incision due to gravel mining modeling a case study from the gallego river spain abstract historical information on river degradation was used in a case study on the gallego river a tributary of the ebro river in northeastern spain the gallego drains about 4000 km 2 of the southern slopes of the pyrenees good channel surveys since the 1940s allowed a comparison of longitudinal bed profiles over time over this period about 1 million m 3 of gravel was mined according to the archival records the volume of alluvium lost due to incision in the same period was 2 million m 3 this imbalance is tentatively explained by a budget model based on a bedload equation and an algorithm to determine whether the effective bedload transport is controlled by the transport capacity or by the supply of sediment it appears that the incision process has changed the magnitude of the shear stresses on channel bed as the river became deeper the channel could accommodate higher discharges without overbank flooding the results obtained from a second model based on diffusion equation for the bed elevation compared well with the field data this model is based on the hypotheses of steady uniform flow regarding water and sediment conservation

the early pleistocene human dispersals in the circum mediterranean basin and initial peopling of europe single or multiple pathways abstract the issue of ancient human single or multiple dispersal pathways into eurasia is theoretically significant for understanding adaptive processes involved in peopling vacant spaces and varied unfamiliar ecosystems but receives mostly marginal attention the western asian staging post remains most plausible whereas an alternative peopling directly from the maghreb across the gibraltar strait into iberia and beyond though problematic is proposed repeatedly the present review discusses these issues and findings requiring interpretation with respect to chronology fossil human and palaeolithic evidence and early pleistocene circumstances in the circum mediterranean basin and europe the spatiotemporal distribution of palaeoanthropological occurrences and ethiopian fossil mammal expansions does not support the hypothesis of a single early pleistocene biogeographic event originating in subsaharan africa spreading throughout western asia and europe on the other hand this spatiotemporal distribution of ancient human evidence in europe reveals an intriguing bimodal chronological pattern early pleistocene occurrences in both eastern europe and western europe prove earlier than those in west central europe and the italian peninsula which are dateable to the mid pleistocene this early pleistocene distribution cluster of occurrences in iberia and atlantic europe refutes implicitly a single linked human ethiopian mammal biogeographic event exclusively through western asia while reviving the notion of sweepstake dispersal directly across the strait of gibraltar a scenario which however demands independent confirmation by reviewing past circumstances favourable for a crossing as well as suggesting a series of multiple staging posts the observed bimodal spatiotemporal configuration becomes more compatible with another hypothesis namely that europe was peopled independently by converging population movements from both the western asian and ibero moroccan staging posts during the early pleistocene between ca 1 85 1 40 ma

palaeoenvironment and dating of the early acheulean localities from the somme river basin northern france new discoveries from the high terrace at abbeville carriere carpentier dating the earliest human occupations in western europe and reconstructing links with climatic and environmental constraints is a central issue in quaternary studies amongst the discovery of palaeolithic artefacts ascribed to the early pleistocene in southeast britain and central france the somme basin where the acheulean type site amiens saint acheul is located is a key area for addressing this topic research undertaken over the past 20 years on both quaternary fluvial and loess sequences of this area has provided a unique dataset for the study of the relations between human occupations and environmental variations studies based on an interdisciplinary approach combining sedimentology palaeontology and geochronology have highlighted the impact of the 100 kyrs cycles on terrace formation during the last million years in this terrace system the earliest in situ acheulean settlements known in the 1990s were dated to early mis 12 450 ka but new field discoveries at amiens rue du manege dated to 550 ka significantly increase the age of the oldest human occupation in the area in this context new fieldwork has been undertaken in abbeville at the carriere carpentier site famous for its white marl deposit attributed to the cromerian and in the same terrace level where the former discoveries of abbevillian bifaces were made by d ault du mesnil this research is based on an interdisciplinary approach combining sedimentology paleontology dating esr on quartz and esr u series on teeth and archaeology according to the various bio proxies molluscs large vertebrates small mammals the white marl was deposited during the early part of an interglacial phase in an aquatic slow flowing environment as emphasized by the development of oncoliths and the presence of fish and aquatic molluscs the landscape was composed of a mosaic of open bush and forest areas in which wet and grassy vegetation developed on riverbanks on the basis of terrace stratigraphy esr and esr u series dating results and biostratigraphic data the fluvial deposits of the white marl can be securely attributed to mis 15 in addition some acheulean bifaces were discovered at the base of the slope deposits directly overlying the fluvial sequence these artefacts are most likely coeval with the end of mis 15 or an early stage of mis 14 between 550 and 500 ka and represent together with the artefacts from amiens rue du manege the oldest in situ evidence of acheulean occupation in northern france however no unquestionable artefacts have been discovered in the white marl or in the underlying gravel layer these discoveries contribute to the chronology of the earliest evidence of hominin occupations in north western europe which may be related to homo heidelbergensis

cueva negra del estrecho del rio quipar murcia spain a late early pleistocene hominin site with an acheulo levalloiso mousteroid palaeolithic assemblage abstract at cueva negra del estrecho del rio quipar biostratigraphy and palaeomagnetism indicate a time in the late early pleistocene i e somewhat before the matuyama brunhes boundary of 780 000 a 0 78 ma for the entire 5 m thick sedimentary fill excavated in the rock shelter from which there are hominin teeth cf homo heidelbergensis a rich palaeontological and palaeopalynological record demonstrating warm moist environmental conditions possibly mis 21 a fundamentally homogeneous artifact assemblage throughout the sedimentary deposit and evidence of fire at over 4 m depth a brief introduction to the site and the assemblage is offered palaeolithic artifacts were produced by three different reduction sequences because a an acheulian hand axe was flaked bifacially on a flat limestone cobble b several excavated chert flakes had been struck off small cores by recurrent flaking with one flake showing a facetted striking platform whilst two surface finds of small discoidal cores bear the broad central concave scar that in a levalloisian prepared core reduction sequence would correspond to centripetal removal of the final flake and c abundant small artifacts 25 60 mm mainly of chert reflect expedient removal of small flakes or fragments from cores by both unipolar and bipolar reduction techniques including many keeled pieces that could be residual cores which have notches slender spurs or beaks becs or a planoconvex slug like or limace shape all of which may be remnants of cores subjected to bipolar knapping in addition to very small pointed and awl like pieces and several fragments and flakes with steep abrupt mousteroid edge retouch and abundant knapping spalls and waste although the site had been interpreted conservatively in earlier publications as early middle pleistocene recent palaeomagnetic findings show that the entire sedimentary fill corresponds to the late early pleistocene somewhat over 780 000 a 0 78 ma an age which is acceptable from the standpoint of the biostratigraphical data among the aims of this paper are 1 a consideration of the palaeolithic assemblage in relation to local availability of raw materials of appropriate shapes and petrology for knapping in a palaeoenvironmental context far different from that of today 2 consideration of the implications for human cognitive and technological evolution in the european late early pleistocene and 3 a proposal that those considerations highlight practical methodological and theoretical drawbacks to the classical european interpretation of earlier palaeolithic chronologies from a perspective of typological sequences

environmentally sustainable mining a case study of intermittent cut and fill mining under sand aquifers this paper presents an investigation on the effects of intermittent cut and fill mining on the overburden failure under sand aquifers in the intermittent cut and filling method the panel is divided into long pillars and then entries in every long pillar into a narrow strip every narrow strip is then cut and backfilled field measurements scale model tests and numerical simulations are used to compare overburden failure and subsidence due to three mining methods intermittent cut and fill mining longwall excavation and continuous filling these methods were applied in a case study of the taiping coal mine in shandong china the results of the numerical simulation and scale model testing reveal that the height of the maximum caving and water conducting fractured zones and the maximum subsidence due to intermittent cut and fill mining are much smaller than those with the use of longwall excavation and continuous filling and well verified by the field measurements additionally the numerical simulation results of the stress distribution and variation during intermittent cut and fill mining are in close agreement with those of the field measurements it has been proved that the intermittent cut and fill mining can successfully mitigate the overburden failure and subsidence which contribute to preventing water and sand inrush into coal mines under sand aquifers this provides a less costly and more effective approach to address surface subsidence and mine caving problems

mid pleistocene acheulean like stone technology of the bose basin south china stone artifacts from the bose basin south china are associated with tektites dated to 803 000 3000 years ago and represent the oldest known large cutting tools lcts in east asia bose toolmaking is compatible with mode 2 acheulean technologies in africa in its targeted manufacture and biased spatial distribution of lcts large scale flaking and high flake scar counts acheulean like tools in the mid pleistocene of south china imply that mode 2 technical advances were manifested in east asia contemporaneously with handaxe technology in africa and western eurasia bose lithic technology is associated with a tektite airfall and forest burning

evaluating the impact of homo carnivore competition in european human settlements during the early to middle pleistocene fossil remains and the technological complexes recorded in archaeological sites suggest that the human presence in europe late in the early and middle pleistocene was discontinuous moreover competition for meat with other secondary consumers could have delayed the human dispersal through europe however evaluation of the extent competition intensity among secondary consumers suggests this influenced the discontinuity of the human settlement of europe between 1 1 and 0 2 ma using a mathematical model we estimate the amount of biomass available in a community for secondary consumers the amount of available biomass is subsequently distributed among the guild of secondary consumers according to their requirements and prey preferences indexes that quantify the competition intensity among secondary consumers to compare the conditions in different paleoecosystems show that the competition intensity late in the early pleistocene early in the middle pleistocene and late in the middle pleistocene does not support the view that an increase in competition intensity constrained the expansion of human populations early in the middle pleistocene somewhat paradoxically the lowest competition intensity is estimated to have occurred early in the middle pleistocene most likely because of an increase in the number of large herbivore species and a decrease in the number of secondary consumers the early pleistocene paleoecosystems supported higher competition intensity than the middle pleistocene ecosystems likely because of the different configuration in the food webs of these two periods the early and middle pleistocene

lateral erosion of the sacramento river california 1942 1999 and responses of channel and floodplain lake to human influences this study focused on a spatial and temporal analysis of the active channel and associated floodplain lakes using aerial photographs spanning five decades 1942 1962 1985 1999 over a 140 km long reach of the sacramento planimetric changes were analysed longitudinally and temporally to highlight the spatial structures and their evolution through time the results underline complex changes and space time pattern in bank erosion channel length and active channel width the bank erosion and also channel lengthening were higher between 1962 and 1985 than in the two periods studied before and after active channel width significantly decreased from 1942 to 1999 partly progressively from upstream to downstream with local widening whatever the studied periods similarly the floodplain lakes observed before 1942 1962 were significantly different in size and geometry from those which appeared during the most recent period the creation of lakes is less frequent after the 1940s with a secondary peak of occurrence during the 1962 1985 period the interpretation of these changes is complex because of various human pressures acting over different time scales bank protection flow diversion sediment starvation land use changes and various natural influences flood sequences through out the period geological setting the findings are discussed by comparison with previous work and highlight the important effect of dam impact on peak flow and sediment starvation modifying longitudinally hydraulic conditions within the channel but also the increase in riprap protection which induced change in bank erosion channel planimetry and floodplain lake characters geometry frequency of renewal variation in flood intensities is also observed as having positive effects on the bank erosion pattern secondarily land use changes also controlled bank erosion intensity copyright c 2010 john wiley sons ltd

early european mode 2 and the stone industry from the caune de l arago s archeostratigraphical levels p abstract the stratigraphical complex of the caune de l arago cave site france pyrenees orientales has been systematically excavated for over 40 years in 1981 foraging in the deposits revealed a 15 m thick quaternary infill with artefacts present throughout the stratigraphy all the way down to the basal stalagmitic floor 0 69 ma the infill most of which is correlated to mis 14 13 and 12 has yielded numerous distinct occupation floors exceptionally rich stone implements and animal fossils while some of the levels have also yielded hominin remains attributed to homo heidelbergensis over the years intensive interdisciplinary studies have contributed to defining the characteristics of these middle pleistocene occupations recently excavations have reached the so called p levels attributed to a series of occupation floors accumulated during short term stays by hominin groups during a cold dry phase of mis 14 artefact bearing levels are found intercalated between archeologically sterile sediments relatively rich in carnivore remains among the numerous large pleistocene mammals identified in the p levels horse reindeer and bison are most frequent in artefact yielding floors while argali brought into the cave by carnivores bear and panther remains are common in intercalating levels the study of the p levels stone assemblage provides new information about raw material selectivity technological behaviour and typological characteristics for one of the oldest known western european mode 2 industries it is interesting to consider the precise handiwork and care with which raw materials were selected for the confection of the fine quality instruments typical of the p levels assemblages whose acheulian character is underlined by a relative abundance of symmetrical and remarkably well worked handaxes the p levels industries seem to bear witness to long acquired technological capacities inherited perhaps from earlier african or eurasian populations

environmental effects of river sand mining a case from the river catchments of vembanad lake southwest coast of india rivers in the southwest coast of india are under immense pressure due to various kinds of human activities among which indiscriminate extraction of construction grade sand is the most disastrous one the situation is rather alarming in the rivers draining the vembanad lake catchments as the area hosts one of the fast developing urban cum industrial centre the kochi city otherwise called the queen of arabian sea the vembanad lake catchments are drained by seven rivers whose length varies between 78 and 244 km and catchment area between 847 and 5 398 km2 on an average 11 73 million ty 1 of sand and gravel are being extracted from the active channels and 0 414 million ty 1 of sand from the river floodplains the quantity of instream mining is about 40 times the higher than the sand input estimated in the gauging stations as a result of indiscriminate sand mining the riverbed in the storage zone is getting lowered at a rate of 7 15 cm y 1 over the past two decades this in turn imposes severe damages to the physical and biological environments of these river systems the present paper deals with the environmental effects of indiscriminate sand mining from the small catchment rivers in the southwest coast of india taking the case of the rivers draining the vembanad lake catchments as an example

effect of instream sand mining on hydraulic variables of bedload transport and channel planform an alluvial stream in south bengal basin india sand mining adversely behaves with changing river system especially in the bedload transport process this study aims to find out the relationships between river water flows sediment transport regime in bedload transport and also tries to determine how instream mining affect the sediment inflow and channel planform change the field study has been conducted in three selected sites on kangsabati river situated in the lower middle and upper course several established equations were applied to derive the results from water flow and sediment regime gstat was used to prepare coarse medium cm diagrams and tractive current deposits to analyze the trend of sediment throughout the river course sediment and bedload transport were measured using ackers and white j hydraul eng div asce 99 hy11 2041 2060 1973 and meyer peter muller methods iahsr 2nd meeting stockholm appendix 2 iahr 1948 shear stress and critical shear stress were computed using shields application of similarity principles and turbulence research to bedload movement 1936 and duboys equations whereas friend and sinha s method braiding and meandering parameters vol 75 no 1 geological society london 1993 was used to detect irregular planform response caused by sand mining regression analysis denotes that mining intensity can be change the shear stress r2 0 972 velocity r2 0 683 grain diameter r2 0 555 and sediment concentration r2 0 997 on bedload transport mining activities can be changes of hydraulic responses as well as interruption of sediment and bedload transport throughout the channel in context of sand mining planform response denotes that thalweg shifting leads to massive sandchar deposition in upper course huge channel incision causes river bank erosion in middle course and pool riffle alteration expanded in channel and pit area in lower course

boron and magnesium isotopic composition of seawater the isotopic systems of boron and magnesium are increasingly being used as proxies for a number of environmental variables and processes the isotopic composition of seawater for both systems plays a central role in these studies and is an important interlaboratory standard given the long residence times of both elements 10 7 years it is commonly assumed that seawater is isotopically homogenous for these systems yet no systematic studies currently exist here we present the b and mg isotopic composition of 26 28 seawater samples from a number of ocean basins that encompass a significant range in salinity 32 to 38 psu temperature 0 3 to 25 9c and water depth 0 to 1240 m we find no significant or systematic variation for either system in accordance with their long residence times we recommend that the mean values we report 11 b 39 61 0 04 2 s e n 28 25 mg 0 43 0 01 2 s e n 26 26 mg 0 82 0 01 2 s e n 26 be used in future studies involving mg and b isotopes copyright 2010 by the american geophysical union

braiding and meandering parameters modifications to standard definttrons of brarding and meandertng are proposed to indicate the morphology of every rrver channel reach quantrtatrvely whether tt has srngle channel or multiple chinnels srnuosrty p rs defined as p l llr where l ts the length of the midline of the channel rn single channel rivers or the wldest channel inlnulti channel rivers and lp is the overall length of the reach braiding rs a measure of channel multiplicity and a new term brard channel ratlo b has been defined as b l rorll o where l o is the total of the mrd channel lengths of a ll the channels tn a reactt anoiiiir e p ssion for the brard channel ratto which gives the same numerical rcsult is b p rorl p where the total sinuosity p o l o1 lp and p has been defined above scatter pio on braid channel ratlo slnuoslty axes show a negatlve correlatton between these parameters as would be expected from the above relatlonshrps stnglechannel rivers b l have relatrvely hrgher srnuosrtres and the upper hmrt of these rs the point at which cut off becomes hrghly probable for multi channel rivers a i sinuoslty iemains low reflecting the limrtrng effect of braid bars on the development of fully dcveloped spiral seconciary flow data analyses showing that increasesin channel slope and bankfull diiharge are associated with changes from meandering to braided morpiology are diverting attenti on from the importance of the rncreased avarlability of bed load grade sediment as a control a variety of river systems supplying water and sediment to the gangetic al luvial plarns of indta have been investigated these alluvral plains are some of the most extensive in the world so the examination has dcpcndcd hcirvi ly t l thc tr c l topographical maps and satel l l te imagcs i he degree of braiding and meanderrng displayed by these rivers varies greatly from rlver to rtver and along the course of part lcular r lve rs ollc of thc first steps has therefore been to devise methods of measuring the degree of brardrng and meandering which can be applied to al l the rivers using maps and satel l i te tmagcs wrth exist ing schemes a r ivcr channel rcach cun either be expressed ln terms of brardrng or meandering sinuosrty although arguments have been developed against the thresholds between brarding and meandering that were suggested by leopold wolman 1957 there have been very few attempts at devlsing common parameters to quantl tat ively express the morphology of channels that vary from one type to the other the f irst part of this paper discusses definit ions of braiding and nrcanderrng rnd thc modif icat ions of these definrtrons that havc been adopted variat ions of thcsc nume rtcal measurements are then r l lustrated hrghhghting some of thc factors that may bc tnvolvcd tn causlng the variatton the meandering parameter sinuosity two minor modrf icat ions have been adopted to the procedures previously used in defining the slnuosity of channcls e g l copold wolman 1957 first ly the channel length has been measured along a l ine that runs mid way between the channel banks this has al lowed mcasuremcnt readl ly from topographical maps aenal photographs and satel lr te images and also has the advantage that the channel length is unlrkely to change ln a major way with changes of r rver water leve l secondly the r ivers rn india show so many transit ions between srngle channel and brarded morphologies that i t was found necessary to abandon the hard and fast dist inct ion be ween braided and meandering classes of r ivers and employ definit ions of brarding and meandering that can each be applied to every rrver no matter whether i t has single or multrple channels or both therefore the meandering sinuostty parameter has been extended to mult i channel situations where i t is based on the mid channel length o f the channe l tha t rs wtdes t tn each reach of the channel belt the modif ied sinuosttv parameter p rs

the earliest acheulean technology at atapuerca burgos spain oldest levels of the galeria site gii unit abstract this work presents a study of the oldest acheulean lithic assemblages from the galeria site specifically the giia subunit which has been dated to c 503 95 ka and compares them with the subsequent subunit in the sequence giib dated to around 237 269 ka the main goals of this study are to offer a detailed technological characterization of the earliest acheulean presence in atapuerca and to assess the elements determining the technological variability in a given site by studying the sequence evaluating the concept of variability and defining the aspects which determine it the galeria site does not display the features of a living space it is a cave which was accessed by both humans and carnivores in order to obtain the animal biomass of the herbivores that had fallen down into the cave through a natural shaft the archaeological record is therefore incomplete and fragmented since it is the product of highly changeable occupational dynamics in the lower galeria levels we identified the development from an almost exclusive use of cobbles as blanks for knapping activities in the earliest periods to an increasing use of flakes in terms of raw materials the initially predominant use of neogene chert and quartzite evolved towards a more balanced use of six raw materials furthermore there was an increase in the size of the large tools after comparing these two acheulean assemblages it is important to put them into context by taking into account a the significance of cobbles and flakes as blanks b the significance of cleavers and c the use of raw materials such as quartzite sandstone or chert these aspects have traditionally been used to facilitate comparisons of the technologies used within the iberian peninsula and comparisons between the acheulean technology of the iberian peninsula and north africa and the european i e trans pyrenean acheulean technology

use and re use re knapped flakes from the mode 1 site of fuente nueva 3 orce andalucia spain the presence of some flaked flakes at the mode 1 site of fuente nueva 3 1 2 ma poses the problem of the use and re use of flakes as cores for obtaining smaller cutting tools the industry is characterized by small flint flakes and cores as well as by numerous limestone heavy duty tools both of the raw materials were collected from local alluvial and colluvial sources the assemblage presents a significant dimensional dichotomy with on the one hand large sized limestone percussion tools and on the other hand small sized flint debitage flint plates blocks or nodules were obtained from local secondary deposits there are very few flint cores and the average flake size is only 3 cm some of the flakes display opposite ventral surfaces indicating that they were obtained from larger flakes used as cores in addition a few intensively exploited flint cores conserve convex surfaces corresponding to their original flake matrices no appreciably large sized flint flakes have so far been found at the site suggesting that some phases of the knapping sequences were carried out further away however a few flakes could have been expediently re knapped in situ what can this behavioural choice tell us about early hominin behaviour at fuente nueva 3 the re use of flint flakes as makeshift cores implies a two step operative scheme involving the choice of a suitable blank that was further reduced on site this raises questions about raw material transport during the earliest periods of european mode 1

oldest human expansions in eurasia favouring and limiting factors 1 introductionon november 26e28 2008 an international conference wasorganised at the museum national d histoire naturelle paris france the topic was the oldest human expansions in eurasia under theaspect of the factors which could favour or limit the humansettlements while fossil human remains are scarce in eurasia lithicassemblages suggest at least two phases of human settlement or and techno cultural spread from africa to eurasia the rst one attested by mode 1 lithic industries is observed at dmanisi georgia at 1 8 ma in asia in china and pakistan around 2 ma and in europe for example in spain since 1 2e1 4 ma at orce atapuerca in italy monte poggiolo ca 1 ma pirro nord at least1 3 ma and in france pont de lavaud le vallonnet around 1 ma some dates in china and indonesia support the idea of earliersettlementsincontinentalandislandasiathanineurope whiletheoldest tool kit in africa dates to 2 6 ma kada gona ethiopia a second phase is marked by the appearance of new tools especially handaxes and cleavers these large tools do occur inafrica around 1 6e1 7 ma konso ethiopia kokiselei kenya andaround 1 4e1 2 ma in the middle east ubeidiya israel they areconsideredasthe rstindicatorsofacheuliantradition ormode2 consisting in shaping large tools on akes or blocks these toolsappear outside africa with different time lags according togeographical areas in asia the rst ones occur around 1 2 ma isampur india and then become more signi cant with anincreasing number of sites around 800 ka in eastern asia e china and south eastern asia ngebung java in western and southerneurope acheuliansitesonlyappeararound600e700ka asattestedbythe recent discoveriesin centreregion france la noira in chervalley and they become more numerous from 500 ka onwards inspain atapuerca galeria ambrona in italy visogliano castel diguido in northern and southern france somme river terraces caune de l arago in the european continent assemblages withbifaces characteristic of acheulian onlyoccurin a geographical areastretching from southern europe to great britain however theyare lacking in central europe and the rhine river is considered asa frontier but they do exist in the caucasus near the central asianborder while they are unknown further east in tadjikistan these two waves of populating probably include numerousarrivals and we do not know whether these arrivals led each timeto a permanentsettlement particularlyif the hominin groups weresmall and geographically dispersed this time lag between asia and europe regarding the peoplingphases and their consequences is debated today within the scien ti c community what could be the migratory paths from africa toboth asia and europe or from africa to asia then to europe whomoved homo antecessor homo heidelbergensis were there somecontacts between distinct human groups rather than shiftingpopulations these questions also concern the diffusion modalitiesof technical traditions and the effect of climatic and environmentalconditions on human movements the latter could explain chro nological lags and restriction of human settlements to some areasonly however it has to be kept in mind that convergencephenomena could also happen at a regional scale in the tool kits this may be the case for acheulian people the present state of knowledge on the earth s climatic storyduringthelasttwomillionyearsshowslocalphenomenacombinedto global changes for example increase of glaciations around800ka whenclimaticcyclesshiftedtothe100kaperiodicity astheeccentricity parameter of terrestrial orbit became more importantthan the obliquity of earth s axis earlier periodicity of 41 ka mis20 characterised by strong marine regression took place at thesame time as the matuyamaebrunhes geomagnetic inversion 780 ka and is considered as an accurate chronological marker recent results of various research teams contribute to builta more complete and precise picture of the past the betterknowledge of the palaeoenvironment allows a new appraisalregarding the spread of technical behaviours in relation to theenvironmental context highlighted by new issues concerningafrica some major questions were discussed during the conference 1 the geographical dispersal of each type of lithic industry 2 the chronological gaps in the hominin settlements in thevarious areas of eurasia 3 the periods when climatic or topographic variations had animportant role favouring or limiting the human expansion insome regions

recent channel adjustments in alluvial rivers of tuscany central italy drastic channel adjustments have affected the main alluvial rivers of tuscany central italy during the 20th century bed level adjustments were identified both by comparing available topographic longitudinal profiles of different years and through field observations changes in channel width were investigated by comparing available aerial photographs 1954 and 1993 98 bed incision represents the dominant type of vertical adjustment and is generalized along all the fluvial systems investigated the arno river system is the most affected by bed level lowering up to 9 m whereas lower incision generally less than 2 m is observed along the rivers of the southern part of the region human disturbances appear to be the dominant factors of adjustments the main phase of vertical change occurred during the period 1945 80 in concomitance with the phase of maximum sediment mining activity at the regional scale the second dominant type of adjustment that involved most of the rivers in the region consists of a narrowing of the active channel based on measurements of channel width conducted on aerial photographs 38 of the reaches analysed experienced a narrowing greater than 50 of the initial channel width the largest values of channel narrowing were observed along initially braided or sinuous with alternate bars morphologies in the southern portion of the region a regional scheme of channel adjustments is derived based on initial channel morphology and on the amounts of incision and narrowing different styles of channel adjustments are described rivers that were originally sinuous with alternate bars to braided generally became adjusted by a moderate incision and a moderate to intense narrowing in contrast sinuous meandering channels mainly adjusted vertically with a minor amount of narrowing copyright 2003 john wiley sons ltd

the site of ain hanech revisited new investigations at this lower pleistocene site in northern algeria abstract new archaeological investigations have been carried out at the oldowan site of ain hanech in northeast algeria the archaeological horizons are delineated and positioned relative to the regional stratigraphy preliminary palaeomagnetic analysis reveals normal polarity for the oldowan occurrences that may be correlated with the olduvai subchron on the indication of the vertebrate faunal biozonation broken up bones associated with stone artefacts and contained in a silty deposit mixed with sand and gravels were excavated from two archaeological sites the bone assemblage includes equids bovids elephant and rhinoceros and dominated by equus tabeti taphonomic patterns indicate that bones were buried rapidly over a period of years and while the site was occupied the lithic artefacts are fresh and represent a coherent assemblage including small debitage the artefacts made of limestone and flint include flaked cobbles whole flakes various fragments and retouched pieces a microwear study undertaken on pieces made of flint indicates the use of two simple flakes and of one denticulate for meat processing the stone artefact assemblage may be considered as a north african variant of the oldowan

channel changes due to river regulation the case of the piave river italy this paper deals with the channel changes of the piave river in the eastern alps italy which have occurred during this century in response to human interventions in the fluvial system the flow regime and the sediment supply of the river have been considerably altered by hydroelectric dams flow diversions and gravel mining in addition river dynamics have been affected by the construction of streambank protection structures to document these changes a historical analysis was performed using maps and aerial photographs morphological features that were examined included planform configuration channel width braiding index and bed elevation the results indicate that as a consequence of decreases in the flows and sediment supply remarkable channel changes have occurred in the river during this century especially during recent decades the channel has undergone a general narrowing with a decrease in average width to 35 per cent of its initial value while the braiding index has decreased from about 3 to 1 5 in several reaches the planform pattern has changed from braided to wandering the observed trends of channel change suggest that the river has not yet reached a new equilibrium condition and it may therefore be predicted that reductions in width and braiding intensity are likely to continue in the immediate future copyright 1999 john wiley sons ltd

the pre mousterian industrial complex in europe between 400 and 300 ka interpreting its origin and spatiotemporal variability abstract the author discuss data indicating that the non handaxe non acheulean tradition of small tools and core choppers was present in parts of west eurasia during the early middle pleistocene the period marked by a wide spread of acheulean in west asia and west europe and survived until 400 300 ka and perhaps later in some areas beyond the area of the maximum acheulean distribution in the danube basin and the balkans and to a limited extent north of the danube basin in central europe and in the south of russian plain and northern caucasus in eastern europe the author defines these middle pleistocene assemblages which are totally lacking true acheulean handaxes and debitage resulted from large flake or levallois knapping technologies as the pre mousterian industrial complex the assemblages of pre mousterian complex are variable due to their functional differentiation and other reasons but generally comprise the next three components 1 simple mostly primary and orthogonal and also rare unipolar and centripetal cores with short reduction sequences consisting of flaking of 1 3 flakes from one platform followed by the core rotation or discard 2 flake tools which are made mostly but not exclusively on small sized flakes with beveled platforms and include varieties of simple side scrapers denticulates notches thick end scrapers awls and convergent pieces as well as small numbers of tools with flat ventral retouch or bifacial retouched edges and 3 large sized tools are always present and include mostly unifacial choppers and more rare chopping tools and proto bifaces or pointed choppers with partial bifacial processing the author discuss that the hominids that produced lithic industries of pre mousterian complex acquired a high behavioural plasticity to settle in most uncomfortable within western eurasia forested and forest steppe environments with cold winters in central and eastern europe the hominids developed tool inventories well suited for bone and woodworking made real wooden throwing spears and composite tools with wooden hafts that are found in schoningen in contrast to the acheulean complex in west europe and west asia assemblages of pre mousterian complex do not show a transition temporally being placed now during mis 8 mis 7 between c 300 200 ka in both the regions toward the middle palaeolithic or mousterian technology in contrast to the acheulean to middle palaeolithic transition which is associated with final neanderthalization of h heidelbergensis and the origin of h neanderthalensis the assemblages of pre mousterian complex disappear with the spread of early middle paleolithic neanderthals

large flake acheulean in the middle of tagus basin spain middle stretch of the river tagus valley and lower stretches of the rivers jarama and manzanares valleys abstract the highest concentration of palaeolithic sites known in the iberian peninsula is located in the lower stretches of the manzanares and jarama rivers this area together with a number of zones in the tagus valley constitutes one of the most important archives for the knowledge of the european pleistocene the purpose of this paper is to establish the chronological frame and the technological strategies implemented in manufacturing lithic tools during the acheulean techno complex in the middle stretch of the tagus basin use of large flakes for making bifaces is common in the acheulean assemblages from this area as well as in the rest of the iberian peninsula and the south of france the earliest acheulean evidence has been dated to between mis 15 and mis 13 from mis 11 mis 9 on this techno complex is widespread in the region until mis 6 when the last evidence has been recorded handaxes cleavers on flake and trihedral picks dominate in the ch ines operatoires of faconnage which are present in significant percentages short ch ines operatoires of debitage prevail in quartzite and discoid and polyhedric in flint most retouched tools are seldom elaborate lithic assemblages with ch ines operatoires of faconnage exclusively represented by handaxes start to be recorded towards the end of the middle pleistocene these handaxes are more elaborate than previous and the retouched tools are more complex among the activities identified in the sites excavated in overbank facies exploitation of large mammals particularly proboscideans is outstanding as well as the manufacture of lithic tools and the exploitation of primary flint outcrops the recording of long recurrent settlements on the same location is remarkable

impact of floodplain gravel mining on landforms and processes a study case in orlat gravel pit romania understanding gravel mining a very common but aggressive activity as a morphogenetic action is fundamental for analyzing and assessing the impact on floodplain morphology and the dynamic of riverbeds on sediments budget and water balance assessment but also for floodplain planning and resources management field observations and gis analysis were performed in a gravel pit area from central romania to assess the impact of gravel harvesting during the last decade 2005 2015 on floodplain landscape landforms dynamic and fluvial processes field measurements diachronic analysis on maps channel sinuosity coefficient and braided coefficient were carried out to assess the riverbed pattern the results indicate that the intensive harvesting of gravels and sands in floodplain area leads to doubling of pit and pit ponds surfaces changes in floodplain morphology and landscape degradation and radical changes in land use land cover the channel analysis indicates that the natural conditions and gravel harvesting had an important role in riverbed mobility and reveals different patterns along the cibin river meandered disentangling and sinuous the main changes of the riverbed consist of meanders radius reduction meander loops migration northward and downstream increased sinuosity and decreased braided coefficient this study facilitates a better understanding of the geomorphologic consequences of off stream gravel harvesting the fluvial processes variability linked to flow and bedload and point to human action as morphogenetic and morphodynamic factors moreover this study may enhance the environmental significance in sustainable management of floodplain being a useful tool in applied ecology river remediation studies and territorial planning

hominin multiple occupations in the early and middle pleistocene sequence of vallparadis barcelona spain abstract the archaeological site at vallparadis barcelona spain contains a continuous archaeostratigraphic sequence that extends from the upper limit of the jaramillo subchron 0 98 ma to the first half of the middle pleistocene c 0 6 ma evidence of human occupation lithic tools and cut marks has been identified in this sequence in the levels with reverse polarity from the early pleistocene evt7 4 and in the levels with normal polarity from the middle pleistocene evt3 2 in contrast to unit evt7 which was excavated using an extensive archaeological methodology the other levels were a rescue excavation the latter yielded a reduced lithic assemblage providing evidence of a multiple occupation sequence by hominins at vallparadis this evidence call into question the proposal that there was a gap in the hominin settlement before the appearance of mode 2 technology in europe a hypothesis that is based on stratigraphic sequences such as gran dolina atapuerca spain and the mid loire region massif central france regarding the early pleistocene lithic tools from unit evt7 at vallparadis the upper phase of the sequence evt4 2 shows longer chaines operatoires an increase in size of the lithic artefacts and the selection of better quality raw materials which in turn indicate changes in the source areas from which they were selected

