Site Occupation Intensity Research Articles

30,000 years of fishing in the Philippines: New ichthyoarchaeological investigations in Occidental Mindoro

Marine adaptations are considered to have been significant factors in the evolution of our species (Homo sapiens). As humans dispersed from Africa around 100 kya, marine resources provided essential nutrients in island environments of the tropical Southeast Asian seas. The Philippine archipelago has revealed significant evidence of early human settlement during this period of coastal migration. Yet, despite being a global marine biodiversity hotspot, few studies have investigated prehistoric marine adaptations there. In this study, we focus on the analysis of fish bones from three sites in Occidental Mindoro, Philippines: Bubog I, Bubog II, and Bilat Cave with the aim of enhancing the understanding of H. sapiens' coastal adaptations and maritime interactions since at least 32,000 BP. We utilized expanded skeletal element identification protocols to determine the lowest taxonomic level possible, combined with diversity indices. The analyses indicate that H. sapiens on Mindoro mostly exploited near-shore environments, with temporal variations in fishing practices reflecting differences in site occupation intensity and periods of climate-mediated habitat change. Inter-site variations in fishing practices are likely related to disparities in local marine habitats. Spatiotemporal differences in marine environments influenced the development of diverse fishing methods and technologies, demonstrating a detailed knowledge of local aquatic environments and the adaptability of modern humans in Island Southeast Asia since the Pleistocene.

Human hunting adaptations at Wadi Madamagh, Jordan at the peak of the Last Glacial Maximum

Wadi Madamagh, situated in the southern Levant, was occupied by humans during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; 26,500–19,000 years ago). The climatic and environmental conditions are reflected in the faunal assemblage, which derives from Late Upper Paleolithic and Early Epipaleolithic deposits. Zooarchaeological methods and a human behavioral ecology framework are applied to examine human hunting strategies, site occupation intensity, and population mobility. Taxonomic and skeletal representation reveal that the residents of Wadi Madamagh were efficient hunters who predominantly targeted prime-aged animals, namely wild goat (Capra aegagrus), and transported whole carcasses back to the site. The rarity of small game indicates that human hunters were able to rely nearly exclusively on wild goat populations for meat and did not need to shift down to less cost-effective small game resources. The presence of bezoar goat (Capra aegagrus), waterfowl, and aurochs (Bos primigenius) indicates that during the height of the LGM, the Petra region retained more moisture than today, and wetlands were located close to the site. Compared to contemporaneous sites in the region, the focus on wild goats is unusual but is not unexpected given the rocky, rugged landscape around Wadi Madamagh. In combination with other markers of site occupation intensity, the faunal assemblage suggests that Wadi Madamagh was home to repeated, light occupations over the course of millennia.

Late Middle Paleolithic Technological Organization and Behavior at the Open-Air Site of Barozh 12 (Armenia)

Barozh 12 is a late Middle Paleolithic open-air locality in western Armenia dating from ~ 60,000 to 31,000 years ago. Stratified deposits with high densities of obsidian artifacts permit the analysis of diachronic trends in manufacture, reduction, discard, and toolstone provisioning as related to technological organization in the context of hunter-gatherer mobility and land use. Throughout much of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, the occupants of Barozh 12 employed consistent unidirectional-convergent and unidirectional Levallois and “para-Levallois” core reduction techniques. Site occupation intensity varied over time, with changing emphasis on local core reduction and tool discard. Obsidian artifact sourcing indicates predominantly local toolstone exploitation, while blanks bearing retouch were intermittently transported to Barozh 12 over distances up to ~ 190 linear km. As a repeatedly visited, persistent place in regional settlement systems, this site records a range of mobility strategies and differential use of diverse eco-geographic zones. This study—a detailed analysis of late Middle Paleolithic technological organization at an open-air site in the Armenian highlands—broadens the regional record of Late Pleistocene hominin technological behaviors and settlement dynamics during a crucial period of human evolution.

