como condicionantes de la presencia de asentamientos o zonas de transito de comunidades humanas; o factores de la dinamica del medio fisico como condicionantes de la preservacion de los restos de los asentamientos y vias. Del cruce de ambas car...

2025

A state of the arts about Early Palaeolithic in Asturias has been developed in this paper, focused on the researches made in open air sites and caves. The issues to deal are two: On the one hand, the first human occupations known in Western Cantabrian; on the other hand, the development and evolution of Neanderthal settlements in Asturias. The technotypological and archaeological characterization of these contexts is the main objective of analysis, in a paper that tries to be an updated summary about Lower and Middle Palaeolithic in Asturias.

2025, Espacio Tiempo y Forma. Serie I, Prehistoria y Arqueología

The following article presents a historiographical synthesis of research on the Lower Paleolithic of Cantabrian Spain. In summary shows the evolution of research on the early Cantabrian Palaeolithic, from the early twentieth century to the present research. A period of great interest but often in the Cantabrian region subject to major thrust of Paleolithic studies from the wealth of the Upper Paleolithic sites and rock sets.

2025, UNESCO

The reconstruction of patterns of hominin dispersion beyond Africa has consistently posed significant challenges. Understanding how these populations dispersed through the central regions of Asia, as well as the corridors that could have facilitated their migration, is of paramount importance. Among these corridors, the Silk Roads – as recognized in later periods – hold considerable significance. This study explores the role of these corridors in the movement of hominin populations from the Mediterranean coasts to the western parts of China. The initial research focus is on surveying parts of these corridors, specifically the Northeastern Corridor of Iran, which led to the identification of 30 Paleolithic sites. The obtained assemblages distinctly reveal evidence of the earliest recognized lithic industries in Asia, namely, the Acheulean industry, as well as pebble tools. This enhances our understanding of how the initial waves of hominin dispersion into the interior regions of Asia, which occurred along the Silk Road corridors, underwent transformation. Additionally, the middle Paleolithic sites prominently feature the presence of Levallois industries in the region, which share affinities with other key Paleolithic sites in various parts of this corridor. However, a notable knowledge gap in the Upper Paleolithic context exists in the northeastern part of Iran. Nevertheless, the Epipaleolithic context has revealed meaningful connections with Central Asian Epipaleolithic industries and textile industries in the western plateau of Iran.

2025

La realización de esta investigación y culminación de la redacción de esta Tesis Doctoral no habría sido posible sin la ayuda, consejos y colaboración de un amplio conjunto de personas, de las que espero no olvidar a nadie. En primer lugar, he de mencionar a mis dos codirectores. Dr. Alvaro Arrizabalaga, junto a quien (y a María José Iriarte) aprendí a excavar y a "cogerle gustillo" a esos huesos que encontraba en Lezetxiki, junto a las muy transcendentales piezas líticas. Al Dr. Philippe Fosse, que me acogió en la Maison de la Recherche de Toulouse-le Mirail y durante tres meses me enseñó a identificar, medir y evaluar los restos óseos de la Grotte Blanche, con los que aprendí a analizar un conjunto de osos de las cavernas. Gracias a la guía de ambos este trabajo ha sido posible y ha mejorado sustancialmente. Una mención especial he de dedicársela a Pedro Castaños, quien a través de su trabajo, sugerencias, determinaciones taxonómicas, facilitación del acceso a sus inventarios personales o materiales por estudiar, ha hecho que este trabajo llegue a buen puerto. También me acuerdo de otras muchas personas, especialmente, del Área de Prehistoria de la UPV-EHU. Los profesores, Lydia, Alfonso, Marcos, Javier, Josean, Ignacio y Ana, que durante este tiempo, especialmente estos últimos meses, me preguntaban a diario, ¿Qué tal va?, ¿Cuánto te falta?... al final ¡terminé!. No puedo dejar de nombrar a la "tropa" del Departamento y en particular a los integrantes del "selecto club" del laboratorio 1.18ª. Con ellos he reído, desesperado, y comentado múltiples aspectos (muchos de ellos aún incomprendidos) de este estudio durante estos cinco años. Como en las siguientes páginas podréis, leer, comentar y por supuesto citar, una tesis se puede llegar a terminar. Para concluir, agradecer a toda mi familia su apoyo. Por supuesto, a Jaime Villaluenga por leerse pacientemente este trabajo y corregir su estilo y en particular a tí, Pauline. Sin tu apoyo incondicional durante cinco años y a tu impulso final para terminar y redactar los apartados en francés, este trabajo nunca habría tenido final. Eskerrik asko guztioi.

2025

1. Bildiri Metni Başlığı: İçerikle uyumlu ve konuyu kapsayan bir başlık olmalı ve koyu harflerle 14 punto yazılmalıdır. Bildiri başlığı en fazla 12 kelimeden oluşmalıdır. Yazar(lar)ın ad(lar)ı ve soyad(lar)ı, başlığa eklenen bir dipnotla verilmeli; aşağıdaki şekilde unvan, görev yapılan kurum, iletişim, e-posta adresi ve ORCID numarası belirtilmelidir.

2025, European Journal of Archaeology

Biber Deresi is an open-air site located on the Assos/Behram, Çanakkale coast, associated with river systems and raw material sources. The site's particular importance is owed to the discovery of the most extensive Lower and Middle Palaeolithic assemblage yet identified on the Aegean coast of Türkiye. The lithic assemblage is characterized by a significant number of large cutting tools, including handaxes, cleavers, and trihedral picks, as well as pebble core tools, which are predominantly chopping tools. Flakes produced from both unprepared and prepared cores predominate. It is evident that, during the Pleistocene low sea level period, the region had a continuous connection with Lesvos and, via the eastern Aegean islands, with mainland Greece. Biber Deresi is identified as a key site, facilitating hominin movement and communication between Asia and Europe, and providing a novel contribution to the Palaeolithic map of the Aegean.

2025, Late prehistoric coastal settlement patterns in the Cantabrian region, northern Spain

Newly discovered archaeological sites in the Uribe Kosta region of northern Spain are illuminating the establishment of late prehistoric coastal farming settlements and specialised tool-production activities. The modification of settlement patterns and habitats in permanent open-air villages is traditionally linked to the Neolithic expansion in Central Europe and the Mediterranean. Archaeological research allows for the identification and study of these sites in order to understand the socioeconomic and cultural development of the earliest farmer communities. A dearth of archaeological evidence, however, hampers our interpretation of the Neolithisation of some regions, such as northern Spain. Here, research has been traditionally focused on archaeological contexts associated with caves and megalithic structures, with some limited references to Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age open-air sites (e.g.

2025, Cambridge Archaeological Journal

Handaxes have a uniquely prominent role in the history of Palaeolithic archaeology, and their early study provides crucial information concerning the epistemology of the field. We have little conclusive evidence, however, of their investigation or societal value prior to the mid seventeenth century. Here we investigate the shape, colour and potential flake scarring on a handaxe-like stone object seen in the Melun Diptych, painted by the French fifteenth-century artist Jean Fouquet, and compare its features with artefacts from diverse (including French) Acheulean handaxe assemblages. Commissioned by a high-status individual, Étienne Chevalier, Fouquet's work (Étienne Chevalier with Saint Stephen) depicts an important religious context, while the handaxe-like object points to the stoning to death of an important Christian saint. Our results strongly support the interpretation that the painted stone object represents a flint Acheulean handaxe, likely sourced from northern France, w...

2025, Quaternary International

Whether a refugium, a transit area, or both, the Balkan Peninsula played a crucial role in the population dynamics of Europe during prehistory. However, the Balkans Peninsula is poorly represented in the European archaeological record. This article presents the newly discovered Middle Palaeolithic stone tool assemblage from the Uzun Mera site in the eastern Republic of Macedonia. Following fieldwork that included diverse methods in survey and excavation, as well as techno-economical and taphonomic assessment of the recovered stone tools, Uzun Mera is reported here as a typical Middle Palaeolithic assemblage that follows the pattern of a highly variable Balkan complex. The quality of the raw material reflects a highly selective approach, resulting in relatively low lithological variability where small blocks of raw material used for knapping are still present on site. These results contribute to better understanding the Palaeolithic of the Balkans and inform the population process in a region where little investigation has been previously conducted.

2025, SteinWelten (hrsg. v. U. Veit & M. Wöhrl)

2025, E.R.A.U.L.95

The sites of Riss-Wurmian and especially Wurmian age with bifacial pieces are significantly represented on the territory of the Eastern Europe. The great majority of them are known in the Southern area of East European Plain and in the Crimea. Different terms are involved for description of assemblages under discussion, namely: Eastern Micoquian, Mousterian with Acheulean Tradition, East Micoquian and Bockstein Facies, Bifacial Mousterian, Bifacial Mousterian with Micoquian Tradition etc. The term "Eastern Micoquian", proposed by M. Gâbori (GÂBORI 1976) seems to be the most preferable among them. Stratified sites with bifacial tools are specifically numerous in the Crimea. It allows us to regard certain aspects of Eastern Micoquian problem using new data on Crimean MP.

