Short-term occupations at high elevation during the Middle Paleolithic at Kalavan 2 (Republic of Armenia)

The Armenian highlands encompasses rugged and environmentally diverse landscapes and is characterized by a mosaic of distinct ecological niches and large temperature gradients. Strong seasonal fluctuations in resource availability along topographic gradients likely prompted Pleistocene hominin groups to adapt by adjusting their mobility strategies. However, the role that elevated landscapes played in hunter-gatherer settlement systems during the Late Pleistocene (Middle Palaeolithic [MP]) remains poorly understood. At 1640 m above sea level, the MP site of Kalavan 2 (Armenia) is ideally positioned for testing hypotheses involving elevation-dependent seasonal mobility and subsistence strategies. Renewed excavations at Kalavan 2 exposed three main occupation horizons and ten additional low densities lithic and faunal assemblages. The results provide a new chronological, stratigraphical, and paleoenvironmental framework for hominin behaviors between ca. 60 to 45 ka. The evidence presented suggests that the stratified occupations at Kalavan 2 locale were repeated ephemerally most likely related to hunting in a high-elevation within the mountainous steppe landscape

Short-term occupations at high elevation during the Middle Paleolithic at Kalavan 2 (Republic of Armenia)

The Armenian highlands encompasses rugged and environmentally diverse landscapes and is characterized by a mosaic of distinct ecological niches and large temperature gradients. Strong seasonal fluctuations in resource availability along topographic gradients likely prompted Pleistocene hominin groups to adapt by adjusting their mobility strategies. However, the role that elevated landscapes played in hunter-gatherer settlement systems during the Late Pleistocene (Middle Palaeolithic [MP]) remains poorly understood. At 1640 m above sea level, the MP site of Kalavan 2 (Armenia) is ideally positioned for testing hypotheses involving elevation-dependent seasonal mobility and subsistence strategies. Renewed excavations at Kalavan 2 exposed three main occupation horizons and ten additional low densities lithic and faunal assemblages. The results provide a new chronological, stratigraphical, and paleoenvironmental framework for hominin behaviors between ca. 60 to 45 ka. The evidence presented suggests that the stratified occupations at Kalavan 2 locale were repeated ephemerally most likely related to hunting in a high-elevation within the mountainous steppe landscape.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Middle Palaeolithic Regional Land-Use & Behavior in Dutch and Belgian Limburg: Integrating Data from Upland Open-Air Sites

The Palaeolithic archaeological database of northwest Europe is biased towards evidence originating in caves, rockshelters, fluvial, and littoral settings. Theories of regional land use patterns are therefore based on samples of behavioral residues from only certain parts of the environment. In addition, abundant and often ignored evidence for Palaeolithic land use is found in surface lithic assemblages occurring on elevated terraces and plateaus in river catchments. Integrating technological data from these landforms is necessary to complement this unbalanced picture of land use. This dissertation presents the results of analysis of lithic assemblages from elevated surfaces in the region of Dutch and Belgian Limburg, and attempts to integrate these data with those from lower elevation parts of the landscape to test hypotheses on land use and mobility. It was necessary to address theoretical and substantive problems associated with the time averaged, palimpsest nature of surface assemblages. When scales of analysis and theoretical perspectives were adjusted to accommodate these problems, long-term patterns of regional land use behavior became identifiable. The research examines how lithic assemblages on elevated surfaces vary in terms of raw material procurement, inter-site fragmentation of core reduction sequences, and patterns of artifact discard; and how this variability relates to site occupational frequency, an indicator of differential land use. Detailed techno-typological analysis was applied to samples of lithic assemblages from 9 sites (n artifacts = 2885). Comparison among assemblages from high and low elevation settings was conducted using analyses of artifact class diversity in relation to sample size. The results of these efforts indicate differences in site occupational frequency that describe variability in site function. Over the long time span of the Middle Palaeolithic, stable elevated terraces and plateaus were frequently re-occupied for a variety of purposes, whereas lower elevation localities, often in fluvial settings, were occupied less frequently for specific tasks. Logistical mobility was probably more common than traditionally thought for Palaeolithic groups in the research area. This research demonstrates that systematic analysis of Palaeolithic upland surface assemblages yields valuable data that can be integrated with those from other parts of the landscape to investigate long-term regional land use

Middle Palaeolithic land use in Dutch and Belgian Limburg: Integrating data from surface sites

