New dates and palaeoenvironmental evidence for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic occupation of Higueral de Valleja Cave,southern Spain

A research programme has been set up at Higueral de Valleja Cave in southern Spain to investigate the late survival and eventual extinction of the southern Iberian Neanderthals and the arrival of modern humans. Of key interest in the first phase of research was to understand the depositional environment in the entrance chamber of the cave and to establish whether palaeoenvironmental and dating samples could be retrieved from the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sequences. The outcome is a series of OSL, TL and radiocarbon dates showing that the cave was occupied by Neanderthal populations in Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, if not earlier, and by modern human Solutrean populations during the last glacial maximum. Cave sediments provisionally indicate that the lower Middle Palaeolithic sequence (X–VIII) formed in warm and humid environments and the upper sequence (VIII–V) formed when the climate was cooler and drier. The presence of long grass phytoliths and of the small mammals Microtus duodecimcostatus, Microtus brecciensis and Apodemus sylvaticus in the upper sequence indicates that a range of habitat types persisted near the cave including grassland, scrubby vegetation, patchy tree cover and ponds. This raises the possibility that environmental factors were key factors in the late survival of Neanderthal populations at the cave.     

Molar microwear pattern and palaeoecology of ungulates from La Berbie (Dordogne, France): environment of Neanderthals and modern human populations of the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic

This study contributes to the characterization of the environment of the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transition in southwestern France through the reconstruction of ungulate diets. Molar microwear analysis is used to characterize the diets of herbivorous mammals from La Berbie. The data for this study were collected through examination of molar facets using white-light confocal microscopy. The results for 22 fossil specimens (representing four species) are compared with those of 59 living ruminants. Microwear variables of living specimens are used in a principal components analysis. Extinct species are then added to the analysis. Results show that Bison priscus has a microwear signature similar to that of grazers, whereas Rangifer tarandus shares characteristics with both browsers and grazers. The specimens of Equus caballus and Rupicapra rupicapra also display microwear patterns similar to those of grazers. While previous studies have shown an abundance of both C3 plants and herbaceous dicots, the present microwear analysis of fossil herbivores indicates that their last meals contained abrasive graminoids. The results suggest that during the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transition the habitat of Neanderthals and modern human populations in southwestern France was an open environment dominated by a rich C3-monocot herbaceous layer.     

Chrono‐stratigraphy of the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological sequence in Cova Gran (south‐eastern Pre‐Pyrenees,Iberian Peninsula)

The Cova Gran de Santa Linya (Lleida, Spain) is a recently discovered site, with a broad chrono‐cultural sequence that contains archaeological levels dating to the Middle Palaeolithic, Early Upper Palaeolithic, Late Upper Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. We present the chronometric and stratigraphic context of these occupations, which were dated using ¹⁴C accelerator mass spectrometry and thermoluminescence. The sequence provides important indicators that aid in the reconstruction of the history of human occupation on the southern slopes of the Spanish Pyrenees over the past 50,000 years. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geology and mammalian fauna of the Middle Pleistocene site, Medzhybozh, Ukraine

Qualitative and quantitative faunal associations of molluscs, mammals and other vertebrates (Pisces, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves) have been determined at a new important site at Medzhybozh, in western Ukraine. Geological and taphonomic conditions of the remains’ preservation are described. The transient (Mindelian–Rissian) fauna is identified and correlated with the Middle Pleistocene Holsteinian (Likhvin) Stage. This sequence represents a warm period of the Holsteinian, followed by with a short cooling in the middle of the period. The human cultural material (of Acheulian and Upper Palaeolithic age) has also been studied at this site. It indicates the oldest migration of humans into the region.     

The last 750 ka in loess–palaeosol sequences from northern France: environmental background and dating of the western European Palaeolithic

This study presents an overview of Middle Pleistocene loess–palaeosol sequences (LPS) in northern France and discusses the palaeoclimatic significance of the pedosedimentary record in the context of western European LPS and of global climatic cycles for the last 750 ka. In this area, the oldest loess deposits (early Middle Pleistocene) are preserved in sedimentary traps (leeward scarps of fluvial terraces and dissolution sinkholes). They result from local deflation processes reworking Pleistocene sandy fluvial deposits or relicts of Tertiary sands. A large extension of typical calcareous loess over the landscape, the Loess Revolution, is then observed during MIS 6, with heavy mineral assemblages testifying to long-distance transport from the polar desert area of the dried eastern Channel. A correlation scheme is proposed between the global records of northern France in continental environments and both global palaeoclimatic records and other main western European LPS. After 30 years of research, northern France LPS stand as a fundamental archive of the impact of interglacial–glacial climatic cycles as well as millennial events. Finally, these works provide a robust chronoclimatic framework for the study of the western European Late Acheulean and Middle Palaeolithic and for the relative dating of the various fluvial terraces that they fossilise.     

