Understanding preservation and identification biases of ancient adhesives through experimentation

Abstract: Adhesive production is one of the earliest forms of transformative technology, predating ceramics and metallurgy by over 150,000 years. The study of adhesive use by Neandertals and early modern humans currently plays a significant role in debates about human technological and cognitive evolution. Depending on the type of adhesive used, different production sequences were required. These can vary in complexity, and would have needed different knowledge, expertise, and resources to manufacture. However, our knowledge of this important technological development is severely hampered by poorly understood taphonomic processes, which affect the preservation and identification of adhesive materials, and leads to a research bias. Here we present the results from a three year field preservation experiment. Flint flakes hafted and non-hafted with replica adhesives were left to weather naturally on and below the surface at two locations with different soils and climatic conditions. Differential preservation was recorded on a variety of natural adhesives by digitally measuring the surface area of each residue before and after the elapsed time. Residues were further assessed and photographed using metallographic optical microscopy. Results show that certain adhesives preserve to a significantly higher degree than others, while some materials may be more easily overlooked or visually misdiagnosed. We must therefore be aware of both taphonomic and identification biases when discussing ancient adhesive technology. This research provides a first look that will help us understand the disparities between which adhesives were used in the past, and what we find in the archaeological record today

It's getting hot in here – Microcontextual study of a potential pit hearth at the Middle Paleolithic site of El Salt, Spain

By studying combustion structures, which conceal information about anthropogenic activity, we might learn about their makers. This is especially important for remote time periods like the Middle Paleolithic, whose archaeological record comprises numerous combustion structures. The majority of these are simple, flat, open hearths, although a small number of features situated in pit-like depressions have been recorded. Given that hearths built on a flat surface can result in pit-like color alteration of the underlying sediment, accurate identification of pit hearths is a crucial step prior to behavioral interpretation. Here we present a comprehensive study of a possible pit hearth from the Middle Paleolithic site of El Salt, Spain, using a microcontextual approach combining micromorphology, lipid biomarker analysis, archaeomagnetism and zooarchaeology. This pit hearth involves a true depression containing a thick plant ash deposit. It reached very high temperatures, possibly multiple burning events and long combustion times. Morphologically distinct combustion structures in a single archaeological context may indicate different functions and thus a diverse fire technology, pointing to Neanderthal behavioral variability.ERC Consolidator Grant project PALEOCHAR – 648871 https://erc.europa.eu/funding/consolidator-grants, I + D Project HAR2008-06117/HIST, HAR2015-68321-P (MINECO-FEDER/UE), and the Cultural Heritage Department of the Valencia Government and the Archaeological Museum Camil Visedo of Alcoy, under the direction of Professor Bertila Galván of Universidad de La Laguna, Junta de Castilla y León (project BU235P18), the European Fund for Economic and Regional Development (EFRD) and the project PID2019-105796 GB-I00 of the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI/10.13039/501100011033

Archaeological Podocarpus tar supports the cognitive complexity of Neanderthals

Team Joris Di

Reconstructing adhesives : an experimental approach to organic palaeolithic technology

The first use of birch tar adhesives by Neandertals over 191,000 years ago marked a significant technological development. The ability to produce entirely new materials through transformative processes was unlike anything that had been done before. In southern Africa, during the Middle Stone Age, humans made compound adhesives by combining disparate ingredients, a task which is believed to have required modern-like levels of cognition. However, for all of the significance given to ancient adhesives in discussions about Neandertal and modern human technological and cognitive capabilities, our knowledge of the material itself is limited. This thesis provides the first comprehensive study of Middle Palaeolithic and Middle Stone Age adhesives, providing new insight into the material choices and technological capabilities of Neandertals and Middle Stone Age humans. Finally, as awareness for the importance of Palaeolithic adhesive residues continues to increase, and more discoveries are made, new questions and materials that need to be tested are constantly being brought to light.Material Culture Studie

Archaeological Podocarpus tar supports the cognitive complexity of Neanderthals

Team Joris Di

Engaging with Interconnected Place for a Hopeful Future: Discussing the potential that place attachment has for encouraging pro-environmental behaviour in an interconnected world

Using primary research from majority-Western respondents in conjunction with an array of multi-disciplinary secondary literature, this thesis acts as a response to claims of the overwhelming existence of ‘placelessness’ in our modernised and globalised world. Instead, it suggests that place attachment is alive and well in the West. Furthermore this thesis suggests that place attachment can be shown to have positive links to the creation and encouragement of pro-environmental behaviour. Additionally, by integrating interconnectedness perspectives – whereby people exist as part of an interconnected earth – place attachment may further foster beneficial pro-environmental tendencies. Thus, place attachment in this way is posited as a possible partial response to environmental challenges such as climate change

Supplementary Online Material: A new experimental methodology for assessing adhesive properties shows that Neandertals used the most suitable material available

Rheology temperature and frequency sweeps, TGA, and Vickers hardness measurements of replica Paleolithic adhesives made of birch bark tar, pine resin, ochre, and beeswax. Full details can be found in the methods section of the paper "A new experimental methodology for assessing adhesive material properties shows that Neandertals used the most suitable material available".THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV