The Early and Middle Pleistocene archaeological record of Greece : current status and future prospects

By applying a fieldwork-based, geoarchaeological approach, Tourloukis examines in this study the evidence from Greece within the framework of the earliest occupation of Europe. Although the Greek Peninsula lies within a core area of early hominin movements between Africa and Europe but also within Eurasia itself, the Lower Palaeolithic record of Greece remains as yet extremely poor. Chossing the scanty Greek record as a case-study, Tourloukis elaborates on a hitherto largely overlooked subject in the Eurasian Early-Middle Pleistocene archaeology: the role of geomorphic processes in biasing archaeological distribution patterns of early human presence. This study identifies the current status of the record, explains this status from a geoarchaeological and geomorphological perspective, and prospects its future enrichment. The analysis is carried-out on a landscape-scale and it assesses preservation potential in conjuction with archaeological visibility. Finally a conceptual model emerges that can assist in interpreting and/or predicting early Palaeolithic site locations in tectonically active settings, such as those of the Mediterranean Basin.LEI Universiteit LeidenState Scholarships Foundation (Greece)Human Origin

Magnetostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic constraints on the Marathousa 1 Lower Palaeolithic site and the Middle Pleistocene deposits of the Megalopolis basin, Greece

We investigated the magnetostratigraphy of the Megalopolis basin in central Peloponnese, Greece, which encompasses a record of Pleistocene lacustrine and lignite-bearing sedimentation, where lithic tools stratigraphically associated with remnants of an almost complete skeleton of Palaeoloxodon antiquus were recently found at the Marathousa 1 site. A magnetic polarity reversal was observed within a 3c10 m-thick lignite seam at the base of the (exposed) stratigraphic sequence, and it was interpreted as a record of the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary (0.78 Ma). Assuming that lignite seams were deposited generally under warm and humid climate conditions, this finding is in agreement with data from the literature indicating that the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary occurs within warm Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 19. We then attempted to correlate the remainder of the lacustrine and lignite-bearing intervals above the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary to a standard oxygen isotope record of Pleistocene climate variability. Two age models of sedimentation were generated: according to preferred option #1, the artifact-bearing stratigraphic units of the Marathousa 1 site should have an age between 3c0.48 Ma and 3c0.42 Ma, while according to alternative option #2, the archaeological layers would have an age between 3c0.56 Ma and 3c0.54 Ma. Option #1 is at present considered the preferred option as it is in closer agreement with preliminary post-IR IRSL and ESR dates from the Marathousa 1 site. This age model has been exported to other areas of the Megalopolis basin, where additional archaeological and/or palaeontological sites could be present, by means of correlations to lithostratigraphic logs derived from commercial drill cores taken in the 1960s and 1970s for lignite exploitation

A palaeoenvironmental reconstruction (based on palaeobotanical data and diatoms) of the Middle Pleistocene elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) butchery site at Marathousa, Megalopolis, Greece

Bioarchaeolog

The Early and Middle Pleistocene archaeological record of Greece : current status and future prospects

By applying a fieldwork-based, geoarchaeological approach, Tourloukis examines in this study the evidence from Greece within the framework of the earliest occupation of Europe. Although the Greek Peninsula lies within a core area of early hominin movements between Africa and Europe but also within Eurasia itself, the Lower Palaeolithic record of Greece remains as yet extremely poor. Chossing the scanty Greek record as a case-study, Tourloukis elaborates on a hitherto largely overlooked subject in the Eurasian Early-Middle Pleistocene archaeology: the role of geomorphic processes in biasing archaeological distribution patterns of early human presence. This study identifies the current status of the record, explains this status from a geoarchaeological and geomorphological perspective, and prospects its future enrichment. The analysis is carried-out on a landscape-scale and it assesses preservation potential in conjuction with archaeological visibility. Finally a conceptual model emerges that can assist in interpreting and/or predicting early Palaeolithic site locations in tectonically active settings, such as those of the Mediterranean Basin.</p

Revisiting Kokkinopilos: Middle Pleistocene radiometric dates for stratified archaeological remains in Greece