The European Middle Palaeolithic archaeological database is rich, but is biased towards evidence that originates in stratified sites. In many river catchments, prevalent and often ignored evidence for Middle Palaeolithic occupation is found in palimpsest lithic assemblages on the surface. By way of a case study, this paper addresses the problem of how to integrate lithic artifact assemblage data from such contexts to complement an often unbalanced picture of long-term land use. Analysis of a sample of Middle Palaeolithic surface assemblages from south-southwest facing edges of plateaus and terraces in Dutch and Belgian Limburg yields data suitable for comparison and integration with those from stratified assemblages associated with the wider Maas River valley floor. Sample size and artifact class diversity relationships account for sample size effects and numerically summarize patterns of inter-site fragmentation of core reduction sequences and differential artifact discard, arguably indicators of regional mobility and land use. Variability in artifact class diversity among assemblages also indicates differences in site occupational frequency. When viewed from a long-term diachronic perspective, integrated evidence from cumulative and spatial palimpsests suggests that land use behavior was complex, dynamic, and varied according to topographic factors in the research area. Lack of chronological resolution, variable site formation processes and conditions of artifact recovery complicate detailed interpretation of land use patterns. Despite these problems, results suggest that throughout the Middle Palaeolithic in the research area some plateau and terrace localities were 'persistent places' frequently re-occupied for a variety of purposes, while other similarly situated sites and localities more closely associated with river and stream valleys appear to have been occupied less frequently for a more limited range of activities. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved

The environmental and cultural background for the reoccupation of the Armenian Highlands after the Last Glacial Maximum: The contribution of Kalavan 6

International audienceThis paper introduces the results from our excavations of the open-air late Upper Paleolithic site of Kalavan 6, Armenia. The site is embedded in a sedimentological sequence spanning from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; 26.5–19/20 ka) to the Holocene (i.e., from MIS 2 to 1). Our findings are presented together with chronological, environmental, and climatic data. Luminescence dating provides a temporal framework for reoccupation of the Armenian Highlands after the LGM, while two vegetation proxies (pollen assemblages and leaf waxes) characterize the environment. Based on these pollen data, a quantitative climate reconstruction (temperatures and precipitation) is offered. Techno-typological characterization of the lithic assemblages is presented together with the sourcing of the entire obsidian assemblage by portable X-ray fluorescence, providing insights into the occupants’ exploited territories. Such a framework, which incorporates both environmental reconstruction and hunter-gatherer behaviors, enables us to contextualize possible links between population dynamics during the height of the LGM and post-LGM environmental oscillations. We suggest that, during the LGM between ca. 24 and 19 ka, the combination of declining temperatures and the extension of the winter season limited the occupation feasibility of the region. The regional occupation resumed when environmental circumstances ameliorated. These results support our interpretation that temperatures and the duration of the seasons conditioned the past hunter-gatherer's occupation of the region

Middle Palaeolithic land use in Dutch and Belgian Limburg: Integrating data from surface sites

The European Middle Palaeolithic archaeological database is rich, but is biased towards evidence that originates in stratified sites. In many river catchments, prevalent and often ignored evidence for Middle Palaeolithic occupation is found in palimpsest lithic assemblages on the surface. By way of a case study, this paper addresses the problem of how to integrate lithic artifact assemblage data from such contexts to complement an often unbalanced picture of long-term land use. Analysis of a sample of Middle Palaeolithic surface assemblages from south-southwest facing edges of plateaus and terraces in Dutch and Belgian Limburg yields data suitable for comparison and integration with those from stratified assemblages associated with the wider Maas River valley floor. Sample size and artifact class diversity relationships account for sample size effects and numerically summarize patterns of inter-site fragmentation of core reduction sequences and differential artifact discard, arguably indicators of regional mobility and land use. Variability in artifact class diversity among assemblages also indicates differences in site occupational frequency. When viewed from a long-term diachronic perspective, integrated evidence from cumulative and spatial palimpsests suggests that land use behavior was complex, dynamic, and varied according to topographic factors in the research area. Lack of chronological resolution, variable site formation processes and conditions of artifact recovery complicate detailed interpretation of land use patterns. Despite these problems, results suggest that throughout the Middle Palaeolithic in the research area some plateau and terrace localities were 'persistent places' frequently re-occupied for a variety of purposes, while other similarly situated sites and localities more closely associated with river and stream valleys appear to have been occupied less frequently for a more limited range of activities. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved