burnt bone assemblages from el esquilleu cave cantabria northern spain deliberate use for fuel or systematic disposal of organic waste abstract bones or fossil fuels associated with combustion structures have been widely discussed in several works related to neanderthal lifestyles and subsistence patterns during the mis 3 el esquilleu cave western cantabria spain can significantly contribute to this issue particularly with the taphonomic study of layers 21 and 23 which are characterized by the presence of hearths containing abundant burnt and charred faunal remains of ibex the fragmentation and burning rates as well as bone presence within hearths may suggest that they were used as a supplementary fuel resource following previous research on the suitability of bones as a supplement to firewood in hearth combustions a series of experiments are here presented using goat bones in consistency with the faunal record present at el esquilleu our experiments proved that small sized animal

zircon and monazite geochronology of deformation in the pielavesi shear zone finland multistage evolution of the archaean proterozoic boundary in the fennoscandian shield the raahe ladoga shear complex is a major crustal structure representing the archaean palaeoproterozoic boundary in the fennoscandian shield the complex developed during the svecofennian orogeny c 1 9 1 8 ga beginning with regional thrust tectonic phases d 1 and d 2 followed by large scale shearing events d 3 and d 4 the pielavesi shear zone is a vertical north south trending shear zone within the raahe ladoga shear complex formed during regional d 3 shearing and later reactivated during the regional d 4 phase three north south trending elongate granitoid intrusions were selected as representative of silicic melts that intruded the transtensional pielavesi shear zone during the regional d 3 phase the oriented magmatic fabric of the granitoids indicates that they intruded coeval to the deformation event the zircon u th pb secondary ionization mass spectrometry sims ages of these intrusions 1888 4 1884 6 and 1883 5 ma overlap within error and provide a direct age for the regional d 3 deformation e hf t 1 1 to 3 4 and e nd t 1 2 to 0 4 values from these granitoids are both consistent with a predominantly juvenile source affected by a minor archaean component u th pb sims analyses of metamorphic monazite formed within a crosscutting blastomylonite provide an age for the regional d 4 phase and associated fluid activity of 1793 3 ma supplementary material analytical methods and tabulated analytical data are available at https doi org 10 6084 m9 figshare c 3498501

circulation phenomena and frontal dynamics of the norwegian coastal current after a short general description of the norwegian coastal current some recent investigations concerning its variability are reviewed the variability caused by meteorological effects and fresh water fluxes is shown to be the dominant feature the coastal current not only responds to local wind forcing but is also a signal channel of sea level variations in the north sea as a whole the variability at times manifests itself as mesoscale waves and eddies the subsurface frontal region is characterized by interleaving of coastal and atlantic water and strong mixing lateral and longitudinal frontal motions are dealt with in relation to plumes of brackish water from the fjords and outbreaks of brackish and or warm water masses from the skagerrak the inflow of atlantic water through the norwegian trench and the formation of deep and bottom water in skagerrak are discussed

giant carbonate mud mounds in the southern rockall trough seismic profiles sidescan sonar data bottom photography and sampling proved for the first time that there are giant carbonate mounds bioherms in the rockall trough the pelagia mounds on the northern porcupine bank are relatively isolated whereas most of the logachev mounds on the southeast rockall bank form a field of closely spaced contiguous mounds they are all found on the upper slope at depths between about 500 and 1200 m and as a result of this study about 500 have been mapped they have a variety of shapes and the larger ones are very steep sided up to 350 m high and 2 km wide at the base sediment samples show that the mounds consist of pale coloured muds mainly aragonite usually with live and or dead cold water corals at the seafloor and with buried dead corals coral thickets appear to be detected as a brush like signature on high resolution profiles and as a speckled pattern on high resolution sidescan sonar records shelly sands are found on the seabed between the mounds currents in the mound areas are strong enough to transport sands along slope as medium sized sand waves and to prevent pelagic deposition thus providing surfaces for initial coral settlement by the winnowing of fines to leave glacial dropstones and exposed rocks these observations show that the poleward directed upper slope current of the eastern north atlantic extends further south than hitherto known and that there is a southwesterly directed current on rockall bank there are waves on the logachev mounds with a wavelength of about 20 30 m that are thought to be moulded in carbonate muds by across slope directed internal tidal currents and or cascading currents mounds develop above erosional surfaces seen on seismic data the huge amount of carbonate mud seems to be produced by the rapid growth and breakdown of cold water corals living in a very favourable environment intermediate nepheloid layers formed upstream by the strong currents may provide the food source for the deep water suspension feeders conditions for giant mound growth require an ideal balance between current speed and sedimentation rate among other factors no evidence for the suggested link to methane seepage has been found so far

on the relationship between climate and neandertal fire use during the last glacial in south west france abstract both environmental and cultural factors dictate how when and where hunter gatherers use fire in the landscape as well as how well evidence for any one fire will preserve in the archaeological record variability in the production and preservation of anthropogenic fire traces can potentially skew our perception of fire use in the past with this in mind the research presented in this article weighs in on the debate concerning neandertal fire use and fire making specifically the assertion that neandertals were unable to produce fire for themselves sandgathe et al 2011a 2011b this hypothesis is based on the inferred correlation between climatic deterioration concurrent lowering of lightning ignited fire frequencies and reduced signals for fire use in layers presumably deposited during the lower pleniglacial marine isotope stage 4 at the middle palaeolithic sites of roc de marsal and pech de l aze iv aquitaine basin southwestern france the logic being that if neandertals could produce fire at will fire use signals would remain largely consistent throughout the deposits despite there being limited access to natural fires in the landscape during this colder period this review challenges these assertions at multiple scales by looking at regional lightning and fire regime dynamics comparing the fire signals observed at roc de marsal and pech de l aze iv to those of other sites nearby and around france and exploring the various environmental and cultural factors likely influencing these signals ultimately the data suggests that estimated reductions in lightning frequencies and fire regime during the lower pleniglacial and colder stadial periods in general were not adequate to severely limit neandertal access to natural fire while possible artefactual evidence for neandertal fire making challenges the assumption that they were at all reliant on lightning ignited fire moreover at the nearby neandertal site of combe grenal the majority of the layers exhibiting evidence of fire use have cold climatic signals suggesting the fire use trends observed at roc de marsal and pech de l aze iv are potentially local expressions of changes in regional site use patterns possibly brought on by increased reliance on highly mobile migratory reindeer prey species and reductions in local woodfuel availability during cold periods other factors potentially reducing the archaeological visibility of cold climate fire use are discussed

a simple model of fjord and coastal circulation interaction abstract the dynamical interaction of a narrow fjord with a wind driven coastal regime is investigated using a linear two layer numerical model the coriolis acceleration is important in the coastal regime but assumed to he unimportant in the fjord dynamical because v 0 for a wide variety of wind conditions bottom topography and model parameters the wind forced coastal circulation with its geostrophic alongshore currants has a strong effect on the circulation within the fjord these geostrophic currents control the free surface and pycnocline displacement at the fjord mouth thereby strongly affecting fjord circulation this mechanism is an alternative to the classical idea of hydraulic control at the mouth by sills or constrictions model simulators also show that the free surface slope is a baroclinic effect and that alongshore and across shore winds affect the fjord differently alongshore winds produce flooding while up and down fjord winds simply sat up the surface we find that offshore win

use wear analysis of an amudian laminar assemblage from the acheuleo yabrudian of qesem cave israel in this paper the results of use wear analysis of an amudian lithic assemblage recently discovered at qesem cave israel are presented although very old this assemblage maintains well preserved traces of use that indicate that butchering activities and plants collecting were carried out at the site cut marks on faunal remains confirm the observations obtained by use wear analysis

landscapes depositional environments and human occupation at middle paleolithic open air sites in the southern levant with new insights from nesher ramla israel abstract middle paleolithic human occupation in the levant 250 50 ka ago has been recorded in roofed cave and rockshelter and open air sites research at these different types of sites yielded different perspectives on the middle paleolithic human behavior and evolution until recently open air middle paleolithic sites in the levant were found in three major sedimentary environments fluvial lake margin and spring here we describe a unique depositional environment and formation processes at the recently discovered open air site of nesher ramla israel and discuss their contribution to understanding site formation processes in open air sites in the levant the site is 8 m thick middle paleolithic sequence osl dated to 170 80 ka that is located in a karst sinkhole formed by gravitational deformation and sagging into underground voids the sedimentary sequence was shaped by gravitational collapse cyclic colluviation of soil and gravel into the depression waterlogging in situ pedogenesis and human occupation original bedding and combustion features are well preserved in the lower archaeological sequence a rare occurrence in comparison to other open air archaeological sites this phenomenon coincides with episodes of fast sedimentation burial which also allowed better preservation of microscopic remains such as ash the upper archaeological sequence does not exhibit bedding or preservation of ash despite presence of heat affected lithic artifacts which makes it similar to other open air sites in the levant we suggest that rate of burial is the major factor that caused the difference between the upper and lower sequences the differences in the burial rate may be connected to environmental and vegetation changes at the end of mis 6 we also identified an interplay between sediment in wash and density of human activity remains i e during episodes of low natural sediment input the density of artifacts is higher relative to episodes with high rate of sediment in wash the detailed analysis of natural and anthropogenic processes at nesher ramla suggests a much wider spectrum of processes than previously reported for southern levantine paleolithic sites nesher ramla shares certain depositional and post depositional characteristics with both cave and open air sites and provides a better insight into processes which control both types of sites

ash deposits in hayonim and kebara caves israel macroscopic microscopic and mineralogical observations and their archaeological implications abstract a study of the hearths and ash layers preserved in hayonim and kebara caves israel showed that they are composed of one or several different minerals these include the polymorph of caco3 calcite a variety of phosphate minerals and a suite of siliceous minerals the major component of the latter are siliceous aggregates that are present in wood detailed studies of the mineral associations in these fossil ash layers as well as in fresh wood ash using optical and scanning electron microscopy in the back scattered electron mode together with elemental analyses showed that ash in these caves undergoes a series of diagenetic changes the best preserved ash layers resemble fresh ash and are composed mainly of calcite with minor amounts of siliceous minerals the calcite reacts with phosphate rich solutions to form carbonated apatite and with time the latter dissolves and a variety of other phosphate containing minerals form with each diagenetic change some of the more soluble minerals are lost and ultimately only the ash derived siliceous minerals remain in both caves there are local accumulations of such siliceous minerals that are metres thick in fact ash derived minerals in general are major components of the sediments in both kebara and hayonim caves their diagenesis involves a hugh reduction in volume which in turn may have important effects on the geological structures and stratigraphy of the sediments the changing mineralogy of the sediments due to diagenesis complicates the use of present day estimates of radiation content of the sediments for correcting age estimates by thermoluminescence and electron spin resonance finally the presence of the relatively stable ash derived siliceous minerals in a sedimentary layer in other caves could be a useful means of identifying the presence of ash in other archaeological sites where macroscopic hearth features are absent

investigating human and megafauna co occurrence in australian prehistory mode and causality in fossil accumulations at cuddie springs abstract human arrival in sahul pleistocene australia and new guinea has long been argued as the catalyst in the decline and disappearance of a suite of extinct animals referred to as megafauna the debate concerning causality in sahul is highly polarised with climate change often cited as the alternative explanatory model on continental australia there are few datasets available with which to explore the likely processes leading to the extinction events at the present time there is one site in new guinea nombe rockshelter and one on continental australia cuddie springs where the coexistence and temporal overlap of humans and megafauna has been identified the cuddie springs pleistocene archaeological site in southeastern australia contains an association of fossil extinct and extant fauna with an archaeological record through two sequential stratigraphic units dating from c 36 to c 30 ka ago a taphonomic study of the fossil fauna has revealed an accumulation of bone in a primary depositional context consistent with a waterhole death assemblage overall the faunal assemblage studied here n 8146 nisp 1355 has yielded little direct evidence of carnivore damage or human activities post depositional factors such as physical destruction incurred by trampling compaction of sediments and or the hydrological status of the lake at that time have played important roles as the only known site on continental australia where megafauna and humans co occur the cuddie springs faunal assemblage yields equivocal evidence for a significant human role in the accumulation of the fauna here at the present time there is no evidential basis to the argument that humans had a primary role in the extinction of the australian megafauna the first colonisers are likely to have preyed upon those few species known to have persisted to this time but their impact may have been restricted to the tail end of a process that had been underway for millennia prior to human arrival

archaeological formation theory and geoarchaeology state of the art in 2016 since the influential work of michael b schiffer on formation processes has been published in 1987 much has advanced on the part of environmental formation processes also known as n transforms most new knowledge is the result of research conducted by geoarchaeologists on the theoretical level a huge leap forward was made with the realization that occupation deposits are artifacts of human activity the focus of formation theory thus shifted from the artifact to the deposit methodological innovations and a geoarchaeological tool kit notably including the contextual technique of micromorphology followed empirical studies of archaeological occupation deposits contributed new spatial and stratigraphic knowledge and understanding a holistic middle range methodology termed geo ethnoarchaeology was developed whereby macroscopic and microscopic artifacts are studied together with their associated sediments in ethnographic contexts providing contextual social information about the relationship between artifacts and the surrounding sediments as archaeological assemblages form this method is especially powerful when sequentially dated abandoned settlements or features are studied to provide mechanistic understanding of assemblage and or site formation through degradation because geo ethnoarchaeology is based on general chemical biological and physical laws the resultant mechanistic models are applicable globally for any time period culture and environment the new tools and mechanistic understanding by which n transforms are currently studied provide means to more reliably interpret the archaeological record which is crucial for the credibility of archaeology therefore when studying archaeological assemblages one should utilize the tool kit developed by geoarchaeologists to first assess the states of preservation of the various material assemblages macroscopic and microscopic as it should be borne in mind that assemblages identified to be well preserved will produce the most reliable archaeological interpretation the theory and method of geoarchaeology have matured enough to allow responsible archaeological research into the meaning of spatial and temporal stratigraphic patterns at any given site

how heat alters underlying deposits and implications for archaeological fire features a controlled experiment abstract while it is true that the use of fire is undoubtedly an important behavioral trait fire can also leave important traces in archaeological deposits including altering previously deposited sediments and artifacts the set of controlled experiments reported here do not focus on fire per se but rather on the effects of some of the most important variables underlying the transfer of heat to subsurface sediments these variables including temperature duration sediment type moisture and mineralogy are altered here in ways that essentially bracket the range of conditions under which past fires may have existed the results show that sediments as much as 10 cm directly below a heat source routinely reach temperatures of 200 c with higher temperatures and greater depth of heat transfer possible with longer durations or higher surface temperatures one of the implications of these results is that a surface can produce substantial thermal alterations of archaeological artifacts and sediments deposited much earlier in the sequence likewise there are significant implications for the analyses and chronometric dating of thermally altered sediments and burned artifacts

pre screening techniques for identification of samples suitable for radiocarbon dating of poorly preserved bones under certain environmental conditions post depositional diagenetic loss of bone collagen can severely reduce the number of bones from a particular archaeological site that are suitable for stable isotopic analysis or radiocarbon dating this study examined nearly 300 bones from 12 archaeological sites across southern england known to yield poor or variable preservation to try to identify one or more pre screening technique s that would indicate suitable collagen preservation for radiocarbon dating the most reliable method was shown to be the percent nitrogen n of whole bone powder which has an 84 chance of successfully predicting whether or not a bone will yield sufficient i e 1 weight collagen for dating

earth wind and fire ethnoarchaeological signals of hadza fires we present the preliminary results of an interdisciplinary ethno geoarchaeological project aimed at characterizing sedimentary aspects of recent combustion structures through soil micromorphology to obtain empirical parameters with which to interpret archaeological features micromorphological analyses of five different types of fires made and abandoned by the hadza of tanzania were performed and compared with ethnographic descriptions their anthropogenic nature burning intensity and type of fuel used were identified based on the composition and optical features of the microscopic components of the combustion structure the data provided elements to assess the preservation potential of open air fires and our ability to interpret their function the life history of two of the fires was reconstructed a sleeping fire showed evidence of a pre existing trampled surface and a communal cooking fire showed evidence of the scooping out of ashes for maintenance these findings substantiate the important contribution of ethnoarchaeological research conducted jointly with soil micromorphology in discovering cues of human behavior preserved in the sedimentary record

gas hydrate crystals may help build reefs during a recent cruise in the porcupine basin off southwest ireland we discovered two extensive and hitherto largely unsuspected deep water reef provinces including a giant cluster of hundreds of buried mounds the ring shapes of many reefs suggest that they are caused by an axial fluid expulsion at the sea bed a transient flow well confined in space and time we are exploring various hypotheses but a stimulating avenue for research is opened by a glacially controlled growth pulse and subsequent decay of a shallow layer of gas hydrates as a methane buffer and probably indirectly as a ground for overlying biological communities

a resilient landscape at teixoneres cave mis 3 moia barcelona spain the neanderthals as disrupting agent abstract the debate over hominid carnivore interactions during the pleistocene has been mainly approached from a human perspective with the aim of contributing to the knowledge of the evolution of human cultural capabilities in the different periods regarding the european middle palaeolithic it is most commonly concluded that neanderthals were clearly superior to carnivores in the context of competitive relationships with respect to both prey and the occupied space therefore the presence of some human groups in the environments usually inhabited by carnivores could be perceived from an ecological point of view as a disturbance in the balance of the ecosystems in order to assess the ecological impact of these human groups the present study analyses the unit iii of teixoneres cave mis 3 moia barcelona spain through a comparison of palaeoecological and archaeological data the site is located in the highlands between the two main rivers connecting the central region of catalonia with the mediterranean coast the llobregat and the ter palynological and paleontological data indicate a cold landscape dominated by woodlands and some wet meadows the high vertebrate diversity recorded in this stratigraphic unit suggests an environment marked by a balanced predator prey dynamic which may have been interrupted by the occasional presence of small human groups according to the archaeological data these human groups tended to predate the same prey as did carnivores which may have generated a certain perturbation in the system however the small size of the groups and the brevity of their visits to teixoneres cave seem to have minimised the perturbation allowing the environment to recover its original balance

biological mineral content in iberian skeletal cremains for control of diagenetic factors employing multivariate statistics abstract the aim of this study was to define a strategy for a correct selection of bone samples by employing inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy icp oes for reconstructing the biological mineral content in bones through the determination of major elements trace elements and rare earth elements ree lanthanides in skeletal cremains of ancient iberians iii ii b c discovered in the necropolis of corral de saus moixent valencia between 1972 and 1979 the biological mineral content was determined taking into account diagenetic factors a control method for a better reading of results was applied to explore large geochemical datasets and to reduce the number of variables principal component analysis pca was used thus providing a deeper insight into the structure of the variance of the dataset pca shows that the elemental profiles of bone and soil samples are clearly different bone samples obtained from the outer bone layer were shown to have a different elemental composition more similar to soil samples than samples of the inner bone layer pca scores and loadings plots were preferred to dendrograms obtained using cluster analysis due to the limits of the latter one to appreciate the spatial ordering of samples partial least squares discriminant analysis pls da a frequently used supervised classification method was applied to differentiate between degradation states of bone samples pls da results obtained in this study confirmed that changes derived from different burning conditions were associated with transformations in the mineral part of the bones accordingly carbonized bones can be differentiated from cremated bones class assignment of bone samples with uncertain thermal conditions in dependence on their elemental composition has shown to be feasible consequently for biochemical archaeological studies the analysis and statistical classification of carbonized and cremated archaeological bones as well as those exposed to unknown thermal conditions together with experiments in modern bones are recommended