The red-bed site of Kokkinopilos is an emblematic and yet also most enigmatic open-air Palaeolithic site in Greece, stimulating controversy ever since its discovery in 1962. While early research raised claims for stratigraphically in situ artifacts, later scholars considered the material reworked and of low archaeological value, a theory that was soon to be challenged again by the discovery of in situ lithics, including handaxes. Here we present results of a latest and long-term research that includes geoarchaeological assessments, geomorphological mapping and luminescence dating. We show that the site preserves an overall undisturbed sedimentary sequence related to an ephemeral lake, marked by palaeosols and stratigraphic units with Palaeolithic material that is geologically in situ and hence datable. Our study resolves the issues that have been the source of controversy: the depositional environment, stratigraphic integrity, chronological placement and archaeological potential of the site. Moreover, the minimum ages obtained through luminescence dating demonstrate that the lithic component with bifacial specimens considerably pre-dates the last interglacial and therefore comprises the earliest stratigraphically defined and radiometrically-assessed archaeological material in Greece. Kokkinopilos has served as a reference site for the interpretation of all other red-bed sites in north-west Greece, therefore our results have significantly wider implications: by analogy to Kokkinopilos, the open-air sites of Epirus should not anymore be considered ‘by default’ as inscrutable palimpsests with limited archaeological potential; rather, these sites can be excavated and chronologically constrained. This realization opens up new prospects for future research in Epirus, an area that is the most prolific in Palaeolithic remains in Greece

Biomechanics of the human thumb and the evolution of dexterity

Systematic tool production and use is one of humanity&apos;s defining characteristics, possibly originating as early as &amp;gt;3 million years ago.1–3 Although heightened manual dexterity is considered to be intrinsically intertwined with tool use and manufacture, and critical for human evolution, its role in the emergence of early culture remains unclear. Most previous research on this question exclusively relied on direct morphological comparisons between early hominin and modern human skeletal elements, assuming that the degree of a species’ dexterity depends on its similarity with the modern human form. Here, we develop a new approach to investigate the efficiency of thumb opposition, a fundamental component of manual dexterity, in several species of fossil hominins. Our work for the first time takes into account soft tissue as well as bone anatomy, integrating virtual modeling of musculus opponens pollicis and its interaction with three-dimensional bone shape form. Results indicate that a fundamental aspect of efficient thumb opposition appeared approximately 2 million years ago, possibly associated with our own genus Homo, and did not characterize Australopithecus, the earliest proposed stone tool maker. This was true also of the late Australopithecus species, Australopithecus sediba, previously found to exhibit human-like thumb proportions. In contrast, later Homo species, including the small-brained Homo naledi, show high levels of thumb opposition dexterity, highlighting the increasing importance of cultural processes and manual dexterity in later human evolution. Karakostis et al. integrate virtual muscle modeling with three-dimensional bone shape analysis to investigate biomechanical efficiency for thumb opposition in the fossil human record. They report the earliest evidence of increased manual dexterity, a vital component of human-like tool use, in thumb bones dated to about 2 million years ago. © 2021 The Author

Two new vertebrate localities from the Early Pleistocene of Mygdonia Basin (Macedonia, Greece): Preliminary results

Two new vertebrate fossiliferous localities from the Pleistocene of the Mygdonia Basin (Macedonia, Greece), Tsiotra Vryssi (TSR) and Platanochori-1 (PLN), are presented in this article. TSR belongs to the Gerakarou Formation and its preliminary faunal list includes the corvid Corvus pliocaenus, the hyaenid Pachycrocuta brevirostris, the canid Canis etruscus, the rhinoceros Stephanorhinus sp., two species of Equus, the bovid Bison sp., the cervid Metacervocerus rhenanus and the giraffid Palaeotragus sp. PLN belongs to the Platanochori Formation (overlying Gerakarou Formation) and its fauna includes the following taxa: Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis, Equus apolloniensis, Bison sp. and Pontoceros ambiguus. The preliminary comparison of these faunal assemblages with the already known localities from the Mygdonia Basin and the wider region, combined with the geological data, suggest a Late Villafranchian age for TSR, chronologically intermediate between the localities Gerakarou-1 and Apollonia-1, while the fauna from PLN is indicative of a Latest Villafranchian age, similar to that of Apollonia-1. These new localities will enhance our understanding of the crucial time period of the earliest dispersal of hominins into Europe. © 2015 Académie des sciences