Middle Palaeolithic Archaeological Sites Research Articles

История изучения среднего палеолита Северо-Восточного Приазовья и нижнего течения р. Северский Донец

The article is devoted to the history of the study of Middle Paleolithic archaeological sites on the territory of the Lower Donbasin, within the limits of the modern Rostov oblast. The author identifies and characterizes the main stages of the study of Paleolithic sites located in the North-Eastern Azov Sea region and in the lower reaches of the Seversky Donets River. Special attemntion is paid to the history of works carried out at the key sites of the region, including Nosovo, Rozhok 1, Biryuchia Balka 2, etc.

The value of English geoconservation sites in understanding historical collections of lower and middle palaeolithic artefacts

Lower and Middle Paleolithic archaeological sites in England risk falling through the cracks between different types of heritage conservation, since they lack recognisable structures; these sites have often benefitted from protection under geoconservation, particularly through selection as Geological Conservation Review sites, and subsequent designation as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The geoconservation of key sites, particularly in the formative years of British geoconservation, has allowed combined geological and archaeological reinvestigation. This is of particular benefit to understanding Lower and Middle Paleolithic artefact assemblages, which were often collected in the later 19th–earlier 20th century and consequently lacked both detailed spatial or stratigraphic provenance and contextual geological information. As such, the ‘fine grained’ data which could be gleaned from such artefact collections was limited. Here we review the benefit of geoconservation in allowing the contextualisation of historical archaeological collections, focussing on six key English sites where geological and archaeological reinvestigation has led to important archaeological findings. In particular, the emerging evidence of chronological patterning in Lower and Middle Paleolithic artefacts makes the preservation of such deposits valuable to Quaternary science in general.

The potential impacts of climate factors and malaria on the Middle Palaeolithic population patterns of ancient humans

Previous studies that observed the fact that Middle Palaeolithic sites mainly were concentrated in arid and semi-arid areas in Africa and Southwest Asia, concluded that climate factors determined the distribution patterns. We argue that biological factors could have been equally important. In present-day sub-Saharan Africa, mosquito-borne diseases and especially falciparum malaria have a serious impact on human populations. This study was aimed to investigate the possible former effect of falciparum malaria on Middle Palaeolithic site distribution patterns and explain why ancient humans avoided the humid areas in the tropical and subtropical regions. It was found that the early human settlements situated in those regions of Africa and Southwest Asia where the potential annual development period of falciparum parasites was short in the mosquitoes, the area was not too humid, and the potential falciparum malaria incidence values were low or moderate. In the Indian Peninsula, precipitation played a less significant role in determining human settlements. The number of the months when the extrinsic development of Plasmodium falciparum parasites was possible showed the strongest structural overlap with the modelled malaria incidences according to the spatial occurrence of the Middle Paleolithic archaeological sites in the case of Africa and in Southwest Asia. In the Indian Peninsula, climatic factors showed the strongest structural overlap with the modelled malaria incidences according to the occurrence patterns of the Middle Palaeolithic archaeological sites.

Human occupation of the Arabian Empty Quarter during MIS 5: evidence from Mundafan Al-Buhayrah, Saudi Arabia

The Empty Quarter (or Rub' al Khali) of the Arabian Peninsula is the largest continuous sandy desert in the world. It has been known for several decades that Late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits, representing phases of wetter climate, are preserved there. These sequences have yielded palaeontological evidence in the form of a variety of vertebrate and invertebrate fossils and have been dated using various radiometric techniques. However, evidence for human presence during these wetter phases has until now been ephemeral. Here, we report on the first stratified and dated archaeology from the Empty Quarter, recovered from the site of Mundafan Al-Buhayrah (MDF-61). Human occupation at the site, represented by stone tools, has been dated to the later part of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 using multiple luminescence dating techniques (multigrain and single grain OSL, TT-OSL). The sequence consists primarily of lacustrine and palustrine sediments, from which evidence for changing local environmental conditions has been obtained through analysis of fossil assemblages (phytoliths and non-marine molluscs and ostracods). The discovery of securely-dated archaeological material at ∼100 to 80 ka in the Empty Quarter has important implications for hypotheses concerning the timing and routes of dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa, which have been much debated. Consequently, the data presented here fill a crucial gap in palaeoenvironmental and archaeological understanding of the southern Arabian interior. Fossils of H. sapiens in the Levant, also dated to MIS 5, together with Middle Palaeolithic archaeological sites in Arabia and India are thought to represent the earliest dispersal of our species out of Africa. We suggest that the widespread occurrence of similar lithic technologies across southern Asia, coupled with a growing body of evidence for environmental amelioration across the Saharo-Arabian belt, indicates that occupation of the Levant by H. sapiens during MIS 5 may not have been a brief, localized ‘failed dispersal’, but part of a wider demographic expansion.

Late Pleistocene lakeshore settlement in northern Arabia: Middle Palaeolithic technology from Jebel Katefeh, Jubbah

Recent archaeological discoveries indicate that the Arabian Peninsula played an important role in Late Pleistocene hominin dispersals. The presence of Middle Palaeolithic archaeological sites in the Nefud Desert of northern Saudi Arabia demonstrates that hominins moved far inland, probably following networks of ancient lakes and rivers deep into the Arabian interior. These Middle Palaeolithic sites, located close to the spatial and temporal boundary between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, are critical for our understanding of Late Pleistocene demographic processes and hominin behaviour. Here we present the first detailed analysis of a Middle Palaeolithic lithic assemblage from the north Arabian desert interior. The Late Pleistocene site of Jebel Katefeh-1 (JKF-1) is located beside a palaeolake at Jubbah in the Nefud Desert. The assemblage appears to reflect a relatively short-lived occupation. Reduction produced Levallois flakes of diverse morphologies as well as more expedient small flakes. Our results emphasise that factors such as differential reduction intensity and raw material characteristics need to be considered along with putatively cultural interpretations of Middle Palaeolithic variability. Consideration of assemblage affinities indicates similarities with both the African and Levantine Middle Palaeolithic, perhaps reflecting the location of Jubbah at a crossroads of the highlands of western Arabia, the Levant and the Euphrates/Tigris river system. JKF-1 demonstrates both the potential and the complexity of the Arabian Middle Palaeolithic record in debates on hominin dispersal and adaptation.

