Le gisement pléistocène moyen de Galeria Pesada (Estrémadure, Portugal) : premiers résultats

Les fouilles de la grotte de Galeria Pesada (complexe karstique d’Almonda, Torres Novas) livrent de riches assemblages lithiques et osseux datés du Pléistocène moyen final (fouilles 1997-1999). Les ensembles lithiques sont caractérisés par une combinaison d’outils classiques de l’Acheuléen, d’une abondante série d’outils bifaciaux (foliacés, petits bifaces asymétriques, Keilmesser, etc.) et de nombreux racloirs, souvent en quartz. Cette industrie n’a pas d’équivalent jusqu’à présent dans la Péninsule ibérique. Elle est associée à une faune dominée par les Cervidés et les Equidés dont les ossements présentent un fort pourcentage de marques de boucherie, démontrant une exploitation intensive (consommation) des carcasses par les anciens hominidés.Excavations at the late Middle Pleistocene cave site of Galeria Pesada in Portuguese Estremadura have uncovered a series of lithic assemblages associated with abundant faunal remains (Excavations 1997-1999). The lithic assemblages are all similar and consist of a combination of a few classic Acheulean tools, a rich series of bifacial tools (foliates, small asymmetric bifaces, Keilmesser, etc.), and a large number of scrapers, often on quartz. These assemblages, unknown to date in the rest of Iberia, are associated with Cervids and Equids, cut marks on bones indicate extensive and intensive carcass modification and consumption by hominids

Neandertal-Modern Human Contact in Western Eurasia: Issues of Dating, Taxonomy, and Cultural Associations

Supporting Assimilation views of Neandertal/modern human interaction, chronostratigraphic reasoning indicates that the “transitional” industries of Europe predate modern human immigration, in agreement with their association with Neandertals in the Châtelperronian at the Grotte du Renne and St.-Césaire. Supporting the Neandertals' species separateness and less developed cognition, those industries are alternatively claimed to relate to pioneer groups of modern humans; the latter would have been the true makers of the precocious instances of symbolic material culture that, under Assimilation, are assigned to the Neandertals. However, the taxonomy of the Kent's Cavern and Grotta del Cavallo dental remains is uncertain, and their poor stratigraphic context precludes dating by association. The opposite happens at the Grotte du Renne, whose stratigraphic integrity is corroborated by both taphonomy and dating. Not questioning that the Early Ahmarian is a cultural proxy for modern humans and a source for the Protoaurignacian of Europe, its claimed emergence ~46–49 ka ago at Kebara refl ects the dating of Middle Paleolithic charcoal—to be expected, because the Early Ahmarian units at the back of the cave are made up of reworked Middle Paleolithic sediments derived from the entrance. The dating of inherited material also explains the old results for the Aurignacian of Willendorf II and Geissenklösterle. At the latter, the dates on anthropically modified samples of the hunted taxa (reindeer and horse) place its Aurignacian occupations in the same time range as elsewhere in Europe, after ~40 ka ago. The hypothesis that Neandertal/modern human contact in Europe resulted in a process of assimilation in connection with the spread of the Protoaurignacian ~41.5 ka ago remains unfalsified.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Stone tool function at the paleolithic sites of Starosele and Buran Kaya III, Crimea: Behavioral implications

Stone tools are often the most abundant type of cultural remains at Paleolithic sites, yet their function is often poorly understood. Investigations of stone tool function, including microscopic use-wear and residue analyses, were performed on a sample of artifacts from the Paleolithic sites of Starosele (40,000–80,000 years BP) and Buran Kaya III (32,000–37,000 years BP). The Middle Paleolithic levels at Starosele exhibit a typical variant of the local Micoquian Industry. The artifacts from Buran Kaya III most closely resemble an Early Streletskayan Industry associated with the early Upper Paleolithic. The results of the functional analyses suggest that hominids at both sites were exploiting woody and starchy plant material as well as birds and mammals. Both sites show evidence of hafting of a wide variety of tools and the possible use of projectile or thrusting spears. These analyses were performed by using two different techniques conducted by independent researchers. Combined residue and use-wear analyses suggest that both the Upper Paleolithic and Middle Paleolithic hominids at these sites were broad-based foragers capable of exploiting a wide range of resources