Provenance, modification and use of manganese-rich rocks at Le Moustier (Dordogne, France)

The use of colouring materials by Neanderthals has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. Here we present a taphonomic, technological, chemical-mineralogical and functional analysis of fifty-four manganese rich lumps recovered during past and on-going excavations at the lower rockshelter of Le Moustier (Dordogne, France). We compare compositional data for archaeological specimens with the same information for twelve potential geological sources. Morphometric analysis shows that material from Peyrony’s excavations before the First World War provides a highly biased picture of the importance of these materials for Mousterian groups. These early excavations almost exclusively recovered large modified pieces, while Mn-rich lumps from the on-going excavations predominantly consist of small pieces, only half of which bear traces of modification. We estimate that at least 168 pieces were not recovered during early work at the site. Neanderthals developed a dedicated technology for processing Mn-rich fragments, which involved a variety of tools and motions. Processing techniques were adapted to the size and density of the raw material, and evidence exists for the successive or alternating use of different techniques. Morphological, textural and chemical differences between geological and archaeological samples suggest that Neanderthals did not collect Mn-rich lumps at the outcrops we sampled. The association and variability in Mn, Ni, As, Ba content, compared to that observed at the sampled outcrops, suggests that either the Le Moustier lumps come from a unique source with a broad variation in composition, associating Mn, Ni, As, Ba, or that they were collected at different sources, characterized either by Mn-Ni-As or Mn-Ba. In the latter case, changes in raw material composition across the stratigraphy support the idea that Neanderthal populations bearing different stone tool technologies collected Mn fragments from different outcrops. Our results favour a use of these materials for multiple utilitarian and symbolic purposes.publishedVersio

Presumed Symbolic Use of Diurnal Raptors by Neanderthals

In Africa and western Eurasia, occurrences of burials and utilized ocher fragments during the late Middle and early Late Pleistocene are often considered evidence for the emergence of symbolically-mediated behavior. Perhaps less controversial for the study of human cognitive evolution are finds of marine shell beads and complex designs on organic and mineral artifacts in early modern human (EMH) assemblages conservatively dated to ≈100–60 kilo-years (ka) ago. Here we show that, in France, Neanderthals used skeletal parts of large diurnal raptors presumably for symbolic purposes at Combe-Grenal in a layer dated to marine isotope stage (MIS) 5b (≈90 ka) and at Les Fieux in stratigraphic units dated to the early/middle phase of MIS 3 (60–40 ka). The presence of similar objects in other Middle Paleolithic contexts in France and Italy suggest that raptors were used as means of symbolic expression by Neanderthals in these regions

Lithic technological responses to Late Pleistocene glacial cycling at Pinnacle Point Site 5-6, South Africa

There are multiple hypotheses for human responses to glacial cycling in the Late Pleistocene, including changes in population size, interconnectedness, and mobility. Lithic technological analysis informs us of human responses to environmental change because lithic assemblage characteristics are a reflection of raw material transport, reduction, and discard behaviors that depend on hunter-gatherer social and economic decisions. Pinnacle Point Site 5-6 (PP5-6), Western Cape, South Africa is an ideal locality for examining the influence of glacial cycling on early modern human behaviors because it preserves a long sequence spanning marine isotope stages (MIS) 5, 4, and 3 and is associated with robust records of paleoenvironmental change. The analysis presented here addresses the question, what, if any, lithic assemblage traits at PP5-6 represent changing behavioral responses to the MIS 5-4-3 interglacial-glacial cycle? It statistically evaluates changes in 93 traits with no a priori assumptions about which traits may significantly associate with MIS. In contrast to other studies that claim that there is little relationship between broad-scale patterns of climate change and lithic technology, we identified the following characteristics that are associated with MIS 4: increased use of quartz, increased evidence for outcrop sources of quartzite and silcrete, increased evidence for earlier stages of reduction in silcrete, evidence for increased flaking efficiency in all raw material types, and changes in tool types and function for silcrete. Based on these results, we suggest that foragers responded to MIS 4 glacial environmental conditions at PP5-6 with increased population or group sizes, 'place provisioning', longer and/or more intense site occupations, and decreased residential mobility. Several other traits, including silcrete frequency, do not exhibit an association with MIS. Backed pieces, once they appear in the PP5-6 record during MIS 4, persist through MIS 3. Changing paleoenvironments explain some, but not all temporal technological variability at PP5-6.Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada; NORAM; American-Scandinavian Foundation; Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia [SFRH/BPD/73598/2010]; IGERT [DGE 0801634]; Hyde Family Foundations; Institute of Human Origins; National Science Foundation [BCS-9912465, BCS-0130713, BCS-0524087, BCS-1138073]; John Templeton Foundation to the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State Universit

