A radiocarbon chronology for the complete Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transitional sequence of Les Cottés (France)

The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition is the key period for our understanding of Neanderthal and modern human interactions in Europe. The site of Les Cottés in south-west France is one of the rare sites with a complete and well defined sequence covering this transition period. We undertook an extensive radiocarbon dating program on mammal bone which allows us to propose a chronological framework of five distinct phases dating from the Mousterian to the Early Aurignacian at this site. We found that the Mousterian and Châtelperronian industries are separated from the overlying Protoaurignacian by a gap of approximately 1000 calendar years. Based on a comparison with Upper Paleolithic sites in Europe we see an overlap in the ages of Châtelperronian industries and Aurignacian lithic assemblages, which are usually associated with Anatomical Modern Humans, which is consistent with an acculturation at distance model for these late Neanderthals. The Proto and Early Aurignacian appear contemporaneous indicating that this transition was rapid in this region. Anatomically Modern Humans are present at the site of Les Cottés at least at 39,500 cal BP roughly coincident with the onset of the cold phase Heinrich 4.     

Age and the palaeoenvironment of the West Ukrainian palaeolithic: the case of Velykyi Glybochok multi-cultural site

The Velykyi Glybochok Palaeolithic site near Ternopil town (Podolia Upland) contains a set of cultural layers in a sequence of loess and fossil soils. Beside the archaeological study of stone assemblages, the profile was investigated using lithological, palaeopedological and geochemical methods, including stable carbon and oxygen isotopes composition of pedogenic carbonates, soils micromorphology and TL dating. Remnants of vertebrates' bones and mollusc shells were also distinguished. The oldest cultural layer III documented the presence of Palaeolithic people during the Penultimate Interglacial represented by fossil soil – cambisol in type, developed under dense vegetation cover. The cultural layer III B is connected with initial cambisol originated in a short period of open landscape vegetation with shrubs development, dated to the climatic amelioration during the time of Penultimate Glaciation. The Last Interglacial is represented by luvisol formation with two stages of illuviation, which shows forest type of vegetation. Materials of the cultural layer III A were dispersed in the soil irregularly and mixed with artifacts of cultural layer II. Artifacts of III, III A and III B cultural layers represent the Middle Palaeolithic “Dniesterian Mousterian culture with Levalloisian technique”. These of assemblage II represent the Upper Palaeolithic. Inside the recent soil at the top of the sequence, the Mesolithic cultural layer I is present. Velykyi Glybochok is the only multilayer site in Podolia with detailed information about geological position of particular cultural layers.     

Age of the final Middle Palaeolithic and Uluzzian levels at Fumane Cave,Northern Italy,using C,ESR, U/Th and thermoluminescence methods

This article presents and discusses the chronological layout of the final Mousterian and Uluzzian levels of Fumane Cave in northern Italy using ¹⁴C, ESR and TL methods. Given its complex sedimentary and cultural succession, Fumane is a key site to assess the Middle–Upper Palaeolithic transition in Southern Europe and to explore Neanderthal behaviour and to compare it with the first Aurignacians. Large ranges defined by the ESR and TL dates cover the radiocarbon ages for units from A11 to A4, respectively, from 42.8 to 32.5 ka BP become progressively younger in agreement with the stratigraphy, despite high dispersions within the same unit. Our estimates using chronometric data seem to support the hypothesis that the sequence may cover almost 10,000 radiocarbon yr and that from comparison with the sedimentological and palaeoecological data, the late Middle Palaeolithic and the early Upper Palaeolithic at Fumane occur in sediments formed under moderately cool to mild climatic conditions correlated to the Hengelo-Interstadial, shifting towards cooler and drier conditions. Finally, comparisons between the Fumane data set and other sites in the North-Adriatic region are discussed.     

Thermoluminescence dates for the Middle Palaeolithic site of Chez-Pinaud Jonzac (France)

Thermoluminescence dating of heated flint artefacts from the Middle Palaeolithic sequence of Chez-Pinaud Jonzac (France) places an assemblage of Quina type Mousterian into MIS 4, while the overlying assemblage of Denticulate Mousterian which is followed by two layers with Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition are all assigned to MIS 3. TL dating is used to verify the mixed nature of deposits from which diagnostic Middle as well as Upper Palaeolithic tools were recovered. The TL ages are significantly different for samples from this layer and broadly agree with the archaeological attributions. While the study is generally limited by the low number of heated samples available, a correlation with a generalized chronostratigraphic sequence is possible by including proxy data from the faunal remains associated with the lithic assemblages in question. The Quina Mousterian in southwestern France, therefore, can be placed by chronometric dating methods in MIS 4 to MIS 3.     

Developmental Stress in Immature Hominines from Late Pleistocene Eurasia: Evidence from Enamel Hypoplasia

The differences between Middle and Upper Palaeolithic cultures from Europe have been likened to the contrast between generalized and complex hunter–gatherers. A test of this model is undertaken by comparing the types, amount, severity and timing of episodes of enamel hypoplasia between the two periods among specimens from western Europe and the circum-Mediterranean area. The earlier sample consists of 59 dentally immature individuals with 128 primary and 154 permanent teeth while the later sample consists of 47 dentally immature individuals with 162 primary and 125 permanent teeth. It was predicted that the Upper Palaeolithic would show more variation in the attributes noted above as a consequence of increased social differentiation. While the prevalence (50% of individuals) and severity of enamel hypoplasia do not differ between the samples, the Upper Palaeolithic component is significantly more variable in the types and timing of enamel defects. Localized hypoplasia of the primary canine is absent from the Middle Palaeolithic but very common among Upper Palaeolithic children. Earlier work has linked this enamel defect to craniofacial osteopenia due to low bioavailability of vitamin A. Linear enamel hypoplasia peaks at age 3·5 years in the Middle Palaeolithic sample but is as common at age 2·0 as 5·0 years in the Upper Palaeolithic sample. The age distribution differs significantly. Peak age at stress, combining all types of enamel hypoplasia, is 3·5 years in the Middle Palaeolithic and 0·5 years in the Upper Palaeolithic. The major contrast between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic in terms of enamel hypoplasia is the advent of stressful episodes in early infancy in the Upper Palaeolithic. This is attributed to the low bioavailability of vitamin A due to the synergistic effects of malnutrition and infection exacerbated by a net increase in population density among socially competitive family lineages.     

Radiocarbon dates for the late Middle Palaeolithic at Pech de l'Azé IV,France

This paper reports a series of radiocarbon dates on bone samples coming from the Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition (MTA) Layer 3 at the top of the Pech de l'Azé IV (Pech IV, France) Middle Palaeolithic sequence. All of these samples showed evidence of human impact, and they were prepared using current pre-treatment techniques to remove or identify contamination. The results indicate that the MTA at Pech IV started prior to the current limit of radiocarbon calibration (circa 50 ka BP) and ended by 45 ka cal. BP. These dates are supported by additional TL and ESR dates from the sequence, confirm previously suggested correlations between Pech I and IV, and generally fit within the known age range for the MTA. The oldest dates reported here may also lend support to still older TL dates for the MTA that taken together suggest that the MTA extended from late MIS 4 or early OIS 3 through to the end of the Middle Palaeolithic in southwest France.     

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.     