State-of-the-art overview of the Loess Palaeolithic of Poland

In Poland, loess mainly occurs in the southern part of the country, in the Polish Uplands, and on the northern foreland of the Sudetes and the Carpathians. Most of these sediments come from the time of the last glaciation–the Vistulian (Weichselian) glaciation. Thin covers of loess from the penultimate glaciation have been preserved in Upper Silesia. Only a few sites from the Middle Palaeolithic remain in the loess. In the eastern part of Poland loess creates profiles several metres high. Discoveries in this zone represent the cultural sequence from the transition from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic. We know more traces of various cultures from the Upper Palaeolithic exist. The study attempts to synchronise profiles from selected archaeological open-air sites, outlines of the history of research on loess sites, and attempts to explain terminological and conceptual issues. The issue of loess in the cave site profiles will not be discussed in the article.     

Summer air temperature,reconstructions from the last glacial stage based on rodents from the site Taillis-des-Coteaux (Vienne), Western France

The oxygen isotope composition of phosphate from tooth enamel of rodents (δ¹⁸O_p) constitutes a valuable proxy to reconstruct past air temperatures in continental environments. This method has been applied to rodent dental remains from three genera, Arvicola sp., Microtus sp. and Dicrostonyx sp., coming from Taillis-des-Coteaux, Vienne, France. This archaeological site contains an exceptionally preserved sedimentary sequence spanning almost the whole Upper Palaeolithic, including seven stratigraphic layers dated from 35 to 17 cal ka BP. The abundant presence of rodent remains offers the opportunity to quantify the climatic fluctuations coeval of the various stages of human occupation of the site. Differences between δ¹⁸O_p values of Arvicola sp. and Microtus sp. teeth are interpreted as the result of heterochrony in tooth formation as well as differences in ecology. Mean δ¹⁸O_p values of Microtus sp. are preferentially used to reconstruct summer air temperatures, which range from 16.0 ± 3.7 to 19.1 ± 3.1°C throughout the sedimentary sequence; however, the highest variability is observed during the last glacial maximum.     

Gibraltar woman and Neanderthal Man

Forbes' Quarry, on the Rock of Gibraltar, yielded a human skull in 1848, one of the earliest Neanderthal skeletal remains known to science. Fragments of a second Gibraltar skull, that of a child, were described from Devil's Tower rock shelter in 1928 and have recently been reconstructed and reinterpreted to emphasize the distinction of Homo neanderthalensis from H. sapiens . Neanderthal skeletal remains are confined to Europe, the Middle East and central Asia, their most recent occurrence arguably a refugium in southern Iberia. The race seemingly became extinct about 30 000 years Before Present, for reasons as yet unknown, but a programme of excavations in Gorham's and Vanguard caves on Gibraltar is in progress to elucidate palaeoenvironmental and behavioural changes as some of the last Neanderthals were succeeded stratigraphically by anatomically modern humans with an Upper Palaeolithic culture.     

Last Interglacial peopling of Siberia: the Middle Palaeolithic site Ust''-Izhul'', the upper Yenisei area

Multidisciplinary Quaternary investigations in the Minusinsk Basin in the upper Yenisei River region and other southern Siberian continental depressions have produced evidence of prehistoric peopling pre‐dating the last glacial stage (>100 ka BP). Abundant ‘pebble tools’ and bone artefacts exposed from eroded alluvia of the Yenisei River terraces indicate repeated occupation of this territory since the Middle Pleistocene. A new stage of expansion of the early human occupation habitat occurred around the last interglacial (OIS 5e) by a Middle Palaeolithic (Neanderthaloid?) population characterized by a core and flake stone industry and open‐air occupation sites. The key camp/kill‐processing site at Ust‘‐Izhul’, dated to c. 125 ka BP and documenting complex behavioural activities, is so far the most complete in situ pre‐Late Palaeolithic site found in Siberia. This unique record provides new insights into the timing and the palaeoenvironmental conditions of the Pleistocene colonization of north‐central Asia.     

