Fire and Beyond: a Geoarchaeological Analysis of the Anthropogenic Features from Fumane Cave (NE Italy) and Hohle Fels (SW Germany)

Anthropogenic features provide direct evidence of human activities that took place during the occupation of a site and as such are valuable sources of information for inferring past behaviour. Their identification and interpretation is essential for archaeological research, and geoarchaeology has the potential to unravel their nature and place them into context. One of the main goals in the analysis of archaeological features is to investigate the relationship between humans and fire. A major issue in the investigation of human evolution and pyrotechnology is that fire and the ability to produce it are seen by some as one of the primary characteristics that distinguish modern humans from Neanderthals. Around this main debate, other threads open up. In fact, features like hearths can also provide insights into site maintenance, social organization, and settlement dynamics. Here I investigate the anthropogenic features from two important Palaeolithic caves in Europe, Fumane Cave (IT) and Hohle Fels (DE). Both sites cover the transition from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic, providing the unique opportunity to explore Neanderthal and modern human settlements. First, I analysed the thin sections using micromorphology to understand the nature of the features and their link to human activities. Second, I obtained complete information by applying complementary analyses to selected samples. Third, I executed experimental work on burning bones in a controlled environment to understand better changes in bones heated at low temperatures. The results show a diverse set of anthropogenic features such as hearths, hearth bases, dumps, occupational horizons and laminated/trampled surfaces. Their presence reflects different activities, including combustion and site maintenance/use, carried out by humans within the site. Further, I infer fuel choice, occupation of sites and the mobility of the groups that inhabited them. Fumane Cave and Hohle Fels appear as a complex system of human behaviour based on a close relationship with the surrounding landscape. Finally, experimentation on charred bones reveals the potential of organic petrology in investigating fat-derived char and determining a range of combustion temperatures. This dissertation shows the importance of a micro-contextual approach within archaeological research, the potential of the investigation of anthropogenic features to reconstruct past human activities, and the need to consider them part of the cultural material. An anthropogenic feature is comparable to many other artefacts and must be treated as such to gain information on both natural processes and human behaviour

Burning, dumping, and site use during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic at Hohle Fels Cave, SW Germany

Dumped deposits are a valuable source of information for inferring past behaviour. They provide insights into site maintenance, social organization and settlement dynamics. Hohle Fels Cave in SW Germany offers a unique opportunity to investigate the importance of dumping and site maintenance during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic of the Swabian Jura. In this paper, we analyse anthropogenic deposits at Hohle Fels employing micromorphology and fabric analysis in order to reconstruct their formation and understand the human behaviours behind their accumulation. Our study indicates that dumping residues from combustion features in the interior of Hohle Fels Cave has a long history extending back to Neanderthal occupation at the site during the Middle Palaeolithic. Despite some reworking via down-slope movement, most of the features demonstrate that the site’s inhabitants dumped burnt material, which was previously the fuel for domestic hearths, in specific locations within the cave. The intentionality of the action and the characteristics of the features provide important information for reconstructing the mode and spatial organization of occupations at the site. The combustion features from the Middle Palaeolithic allow us to reassess the hypothesis that Neanderthals’ use of the site was less intense and documented a lesser degree of spatial patterning than subsequent Upper Palaeolithic occupations. This research also provides insight for examining the regional variability of pyrotechnology and site maintenance during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic.publishedVersio

Middle and Upper Paleolithic occupations of Fumane Cave (Italy): a geoarchaeological investigation of the anthropogenic features

Here we present the results of a microcontextual analysis of purported combustion features recovered from Middle and Upper Paleolithic occupations at the cave site of Fumane, Italy. Our analyses, which integrate micromorphology with organic petrology, show that only a few of the features represent primary, intact hearths; some of them show evidence for various phases of anthropogenic reworking, either through trampling or sweeping and dumping. Several of the features are multi-layered and reflect a complex formation history of various activities related to combustion and site maintenance. Many appear to be the remnants of occupation horizons only partially preserved and peripherally related to combustion. Within several of the intact hearths from the Mousterian, we were able to identify variable fuel sources in different features, implying a degree of flexibility in the fuel-selection strategies of the Neanderthal occupants of Fumane. In this study we design a classification system of the anthropogenic features and also conduct a spatial analysis, through which we can infer diachronic patterns in the frequency and intensity of site occupation and the spatial distribution of activities. We note a decrease in frequency of combustion features throughout the Mousterian which continues into the Uluzzian. The features associated with the Protoaurignacian occupation, in contrast with those from the Mousterian, are multi-layered and well-defined. We argue that these trends, which correspond with other trends in artefact frequency, imply changes in the settlement dynamics of the site during the transition from the last Neanderthal occupation of the cave to the arrival of modern humans.publishedVersio

Fire and beyond : a Geoarchaeological analysis of the anthropogenic features from Fumane Cave (NE Italy) and Hohle Fels (SW Germany)