2025

Altamura F., 2024. Le più antiche testimonianze umane nel territorio di Artena (Roma), in Museumgrandtour Papers online, 3, pp. 7-20. ISSN 2974-6078

2025, Comptes Rendus Palevol

Short-term Neandertal occupations in the late Middle Pleistocene of Arlanpe (Lemoa, northern Iberian Peninsula) Occupations à court terme de groupes de Néandertaliens à la fin du Pléistocène moyen d'Arlanpe (Lemoa, Nord de la péninsule... more

2025, Quaternary Science Reviews

The transformation of human culture from hunter-gatherer societies to sedentary farming communities represents the most prominent revolution in human history, termed the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution (NAR). The NAR was manifested in the cultivation and domestication of wild plants across the 'Fertile Crescent' from around the 11th millennium BP. Here, we investigate the environmental conditions that enabled the establishment of the first agricultural settlements in the southern Jordan Valley and compare these settings to the northern segments of the 'Fertile Crescent' (northern Mesopotamia). In particular we investigated the mineralogical composition of surface cover soils and the hydrological conditions in the Gilgal Basin where a few of the early agriculture settlements of the late Natufian-PPNA cultures were established. We focused our study on the Salibiya sedimentary section (and archeological sites) in the Gilgal Basin, where a sequence of fine detritus sediments accumulated during the post glacial to the early Holocene period. OSL ages from the Salibiya sedimentary section lie between ~24 and 11 ka BP, spanning the time of Lake Lisan retreat from its highest stands of ~180 ± 10 m below mean sea level (= m bmsl) to below 320 m bmsl. The Salibiya sedimentary section consists of silty detritus sediments that comprise recycled mountain soils washed from the adjacent Samarian Mountains to the Gilgal Basin. The 'mountain soils' in their turn consist of desert dust grains (e.g., quartz, calcite, clays) that were blown to the Levant region from the north Sahara deserts, mostly during arid periods. Enhanced amounts of desert dusts were blown to the region during hyperarid periods that coincided with the Heinrich Stadials (HS) in the northern latitudes, e.g., at ~24 ka, ~16ka and ~13ka. The hyperarid and dusty periods (which were harsh for the early-Natufian hunter-gatherers) were followed by wetter intervals when fresh groundwater activity resumed in the Judean and Samarian Mountains, e.g., at ~16-15 and ~12-11 ka. The availability of fertile 'mountain soils' and water during and after the Younger Dryas provided a favorable environmental setting that supported the establishment of early agriculture settlements in the Gilgal Basin (and others) in the Jordan Valley and impacted the transformation from the Epipalaeolithic Early Natufian hunter-gatherers to the Late Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and B (PPNA, B) cultures.

2025, Polyhistoriae 34

The fossils are associated with a coarse-grained biocalcarenite ("Tuffeau jaunâtre à Thecidea papillata"-bed), part of the (Late Maastrichtian) Jauche Formation (Bless et al. 1990).

2025, koBie Serie PaleoantroPología, nº 34: 19-40 Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia-Diputación Foral de Bizkaia

In this paper we report the location of a new open-air site located in the region of Uribe Kosta (Bizkaia). Initially at the site successive
surface findings were made, and more recently a broader knowledge of the site was obtained after the tests and excavation made there as
result of a salvage intervention caused by land development processes. This work presents the archaeological materials recovered in the
aforementioned archaeological action as well as the ones recovered in the successive surface prospections carried out by I. Libano from 1982
until 2009.

