The black layer of Middle Palaeolithic combustion structures. Interpretation and archaeostratigraphic implications

Certain aspects of the formation processes of simple, flat archaeological combustion structures such as those present in the Middle Palaeolithic record remain unexplained. Such kind of combustion structures are commonly affected by postdepositional agents and often, their only distinct, well preserved component is a thin black lens on the ground. Hence, understanding the nature of this black lens is essential towards archaeological interpretation. From an interdisciplinary microstratigraphic approach, we present a case study in which for an entire experimental series of flat combustion structures the black layer represents the fire-altered topsoil on which the fire was made. Parallel analysis of archaeological Middle Palaeolithic combustion structures from the site of El Salt (Alicante, Spain) reveal similar patterns, leading to significant implications for archaeological interpretation. In the light of these results, special attention must be paid to the formation processes of flat Middle Palaeolithic combustion features, as black layers and the material contained in them are not necessarily linked with combustion but with preceding activities or events. In such cases, black layers represent intact remnants of occupation surfaces, concealing significant behavioural and palaeoenvironmental information relevant to the reconstruction of Middle Palaeolithic societies.     

Clovis,Folsom, and Midland components at the Debra L. Friedkin site,Texas: context,chronology, and assemblages

The archaeological transition from Clovis to Folsom and Midland in the North American Great Plains coincides with the end of the Pleistocene and onset of the Younger Dryas. Comparisons exploring the adaptive changes that took place during this period frequently employ regional-scale approaches. The focus on regional-scale analyses largely results from the dearth of sites repeatedly visited by multiple early Paleoindian groups. However, regional-scale comparisons have the potential to overlook smaller-scale differences. The Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas offers an opportunity to study Midland, Folsom, and Clovis technology and site-use at a single site. This paper presents the context and chronology of the Midland, Folsom, and Clovis assemblages and a site-scale analysis of lithics from the Friedkin site. It is argued that point production and late-stage reduction were primary activities, and the use of bifacial cores for flake tools was important throughout these occupation periods. Site use at Friedkin differs from early Paleoindian occupation at the nearby Gault site and expands our understanding of settlement and technological organization in the region.     

The Role of Fire in the Life of an Adhesive

The use of fire is essential for the preparation of hafting adhesives; both are suggested to be a proxy for distinguishing the technological expertise and complex cognition among Palaeolithic populations. While use of fire has been argued to exist from about 1.0 Ma onwards, evidence for adhesives in the Palaeolithic record is rare and fragmented. In spite of the close link between fire places and adhesives, no study has ever focussed on examining the impact of heat on adhesive deposition and preservation. This paper discusses the results of a combustion experiment that was undertaken to understand the impact of heat exposure on hafting adhesives. The results have significant implications for archaeological interpretations. Deposition in or near a fire proves to severely impact the types of residues that preserve on a stone tool. The vertically transferred heat is responsible for the loss of adhesives but also for the incidental production of adhesives and their deposition on stone tools. It can be hypothesised that the rare survival of adhesives on archaeological stone tools might not only be the result of direct contact with the fire but also the result of degradation due to heat from overlying fireplaces. If we are to improve our understanding of the preservation of adhesives, it is important to unstand the taphonomic processes that affect these adhesives, in particular heat alteration.     

Quantifying woodland resource usage and selection from Neolithic to post Mediaeval times in the Irish Midlands

The antiquity and context (site or feature type) are the two principal factors that act as a framework for interpreting charcoal and wood data from archaeological sites in the recreation of past woodland environments. This research addresses these parameters through the analysis of over 18,000 charcoal fragments from 57 archaeological excavations carried out along a 61?km road scheme in the midland region of Ireland. Observations on spatial vegetation dynamics and woodland resource patterns are also reported on. The data were analysed through percentage frequency and multivariate analyses. The results reveal woodland resource usage in terms of wood types selected for use as fuel or as structural wood as well as patterns of change and variability in taxonomic composition in relation to site types, feature types and time periods. Selection was found to be low in prehistoric times and in particular at burnt mound sites/fulachta fiadh but became increasingly important as time progressed. This has important implications when charcoal from archaeological settings is used in environmental reconstructions.     