climatic control on palaeohydrology and cyclical sediment distribution in the plio quaternary deposits of the guadix basin betic cordillera spain abstract a cyclical pattern can be observed in the central sector of the guadix basin southern spain in the late pliocene quaternary alluvial fan deposits prograding into its axial valley a climatic significance has been attributed to this cyclicity on the basis of sedimentological and preliminary isotopic studies the progradation phases of the alluvial fans are here attributed to more arid time intervals in which the vegetation cover would be less developed erosion and sediment supply would be higher and base level would be lower in contrast the time intervals during which the fluvial system sediments dominated the area are inferred to be wetter and base level higher with vegetation cover retaining the soils and preventing erosion permanent water supply to the river would therefore facilitate the aggradation of the floodplain and prevent progradation of the fans starting from a litho bio and magnetostratigraphical frame provided for the area an age is assigned to the alternation of the reddish sediments of the transverse alluvial fans and the greyish to white fluvio lacustrine sediments of the axial drainage system a cyclicity of ca 100 ky has been identified in most of the alluvial fan progradation phases falling within milankovitch high frequency eccentricity periodicities correlation of the phases with insolation curves is accordingly discussed as a possible origin for the cyclicity finally the results offer new insights into early hominin occupation patterns in the region through the identification of predictable resources of permanent fresh water that would have remained available throughout the recorded time span that includes the early middle pleistocene transition even during times of aridification

the stone tools from stratigraphical unit 4 of the bois de riquet site lezignan la cebe herault france a new milestone in the diversity of the european acheulian abstract the bois de riquet site located in a basalt quarry at lezignan la cebe l herault france contains two stratigraphical levels that have yielded archeological and paleontological materials level us2 is already known for its rich paleontological record in association with a few basalt stone tools dating to around 1 2 ma level us4 presented here for the first time corresponds to a mudflow event containing stone tools attributed to the acheulian techno complex geomorphological data from the l herault valley region as well as combined paleomagnetic and cosmogenic dating all indicate that the mudflow event most likely occurred at the beginning of the middle pleistocene the industries found within the mudflow are knapped mainly from basalt the assemblage collected so far include flakes and cores knapped from four different raw materials as well as some large flakes 10 cm and a few bifacial tools retouched items and a few very large pieces knapped on basalt blocks interpreted as giant cores in the european context assemblages presenting such features are scarce outside of spain and may indicate an affiliation to an early phase of the acheulian

stratigraphy sedimentology and archaeology of middle pleistocene localities near ceprano campogrande area italy decades of fieldwork in the frosinone ceprano basin latin valley latium central italy have shed light on numerous open air lower palaeolithic localities delivering a human fossil calvarium thousands of scattered faunal remains and a large collection of lithic industries including core and flake type lithic series mode 1 and acheulean assemblages mode 2 the continuously growing number of available geochronological data obtained by 40ar 39ar on volcanic minerals esr u series on large mammal teeth and esr on bleached fluvial quartz allow today the construction of a reliable and precise chronological framework for the lower palaeolithic sites of this area of the latin valley the archaeological horizons with bifaces all appear to belong to a relatively short middle pleistocene time range between about 410 and 350 ka coeval to the end of the interglacial mis 11 and to the beginning of the following glacial mis 10 the acheulean tools are often associated with cores and flakes bifaces are mainly made on limestone secondary flint and quartz the archaeological corpus also yielded tools on fragments of large herbivore bones comparisons between technological strategies and paleo anthropological data at the global scale are now meaningful and enable us to decipher hominin behaviour at a more regional scale such careful work is becoming essential in the frame of the recent discoveries showing that the mis 11 10 period was a pivotal period characterized by the appearance of several new archaeological features later associated with the neanderthal lineage in western europe we present here the first in depth technological study of the acheulean lithic corpus from the major archaeological sites from the frosinone ceprano basin including the campogrande localities cg9 and cg10 intermediate and upper levels colle avarone selvotta isoletta level 4 lademagne upper and lower levels and masseria castellone

the lower early middle pleistocene small debitage productions in western europe new data from isernia la pineta t 3c upper volturno basin italy abstract isernia la pineta archaeological site in central italy dated to about 0 6 ma is one of the earliest archaeological sites of the italian peninsula and one of the key sites for the knowledge of human behaviour during the early middle pleistocene in western europe several archaeostratigraphic units have been recognized and systematically excavated core and flake assemblages were studied as a bulk in the eighties of last century with a typo metrical approach not taking into account a precise stratigraphic provenance here we present a review of the lithic collection from the lowermost archaeostratigraphic unit t 3c which is the first techno economic analysis based on the concept of chaine operatoire our results contrast with those from previous studies our analysis demonstrates that the technical criteria employed in small debitage are not opportunistic and unstructured as previously inferred by contrast they correspond to well established mental templates that led knappers 1 to use mainly a discoid method 2 to apply this debitage method regardless of the size and shape of the original matrix 2 to maintain a high productivity and 3 to produce medium sized flakes to be turned into small tools the new data are discussed in the framework of the lower early middle pleistocene technological complexes of western europe calling into question a number of allegations about the first technical traditions that have been previously accepted without reservation

operating systems in units b and e of the notarchirico basilicata italy ancient acheulean open air site and the role of raw materials abstract the succession of archaeological units at notarchirico offers technical and environmental arguments aimed at the characterization of the variability of the european ancient palaeolithic analysis shows the presence of distinctive features within the acheulean assemblage besides the presence of handaxes hominins used flint and limestone on the site a lithological analysis shows a predominance of the same raw materials in every unit and a partial selective exploitation in unit b traditionally associated with so called mode 2 the knapper principally intended to produce a sharp or convergence of the sharps choppers or bifacial tools in the e e1 units flaking prevails on the sporadic shaping the presence of cores with polyhedral forms and the extreme dimensional reduction of objects are other main technical features associated with this core and flake assemblage the presence or absence of handaxes is not the only element of variability the presence of micro tools and other technical elements represent technological innovations in the lower pleistocene assemblages common to many italian sites during the so called mode 1 2 transition the traditional idea of acheulean as an uniform entity characterized by the presence of handaxes does not seem to be valid

flake modification in european early and early middle pleistocene stone tool assemblages early and early middle pleistocene archeological sites provide data about human dispersals into europe from at least 1 2 ma up to now the fragmentary archeological record indicated only sporadic hominin presence with punctated migration waves not necessarily leading to colonization we consider an alternative demographical picture in which hominin presence in europe could have been sustained from this time this paper explores the possibility that early hominin groups confronted different landscapes by adapting their technology to changing ecosystems innovative technological achievements were developed into new forms out of potential existing within the variability of early stone industries leading to the production of a more diversified toolkit among these innovations the increased secondary knapping of flakes points to conceptually more complex production sequences this paper proposes a comparative view of secondary knapped flakes from some key early middle pleistocene sites in order to explore the hypothesis of demographical stability in western europe from this time

new u series dates at the caune de l arago france abstract in the beginning of the 1980s the caune de l arago was the focus of an interdisciplinary effort to establish the chronology of the homo heidelbergensis preneandertals fossils using a variety of techniques on bones and on speleothems the result was a very large spread of dates particularly on bone samples amid the large spread of results some radiometric data on speleothems showed a convergence in agreement with inferences from faunal studies we present new u series results on the stalagmitic formation located at the bottom of unit iv at the base of the upper stratigraphic complex samples and splits were collaboratively analyzed in the four different laboratories with excellent interlaboratory agreement results show the complex sequence of this stalagmitic formation the most ancient part is systematically at internal isotopic equilibrium 350 ka suggesting growth during or before isotopic stage 9 representing a minimum age for the human remains found in unit iii of the middle stratigraphical complex which is stratigraphically under the basis of the studied stalagmitic formation overlaying parts of the speleothem date to the beginning of marine isotope stages 7 and 5

between the northern and southern regions of western europe the acheulean site of la grande vallee colombiers vienne france abstract poitou is located between the paris and aquitaine basins flanked by the extensions of the massif central and the armorican massif many sites attributed to what in western europe has been termed the acheulean are preserved within this region though research has largely been limited to surface collection of material from fields and open sand quarries situated on alluvial terraces the discovery of the site of la grande vallee in 1995 within the district of colombiers in vienne therefore provided the first opportunity to conduct a rigorous scientific examination of a stratified pleistocene archaeological deposit the sedimentary sequence preserved at la grande vallee itself u5 has produced five archaeological layers attributable to the acheulean the archaeological layers contained abundant lithic remains reflecting the in situ production of many tools including the key tool the biface the large slabs of flint used gave rise to specific working methods indicating adaptation to the raw material micro wear studies have revealed that butchery activities including slicing and chopping of meat and bone were also carried out in situ these observations along with the presence of many burnt flints suggest that this locale acted as a mixture of habitation site workshop currently thermoluminescence dates on heated flint support the geomorphological study unit u5 appears to have been deposited between 500 ka and 400 ka the site of la grande vallee is a key sequence for understanding the acheulean of the region the geographical position of the site at the seuil du poitou between the northern and southern regions of western europe makes it a reliable and insightful observation point into middle pleistocene settlement in western europe

channel dynamics and geomorphic resilience in an ephemeral mediterranean river affected by gravel mining abstract gravel mining has been a widespread activity in ephemeral rivers worldwide whose long lasting hydrogeomorphological impacts preclude effective implementation of water and environmental policies this paper presents a gis based method for temporal assessment of morphosedimentary changes in relation to in channel gravel mining in a typical ephemeral mediterranean stream namely the rambla de la viuda eastern spain the aims of this work were to identify morphosedimentary changes and responses to human activities and floods quantify river degradations and analyze factors favoring fluvial recovery for further applications in other rivers aerial photographs and lidar topography data were studied to analyze geomorphic evolution over the past 70 years along a 7 5 km reach of an ephemeral gravel stream that has been mined intensively since the 1970s to evaluate changes in the riverbed we mapped comparable units applying morphological hydraulic and stability based on vegetation density and elevation criteria to 13 sets of aerial photographs taken from 1946 to 2012 a detailed spatiotemporal analysis of comparable units revealed a 50 reduction in the active section and a 20 increase in stable areas compared to the conditions observed prior to gravel mining instream mining was first observed in 1976 aerial photograph covering already up to 50 of the 1956 riverbed area river degradation since then was quantified by means of a lidar dtm and rtk gps measurements which revealed a 3 5 m incision that had started simultaneously with gravel mining climate and land use changes were present but the effects were completely masked by changes produced by instream gravel mining therefore river incision degradation was triggered by scarcity of sediment and lack of longitudinal sedimentary connection creating an unbalanced river system that is still adjusting to the present hydrosedimentary conditions

precise magnesium isotope measurements in core top planktic and benthic foraminifera 1 this study presents a new methodology to obtain highly precise measurements 0 1 of magnesium isotope ratios in very small samples of foraminiferal carbonate 40 50 g here this technique is used to examine mg isotopic variation among different species of core top foraminifera over a range of different ambient conditions despite the high degree of temperature control on the abundance of elemental mg incorporated into foraminiferal tests analyses of surface dwelling globigerinoides ruber and g sacculifer from five cores with associated sea surface temperatures ranging from 20 to 31 c show no significant temperature dependent variations in their mg isotope ratios analyses of different size fractions of g sacculifer show an increase in mg ca with test size but no variation of mg isotope ratio in all nine planktic and benthic species were analyzed all show identical mg isotope ratios with a mean of 26mg 4 72 apart from small differences in three species namely o universa g sacculifer which are both 0 4 lighter than the average and p obliquiloculata which is 0 4 heavier these results highlight the constancy of foraminiferal mg isotope ratios despite changing environmental conditions which dominate mg ca variation and arguably affect ca isotope fractionation this is an important observation which needs to be included in any model of foraminiferal calcification the insusceptibility of 26mg values to external parameters makes mg isotopes ideally suited to constraining past variations in the mg isotope budget of the oceans and the information this carries about the history of oceanic dolomitization continental weathering and hydrothermal behavior

the nature of technological changes the middle pleistocene stone tool assemblages from galeria and gran dolina subunit td10 1 atapuerca spain this article focuses on the origins for technological variation during the middle pleistocene through the analysis of the lithic assemblages from galeria and gran dolina subunit td10 1 atapuerca spain the technological study was organized into three main levels of analysis the first stage consisted of the technological characterization of the whole assemblage e g the general composition of each sample the exploitation and shaping methods used and the characteristics of each item the second stage involved the morphometric analysis of the large tools mainly handaxes and cleavers given the significance of these instruments in middle pleistocene assemblages in this case we combined traditional technical and metrical analyses with current morphometric methods lastly taking into account the general characteristics of these sites the third stage consisted of assessing how the different occupational strategies affected the lithic representation these analyses allowed us to define three technological groups the first includes unit galeria giia which corresponds to the appearance of the acheulean in the atapuerca caves the second is represented by the rest of the sequence of the galeria site mainly the upper part of the sequence unit giii and the third technological corresponds to gran dolina subunit td10 1 thus the galeria sequence shows the technological evolution of the acheulean over a period of 250 ka furthermore subunit td10 1 represents a new occupational strategy combining traditional acheulean tools with more evolved technical strategies

barranc de la boella catalonia spain an acheulean elephant butchering site from the european late early pleistocene evidence of late early pleistocene elephant butchery activity has been excavated in the pit 1 locality at barranc de la boella catalonia spain the fossil assemblage mainly comprises the remains of one prime adult individual of mammuthus meridionalis together with 125 lithic artefacts among which several refitting groups of chert have been identified the lithic assemblage from the pit 1 locality is composed of cobbles cores simple and retouched flakes together with a large well fashioned pick of hard wearing schist spatial zooarchaeological taphonomic technical and use wear analyses confirm that the occupation was devoted to butchery of the mammoth carcass the activity zone is in a fluvio deltaic area that incises the terrace t 60 of the lower francoli river basin 50 m a s l palaeomagnetic and cosmogenic analyses as well as microfaunal mimomys savini victoriamys chalinei and macrofaunal biostratigraphy mammuthus meridionalis support the timing of the occupation to the late matuyama chron these various lines of evidence point to barranc de la boella being the oldest early acheulean butchering site in europe ongoing excavations at several localities at barranc de la boella are yielding new data on the palaeoenvironmental geochronological and technological framework of these occupations finally the evidence is integrated into current understanding of the subsistence strategies practised by early pleistocene hominins

