Azokh caves excavations 2002-2006: Middle-Upper palaeolithic transition in Nagorno-Karabagh

Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu

Taphonomic analysis on fossil remains from the Ciota Ciara Cave (Piedmont, Italy) and new evidence of cave bear and Wolf exploitation with simple quartz flakes by neanderthal

DOI: ND URL: http://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/RIPS/issue/view/987/showToc Filiació URV: SI Inclòs a la memòria: SIThe Ciota Ciara cave is located in the karst area of Monte Fenera (Borgosesia - VC) and, with the Ciotarun cave, it is the only Middle Palaeolithic site in Piedmont where the presence of Homo neanderthalensis has been confirmed by discoveries of human remains. Preliminary taphonomic and archaeozoological studies have been performed on a portion of the palaeontological remains from the Stratigraphic Unit 14 (1144 bones). The studies confirmed the presence of cut-marks on Ursus spelaeus and Canis lupus, made by lithic instruments. The position of the cut-marks on the bones can be related to skinning and butchery. An experimental butchery has been performed to test the efficiency of the tools made by local quartz during slaughtering activities. The archaeozoological analysis of the faunal remains of S.U. 14, identified cut-marks with weak peculiarities, probably due to the use of quartz tools. The analysis of the experimental collection allowed distinguishing between cut-marks made by quartz tools from those made by flint tools. A preliminary experimentation, conducted on more than 50 different cut-marks made with flakes of three different raw materials (vein quartz, quartzite and flint), allow us to hypothesize that it is possible to distinguish cut-marks made with unretouched flakes of different raw materials

The occupational pattern of the Galería site (Atapuerca, Spain): A technological perspective

Galería is one of the main sites of the Trinchera del Ferrocarril (railway trench) in Atapuerca, together with Gran Dolina and Sima del Elefante. The Galería excavations took place mainly during the 1980s and 1990s and continued until 2010. Work has recently resumed in the upper levels of the sequence, which has prompted us to summarize the previously collected data and plan an entire new set of questions in order to be able to compare that earlier data with information yielded from the new interventions. Galería consists of a long sequence dating from around 500 ka to 250 ka, which has made it possible to conduct a diachronic study of the technology at the site. As a consequence of the sustainment of similar occupational patterns and a similar 'toolkit', the technology at Galería generally enjoyed a broad stability throughout the technology the Middle Pleistocene. Nevertheless, we have isolated technological characteristics which reflect technological changes through time.In this case, we present a synchronic analysis of the human occupation phases of each subunit, which finally led us to a diachronic view of the site. Most of the knapping sequences occurred outside of the cave, making the chaînes opératoires very fragmented. This was the result of short and sporadic occupations for the basic purpose of obtaining the animals that had fallen into the cave through a natural trap created by the TN shaft, in successful competition with carnivores. Although lithic refits are very scarce, we used them in this study to characterize the spatial distribution not only of the activities performed, but also of the knapping sequences carried out inside the cave. The two knapping locations (outside and inside) reflect different knapping strategies

Experimentación sobre la recogida de leña en el parque faunístico de los Pirineos “Lacuniacha” (Huesca). Una aproximación a la tafonomía del registro antracológico

Los análisis antracológicos, además de permitir el análisis taxonómico de los carbones recuperados en los yacimientos arqueológicos, pueden aportar más datos a partir del análisis tafonómico con el fin de entender el medio y el comportamiento humano de nuestro pasado. Este análisis permite profundizar, entre otros, sobre aspectos relacionados con la explotación del combustible a través de la experimentación. Los objetivos que nos interesan en este estudio son la cuantificación, la reducción de masa y las deformaciones anatómicas de la madera antes y después de la combustión. El Parque Faunístico de “Lacuniacha” (Piedrafita de Jaca, Huesca) nos proporciona el marco natural adecuado para reproducir los procesos que nos interesan, ya que se trata de un entrono vegetal similar al que encontramos en secuencias Pleistocenas del NE Peninsular.Charcoal analyses permit to obtain data using the taphonomic analyses as well as the obtaining of taxonomic results in order to understand past environments and human behaviour. Taphonomy permits to deep in the aspects related to fuel wood exploitation using experimental work. The aim of this study is the quantitative analyse, mass reduction, anatomical deformation of wood before and after combustion. The Parque Faunístico de los Pirineos “Lacuniacha” (Piedrafita de Jaca, Huesca), gives us the natural framework to reproduce the processes we are dealing with, due to the similarity with the Pleistocene sequences from the NE of the Iberian Peninsula

Upper Palaeolithic ritualistic cannibalism at Gough's Cave (Somerset,UK): THE human remains from head to toe

A recurring theme of late Upper Palaeolithic Magdalenian human bone assemblages is the remarkable rarity of primary burials and the common occurrence of highly-fragmentary human remains mixed with occupation waste at many sites. One of the most extensive Magdalenian human bone assemblages comes from Gough's Cave, a sizeable limestone cave set in Cheddar Gorge (Somerset), UK. After its discovery in the 1880s, the site was developed as a show cave and largely emptied of sediment, at times with minimal archaeological supervision. Some of the last surviving remnants of sediment within the cave were excavated between 1986 and 1992. The excavations uncovered intensively-processed human bones intermingled with abundant butchered large mammal remains and a diverse range of flint, bone, antler, and ivory artefacts. New ultrafiltrated radiocarbon determinations demonstrate that the Upper Palaeolithic human remains were deposited over a very short period of time, possibly during a series of seasonal occupations, about 14,700 years BP (before present). The human remains have been the subject of several taphonomic studies, culminating in a detailed reanalysis of the cranial remains that showed they had been carefully modified to make skull-cups. Our present analysis of the postcrania has identified a far greater degree of human modification than recorded in earlier studies. We identify extensive evidence for defleshing, disarticulation, chewing, crushing of spongy bone, and the cracking of bones to extract marrow. The presence of human tooth marks on many of the postcranial bones provides incontrovertible evidence for cannibalism. In a wider context, the treatment of the human corpses and the manufacture and use of skull-cups at Gough Cave have parallels with other Magdalenian site

Intergroup cannibalism in the European Early Pleistocene: The range expansion and imbalance of power hypotheses

In this paper, we compare cannibalism in chimpanzees, modern humans, and in archaeological cases with cannibalism inferred from evidence from the Early Pleistocene assemblage of level TD6 of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). The cannibalism documented in level TD6 mainly involves the consumption of infants and other immature individuals. The human induced modifications on Homo antecessor and deer remains suggest that butchering processes were similar for both taxa, and the remains were discarded on the living floor in the same way. This finding implies that a group of hominins that used the Gran Dolina cave periodically hunted and consumed individuals from another group. However, the age distribution of the cannibalized hominins in the TD6 assemblage is not consistent with that from other cases of exo-cannibalism by human/hominin groups. Instead, it is similar to the age profiles seen in cannibalism associated with intergroup aggression in chimpanzees. For this reason, we use an analogy with chimpanzees to propose that the TD6 hominins mounted low-risk attacks on members of other groups to defend access to resources within their own territories and to try and expand their territories at the expense of neighboring groups

Experimental butchering of a chimpanzee carcass for archaeological purposes

Two archaeological assemblages from the Sierra de Atapuerca sites show evidence of anthropogenic cannibalism. These are the late Early Pleistocene level TD6-2 at Gran Dolina, and the Bronze Age level MIR4 in the Mirador Cave. Despite the chronological distance between these two assemblages, they share the common feature that the human remains exhibit a high frequency of anthropogenic modifications (cut marks, percussion pits and notches and peeling). This frequency could denote special treatment of bodies, or else be the normal result of the butchering process. In order to test these possibilities, we subjected a chimpanzee carcass to a butchering process. The processing was intensive and intended to simulate preparation for consumption. In doing this, we used several simple flakes made from quartzite and chert from quarries in the Sierra de Atapuerca. The skull, long bones, metapodials and phalanges were also fractured in order to remove the brain and bone marrow. As a result, about 40% of the remains showed some kind of human modification. The frequency, distribution and characteristics of these modifications are very similar to those documented on the remains of Homo antecessor from TD6-2. In case of the MIR4 assemblage, the results are similar except in the treatment of skulls. Our results indicate that high frequencies of anthropogenic modifications are common after an intensive butchering process intended to prepare a hominin body for consumption in different contexts (both where there was possible ritual behavior and where this was not the case and the modifications are not the result of special treatment). © 2015 Saladié e