High resolution analysis of uranium and thorium concentration as well as U-series isotope distributions in a Neanderthal tooth from Payre (Ardèche, France) using laser ablation ICP-MS

We have mapped U (²³⁸U) and Th (²³²Th) elemental concentrations as well as U-series isotope distributions in a Neanderthal tooth from the Middle Palaeolithic site of Payre using laser ablation ICP-MS. The U-concentrations in an enamel section varied between 1 and 1500 ppb. The U-concentration maps show that U-migration through the external enamel surface is minute, the bulk of the uranium having migrated internally via the dentine into the enamel. The uranium migration and uptake is critically dependent on the mineralogical structure of the enamel. Increased U-concentrations are observed along lineaments, some of which are associated with cracks, and others may be related to intra-prismatic zones or structural weaknesses reaching from the dentine into the enamel. The uranium concentrations in the dentine vary between about 25,000 and 45,000 ppb. Our systematic mapping of U-concentration and U-series isotopes provides insight into the time domain of U-accumulation. Most of the uranium was accumulated in an early stage of burial, with some much later overprints. None of the uranium concentration and U-series profiles across the root of the tooth complied with a single stage diffusion-adsorption (D-A) model that is used for quality control in U-series dating of bones and teeth. Nevertheless, in the domains that yielded the oldest apparent U-series age estimates, U-leaching could be excluded. This means that the oldest apparent U-series ages of around 200 ka represent a minimum age for this Neanderthal specimen. This is in good agreement with independent age assessments (200-230 ka) for the archaeological layer, in which it was found.The Th elemental concentrations in the dental tissues were generally low (between about 1 and 20 ppb), and show little relationship with the nature of the tissue.     

Radiometric dating of the Middle Palaeolithic tool industry and associated fauna of Pin Hole Cave,Creswell Crags,England

Uranium-series dating of derived speleothem suggests that the sediments enclosing a Middle Palaeolithic stone artefact assemblage in Pin Hole Cave probably accumulated after about 64 ka, and ¹⁴C dates indicate a likely age of > 40 ka for the large mammal fauna associated with it. Electron spin resonance data from the fauna conform with these age constraints and are consistent with accumulation between 38 and 50 ka. This evidence supports the view that Britain was recolonised by hominids during Oxygen Isotope Stage 3. Stratigraphically higher stone tool industries demonstrate the local presence of both early Upper and late Upper Palaeolithic cultures. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Central Himalayan crystallines as the primary source for the sandstone–mudstone suites of the Siwalik Group: New geochemical evidence

Geochemistry of the Sub-Himalayan foreland basin Siwalik sediments has been used for interpreting the nature of the source rocks. This study has shown that the compositional changes are a function of stratigraphic height, demonstrated by the upward increase of P₂O₅, Na₂O, CaO, MgO and SiO₂ content from Lower to the Upper Siwalik rocks. On the other hand, K₂O, Fe₂O₃, TiO₂ and Al₂O₃ show decrease with the increasing stratigraphic height. These trends are a clear reflection of time-controlled changes in the source lithology. Ratios such as Eu/Eu*, (La/Lu)_cn, La/Sc, Th/Sc, La/Co, and Cr/Th suggest a prominent felsic source area for the Siwalik sediments. Chondrite-normalized REE pattern with LREE enrichment and moderately flat HREE pattern with sharp negative Eu anomaly are attributed to a felsic source. Contrary to the existing belief, this study has ruled out any contribution from the mafic sources and highlighted the compositional similarities of Siwalik sediments with the crustal proxies like PAAS, NASC and UCC. The geochemical data point to a significant role played by the Precambrian and early Paleozoic granitic rocks of the Himalayan tectogene in shaping the composition of the foreland sediments. The variable CIA values and marked depletion in Na, Mg and Ca exhibited by the Lower, Middle and Upper Siwalik sediments reflect variable climatic zones and variations in the rate of tectonic uplift of the source area. Our results demonstrate that in the Lower Siwalik and part of the Middle Siwalik, Higher Himalayan Crystalline sequence (HHCS) was the primary source area with minor contributions by the meta-sedimentary succession of the Lesser Himalaya. Later, during the deposition of the upper part of the Middle Siwalik and Upper Siwalik, the source terrain switched positions. These two prominent source terrains supplied sediments in steadily changing proportion through time.     