lithostratigraphical correlation of micromammal sites and biostratigraphy of the upper pliocene to lower pleistocene in the northeast guadix baza basin southern spain the plio pleistocene non marine sequence in the northeast guadix baza basin southern spain comprises alluvial and lacustrine deposits baza formation the results of a revised lithostratigraphical correlation between sections from the middle and upper members of the baza formation in the northeast part of the basin supported by detailed mapping is presented the position of micromammal sites in the lithostratigraphical scheme together with the results of intensive palaeontological sampling for small mammal remains has allowed us to develop a high resolution biostratigraphical framework for the area this provides an opportunity to refine the biozonation for the plio pleistocene micromammal faunas and to define faunal events from the late villanyian late pliocene to the early pleistocene on the basis of the lithostratigraphical and biostratigraphical approaches we obtain the following sequence of biozones for the late pliocene to early pleistocene kislangia gusii mimomys cf reidi m oswaldoreigi allophaiomys pliocaenicus and a burgondiae copyright 2000 john wiley sons ltd

new chronological data esr and esr u series for the earliest acheulian sites of north western europe increasing evidence suggests that bifacial technology acheulian mode 2 arrived in europe during the early middle pleistocene i e significantly earlier than previously proposed in northern france and britain much of the age attribution for these assemblages has been based on biostratigraphy and lithostratigraphy rather than absolute dates this study presents a systematic application of electron spin resonance esr dating of sedimentary quartz and esr u series dating of fossil tooth enamel to key acheulian sites of this area although the age estimates have large associated uncertainties most of the derived dates are consistent with existing age estimates the new chronologies and the problems associated with dating material of early middle pleistocene age are discussed in britain the earliest archaeology cores and flakes mode 1 is older than marine isotope stage mis 15 whereas localities containing acheulian technologies span late mis 15 mis 13 through to mis 9 a similar pattern is seen in northern france although age estimates from sites such as la noira suggest the possible appearance of the acheulian in central france as early as mis 17 the dates presented here support the suggestion that the earliest acheulian appeared in nw europe during the early middle pleistocene significantly after its appearance in the southern parts of the continent

geomorphic response to riverine land cover dynamics in a quarried alluvial river kangsabati south bengal india this paper deals with impact of geomorphic responses such as thalweg shifting sandbar instability pool riffle alteration river bank erosion channel incision river bed lowering and river bank erosion on riverine land cover dynamics arises by instream and floodplain sand mining in an alluvial reach as kangsabati river from mukutmonipur dam to rajnagar confluence 193 km during 2002 2016 four segments i e lalgarh mohanpur kapastikri and rajnagar share as 554 656 m ton year sand from 141 mining sites whereas others segment as khatra raipur dherua and panskura share only 33 497 m ton year sand from 50 mining sites in the entire channel several maps were prepared to identify consequences of morphological responses with the help of field study and gis technique friend and sinha s method geol soc lond 75 1 105 111 1993 was used to detect planform change with geomorphic responses throughout the course pearson correlation matrix is used to establish the relation between geomorphic responses and land cover dynamics incorporates with mining intensity the result shows that higher value of geomorphic responses decrease sandchar riparian area but increases channel mining pits and clay cover in mining prone segments as lalgarh mohanpur kapastikri and rajnagar the lower value of geomorphic responses increase sandchar riparian area but decreases channel mining pit sites and clay cover in sandchar segments as khatra raipur dherua and panskura respectively therefore sand mining greatly impact on riverine land covers dynamic following instable geomorphic responses moreover this study reveals that sustainable sand mining incorporates with stable geomorphic responses maintain fluvial dynamics controlling of erosion and deposition process

the acheulean workshop of la noira france 700 ka in the european technological context abstract the prehistoric site of la noira located in the cher valley a tributary of the loire river in the center of france has yielded a lithic assemblage composed of large bifacial tools cores and flakes the archaeological level lying on the tertiary lacustrine limestone bedrock was covered and fossilized by a 6 m thick fluvial sandy formation the mean age value of esr dates obtained on bleached fluvial quartz grains sampled in the sandy levels covering the archeological level is 665 55 ka confirming the antiquity of the archaeological assemblage esr dates and the technical characteristics of the assemblage suggest that it is among the oldest sites with bifacial technology in western europe since 2011 following geological and geochronological studies the archaeological level has been excavated over a surface of about 100 m 2 the aim of this paper is to provide new data on the lithic assemblage and to place the lithic patterns of the site in the european technological framework la noira is a workshop site belonging to a key period of time with the earliest evidence of the bifacial technology in europe as for instance levels p q of arago in france or notarchirico in italy contemporaneous with 800 500 ka sites without bifacial technology such as happisburgh pakefield in england or isernia in italy this phase predates the wide scale dissemination of the bifacial technology all over western europe from the mis 12 technological comparisons between these assemblages and a discussion of the diversity of assemblages and technological features point to early episodic arrivals of new traditions in europe against a background of earlier traditions

channel response to increased and decreased bedload supply from land use change contrasts between two catchments abstract the catchments of pine creek idaho usa 200 km 2 and the drome river in the drome department france 1640 km 2 illustrate contrasting changes in land use bedload sediment production and channel response hard rock mining began in the catchment of pine creek near the end of the 19th century and together with road construction timber harvest and historically heavy grazing of uplands resulted in increased tributary bedload yield increased bedload migrating to the channel combined with removal of large cedar trees on the floodplain resulted in channel instability which propagated downstream over a period of decades on many reaches of pine creek active channel width has increased by over 50 since 1933 over roughly the same time period the drome river catchment was extensively reforested after at least one century of denudation and heavy grazing and numerous check dams were constructed on torrents to reduce erosion as a result the drome river has experienced a reduction in bedload sediment supply since the late 19th century in addition gravel has been extracted from some reaches consequently the channel has degraded and gravel bars have been colonized with woody riparian vegetation channel widths in wide braided reaches decreased from 1947 to 1970 by 60 on pine creek channel instability has resulted in bank erosion exposing contaminated mine tailings and increased flood hazard on the drome river degradation has undermined bridges and embankments and lowered the water table in areas dependent on groundwater for irrigation resulting in loss of 6 million m 3 of groundwater storage since 1960 though they differ in drainage area by nearly an order of magnitude pine creek and the drome river provide an excellent contrast in that they represent two sides of an epicycle of alluvial sedimentation set off in each case by land disturbance in both cases the most recent channel changes though in opposite directions were viewed as negative by river managers on pine creek managers have removed or protected from erosion mine tailings and have attempted to train the stream into a more stable channel and most rock waste piles the principal sediment sources have recently been controlled on the drome river managers have prohibited gravel mining and adopted new policies to permit coarse sediment to migrate through the river system