The ESR geochronology and geology of the open‐air Palaeolithic deposits in Bollschweil,Germany*

This paper presents ESR (electron spin resonance) ages of rhinoceros and equine tooth enamel from the open‐air Palaeolithic site of Bollschweil on the western edge of the Black Forest near Freiburg, Germany. Bollschweil is one of very few archaeological sites in southern Germany to yield Lower or Middle Palaeolithic faunal and lithic materials from a buried, open‐air context. The geological context of the archaeological remains indicates that the loessic sediments have been reworked. Excavation at this site yielded a cold‐period fauna characterized by bones of mammoth, horse, large bovids and wooly rhinoceros. In the absence of any clear chronostratigraphic marker horizons, the age of the finds could not be determined without the use of a chronometric dating method. Lithic artefacts from the site, including a handaxe and a side scraper, suggest either a Middle Pleistocene or early Late Pleistocene age. The ESR dating results indicate that the deposit enclosing the archaeological finds should be assigned to oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 6, although there exists some possibility that some teeth were deposited later, in OIS 5.     

Taphonomic resolution and hominin subsistence behaviour in the Lower Palaeolithic: differing data scales and interpretive frameworks at Boxgrove and Swanscombe (UK)

The identification of human butchery-signatures on fauna from Lower Palaeolithic sites is well documented and readily identifiable. Such bone surface modifications have the potential to provide not only information about past hominin meat-procurement behaviour but address the wider issue of competition for resources with other carnivore species. To understand and discuss these broader issues both hominin and natural bone surface modifications must be understood and contextualised within a site-specific spatial and temporal framework. This paper presents new results from faunal analysis at two key British Lower Palaeolithic localities: Boxgrove and Swanscombe. It illustrates that different depositional environments and excavation histories have resulted in different scales and resolutions of available data and hence in varying interpretive potentials. At Swanscombe the archaeological record has been disturbed by both fluvial activity and excavation history providing a coarser-grained record of anthropogenic behaviour than previously acknowledged. Conversely, at Boxgrove, a finer-grained, higher resolution record of human behaviours has been preserved; this, combined with both an extensive and intensive excavation strategy, has allowed for a broader discussion of hominin landscape use, resource competition and meat-procurement behaviour. This paper highlights that assessing the specific depositional environment at each site is crucial to understanding Palaeolithic faunal assemblage formation and, consequently, the available data-resolution and behavioural interpretation.     

The Palaeolithic of the Middle Son valley, north-central India: Changes in hominin lithic technology and behaviour during the Upper Pleistocene

The Middle Son valley in north-central India preserves extensive Quaternary alluvial deposits. A long history of archaeological and geological research in the valley has resulted in the discovery of lithic assemblages ranging from Lower Palaeolithic to microlithic, a rich corpus of fossilised faunal remains, and ash deposits from the 74,000 year-old Toba supereruption. This paper reviews the chronology and stratigraphy of the valley’s Quaternary sediments, and presents a model that hypothesizes the temporal sequence of important lithic assemblages from excavated and surface contexts. Artefacts in these assemblages are analysed and changes in lithic technology through time are described; this evidence is used to propose shifts in hominin behaviour and demographic structure in this region during the Upper Pleistocene. Recognising gaps in our understanding of the Middle Son record, future avenues of research are recommended that will build upon previous research and address questions of palaeoanthropological significance. The Middle Son valley preserves a long and rich record of hominin occupation from all periods of the Palaeolithic that is rarely paralleled by other sites in India.     

ESR dose response of Al center measured in quartz samples from the Yellow River (China): Implications for the dating of Upper Pleistocene sediment

The ESR dating method requires to describe the evolution of the ESR signal intensities vs. increasing gamma doses, then to extrapolate the equivalent dose of radiation received by the sample since its deposition using mathematical fitting. The function classically used to describe the growth curves of ESR aluminium signal in quartz was recently discussed and challenged for Lower Pleistocene sediments. In the present work, some alluvial sediments sampled in Upper Pleistocene fluvial terraces of the Yellow River system (China) permit us to test the application of another extrapolation function (linear + exponential) recently proposed for Lower Pleistocene sediments. The equivalent doses obtained here for the recent deposits of the Yellow River system and the corresponding ages are promising and indicate the potential of ESR to date quartz deposits from Upper Pleistocene times.     