Intra-interstadial environmental changes in Last Glacial loess revealed by molluscan assemblages from the Upper Palaeolithic site of Amiens-Renancourt 1 (Somme,France)

The Amiens-Renancourt 1 site recently yielded one of the most important Upper Palaeolithic human occupations of northern France by the number of flint artefacts and especially by the presence of Venus figurines. All the material comes from a single archaeological layer located in a tundra gley bracketed by loess units. A multi-proxy study combining a detailed stratigraphy, luminescence and radiocarbon datings and high-resolution (5 cm per sample) grain size and molluscan analyses was therefore carried out to reconstruct and date the associated environmental changes and to determine the exact context of the human occupation. The chronological frame thus established supports the correlations of the archaeology-bearing tundra gley and of an underlying arctic brown soil with Greenland interstadials GI-4 and GI-3. Composition changes in the molluscan population enabled the identification of transitional and optimum phases and sub-phases within these two pedogenetic horizons. A conceptual correlation model linking molluscan phases with millennial-scale variations of Greenland ice-core and Sieben Hengste speleothem climate records is proposed. The Human occupation appears contemporaneous to the end of the stadial–interstadial transition of GI-3. Synchronous in Amiens-Renancourt 1 and Nussloch, subsequent micro-gleys may also result from a regional/global forcing. Such a level of detail is unprecedented in a loess sequence.     

Dating Palaeolithic sites in southwestern Crete,Greece

Discussions of dispersals of early hominins from Africa assume that Southwest Asia and the Arabian Peninsula were the primary passageways for migrations to Eurasia. The Mediterranean is usually viewed as a barrier to early hominin movements because pre‐sapiens hominins were thought to lack the technical means or the cognitive skills to construct boats. The discovery of early Palaeolithic artefacts in an archaeological survey on the Greek island of Crete challenges this view. Here we show that Palaeolithic artefacts in the Plakias region in southwestern Crete are associated with geological contexts that can be dated to the late Middle or early Late Pleistocene. Because Crete has been separated from the mainland throughout the Pleistocene, the presence of Pleistocene age artefacts there suggests that early hominins were able to cross open water. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Campanian Ignimbrite (Y5) tephra at Crvena Stijena Rockshelter, Montenegro

Clearly defined distal tephras are rare in rockshelter sediment records. Crvena Stijena, a Palaeolithic site in Montenegro, contains one of the longest (> 20 m) rockshelter sediment records in Europe with deposits ranging in age from Middle Pleistocene to mid-Holocene. A distinctive tephra is clearly exposed within the well stratified record approximately 6.5 m below the present land surface. We present geochemical data to confirm that this tephra is a distal equivalent of the Campanian Ignimbrite deposits and a product of the largest Late Pleistocene eruption in Europe. Originating in the Campanian volcanic province of southwest Italy, this tephra has been independently dated to 39.3 ka. It is a highly significant chronostratigraphic marker for southern Europe. Macrostratigraphic and microstratigraphic observations, allied with detailed particle size data, show that the tephra layer is in a primary depositional context and was transported into the rockshelter by aeolian processes. This site is unique because the tephra forms an abrupt boundary between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic records. Before they can be used as chronostratigraphic markers in rockshelter and cave-mouth environments, it is essential to establish the stratigraphic integrity of distal tephras and the mechanisms and pathways involved in their transport and deposition.     

Trilobite trace fossils and their stratigraphical significance in the Cambrian sequence of the Holy Cross Mountains,Poland

Abundant and varied trilobite trace fossils are recognized and described in the Cambrian sequence of the Holy Cross Mountains. Cruziana and Rusophycus are stratigraphically significant and some of the described traces may be used as local index fossils. The first recognition of the Cruziana barbata ichnozone in Poland is made and it occurs in the uppermost Middle Cambrian. A new position for the Middle/Upper Cambrian boundary is established. Three new ichnospecies are described: Cruziana magna, C. regularis and Rusophycus crebus.     