GIS surface modeling of the Quaternary fluvial deposits of the Middle Son Valley, North-Central India: palaemorphological and palaeoclimatic setting for the Middle Palaeolithic archaeological sites

GIS surface modeling of the Quaternary fluvial deposits of the Middle Son Valley, North-Central India: palaemorphological and palaeoclimatic setting for the Middle Palaeolithic archaeological sites

Scale in tephrostratigraphic correlation: An example from Turkish Pleistocene archaeological sites

Issues of scale are persistent but rarely made explicit in tephrostratigraphy. Eruption magnitude, the nature of available outcrop, and the resolution and type of data available define the scale of any proposed correlation. Different scales require different approaches to demonstrate, or more accurately, to estimate the likelihood of correlation among two or more deposits. This is emphasized through a probabilistic approach to the correlation of proximal and distal tephra deposits associated with Lower and Middle Paleolithic archaeological sites from central Turkey through the use of discriminant analyses and multiple analyses of variance.

Late Pleistocene raised beaches of coastal Estremadura, central Portugal

We present new stratigraphic, sedimentological, and chronological data for a suite of tectonically raised beaches dating to Marine Isotope Stages 5, 4, and 3 along the Estremadura coast of west-central Portugal. The beach deposits are found in association with ancient tidal channels and coastal dunes, pollen bearing mud and peat, and Middle Paleolithic archaeological sites that confirm occupation of the coastal zone by Neanderthal populations. The significance of these deposits is discussed in terms of the archaeological record, the tectonic and geomorphic evolution of the coast, and correlation with reconstructions of global climate and eustatic sea-level change. Direct correlation between the Estremadura beach sections is complicated by the tectonic complexity of the area and the age of the beach deposits (which are near or beyond the limit of radiocarbon dating). Evidence from multiple sites dated by AMS radiocarbon and optical luminescence methods suggests broad synchroneity in relative sea-level changes along this coast during Marine Isotope Stage 3. Two beach complexes with luminescence and radiocarbon age control date to about 35 ka and 42 ka, recording a rise in relative sea level around the time of Heinrich Event 4 at 39 ka. Depending on assumptions about eustatic sea level at the time they were deposited, we estimate that these beaches have been uplifted at rates of 0.4–4.3 mm yr −1 by the combined effects of tectonic, halokinetic, and isostatic processes. Uplift rates of 1–2 mm yr −1 are likely if the beaches represent sea level stands at roughly 40 m below modern, as suggested by recent eustatic sea level reconstructions. Evidence from coastal bluffs and the interior of the study area indicates extensive colluvial, fluvial, and aeolian sedimentation beginning around 31 ka and continuing into the Holocene. These geomorphic adjustments are related to concomitant changes in climate and sea level, providing context that improves our understanding of Late Pleistocene landscape change and human occupation on the western Iberian margin.

Terrain Difficulty as a Factor in Raw Material Procurement in the Middle Palaeolithic of France

The interpretation of stone tool assemblages is difficult. How can provisioning choices, travel, and technological organization, when combined with the vagaries of use, discard, deposition, and preservation, be identified through material remains? The choice of lithic raw material sources in the past depended on many factors. The distance from source to site, often mentioned in archaeological studies, can be misleading if simple distance is measured as if the world is a flat sheet extending in all directions. The transportation of raw materials requires physical effort and effort expenditure depends not only on distance but also on topography, so the choice of a raw material in the past may have been influenced by the relative terrain difficulty around different sources. Calculation of the energy required to walk from several lithic sources to two Middle Palaeolithic archaeological sites in southern France, when contrasted with the use of the raw materials from each source, demonstrates that terrain difficulty needs to be taken into account to understand past behavior.

Subsistence behaviours in a Middle Palaeolithic site in Poland: the Raj Cave

AbstractThis paper presents an overview of mammal remains from one of the most important Middle Palaeolithic archaeological sites in Poland: Raj cave. This site lies near Kielce. Archaeological materials in cultural layers 4 and 6 are described as belonging to the Charentian culture. The stratigraphic sequence in its entirety may have been deposited during the Wechsel Interpleniglacial, equivalent to isotopic stage 3. Layer 4 would correspond at best to an interstadial phase, and layer 6 to a stadial. The environment of layer 4 was mixed, consisting of prairie and woodland, and the climate was relatively temperate and humid. In layer 6, the forests retreated while the steppe increased, and the climate became cold and relatively dry. In the lower layer (4) cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) dominates carnivore remains. In the upper cultural layer (6), cave bear and cave hyena (Crocuta spelaea) are the best represented carnivore taxa. In layer 4, hunting appears diversified. On the other hand, in layer 6 hunting seems to be oriented towards acquisition of the horse, but reindeer and large bovids are also abundant. A large quantity of reindeer shed antlers were discovered in this layer; the role of humans as collectors has yet to be proven. Clear evidence of human modification of the bone surfaces is very rare; few cut marks are observed. Raj cave can be considered a seasonal camp, occupied from the end of spring to the beginning of autumn in the case of layer 6. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.