Bridging the gap: a terrestrial view of shallow marine sequences and the importance of the transition zone

The shallow shelf area around the coast of the UK contains an important record of maritime and, potentially prehistoric archaeology. Increasingly this area is the focus of anthropogenic activity such as gravel extraction and cable laying in advance of which it is increasingly common practice to investigate the archaeological potential of the sequences/regions. Well structured approaches have been developed for the investigation of maritime wrecks and the latest Prehistoric remains, however the Palaeolithic archaeological potential of these regions is less clear. This is partly due to the depth of burial of archaeological material and the rather more fragmentary nature of the sequences present. Where consideration of the Palaeolithic archaeology has been undertaken, models and presumptions derived from terrestrial situations have been extrapolated across the near shore zone, where often there is no data, and into the maritime area. Within the maritime area these models have been used to interpret seismic data and scarce offshore core data for making regional reconstructions. Here we consider some of the issues in reconstruction and highlight the difficultly in extrapolating between terrestrial and maritime situations without careful investigation in the transition zone. In particular we argue that rather than assuming similarities between patterns of landscape evolution between the on- and off-systems we should anticipate dissimilarity of patterns, missing sequences and different landscape formation processes particularly in those areas of the shallow shelf area formerly occupied by drainage basins during sea level low-stands.     

Excavations at the Bairaki Lower Paleolithic Site,Trans-Dniesteria,in 2011

Early Paleolithic deposits of the left-bank high seventh fluvial terrace of the Dniester were excavated at Bairaki, Trans-Dniestria. The assemblage is comprised of 28 artifacts including distinct flakes, cores, and Lower Paleolithic tools. Based on the 2011 geological and archaeological study, tools from the riverbed alluvium, paralleled by those of the Middle Oldowan, date to the earliest Lower Pleistocene. Bairaki, then, should be classified among the most ancient Paleolithic sites in Eastern Europe.     

Methodological issues raised by laser particle size analysis of deposits mapped as Clay-with-flints from the Palaeolithic site of Dickett's Field,Yarnhams Farm,Hampshire, UK

Lower and Middle Palaeolithic stone-tools, evidence of the earliest occupation of Britain, are frequently to be found in association with deposits mapped as Clay-with-flints which cap the highest Chalk downland hilltops and plateaux of southern England. These superficial deposits exhibit great lithological variability, i.e. Clay-with-flints sensu lato (including Plateau Drift), Clay-with-flints sensu stricto, loess and waterlain brickearths, on both a local and regional geographical scale. Field observations suggest that particular facies of the Clay-with-flints deposits, in addition to the presence of solution features, may be implicated in the retention of Palaeolithic artefacts on these high-levels. Detailed interpretation of sedimentological analyses is therefore required to identify a ‘preservation potential correlation for Palaeolithic sites on deposits mapped as Clay-with-flints’. Much of what is generally known about the sedimentology of these deposits is found in literature where the classic sieve and sedimentation methods (pipette or hydrometer) have been adopted to determine quantitatively particle size distribution of soils. Refinement in particle-size methodologies of the fine fraction, through the introduction of laser diffraction granulometry, makes it difficult to compare laser research results with published data based on the use of the sieve-sedimentation methods. This presents problems when attempting to use the available data for both intra and inter Palaeolithic site analysis. Our objective was to find suitable limits for the clay, silt and sand fractions to enable calibration between the sieve-sedimentation methods and laser diffraction granulometry (which underestimates the clay fraction). The resultant methodologies, described here, allow such calibrations to be made with confidence. By applying these methodologies, geologists, soil scientists, geomorphologists, archaeologists and other workers can access important comparative sedimentological data that would otherwise not be available for interpretation of the depositional context of the sediments/soils and any artefacts they may contain. Samples from the Palaeolithic site of Dickett's Field, Yarnhams Farm, Holybourne, Hampshire, provided the focus of this work.     

Interpreting pachyderm single carcass sites in the African Lower and Early Middle Pleistocene record: A multidisciplinary approach to the site of Nadung’a 4 (Kenya)

Nadung’a 4 is one of the single carcass pachyderm sites recorded in East Africa during the Lower and Early Middle Pleistocene. The site has yielded an abundant lithic assemblage in close association with the partial carcass of an elephant. Conjoined pedological, geoarchaeological, spatial, technological, and taphonomical analyses have been carried out to address the relationship between hominids and elephant. The resulting data are consistent with a non-fortuitous association between both categories of remains. The lithic artefacts do not match a classical Acheulean tool-kit, as would be expected for the time period ascribed to the site, and the functional patterns inferred from their analysis make this site radically different from other purported butchery sites. The implications of these original features are discussed.     

Fossil fruit identification by SEM investigations, a tool for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of Dmanisi site, Georgia

Archaeological excavations and multidisciplinary studies at the site of Dmanisi (Lesser Caucasus, Georgia) have provided an assemblage of lithic artefacts and numerous palaeontological and human remains in a volcano-sedimentary context dating to the early Lower Pleistocene. The sieving of archaeological sediments from Dmanisi also yielded mineralised botanical macro-remains that were analysed according to a particular protocol. The use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) allowed the comparison between fossil fruit remains and modern specimens, leading to a precise identification of the earlier. Seed remains recognised by this method belonging to several taxa from the Boraginaceae family as well as to the genus Celtis L., of the Ulmaceae family. The ecological requirements of these taxa suggest the presence of xeric conditions, a result that is in accordance with data obtained by faunal and stratigraphic studies.     

The Lower Palaeolithic on the northern plateau of the Iberian Peninsula (Sierra de Atapuerca,Ambrona and La Maya I): a technological analysis of the cutting edge and weight of artefacts. Developing an hypothetical model

This article analyses the relationship between the weight and cutting edge of lithic artefacts from the main Lower Palaeolithic sites on the northern plateau (Meseta) of the Iberian Peninsula. The weight and cutting edge of a tool determine its cutting ability and the amount of force it is capable of, making them extremely important aspects of study to further our understanding of the potential capacity for human intervention in the environment. However, the analysis of these features has not received much attention in the ongoing debate on the Palaeolithic era in Europe. This study argues that the quantitative and qualitative technological analysis of these two aspects is of fundamental importance in determining the potential of lithic assemblages.     

Did Modern Human Dispersal Take a Coastal Route into India? New Evidence from Palaeolithic Surveys of Kachchh,Gujarat

The Indian Ocean coastline is argued to have been a critical route of modern human dispersal from Africa, introducing Late Palaeolithic industries into South Asia, but a dearth of evidence has prevented a direct evaluation of this. Kachchh (Gujarat, India), located immediately east of the Indus Delta, is an important setting to appraise the Palaeolithic occupation of the western Indian coastline. Targeted survey of Late Pleistocene sediments there found widespread evidence for occupation of Kachchh during the Late Pleistocene: Middle Palaeolithic and possibly Late Acheulean lithic artifacts. The conspicuous absence of Late Palaeolithic industries in these Late Pleistocene deposits, with their presence only noted in Holocene contexts, does not support the model of modern human expansions into India with these industries via the coastal route. We evaluate these results in the context of current debates regarding Late Pleistocene hominin demography, adaptation, and expansions.     

Behavioural and Taphonomic Patterning at Katanda 9: a Middle Stone Age Site, Kivu Province, Zaire

Katanda 9, an open air Middle Stone Age site, contains a dense vertically compressed accumulation of lithic and faunal remains. The physical state of these materials indicates prolonged surface exposure before burial and the site shares essential characteristics therefore with many Lower and Middle Stone Age and Lower and Middle Palaeolithic occurrences in Africa and Eurasia. An important goal of archaeological research is to determine what, if any, anthropogenic signature can be extracted from distributional data and this article utilizes Katanda 9 to suggest an approach to such spatial analysis. It employs a bottom-up, top-down strategy which works in sequential fashion first to determine and control for taphonomic bias and secondly to fit the resultant pattern to models of hominid behaviour. It proposes that questions be posed in nested hierarchical fashion and that probabilities of correctness be assessed. It concludes that the distribution of materials observed at Katanda is most consistent with a nuclear family pattern.     

The Palaeolithic of the Bosphorus Region NW Turkey

Abstract

A survey of open-air sites in NW Turkey identified 16 Palaeolithic sites. Analysis of nearly 2000 lithics identified Lower, Middle, and Early Upper Palaeolithic (EUP) components. The Lower Palaeolithic is represented by a core-chopper/flake assemblage at one site and an assemblage with small bifaces at another. Middle Palaeolithic assemblages similar to the typical Balkan Mousterian were found at most sites, and an EUP assemblage similar to the Balkan Aurignacian was found on the Black Sea coast. Later Upper Palaeolithic cultures, e.g., Gravettian or Epigravettian, were not found. Palaeolithic sites were also not found in Turkish Thrace west of Büyük Çekmece, and a palaeoenvironmental barrier, perhaps a channel connecting the Marmara and Black Seas, may have existed before the Bosphorus was opened in the Holocene. A difference in the distribution of Lower-Middle Palaeolithic sites and EUP sites was also noted. EUP sites are clustered on the Black Sea coast while earlier sites are found in the interior and on the shores of the Sea of Marmara. This change in settlement pattern may support a hypothesis of cultural change between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic and perhaps the replacement hypothesis for the peopling of Europe by early modern humans.     

Site function and the ‘ibex-site phenomenon’: myth or reality?

Summary.  This paper focuses on ibex hunting in Italy during the Upper Palaeolithic. The faunal assemblages from five ibex-dominated sites (Dalmeri, Arene Candide, Fumane, Villabruna and Soman) are examined with the aim of assessing the role of the sites and people's activities in the wider settlement system. These sites will be placed in their wider context of the Italian Upper Palaeolithic so as to explore the nature of variability in ibex exploitation. The importance of these considerations is to examine aspects of specialized hunting, increased intensity of resource exploitation during the end of the Upper Palaeolithic, and methodological considerations of the relationship between faunal remains and the human activities that produced them.     

What is past is prologue: excavations at the Econfina Channel site,Apalachee Bay,Florida, USA

Offshore submerged sites can retain valuable data concerning many questions of interest to archaeology, including what form coastal occupations may have taken during periods before the establishment of modern coastlines and late Holocene climate and ecological conditions. However, submerged offshore sites experience postdepositional forces entirely unlike those in terrestrial contexts, including erosion/deflation of sediments, and degradation of artifacts and/or features caused by the marine environment. Methodological and theoretical approaches to assessing submerged marine sites, versus terrestrial ones, must be adjusted accordingly to extract valuable data and interpretations from them. This study demonstrates the application of these different approaches at the Econfina Channel site (8TA139) in Apalachee Bay, Florida, USA. The site appears to contain significant evidence for coastally adapted occupation during the final part of the Middle Archaic period (～8600–5000?cal?BP), but we needed to address marine site formation processes before we could assess human activities at the site. Sedimentological and archaeological traces of human activities can be teased out using geoarchaeological methods, which differentiate between nonhuman postdepositional processes and the cultural material remains left behind by those who used the site before it was abandoned and subsequently submerged.     

Depositional Context as the Foundation to Determining the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Archaeological Potential of Offshore Wind Farm Areas in the Southern North Sea

Abstract

There is currently limited evidence on which to assess the submerged prehistoric potential in areas of renewable energy development. This paper presents a geomorphological approach to examine the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeological potential in relation to the Round 3 offshore wind farm (OWF) areas of the southern North Sea. The depositional context and major stratigraphic correlations between the terrestrial sequence on east coast of Britain and offshore marine sequence of the southern North Sea are used to provide a first-order assessment for identifying horizons of archaeological interest in OWF zones. Using the examples Triton Knoll and East Anglia One OWF, the nature of renewable energy development on identified archaeological horizons is discussed, noting that any impact needs to be considered on a site-by-site basis. Studies are not only needed on the practical assessment of any development impact but also on the impacts of natural processes in OWF zones.     