Hunting in the Negev: Insights from the Late Epipaleolithic fauna of Ramat Harif

The Negev Desert, an arid region of the southern Levant, was only occasionally suited for human occupation in prehistory. Archaeological sites are especially abundant in the Epipaleolithic periods, likely due to changes in the availability and distribution of water resources. We consider how hunter-gatherers adapted to this sometimes marginal region by investigating human demography, site occupation intensity and population mobility by revisiting the zooarchaeological assemblage from the Late Epipaleolithic, Harifian site of Ramat Harif (12,650/12,500–11,650 cal. BP) in the Central Highlands of the Negev. A near exclusive focus on ungulate species at Ramat Harif indicates efficient hunting overall. Nevertheless, high proportions of juvenile ibex and gazelle suggest intensive hunting of these two species. The rarity of other taxa in the diet indicates that they stopped short of depressing ungulate prey. Small variation in the body-part representation and age structure of the ungulates from Ramat Harif and other Late Epipaleolithic Negev sites may be linked to seasonality and their relative proximity to ibex and gazelle territories. The Negev pattern diverges from the adjacent Mediterranean zone where local Natufian populations hunted more diverse taxa, particularly small game. This pattern undoubtedly reflects higher occupation intensity and larger human populations in the Mediterranean zone as well as lower net primary production and biodiversity in the Negev desert.

Lithic miniaturization as adaptive strategy: a case study from Boomplaas Cave, South Africa

Lithic miniaturization is a multivariate and evolutionarily significant technological phenomenon involving backed tools, bladelets, small retouched tools, flakes, and small cores. This paper investigates the proximate causes for variability in lithic miniaturization processes during Marine Isotope Stage 2 (c. 29–12 ka) in southern Africa. We test the hypothesis that lithic miniaturization represents a form of adaptive behavior by examining its relationship to site occupation intensity and rainfall seasonality at Boomplaas Cave in South Africa. These are two widely cited explanations for shifts in the organization of hunter-gatherer technologies and the data required for testing them are also readily available. We combine several lithic variables, macrofauna and microfauna indicators, and other archeological data to test the hypotheses. We find evidence that demographic processes impacted choices of technology within contexts of shifting rainfall seasonality, aridity, and rapidly rising Late Glacial sea-levels. In this context, Late Glacial humans converged on a small number of high payoff strategies including technological efficiency through bipolar bladelet production, greater production of ostrich eggshell ornaments and water containers, and a reorganized subsistence strategy targeting lower yield small mammals. The results demonstrate that lithic miniaturization was a strategic choice rather than an inevitable technological outcome. The outcomes have implications for understanding global instances of lithic miniaturization and their relationship to rapidly shifting paleoenvironments.

Phytoliths as an indicator of early modern humans plant gathering strategies, fire fuel and site occupation intensity during the Middle Stone Age at Pinnacle Point 5-6 (south coast, South Africa).

The study of plant remains in archaeological sites, along with a better understanding of the use of plants by prehistoric populations, can help us shed light on changes in survival strategies of hunter-gatherers and consequent impacts on modern human cognition, social organization, and technology. The archaeological locality of Pinnacle Point (Mossel Bay, South Africa) includes a series of coastal caves, rock-shelters, and open-air sites with human occupations spanning the Acheulian through Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA). These sites have provided some of the earliest evidence for complex human behaviour and technology during the MSA. We used phytoliths—amorphous silica particles that are deposited in cells of plants—as a proxy for the reconstruction of past human plant foraging strategies on the south coast of South Africa during the Middle and Late Pleistocene, emphasizing the use and control of fire as well as other possible plant uses. We analysed sediment samples from the different occupation periods at the rock shelter Pinnacle Point 5–6 North (PP5-6N). We also present an overview of the taphonomic processes affecting phytolith preservation in this site that will be critical to conduct a more reliable interpretation of the original plant use in the rock shelter. Our study reports the first evidence of the intentional gathering and introduction into living areas of plants from the Restionaceae family by MSA hunter-gatherers inhabiting the south coast of South Africa. We suggest that humans inhabiting Pinnacle Point during short-term occupation events during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 built fast fires using mainly grasses with some wood from trees and/or shrubs for specific purposes, perhaps for shellfish cooking. With the onset of MIS 4 we observed a change in the plant gathering strategies towards the intentional and intensive exploitation of dry wood to improve, we hypothesise, combustion for heating silcrete. This human behaviour is associated with changes in stone tool technology, site occupation intensity and climate change.