A Pre-Lapita Structure at Apalo,Arawe Islands,Papua New Guinea

Stilt structures in the inter-tidal zone or over shallow water on fringing reefs are widely accepted as a feature of settlements of the Lapita cultural complex in Near Oceania. Claims for similar structures in a pre-Lapita context at the Apalo site in the Arawe Islands, New Britain, Papua New Guinea, have been queried on several grounds. Re-evaluation of the Apalo evidence, together with 10 additional AMS radiocarbon dates, establishes human activity associated with some form of structure and possibly with a ground stone axe about 400–500 years before the Lapita pottery occupation. The paucity of occupational refuse suggests a non-residential structure perhaps associated with water transport. Comparisons with the older Dongan midden site in the Sepik-Ramu basin suggest stilt structures were probably used there as well. An apparent shift in depositional processes between the pre-Lapita and Lapita use of Apalo could reflect changed sea conditions arising from increased ENSO activity.     

Lithic production,site formation and Middle Palaeolithic palimpsest analysis: in search of human occupation episodes at Abric del Pastor Stratigraphic Unit IV (Alicante,Spain)

We present the results of an exercise in Middle Palaeolithic palimpsest analysis geared toward the identification of human occupation episodes. It is based on a combined reading of the archaeosedimentary deposit and the archaeological record of Stratigraphic Unit IV from Abric del Pastor (Alcoy, Alicante, Spain), chronologically framed within MIS 4–5. A study of site formation processes coupled with archaeostratigraphic analysis of the lithic record incorporating Raw Material Units (RMU) and refits, as well as with combustion features and faunal remains enabled identification a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 6 human occupation episodes within lithostratigraphic units IVa, IVb and IVc. Through our data it reaches a high resolution temporal frame close to the ethnographic time scale, which constitutes a significant contribution for the knowledge of human occupations types and landscape use in the Mediterranean rim of the Iberian Peninsula during Middle Palaeolithic.     

The Anthropogenic Use of Firewood During the European Middle Pleistocene: Charcoal Evidence from Levels XIII and XI of Bolomor Cave,Eastern Iberia (230–160 ka)

Human control of fire is a widely debated issue in the field of Palaeolithic archaeology, since it involved significant technological innovations for human subsistence. Although fire evidence has been the subject of intense debate regarding its natural or anthropogenic nature, most authors agree that combustion structures represent the most direct evidence of human control of fire. Wood charcoal fragments from these contexts represent the fuel remains that result from humans’ collection of firewood, which means they can reveal significant behavioural and palaeoenvironmental information relevant to our understanding of Middle Palaeolithic societies. In this work, we present anthracological data derived from combustion structure 2 (level XIII, ca. 230?ka, MIS 7) and combustion structure 4 (level XI, ca. 160?ka, MIS 6) from Bolomor Cave, which are chronologically among the earliest combustion structures found in Europe. The present work discusses how the presence of black pine and / or scots pine in both levels sheds light on the characterisation of the local landscape. Additional analyses focussing on the pre- and post-depositional processes affecting charcoal preservation point to biodegradation patterns. The aim of this work is to provide the first discussion concerning the anthracological data derived from Bolomor Cave in order to contribute to the general debate regarding the use of fire during the European Middle Pleistocene.     

Later Stone Age shellfishing behaviour at Dunefield Midden (Western Cape,South Africa)

Later Stone Age shellfishing behaviour was analysed within a unique archaeological context using computer aided spatial analysis techniques. The young age, the short occupation and large excavated area of the site ‘Dunefield Midden’ (Western Cape, South Africa) made it an ideal candidate for the investigation of patterns within shellfish distributions. A model describing the factors involved in causing shellfish patterning on archaeological sites was developed and used as a guide for the interpretation of the analyses. Human behaviour was successfully identified to have produced patterns in the shellfish distributions providing a new understanding of the practices of the prehistoric inhabitants. All results were summarized in a model of shellfishing behaviour at ‘Dunefield Midden’.     