Anthropogenic features provide direct evidence of human activities that took place during the occupation of a site and as such are valuable sources of information for inferring past behaviour. Their identification and interpretation is essential for archaeological research, and geoarchaeology has the potential to unravel their nature and place them into context. One of the main goals in the analysis of archaeological features is to investigate the relationship between humans and fire. A major issue in the investigation of human evolution and pyrotechnology is that fire and the ability to produce it are seen by some as one of the primary characteristics that distinguish modern humans from Neanderthals. Around this main debate, other threads open up. In fact, features like hearths can also provide insights into site maintenance, social organization, and settlement dynamics. Here I investigate the anthropogenic features from two important Palaeolithic caves in Europe, Fumane Cave (IT) and Hohle Fels (DE). Both sites cover the transition from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic, providing the unique opportunity to explore Neanderthal and modern human settlements. First, I analysed the thin sections using micromorphology to understand the nature of the features and their link to human activities. Second, I obtained complete information by applying complementary analyses to selected samples. Third, I executed experimental work on burning bones in a controlled environment to understand better changes in bones heated at low temperatures. The results show a diverse set of anthropogenic features such as hearths, hearth bases, dumps, occupational horizons and laminated/trampled surfaces. Their presence reflects different activities, including combustion and site maintenance/use, carried out by humans within the site. Further, I infer fuel choice, occupation of sites and the mobility of the groups that inhabited them. Fumane Cave and Hohle Fels appear as a complex system of human behaviour based on a close relationship with the surrounding landscape. Finally, experimentation on charred bones reveals the potential of organic petrology in investigating fat-derived char and determining a range of combustion temperatures. This dissertation shows the importance of a micro-contextual approach within archaeological research, the potential of the investigation of anthropogenic features to reconstruct past human activities, and the need to consider them part of the cultural material. An anthropogenic feature is comparable to many other artefacts and must be treated as such to gain information on both natural processes and human behaviour

Il Musteriano delle unità A10 e A11 a Grotta di Fumane (VR). Risultati delle campagne di scavo 2014 e 2016.

Results produced from the last three archaeological campaigns at Fumane Cave are here presented. The campaigns have been devoted to the excavation of units A11 and A10 lying at the base of the Mousterian Macro-unit A with an estimated age of >48 ka cal BP (Peresani, 2012; López-García et alii, 2015). The excavation took place in the eastern part of the cave entrance with a combined total area of 6 m2: this allowed unearthing a sequence of thin subunits rich in archaeological findings. Several combustion structures were revealed throughout the explored stratigraphic sequence. Faunal remains provide evidence of human exploitation and an overall similarity with the overlying unit A9 (Cassoli, Tagliacozzo, 1991; Romandini et alii, 2014). By contrast, the lithic industry is markedly different showing the prevalence of the Levallois method, mainly the unipolar modality producing elongated blanks, over the Discoid method which is only attested in the higher part unit A10 (Gennai, 2017). The important results achieved reveal the significance of units A10 and A11 for defining Late Neanderthals behaviour in the Central Mediterranean area and stimulate further investigations

Il Musteriano delle unità A10 e A11 a Grotta di Fumane (VR). Risultati delle campagne di scavo 2014 e 2016

Results produced from 2014 and 2016 archaeological campaigns at Fumane Cave are here presented. The campaigns have been devoted to the excavation of contexts A11 and A10, lying at the base of the Macro-unit A Mousterian sequence with an estimated date of >48 ka cal BP. The excavation took place in the eastern part of the cave entrance with a combined total area of 6 m2: this allowed discovering a sequence of thin subunits rich in archaeological findings. Several structures of combustion had been revealed throughout the whole stratigraphic sequence. Faunal remains provide evidence of human exploitation and an overall similarity with the overlied unit A9. On the contrary, the lithic industry is markedly different showing the prevalence of Levallois method, mainly the unipolar modality producing elongated blanks, over the Discoid method which appears only in the higher part of the A10 sequence. The important results achieved reveal the significance of units A10 and A11 in defining Late Neanderthals behaviour in the Central Mediterranean area and stimulate further investigations

Il Musteriano delle unità A10 e A11 a Grotta di Fumane (VR). Risultati delle campagne di scavo 2014 e 2016

Results produced from 2014 and 2016 archaeological campaigns at Fumane Cave are here presented. The campaigns have been devoted to the excavation of contexts A11 and A10, lying at the base of the Macro-unit A Mousterian sequence with an estimated date of >48 ka cal BP. The excavation took place in the eastern part of the cave entrance with a combined total area of 6 m2: this allowed discovering a sequence of thin subunits rich in archaeological findings. Several structures of combustion had been revealed throughout the whole stratigraphic sequence. Faunal remains provide evidence of human exploitation and an overall similarity with the overlied unit A9. On the contrary, the lithic industry is markedly different showing the prevalence of Levallois method, mainly the unipolar modality producing elongated blanks, over the Discoid method which appears only in the higher part of the A10 sequence. The important results achieved reveal the significance of units A10 and A11 in defining Late Neanderthals behaviour in the Central Mediterranean area and stimulate further investigations

Il Musteriano delle unità A10 e A11 a Grotta di Fumane (VR). Risultati delle campagne di scavo 2014 e 2016.

Results produced from the last three archaeological campaigns at Fumane Cave are here presented. The campaigns have been devoted to the excavation of units A11 and A10 lying at the base of the Mousterian Macro-unit A with an estimated age of >48 ka cal BP (Peresani, 2012; López-García et alii, 2015). The excavation took place in the eastern part of the cave entrance with a combined total area of 6 m2: this allowed unearthing a sequence of thin subunits rich in archaeological findings. Several combustion structures were revealed throughout the explored stratigraphic sequence. Faunal remains provide evidence of human exploitation and an overall similarity with the overlying unit A9 (Cassoli, Tagliacozzo, 1991; Romandini et alii, 2014). By contrast, the lithic industry is markedly different showing the prevalence of the Levallois method, mainly the unipolar modality producing elongated blanks, over the Discoid method which is only attested in the higher part unit A10 (Gennai, 2017). The important results achieved reveal the significance of units A10 and A11 for defining Late Neanderthals behaviour in the Central Mediterranean area and stimulate further investigations