Later Stone Age toolstone acquisition in the Central Rift Valley of Kenya: Portable XRF of Eburran obsidian artifacts from Leakey's excavations at Gamble's Cave II

The complexities of Later Stone Age environmental and behavioral variability in East Africa remain poorly defined, and toolstone sourcing is essential to understand the scale of the social and natural landscapes encountered by earlier human populations. The Naivasha-Nakuru Basin in Kenya's Rift Valley is a region that is not only highly sensitive to climatic changes but also one of the world's most obsidian-rich landscapes. We used portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analyses of obsidian artifacts and geological specimens to understand patterns of toolstone acquisition and consumption reflected in the early/middle Holocene strata (Phases 3–4 of the Eburran industry) at Gamble's Cave II. Our analyses represent the first geochemical source identifications of obsidian artifacts from the Eburran industry and indicate the persistent selection over time for high-quality obsidian from Mt. Eburru, ~20 km distant, despite changes in site occupation intensity that apparently correlate with changes in the local environment. This result may indicate resilience of Eburran foraging strategies during environmental shifts and, potentially, a cultural preference for a specific lithic material that overcame its accessibility changes. Testing such hypotheses requires a more extensive program of obsidian artifact sourcing. Our findings demonstrate the great potential for sourcing studies in the Rift Valley as well as underscore the amount of work that remains to be done.

Taphonomy of old archaeofaunal collections: New site-formation and subsistence data for the Late Paleolithic Nile Valley

Archaeofaunal remains play an important role in the studies of Late Pleistocene human adaptations in Africa. Salvage excavations and surveys along the Nile Valley, in the Kom Ombo Plain (Upper Egypt) and opposite Wadi Halfa (northern Sudan), respectively conducted in the 1960s by Yale and the University of Colorado produced several Late Paleolithic (ca. 22.5–14.5 years BP) faunal assemblages which have never been published. Here I present a comprehensive taphonomic and zooarchaeological analysis of the faunal assemblages, with the aim of, first, understanding their integrity through identifying the depositional, post-depositional and collection biases and, second, characterizing the latest Pleistocene animal economy in the Nile Valley. The faunal assemblages come from both surveys and controlled excavations and in most cases the collections appeared to have been fully retained. The excavated remains were deposited in thin horizons representing small camps, associated with diverse lithic assemblages and sometimes hearth features. In one case the fauna originates from a large cemetery (the 6B36 site, opposite Wadi Halfa). Taphonomic criteria indicate that the faunas are anthropogenic and attest to consumption of predominantly medium and large ungulates as well as hippopotamus. The preservation of the material is variable and was chiefly affected by dispersal processes and the pace of burial. The assemblages' characteristics and their context suggest non-intensified animal exploitation and consequently low site-occupation intensity in the Nile Valley during the latest Pleistocene.

Ungulate skeletal element profiles: A possible marker for territorial contraction and sedentism in the Levantine Epipaleolithic

The Epipaleolithic sequence of the southern Levant (ca. 24,000–11,500 cal. BP) reflects the shift from mobile to sedentary foraging societies, eventually paving the way to nascent villages, domestication and farming. Early and middle Epipaleolithic cultures (locally, the Kebaran and the Geometric Kebaran) generally produce an archaeological signature of mobile foragers, while the late Epipaleolithic Natufian Culture is renowned for the regular and intensified appearance of durable architecture, cemeteries, groundstones and art, joined with a broad-spectrum economy, and therefore indicates a more complex and sedentary society. Epipaleolithic archaeofaunas have been thoroughly investigated to detect shifts in site-occupation intensity, including changes in prey abundances, ungulate culling patterns and carcass processing habits, but carcass transport decisions received less attention. The transition to sedentary living in the Natufian would entail the exploitation of a defined and contracted territory around the site. In this case, central-place foraging theory predicts that ungulates will be hunted in the site's proximity and hence will be carried away in a more complete form, undergoing minimal or no field butchery. Therefore, we predict that skeletal-element profiles in sedentary Natufian hamlets will be more complete than in pre-Natufian camps, used by mobile foragers. We test this prediction by constructing detailed skeletal-element profiles and examining skeletal-element evenness. The results indicate that ungulate carcasses were transported significantly more completely in the Natufian assemblages, supporting our prediction. We further zoom in to explore the differential distribution of skeletal element abundances within a Natufian hamlet, showing the discard and attrition patterns that eventually produced our skeletal-element record. The results of our analysis of skeletal-element evenness correspond to other archaeological proxies for increased site-occupation intensity and territorial contraction in the Natufian.

