Small Rock Shelter Research Articles

Mesolithic Occupations During the Boreal Climatic Fluctuations at La Baume de Monthiver (Var, France)

Abstract The Mesolithic technology in Western Europe depicts the last cultural expressions and adaptations of hunter-gatherers before the adoption of Neolithic agro-pastoral practices. Many questions arise when investigating the timing, nature, and historical significance of the Mesolithic. The development of the Mesolithic culture is usually associated with the onset of milder environmental conditions at the beginning of the Holocene. Hunter-gatherer societies would have adopted new subsistence and territorial strategies in response to environmental changes, which would have consecutively impacted their technological system. This assertion considers the Mesolithic in South-western Europe as one homogeneous phenomenon and eludes the putative role that early Holocene climatic fluctuations may have played in hunter-gatherer organizations. In this study, we aimed at questioning the archaeological variability of the first Mesolithic by taking benefit from new data provided by recent excavations at La Baume de Monthiver (Comps-sur-Artuby, France). La Baume de Monthiver is a small rock shelter located along the Jabron Valley in the southern French pre-Alps. The rock shelter records several Mesolithic occupations documenting Sauveterrian technological traditions. By studying the Baume de Monthiver, we take the opportunity to explore the Sauveterrian in its longue durée and address the question of its diachronic variability. In this study, we investigated the M-B′ archaeological assemblage and question its homogeneity at the transition of the 10th- and 9th-millennium cal. BP. Our results document stable technological and subsistence practices before and after the climatic fluctuations at the end of the 10th-millennium cal. BP, supporting the hypothesis of well-adapted Mesolithic societies to the climatic “instability” characterizing the early Holocene.

Shell tools and productive strategies of hunter-gatherer groups: Some reflections from a use-wear analysis at the Balma del Gai site (Barcelona, Spain)

Balma del Gai site is a small rock shelter situated in the municipality of Moià (Barcelona, ​​ Spain) at an altitude of 760 m above sea level and 50 km from the current coastline. The levels of occupation in this context are dated between 13,442 cal BP and 9,552 cal BP, being related to the so-denominated “Epimagdalenian” and “Microlaminar Sauveterroid” complexes. The excavations have provided important mollusc samples, both terrestrial and marine, which have been studied and considered alimentary and adornment resources. In this article, we present the results of the use-wear analyses of the shell tools of Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck, 1819 and Glycymeris glycymeris (Linnaeus, 1758). The results of these analyses and their comparison with analytical experimentation demonstrate that some of these shells were used as tools for developing diverse productive activities related to the processing of materials of animal, mineral and vegetal origin. In this way, this research contributes to: 1) broaden the technological spectrum registered in this context and in a wider sense for Epipalaeolithic hunter-gatherers (beyond the traditional technological elements), 2) demonstrate a diversified use of the shells as adornments, food and tools in the site; an aspect of great interest especially bearing in mind the distance from the coast.

Rock Art and Archaeology – a Short Visit to Zolat el Hammad, Northern Sudan

The striking sandstone formation of Zolat el Hammad is located in the southern Libyan Desert, about halfway between the Middle Wadi Howar and El Atrun. The place has been known for its numerous rock engravings for more than a hundred years. Wild and domesticated animals as well as few human figures are depicted. Cattle engravings largely dominate, followed by giraffes and ostriches. In 1997 the first paintings were discovered in a small rock shelter. Very schematic bovids are drawn in red and white colour. However, even though it is one of the most remarkable rock art sites in this part of the Sahara, Zolat el Hammad has never been intensely studied. Observations on rock art and archaeology made during a short stay in 2001 are the basis for presenting an account of the area with the aim of encouraging further research on it.

