Search results for "CAVE"
showing 10 items of 606 documents
Early evidence of fire in south-western Europe: the Acheulean site of Gruta da Aroeira (Torres Novas, Portugal)
2020
The site of Gruta da Aroeira (Torres Novas, Portugal), with evidence of human occupancy dating to ca. 400 ka (Marine Isotope Stage 11), is one of the very few Middle Pleistocene localities to have provided a fossil hominin cranium associated with Acheulean bifaces in a cave context. The multi-analytic study reported here of the by-products of burning recorded in layer X suggests the presence of anthropogenic fires at the site, among the oldest such evidence in south-western Europe. The burnt material consists of bone, charcoal and, possibly, quartzite cobbles. These finds were made in a small area of the cave and in two separate occupation horizons. Our results add to our still-limited know…
Micro-PIXE/PIGE analysis of Palaeolithic mammoth ivory: Potential chemical markers of provenance and relative dating
2014
Abstract Micro-Proton Induced X-ray and Gamma-ray Emission (micro-PIXE/PIGE) provide non-destructive methods for the evaluation of the major, minor and trace element compositions of archaeological material. The current study applies micro-PIXE/PIGE analysis to mammoth ivory artefacts from four Palaeolithic sites (Abri Castanet, Vogelherd Cave, Grottes de la Verpilliere I and II) in France and Germany in order to assess the effectiveness of this approach to material older than 30,000 y BP. It has thus far not been established whether such methods of analysis can yield results of scientific and archaeological interest on ivory material that has undergone such extended periods of diagenesis. T…
Taphonomic processes inconsistent with indigenous Mesolithic acculturation during the transition to the Neolithic in the Western Mediterranean
2018
Abstract We applied taphonomic analysis combined with geostatistical approaches to investigate the hypothesis that Cocina cave (Eastern Iberia) represents an acculturation context for the appearance of Neolithic Cardial pottery. In the 1970s, Fortea suggested that this important site was a prime example of acculturation because of the presence of early Neolithic pottery in late Mesolithic contexts. Since that time Cocina cave has been heralded as an example of indigenous hunter-gatherers incorporating Neolithic cultural elements into their lifeways. We analyzed the area excavated by Fortea in the 1970s by digitizing archaeological records and testing the spatial distribution of artifacts us…
Neanderthal and carnivore activities at Llonin Cave, Asturias, northern Iberian Peninsula: Faunal study of Mousterian levels (MIS 3)
2018
Abstract This paper presents a study of the macromammalian fauna recovered from Mousterian levels of Llonin Cave. The sample is highly heterogeneous and comprises six species of ungulates, including Rupicapra pyrenaica, Capra pyrenaica, and Cervus elaphus, and seven species of carnivores, predominantly Ursus spelaeus, Crocuta spelaea, Canis/Cuon and Panthera pardus. The archaeozoological and taphonomic study of the remains shows preferential use of basal levels of the cave as a den for hyenas and leopards. Neanderthals were also present during this phase and they would have acted mainly on deer and some caprines, while the action of hyenas would mainly have been linked to scavenging of elem…
Cocina cave revisited: Bayesian radiocarbon chronology for the last hunter-gatherers and first farmers in Eastern Iberia
2018
Abstract Recent excavations and radiocarbon work conducted at Cocina Cave (Valencia region, Eastern Iberia) provide new insights into the transition from foraging to farming in the eastern Iberian Peninsula between 8000 and 7300 cal yrs. BP. Cocina cave was discovered in 1940 and excavated by L. Pericot from 1941 to 1945. J. Fortea continued excavations in the 70s. Despite early international recognition and great promise of significance, the materials recovered from these excavations have only been partially analyzed and published. A new project started in 2012 is focused on these cave deposits with the main goal of understanding the occupation sequence during the neolithization process in…
Changing patterns of eastern Mediterranean shellfish exploitation in the Late Glacial and Early Holocene: Oxygen isotope evidence from gastropod in E…
2016
Abstract The seasonal pattern of shellfish foraging at the archaeological site of Haua Fteah in the Gebel Akhdar, Libya was investigated from the Epipaleolithic to the Neolithic via oxygen isotope (δ 18 O) analyses of the topshell Phorcus (Osilinus) turbinatus . To validate this species as faithful year-round palaeoenvironmental recorder, the intra-annual variability of δ 18 O in modern shells and sea water was analysed and compared with measured sea surface temperature (SST). The shells were found to be good candidates for seasonal shellfish forging studies as they preserve nearly the complete annual SST cycle in their shell δ 18 O with minimal slowing or stoppage of growth. During the ter…
Missing Records and Depositional Breaks in French Late Pleistocene Cave Sediments
1993
AbstractCave entrance and rock shelter infillings are positioned within the Pleistocene chronology for three areas of France (northern Alps, Franche-Comté, and Périgord). Despite minor local variations, it is possible to identify regional types with a consistent depositional record over long intervals of time. The interregional variability relates to the frequency and position of the gaps within the infillings. Sites in the northern Alps have not yielded any artifacts older than the Upper Paleolithic (Magdalenı́an), and dated sedimentary sequences do not go back beyond the Older Dryas. More complete sequences in Franche-Comté contain Mousterian industries. Two major gaps occur here, one las…
Reconstruction of late Holocene autumn/winter precipitation variability in SW Romania from a high-resolution speleothem trace element record
2018
We present the first high-resolution trace element (Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca) record from a stalagmite in southwestern Romania covering the last 3.6 ka, which provides the potential for quantitative climate reconstruction. Precise age control is based on three independent dating methods, in particular for the last 250 yr, where chemical lamina counting is combined with the identification of the 20th century radiocarbon bomb peak and Th-230/U dating. Long-term cave monitoring and model simulations of drip water and speleothem elemental variability indicate that precipitation-related processes are the main drivers of speleothem Mg/Ca ratios. Calibration against instrumental climate data shows a si…
Breaking the waves: Human use of marine bivalves in a microtidal range coast during the Upper Pleistocene and the Early Holocene, Vestíbulo chamber, …
2016
Abstract This paper presents the results obtained from the study of the bivalves recovered during the archaeological excavations in the Vestibulo chamber of Nerja Cave (Malaga, southern Spain) carried out by Professor Francisco Jorda Cerda between 1983 and 1987. These excavations recovered the archaeological record of the sequence from the Gravettian to the Neolithic. The mollusc remains from the Vestibulo chamber of Nerja Cave record constitute an extraordinary collection, composed of more than 136000 specimens which correspond to more than 78 kg. In this work, only marine bivalves were studied. The bivalve remains are more than 124000 specimens, corresponding to more than 65 kg from 31 ta…
Lignin oxidation products as a vegetation proxy in stalagmite and drip water samples from the Herbstlabyrinth, Germany
2019
Here we present the first quantitative record of lignin oxidation products (LOPs) in a Holocene stalagmite from the Herbstlabyrinth Cave in central Germany, as well as LOP results from 16 months of drip water monitoring. Lignin is only produced by vascular plants and is therefore an unambiguous vegetation proxy, which can help to better interpret other vegetation and climate proxies in speleothems. We compared our results with stable isotope and trace element data from the same samples. The drip water monitoring reveals a seasonal pattern of LOPs in a fast drip site with low LOP concentrations in winter and higher LOP concentrations in summer, which is opposite to the behaviour of the drip …