Reconstructing past migratory behaviour of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus):insights from geometric morphometric analysis of proximal phalanx morphology from extant caribou populations

Abstract Reindeer mobility patterns vary widely in modern ecosystems, notably between more open or more wooded environments. This renders the reconstruction of past reindeer mobility patterns challenging, while being at the same time key if archaeologists want to better understand the role that reindeer herds played in the subsistence and territorial organisation of Prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies. Studying the morphology associated with different habitats and mobility patterns can be a useful method for understanding past reindeer behaviour. To access paleoecological information, the relationship between locomotor anatomy and substrate type can be explored in modern animals and transposed to the past, as previous studies have proven that an animal’s environment affects bone morphology. In this study, 3D Geometric Morphometrics are used to explore the impact of extant reindeer habitat type and mobility pattern on phalanx morphology. Results obtained reflects on the potential archaeological application of such an approach for paleoecological reconstructions. Size and shape of phalanx vary significantly, yet complex to interpret in light of interplaying factors such as subspecies, sexual dimorphism and the influence of migration costs, snow cover and substrate type. If direct application to the archaeological record remains preliminary, this first study permits to highlight promising avenues for future research

Les techno-complexes lithiques du Paléolithique moyen récent (MIS5-3) du nord-est aquitain : état de la question

FdA – Publicaties zonder aanstelling Universiteit Leide

Provenance, modification and use of manganese-rich rocks at Le Moustier (Dordogne, France)

The use of colouring materials by Neanderthals has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. Here we present a taphonomic, technological, chemical-mineralogical and functional analysis of fifty-four manganese rich lumps recovered during past and on-going excavations at the lower rockshelter of Le Moustier (Dordogne, France). We compare compositional data for archaeological specimens with the same information for twelve potential geological sources. Morphometric analysis shows that material from Peyrony’s excavations before the First World War provides a highly biased picture of the importance of these materials for Mousterian groups. These early excavations almost exclusively recovered large modified pieces, while Mn-rich lumps from the on-going excavations predominantly consist of small pieces, only half of which bear traces of modification. We estimate that at least 168 pieces were not recovered during early work at the site. Neanderthals developed a dedicated technology for processing Mn-rich fragments, which involved a variety of tools and motions. Processing techniques were adapted to the size and density of the raw material, and evidence exists for the successive or alternating use of different techniques. Morphological, textural and chemical differences between geological and archaeological samples suggest that Neanderthals did not collect Mn-rich lumps at the outcrops we sampled. The association and variability in Mn, Ni, As, Ba content, compared to that observed at the sampled outcrops, suggests that either the Le Moustier lumps come from a unique source with a broad variation in composition, associating Mn, Ni, As, Ba, or that they were collected at different sources, characterized either by Mn-Ni-As or Mn-Ba. In the latter case, changes in raw material composition across the stratigraphy support the idea that Neanderthal populations bearing different stone tool technologies collected Mn fragments from different outcrops. Our results favour a use of these materials for multiple utilitarian and symbolic purposes

Les techno-complexes lithiques du Paléolithique moyen récent (MIS5-3) du nord-est aquitain : état de la question

FdA – Publicaties zonder aanstelling Universiteit Leide

Investigating the domestication and early management of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in the Sámi archaeological context from teeth geometric morphometrics

Abstract For centuries, reindeer herding has been an integral part of the subsistence, lifeways, economy and cosmology of the Sámi of northern Fennoscandia. Despite its importance, the timing and details of early reindeer domestication are still highly debated. Identifying domesticated individuals in the archaeological record remains complicated due to the presence of two interbreeding subspecies in Fennoscandia and a mixed socio-economic organisation by Sámi populations, which was mainly a combination of wild reindeer hunting and small-scale reindeer herding. This study proposes methodological improvement for identifying domestic individuals using 2D landmark and sliding semi-landmark based geometric morphometrics on the isolated lower molars of 389 modern specimens, and 90 teeth from four archaeological sites in Finnish Lapland. Our results indicate that despite the significant impact of wear on overall tooth morphology, our protocol is very useful for identifying subspecies (classification accuracy of the two species is between 78 and 91% depending on the wear class) and understanding the morphological changes induced by the domestication process. We suggest that the morphological variation observable among modern populations has been impacted by recent changes in herding strategies in northern Fennoscandia, and that the archaeological domesticated reindeer populations were relatively different, probably due to selection by the Sámi. This study also highlights the importance of using other direct evidence or contextual archaeological data to better trace the early evidence of a domesticated reindeer economy in northern Fennoscandia, and aid in reconstructing the socio-economic changes in Sámi populations over time

The Ice Age diet of the La Quina 5 Neandertal of southwest France

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The Ice Age diet of the La Quina 5 Neandertal of southwest France

Horizon 2020(H2020)677576Bioarchaeolog