Examination of Late Palaeolithic archaeological sites in northern Europe for the preservation of cryptotephra layers

We report the first major study of cryptotephra (non-visible volcanic ash layers) on Late Palaeolithic archaeological sites in northern Europe. Examination of 34 sites dating from the Last Termination reveals seven with identifiable cryptotephra layers. Preservation is observed in minerogenic and organic deposits, although tephra is more common in organic sediments. Cryptotephra layers normally occur stratigraphically above or below the archaeology. Nearby off-site palaeoclimate archives (peat bogs and lakes <0.3 km distant) were better locations for detecting tephra. However in most cases the archaeology can only be correlated indirectly with such cryptotephras. Patterns affecting the presence/absence of cryptotephra include geographic position of sites relative to the emitting volcanic centre; the influence of past atmospherics on the quantity, direction and patterns of cryptotephra transport; the nature and timing of local site sedimentation; sampling considerations and subsequent taphonomic processes. Overall, while tephrostratigraphy has the potential to improve significantly the chronology of such sites many limiting factors currently impacts the successful application

Techno-functional and 3D shape analysis applied for investigating the variability of backed tools in the Late Middle Paleolithic of Central Europe

In the Late Middle Paleolithic of Central Europe, two main cultural complexes have been distinguished: the Micoquian or Keilmessergruppe (KMG), and the Mousterian. Their differences mainly consist in the frequence of some retouched tools and the presence of bifacial technology. When these industries coexist, one element of discussion is the application of different concepts to manufacture tools with the same techno-functionality. This is particularly true for backed artifacts, such as Keilmesser (backed, asymmetrical bifacially-shaped knives) opposed to flake-tools equipped with a natural or knapped back. We conducted a techno-functional analysis of the backed tools from the G-Layer-Complex of Sesselfelsgrotte, one of the main Late Middle Paleolithic sequences in Central Europe, characterized by a combination of KMG and Mousterian aspects. In order to better understand the morpho-metrical data, 3D scans were used for recording technical features and performing semi-automatic geometric morphometrics. Results indicate that the techno-functional schemes of Keilmesser show a moderate variability and often overlap with the schemes of other typological groups. Within bifacial backed knives, a process of imitation of unifacial flake tools’ functionaly was recognized particularly in the cutting edge manufacturing. Keilmesser proved to be the long-life, versatile version of backed flake-tools, also due to the recurrent valence as both tool and core. This is why Keilmesser represent an ideal strategic blank when a mobile and multi-functional tool is needed. Based on these data, it is assumed that the relationship between Mousterian and KMG is deeply rooted and the emergence of KMG aspects could be related to constrained situations characterizing the long cold stages of the Early Weichselian. A higher regional mobility caused by the comparably low predictability of resources characterized the subsistence tactics of Neanderthal groups especially at the borders of their overall distribution. For this reason, Keilmesser could have represented an ecological answer before possibly becoming a marker of cultural identity

From the apron into the pit: the deposition of the complete debris from the manufacture of a bifacial preform at the Middle Paleolithic site of Kabazi V, level III/4-2

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>At Kabazi V, level III/4-2, the entire debris from the manufacture of a bifacial preform was found deposited in a small anthropogenic pit. The bifacial preform itself was missing. The fact that it was possible to refit all larger blanks, as well as several chips, from the pit, whereas refits with artifacts discarded on the surface of the corresponding archeological level were not found, underlines the character of the pit’s contents as a closed find sensu stricto. The only explanation for the presence of chips of very small size from the same nodule, alongside the larger ones, in the pit fill is the use of an apron to collect all detached items during the process of flaking. Among the numerous anthropogenic pits from the Crimean Middle Paleolithic, the one found at Kabazi V, level III/4-2, and two other examples from Zaskalanya V and Zaskalnaya VI stand out for the intentional deposition of carefully selected artifacts in them. The sizes of the pits match the volumes of the artifacts deposited, which emphasizes the close relationship between the construction of the pits and the artifacts’ deposition. This article explores the significance of the three cases of artifact deposition referred to above to our understanding of segmented production processes and of why these depositions occurred. The most evident interpretation is that they were caches of equipment stored as insurance for unforeseen circumstances, which is indicative of substantial planning depth and a recurrent use of logistical territories.</jats:p&gt