An ethnoarchaeological study of cooking installations in rural Uzbekistan: development of a new method for identification of fuel sources

Mud constructed cooking installations such as ovens and hearths are common in modern, pre-modern and archaeological domestic contexts in West and Central Asia. Archaeological cooking installations are primarily identified using analogy of shape and size to ethnographic installations. The study presented here establishes direct evidence to the use of fire within mud constructed cooking installations, thus providing means for reducing ambiguity in identification of archaeological cooking installations. In addition, we present here a newly developed method that enables a clear-cut distinction between wood and dung ashes used as fuel materials in many modern and archaeological domestic contexts. The study is based on an ethnoarchaeological research in rural households at the Republic of Uzbekistan that was followed by geoarchaeological analyses of installation walls, wood ash, dung ash and wood and dung standards collected in the study area. Field work included ethnographic observations, interviews with informants and temperature measurements during cooking experiments. We show that changes in the clay mineral structure due to exposure to high temperatures on the interior walls of cooking installations can be detected using FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) spectroscopy, providing for the first time direct evidence to the use of fire within such installations. We demonstrate that the temperature recorded by clay alteration on installation walls as well as in the ashes left on installation bottoms does not correspond to baking or cooking temperatures. We also show that the newly developed method, based on the ratio of wood ash pseudomorphs to dung spherulites, separates between wood and dung ashes with very high certainty. Yet, we identify a range of values where differentiation between wood and dung ashes is uncertain, and suggest it results from intensive mixing processes. Lastly, we show that phytolith morphotype analysis is an insufficient tool, if used alone, for distinguishing wood from dung ashes in the study area. The newly developed tools for temperature estimation within mud constructed installations and for fuel origin determination contribute to better understanding of cooking-related practices, and can be applied to archaeological contexts worldwide.     

Modeling wood acquisition strategies from archaeological charcoal remains

Archaeological charcoal remains are often used to reconstruct local woodland composition in the past, but rarely address how and why people may have selected specific woody taxa for particular purposes. Models from the field of human behavioral ecology predict that people forage for wood resources by taking into account the relative usefulness, abundance, and handling time related to procuring different wood types. Archaeological and ecological data from the site of Gordion, in Central Anatolia (modern Turkey), were used to test expectations associated with such models. Results suggest that inhabitants of Gordion used wood types for fuel in proportion to their local availability, but that they selected specific, more distant woods for construction. In most occupation periods pine was preferred for construction, perhaps because it produces long, straight timbers for roofing, despite the distance at which it grows from the site. This case study demonstrates that behavioral ecology modeling can help to distinguish between multiple wood acquisition strategies potentially used in the past and improve our understanding of wood use from archaeological charcoal remains.     

Stable carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of wood ash: an experimental study with archaeological implications

Wood ash, composed mainly of the mineral calcite, is an important component in many archaeological sites. Identification of wood ash in the archaeological record is often difficult due to mixing of ash with other calcitic components of geogenic origin and/or due to diagenetic changes. A recent empirical study using the stable isotope compositions of carbon (δ¹³C) and oxygen (δ¹⁸O) in wood ash enabled the identification of mixtures of wood ash with geogenic calcite and to follow diagenetic changes due to partial dissolution and re-precipitation of ash in two prehistoric cave sites in Israel. Little however is known about the processes responsible for the isotopic compositions of wood ash in relation to formation at various temperatures and the influence on isotopic composition of ash from a variety of plant species. Here we present an experimental study of wood ash formed by burning three C3 tree species and one C4 desert bush at different temperatures. The results indicate that there are significant differences in the isotopic compositions of carbon and oxygen between wood ash that forms by combustion at a relatively low temperature (500 °C) and at a higher temperature (900 °C). In addition, we show that the isotopic composition of carbon and oxygen in high temperature wood ash approaches equilibrium over a period of several months and that the carbon isotopic composition of low temperature wood ash may reflect the photosynthetic pathway of the burnt woody species. Lastly, we show that the isotopic compositions obtained from wood ash prepared at different temperatures do not reflect a temperature dependent fractionation process, but a mixing line between calcite that formed by low temperature combustion and calcite formed by high temperature combustion which later underwent re-carbonation with atmospheric CO₂. In addition, we suggest that exchange processes may possibly occur during combustion between decomposing calcium-oxalate and atmospheric O₂, CO₂ and CO. The archaeological implications of this study are discussed in relation to identification of wood ash in the archaeological record, identification of fuel sources and burning temperatures, and diagenetic changes expected in karstic cave environments. The method presented here can be applied at any archaeological site.     

Evaluating Natural Site Formation Processes in Eolian Dune Sands: A Case Study from the Krmpotich Folsom Site,Killpecker Dunes,Wyoming

Eolian dune sands commonly contain archaeological material in both surface and buried contexts. However, because of the dynamic nature of dunes, the original context of an archaeological site can be severely modified or destroyed as a result of post-occupational geomorphic processes. This paper examines a Folsom occupation associated with a buried soil in the Killpecker Dunes in southwestern Wyoming. Field and labortory data are compared to determine the likely scenario of natural site formation processes responsible for the current context of the archaeological assemblage. Two primary eolian stratigraphic units are present at the site, and are separated by the buried artefact-bearing soil. Radiocarbon and optical luminescence ages indicate that the Folsom artefacts occur across a temporal hiatus, and that the buried soil is late Holocene in age. Sedimentological data indicate that the highest frequencies of artefacts by depth are associated with an erosional contact characterized by a concentration of coarse-grained material. Thus, the Folsom assemblage appears to have been vertically displaced as a result of post-occupational erosion and deflation. This case study indicates that evaluating the context of an archaeological occupation in a dune setting is best carried out utilizing multiple lines of evidence derived from both field and laboratory work.     

Fires at Neumark-Nord 2, Germany: An analysis of fire proxies from a Last Interglacial Middle Palaeolithic basin site

Few sites with evidence for fire use are known from the Last Interglacial in Europe. Hearth features are rarely preserved, probably as a result of post-depositional processes. The small postglacial basins (<300?m in diameter) that dominate the sedimentary context of the Eemian record in Europe are high-resolution environmental archives often containing charcoal particles. This case study presents the macroscopic charcoal record of the Neumark-Nord 2 basin, Germany, and the correlation of this record with the distinct find levels of the basin margin that also contain thermally altered archaeological material. Increased charcoal quantities are shown to correspond to phases of hominin presence—a pattern that fits best with recurrent anthropogenic fires within the watershed. This research shows the potential of small basin localities in the reconstruction of local fire histories, where clear archaeological features like hearths are missing.     

Observatory validation of Neolithic tells (“Magoules”) in the Thessalian plain,central Greece,using hyperspectral spectroradiometric data

This paper presents the results obtained from field spectroradiometric campaigns over Neolithic tells (“magoules”) located at the Thessalian region in Greece. In each one of the four archaeological sites selected, three sections were carried out using the GER 1500 handheld spectroradiometer. Spectral profiles of the sections and several vegetation indices such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVI) and Simple Ratio (SR) have been examined in this study. This is one of the first times that ground hyperspectral data are evaluated in such context of archaeological research for the spectral characterization of archaeological features. As it was found, ground spectroradiometric measurements can be efficiently used in order to support and validate satellite imagery results for the detection of archaeological sites.     