2025, DOS CONJUNTOS SINGULARES DE GRABADOS HISTÓRICOS RUPESTRES EN LA SIERRA DE LA DEMANDA, CAMBRONES I Y IV. MANSILLA DE LA SIERRA (LA RIOJA) Two unique sets or historic rock engravings in the Sierra de la Demanda, Cambrones I and IV. Mansilla de la Sierra (La Rioja)

This article presents the preliminary results of the survey and documentation of the early medieval engravings discovered in the defile of
the river Cambrones, located in the municipality of Mansilla de la Sierra (La Rioja). The work carried out during two campaigns, 2019 and 2020,
has led to the location of new stations linked to the hermit world, such as the one already discovered in Peña Hueca (Riocavado de la Sierra),
which seem to be related to a larger-scale phenomenon whose epicentre would be in the Monastery of Suso. The study has made it possible to
document early medieval graphias that are very characteristic of the period

2025, Vita Antiqua

Когнітивні можливості дослідження пігментів на кам'яних артефактах У статті розглядаються методичні аспекти дослідження різноманітних мікрозалишків та пігментів на кам'яних артефактах. Пропонується опис окремих етапів дослідження пігментів на кам'яних артефактах на основі практичного досвіду. Наведено окремі дані наявності та результатів дослідження вохристих барвників на палеолітичних стоянках території України.

2025, Quaternary International

The nature of the LowereMiddle Palaeolithic transition has been one of the most debated questions in early Prehistory since the mid-20th century. The root of these debates lies primarily in how early prehistorians constructed chronological models, relying heavily upon index fossils. Such models have "artificial boundaries designed to provide structure to a complex record and, rather than being conceived of as permanent or real, should be frequently examined and revised (Corbey and Roebroeks, 2001)" . In this paper, we will not focus our efforts on issues relating to nomenclature and systems of classification. Instead, we will focus on a time frame within which rapid behavioural and technological changes have been documented: the period between MIS 9 to 6. Working on a large scale, and taking account of all of north-western Europe and its southern fringes, a group of researchers working on the main sites from this period propose an assessment of current research on the emergence of the "Middle Palaeolithic". Using a rich corpus of archaeological sites, we discuss how humans occupied north-western Europe and its southern margins between MIS 9 to 6, focusing particularly on questions of taphonomy, conservation, chronology and environment, as well as reviewing the pattern of technological change within lithic assemblages.

2025, Medzhibozh Vol Color Figs

Рис. 1. Местонахождение Вертеп, чоппинг на гальке кремнеземистого песчаника. Рис. 5. Орняк 3: нарезки на пястной кости лошади (D15 -6 -656 bis) из 6 слоя (рисунок О. Куэдра, CERP Tautavel, фото Д. Дайнат, CERP Tautavel). Увеличение демонстрирует хорошую сохранность поверхности кости. Рис. 6. Орняк 3. Ретушер на фрагменте длинной кости лошади (E16-6-507) из слоя 6. Фото Д. Дайнат, CERP Tautavel; а) увеличение х 40 и б) х 80 под сканирующим электронным микроскопом (Б. Денье).

2025, Schweizerisch-Liechtensteinische Stiftung für archäologische Forschungen im Ausland SLSA, Jahresbericht 2023.

The First Human Settlements on the Left Bank of the Jordan Valley project (2015–2023) is a Jordanian-Swiss joint venture between the University of Basel, the University of Jordan in Amman, and Yarmouk University in Irbid, supported by the Department of Antiquities of the Hashemite Kingdom. The fieldwork was funded by the Swiss-Liechtenstein Foundation
for Archaeological Research Abroad (SLSA).

2025, Kent Archaeological Society Magazine 120 Summer

Benjamin Harrison was a great early Prehistorian from Ightham in Kent. He was an exceptional and observant field walker and on his early morning walks he discovered many examples of struck flint dating to the Palaeolithic Period as well as examples of Eoliths which he promoted but are now regarded as being formed by natural geological processes without any human intervention. He had a natural aptitude for the brush and pencil. From the start of his collecting, he sketched and painted the flint objects that he found. This aspect of his work is pesented here.

2025

Although identified almost a century ago, the late Lower Paleolithic (LP) open-air site of Evron Zinat remains poorly understood. We argue that the site’s huge surface collection comprising some 40,000 flint implements, including ca. 1,300 handaxes and numerous scrapers, has unfulfilled potential. Geochemical analysis of 12 handaxes and a range of primary flint exposures in the western Galilee demonstrates that raw materials for tool production were selected from at least two sources of distinct geological ages, Eocene and Cenomanian. This sets Evron Zinat apart from all other Upper Galilee and Hula Valley LP sites, the flint handaxes of which were shaped solely on Eocene flint. Another contribution is the identification of a previously unknown Paleolithic flint extraction and reduction site West of Julis, located 10 km south of Evron Zinat. We end our exposition with a discussion of Evron Zinat’s potential as a key late LP site based on a significant Acheulo-Yabrudian component of its assemblage.