Looking around Pestera Cu Oase: The beginnings of Upper Paleolithic in Romania

In contrast to the widely acknowledged anthropological finds in Oase Cave and to the key geographical position of Romanian territory for the assumed dispersion of Anatomically Modern Humans in Europe, the archaeological information regarding the emergence of the Upper Paleolithic in Romania remains poorly known to a broader scientific community. The prolonged theoretical and methodological isolation of the Romanian Paleolithic research has particularly contributed to keeping the regional archaeology out of the mainstream debates regarding the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe. It has also encouraged the widely held belief of most Romanian archaeologists in the gradual emergence of the Upper Paleolithic, initiated from the local Mousterian. The present paper puts forward a brief examination of the Romanian archaeological record allegedly belonging to the main cultural actors involved in the transition to the Upper Paleolithic across Europe: the Late Mousterian, the so-called transitional industries, and the Aurignacian technocomplex. Doubtful stratigraphical data and radiocarbon sampling feed skepticism regarding the supposed Late Mousterian occurrences in the Southern Carpathian caves. The transitional industries ask for a similar criticism, as they either display stratigraphical mixing (e.g. the Mitoc-Valea Izvorului), or simply do not belong to the Early Upper Paleolithic chronological framework (e.g. the Ripiceni-Izvor Aurignacian). The local origin, the wide dispersal, and the surprisingly young chronology of the Aurignacian technocomplex in Romania are equally challenged. With the exception of the yet undated occurrences in Banat (Southwestern Romania), all the convincingly documented Aurignacian contexts belong to the generally accepted European chronological framework and show no particular connection to the local Mousterian. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved

Upper Paleolithic of Middle Dniester: Doroshivtsi III site

As a result of excavations of the Doroshivtsi III open-air site in the Middle Dniester region, seven Upper Paleolithic cultural levels were discovered in the 12 m thick loess profile. With the exception of level 1 with very few artifacts, all other cultural levels could be determined as Gravettian. The richest collections belong to level 3 and 6. Level 6 is dated to 22,330 +/- 100 BP, and represents an original UP industry with shouldered points, a small amount of burins, and numerous backed tools made mainly on microblades. Doroshivtsi III, together with Molodovo V (level 7 and 8) and Zamostya I with shouldered points in the tool-kit, which are usual, was named atypical previously. However, they represent a sub-type of this specific kind of tool, giving evidence of the originality of Dniester Gravettian industries, and their distinction from the Willendorf-Pavlov-Kostenki group. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA

Animal tracks and human footprints in prehistoric hunter-gatherer rock art of the Doro! nawas mountains (Namibia), analysed by present-day indigenous tracking experts.

Namibia is rich in hunter-gatherer rock art from the Later Stone Age (LSA); this is a tradition of which well-executed engravings of animal tracks in large numbers are characteristic. Research into rock art usually groups these motifs together with geometric signs; at best, therefore, it may provide summary lists of them. To date, the field has completely disregarded the fact that tracks and trackways are a rich medium of information for hunter-gatherers, alongside their deeper, culture-specific connotations. A recent research project, from which this article has emerged, has attempted to fill this research gap; it entailed indigenous tracking experts from the Kalahari analysing engraved animal tracks and human footprints in a rock art region in central Western Namibia, the Doro! nawas Mountains, which is the site of recently discovered rock art. The experts were able to define the species, sex, age group and exact leg of the specific animal or human depicted in more than 90% of the engravings they analysed (N = 513). Their work further demonstrates that the variety of fauna is much richer in engraved tracks than in depictions of animals in the same engraving tradition. The analyses reveal patterns that evidently arise from culturally determined preferences. The study represents further confirmation that indigenous knowledge, with its profound insights into a range of particular fields, has the capacity to considerably advance archaeological research

Occurrence of 2-hydroxy-5-methyl-3-hexanone and 3-hydroxy-5-methyl-2-hexanone as indicators of botanic origin in eucalyptus honeys

SPME GC-MS analysis of the volatile fraction from 22 Spanish eucalyptus honeys revealed two components which were present in all samples. From their mass spectra they were tentatively assigned as 2-hydroxy-5-methyl-3-hexanone and 3-hydroxy-5-methyl-2-hexanone. As no commercial standards were available for these compounds, they were enzymatically synthesized, respectively, from isovaleraldehyde and pyruvic acid, and from α-ketoisocaproic acid and acetaldehyde, using reactions catalyzed by yeast pyruvate decarboxylase. The prepared products presented retention indices and mass spectra identical to those of the compounds found in eucalyptus honeys. Since these compounds were not found in 165 other honey samples from 19 different floral origins, they appear to be good markers for eucalyptus honey. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer Reviewe

From hunter-gatherers to farmers: contributions of traceology to the study of prehistoric lithic technology in arabia