Middle Palaeolithic raw material gathering territories and human mobility in the southern Massif Central,France: first results from a petro-archaeological study on flint

During the Middle Palaeolithic in the south-eastern Massif Central and the bordering Rhone Valley, humans collected almost all their raw materials from various secondary outcrop which can be distinguished by the inherent characteristics of the materials. Similar lithic facies are unlikely to be encountered on two or more different natural outcrops and every artefact shows a surface that is well enough preserved to be studied according to a morphoscopic analysis at various magnifications. For all sites, some more remote sources were also exploited. However, most of the supposed exogenous materials, such as some Cretaceous flints identified in the Velay assemblages of Sainte-Anne I and Baume-Vallée for example, come from the heart of the massif where they occur in secondary alluvial deposits. Nevertheless, the extent of the foraging territories as revealed by raw materials sourcing covers a large band of various relief between the western and southern Causses, the Rhône corridor and the northern Limagne and Forez plains and animal species hunted by these groups express an environmental mosaic which fits with the image of landscape given by the raw materials.     

Specialized Early Upper Palaeolithic Hunters in Southwestern France?

Paul Mellars has long used cave and rockshelter ungulate faunal assemblages from southwestern France to argue that the early Upper Palaeolithic people of this region focused their hunting on reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), and that such specialized hunting distinguishes the Upper from the Middle Palaeolithic in at least this region. We examine this argument quantitatively, using a sample of 133 Mousterian, Châtelperronian, and Aurignacian ungulate assemblages. We show that only five Aurignacian assemblages, from three sites, stand out in terms of the degree to which their ungulate faunas are dominated by a single taxon. We also show that some Mousterian cave and rock shelter ungulate assemblages are more heavily dominated by large bovids than Aurignacian assemblages are dominated by reindeer, and that Mellars' argument is highly dependent on the exclusion of open sites from the analysis and on the numerical threshold he has selected to indicate hunting specialization.     

Aurignacian ethno-linguistic geography of Europe revealed by personal ornaments

Our knowledge of the migration routes of the first anatomically modern populations colonising the European territory at the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic, of their degree of biological, linguistic, and cultural diversity, and of the nature of their contacts with local Neanderthals, is still vague. Ethnographic studies indicate that of the different components of the material culture that survive in the archaeological record, personal ornaments are among those that best reflect the ethno-linguistic diversity of human groups. The ethnic dimension of beadwork is conveyed through the use of distinct bead types as well as by particular combinations and arrangements on the body of bead types shared with one or more neighbouring groups. One would expect these variants to leave detectable traces in the archaeological record. To explore the potential of this approach, we recorded the occurrence of 157 bead types at 98 European Aurignacian sites. Seriation, correspondence, and GIS analyses of this database identify a definite cline sweeping counter-clockwise from the Northern Plains to the Eastern Alps via Western and Southern Europe through fourteen geographically cohesive sets of sites. The sets most distant from each other include Aurignacian sites from the Rhône valley, Italy, Greece and Austria on the one hand, and sites from Northern Europe, on the other. These two macro-sets do not share any bead types. Both are characterised by particular bead types and share personal ornaments with the intermediate macro-set, composed of sites from Western France, Spain, and Southern France. We argue that this pattern, which is not explained by chronological differences between sites or by differences in raw material availability, reflects the ethnolinguistic diversity of the earliest Upper Palaeolithic populations of Europe.     

Shepherds,cowherds and site function on middle Neolithic sites of the Rhône valley: An archaeozoological approach to the organization of territories and societies

Our understanding of the organization of the territories and the Neolithic societies of the north-western Mediterranean region remains incomplete because of the preference long accorded to caves and rock shelters in archaeological research, and because these sites are closely linked to one taxon, the sheep and goats. In the middle valley of the Rhône, comparison of the pastoral practices specific to cattle and to sheep and goats, in relation to cave as well as open-air occupations, enables definition of the relations that existed between the sites during the late phase of the Chassean culture. It is demonstrated that the different stages of the annual pastoral cycle were distributed among several sites, whether for sheep and goats or for cattle, and that the large open-air sites had distinct functions according to the species exploited. The discovery of a specialization of places and of practices (general for the caves, partial for the large open-air sites) then leads us to propose the existence of a specialization of individuals or at least small groups (shepherds and cattle herdsmen) as of the beginning of the fourth millennium BC in this region. These elements suggest that population movements of different kinds occurred in the Chassean period in the middle Rhône Valley.     

Two Sides to Every Story: Bout Coupé Handaxes Revisited

Bout coupé handaxes are widely considered to be a cultural and typological marker for the Middle Palaeolithic in Britain, and are traditionally dated to around the end of the Last Interglacial or the beginning of the Devensian glaciation. Much debate has surrounded the typological validity of this form, but relatively little attention has been paid to the stratigraphical integrity of the sample. This paper takes a fresh look at the bout coupé problem using a select sample of better provenanced pieces and employs the most current chronological frameworks. We conclude that there is a temporally restricted bout coupé phenomenon in the British Isles, but contrary to previous claims these handaxes cannot be regarded as an unequivocal marker for the Mousterian and nor do they belong to the early Upper Pleistocene. Rather the bout coupé phenomenon marks the recolonization of Britain by Neanderthal populations during OIS 3 (59–41 ka). This further suggests a bipartite division of the British Middle Palaeolithic, each period having a quasi-distinctive lithic signature.     

Reconnaissance survey for Palaeolithic sites in the Debed River Valley,northern Armenia

Abstract

The southern Caucasus is a critical region for those interested in Palaeolithic research because of its varied topography and location at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Modern Armenia sits at the heart of this area, but has until now played a small role in broader debates, largely because of its paucity of well-excavated and well-dated sites. To improve this situation, a survey was conducted for Palaeolithic sites along the valley of the Debed River (Lori Depression, northeastern Armenia). Twenty-three open-air sites, spanning the Lower through the Upper Palaeolithic periods, were identified. Most of the lithic material is of Middle Palaeolithic manufacture. Upper Palaeolithic material is also well represented, but only a handful of Lower Palaeolithic artifacts have been identified. Test excavations at several sites suggest that they preserve in situ deposits that may help us to understand the role of the southern Caucasus in the Palaeolithic occupation of Eurasia.     

Geology and lithic procurement in Upper Palaeolithic Europe: a weights-of-evidence based GIS model of lithic resource potential

In this paper we examine ways to predict the distribution of siliceous rock in Europe, using a Bayesian technique known as ‘Weights-of-Evidence’. We use the technique to classify bedrock geological formations in terms of their likelihood of yielding tool-quality lithic raw materials, and we use the results to re-examine possible causes of a west–east cline in maximum lithic raw material transfer distances observed when comparing sites in both Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Europe. It is evident from our results that there is a decline in abundance of geological formations highly predictive of tool-quality rock along a west–east cline, predominantly reflecting a decrease in abundance of Jurassic and Cretaceous chert-bearing sedimentaries. Our results are consistent with an interpretation of the Upper Palaeolithic record of transfer distances as indicating special-purpose procurement.     

Changing fashions in the Middle Stone Age: the stone artefact sequence from Klasies River main site,South Africa

The analysis of Middle Stone Age artefact assemblages from the 1984–8 Deacon excavation of Klasies River main site on the southern Cape coast of South Africa emphasizes its importance as a source of information on the Late Pleistocene period. The trends in artefact variability noted in the previous 1967–8 Singer and Wymer excavation are described in more detail and it is concluded on typological grounds that the cave 1B assemblages which are associated with the anatomically modern human mandible no. 41815 are of the order of 100,000 years old. Rare, unstandardized retouch and the persistence of time-restricted patterning in the Klasies River main site Middle Stone Age sequence over periods in excess of 20,000 years represent significant differences between Middle and some parts of Later Stone Age sequences. It is suggested that this may be a consequence of conservatism under relatively low-density demographic conditions rather than a reflection of the absence of modern behaviour among Middle Stone Age toolmakers.

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Résumé L'analyse des industries lithiques de l'âge de la Pierre Moyen provenant des fouilles Deacon au site principal à Klasies River, sur la côte sud du cap de l'Afrique du Sud, souligne l'importance de ce site pour ses renseignements sur le Pléistocene récent. Les tendances de variabilité dans le matériel culturel déjà constatées dans les fouilles précédentes de Singer et Wymer (1967–8) sont présentées ici en davantage de détail. L'étude typologique amène à la conclusion que les industries de la grotte 1B, associées à la mandibule no. 41815 de forme humaine moderne, ont un âge approximative de 100,000 ans. La présence assez rare d'une retouche non-standardisée et la persistance des modalités, chronologiquement bien définies, dans la succession des industries de l'âge de la Pierre Moyen au site principal à Klasies River pendant des périodes de plus de 20,000 ans constituent des différences considérables entre l'âge de la Pierre Moyen et quelques phases de l'âge de la Pierre Récent. On propose que cela peut être la conséquence d'un conservatisme sous les conditions de densité démographique faible, plutôt qu'en déduire que la mode de comportement caractéristique de l'homme moderne manquait aux gens de l'âge de la Pierre Moyen.

     

Research on the Palaeolithic and Neolithic of Hadramaut and Mahra

This paper presents some of the results of exploration and excavation by the Soviet-Yemeni expedition carried out between 1983 and 1990 in Hadramaut and Mahra. Oldowan, Acheulean, Middle Palaeolithic, Upper Palaeolithic, and'Neolithic'stone tool industries are attested, providing what is probably the most detailed sequence covering these periods in the entire Arabian peninsula.     

Molecular evidence of bitumen in the Mousterian lithic assemblage of Hummal (Central Syria)

Evidence for bitumen use in Middle Palaeolithic sites is an exception in Pleistocene archaeology. This paper presents the discovery of three tar-bearing Levallois artefacts found in the Mousterian sequence in Hummal (Central Syria). The organic residues were submitted to geochemical study. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons and isotopic data show the presence of bitumen. The most likely location of natural asphalt provisioning is the Shaaf outcrop in the Bichri desert. The bitumen-bearing stone tools add further important data to the growing knowledge about bitumen processing in the Middle Palaeolithic spring sites of El Kowm. Identification of the provisioning place for natural asphalt enables a more precise assumption about the site's catchment area. From a technological point of view, the tar-bearing specimens provide information on the range of tool forms selected for hafting. Ballistic features arguably indicate that the pointed Levallois blanks seem to be spear points that were fitted to a wooden handle. In at least one case, this technical procedure was seemingly executed during a brief episode of occupation and replacement of worn out implements. This small, bracketed window of detailed insight into Mousterian technology is linked with the more general relationship between Levallois technology and stone tool hafting.     

The British Late Middle Palaeolithic: An Interpretative Synthesis of Neanderthal Occupation at the Northwestern Edge of the Pleistocene World

The British Middle Palaeolithic is divided into two discrete periods of occupation: the Early Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 9–7, ~330–180 ka BP) and the Late Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 3, ~59–36 ka BP), separated by a long hiatus. Owing to the relative poverty of the record and historical difficulties in dating and correlating archaeological sites, the British Late Middle Palaeolithic has, until recently, received scant attention, and has largely been regarded as the poor man of Europe, especially by British archaeologists. Indeed, there has been more discussion of the absence of humans from Britain than of what they did when they were present. We aim here to redress that situation. Following from recent considerations of the Early Middle Palaeolithic (White et al. in J. Quat. Sci. 21:525–542, 2006; Scott, Becoming Neanderthal, Oxbow, Oxford, 2010), we offer an interpretative synthesis of the British Late Middle Palaeolithic, situating ‘British’ Neanderthals in their chronological, environmental and landscape contexts. We discuss the character of the British record, and offer an account of Neanderthal behaviour, settlement systems and technological practices at the northwestern edge of their known Upper Pleistocene range. We also examine the relationship of the enigmatic Early Upper Palaeolithic leafpoint assemblages to Neanderthals.     

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.