the holocene paleoenvironmental history of central european russia reconstructed from pollen plant macrofossil and testate amoeba analyses of the klukva peatland tula region holocene climatic variability and human impact on vegetation are reconstructed from a region in central european russia which lies at an important ecotone between broadleaf forest and steppe for the first time in this region we adopt a multi proxy approach that combines analysis of local mire conditions from plant macrofossil and testate amoeba analyses with pollen based quantitative climate reconstruction the proxies indicate a long term warming trend from 9700 to 7500 cal yr bp interrupted by a series of short term cold events from 7500 to 5000 cal yr bp the results imply a relatively stable climate warmer and drier than present spanning the holocene thermal maximum since 5000 cal yr bp the data suggest a change to cooler climate but with centennial scale variability this shift at around 5000 cal yr bp is supported by extensive evidence from other sites in the early holocene the region was occupied mainly by pine and birch forests broad leafed forests of oak lime and elm expanded after 7800 cal yr bp and remained dominant until the last few centuries during the historical period vegetation changes have been driven mainly by human activities

soils at archaeological monuments of the bronze age a key to the holocene landscape dynamics in the broadleaf forest area of the russian plain abstract during the second half of the holocene the russian plain experienced several climatic oscillations giving rise to changing vegetation patterns the spatial variability of vegetation changes and its effects on soils is still a matter of debate in the present study landscape response to holocene climatic cycles was analysed on the base of detailed morphological chemical and microbiomorphic analyses of a paleosol buried under the kurgan of the abashevo culture middle bronze age and a surface soil both soils located at the tokhmeyevo kurgan cemetery the middle volga region chuvash republic russia developed from the same parent material mantle loam at the same elevation and in close proximity to each other both soils classified as retisols show a similar morphology and key analytical features indicating similar environment the pollen and phytolith spectra confirm that both buried and surface soils formed under similar forest vegetation the buried and surface soils at the tokhmeyevo cemetery could be compared with the previously studied soils of the sareevo settlement of the early iron age and the taushkasy kurgan cemetery of the bronze age these studies confirm the stability of the forest environment at the southern boundary of the forest belt since the bronze age at the same time the buried soil at the tokhmeyevo cemetery has a thick mollic horizon and black organic coatings overlaying brown clay cutans in the argic horizons which sets it apart from the surface soil the radiocarbon dates for the humus in the mollic horizon and black coatings in the argic horizon are surprisingly close to each other about 5 5 cal ka bp and 5 2 cal ka bp respectively the data indicate that the black cutans are derived from degradation of the mollic horizon caused by a sudden increase in humidity during the episodes of extreme summer rainfall events our study also prove that the abashevo people had complicated burial funeral rites the earth mounds are made of the upper horizons of soils cut off from the surface in the vicinity the central part of the mound consists of soil bricks with albic material used for the interior while artificially rumpled material of the argic horizon was used for coverage the use of albic and artificially rumpled material of argic horizon for earth mound construction implies the similarity between the buried and surface soils since the bronze age until today thus the study of such construction techniques is important both for archaeology and paleogeography paleopedology

the ustic isohumisol chernozem distributed over the chinese loess plateau modern soil or palaeosol abstract the ustic isohumisol chernozem widely distributed over the chinese loess plateau is classified as a modern soil by agricultural pedologists and as a palaeosol by geoscientists high resolution investigations into this soil including field observations element analysis optically simulated luminescence dating and measurements of magnetic susceptibility and particle size distribution were carried out over the plateau uplands the results show that the formation of physico chemical properties and development of the soil profiles has kept pace with the land surface growth because of incessant dust accumulation during the holocene the continuously intensified weathering of accumulated dust from 11 500 a b p had resulted in an increased chemical differentiation through time during the early holocene the development of the ustic isohumisol occurred over the uplands between 8500 and 3100 a b p when the chemical differentiation reached its maximum because of increased precipitation and ample soil moisture in response to the mid holocene climatic optimum the soil formation had sustained for ca 5400 years and ceased at 3100 a b p a major pedogenic regression occurred from 3100 a b p because of climatic aridity and intensified dust accumulation over the loess plateau the newly accumulated loess and topsoil has the ustic isohumisol buried at a depth of ca 50 80 cm in general the pedogenic regression has been intensified by incorporation of the reworked components by increased runoff and erosion redeposition large scale land reclamation extended to the uplands at ca 2170 a b p an agricultural landscape of dry farming has formed since ca 1500 a b p thereafter the present topsoil has accumulated and has been affected by the intensified cultivation and addition of barnyard manure in history the solubles are retained in the topsoil because of dry climate and scant soil moisture