bone diagenesis and radiocarbon dating of fish bones at the shag river mouth site new zealand the shag river mouth site in southern new zealand has yielded a series of radiocarbon determinations from multiple sample types which suggest that the site was occupied briefly in the 14th century ad radiocarbon determinations of bone disclose a greater variation which has been attributed to problems of sample degradation contamination inadequate pretreatment or the use of sub fossil bones in prehistory we examined the dating of bone at the site using barracouta thyrsites atun fish bone in order to determine whether this material could be dated accurately we applied a series of analytical tests to ascertain the preservation state and the extent of post depositional contamination these data were used to predict which samples would be most useful for14c analysis the resultant ages with the exception of two problematic samples are consistent with those on other acceptable marine and estuarine shell carbonate samples based on the available results we suggest that barracouta fish bone from this site is well preserved and reliable for dating we re examined previous determinations of moa and rat bone from different parts of the site to evaluate their accuracy in the light of this new data

remains of the day preservation of organic micro residues on stone tools here i report on the decay processes of microscopic organic residues left on stone tool surfaces after their use residue analysis on ancient stone tools facilitates reconstruction of past activities this study enables predictions about the circumstances under which ancient residues preserve experimental tool sets with modern residues were buried for a year in separate deposits at sterkfontein sibudu south africa and zelhem the netherlands whose ph and geomorphology varied they were then analysed using light microscopy biological weathering mainly causes residue decay in unstable environments rich in microbes and micro organisms residues decay quickly from an archaeological perspective this means that sites that are stable desiccated waterlogged extremely acidic or alkaline and extremely cold or hot sites different residue types have different preservation optima and this may lead to a preservation and perhaps interpretation bias the preliminary predictive models presented in this paper could aid in the considered selection of sites and samples

differential burning recrystallization and fragmentation of archaeological bone abstract this paper presents research on the conditions under which progressive levels of burning may occur to archaeological bone and how burning damage changes bones crystal structure and susceptibility to fragmentation a k a friability experiments were conducted to simulate common patterns of high temperature bone diagenesis and fragmentation previously documented in paleolithic shelter sites bones buried up to 6 cm below the coal beds of the experimental fires were carbonized but calcination occurred only with direct exposure to live coals analysis by infra red spectroscopy reveals that marked changes in crystallinity accompany the macroscopic transformations in colour and friability of modern fire altered bone specifically a monotonic non linear decrease in mean fragment length across six colour categories was observed when samples were agitated or trampled and a concordant decline in bone identifiability first with respect to skeletal element and ultimately the recognizability of bone tissue itself these findings help qualify the behavioural and taphonomic implications of fragmented burned bones in archaeological sites especially with regard to potential stratigraphic associations between artefacts and hearth features in sites and the intensity of space use by human occupants the identification of burning damage on archaeological bone is a separate issue however it was found that the molecular signatures of recrystallization in modern burned bones partly overlap with recrystallization caused by weathering after only 1 to 2 years of exposure in an arid setting and by partial fossilization of archaeological bones over the long term while infra red and x ray diffraction techniques effectively describe heat induced changes in modern bone mineral and are an important aid for modelling diagenetic processes these techniques did not reliably identify burning damage to archaeological bones cross referencing readily visible colour phases with hcl insoluble fraction data proves much more effective and economically feasible for the latter purpose

evidence of paleoecological changes and mousterian occupations at the galeria de las estatuas site sierra de atapuerca northern iberian plateau spain here we present a new site in the sierra de atapuerca burgos spain galeria de las estatuas ge which provides new information about mousterian occupations in the iberian plateau the ge was an ancient entrance to the cave system which is currently closed and sealed by a stalagmitic crust below which a detritic sedimentary sequence of more than 2 m is found this has been divided into five litostratigraphic units with a rich assemblage of faunal and lithic remains of clear mousterian affinity radiocarbon dates provide minimum ages and suggest occupations older than 45 14c ka bp the palynological analysis detected a landscape change to increased tree coverage which suggests that the sequence recorded a warming episode the macromammal assemblage is composed of both ungulates mainly red deer and equids and carnivores taphonomic analysis reveals both anthropic and to a lesser extent carnivore activities the ge was occupied by neanderthals and also sporadically by carnivores this new site broadens the information available regarding different human occupations at the sierra de atapuerca which emphasizes the importance of this site complex for understanding human evolution in western europe

45 610 52 160 years of site and landscape occupation at nawarla gabarnmang arnhem land plateau northern australia we present bayesian modelling on a long sequence of radiocarbon ages from the archaeological site of nawarla gabarnmang central arnhem land plateau northern australia a horizon of wind borne sediments containing flaked stone artefacts and charcoal commencing 45 610 cal bp the young end of the modelled boundary age range which extends beyond the limit of the calibration curve with a median modelled age of 48 500 cal bp signals the onset of aeolian mobilisation of fine sands and silts across the landscape and re deposition within the site at a time synchronous with the first evidence of people this earliest cultural horizon stratigraphic unit 4 contains 509 stone artefacts and is marked by a contemporaneous sedimentary break from underlying culturally sterile sediments consisting of disintegrating roof fall and in situ sandstone and quartzite to overlying culturally rich wind blown sand the new radiocarbon ages and wind blown sediments together provide evidence for the commencement of noticeable landscape burning on the arnhem land plateau c 48 500 cal bp suggesting an intensification of landscape management practices at the summit of the arnhem land plateau some 10 000 e15 000 years after the lowest dense band of artefacts phase 2 at madjedbebe on the floodplains 90 km to the north these results have ramifications for the structure and timing of the spread of people across australia and the extinction of megafauna in sahul

human maritime subsistence strategies in the lesser sunda islands during the terminal pleistocene early holocene new evidence from alor indonesia abstract the islands of wallacea are remarkable on a world scale as settlement occurred by at least 43 000 cal bp and must have involved the use of watercraft the majority of the islands are depauperate in terrestrial fauna and human subsistence must have focused on the marine environment although few islands have been archaeologically explored some such as timor have yielded abundant remains of pelagic and reef fishes as well as the earliest evidence of fishhook manufacture demonstrating that modern humans in this region were well equipped to undertake complex exploitation of the marine environment however a holistic understanding of human subsistence strategies on these islands from initial colonisation in the late pleistocene through to the recent remains elusive here we present survey and excavation data from the site of tron bon lei on the small island of alor in nusa tenggara timur indonesia this study focuses on the terminal pleistocene early holocene human fishing behaviour in the region and specifically the zooarchaeological sequence from tron bon lei dated to this period the holocene preference for reef fish relative to pelagic fish observed in mid to late holocene occupation levels in east timor occurred earlier in tron bon lei suggesting a shift from the larger abundance of carnivore taxa observed in the late pleistocene deposits comparisons with other archaeological deposits in wallacea indicates that fishing was an important subsistence activity in nusa tenggara timur unlike more northern wallacean islands where shellfish make up almost all zooarchaeological records tron bon lei confirms that the faunally limited nature of alor spans the holocene and we find no evidence that terrestrial fauna made up a significant component of the subsistence activities undertaken at this site

a multi technique approach by xrd xrf ft ir to characterize the diagenesis of dinosaur bones from spain abstract a combined investigation by x ray fluorescence xrf fourier transform infrared spectroscopy ft ir raman spectroscopy and powder x ray diffraction xrd supplemented with the rietveld analysis was conducted on sixty spanish dinosaur bone specimens from upper jurassic lower cretaceous to upper cretaceous age to investigate taphonomy and diagenetic processes the diffraction approach assessed in all specimens the presence of fluorapatite at various levels of percentage as the mineral phase constituting the fossil bone in addition to fluorapatite calcite and quartz were also found as main secondary phases in many specimens the infrared spectra of fossil bones show significant changes in the phosphate and carbonate band intensity with respect to a non fossil bone conversely the x ray fluorescence spectra turned out to be mainly dominated by the presence of ca obviously accompanied by phosphorus simultaneously other elements accompanying ca such as fe and sr were found at significant concentration levels a considerable amount of fe and sr ions were incorporated in the structure of fluorapatite but when their concentration was found elevated in the fluorescence spectrum the diffraction data revealed the presence of goethite feooh and celestite srso4 phases while the x ray diffraction phase analysis also revealed the presence of kaolinite dolomite barite and gypsum in some fluorescence spectra further elements like y as pb ti mn cr cu zn were present in concentration at trace level the introduction substitution of new elements with the infiltration of new phases due to diagenesis is also affecting to various extent the raman and ft ir spectra with modification of some bands and or the appearance of new bands the average crystallite size of the apatitic constituent phase was found to vary from a minimum of ca 183 a to an upper level of 2107 a no systematic relation between apatite crystallite size and age of the dinosaur bones was found that suggests a high variability of diagenetic processes affecting the growth of bone crystallites even in the same site