2024, C. Haywood-Souyoudzoglou & C. Papoulia (eds.) ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IONIAN SEA. Landscapes, seascapes and the circulation of people, goods and ideas from the Palaeolithic to the end of the Bronze Age, 2022

The dynamic Ionian seascapes and coastscapes together with the – now submerged – landscapes have significantly influenced human adaptations, mobility networks and economic activities with multifaceted implications in terms of socio-cultural organisation in each and every part of prehistory, from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age. Lithics, the most well preserved archaeological find perpetually used in the history of our species since the earliest of times, although abundant in the Ionian region, have not been adequately included in the historical narrative of west Greece. Surveys, excavated open-air sites and caves from the Ionian islands and the opposite Epirotic and Akarnanian coasts have yielded a plethora of lithic collections able to provide significant clues about the way people moved across the land and the sea west of the Pindus mountain range, about the transportation of goods and the transmission of ideas. By examining the lithics as proxies for the circulation of people and ideas, it is possible to explore the diachronic and reciprocally transformative relationship between human agency and the sea, the critical role of coastal environments in the formation of small and extended networks of cultural and economic exchange and the implications in terms of behavioural, cognitive and social transformations within prehistoric communities and between them. This needs to be done through a holistic approach including macroscopic and microscopic analysis of the technology, the use-wear patterns and potential residues, geochemical study of imported materials and GIS analytic techniques.

2024, Археологія, 2024, № 4: 125-138

Kolosov Yurii Heorhiiovych — prehistorian, Palaeolithic archaeologist, Doctor of History, born on March 21, 1924 in Kyiv, died on March 1, 2002. Participant of the World War II, lieutenant major, artilleryman, fought on the Baltic and 2nd Ukrainian fronts, was repeatedly wounded. He was awarded the Orders of the Patriotic War, I and II class, and many medals. He graduated from the Faculty of History of Kyiv University (1949). Since 1949, he had worked in the Crimea and the Urals, at the Integrated Research Karst and Speleological Station (KNIKSS) at Moscow State University (later the Crimean Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences). Since 1952, he had worked at the Department of History and Archaeology of the Crimean Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and from 1954 to 1998 — at the Prehistory department of the Institute of Archaeology of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences (later — the Department of Stone Age Archaeology of the IA NAS of Ukraine). He is a specialist in the Palaeolithic of Ukraine, a recognised expert on the Palaeolithic of the Crimea, and a discoverer and researcher of many dozens of Palaeolithic sites. The multilayered Neanderthal sites of Zaskelna V, Zaskelna VI, Sary-Kaya, Chervona Balka, Alioshyn Grot, Prolom I and II, Kabazi II and V and others discovered and explored in the 1970s and 1980s by the Crimean Palaeolithic Expedition led by him are part of the golden fund of national and European Palaeolithic studies. He made a significant contribution to the enrichment of the source base on the prehistory of Ukraine, in particular to the study of the Middle Palaeolithic of the Crimea, worked fruitfully in the field of cultural differentiation and periodisation of the Middle Palaeolithic sites of the peninsula, technology and typology of lithic artefacts, and developed the issues of interaction between early man and the environment. He is the author of 110 scientific works, including monographs on topical issues of Palaeolithic studies. Kolosov’s research largely determined the direction of studies of the Crimean Palaeolithic in the second half of the 20th — first quarter of the 21st centuries and undoubtedly represents a separate independent chapter in the history of Eastern European Palaeolithic studies. Zaskelna VI (Kolosovskaya), one of the sites he spent many years of his life researching, is named in his honour.

2024, Evolutionary Anthropology

The scenario of Homo sapiens origin/s within Africa has become increasingly complex, with a pan-African perspective currently challenging the long-established single-origin hypothesis. In this paper, we review the lines of evidence employed in support of each model, highlighting inferential limitations and possible terminological misunderstandings. We argue that the metapopulation scenario envisaged by pan-African proponents well describes a mosaic diversification among late Middle Pleistocene groups. However, this does not rule out a major contribution that emerged from a single population where crucial derived features—notably, a globular braincase—appeared as the result of a punctuated, cladogenetic event. Thus, we suggest that a synthesis is possible and propose a scenario that, in our view, better reconciles with consolidated expectations in evolutionary theory. These indicate cladogenesis in allopatry as an ordinary pattern for the origin of a new species, particularly during phases of marked climatic and environmental instability.

2024, Gumboldt et al.