surface paleosols of the loess island within moscow glacial limits vladimir opolie abstract vladimir opolie is a typical loess island with soil pattern that differs strikingly from that of adjacent territories soils are characterized by a controversial set of features they have common features with other loess islands located in various environmental zones similar dependence on microtopography with second humus horizons in soils within depressions and accumulation of carbonates in soils on the main surfaces on the other hand they differ from soils of loess islands formed on typical loess due to specific features of sediments mantle loams and a northern variety of loess a pedostratigraphic approach to the study of soils of vladimir opolye reveals that constitution of the upper loess strata depends on paleocryogenic microtopography and that relict soil features second humus horizon pattern of carbonates distribution are syngenetic with the final stages of loess sedimentation the abundance of relict features indicates that the soils of vladimir opolie are surface paleosols

new aspects of natural science studies of archaeological burial monuments kurgans in the southern russian steppes abstract soil archeological soil studies on the kurgan burial site peregruznoe located to the north of the yergeninskaya upland 80 km from the city of volgograd russia were performed for the first time data on the structure of soil cover in the dry steppe zone during sarmatian times ad 1 were obtained from paleosol data it was established that in the second half of the first century ad the prevailing humid climate progressively changed to more arid conditions similar to those of the modern time using the methodology and theoretical conceptions of archaeological soil science the age of the monuments investigated was detailed for one of the kurgans the original technology involved in erecting the monument was reconstructed and the time of year when construction had taken place was determined principally new information on the details of the funeral rites of the middle sarmatian tribes in the lower volga region was obtained

recycling bones in the middle pleistocene some reflections from gran dolina td10 1 spain bolomor cave spain and qesem cave israel abstract archaeologists can use different kinds of data to identify recycling however most approaches to recycling are based on lithic artefact attributes especially on surface alterations suggesting a period of discard between different events recycling can also be approached by means of faunal remains based on bone damage characteristics bone breakage processes aimed at maximizing the nutritional value of consumed animals generate a high number of small and large sized fragments which are eventually discarded some of these are morphologically suitable for human use it is necessary to distinguish between the use of bone as raw material from pre existing very large sized carcasses such as elephants in cases where it is not certain if these had a nutritional purpose and the recycling of fragments resulting from bone marrow extraction of smaller mammals that were obtained and consumed by human groups in the first case when the bones of a pre existing elephant including natural deaths are exploited for tool making the bones can be considered raw material very similar to collecting stones as raw material for the lithic industry in the second case the bones of smaller mammals are selected to be used in a subsequent life cycle after being broken for nutritional purposes and discarded here we present some early cases of recycled bones from the middle pleistocene sites of gran dolina td10 1 and bolomor cave in spain and qesem cave in israel the studied elements appear to have been part of a previous faunal processing sequence nutritional in nature which were later discarded and then used or modified for purposes other than the original ones these fragments are dated to mis 9 and show damage produced by use retouched and unmodified soft retouchers or shaped forms bone artefacts this study is an attempt to provide new data on recycling activities of faunal remains in the middle pleistocene and discuss the origin of this behaviour

