Beaver exploitation, 400,000 years ago, testifies to prey choice diversity of Middle Pleistocene hominins

Data regarding the subsistence base of early hominins are heavily biased in favor of the animal component of their diets, in particular the remains of large mammals, which are generally much better preserved at archaeological sites than the bones of smaller animals, let alone the remains of plant food. Exploitation of smaller game is very rarely documented before the latest phases of the Pleistocene, which is often taken to imply narrow diets of archaic Homo and interpreted as a striking economic difference between Late Pleistocene and earlier hominins. We present new data that contradict this view of Middle Pleistocene Lower Palaeolithic hominins: cut mark evidence demonstrating systematic exploitation of beavers, identified in the large faunal assemblage from the c. 400,000 years old hominin site Bilzingsleben, in central Germany. In combination with a prime-age dominated mortality profile, this cut mark record shows that the rich beaver assemblage resulted from repetitive human hunting activities, with a focus on young adult individuals. The Bilzingsleben beaver exploitation evidence demonstrates a greater diversity of prey choice by Middle Pleistocene hominins than commonly acknowledged, and a much deeper history of broad-spectrum subsistence than commonly assumed, already visible in prey choices 400,000 years ago.Human Origin

Hunting and processing of straight-tusked elephants 125.000 years ago: implications for Neanderthal behavior

Straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) were the largest terrestrial mammals of the Pleistocene, present in Eurasian landscapes between 800,000 and 100,000 years ago. The occasional co-occurrence of their skeletal remains with stone tools has generated rich speculation about the nature of interactions between these elephants and Pleistocene humans: Did hominins scavenge on elephants that died a natural death or maybe even hunt some individuals? Our archaeozoological study of the largest P. antiquus assemblage known, excavated from 125,000-year-old lake deposits in Germany, shows that hunting of elephants weighing up to 13 metric tons was part of the cultural repertoire of Last Interglacial Neanderthals there, over >2000 years, many dozens of generations. The intensity and nutritional yields of these well-documented butchering activities, combined with previously reported data from this Neumark-Nord site complex, suggest that Neanderthals were less mobile and operated within social units substantially larger than commonly envisaged.Human Origin

Human behavioural adaptations to interglacial lakeshore environments

The Schöningen 13II-4 “Spear Horizon” is among the most famous lakeshore archaeological sites dating from the Middle Pleistocene in Europe. Multiple well-crafted wooden spears recovered together with a large assemblage of butchered horse bones at Schöningen stimulated a new outlook of the behavioural capabilities of Palaeolithic hunters. Since these discoveries, a wealth of geological and palaeoecological data have been generated to reconstruct the wider Schöningen interglacial lakeshore environment. Yet, the underlying social and economic behaviours of Middle Pleistocene hominins reflected in the archaeological record itself have received less attention. To address these shortcomings, we began a comprehensive zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of the entire large mammalian assemblage from the Schöningen 13II-4 “Spear Horizon”, with the goal of re-focusing attention to the “human component” of this important site. Here we present the preliminary results of our research

Uneven Data Quality and the Earliest Occupation of Europe—the Case of Untermassfeld (Germany)

The database regarding the earliest occupation of Europe has increased significantly in quantity and quality of data points over the last two decades, mainly through the addition of new sites as a result of long-term systematic excavations and large-scale prospections of Early and early Middle Pleistocene exposures. The site distribution pattern suggests an ephemeral presence of hominins in the south of Europe from around 1 million years ago onward, with occasional short northward expansions along the western coastal areas when temperate conditions permitted. From around 600,000–700,000 years ago, Acheulean artefacts appear in Europe and somewhat later hominin presence seems to pick up, with more sites and now some also present in colder climatic settings. It is again only later, around 350,000 years ago, that the first sites show up in more continental, central parts of Europe, east of the Rhine. A series of recent papers on the Early Pleistocene palaeontological site of Untermassfeld (Thuringia, Germany) makes claims that are of great interest for studies of earliest Europe and are at odds with the described pattern: the papers suggest that Untermassfeld has yielded stone tools and humanly modified faunal remains, evidence for a 1 million years old hominin presence in European continental mid-latitudes, and additional evidence that hominins were well-established in Europe already around that time period. Here, we evaluate these claims and demonstrate that these studies are severely flawed in terms of data on provenance of the materials studied and in the interpretation of faunal remains and lithics as testifying to a hominin presence at the site. In actual fact, any reference to the Untermassfeld site as an archaeological one is unwarranted. Furthermore, it is not the only European Early Pleistocene site where inferred evidence for hominin presence is problematic. The strength of the spatiotemporal patterns of hominin presence and absence depends on the quality of the data points we work with, and database maintenance, including critical evaluation of new sites, is crucial to advance our knowledge of the expansions and contractions of hominin ranges during the Pleistocene.Human Origin

Palaeoecology and archaeology of the Kärlich-Seeufer Open-Air Site (Middle Pleistocene) in the Central Rhineland, Germany

Wetensch. publicatieFaculty of Archeolog

Environmental conditions at the Last Interglacial (Eemian) site Neumark‐Nord 2, Germany inferred from stable isotope analysis of freshwater mollusc opercula

Mollusc biogenic carbonates are valuable records of past environmental conditions. In particular, carbonate oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) stable isotopes can be used to reconstruct different physical and chemical parameters, according to the different genera used (marine, freshwater or terrestrial). The Last Interglacial (early Eemian) palaeolake of Neumark-Nord 2 (NN2), Germany provides an excellent example of a Neanderthal archaeological site with abundant freshwater carbonate remains. As in other European contexts, one of the most abundant species is Bithynia tentaculata. In order to provide a robust regional baseline for the interpretation of the archaeological data, this study includes a calibration phase on modern B. tentaculata opercula. The results indicate that these calcitic structures are likely to be subjected to a growth slowdown/cessation during summer, which influences their geochemistry, reflecting mainly the water properties of the rest of the year. This modern calibration, together with the existing palaeoenvironmental reconstructions developed for NN2 (e.g. pollen data), represents a valuable opportunity to establish B. tentaculata opercula as reliable environmental proxies applicable to several other freshwater contexts. The isotope data of the NN2 opercula, in agreement with the pollen record, indicate that the major archaeological horizon was formed during a rather wet period and potentially in a semi-forested environment. However, human occupation occurred also during drier phases at the site and within a wide temperature range, indicating the absence of restricted environmental preferences by the local Neanderthal groups

Shape Variation in Aterian Tanged Tools and the Origins of Projectile Technology: A Morphometric Perspective on Stone Tool Function

BACKGROUND: Recent findings suggest that the North African Middle Stone Age technocomplex known as the Aterian is both much older than previously assumed, and certainly associated with fossils exhibiting anatomically modern human morphology and behavior. The Aterian is defined by the presence of 'tanged' or 'stemmed' tools, which have been widely assumed to be among the earliest projectile weapon tips. The present study systematically investigates morphological variation in a large sample of Aterian tools to test the hypothesis that these tools were hafted and/or used as projectile weapons. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Both classical morphometrics and Elliptical Fourier Analysis of tool outlines are used to show that the shape variation in the sample exhibits size-dependent patterns consistent with a reduction of the tools from the tip down, with the tang remaining intact. Additionally, the process of reduction led to increasing side-to-side asymmetries as the tools got smaller. Finally, a comparison of shape-change trajectories between Aterian tools and Late Paleolithic arrowheads from the North German site of Stellmoor reveal significant differences in terms of the amount and location of the variation. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The patterns of size-dependent shape variation strongly support the functional hypothesis of Aterian tools as hafted knives or scrapers with alternating active edges, rather than as weapon tips. Nevertheless, the same morphological patterns are interpreted as one of the earliest evidences for a hafting modification, and for the successful combination of different raw materials (haft and stone tip) into one implement, in itself an important achievement in the evolution of hominin technologies

A Middle Palaeolithic wooden digging stick from Aranbaltza III, Spain

Aranbaltza is an archaeological complex formed by at least three open-air sites. Between 2014 and 2015 a test excavation carried out in Aranbaltza III revealed the presence of a sand and clay sedimentary sequence formed in floodplain environments, within which six sedimentary units have been identified. This sequence was formed between 137±50 ka, and includes several archaeological horizons, attesting to the long-term presence of Neanderthal communities in this area. One of these horizons, corresponding with Unit 4, yielded two wooden tools. One of these tools is a beveled pointed tool that was shaped through a complex operational sequence involving branch shaping, bark peeling, twig removal, shaping, polishing, thermal exposition and chopping. A use-wear analysis of the tool shows it to have traces related with digging soil so it has been interpreted as representing a digging stick. This is the first time such a tool has been identified in a European Late Middle Palaeolithic context; it also represents one of the first well-preserved Middle Palaeolithic wooden tool found in southern Europe. This artefact represents one of the few examples available of wooden tool preservation for the European Palaeolithic, allowing us to further explore the role wooden technologies played in Neanderthal communities