first evidence of an underwater final pleistocene terrestrial extinct faunal bone assemblage from central chile south america taxonomic and taphonomic analyses abstract site gnl quintero 1 gnlq1 located in quintero bay 32 s central chile constitutes the first evidence of a drowned terrestrial site on the continental west coast of south america covered by sea level rise after the last glacial maximum the site currently lies 650 m offshore and 13 m underwater covers an area of 64 m 2 and contains several discrete exposed and shallow buried bone deposits through underwater archaeology survey and test excavations a significant amount of animal bone assigned to the late pleistocene was successfully recovered and analyzed after recovery and prior to the analyses the bones were subjected to conservation and stabilization treatments resulting in good preservation of the material taxonomic analyses nisp 224 revealed high taxonomic diversity of extinct fauna camelidae cervidae artiodactyla equidae mylodontidae canidae rodentia and xenarthra the sample represents a continental faunal assemblage belonging to a drowned terrestrial context probably related to an estuarine lagoon environment taphonomic analysis allowed macroscopic identification of natural marks punctures associated with large and small size carnivores the bones also show abrasion related to the action of marine sands along with colour alterations by applying scanning electron microscope sem micrographs and energy dispersive spectroscopy eds to fossil bones marks and colour alterations were identified marks indicated rodent gnawing and trampling while colour alterations were attributed to diagenesis processes discarding thermal treatment site gnlq1 is identified as having very high potential for it provides the first evidence for a submerged palaeolandscape viable for human occupation and movement along the pacific coast of south america during the late pleistocene

post depositional alteration of humid tropical cave sediments micromorphological research in the great cave of niah sarawak borneo the post depositional alteration of cave sediments is of critical importance for the recognition identification and investigation of geoarchaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence there have been relatively few studies of tropical cave sediments using micromorphology and this work represents one of the most detailed with 26 samples taken from deposits in the west mouth of the great cave of niah that cover the last 55 000 bp and contain the earliest known evidence for the remains of modern humans in southeast asia cave sediments situated in the humid tropics are subject to relatively high temperatures and moisture conditions that promote high rates of chemical alteration and geomorphic change this paper outlines those post depositional features that occurred in situ in the west mouth and include translocation and concentration bioturbation excrement bone alteration plant alteration clast alteration and guano decomposition it examines their implications for recognising past human activities e g fire altered materials the preservation of archaeological remains the nature of palaeoenvironments and of localised physical and bio geochemical processes

mis 11 locality of medzhibozh ukraine archaeological and paleozoological evidence abstract the lower paleolithic localities near the town of medzhibozh in the khmelnitsky region of western ukraine represent a group of multilayered sites near the southern bug river medzhibozh 1 locality is the focus of the presented report the age of its main assemblage is defined at the beginning of the zavadovka episode mis 11 while the underlying sediments are likely dated to lubny time mis 13 15 both assemblages contain lithic artefacts the more recent is accompanied with rich fauna remains and presumable traces of hearths the list of large mammalian fauna from medzhibozh 1 nisp 450 revealed the presence of few carnivores ursus deningeri and ursus thibetanus and the dominance of cervids cervus elaphus dama dama clactoniana and capreolus suessenbornensis associated with sus scrofa stephanorhinus kirchbergensis and castor fiber this provides evidence for a temperate climate as well confirms the biochronological attribution as the fauna correspond to those typically associated to middle pleistocene interglacial periods it also fits well with the humid and forest environment described from the microfauna and shell analysis from an archaeological point of view assemblages of medzhibozh 1 could be adequately defined as belonging to the industries of technological mode 1 oldowan the material cultural horizons despite the relatively late age about 0 4 0 5 ma are characterized by the predominance of choppers chopping tools and isolated retouched flakes as well as few knapped flakes and broken and fragmented pieces of various raw materials showing minimum secondary working available inventories contain no good instances of core knapping as well as almost no morphologically stable shaping of flake tools and no signs of bifacial technology long bones of deer are characterized by systematic intentional breakage with percussion cones and cut marks complementary species like rhinoceros wild boar or bears are represented by incomplete skeletons rhinoceros and bear bones showed evidence of long and deep cut marks carnivore activity is rare burnt bones are well documented and are associated with charcoals and heated sediments the medzhibozh studies are directly relevant to the study and reconstruction of ancient migration paths on the territory of north western eurasia in its east european segment

bone preservation in hayonim cave israel a macroscopic and mineralogical study abstract understanding the cause of patchy bone distributions in archaeological sites requires that one distinguish bone decomposition in place from empty areas where bones were never present marked horizontal variations in bone abundance are found in the thick mousterian layer e of hayonim cave a large paleolithic site in northern israel infra red analyses of minerals in the sediments identify zones of advanced diagenesis and decomposition alongside zones whose chemistry clearly favoured the preservation of bones and wood ash these differences adhere closely to the distribution of recognizable bones in the deposits indicating that spatial variation in bone abundance is essentially a product of differential preservation conditions however the few bones present in the bone poor units are in surprisingly good condition the higher degree of abrasion damage and more random orientations of these bones indicate that small amounts of recent material were introduced into older layers by small burrowing animals and perhaps localized trampling the ratio of post mousterian to mousterian artifacts in layer e and the numeric contrasts in bone abundance among stratigraphic units indicate that time averaging from mechanical intrusion was quantitatively unimportant 2 5 throughout this 2 4 m thick layer our findings support karkanas et al 2000 suggestion that bone and ash mineral diagenesis in caves follow step wise rather than gradual transformations in geological time good preservation environments can be distinguished from poorer ones on the basis of mineral assemblages in sediments and deposits that once contained bone and wood ash can be identified long after the visible traces of these materials have disappeared

taphonomic analysis of an ungulate dominated accumulation at the pleistocene cova del rinoceront site near barcelona spain northeastern iberian peninsula abstract the upper pleistocene mis5 site known as cova del rinoceront near barcelona spain contains a large assemblage of ungulate remains among which the most dominant in the uppermost layer i are those of the rare mediterranean deer haploidoceros mediterraneus in this paper zooarchaeological and coprogenic analyses are used to evaluate the taphonomic and geological processes involved in determining the nature of the layer i assemblage the assemblage cannot have been generated by either hyenids or humans nor does it constitute an accidental collection as seen in other pleistocene accummulations instead the skeletal frequencies coprogenic tracemarkers and the diagnostic biological damage on bones suggest it accumulated as a result of the feeding of a carnivore the homogeneous pattern of carcass utilization and the predation of similar sized ungulates suggest a canid as the main biological agent

accessing hunter gatherer site structures using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy applications at a taltheilei settlement in the canadian sub arctic the results of fourier transform infrared spectroscopy on soils and caribou bone from a taltheilei culture settlement in northern canada contribute to developing micro archaeological approaches suitable for locating and characterizing hearth and midden features on hunter gatherer sites a weak yet pervasive signal for montgomeryite was developed from the diagenesis of dispersed ash and caribou processing residues disordered calcite carbonate hydroxylapatite charcoal and burned bone in two pit house hearth deposits indicate that both wood and bone were used for fuel crystallinity indices and carbonate phosphate ratios for bone indicate high intensity burning these data in tandem with the presence of semi subterranean dwellings demonstrate that this particular tundra based encampment was occupied during cold seasons a type of settlement behaviour previously unrecognized in the taltheilei archaeological record our results confirm that fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is an accessible rapid and cost effective means of discovering micro archaeological evidence valuable for reconstructing hunter gatherer site structures

old wood effect in radiocarbon dating of prehistoric cremated bones abstract numerous reports of successful radiocarbon dating of cremated bones have emerged during the last decade the success of radiocarbon dating cremated bones depends on the temperature during burning and the degree of recrystallisation of the inorganic bone matrix during cremation bones undergo major morphological and mineralogical changes which have raised some interesting questions and discussion on the origin of the carbon source in archaeologically cremated bones recent laboratory experiments reveal that the properties of the combustion atmosphere play a significant role regarding the source carbon in cremated bones thus radiocarbon dating cremated bones is potentially dating the wood used for the cremation fire here we compare a high precision radiocarbon dated human bone with an associated dendrochronological age from an oak coffin we find that the age discrepancy between the dendrochronological age and the cremated bone of 73 26 14 c yr is best accounted for by the so called old wood effect

variability of bone preservation in a confined environment the case of the catacomb of sts peter and marcellinus rome italy most of the studies investigating the diagenetic trajectory of fossil bones focus on open air sites and very little work have been published in confined environments such as catacombs while the stable thermal history of catacombs should favor bone preservation the accumulation of corpses over a short period of time could favor their destruction the aim of this study is to describe the diagenetic trajectory of 128 human bone samples coming from six different burial chambers of the catacomb of sts peter and marcellinus sspm rome italy a multi proxy approach was undertaken to provide an assessment of the molecular preservation as well as a direct record of the isotopic composition itself collagen yield carbon and nitrogen abundances c n ratio ft ir based collagen and carbonate contents and crystallinity index radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis of bone collagen and carbonate indicate that both the mineral and the organic fractions are impacted by diagenesis to various degrees and that bones originating from the small burial chambers are more affected than those coming from the large ones while some of the bones were strongly recrystallized the impact of bone diagenesis on the stable isotope values of bone carbonate was limited comparison with contemporary sites from the latium showed that conditions prevailing in catacombs seem overall to favor rather than disadvantage bone preservation