Differential bone preservation and human foraging at the Early Epipaleolithic site of Tor at-Tareeq (WHS1065) in the western highlands of Jordan

Three decades of archaeological investigation in the upper and lower horizons of the Early Epipaleolithic occupation at the site of Tor at-Tareeq (WHS1065) in the western highlands of Jordan have suggested that occupation intensity co-varied with climatic shifts at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. The faunal record is a sensitive indicator of site occupation intensity, and allows us to further investigate diachronic change in human settlement at the site. Overall, preservation is of special concern, as it appears to have differentially impacted the faunal assemblages and may have influenced behavioral interpretations. Therefore, we apply a taphonomic analysis to the faunal assemblage from the 2012 excavation to investigate the nature and causes of the destruction of bones in each horizon. Our approach reveals differential destruction of the two faunal assemblages, although these did not impact the broad behavioral signatures from each horizon. Finally, we apply the prey choice model of behavioral ecology to test hypotheses for changing occupation intensity throughout the Early Epipaleolithic occupation. The study reveals an efficient subsistence strategy targeting higher-ranked adult ungulates and slow-moving tortoises, and attests to a stable low-intensity occupation across the two horizons.

Human hunting and site occupation intensity in the Early Epipaleolithic of the Jordanian western highlands

We investigate the effects of the Last Glacial Maximum (∼25,000–18,500 cal BP) on human hunting and settlement strategies through the study of faunal remains from four Early Epipaleolithic sites located in the western highlands region of Jordan. Human mobility is monitored by reconstructing site occupation intensity using zooarchaeological measures of dietary breadth and prey mortality. Our data reveal light occupation and a mobile human adaptation focused on the hunting of high-ranked adult ungulates and large-bodied tortoises. Despite their mobile strategy, the Early Epipaleolithic inhabitants clearly preferred particular locations on the landscape and reoccupied them repeatedly over time.

Prey choice, site occupation intensity & economic diversity in the Middle – early Upper Palaeolithic at the Üçağizli Caves, Turkey

Recent excavations at Ucagizli Caves I and II on the Hatay coast of Turkey have yielded abundant well-preserved archaeofaunas of the Middle Palaeolithic, Initial Upper Palaeolithic, and Ahmarian periods. Patterns of small game use in this region testify to an exceptionally early shift in human diet breadth between ca 50,000-42,000 years ago. The phenomenon is paralleled by increasing feature complexity and expanded artefact repertoires at the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic (MP, UP) transition and through the Ahmarian phases. The density of material accumulations, including the repetition or stacking of simple features, in the sediments varies independently of these variables and is less helpful for identifying changes in site occupation intensity. Differences in lithic raw material economics are informative, but systemic cultural differences in land use seem to complicate any interpretations of why some of the occupations were more intensive than others through the MP-UP series. The zooarchaeological result...

Zooarchaeological Measures of Hunting Pressure and Occupation Intensity in the Natufian

Climatic change, population pressure, and environmental stress are frequently cited as major catalysts for the adoption of agriculture. The role of these factors immediately prior to the agricultural transition in the southern Levant is here explored by reconstructing human economic and demographic conditions in the Natufian period. Thorough processing of gazelle carcasses for edible products including meat, marrow, and bone grease and the capture of abundant juvenile animals reflect intensive yet stable ungulateprocurement strategies across the Natufian. Despite this stability, a dramatic shift in the ratio of high to lowranked game at the Early/Late Natufian boundary signals a reduction in siteoccupation intensity and increased population mobility immediately prior to the agricultural transition. Contrary to current models, the faunal evidence suggests not that agriculture was adopted in immediate response to the cooling and drying of the Younger Dryas but that the Late Natufians embraced more costeffective demographic solutions for coping with environmental stress.