investigation of vegetation history of buried chernozem soils using near infrared spectroscopy nirs abstract the environmental conditions of the evolution of chernozems in central europe have not been satisfactory explained in this paper seven buried chernozems were investigated using near infrared spectroscopy nirs in order to get information about the former vegetation cover near infrared nir data were collected from organic matter of recent natural grasslands and forests the spectra from these two groups of soils were perfectly discriminated by a multivariate statistical analysis the statistical model was applied on the buried soils there are four types of vegetation development within the chernozems before the burial comparison to other paleoenvironmental proxies shows no major contradiction and confirms the potential of the nirs as a paleopedological proxy the identified changes of vegetation are from grassland vegetation to forest vegetation and vice versa these changes bring new data to the discussion about the pedogenesis of chernozems according to the radiocarbon dating buried soils developed and were preserved not only in the preboreal and the boreal but also in later phases of the holocene

looking for sharp edges modes of flint recycling at middle pleistocene qesem cave israel qesem cave is a middle pleistocene site in israel assigned to the acheulo yabrudian cultural complex aycc the cave reveals a suite of innovative behaviors including intensive flint recycling activities in this paper we present a new classification system developed for the study of lithic recycling at qesem cave through the careful technological analysis of hundreds of recycled items we have identified several recycling modes at qesem cave including a specific production trajectory of blades and knives recycled from old flakes we argue that the study of lithic recycling provides a significant glance at human decision making processes and the technological repertoire of the late lower paleolithic which are particularly pronounced when practiced within a lithic economy that enjoyed abundance rather than scarcity of stone our observations provide a more coherent view of aycc lithic recycling which might be applied to the study of lithic recycling in other paleolithic contexts

austrian mis 3 2 loess palaeosol records key sites along a west east transect based on a w e transect through the northern loess regions of austria palaeoenvironmental studies were carried out in three loess palaeosol sequences gunderding krems wachtberg and stillfried b locus typicus to complement available results in the context of a multi methodological approach on the base of previously published datings our study concentrates on the mis 3 2 transition the results of detailed micromorphological investigations prove that palaeopedogenesis frost processes and sedimentation rates differ in their spatial occurrence in the loess belt of austria all three sequences are in line with the general trend of a reduced intensity of pedogenic and cryogenic features from western to south eastern europe which can be explained by lower atlantic moisture influence towards the east interstadial cambic horizons are well developed in the mis 3 sequence of western austria whereas the eastern loess profiles only show weak pedogenesis in all studied sequences frost processes were active during the upper mis 3 and mis 2 the studied mis 2 records are characterised by tundra soils with reductaquic horizons which is a clear sign for prolonged phases of permafrost on the spatial scale the sedimentation rate increases in the eastern loess regions and particularly the krems wachtberg sequence in the centre of the transect experienced an exceptionally high sedimentation rate and can thus be seen as one of the most important high resolution records for the mis 3 2 transition in european loess regions

the environment of the early iron age at the southern fringe of the forest zone of the russian plain abstract landscape response to the late holocene climatic cycles was studied on the base of detailed morphological analytical and micro biomorphic research of a soil buried under fortification earth wall of the early iron age around 2000 yr b p and a surface soil both soils formed on similar surfaces with the same lithology mantle loam underlain by calcareous loess at the same elevation and in close proximity to each other the buried soil has a complete profile that was influenced by human activity prior to the burial and subjected to diagenesis after the burial in addition both soils retisols show similar morphology and key analytical features indicating close similarity of the landscapes in the study area that existed in the early iron age and those that are present nowadays micro biomorphic assemblages phytoliths pollen microbial genes support this conclusion landscape stability at the southern fringe of the forest zone makes it possible to establish the northern limit of the wide belt which stretches out from dry steppe to northern forest steppe where landscape shifts influenced by the late holocene climatic cycles occurred the features of the diagnostic horizons of the studied retisols are indicators of stability in the studied time space range the study of microbial genes which was performed in the studied soils for the first time showed that both content and taxonomic structure of soil microbial communities are promising paleoclimatic proxies as well as a record of diagenetic changes in buried soils