bone preservation in kebara cave israel using on site fourier transform infrared spectrometry abstract the distribution of bones in kebara cave israel is very heterogeneous in order to address the question of whether the bone concentrations were created secondarily by differential dissolution or represent the original burial distributions a portable fourier transform infrared spectrometer ftir was operated on site it was used to map the distribution of the minerals in the sediments in order to delineate the zone in which original ash derived calcite was preserved as well as the zone in which carbonate apatite dahllite was still preserved the bone distribution in the former zone must be primary as calcite is less stable than dahllite the mineral phase of bone the boundary between the zone containing dahllite in the sediments and the zone in which it was absent also essentially mapped the southernmost distribution of bones in the cave the distribution of bones in the dahllite zone is thus also likely to be original supporting this notion was the observation that the bones at the periphery of the concentrations were not less well preserved than those in the centre except at one location which coincided with the boundary of the dahllite zone in the third zone the bones appear to have been lost by dissolution the operation of an ftir on site proved to be an efficient and useful method for resolving this important archaeological problem

hydrodynamics and cold water coral facies distribution related to recent sedimentary processes at galway mound west of ireland abstract cold water coral carbonate mound development is the result of complex and interactive hydrographical biological and geological processes that can result in morphostructures several hundred meters high the case study presented here investigates one of these large mounds galway mound in the eastern porcupine seabight to build an understanding of mound forming processes and the driving factors for the first time bottom current data have been recorded at six locations over a mound thus allowing an interpretation of the local flow field to be made in addition to the overall flow pattern in the porcupine seabight the recorded data display distinct diurnal tides comparison of the local flow field coral facies distributions current induced seabed features and grain size distributions over the galway mound highlights a correlation between the abundance of living corals with areas of enhanced bottom currents however the interplay of contour currents tidal currents and the local topography further influences the coral facies and results in a distinct asymmetry in the coral facies distribution at galway mound by baffling sediment the corals also affect sedimentation on the mound

micromammal taphonomy of el wad terrace mount carmel israel distinguishing cultural from natural depositional agents in the late natufian a taphonomic analysis of micromammal remains from the late natufian deposits of el wad terrace mount carmel israel was conducted in order to test the long standing premise of owl deposition as the primary accumulating agent the inferred taphonomic sequence was modeled within an actualistic recent comparative framework incorporating a locally derived barn owl pellet collection and an off site control assemblage of micromammal remains from the cliff overhanging the terrace the sequence was reconstructed based on multiple types of recorded taphonomic data comprising skeletal modifications breakage digestion weathering gnawing and charring and age structure evidence for post depositional processes including fluvial transport trampling and weathering was isolated and consequently the typical owl imprints were traced through the two actualistic and the archaeological assemblages based on the extent of breakage and patterning in skeletal element frequencies it was also possible to scale the preservation potential of primary data in el wad terrace as a discrete site type intermediate between true cave and open air depositional environments verifying the role of owls as principal agents of accumulation of the el wad terrace micromammal remains enabled the detection of two minor superimposed cultural patterns consumption of mole rats spalax sp by the natufians and commensalism of mice mus spp

large deep water coral banks in the porcupine basin southwest of ireland the porcupine basin southwest of ireland was one of the earliest sites from where the deep water corals lophelia sp and madrepora sp were recovered these deep water corals have since been found all along the atlantic margins of europe in water depths ranging from 50 to more than 2000 m recent geophysical studies have demonstrated the mound building potential of deep water corals available data indicate that three major provinces of coral bank occurrences can be identified in the porcupine basin 1 high relief surface mounds which have a dimension of 1 by 5 km and a height up to 200 m hovland mounds flanked to the north by 2 a swarm of buried mounds somewhat smaller up to 90 m and with more irregular shapes than those recognised in area 1 magellan mounds and 3 outcropping or buried conical mounds single or in elongated clusters up to 150 m high occurring on the southeastern slope of the basin belgica mounds as far as can be inferred from shallow cores the surface lithology predominantly consists of an upper layer rich in foraminiferal sand and terrigenous silty clay with intercalations of biogenic rubble the banks host a remarkable number of colonies of living and dead lophelia pertusa and madrepora oculata the living and dead assemblages are underlain by a significant layer of coral debris in a muddy matrix deep water coral debris together with a living association of the same species covers the surface of the belgica and hovland mounds which may suggest that these corals have played a significant role in the development of the mound structures the capacity for mound formation by scleractinian corals in the aphotic zone has been known for some time examples are found at different locations along the shelves and the continental margins of the north atlantic the role of the corals in these deep water build ups is still a point of debate though the genesis and initial control of mound settings in this basin might be related to hydrocarbon seeps it appears that the major development of the porcupine coral banks in recent geological times has most likely been controlled by oceanic circulation and dynamics in water masses and nutrient supply

burning and boiling of modern deer bone effects on crystallinity and oxygen isotope composition of bioapatite phosphate abstract the extent of preservation of stable isotope compositions in biomaterials exposed to burial and weathering continues to be a topic of some debate changes in the isotopic composition of archaeological bones and teeth during recrystallization are often suspected but difficult to prove here we examined the effects of heating burning boiling on the isotopic composition of phosphate oxygen 18 o p in bone bioapatite from two modern white tailed deer odocoileus virginianus our experiments simulated cooking and refuse disposal practices which have affected many archaeological samples original values for 18 o p were preserved at 18 o p above 300 c original values for 18 o p were preserved only at ftir ci 2 5 2 7 xrd ci values were not sensitive to changes in 18 o p below 625 c

effects of heating on the carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of structural carbonate in bioapatite from modern deer bone abstract carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of mammalian bone carbonate from bioapatite can be used to reconstruct diet track migration and determine climatic conditions during ancient times hence the extent to which primary isotopic compositions are preserved during post mortem alteration is of interest bone samples are commonly obtained from contexts where they have been heated e g middens hearths cremations in addition to naturally occurring alteration burning and boiling may also contribute to modification of primary isotopic compositions we have examined the changes in isotopic composition of structural carbonate carbon 13ccarb and oxygen 18ocarb during the heating and boiling of modern deer bone and compared these results with values reported elsewhere for coexisting phosphate oxygen 18op recently deceased white tailed deer leg bones odocoileus virginianus were sectioned and heated incrementally from 25 to 900 c in 25 intervals in a second experiment these bones were boiled before heating in an oven changes in crystallinity were assessed for 45 63 m bone powders using x ray diffraction and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy weight loss was measured using thermogravimetry heated samples and samples boiled before heating exhibited similar behaviour original oxygen isotopic compositions were preserved for 18ocarb 2 up to 225 250 c at higher temperatures 18ocarb and 18op values became progressively lower relative to original values by as much as 8 only small changes in crystallinity indices ci were recorded from 25 675 c despite much larger changes in oxygen isotope composition above 225 250 c the 18ocarb and 18op values were positively correlated over the entire heating range with carbonate being enriched in 18o relative to phosphate carbon isotope compositions remained constant

human actions performed on simple combustion structures an experimental approach to the study of middle palaeolithic fire we present preliminary results from the first phase of experiments from the neanderthal fire technology project aimed at understanding middle palaeolithic combustion structures our field observations and micromorphological data address the sedimentary expression of various anthropogenic actions trampling ash sweeping and dumping relighting and cooking performed on simple flat combustion structures made with pinus nigra fuel on dry and slightly vegetated calcareous sandy substrates we observed a characteristic pattern in microstructure and basic composition irrespective of the number and kind of anthropogenic actions performed trampling yielded previously documented diagnostic micromorphological features more pronounced in cases of ash sweeping and dumping relighting of fires was only identified in cases with deposits between combustion events only rare microscopic calcined bone fragments and fat derived char were identified in fires involving cooking or tossing of meat in the fire these data suggest that anthropogenic actions on simple combustion structures are highly undetectable sweeping has a stronger effect than trampling on the substrate of the combustion structure stacked hearths might involve significant amounts of time or deposits between combustion events and alternative techniques must be sought to identify cooking in fires

benthic dynamics at the carbonate mound regions of the porcupine sea bight continental margin a brief review is given of some dynamical processes that influence the benthic dynamics within the carbonate mound provinces located at the porcupine bank sea bight margin ne atlantic the depth range of the mounds in this region 600 1 000 m marks the upper boundary of the mediterranean outflow water above which eastern north atlantic water dominates both water masses are carried northwards by the eastern boundary slope current in the benthic boundary layer both the action of internal waves and other tidal period baroclinic waves may enhance the bottom currents and add to both the residual and maximum flow strength both residual and maximum bottom currents vary at different mound locations with stronger currents found at belgica se porcupine sea bight mound and pelagia nw porcupine bank mound regions whilst weakest currents are found at the hovland and magellan mounds at the northern sea bight margin the differences may be attributed to the presence of internal waves pelagia or bottom intensified diurnal waves belgica these different dynamical regimes are likely to have implications for the distribution patterns of live coral at the different locations

serpentine hot springs alaska results of excavations and implications for the age and significance of northern fluted points the dispersal of homo sapiens across the new world is one of the greatest chapters in the history of our species however major questions about this late pleistocene diaspora remain unanswered two contentious issues are the timing of colonization of the bering land bridge and origin of clovis which at 13 000 calendar years ago is the earliest unequivocal complex of archaeological sites in temperate north america known by its specialized fluted spear points one hypothesis is that fluting technology emerged in beringia and from there was carried southbound with fluted points becoming the diagnostic calling card of early paleoindians spreading across the western hemisphere fluted points have long been known from alaska yet until now they have never been found in a datable geologic context making their relationship to clovis a mystery here we show that a new archaeological site at serpentine hot springs bering land bridge national preserve alaska contains fluted points in a stratified geologic deposit dating to no earlier than 12 400 calendar years ago our results suggest that alaska s fluted point complex is too young to be ancestral to clovis and that it instead represents either a south to north dispersal of early americans or transmission of fluting technology from temperate north america these results suggest that the peopling of the americas and development of paleoindian technology were much more complex than traditional models predict