Poster presentation of the Middle Paleolithic lithic inventory of the Paleolithic cave site Martinshöhle at the 65th Annual Meeting of the Hugo Obermaier Society for Quaternary Research and Archaeology of the Stone Age in Weimar (2024)

2024, Gumboldt et al.

Poster presentation of the ongoing master’s thesis at the 64th Annual Meeting of the Hugo Obermaier Society for Quaternary Research and Archaeology of the Stone Age in Aarhus (2023)

2024, Archaeometry

Within the framework of the French archaeological mission 'Caucasus', in a previous paper we have presented new geochemical analyses on geological obsidians from the southern Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia) and eastern Turkey. We present here the second part of this research, which deals with provenance studies of archaeological obsidians from Armenia. These new data enhance our knowledge of obsidian exploitation over a period of more than 14 000 years, from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Late Bronze Age. The proposed methodology shows that source attribution can be easily made by plotting element contents and element ratios on three simple binary diagrams. The same diagrams were used for source discrimination. As the southern Caucasus is a mountainous region for which the factor of distance as the crow flies cannot be applied, we have explored the capacity of the Geographic Information System to evaluate the nature and patterns of travel costs between the sources of obsidian and the archaeological sites. The role of the secondary obsidian deposits, which enabled the populations to acquire raw material at a considerable distance from the outcrops, is also considered.

2024, Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews

The goal of this paper is to provoke debate about the nature of an iconic artifact—the Acheulean handaxe. Specifically, we want to initiate a conversation about whether or not they are cultural objects. The vast majority of archeologists assume that the behaviors involved in the production of handaxes were acquired by social learning and that handaxes are therefore cultural. We will argue that this assumption is not warranted on the basis of the available evidence and that an alternative hypothesis should be given serious consideration. This alternative hypothesis is that the form of Acheulean handaxes was at least partly under genetic control.

2024, HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)

HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Public Domain

2024, HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)

2024, Litikum – Journal of the Lithic Research Roundtable

A recently published article in “Nature” (Garba et al., 2024) claims that lithic fnds in the lowermost artefact-bearing sediments of lithological unit 26 at the Korolevo I site (Transcarpathia, Ukraine) are the oldest in
Europe, dated to ca. 1.42 Ma with cosmogenic nuclides of gravel pebbles. These surprisingly old dates were then used to build hypotheses on the geochronology and routes of the initial Homo erectus colonization of Europe from the east. The present author reviews all published and unpublished Lower Palaeolithic (LP) data of the Korolevo I site, the feld investigations of which he also participated in the 1980s, and came to the following negative results. The dated pebbles in Korolevo I unit 26 are of “intrusive” character, they do not date unit 26 and its lithic fnds. Also, the proposed Early Pleistocene interglacial MIS 47, 45 and 43 periods for the LP colonization of Europe either via Asia Minor and the Danube River valley or the Caucasus and the southern part of Eastern Europe do not correspond to the known palaeogeographic and archaeological data from Western Eurasia. Besides, our review of LP contexts in Korolevo I suggests that the so-called lowermost LP lithic artefacts found in situ in archaeological horizon VII within lithological unit 26 in Korolevo I in 1984–1986 are distributed randomly horizontally and vertically. Moreover, they are mostly unworked hyalodacite and siliceous sandstone pieces
together with several artefacts redeposited from the sediments above. Accordingly, the only certainly LP material in Korolevo I we know so far is situated in archaeological horizon VI, which is geochronologically associated with the Middle Pleistocene inter-Mindel period or MIS 14, dated to ca. 550 ka BP. However, the Korolevo I site still appears to represent the oldest LP human occupation in both Eastern Central Europe and Ukraine.

2024, HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)

2024

A joint archaeological and geoscientific exploration of the continental shelf of Farasan Islands, Saudi Arabia, South Red Sea, was conducted in May–June 2013 aboard HCMR's Research Vessel AEGAEO with the aim of exploring systematically the submerged landscapes. The region is regarded as one of the primary pathways of dispersal for early human populations expanding out of Africa during the Pleistocene. Preliminary interpretation of the data provides insights into the underlying geology and its effect on the palaeo-geomorphology. Numerous lakes existed on the exposed Farasan continental shelf during the Pleistocene low sea-level stands, making it thus an attractive area for prehistoric humans.

2024, Munibe …

Las características hipotéticamente asignadas a los diferentes homínidos que integraron la evolución humana siempre han originado controversias. Especialmente polémica ha sido la capacidad cog-nitiva y lingüística atribuible al Homo... more