[EN] Archaeological investigations of the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene human occupation of the nearly 3 million square kilometres that make up the vast and diverse landscapes of the Arabian Peninsula are hampered by a series of shortcomings.Some of the problems when trying to reconstruct human occupation and behaviour based on material culture are imposed by the state of preservation of archaeological finds. The shift from dry to wet and back to dry conditions at the end of the Holocene climate optimum has obliterated all prehistoric organic remains, leaving archaeologists with nothing but dust and rocks. In order to reconstruct how humans have adapted to these, at times, challenging environments, archaeologists have turned to the most durable of human cultural expressions: Lithics. While technology and typology are used to classify lithic artefacts, traceology, i.e., the study of tool use, provides insights into the kinetics of stone tools as well as tasks accomplished and materials transformed with the help of these. This article reports on traceological data from the prehistory of Arabia from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Late Palaeolithic and the Neolithic.We address shifting technological and functional paradigms and discuss the limitations of their interpretation, mostly imposed by taphonomic alterations on the lithic assemblages.[FR] Les recherches archéologiques portant sur l’occupation humaine au cours du Pléistocène final et de l’Holocène des près de trois millions de kilomètres carrés que constituent les paysages divers de la péninsule Arabique sont entravées par une série de lacunes. Lorsqu’on essaie de reconstituer l’occupation et le comportement humains, certains des problèmes majeurs sont induits par les oscillations environnementales qui ont marqué les paysages régionaux au cours des trente derniers millénaires. Les variations entre phases arides et humides, puis dernièrement le retour à l’aridité à la fin de l’optimum climatique de l’Holocène ont pratiquement effacé tous les vestiges organiques préhistoriques, ne laissant aux archéologues que poussière et pierres. Afin de reconstituer la façon dont les humains se sont adaptés à ces environnements parfois difficiles, les archéologues se sont tournés vers l’une des expressions culturelles humaines les plus durables: les industries lithiques. Alors que la technologie et la typologie offrent quelques informations sur la façon dont les outils ont été fabriqués et comment les classer, la tracéologie, l’étude de l’utilisation des outils, fournit des informations sur la cinétique des outils en pierre, les tâches accomplies et les matériaux transformés. Cet article se concentre sur les données tracéologiques de la Préhistoire de l’Arabie, du Paléolithique supérieur, au Paléolithique récent et au Néolithique. Nous aborderons les changements de paradigmes technologiques et fonctionnels et discuterons des limites de l’approche, principalement imposées par les altérations taphonomiques sévères sur les assemblages lithiques.YHH is grateful for the financial support from the International Foundation for the Study of Arabian (IFSA) in the form of a Research Grant as well as the German Academic exchange program (DAAD) for financial support in the form of a P.R.I.M.E. fellowship for the project “How did Human Behaviour change During the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene in South Arabia?

From Hunter-Gatherers to Farmers: Contributions of Traceology to the Study of Prehistoric Lithic Technology in Arabia

International audienceArchaeological investigations of the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene humanoccupation of the nearly 3 million square kilometres that make up the vast and diverselandscapes of the Arabian Peninsula are hampered by a series of shortcomings. Some of the problems when trying to reconstruct human occupation and behaviour based on material culture are imposed by the state of preservation of archaeological finds. The shift from dry to wet and back to dry conditions at the end of the Holocene climate optimum has obliterated all prehistoric organic remains, leaving archaeologists with nothing but dust and rocks. In order to reconstruct how humans have adapted to these, at times, challenging environments, archaeologists have turned to the most durable of human cultural expressions: Lithics. While technology and typology are used to classify lithic artefacts, traceology, i.e., the study of tool use, provides insights into the kinetics of stone tools as well as tasks accomplished and materials transformed with the help of these. This article reports on traceological data from the prehistory of Arabia from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Late Palaeolithic and the Neolithic. We address shifting technological and functional paradigms and discuss the limitations of their interpretation, mostly imposed by taphonomic alterations on the lithic assemblages.Les recherches archéologiques portant sur l’occupation humaine au cours duPléistocène final et de l’Holocène des près de trois millions de kilomètres carrés que constituent les paysages divers de la péninsule Arabique sont entravées par une série de lacunes. Lorsqu’on essaie de reconstituer l’occupation et le comportement humains, certains des problèmes majeurs sont induits par les oscillations environnementales qui ont marqué les paysages régionaux au cours des trente derniers millénaires. Les variations entre phases arides et humides, puis dernièrement le retour à l’aridité à la fin de l’optimum climatique de l’Holocène ont pratiquement effacé tous les vestiges organiques préhistoriques, ne laissant aux archéologues que poussière et pierres. Afin de reconstituer la façon dont les humains se sont adaptés à ces environnements parfois difficiles, les archéologues se sont tournés vers l’une des expressions culturelles humaines les plus durables: les industries lithiques. Alors que la technologie et la typologie offrent quelques informations sur la façon dont les outils ont été fabriqués et comment les classer, la tracéologie, l’étude de l’utilisation des outils, fournit des informations sur la cinétique des outils en pierre, les tâches accomplies et les matériaux transformés. Cet article se concentre sur les données tracéologiques de la Préhistoire de l’Arabie, du Paléolithique supérieur, au Paléolithique récent et au Néolithique. Nous aborderons les changements de paradigmes technologiques et fonctionnels et discuterons des limites de l’approche, principalement imposées par les altérations taphonomiques sévères sur les assemblages lithiques