Ground Penetrating Radar in the Northern Great Lakes: A Trial Survey of a Contact Period Occupation in Marquette County,Michigan

ABSTRACT

Timing, inclement weather, and limited budgets can obstruct archaeological survey efforts. Here, we ameliorate some of these with use of ground penetrating radar (GPR) at the Goose Lake Outlet #3 (GLO#3) site (20MQ140). GPR surveys to guide survey and excavation efforts in these well-drained sandy soils are limited. GPR imagery exhibited false positives; however, shovel probes, subsequent site excavation, and artifact analysis led to numerous discoveries at this protohistoric site—including glass trade beads dating to the 1630s. These discoveries solidify evidence for some of the earliest European-made trade items in the region and provide further confirmation for placement of an Indian trail and ancient travel corridor between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. Two ¹⁴C samples obtained from moose-bone in features with trade goods fall within the expected occupation range of 1633–1668 and 1615–1647. Several anomolies, possible hearth clusters were seen on the GPR imagery; however, many features remained invisible.     

When a ‘Waterhole’ Is Full of Dung: An Illustration of the Importance of Environmental Evidence for Refining Archaeological Interpretation of Excavated Features

Prehistoric field systems sometimes encompass excavated, pit‐like features which are difficult to classify due to the complex stratigraphies resulting from reuse, infilling and collapse. They are frequently classified as wells and watering holes, but other potential uses for excavated depressions are rarely cited. We argue the need for environmental archaeology in the interpretation of features of this nature, and present a case study from a Bronze Age site at Pode Hole, near Peterborough (UK), where fossil insect material clearly contradicts the archaeological interpretation. We present empirical evidence for a sealed context filled with dung which cannot be interpreted as a water source. This evidence strongly contrasts with other superficially similar features at the site.     

Holocene Deposits of Saharan Rock Shelters: The Case of Takarkori and Other Sites from the Tadrart Acacus Mountains (Southwest Libya)

The excavation at Takarkori rock shelter is part of a long-term study of Holocene cultural dynamics in southwest Libya begun in the early 1990s. With a rich Holocene occupation, the area is one of the key spots for reconstruction of human occupation of the last 10,000 years. In this region, similar to the case in the rest of the Sahara, most of the data come from surface investigations at open-air sites, while excavated caves and rock shelters provide just a few. Although less exposed than open-air sites, Holocene archaeological deposits in Saharan caves and rock shelters are characterized by a fairly dynamic nature. Loose sediments, coupled with variability of human occupations and magnitude of natural agents, determine multiple alterations to the archaeological deposits in sheltered sites. In this paper, we present the nature and meaning of the archaeological deposits at Takarkori rock shelter, where a relatively large area has been recently excavated, showing a stratigraphic sequence extending from c. 9,000 to 4,200 BP, unevenly represented by several occupation pulses. In order to sharpen understanding of the development of human occupation at this site, specific procedures for the study and recording of the archaeological deposit have been developed, along with a program of extensive radiocarbon dating. Data from the Takarkori sequence ultimately will be integrated with available published stratigraphies from the Acacus Mountains, with the aim of reviewing the results from past excavations.     

Integrating archaeology,archaeometry and geology: local production technology and imports at Paola (Cosenza,Southern Italy)

This paper documents a comprehensive study of coarse wares for table use, serving, washing and cooking, found at the archaeological site of Paola (Cosenza, southern Italy). Major aims of the study were to group local products and imports and to determine technological features of local products. Results were obtained through a combination of archaeological (stratigraphy and ceramic typology), chemical and mineralogical–petrographical techniques (ICP-OES, ICP-MS, INAA, XRF, OM, SEM-EDS and EMPA). Data integration revealed that the coarse wares found at Paola were produced locally or imported over short (Calabria region), medium (Campania, Pantelleria, Sicily) and long distances (Greece and Africa). The local production focused on basins, stewpots, pitchers, bowls, pans, casseroles and lids, sometimes imitating African, or Pompei (Campania) or San Foca (Puglia) typical shapes. The production technology of local ceramics used a sandy–clayey blend of materials collected in the immediate vicinity of the archaeological site, fired at intermediate (about 800 °C) to low (around 650–750 °C) temperatures and used a Fe-rich clayey compound as a red ceramic coating. From a technological perspective, the Paola example arise new questions about table wares produced with clay bodies typical of cooking wares.