scholarly journals Timing of the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition in the Iberian inland (Cardina-Salto do Boi, Côa Valley, Portugal)

2020 ◽  
Vol 98 ◽  
pp. 81-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Aubry ◽  
Luca Antonio Dimuccio ◽  
António Fernando Barbosa ◽  
Luís Luís ◽  
André Tomás Santos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Optically Stimulated Luminescence ◽  
Osl Dating ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Alluvial Deposits ◽  
Anatomically Modern Humans

AbstractThe timing of the Neanderthal-associated Middle Palaeolithic demise and a possible overlap with anatomically modern humans (AMH) in some regions of Eurasia continues to be debated. The Iberian Peninsula is considered a possible refuge zone for the last Neanderthals, but the chronology of the later Middle Palaeolithic record has undergone revision and has increased the debate on the timing of Neanderthal extinction. Here we report on a study of the 5-m-thick archaeological stratigraphy of the Cardina-Salto do Boi, an open-air site located in inland Iberia, from which optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages were obtained for Middle and Upper Palaeolithic occupations preserved in overbank alluvial deposits. Geomorphology, archaeostratigraphy, stone-tool evolution, and OSL dating support the persistence of Neanderthals after 41 ka in central Iberia; the transition between the Middle Palaeolithic material culture and the AMH-associated Aurignacian blade and bladelet production is estimated to lie between 34.0 ± 2.0 ka and 38.4 ± 1.9 ka. Our results demonstrate that investigations focusing on different geomorphological situations are necessary to overcome the current limitations of the evidence and to establish more consistent models for Neanderthal disappearance and AMH expansion in the Iberian Peninsula.

scholarly journals A chrono-cultural reassessment of levels III-V from El Cuco rock-shelter: a new sequence for the late Middle Palaeolithic – early Upper Palaeolithic boundary in the Cantabrian region (northern Iberia)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro RASINES DEL RÍO ◽  
Julià MAROTO ◽  
Emilio MUÑOZ-FERNÁNDEZ ◽  
José Manuel MORLOTE-EXPÓSITO ◽  
undefined Pedro María CASTAÑOS-UGARTE ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Large Mammals ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Rock Shelter ◽  
Cantabrian Region ◽  
Anatomically Modern Humans ◽  
Early Upper

The Iberian Peninsula is one of the key areas for studying the last populations of Neanderthals and the arrival in Europe of the first anatomically modern humans. In the Cantabrian region, this process can be traced in just a few sites with levels dating to the final stages of the Middle Palaeolithic and the earliest phases of the Upper Palaeolithic. One of these singular enclaves is El Cuco rock-shelter, where the sequence was initially dated by 14C only to the early Upper Palaeolithic sensu lato. However, new studies and datings now place this archaeological sequence in the late Mousterian and the Aurignacian. In this article we present a chrono-cultural reassessment of the upper levels of El Cuco (III-V), including a study of the large mammals. Levels Vc and Vb (>43.5-40.5 ky uncal BP) date from the late Mousterian, whereas levels Va, IV and III (c. 36.5-30 ky uncal BP) cover an interval extending at least from the Early Aurignacian to the Evolved Aurignacian. Particularly noteworthy is the discovery in level Va of a set of decorative beads made from marine shells in a context of possible symbolic behaviour.

Middle Palaeolithic Scraper Morphology, Flaking Mechanics and Imposed Form: Revisitng Bisson's ‘Interview with a Neanderthal’

2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilliane F. Monnier
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Production Rules ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Anatomically Modern Humans

Bisson (2001) proposes that imposition of form in Middle Palaeolithic scrapers can be recognized when the rules for scraper manufacture, which are based upon functional considerations, are known. He derives these ‘scraper production rules’ on the basis of experiments with novice flintknappers, and finds that they apply to Neanderthal-manufactured Mousterian scrapers. He interprets the violation of these rules in scrapers from Skhul Cave as evidence that anatomically modern humans imposed form on their stone tools, and therefore had mental templates. This study provides evidence that the ‘scraper production rules’ are not, in fact, the rules according to which Neanderthals made their tools. Instead, they reflect flaking mechanics and elements of Bisson's experimental design rather than any functional considerations taken into account during scraper manufacture. Furthermore, methodological flaws in Bisson's analysis of Middle Palaeolithic artefacts undermine his arguments that archaeological scrapers either follow or violate the rules. These problems render untenable his conclusion that Neanderthals did not have mental templates and that they lacked flexibility and innovation in stone-tool making.

