The RESET project: constructing a European tephra lattice for refined synchronisation of environmental and archaeological events during the last c. 100 ka

This paper introduces the aims and scope of the RESET project (. RESponse of humans to abrupt Environmental Transitions), a programme of research funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (UK) between 2008 and 2013; it also provides the context and rationale for papers included in a special volume of Quaternary Science Reviews that report some of the project's findings. RESET examined the chronological and correlation methods employed to establish causal links between the timing of abrupt environmental transitions (AETs) on the one hand, and of human dispersal and development on the other, with a focus on the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic periods. The period of interest is the Last Glacial cycle and the early Holocene (c. 100-8 ka), during which time a number of pronounced AETs occurred. A long-running topic of debate is the degree to which human history in Europe and the Mediterranean region during the Palaeolithic was shaped by these AETs, but this has proved difficult to assess because of poor dating control. In an attempt to move the science forward, RESET examined the potential that tephra isochrons, and in particular non-visible ash layers (cryptotephras), might offer for synchronising palaeo-records with a greater degree of finesse. New tephrostratigraphical data generated by the project augment previously-established tephra frameworks for the region, and underpin a more evolved tephra 'lattice' that links palaeo-records between Greenland, the European mainland, sub-marine sequences in the Mediterranean and North Africa. The paper also outlines the significance of other contributions to this special volume: collectively, these illustrate how the lattice was constructed, how it links with cognate tephra research in Europe and elsewhere, and how the evidence of tephra isochrons is beginning to challenge long-held views about the impacts of environmental change on humans during the Palaeolithic. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.RESET was funded through Consortium Grants awarded by the Natural Environment Research Council, UK, to a collaborating team drawn from four institutions: Royal Holloway University of London (grant reference NE/E015905/1), the Natural History Museum, London (NE/E015913/1), Oxford University (NE/E015670/1) and the University of Southampton, including the National Oceanography Centre (NE/01531X/1). The authors also wish to record their deep gratitude to four members of the scientific community who formed a consultative advisory panel during the lifetime of the RESET project: Professor Barbara Wohlfarth (Stockholm University), Professor Jørgen Peder Steffensen (Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen), Dr. Martin Street (Romisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Neuwied) and Professor Clive Oppenheimer (Cambridge University). They provided excellent advice at key stages of the work, which we greatly valued. We also thank Jenny Kynaston (Geography Department, Royal Holloway) for construction of several of the figures in this paper, and Debbie Barrett (Elsevier) and Colin Murray Wallace (Editor-in-Chief, QSR) for their considerable assistance in the production of this special volume.Peer Reviewe

Evidence for gravity scaling and implications for explosion craters

Crater data have been examined from recent hypervelocity impact and chemical explosion experiments conducted in accelerating frames. Data have been identified from experiments for which the conditions of similitude have been very nearly achieved. Examination of these data from similar experiments indicates that fourth-root or gravity scaling is the rule which best relates crater dimensions to the energy release of impacting projectiles or explosives. Implications for chemical and nuclear explosion cratering are that in model experiments where the gravitational field is constant the specific energy and dimensions of the explosive must be scaled as the fourth-root of explosion energy release. Additionally, medium properties must be appropriately scaled in similar experiments. Because of the impracticability of realizing the constraints imposed on model experiments by similitude requirements attention in future experiments should be focused on the sources of similarity violation and their influence on empirical relationships derived from experiments. Experiments in accelerating frames with both explosive sources and hypervelocity impact projectiles offer one means for investigating effects of similitude violation. To further elucidate the question of crater scaling, experiments in accelerating frames may be conducted which most nearly achieve the conditions of similitude required

Multidisciplinary Studies of Chagyrskaya Cave – A Middle Paleolithic Site in Altai

The monograph discusses key results obtained in a multidisciplinary study of assemblages recovered from Chagyrskaya Cave, a unique Middle Paleolithic site of North Asia. This publication presents archaeological, anthropological, palynological, palaeontological, geological and paleogeographical data, as well as absolute age determinations. Investigations undertaken during 2007–2015 enable reconstruction of the Neanderthal subsistence strategies in the Altai Mountains foothills over several millennia. The book is addressed to scientists who study human prehistory

Hugoniot data for some geologic materials /

Hugoniot data have been obtained for several several geologic solids including porous soils and porous and nonporous rocks. Effects of porosity and water content on Hugoniots of porous materials have been examined.Sandia Corporation Research Report SC-4903 (RR)June 1963.Includes bibliographical references.Hugoniot data have been obtained for several several geologic solids including porous soils and porous and nonporous rocks. Effects of porosity and water content on Hugoniots of porous materials have been examined.Mode of access: Internet

Archaeological evidence for two separate dispersals of Neanderthals into southern Siberia

Neanderthals were once widespread across Europe and western Asia. They also penetrated into the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia, but the geographical origin of these populations and the timing of their dispersal have remained elusive. Here we describe an archaeological assemblage from Chagyrskaya Cave, situated in the Altai foothills, where around 90,000 Middle Paleolithic artifacts and 74 Neanderthal remains have been recovered from deposits dating to between 59 and 49 thousand years ago (age range at 95.4% probability). Environmental reconstructions suggest that the Chagyrskaya hominins were adapted to the dry steppe and hunted bison. Their distinctive toolkit closely resembles Micoquian assemblages from central and eastern Europe, including the northern Caucasus, more than 3,000 kilometers to the west of Chagyrskaya Cave. At other Altai sites, evidence of earlier Neanderthal populations lacking associated Micoquian-like artifacts implies two or more Neanderthal incursions into this region. We identify eastern Europe as the most probable ancestral source region for the Chagyrskaya toolmakers, supported by DNA results linking the Neanderthal remains with populations in northern Croatia and the northern Caucasus, and providing a rare example of a long-distance, intercontinental population movement associated with a distinctive Paleolithic toolkit

Neanderthal technological variability : a wide-ranging geographical perspective of the final Middle Palaeolithic.

Since the stone tool assemblages identified at the site of Le Moustier in France at the end of the 19th century were given their name, Neanderthals have often been identified as ‘Mousterian man’. From the beginning of the 20th century until roughly its final quarter, cultural classifications were based primarily on typological features of lithic assemblages, determined by studying the shape of the artefacts and specific characteristics of retouch. This approach was based on the ‘index fossil’ concept borrowed from the natural sciences, such that each cultural context was clearly identifiable due to the presence of a distinct retouched tool or set of tools