knowledge transmission and apprentice flint knappers in the acheulo yabrudian a case study from qesem cave israel abstract we present the techno typological characteristics of a lithic assemblage earlier that 300 ka originating from the southern area of qesem cave a middle pleistocene site in central israel aspects of knapping trajectories were examined in detail including core analyses demonstrating that the southern area assemblage has some distinguishable features in comparison with lithic assemblages from other areas of the cave these features permit in our opinion to suggest that various levels of knapping skills are reflected in this particular assemblage most probably characterizing both skilled knappers and unexperienced knappers or knappers in the process of learning thus these data may permit a preliminary assessment of knowledge transmission relating to flint knapping that has taken place in the southern area of qesem cave during the late lower paleolithic in the levant

paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on soils buried under scythian fortification in the southern forest steppe area of the east european plain abstract landscape response to late holocene climatic cycles is based on detailed hierarchical morphological analytical and micro biomorphic research of a soil chronosequence which included a soil buried under a fortification earth wall of the early iron age luvic chernozem and a surface soil chernic greyzemic luvic phaeozem in the southern forest steppe area of the east european plain both soils formed on similar surfaces with the same lithology non carbonate loess underlain by carbonate loess at the same elevation and in close proximity to each other the buried soil was truncated by at 40 cm and transformed by diagenesis taking this into account it was possible to reconstruct the soil formed by the time of burial under the earth wall and to classify it as chernic luvic phaeozem both surface and buried soils are polygenetic combining the features of humid forest and steppe pedogenesis the radiocarbon data obtained from the humic horizon of the buried soil 6750 120 years calbp allows bracketing the steppe environment to the mid holocene atlantic period pedogenetic evolution since the early iron age included the next stage of clay illuviation formation of thin hypo coatings and the development of greyzemic features the studied phaeozems indicate relative landscape stability at the southern boundary of the forest steppe zone

spatial variability and hydrologic evolution of australian lake basins analogue for pleistocene hydrologic change and evaporite formation abstract processes evident in basins across hydrologic gradients from humid to arid regions today provide analogues for systems that may have operated in some individual basins during periods of past hydrologic change thus lakes in humid regions today with low salinity sedimentary facies and with morphology controlled largely by wave action may closely resemble past lacustral pluvial phases experienced in zones which today are relatively arid and saline conversely playas controlled today by groundwater and in some cases subject to defletion may resemble those arid and dune building stages experienced by basins in sub humid regions today as they underwent glacial age desiccation in any such sequence of spatial or temporal gradients from humid to more arid conditions the frequency of basin filling and drying modulates the rate of evaporitive loss of interstitial waters from the exposed basin surface this in turn controls the salinity evolution of the interstitial and local groundwaters the notion of closed systems for terminal lakes while satisfactory for analysis of surface water budgets is quite inapplicable to the evolution of brines where surfacewater groundwater exchange during the high salinity drying stages becomes a controlling factor affecting all salt budgets in these systems evaporites may only be preserved when the sub surface waters have evolved to salinites near saturation for the salts concerned if sub surface waters are frequently diluted by surfacewater groundwater exchange evaporites will not be preserved in the record even though the surface system appears hydrologically closed the process of interstitial water evolution which controls efflorescence deflation and salt weathering exerts a dominating influence on basin geomorphic expression as well as on hydrochemical fractionation

holocene vegetation history and soil development reflected in the lake sediments of the karkonosze mountains poland a 11 m long lake sediment core of a mountain lake situated at 1225 m a s l in the karkonosze mountains poland provided a unique multi proxy archive to reconstruct natural and human induced environmental changes over the entire holocene period pollen analyses allowed for the local and regional reconstruction of vegetation history the chemical composition of the core and the determination of amorphous fe and al phases enabled to trace back soil formation in the surrounding catchment about 11 ka ago birch pine and pine birch communities started to develop in the preboreal chronozone subsequently the vegetation cover changed to corylus picea abies fagus in the higher and middle mountain zones and to ulmus quercus carpinus in the mountain foreland and footslopes the decline of forests that started in the 11th century because of clearing was accompanied by the expansion of grasses both as pastures in the mountains and cereal crops in the foreland at the same time the mining and smelting gave ri