scholarly journals Use of the Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating and X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry Methods as Tools in Paleoseismology

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
L. M. Tsodoulos ◽  
K. Stamoulis ◽  
C. A. Papachristodoulou ◽  
K. G. Ioannides ◽  
S. Pavlides
Keyword(s):  
Principal Component Analysis ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Optically Stimulated Luminescence ◽  
Osl Dating ◽  
Luminescence Dating ◽  
Alluvial Deposits ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Fault Block ◽  
Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating ◽  
Dating Method

We have investigated the application of luminescence dating to sediment and pottery samples from a paleoseismological trench excavated in the Gyrtoni Fault, Tyrnavos Basin, Central Greece. The samples were dated following the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating method, using the Riso TL/OSL DA-20 reader. The OSL ages were obtained from chemically purified quartz and a single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol was followed for the equivalent dose (De) determination. Additionally, samples were collected and analyzed with the method of X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry, in order to assess their elemental composition. Radioisotope sources (109Cd and 241Am) were used for sample excitation, while X-ray spectra were acquired using a Si(Li) detector coupled with standard electronics. The XRF data were submitted to principal component analysis (PCA). This statistical handling aimed to distinguish from which part of the upthrown fault block scarp-derived colluvium and alluvial deposits, parts of the downthrown block were derived and thus estimate the displacement. The results indicated that both the OSL dating method and the XRF analysis combined with PCA can serve as useful tools for paleoseismological investigations.

The Archaeology of Archaic and Early ModernHomo Sapiens: An African Perspective

1993 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Allsworth-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Anatomically Modern Humans ◽  
African Perspective ◽  
Out Of Africa

Whereas in Europe the transition from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic and the replacement of Neanderthal by anatomically modern humans appear to be synchronous events, in Africa this is not the case. Neanderthals as such were not present in Africa, and if the ‘Out of Africa’ model is correct, the ancestors of anatomically modern humans must have made their appearance in a Middle Stone Age context before 100,000 years ago. Subsequently, it seems that they coexisted with Neanderthals for up to 70,000 years in the Near East. If a direct biological correlation can be ruled out, the question arises: what was the impetus for an Upper Palaeolithic ‘revolution’ and why should it have taken place at all?

scholarly journals The First Anatomically Modern Humans from South-Eastern Europe. Contributions from the Buran-Kaya III Site (Crimea)

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 169-179
Author(s):  
S. Prat ◽  
S. Péan ◽  
L. Crépin ◽  
S. Puaud ◽  
D.G. Drucker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Post Mortem ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Anatomically Modern Humans ◽  
South Eastern Europe ◽  
Potential Interactions

The arrival of modern humans into Europe, their dispersal and their potential interactions with Neanderthals are still in debate. Whereas the first appearance of anatomically modern humans in Western Europe seems to be well understood, the situation is quite different for Eastern Europe, where data are more scarce. The Buran-Kaya III site in Crimea is of key importance to understand the colonization of Europe by anatomically modern humans and their potential contemporaneity with the last Neanderthal occupations. The new radiocarbon dated sequence shows that no Neanderthal settlement existed after 39 ka cal BP and casts doubt on the survival, as previously proposed, of Neanderthal refuge zones in Crimea 28 ka BP ago (34-32 ka cal BP). The human remains from Buran-Kaya III, directly dated to 32450 +250/-230 BP (layer 6-2) and 31900+/-220 BP (layer 6-1) (37.1-35.7 ka cal BP and 36.3-35.2 cal BP respectively), represent some of the oldest evidence of anatomically modern humans in Europe in a unique welldocumented archaeological context (Gravettian). Furthermore, the specimens from layer 6-1 represent the oldest Upper Palaeolithic modern humans from Eastern Europe with evidence of post-mortem treatment of the dead.

The ‘Lower Perigordian’ in French Archaeology

1966 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 156-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas F. Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
French Word ◽  
Material Artifacts ◽  
Tool Technology ◽  
Geological Context

An evaluation of the concept of ‘Lower Perigordian‘ is attempted in this paper. The conclusion of this work suggests that the Lower Perigordian is a fallacious concept, that it can no longer be accepted as the first stage of the French Upper Palaeolithic, and that the so-called Lower Perigordian stone industries may not even represent a unified stage in the development of stone-tool technology.The terms ‘industry’ and ‘assemblage’ will be used in this paper in the sense defined by Braidwood (1946, 133–6). An industry is a collection of tools of one category of material (here stone or bone only) which appears in archaeological context, or in an untransported geological context. An assemblage is ‘… a variety of categories of artifacts and non-artifactual materials which appears in archaeological context.’ The non-artifactual aspect of an assemblage most notably provides information on geological context and physical relationships. Many of the collections of tools to be dealt with below can in no way be considered assemblages, but we still know something of their archaeological contexts, so they have not yet sunk to the level of Braidwood's ‘aggregations’. ‘Culture’ will be used in its anthropological sense to mean the whole of patterned, learned behaviour shared by a group of human beings, and the effects of this behaviour on material artifacts. If set off by quotation marks, ‘culture’ may refer also to the ‘material culture’ of other writers or be a convenient translation of the French word ‘civilization.’

scholarly journals OSL dating using quartz fine grains extracted from loess in Upper Palaeolithic sites of Nihewan Basin, northern China

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yorinao Shitaoka ◽  
Tsuneto Nagatomo
Keyword(s):  
Northern China ◽  
Optically Stimulated Luminescence ◽  
Osl Dating ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Uranium Series ◽  
Nihewan Basin ◽  
Uranium Series Dating

Abstract Although radiocarbon (14C) dating, uranium-series dating, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating have been conducted for Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Nihewan Basin, northern China, there is room for constructing a detailed chronological framework. In this study, loess sediments collected from two Upper Palaeolithic sites, Youfang site and Hutouliang site, were dated using the single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) OSL protocol. OSL measurements for palaeodoses estimation used fine-grained quartz samples extracted from loess. OSL dating results were obtained as 10–17 ka. These OSL ages were consistent with the related stratigraphy of Palaeolithic sites, archaeological evidence and independent 14C ages.

The Evolution of Modern Behaviour and its Implications for Maritime Dispersal During the Palaeolithic

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 829-846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas P. Leppard
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Cognitive Architecture ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
Dispersal Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
Anatomically Modern Humans ◽  
Bodies Of Water

Oceans and seas are more frequently thought to have been barriers to than enablers of movement for archaic hominins. This interpretation has been challenged by a revisionist model which suggests that bodies of water facilitated the dispersal of pre-moderns. This paper addresses the revisionist model by defining maritime dispersal as a series of cognitive and organizational problems, the capacity to solve which must have arisen during the evolution of Homo. The central question posed is: knowing the type of social and cognitive configuration necessary for strategic maritime dispersal, and knowing the social and cognitive capacities of hominin species implied in the revisionist dispersal model, how likely is it that such species possessed the capacity to undertake purposive maritime colonization? Available data suggest that the evolution of modern cognitive architecture during the Late Pleistocene correlates positively with increasing evidence for maritime dispersal in the Upper Palaeolithic, and that behavioural modernity is implicated in the appearance of strategic maritime dispersal in Homo. Consequently, it is likely that deliberate trans-oceanic seagoing is restricted to Anatomically Modern Humans, and possibly Neanderthals.

Archaeology and the Origins of Modern Humans: European and African Perspectives

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Mellars
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Before Present ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Behavioural Patterns ◽  
Anatomically Modern Humans ◽  
Rapid Appearance

This chapter outlines the archaeological evidence for the relative recency and abruptness of appearance of artefacts associated with the creativity of modern humans. It compares the archaeological evidence associated with the appearance of anatomically modern humans in Europe and Africa. In Europe, there is a rapid appearance of new behavioural elements that are often seen to represent a ‘revolution’ in behavioural and perhaps cognitive terms, centred on c.43–35,000 years before present (BP). In Africa, new behavioural elements seem to appear in a more gradual, mosaic fashion but show many of the distinctive features of European Upper Palaeolithic culture by at least 70–80,000 (BP), including seemingly explicit evidence for fully symbolic expression. The central problem remains that of assessing how far these well-documented changes in the archaeological record reflect not only major shifts in behavioural patterns, but also underlying shifts in the cognitive capacities for behaviour, including increasing complexity in the structure of language.

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