Large Mammal Fauna from the Pleistocene Deposits of Chagyrskaya Cave Northwestern Altai (based on 2007–2011 Excavations)

The article focuses on the results of analysis of more than 100 thousand animal fossils recovered from Chagyrskaya Cave in 2007–2011. Animal remains from strata 5 and 6a result mostly from the hunting activity of wolves and cave hyenas, which used the cave as a shelter or den for breeding their offspring. In contrast, fauna remains from strata 6b and 6c at the cave's entrance zone primarily accumulated due to the hunting activities of Paleolithic humans, who mostly hunted bison (Bison priscus). To a lesser extent, they also hunted the Ovodov horse (Equus (Sussemionus) ovodovi), reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), Siberian mountain goat (Capra sibirica), and argali (Ovis ammon). Animal bones representing common taxa point to the existence of steppe landscapes during the formation of stratum 6. The sediment deposition of stratum 5 supposedly proceeded under arid climatic conditions. However, small forested areas existed in river valleys and mountain gorges throughout the entire sedimentation period.     

Environmental Conditions During the Early Human Settlement of Chagyrskaya Cave (Altai)

The article presents the results of a palynological study conducted at the Middle Paleolithic site of Chagyrskaya Cave (Altai). Sediments containing the technocomplex of the Sibiryachikha facies of the Altai Middle Paleolithic accumulated at the end of MIS 4 which corresponds with the final stage of the Ermakovo glaciation. The results of the palynological analysis indicate that during the period in question, predominantly steppe landscapes existed in dry, cold climate conditions.     

The Role of The Gentleman's Magazine in the Dissemination of Knowledge About Electric Fish in the Eighteenth Century

Although torpedoes and Malopterurus, a Nile catfish, had been described and even used medically in antiquity, their discharges were poorly understood before the second half of the eighteenth century. It was then that their actions, along with those of certain South American “eels,” became firmly associated with electricity. The realization that an animal could produce electricity marked a turning point in the history of neurophysiology, which had long described nerve actions with recourse to animal spirits. By examining The Gentleman's Magazine during the period when electric fish were becoming electrical, one can begin to appreciate how new discoveries about these unusual creatures captured the imagination of scientists and were filtered down to the literate public.     

New datings of Amudian layers at Qesem Cave (Israel): results of TL applied to burnt flints and ESR/U-series to teeth

Because only a few radiometric data are actually available, the chronology of the Amudian – a blade-dominated industry of the Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex (AYCC) of the late Lower Paleolithic in the Levant – is still not well constrained. Qesem Cave offers the opportunity to enhance our knowledge of the chronological position of this industry which is unique to the Levant. The Qesem Amudian bearing layers yielded also human remains showing affinities with those of modern populations recovered in the Middle Paleolithic sites of Skhul and Qafzeh. The results presented here are the first attempt to apply the TL and ESR/U-series dating methods at this site and these methods yielded results which are generally in agreement. They support a time interval of hominid-bearing occupation of the areas of the cave where Amudian lithic artifacts were recovered during MIS 8 and likely 9 for the Deep Pit Area, and during MIS 8 and possibly 7 for the Upper part of the sequence (Square K/10 and the Eastern Microfauna-Bearing Area). An older occupation of the cave is also conceivable on the base of two dating results (MIS 11).     

A re-assessment of Basketmaker II cave 7: massacre site or cemetery context

Our ongoing investigation of early maize farming in the American Southwest has entailed stable isotope analysis and accelerator radiocarbon dating of Basketmaker II remains from sites in the Four Corners region. Here we report radiocarbon dates on a large mortuary assemblage excavated by Richard Wetherill in 1893 from a burial cave in southeastern Utah. It has long been thought that all individuals interred in Cave 7 were massacred in a single violent attack given embedded projectiles and evidence for blunt force trauma. However, accelerator radiocarbon dates on purified bone collagen (n = 96) do not lend strong support to this argument, even among the subset of individuals with clear evidence for violent injuries. Moreover, nearly 80% of Cave 7 burials examined in the study show no evidence of perimortem trauma and no adult females or subadults under the age of 12 appear to have suffered violent deaths. Rather than an anomalous single-event massacre, the Cave 7 radiocarbon dataset suggests that raiding and intra-group, male/male violence was episodic among Basketmaker groups in southeastern Utah. Population densities were relatively high and individuals interred in Cave 7 and elsewhere in the region were heavily dependent on maize agriculture, a prehistoric economic strategy typically characterized by high amplitude fluctuations in productivity. Variability in the array of grave goods accompanying Cave 7 male burials and elsewhere suggests competitive social differentiation likely heightened during periods of resource shortfall leading to intra-group conflict, raiding and perhaps ritualized acts of violence.     

Multiple origins of Bondi Cave and Ortvale Klde (NW Georgia) obsidians and human mobility in Transcaucasia during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic

Using PIXE four types of elemental compositions were found among obsidian artefacts from the Bondi Cave and Ortvale Klde, Middle to Upper Palaeolithic sites in NW Georgia. One of those types corresponds to obsidians from the Chikiani source, whose compositions were determined with a very good agreement by PIXE and ICP-AES/MS. The composition of Chikiani obsidians is remarkably constant despite K–Ar and ³⁹Ar/⁴⁰Ar extrusion ages from ca 2.4 and 2.8 Ma. The compositions of two other groups of obsidian artefacts are similar to source materials from eastern Anatolia and Armenia, in particular Ikisdere, Sarikamis, Gutansar, and Hatis. Obsidian is only a minority component in the lithic assemblages at the Bondi Cave and Ortvale Klde. Both Neanderthal and Modern Human populations used obsidian in particular from Chikiani. Considering that the shortest walking distance to this nearest source is at minimum of about 180 km, and to other potential sources of more than 350 km it is suggested that this material reached these two sites mostly, if not exclusively, by a series of ‘down the line’ exchanges.     

Late Neolithic household activities in marginal areas: the micromorphological evidence from the Kouveleiki caves,Peloponnese, Greece

The micromorphological study of the Neolithic archaeological sequence of the Kouveleiki Caves A and B and the reassessment of the archaeological record under the new data revealed that the site constituted a small-scale self-contained mixed farming household in an upland area of Greece. The study of the microstructure and the microstratigraphy of the sediment revealed that the front chamber of Cave A is dominated by dry, almost totally burnt coprolites resulting from stabling, most likely of sheep and/or goats. There are also indications of frequent trampling and disturbance of the stabling deposits by human activities. Hence, Cave A was used as a small seasonal pen and, probably, as a place for rudimentary activities. The dark back chamber of Cave A was the main habitation area, where plastered floors were constructed by a mixture of burnt dung (derived from the seasonal pen) and red clay (to be found in the plain in front of the cave). The nearby Kouveleiki Cave B was probably used as a complementary activity area.     

Chemical Alteration of Lithic Artefacts: an Experimental Case Study on the effect of Guano on Stone Flakes and Its Contextualization in the Archaeological Assemblage of Azokh Cave (Southern Caucasus)

Chemical weathering of archaeological material is well known; however, while there have been a number of experimental studies demonstrating different types and degrees of chemical alteration on faunal remains, little attention has been paid to stone tools, and the few studies that exist relate mainly to siliceous materials and water‐induced chemical alteration. Azokh Cave, located in the South Caucasus, contains a Middle Pleistocene to Holocene infill, and detailed macro‐ and microscopic examination of the lithic assemblages recovered there indicates potential chemical weathering of the stone artefacts. The cave is also currently home to one of the largest bat colonies in the region, and their guano forms a significant component of the infill of the inner galleries. Based on these two factors, an experimental pilot study was set up to artificially chemically alter a range of stone flakes produced specifically for the task, in order to determine the nature and likely cause of weathering. The experimental flakes, produced from different raw materials, were buried in fresh bat guano for up to two years. The results reported herein demonstrate that in a relatively short time, the highly acidic composition of bat guano strongly affects calcium‐bearing rocks (e.g., limestone, basalt) altering their entire surface. Similar comparisons may be made with chemical alteration evident on archaeological lithics from Azokh Cave, suggesting that bat guano has played a significant role in diagenetic alteration.     

The oldest mongoose of Europe

The Egyptian mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon, has no Pleistocene record in Europe. Consequently, it has been suggested that this animal was introduced to the Iberian Peninsula by the Arabs, who employed it for eliminating rodents and reptiles, as in the case of the genet, Genetta genetta. Here we describe a subfossil mongoose skull from the Cave of Nerja, southern Spain, which has been AMS dated 885 ± 40 years BP. This specimen constitutes the oldest record of mongooses in Europe, providing evidence that these animals were introduced during historical times in the South of the Iberian Peninsula.     

Pedogenetic dating of loess strata

Loess is an aeolian Pleistocene sediment of periglacial or arid origins, deposited without internal stratification in parcels representing geological periods. The contents of total as well as individual carbonates are comparatively uniform within a specific stratum, but the relative carbonate contents differ significantly between the various glacials as represented by loess facies. There is a consistent increase in the content of dolomite with decreasing age of stratigraphic units, which has traditionally been attributed to postdepositional alteration, notably the gradual removal of the calcite fraction by weathering. The explanation of pedogenetic enrichment in the course of aeolian recycling of glacial and glacio-fluvial deposits could convincingly account for the stepped profile of the dolomite's depth functions. The implication is that such recycled sediments can be attributed to specific cryocratic phases simply by their characteristic dolomite fraction, i.e. they can be dated. In order to test this hypothesis against the competing weathering hypothesis, strata of the Gudenus Cave in Lower Austria were subjected to carbonate differentiation analysis. The results are presented, analyzed and discussed. It is shown that the dolomite contents of the unweathered strata provide a clear trend that is even more pronounced than that found at open-air sites.