the ksâr akil lebanon mollusc assemblage zooarchaeological and taphonomic investigations abstract shells of marine molluscs exploited by prehistoric humans constitute archives of palaeoecological and palaeoclimatic data as well as of human behaviour in coastal settings here we present our investigations on the mollusc assemblage from ks r akil lebanon a key site in southwestern asia occupied during the middle and upper palaeolithic the site plays an important role in understanding modern human dispersals into eurasia taxa from intertidal rocky shore subtidal soft bottom and rocky littoral habitats dominate the marine component of the invertebrate assemblage terrestrial snails indicate wooded and open half shaded habitats in the vicinity of the site species composition suggests that these habitats were present throughout the upper palaeolithic humans transported marine molluscs to the rockshelter as food packages for dietary purposes e g patella caerulea patella rustica phorcus turbinatus and shells of other taxa to be used as tools e g glycymeris sp or possibly for ornamental purposes e g nassarius gibbosulus and columbella rustica in the initial upper palaeolithic collection focussed on empty shells as raw material for utilitarian purposes in the subsequent early upper palaeolithic and later periods mollusc gathering was performed in an increasing number of habitats and shifted towards collection for human consumption which was the main reason for the introduction of shells to the site during the epipalaeolithic concurrent size shifts of live collected as well as beached specimens suggests that size changes were linked to environmental change rather than to potential overexploitation of dietary taxa by humans

origin of archaeological black bones within a waterlogged context a multidisciplinary approach abstract this paper presents the interdisciplinary study on the origin of black bones at the neolithic lakeside settlement of dispilio greece 5500 3500 bce where animal bones have been recovered from a waterlogged and organic soil matrix containing charcoal ash and burnt cultural remains in the past this has been interpreted as the result of the destruction of the village by fire and abandonment this study aims to examine this theory through the distinction of burnt vs oxide stained bones a selection of 44 fish and 19 mammal bone samples are examined through optical microscopy scanning electron microscopy sem x ray microanalysis eds x ray diffraction xrd rietveld analysis infrared spectroscopy atr nir and chemical analyses icp ms alterations of histology mineralogy chemistry crystallinity and structural parameters prove that the black bones from dispilio owe their colour to mn and fe oxide staining light coloured bones found at the site have not been affected by this diagenetic procedure which suggests that they were buried in a totally different geochemical environment the analytical techniques employed did not offer any proof that the studied material is burnt however due to the fact that most techniques used to this day allow for the identification of thermal alteration of bone at temperatures usually higher than 300 450 c the possibility of thermal alterations due to an indirect fire thus at lower temperatures or a fire of small duration cannot be identified and thus be ruled out

new data on the avifauna from the middle stone age layers of sibudu cave south africa taphonomic and palaeoenvironmental implications abstract the results of a detailed taxonomic and taphonomic study of the bird assemblage from all excavated middle stone age msa layers from sibudu cave wadley s excavations a rock shelter in kwazulu natal south africa are presented here throughout the sequence the assemblage is characterised by the richest taxonomic diversity observed in msa deposits from southern africa while pigeons and doves clearly dominate the bird assemblage the presence of several previously unidentified taxa associated with evergreen and deciduous forest such as woodpeckers turacos hornbills and parrots picidae musophagidae bucerotidae and psittacidae in the pre still bay still bay and howiesons poort layers are useful to document the habitats surrounding sibudu cave from 75 000 to 60 000 years ka ago birds associated with fresh water namely waders charadriidae and scolopacidae and kingfishers alcedinidae are present throughout the layers and are consistent with the proximity of the uthongathi river a study of the general bone preservation implies a shift in the modes of introduction of the birds into the archaeological sediments from a predominantly natural origin accumulation by a bird of prey most likely a falcon in the pre still bay layers to a greater anthropogenic contribution in the still bay and howiesons poort layers

diagenesis of archaeological bone and tooth an understanding of the structural complexity of mineralised tissues is fundamental for exploration into the field of diagenesis here we review aspects of current and past research on bone and tooth diagenesis using the most comprehensive collection of literature on diagenesis to date environmental factors such as soil ph soil hydrology and ambient temperature which influence the preservation of skeletal tissues are assessed while the different diagenetic pathways such as microbial degradation loss of organics mineral changes and dna degradation are surveyed fluctuating water levels in and around the bone is the most harmful for preservation and lead to rapid skeletal destruction diagenetic mechanisms are found to work in conjunction with each other altering the biogenic composition of skeletal material this illustrates that researchers must examine multiple diagenetic pathways to fully understand the post mortem interactions of archaeological skeletal material and the burial environment

the manufacturing process of 3rd millennium bc bone based incrusted pottery decoration from the middle guadiana river basin badajoz spain the aim of this study is to present the manufacturing process developed on 3rd millennium bc white incrusted pottery from the middle guadiana river basin badajoz spain alongside the analytical procedure developed to determine the nature of these incrustations the analytical procedure developed in this paper will assess the nature of these incrustations as burnt bone and in fewer cases as calcium carbonate turning upside down the usual tendency for the iberian peninsula where calcium carbonate has been the only kind of incrustation identified up until now the analytical facilities used are sem edx xrf microprobe xrd and ftir the assessment of the nature of the incrustations as burnt bone has been a hazardous task and it has been necessary to develop a procedure using several analytical techniques and reference materials

hearth side bone assemblages within the 27 ka bp krems wachtberg settlement fired ribs and the mammoth bone grease hypothesis besides two human infant burials the most important evident feature of the recent excavations at the gravettian pavlovian base camp site krems wachtberg is a multi phased hearth with a diameter of almost 1 5 m the feature is part of a compacted living floor which probably represents the interior of a dwelling the hearth contains charcoal mostly burned small bone fragments lithic artefacts in a matrix of ashy sediment and fire modified loess numerous mammoth limb bone flakes and the overall extensively fractured bone assemblages mainly from mammuthus equus rangifer and capra including a considerable portion of cancellous bone pose the question whether bone grease manufacture could have been a possible cause of these patterns the analysis of faunal remains addresses besides the most accurate determinations of species and skeletal position fragment size class proportions green bone fracture frequency the intensity of combustion and spatial distribution patterns while the most frequent species within the living floor is woolly mammoth followed by wild horse reindeer and ibex ungulate and mammoth bone counts are more balanced in the assemblages of the three distinct hearth phases a tendency toward more importance of the ungulates and more intense fragmentation can be observed in the last phase the bones which can be attributed to wild horse show a remarkably different spatial distribution than the mammoth remains generally the patterns suggest that a large part of the bones within the hearth is burned waste partly from fireside consumption for instance of rib meat in contrast abundance and concentration of green fractured mammoth and ungulate limb bones around the hearth is interpreted as primary refuse from marrow procurement strategies to counter resource fluctuations nutritional stress differential use and treatment of animal tissue including the fat within the bones are considered the most important issues for understanding gravettian settlement patterns

formation processes and stratigraphic integrity of the middle to upper palaeolithic sequence at cova gran de santa linya southeastern prepyrenees of lleida iberian peninsula sediments from cova gran de santa linya southeastern prepyrenees of lleida iberia are investigated by geoarchaeological means micromorphological textural quartz grain morphoscopy and geochemical analyses are coupled with stratigraphic and sedimentary macroscopic data to provide new insights into the formation processes and the integrity of the occupation layers and embedded sterile deposit documented at the middle to upper palaeolithic boundary direct indicators of the anthropogenic and natural dynamics involved in the deposition and alteration of the sediments investigated are provided results reveal the presence of in situ combustion structures as a major sedimentary indicator of human activity and occupation surfaces at the site the overall good preservation of the combustion residues indicates that occupation layers have been preserved in their original context of deposition traits of surface exposure in parallel to progressive lessening of evidence related to human activity at the top of the middle palaeolithic sequence suggest discontinuity in the occupation of the site and a possible abandonment of the rock shelter at the end of this period formation processes of the sterile deposit documented between the mousterian and the early upper palaeolithic levels involved the accumulation of debris from local sediments and soils as well as from the structure of the rock shelter soil forming dynamics related to palaeoenvironmental moisture fluctuations have also been recorded throughout the sequence investigated and indicate periods of surface stability during the formation of the sterile deposit environmental dynamics active during the formation of the sterile partially disturbed the top of the mousterian layer however our data indicate that such dynamics did not substantially affect the overall integrity of the archaeological record our results highlight the crucial contribution of geoarchaeology and microstratigraphy to the characterisation and assessment of the anthropogenic and natural dynamics involved in the accumulation and taphonomy of middle to upper palaeolithic sequences

mineralogical changes in fossil bone from cueva del angel spain archaeological implications and occurrence of whitlockite the mineralogical changes undergone by fossil bones found in cueva del angel lucena cordoba were investigated in order to establish a first approximation to the site formation processes that occurred in the cave for this purpose 18 samples of fossil bones collected from the stratigraphic profile named j k the most complete of those studied on the site up to the present were analysed the results are interpreted as evidence of thermal events due to anthropic action on the basis of changes in colouration of the fossil bones increased crystallinity of phosphatic phases and occurrence of rare authigenic phosphates whitlockite diagenetic processes including phosphate authigenesis and presence of secondary precipitations of calcite and manganese oxides has been also observed the analytical evidences further indicate that temperatures of about 650 700 c were reached in stratigraphic units i and ii while less elevated temperatures were reached in stratigraphic unit iii

microtaphonomy in archaeological sites the use of soil micromorphology to better understand bone taphonomy in archaeological contexts abstract in archaeozoological studies taphonomic analyses have focused largely on identification of chemical and mechanical changes of the bones recovered during excavation the quantification of bone remains is usually made using the number of remains nr one of the major drawbacks in the use of the nr method is that it does not take into account the variability in size of faunal remains from large bones to microscopic fragments in archaeological sites where no macroscopic bone is preserved due to adverse physico chemical conditions e g high ph micromorphology can be used to detect the presence of bones and other animal remains in addition microscopic observations provide information on the pre and post depositional alteration of faunal remains and allow for a semi quantitative assessment of microscopic bone fragments in this sense micromorphology can be used in support of archaeo taphonomic studies which have traditionally overlooked microscopic animal remains this paper presents some applications of the use of micromorphology to understand bone taphonomy at different archaeological open air sites including 1 a shell midden from tierra del fuego 2 a brazilian shell mound sambaqui 3 an iberian middle palaeolithic site and 4 a mesolithic campsite in northern scotland

radiocarbon dating of biological apatites a review abstract since the early trials in the 50 s the reliability of 14c dates obtained from bioapatites has always been questioned however methodological attempts at dating biological apatites are rare the compilation of the radiocarbon dates published in radiocarbon over the period 1959 2009 shows that less than 6 of all the bone dates were performed on purified bioapatite crucial for the validation of the approach is the design of tests for the preservation of the geochemical signal in biological apatites that are relevant for 14c dating because carbonate in apatite can exchange isotopically with dissolved carbon present in the environmental fluids pretreatments are necessary but not sufficient and preservation criteria based on mineral integrity are of limited help in this case only an indirect approach based on the dating of different bone tooth fractions of the same individual and or associated material is able to distinguish between preserved and altered fossils in case of alteration it is unlikely that the rate of isotopic exchange recrystallization will be identical in skeletal tissues with different physico chemical properties and any intra individual difference measured in 14c age must result from differential diagenesis we applied this strategy to more than 100 holocene and late pleistocene localities worldwide this approach confirms that carbonate in calcined bone is very resistant to post burial isotopic exchange and is the most reliable source of inorganic carbon for 14c dating regardless of the environmental conditions large intra individual differences in 14c age are found in several european and american localities showing that both bone and enamel apatite can suffer from rejuvenation due to isotopic exchange during fossilization on the contrary the absence of significant intra individual differences in 14c age in most of the localities from arid environments africa arabic peninsula attests to the good preservation of bone apatite in these regions this contrasting situation confirms that bone diagenesis must be treated on a site by site basis and demonstrates that bioapatite is a reliable material to date skeletal remains in arid environments

states of preservation of bones from prehistoric sites in the near east a survey abstract a survey of the states of preservation of organic material in 30 fossil bones from 16 different prehistoric sites in the near east shows that whereas almost all the bones have little or no collagen preserved they do with few exceptions contain non collagenous proteins these macromolecules therefore represent an important reservoir of indigenous fossil bone constituents

contrasting the crystallinity indicators of heated and diagenetically altered bone mineral abstract modifications to bone mineral as a result of diagenesis or heating include a marked increase in crystallinity although these processes are not completely understood a number of simple pragmatic approaches are in general use to quantify crystallinity and thus provide a relative metric for features such as preservation state a preliminary investigation into the interpretation of crystallinity as measured by x ray diffraction has been undertaken the microstructural changes associated with diagenetically altered archaeological and heated contemporary bone have been examined a common analysis approach was adopted and thus direct comparison between the physical features of these material systems has been possible the data clearly demonstrate the pronounced anisotropic nature of the crystallite microstructure for both diagenetically altered and contemporary bone the limitations of adopting simple crystallinity indices for characterising such materials are explored crystallite size and strain were shown to be dependent upon crystallographic direction overall the diagenetically altered bone mineral possessed greater long range lattice order than that of contemporary heated bone further significant differences between the directional nature of the microstructure of diagenetically altered and modern heated bone were observed this study has enabled a direct comparison of the effects of heating and diagenesis upon bone mineral it has demonstrated the need to consider bone microstructure anisotropically

formation processes and combustion features at the lower layers of the middle palaeolithic open air site of nesher ramla israel the lower stratigraphic sequence units iii vi of the middle palaeolithic site of nesher ramla was studied using geoarchaeological methods field observations indicate that the site formed within a karst depression that was infilled by colluvium and in which intermittent human activity occurred including two layers highly rich in anthropogenic remains units iii and v infrared analysis of bones determined that black bones are carbonized and that certain white bones are calcined quantitative analysis of wood ash pseudomorphs indicates specific areas of high concentrations of ash micromorphological analysis enabled identification of two distinct features associated with ash and burnt bones one is a thinly bedded complex of blacked soil overlain by ash and charcoal and the second is a 20 cm thick massive fine grained layer of mixed ash the first feature is interpreted as an in situ hearth macroscopically similar features have not yet been analyzed the second feature is interpreted as ash in secondary position i e an ash pile midden that formed following hearth rake out activities these findings are unique considering that most middle palaeolithic open air sites in the levant are single layered and that in most evidence for hominin use of fire is scarce or absent we discuss the factors that may affect the preservation of ash in open air sites and conclude that the setting of nesher ramla in a topographic low provided relative protection from wind which prevented ash deflation and at the same time hominin activity remains were buried relatively fast which detached the ashes and combustion features from direct rainfall and from decalcifying root activity

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

water mass characteristics and sill dynamics in a subpolar cold water coral reef setting at stjernsund northern norway the stjernsund located in subpolar setting at 70 5 n off northern norway hosts a thriving cold water coral reef community on a morainic sill dives with manned submersible jago identified the different reef zones and sedimentary facies on top and on the slopes of the sill hydrographic investigations indicate different water mass distribution east and west of the sill winter mode water and norwegian coastal water variability depends on the runoff and freshwater discharge into the fjord atlantic water dynamics are almost entirely tidally driven high resolution ctd time series covering a full tidal cycle demonstrate mixing processes occurring east of the sill additionally the different bathymetric distribution of living corals on the western and eastern slope of the sill portrays the dependence on these tidal dynamics the living corals thrive just below the isopycnal of 27 5 kg m 3 which marks the boundary between norwegian coastal water and atlantic water

burned bone in the howieson s poort and post howieson s poort middle stone age deposits at sibudu south africa behavioral and taphonomic implications abstract despite a growing awareness of the wide range of information that can be provided by detailed analyses of burned bone from archaeological contexts such analyses are still relatively uncommon this paper focuses on the behavioral and taphonomic implications of burned bone from the middle stone age msa site of sibudu cave south africa reporting on the analysis of a large sample 377 000 fragments of bone recovered from the howieson s poort hp and post hp msa deposits at the site faunal remains were initially sorted into burning categories based on changes in color microscopic analyses focused on the optical properties of the bone matrix degree of preservation of the bone structure reflectance and fluorescence indicated that the color is a valid indicator of thermally altered bone in the sibudu assemblage the association of burned bone with hearths the intensity of burning damage and the sheer quantity of thermally altered bone suggests that the bone was not burned primarily as a result of natural fires we propose that the high incidence of burned bone primarily reflects two types of site maintenance activities first the discarding of bone into fire as a means of disposing of food waste as also argued by cain 2005 using burned animal bone to look at middle stone age occupation and behavior j archaeol sci 32 873 884 for a smaller sample of material from the post hp and late msa deposits at the site and second the incidental burning of bone on near the surface during the periodic burning of plant based bedding in considering the taphonomic implications of the burned bone we demonstrate that calcined bone is in fact more heavily fragmented than unburnt or moderately burned bone furthermore cortical preservation was negatively correlated with the intensity of burning damage which has implications for the study of surface modifications these results indicate the importance of conducting thorough taphonomic analyses prior to making comparisons between units that show differing degrees or intensities of burning damage

evaluating the impact of acetic acid chemical pre treatment on old and cremated bone with the perio spot technique and perios endos profiles abstract the impacts of diagenesis on archaeological and palaeontological bone complicate investigations of in vivo chemical and isotopic characteristics such bone is often pre treated in an attempt to remove diagenetic alteration prior to trace element or isotopic analyses although very few standardized approaches exist for evaluating pre treatment effectiveness in this pilot study we characterize the diagenetic alteration and assess the impact of acetic acid chemical pre treatment on the trace element and structural characteristics of four bones from belgium including an early medieval cremated bone from broechem and three representative old bones of different ages ca 40 130 ka from the late pleistocene sedimentary sequence of scladina cave each bone was analyzed before and after acetic acid pre treatment using the perio spot technique and perios endos profiles we measured trace element concentrations with laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la icp ms and micro x ray fluorescence spectroscopy xrf structural characteristics were investigated with raman spectroscopy and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy ftir our results indicate that chemical pre treatment had little to no significant impact on the trace element content of the early medieval cremated bone had the most impact on the youngest bone from scladina cave and had less impact on the trace element content of two older bones from scladina cave this suggests that the effectiveness of acetic acid chemical pre treatment is greater for bones undergoing early diagenetic processes has minimal impact on highly crystalline cremated bone and may preferentially leach in vivo signatures from bones undergoing later diagenesis the weights of leachates removed from each bone also correspond well with their hypothetical diagenetic states indicating that researchers could potentially assess the diagenetic state of bones by weighing the leachates produced during acetic acid pre treatment therefore our new approach may provide a valuable step toward effectively and consistently differentiating among in and ex vivo trace element signatures and by proxy those of their isotopes in archaeological and palaeontological bone