captive hyaena bone choice and destruction the schlepp effect and olduvai archaeofaunas abstract skeletal element representation at archaeological and palaeontological sites often differs from natural anatomical proportions at archaeological sites this pattern could result from hominid behaviour predepositional destructive or dispersive forces such as carnivore ravaging or post depositional destructive forces such as sediment compaction and leaching predepositional ravaging by carnivores is documented at several important plio pleistocene archaeofaunal assemblages flk zinjanthropus and flkn levels 1 2 here we present the first systematic and controlled experimental data on the effect of this process on skeletal element survival simulated archaeological assemblages of defleshed hammerstone broken and unbroken bones were created within a captive spotted hyaena enclosure and controlled numbers of hyaenas were allowed to ravage the sites vertebrae and pelves were nearly always chosen first for consumption by the hyaenas vertebrae and ribs were nearly always destroyed completely and pelves were destroyed 50 of the time limb bone ends were frequently destroyed while limb middle shaft fragments preserve nearly 100 of the original number of elements thus hominid discarded bone assemblages regardless of the original representation of elements can come to resemble the schlepp effect simply through post hominid hyaena scavenging the documented pattern at flk zinjanthropus and flkn1 2 of low frequencies of vertebrae ribs and pelves and high frequencies of limbs may be due to post hominid ravaging by hyaenas and not selective hominid transport of limb elements to the sites

the genesis and age of the argillic horizon in weichselian loess of northwestern europe abstract the argillic horizon developed in the weichselian loesses of western europe can be related to mechanical clay translocation under a cold climate following a period of decarbonatation in several sites from brittany to southern poland where the pedostratigraphical record was preserved the bt formation can be mainly attributed to the bolling interstadial younger events exist also in the early holocene in most of these sites holocene pedogenesis is reduced to an acidification or even a podzolization in the former eluvial horizon in other sites influenced by anthropogenic activities it is difficult to analyze the chronostratigraphy of the pedological events dynamic conditions for clay translocation and stratigraphical arguments are discussed this type of argillic horizon is an early phase of pedogenesis considered to be formed under boreal climatic conditions

location of natural trace elements in silty soils using particle size fractionation abstract in silty material 80 of the particles range from 2 to 50 m particle size fractionation within this size range allows determination of the main mineral bearers of natural trace elements te in silty soil three silty soils were studied at ch teau thierry in the paris basin at muret in the aquitaine basin and at thann in the alsace plain these soils mainly consist of quartz alkaline feldspars plagioclase micas and chlorite the quantities of which vary with particle size as shown by xrd and chemical analyses of major elements quartz content increases with increasing particle size whereas feldspars micas and chlorites occur mainly in the 2 10 0 2 2 and

reconstruction of the paleo environment and soil evolution of the csipo halom kurgan hungary abstract there are two explanations regarding the formation of the hungarian hortobagy steppes and associated saline areas to assess the different opinions we carried out pedological geochemical mineralogical and malacological analyses in the csipo halom csipo mound kurgan our research shows that the landscape 6000 years ago was similar to today an environmental patchwork of dry steppes wetlands and alkaline areas since the construction of the mound significant movement of chemical compounds composing the mound occurred the depths of boundary surfaces were identified through pedological studies and detailed geochemical analysis document similar signatures through time differences can be seen only in the location of the paleosoil level the soil developed on the surface of the mound is again a steppe chernozem soil formed under grass vegetation

micromorphology of earth building materials toward the reconstruction of former technological processes protohistoric and historic periods abstract earth building materials are often identified in the field but very few microscopic studies focus on the identification of the technological processes which produced them especially in temperate contexts the identification of such processes is crucial as it is the basis of the archaeological investigations concerning both the origin and the diffusion of building technologies the aim of this paper is to describe and expand the definitions of the microscopic features typically associated with the steps associated with the chaines operatoires of earth building on the basis of micromorphological analyses and development of a reference collection of earthen materials the results have identified a range of characteristics associated with past earthen construction processes including microscopic features linked to earth moisture when mixing degree of mixing the moisture of the earth when applied to the walls or on the ground as well as those related to compaction and shear stress that are all important factors that explain former processes strong compaction of earth in a dry state is typical of rammed earth medium compaction together with a higher degree of moisture is typical of cob wall and perpendicular organization of the earth on the face of the wall indicates the use of a formwork or shuttering thus the use of microscopic features identified from analysis of vernacular and ancient materials helps to characterize and identify processes such as roman rammed earth at the site of rirha morocco it also highlights cultural specificities such as the diversity of cob wall and earth flooring processes during the iron age as on the site of lattara southern france and the degree of compaction of rammed earth wall for the roman period analyses carried out in a robust archaeological framework reveal that each wall present a specific vertical and horizontal organization linked to the building processes at macroscopic and microscopic scales which should be taken into account when studying and sampling earthen walls in order to correctly identify former techniques

the mousterian bone retouchers of noisetier cave experimentation and identification of marks retouchers are fragments of bone used during the paleolithic to strike stone flakes in order to transform them into retouched tools our experiments show that the mark produced on retouchers differs depending on whether they were used to strike flint or quartzite our results suggest that numerous pits most often with an ovoid form characterize the retouching of quartzite flakes most of the scores produced with this material have a sinuous morphology with rough interior faces the areas with superposed traces have a pitted appearance on the other hand the retouching of flint flakes produces pits that are most often triangular in form most of the scores have a rectilinear morphology with smooth interior faces and their superposition results in the formation of hatch marks there is also a relationship between the characteristics of the mark and the relative state of freshness of the retouchers the validity of the criteria identified was confirmed by a blind test these diagnostic criteria were applied to archaeological retouchers from the mousterian site of noisetier cave the results obtained improve our knowledge of the technical behaviors of neanderthals and allow us to address questions concerning their techno economic implications

soil formation in greyzems in moscow district micromorphology chemistry clay mineralogy and particle size distribution abstract greyzems grey forest soils are zonal soils of the forest steppe in russia geographically situated between the podzo luvisols of the southern taiga forest and the luvic chernozems of the steppe greyzems are characterized by a dark mollic horizon with uncoated bleached silt and sand grains on pedfaces and an argic horizon as diagnostic horizons the fao unesco soil map of the world shows greyzems and luvisols in russia at this transition the russian soil map shows only greyzems while in similar geographic position in the usa and canada the proportion of greyzems is very small and luvic phaeozems chernozems and albic luvisols occupy those transitional zones of the grassland forest interface three greyzem profiles presently under forest and developed on loess like mantle loams of late weichselian valday age in the northern forest steppe zone of the east european plain middle russian upland were described and sampled near pushchino some 100 km south of moscow micromorphology particle size data chemical data and clay mineralogy were studied based on the particle size distribution and the occurrence of fragments of a second humus horizon shh the presence of two rather similar deposits in the solum is advocated the following processes have been deduced from the study i decalcification and secondary accumulation of carbonates ii humus accumulation including the significance of the shh iii clay illuviation presumably two main phases iv biological activity v degradation of the mollic a occurrence of bleached grains vi downward migration of textural components and organic matter in the bt horizon along major pedfaces occurrence of black organo clay coatings and uncoated silt sand grains vii gleying the tentative sequence of these processes during late weichselian and holocene times leads us to conclude that greyzems are polygenetic they formed as podzo luvisols under forest with fine clay coatings in the fine pores inside the blocky and prismatic peds in the late glacial and early holocene the change to tall grass steppe in the atlanticum created a mollic horizon that degrades when forest re invades during the subatlanticum fine clay combined with organic matter forms black coatings on the major pedfaces uncoated silt and sand particles also migrate downward along those major pedfaces biological activity is involved in the very complex pattern of the transitional ahe and ebt horizons active gleying only occurs in the profile on the lowest topographic position these latter processes are still active today similar soils do occur in the grassland forest interface in north america except where the younger age of the landscape and high caco3 content at shallow depth prevented their full development

origin age and transformation of chernozems in northern central europe new data from neolithic earthen barrows in sw poland abstract among the clay illuviated soils dominant in the loess belt in southern poland islands of chernozemic soils are distinguished by their spectacular agricultural productivity however those soils are not marked as chernozems phaeozems in european and world soil maps due to their common excessive wetness and doubts regarding their origin well preserved earthen barrows of the funnel beaker culture discovered recently in muszkowice sw poland offer a unique possibility of pedo archaeological reconstruction the first of such in poland of the pre and post neolithic development of soil cover in loess dominated areas and explanation of the existing differentiation of soil cover into neighbouring chernozems and retisols the buried chernozemic soil phaeozem in muszkowice started to develop in the late pleistocene period mean residence time of humus 12 670 13 000 cal bp until the burial ca 5480 5310 cal bp an at least 22 cm thick mollic horizon has developed with secondary carbonates accumulation at ca 80 cm the barrow mound soil constructed entirely of initially humus rich topsoil material has transformed into retisol with fully developed thick eluvial and illuvial argic horizons and still preserved a high content of humus in the barrow mound soil profile further the surrounding soils are entirely altered into retisols with secondary carbonates starting at 135 160 cm taking into account the palynological reconstruction from the nearest pollen profile in the loess covered area a crucial importance of the open canopy mainly oak forests is concluded for the persistence of chernozems under a temperate increasingly moist climate from the early holocene to the neolithic period in turn the close canopy broadleaf forests mainly beech are considered to be responsible for the rapid transformation of chernozems phaeozems into retisols luvisols in the late holocene chernozems have persisted and probably even rejuvenated only in the areas of permanent settlement since the neolithic until the present time where human activity farming pasturing has eliminated a continuous broadleaf beech close canopy forest cover

complex pedological analysis of paleosols buried under kurgans as a basis for periodization of the timber grave archaeological culture in the southern cis ural russia abstract the problem of periodization of the timber grave culture of the late bronze age on the territory of the southern cis ural is far from being solved this situation exists because the funeral ceremony looks very similar throughout the history of the timber grave culture existence to assign stages of this culture s development a complex approach was used including archaeological observation radiocarbon dating technical and technological analysis of ceramics and study of paleosols buried under kurgans the paleopedological analysis was a key approach because the relative chronological order of the construction of kurgans was initially determined within one kurgan cemetery based on morphological observation and physical and chemical properties of the buried paleosols five kurgan cemeteries which included 19 kurgans overall of the timber grave culture were studied in the orenburg region the southern cis ural it was found that the paleosols buried under the earliest kurgans of the studied culture show the maximal values of soil bulk density in the humus and carbonate horizons the minimal content of humus in the uppermost 50 cm of the profile the highest content of carbonates and the closest to surface location of the bk horizon the highest content of gypsum and the highest portion of exchangeable sodium of the sum of exchangeable bases based on the set of mentioned properties of the buried paleosols the transitional and the latest groups of kurgans were also suggested in the latest group the paleosols show minimal values of bulk density maximal content of humus in the uppermost 50 cm minimal content of carbonates and total lack of gypsum and exchangeable sodium throughout profiles such differences in the paleosols properties buried under different groups of the timber grave kurgans were probably caused by climatic fluctuations during the period of the culture s functioning the reconstruction showed that in the most part this culture had been developed in favorable climatic conditions with a sufficient quantity of precipitation and comparatively soft climatic continentality whereas the previous period was characterized by an arid and continental climate based on archaeological observation radiocarbon dating technical and technological analysis of ceramics three chronological stages were allocated in the history of the functioning of the timber grave antiquities for the steppe cis ural according to calibrated radiocarbon dates the chronological limits are as follows the first stage xix century bc the second xviii xvii centuries bc and the third xvii xv centuries bc

new datings of amudian layers at qesem cave israel results of tl applied to burnt flints and esr u series to teeth abstract because only a few radiometric data are actually available the chronology of the amudian a blade dominated industry of the acheulo yabrudian cultural complex aycc of the late lower paleolithic in the levant is still not well constrained qesem cave offers the opportunity to enhance our knowledge of the chronological position of this industry which is unique to the levant the qesem amudian bearing layers yielded also human remains showing affinities with those of modern populations recovered in the middle paleolithic sites of skhul and qafzeh the results presented here are the first attempt to apply the tl and esr u series dating methods at this site and these methods yielded results which are generally in agreement they support a time interval of hominid bearing occupation of the areas of the cave where amudian lithic artifacts were recovered during mis 8 and likely 9 for the deep pit area and during mis 8 and possibly 7 for the upper part of the sequence square k 10 and the eastern microfauna bearing area an older occupation of the cave is also conceivable on the base of two dating results mis 11

what happens around a fire faunal processing sequences and spatial distribution at qesem cave 300 ka israel abstract the technological innovation involving the controlled use of fire represents a decisive change in human subsistence hearths and the spatial distribution patterns associated with them constitute a valuable element in deepening our knowledge on human behaviour and its evolution studies focused on hearths and on the use of fire in general are diverse and carried out through different perspectives thus hearths are studied for their meaning in terms of diet caloric and light capacity and spatial organisation as well as for their role as communication and socialization focal points the site of qesem cave israel shows evidence of the controlled use of fire as early as 400 ka judging by the burned bones from the lowest units of the stratigraphic sequence a particular superimposed central hearth that was repeatedly used as a focus for human activities ca 300 ka is the topic of this study this succession of hearths at the same location in the cave yields dense faunal and lithic remains as well as evidence for spatial differentiation between areas here we present faunal taphonomical data from this specific archaeological context which includes not only the hearth area approximately 4 m2 but also the surrounding areas approximately 11 m2 the most common prey species is the mesopotamian fallow deer dama cf mesopotamica which displays a wide age range and a biased anatomical profile including mainly marrow rich bones such as long limb bones these characteristics especially those regarding the relative abundance of infantile and young fallow deer lead us to propose that social hunting techniques were practised following a seasonal regime this paper provides data on human subsistence behaviour during the formation of the hearth and the archaeological unit around it comparing the two from a taphonomical perspective elements such as size length of bone fragments and intensity of burning are spatially plotted to show differential space division all these data are considered in the reconstruction of subsistence strategies and hominin behaviour in the acheulo yabrudian cultural complex in the levant

biomorphic analysis as a part of soil morphological investigations abstract biomorphic analysis is the microscopic investigation of plant tissue detritus phytoliths pollen and other remains of biota for the reconstruction of ancient pedogenic conditions and the evolution of soils each biomorph is associated with certain types of landscape and provides information on conditions of soil development and on landscape evolution every stage of soil development forms its own biomorph profile and profiles of different stages can be distinguished they indicate the main vegetation changes during the holocene human impacts such as grazing tillage and tree felling also exert a considerable influence on the qualitative and quantitative distribution of biomorphs through the profile as examples samples were studied from soil profiles representing different climatic subzones of the russian plain the results show that biomorphic analyses can provide information that is otherwise unobtainable and can elucidate some controversial questions of soil genesis and cultural changes