PERILOUS WATERS: EARLY MARITIME TRADE ALONG THE WESTERN COAST OF THE BLACK SEA (FIFTH MILLENNIUM BC)

A heavy accumulation of exotica and valuables, such as gold, copper, carnelian and Mediterranean shells, distinguishes the Black Sea littoral from other parts of the east Balkans in the fifth millennium BC. 1 Recent discoveries shed new light on the trading connections of the coastal communities and indicate that maritime activity was germane to the origin of their extraordinary wealth. This article investigates the involvement of the coastal inhabitants with the sea. It addresses the ecological conditions and the technical parameters of prehistoric seafaring on the west coast of the Black Sea, considers the remains of marine species in the faunal record as an indication of maritime experience, and examines the artefactual record for signs of movement of goods and people between the coastal communities. The combination of these separate lines of evidence points to a maritime trading route joining the resource‐poor north with the resource‐rich south of the littoral in the Chalcolithic period. Moreover, it implies that sea‐borne trade not only enabled the accumulation of material wealth, but also was pivotal for social change.     

On the occurrence of the scimitar-toothed cat, Homotherium latidens (Carnivora; Felidae), at Kents Cavern,England

Teeth of Homotherium latidens recovered from late Pleistocene sediments, Kents Cavern, England have long been the source of controversy. H. latidens is conspicuously absent from other late Pleistocene cave deposits in Britain, and is widely thought to have been extirpated from the region during the isotope stage 10 glacial period. Here we present high spatial resolution analyses of fluorine and uranium uptake profiles in teeth of three species from the same cave. The H. latidens tooth is clearly distinguished from the unambiguously provenanced Late Pleistocene hyaena and Middle Pleistocene cave bear teeth. These results are consistent with the theory that the H. latidens teeth originated at an exogenous location, were probably transported to Kents Cavern as Palaeolithic trade goods, and were buried in Kents Cavern in Palaeolithic times.     

The Shell-Bearing Archaic in the Middle Cumberland River Valley

The Middle Cumberland River Valley (MCRV) of Tennessee comprises a unique regional environment that has continually supported human occupation along the natural river levees and adjacent terrace landforms since the Late Pleistocene. Over thousands of years Archaic period inhabitants of the MCRV harvested the invertebrate species that populated the streams and waterways of the region, using them for subsistence and raw materials and taking an active role in managing the riverine resources. The cumulative result of this process appears in the archaeological record as abundant and often-dense deposits of invertebrate zooarchaeological remains. However, few formal archaeological investigations have been conducted on Archaic shell-bearing sites in the region. In this field report we present initial results of site file analysis, radiocarbon dating, and species composition research in order to introduce the MCRV manifestation of the cultural phase traditionally known as the Shell Mound Archaic.     

Site Identification and Correlation Using Geoarchaeological Methods at the Cabeço do Porto Marinho (CPM) Locality, Rio Maior, Portugal

Several geoarchaeological techniques have been employed in evaluating an open-air site within a uniform sand matrix, near Rio Maior, Portugal. Electrical resistivity data, acquired at the Upper Palaeolithic site complex of Cabeço do Porto Marinho (CPM), delineated an important new occupational locus. This result was confirmed, first by auger testing which recovered subsurface artefacts, and then by direct excavation. In addition, 107 samples were recovered at the site for magnetic susceptibility measurements. Comparisons between magnetic susceptibility profiles from two loci, including the new area at CPM, show distinctive patterns which allow direct correlation between the occupation areas. These methods provide quick and inexpensive means for investigators to evaluate new sites or to correlate between and within sites, without resorting to other more time-consuming and expensive techniques.