contextual taphonomy of worked bones in the natufian sequence of the el wad terrace israel abstract one of the hallmarks of the natufian culture of the levant a terminal pleistocene sedentary foraging society ca 15 000 11 700 cal bp is a ubiquitous bone industry during the past eighty years natufian worked bone assemblages have been subjected to detailed stylistic technological and traceological analyses here we extract further information on the production use and disposal of bone artifacts in the early late natufian sequence of el wad terrace mount carmel israel first by fully integrating them into a comprehensive zooarchaeological and taphonomic study and then by examining their distribution and preservation patterns in relation to architectural features on site production which generally followed butchery and consumption and which was an extension of these activities occurred at el wad it made use of discarded butchery refuse such as gazelle feet and cracked gazelle limb bones bone beads were crafted just outside of the dwelling structure and generally used in domestic contexts as were other bone artifacts fragmentation and burning patterns show that the worked items were discarded with other faunal refuse in the place of use and underwent a similar taphonomic history to the total faunal assemblage diachronically a quantitative reduction in bone artifacts and the dwindling use of bone ornaments are noted in the late natufian we see the integration of the study of bone artifacts with zooarchaeology and general and contextual taphonomy as being critical for fully understanding of natufian technological behavior site formation processes use of space and changes through time

burning wood or burning bone a reconsideration of flotation evidence from upper palaeolithic gravettian sites in the moravian corridor abstract this paper compares archaeobotanical and other data from new excavations at two upper palaeolithic sites dolni v stonice ii and p edmosti i in the moravian corridor czech republic both contain the traces of broadly contemporary gravettian occupations during the warmer episodes of the pleistocene which preceded the last glacial maximum yet their archaeobotanical remains show striking differences those from dolni v stonice ii being dominated by large quantities of conifer wood charcoal while those from p edmosti i are much more scanty and dominated by vitrified plant remains in association with large quantities of burnt bone we argue that these differences between these two datasets arise from different uses of fuel at either site bone at p edmosti i and wood at dolni v stonice ii subsequently we explore the possible reasons for this difference and argue that once likely taphonomic distinctions are accounted for these data on fuel use offer fresh insights into the functions and durations of these upper palaeolithic occupations of the moravian corridor and some possible implications for how archaeobotanical data from such sites should be interpreted

mineralogical and compositional changes in bones exposed on soil surfaces in amboseli national park kenya diagenetic mechanisms and the role of sediment pore fluids abstract bones exposed on tropical savannah grasslands of amboseli national park kenya undergo extensive post mortem alteration within 40 years a combined analytical approach involving tem microscopy trace metal analysis ftir spectroscopy and petrographic analysis has revealed a complex dynamic diagenetic environment operating within exposed bones driven by evaporative transport of soil water from the bone soil interface to the upper exposed surface of the bone this process results in extensive bone soil water interaction and is responsible for increases in the concentrations of trace elements such as ba and la of 100 1000 within 15 years the maximum and mean size of bone crystallites increases with continued exposure this change in mean crystallite length is correlated positively with increases in bone crystallinity which in turn is associated with degradation of the bone protein microbial decomposition is rarely observed in the amboseli bones but where present resulted in severe dissolution reprecipitation of bone mineral many bones showed extensive permineralization of the larger vascular spaces with calcite and barite and to a lesser extent crandallite permineralization of unburied bones may account for 95 reduction in macro micron millimeter scale porosity in the bone within 2 years of death we produce a model for pre burial diagenesis of bone in arid tropical environments that highlights extensive alteration of bone chemistry within 1 40 years post mortem

intentional or incidental thermal modification analysing site occupation via burned bone although there has been extensive experimental research on the thermal modification of bone the results have rarely been applied to interpret zooarchaeological assemblages the faunal assemblage from wanderer s cave australia was analysed to investigate the origins timing and context in which faunal specimens became burned during the mid late holocene occupation of the site statistical analyses of uniformity of burning burning over fracture surfaces and epiphyses frequency of carbonisation by prey taxa and thermal modification of canid modified specimens indicate that the majority of faunal specimens were unintentionally modified when on the surface of the deposit or while buried in sediment when fires were lit at subsequent site occupation events thermal modification at the site does not reflect intentional cooking activities significant preservation biases were identified from the lower acidic levels of the site preventing knowledge of the early fire history at wanderer s cave 2008 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

diagenetic evolution and experimental heating of bone phosphate abstract fresh bone samples have been experimentally heated with monitoring of the evolution of several parameters the comparison of these results with a large suite of measurements performed on archaeological and fossil bones gave valuable clues about some possible mechanisms of the diagenetic evolution of bone crystallinity the main conclusions of this comparison are that 1 bone organic matter protects the mineral phase and thus needs to be significantly altered before crystallographic changes occur and 2 loss of structural carbonate may be a key factor in the increase of bone crystallinity the crystallinity of carbonate hydroxylapatite seems to monitor the degree to diagenetic evolution and thus may be used to detect diagenetic alteration of biogenic paleoenvironmental signals in archaeological and fossil bones independently of their age

from bone to ash compositional and structural changes in burned modern and archaeological bone abstract the composition and structure of experimentally heated modern bone and cremated bone fragments from various archaeological sites were analysed by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy ftir in attenuated total reflectance atr mode before and after pre treatment with acetic acid the results confirm that time and temperature have an impact on the degree of calcination but also highlight that once fully calcined the final composition and structure of bone are influenced by temperature alone a combination of several infrared indices makes it possible to discriminate between bones cremated under different conditions the study of archaeological samples revealed that their carbonate composition is quite different to modern calcined bone and that some samples originating from high carbonate geological contexts have significantly higher carbonate concentration compared to modern specimens even after pre treatment the results suggest that ftir yields information on not just the structure of burned bone but also potentially about the modes of burning including cremation and the depositional conditions

human subsistence and environmental stability during the last 2200 years in epullan chica cave northwestern patagonia argentina a perspective from the zooarchaeological record abstract the faunal content from epullan chica archaeological site ech thereafter a small cave located in northwestern patagonia argentina was studied from taphonomic and paleoenvironmental points of view this cave is placed in the ecotone between monte desert and the patagonian steppe in the middle limay river basin was occupied since the end of the late holocene zooarchaeological evidence retrieved from ech is diverse including fresh water mollusk shells diplodon chilensis eggshell and bone fragments of rheidae bones and teeth of large lama guanicoe medium e g chaetophractus villosus conepatus chinga and micro sized several species of sigmodontine and caviomorph rodents mammals most of the recorded taxa were the result of human exploitation however owl pellets preserved in the sediments and other taphonomic signatures clearly indicate that avian predators are responsible for part of the micromammal record micromammal abundances during the last 2 2 ka bp are suggestive of a relative environmental stability around ech at least until the beginning of the last century in this sense late holocene landscapes were dominated by open steppe areas and large rocky outcrops with minor changes in humidity and temperature during this period

examining histology to identify burned bone abstract early research suggests that examination of the microscopic internal structure is a valid method for distinguishing burned from unburned bone in the archaeological record this study compares burned and unburned modern bones with archaeological bones from sibudu cave ca 60 000 years ago and cave of hearths over 200 000 years ago to more fully describe the heat induced histological changes to bone we also explore the effects of diagenesis on those changes to determine if histological evidence of burning preserves through fossilisation and diagenetic processes and can be successfully used to identify ancient burning application of this technique can help in addressing various issues including the origins of controlled use of fire and understanding animal butchery and disposal

the middle pleistocene site of la cansaladeta tarragona spain stratigraphic and archaeological succession abstract la cansaladeta is a site located in a narrow passage dug out by the francoli river in the pre littoral catalan range ne iberia the archaeological deposit lies on top of a 45 50 m fluvial terrace and contains a rich middle pleistocene stratigraphic succession in which 10 archaeological layers have been identified here we present the description of the sedimentary succession of the site the available chronological framework including tl tt osl and esr u series ages as well as biostratigraphical information the characteristics of the lithotechnical and faunal assemblages as well as the first interpretation of the human occupations at the site three main occupation phases have been differentiated the oldest archaeological layers are embedded in a palaeosol formed on a clayey layer that contains limestone fragments detached from the shelter s wall and roof during the second phase low energy fluvial sediments coming from lateral river floods were deposited and sealed the archaeological layers after a transitional phase the upper layers appear to be derived from slope sediments numerical dating yielded internally consistent dates of 380 400 ka for the sequence however the study of the fossil assemblages potentially suggest a tentative early middle pleistocene age for the lowermost horizons the rich technological record is made up of several local raw materials especially chert but also schist quartzite quartz and other minor rocks knapping sequences seem to be autochthonous as all the elements and size categories of the reduction sequence are present and refits are common techno typological features observed along the sequence are not very diagnostic however the lower layers include some acheulean forms among the large shaped tools restricted variability among the small retouched tools mostly denticulates and a virtually absence of prepared cores the faunal assemblage is scarce and appears strongly altered only the lower layers have provided fruitful information although neither combustion areas nor structures related to fire use have been documented to date heat damage has been repeatedly recorded on both lithic and faunal remains this may point to systematic fire use within the archaeological sequence the data provided by the ongoing excavations at la cansaladeta provide new insight into the early human settlement history of northeast iberia to be reconstructed combining these data with those coming from the close site of barranc de la boella enable us to better reconstruct the timing nature and context of early human occupation in the region