Reassessment of the ‘Abbevillien’ in the perspective of new discoveries from the Lower Palaeolithic and Quaternary sites of Abbeville (Somme,northern France)

North-West Europe yields few traces of early human occupation, in particular for the Acheulean. In this context, the Somme Valley in northern France offers a route to Britain during various Pleistocene low sea levels, and has provided numerous evidence of Lower Palaeolithic human occupation through fieldwork initiated during the 19th century. These localities are associated with the original definition in the 1930s by the French prehistorian Abbé Henri Breuil of the ‘Abbevillien’ (Abbevillian facies), based on lithic pieces including crudely made bifaces recovered in particular in some famous key localities of Abbeville, Carpentier, Léon and Moulin Quignon quarries. The history of the term and its definition subsequently gave rise to debates concerning the chronocultural framework of Palaeolithic assemblages among the scientific community of prehistorians over time, from Jacques Boucher de Perthes, Gabriel de Mortillet, Geoffroy d'Ault du Mesnil, Victor Commont, Henri Breuil and François Bordes. New investigations at these three localities, all associated with the High Terrace of the Somme system, pushed back the age of the expansion of the Acheulean both in northern France and in Western Europe to c. 670–650 000 years. They imply that early hominins were able to settle in North-West Europe during both climatic temperate and cold phases. Our work, including new excavations and associated field observations of the three Abbeville localities involved at the onset of the controversy, allows a re-examination of the Abbevillian and contributes to the discussion of the history of Prehistoric Science and the Earliest ‘Acheuleans’ in North-West Europe.     

OSL dating of the Middle Palaeolithic Hotel California site,Sierra de Atapuerca,north‐central Spain

In this study we present optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating results obtained at one of the most important open‐air Middle Palaeolithic sites in the Sierra de Atapuerca foothills – Hotel California. We also assess the possibility of obtaining extended‐range OSL chronologies for a nearby Middle Pleistocene fluvial deposit using several novel methods, namely OSL dating of individual quartz ‘supergrains’, multi‐grain aliquot thermally transferred OSL (TT‐OSL) dating and the first application of a single‐grain TT‐OSL dating procedure. Four single‐grain OSL ages constrain the Middle Palaeolithic occupation of Hotel California to between 71±6 and 48±3 ka. The Hotel California single‐grain equivalent dose (D_e) distributions are highly overdispersed and contain several dose populations, which are probably attributable to post‐depositional sediment mixing, partial bleaching and intrinsic scatter. The reliability of multi‐grain aliquot OSL dating is compromised by the complex underlying D_e dispersion affecting these samples, as well as by biasing multi‐grain averaging effects. Extended‐range OSL and TT‐OSL chronologies for the nearby Pico River terrace are consistent with each other and with broad independent age control. These experimental approaches yield a weighted average age of 348±16 ka for terrace T_A9 of the Arlanzón River sequence. Our results highlight the benefits of comparing ages obtained using several OSL methodologies to improve the robustness of luminescence chronologies. They also demonstrate the potential that single‐grain OSL techniques offer for establishing improved age constraints on the many other Middle Palaeolithic sites found at Atapuerca and elsewhere across north‐central Spain.     

Central Himalayan crystallines as the primary source for the sandstone–mudstone suites of the Siwalik Group: New geochemical evidence

Geochemistry of the Sub-Himalayan foreland basin Siwalik sediments has been used for interpreting the nature of the source rocks. This study has shown that the compositional changes are a function of stratigraphic height, demonstrated by the upward increase of P₂O₅, Na₂O, CaO, MgO and SiO₂ content from Lower to the Upper Siwalik rocks. On the other hand, K₂O, Fe₂O₃, TiO₂ and Al₂O₃ show decrease with the increasing stratigraphic height. These trends are a clear reflection of time-controlled changes in the source lithology. Ratios such as Eu/Eu*, (La/Lu)_cn, La/Sc, Th/Sc, La/Co, and Cr/Th suggest a prominent felsic source area for the Siwalik sediments. Chondrite-normalized REE pattern with LREE enrichment and moderately flat HREE pattern with sharp negative Eu anomaly are attributed to a felsic source. Contrary to the existing belief, this study has ruled out any contribution from the mafic sources and highlighted the compositional similarities of Siwalik sediments with the crustal proxies like PAAS, NASC and UCC. The geochemical data point to a significant role played by the Precambrian and early Paleozoic granitic rocks of the Himalayan tectogene in shaping the composition of the foreland sediments. The variable CIA values and marked depletion in Na, Mg and Ca exhibited by the Lower, Middle and Upper Siwalik sediments reflect variable climatic zones and variations in the rate of tectonic uplift of the source area. Our results demonstrate that in the Lower Siwalik and part of the Middle Siwalik, Higher Himalayan Crystalline sequence (HHCS) was the primary source area with minor contributions by the meta-sedimentary succession of the Lesser Himalaya. Later, during the deposition of the upper part of the Middle Siwalik and Upper Siwalik, the source terrain switched positions. These two prominent source terrains supplied sediments in steadily changing proportion through time.