Fire and brief human occupations in Iberia during MIS 4: Evidence from Abric del Pastor (Alcoy, Spain)

There is a relatively low amount of Middle Paleolithic sites in Europe dating to MIS 4. Of the few that exist, several of them lack evidence for anthropogenic fire, raising the question of how this period of global cooling may have affected the Neanderthal population. The Iberian Peninsula is a key area to explore this issue, as it has been considered as a glacial refugium during critical periods of the Neanderthal timeline and might therefore yield archaeological contexts in which we can explore possible changes in the behaviour and settlement patterns of Neanderthal groups during MIS 4. Here we report recent data from Abric del Pastor, a small rock shelter in Alcoy (Alicante, Spain) with a stratified deposit containing Middle Palaeolithic remains. We present absolute dates that frame the sequence within MIS 4 and multi-proxy geoarchaeological evidence of in situ anthropogenic fire, including microscopic evidence of in situ combustion residues and thermally altered sediment. We also present archaeostratigraphic evidence of recurrent, functionally diverse, brief human occupation of the rock shelter. Our results suggest that Neanderthals occupied the Central Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula during MIS 4, that these Neanderthals were not undergoing climatic stress and they were habitual fire users.

An experimental study of bean and maize burning to interpret evidence from Stillhouse Hollow Cave in western North Carolina

ABSTRACTTest excavations in a small rockshelter in the mountains of North Carolina uncovered remains of a hearth containing carbonized twigs, maize kernels, bean cotyledons, animal bone, and the fragments of a single ceramic vessel dating to approximately AD 1350. Experiments in carbonization of maize kernels and beans and involving fire-extinguishing conditions indicate that the burnt seeds recovered from the hearth were probably dry when burned, that the fire may have been smothered or doused, and that the remains may represent an offering of dry seeds, rather than food refuse, similar to that observed historically among the Cherokee.

Prehistoric Bird Watching in Southern Iberia? The Rock Art of Tajo de las Figuras Reconsidered

ABSTRACTThis paper studies the relationship between humans and birds in the recent prehistory of the Southern Iberian Peninsula. With its high number of bird, mammal, and anthropomorphic paintings, a small rock shelter –Tajo de las Figuras– provides an excellent case study to address this topic. The cave is situated in an ecosystem that, as we will argue, favoured human-bird interactions and enabled prehistoric groups to engage with a diverse and rich bird community at particular times of the year. Even though the recorded depictions can generally be integrated into the wider ‘Schematic’ style regime characterising the recent prehistory of the region, they exhibit some outstanding features including a highly distinct naturalism. This naturalism enables us to identify the represented birds, not only at the family but also at the species level. Our contribution describes these pictorial data and contextualises them with the ecology, archaeology, and archaeozoology of the area. We intend to show that the singularity of the image-corpus registered at Tajo de las Figuras mirrors the unique conditions of human-bird interactions at the time. We suggest that the significance of the images derives from the special location of the cave in the wider landscape encouraging early practices of bird watching.

Re-excavation of Djuru, a Holocene rockshelter in the Southern Kimberley, North Western Australia

Re-excavation of a shelter in Windjana Gorge National Park, Southern Kimberley has extended the known occupation sequence of the site from the mid Holocene to the terminal Pleistocene. The site was previously excavated in 1994 and a non-basal date of ∼7,000 cal. BP was recorded. Significantly, the chronostratigraphic sequence represented in the earlier excavation is substantially different to the recent excavation demonstrating stratigraphic variation within a relatively small rock shelter and the need for extensive inter- and intersite and intrasite sampling prior to modeling regional occupation patterning.

Pleistocene Archaeology and Chronology of Putslaagte 8 (PL8) Rockshelter, Western Cape, South Africa

We report on excavations of a small rock shelter — Putslaagte 8 (PL8) — located on the arid interior fringe of South Africa’s Fynbos biome. The shelter preserves a long sequence of Holocene and late Pleistocene occupation dating back beyond 75,000 years BP. This paper presents data on the technological, faunal and chronological sequence. Occupation is markedly pulsed and includes three late Pleistocene Later Stone Age (LSA) units (macrolithic, Robberg and early LSA), as well as several distinct Middle Stone Age (MSA) components from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3–5. Pulsing may reflect the arid and possibly marginal environments in which the shelter is situated, and to that end some elements of the sequence contrast with occupational patterns towards the coast. Viewed in a regional setting PL8 suggests: 1) complementarity of resource movements between the coast and interior in terminal MIS 2; 2) distinctions in material selection, and possibly technology, between the coast and interior in earlier MIS 2; 3) an MSA lasting to at least 40,000 years before present; 4) a weak Howiesons Poort and post-Howiesons Poort in the interior; 5) possibly distinct periods of denticulate manufacture within the MIS 5 MSA; 6) highly localised patterns of material acquisition in the earlier MSA.

The late pre-colonial site of Komkans 2 (KK002) and an evaluation of the evidence for indigenous copper smelting in Namaqualand, southern Africa

Excavations at the late Holocene archaeological site KK002 are described. This small rock shelter, 17 km from the coast in southern Namaqualand, South Africa, contained a shallow deposit with a rich assemblage. Limited evidence of mid-Holocene occupation occurs, but the majority of occupation took place within the last 2000 years and can be split into two primary layers. The finds included stone artefacts with many clear quartz backed tools, whole, broken and partly made ostrich eggshell beads, pottery, worked wood and reeds, wood shavings, metal artefacts of indigenous and European origin, glass trade beads and a variety of subsistence remains, including those of marine animals. All three copper-containing artefacts are of European origin. With so much having been said about the possibility of an indigenous source of copper in Namaqualand, further investigation of this suggests that copper was not mined locally, but that lumps of native copper were collected at times. There is also no evidence of copper-smelting south of the Orange River, although this was practised in central Namibia.

Late Pleistocene Vertebrates from a Rockshelter in Cimarron County, Oklahoma

Abstract We studied fossils of late Pleistocene vertebrates that were excavated in 1940 from a small rockshelter in Cimarron County, Oklahoma. The assemblage consists of a Canada goose (Branta canadensis) and 14 mammals. Most of the mammals are large or medium-sized indicating a bias in the method of collecting. The assemblage includes Branta canadensis, Mammuthus cf. M. columbi, Cynomys, Neotoma, Lepus, Sylvilagus, Vulpes velox, Canis latrans, Canis lupus, cf. Lynx, Equus cf. conversidens, Equus cf. niobrarensis, Camelops hesternus, Antilocapridae, and Bison. Noteworthy among these is one of the few available late Pleistocene records of the swift fox, Vulpes velox. A piece of enamel from the mammoth at the locality yielded a radiocarbon age of 23,980 ± 130 years before present.

Excavaciones en Alero Gianella, curso medio del valle de Chacabuco (Andes Centro Patagónicos)

The present study addresses the excavation and faunal and lithic analysis of one small rock shelter with rock paintings on an Andean valley in South-Central Patagonia. Although the zooarchaeological context is largely concordant with summer hunting forays, the preparation and use of diverse lithic artefacts suggests other activities were performed at the site, besides its use as a hunting stand. A 2720±25 BP radiocarbon date at the base indicates also that this area was occupied earlier and perhaps more regularly than previously thought. Although the relationship with the eastern plains is confirmed, we observe also the use of local raw materials.

El Ajarafe: Un espacio serrano ocupado efímeramente en diferentes momentos del Holoceno (Tandilia, Provincia de Buenos Aires)

El Ajarafe es un sitio arqueológico excavado recientemente en el sector centro oriental del sistema serrano de Tandilia, provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Se trata de un pequeño reparo rocoso ubicado en la cima de Sierra Larga sur. A partir de cuatro fechados radiocarbónicos fueron identificados tres momentos de ocupación humana de carácter efímero ocurridos en el Holoceno temprano y en el Holoceno tardío. En este trabajo se presenta la descripción del sitio, sus características espaciales y contextuales y los resultados obtenidos a partir de los diferentes análisis realizados. Entre éstos se incluyen análisis tecnomorfológicos de los conjuntos líticos, de procedencia de materias primas líticas y de sustancias adheridas a las superficies de los objetos mediante cromatografía gaseosa; además de análisis espaciales mediante el uso de Sistemas de Información Geográfica. A partir de la información presentada, tomando al sitio El Ajarafe como punto de partida, se propone una discusión sobre las ocupaciones humanas efímeras registradas en el ámbito serrano de Tandilia a lo largo del tiempo.

The land snail midden from Balma del Gai (Barcelona, Spain) and the evolution of terrestrial gastropod consumption during the late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in eastern Iberia

The aim of this paper is to describe the results of a study of the terrestrial gastropods recovered at the Epipalaeolithic site Balma del Gai, and comparing it with other Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic samples from the Mediterranean region of the Iberian Peninsula. Balma del Gai is located in north-eastern Spain, in the municipality of Moià, province of Barcelona. This small rock shelter lies about 50 km inland from the coast. The second layer, the middle one, (Nivell I) contains diverse Epipalaeolithic occupations dated from 12,240 ± 110 BP to 8930 ± 140 BP. A large amount of terrestrial gastropod shells was recovered during archaeological excavations. These shells belong to the species Cepaea nemoralis, which is very common in other contemporaneous sites from the region. The anthropic origin of the sample has been confirmed by a previous taphonomic study. New results reveal an evolution in the use of land snails as a food resource from south to north in Mediterranean Iberia: consumption of land snails began in the south with the warmer stages at the end of the Pleistocene and extended northwards during the Holocene. However, land snails were most likely only a seasonal food source, and their presence is probably correlated with the exploitation of other resources such as small mammals (rabbits) and collected plants and fruits.

Long and continuous or short term and occasional occupation? The human use of Leang Sarru rock shelter in the Talaud Islands, northeastern Indonesia

Leang Sarru is a small rockshelter on the coast of Salebabu Island (Talaud group, northeastern Indonesia). Excavation has revealed a circa 100 cm thick cultural deposit, consisting of at least four observable stratigraphic layers and containing pottery (within the uppermost layers), lithic materials, food shells, and occasional pieces of ochre. C14 dates suggest c. 30,000 years of human occupation here. Although it is possible to establish a general cultural sequence for this site (three cultural phases are proposed), difficulties arise when one attempts to reconstruct more detailed habitation processes, especially in the second phase (21,000-10,000 BP). In this time span, it is unclear whether the cultural deposit is the result of relatively continuous habitation over a long period of time, or whether it resulted from a single but very intensive period of use of the site as a lithic workshop. After considering the available data on lithic technology, ecofactual evidence, and the provenances of the absolute dates, it is possible to suggest a general history of human use of the cave from c. 30,000 years ago up to the ethnographic present. Leang Sarru is a small rockshelter on the coast of Salebabu Island of the Talaud group in northeastern Indonesia (Fig. 1). It is situated in an uplifted coral limestone block about 400 m inland from the beach and about 15 m above the sea level in the middle of a clove plantation. It faces northeast and has a sheltered area of about 5 m by 3 m, with a curving ceiling about 2.5 m high at the dripline. The floor is dry and flat in the sheltered area, but slopes down slightly from the dripline outwards. Fragments of reddish chert were scattered quite abundantly in and around the rockshelter when it was discovered. In 1995, a grid of 1X1 m squares was laid out in the sheltered area and two adjacent squares, denoted B2 and C2, were excavated by 10 cm spits down to 90 and 80 cm respectively below the surface. Seven C14 dates were derived from the site ranging from circa 30,000 to 9,000 years ago (Table 1). CULTURAL PHASES AND DATING At least four stratigraphic layers could be recognized during excavation in Leang Sarru (Fig. 2). However, it turned out to be difficult to follow the layers when digging, since the boundaries between them were sometimes gradual. The uppermost layer is a topsoil about 10-25 cm thick. It is brownish grey in colour and fairly compact. Underneath the topsoil lies the second layer, a dark brown fairly compact deposit. It has an uneven thickness of about 20-45 cm. The third layer consists of a loose pale brown sandy deposit. This layer is about 5-20 cm thick and becomes thinner towards the front of the rockshelter. The basal layer comprises a hard calcareous deposit with relatively small quantities of archaeological materials. Figure 1. The location of Leang Sarru, on the eastern coast of Salebabu Island. Those four stratigraphic layers correspond fairly closely to the distribution of archaeological materials (Table 1) and can be grouped into three cultural phases. TANUDIRJO: HUMAN USE OF LEANG SARRU ROCKSHELTER, TALAUD ISLANDS 16 Table 1. Distribution of cultural materials in Leang Sarru, Square B2 (top) and Square C2 (bottom)

Taphonomy at two contiguous coastal rockshelters in Panama: Preliminary observations focusing on fishing and curing fish

The scarcity of animal products negatively influences nutrition in tropical inland areas, which lack large rivers. Consuming cured marine fish mitigates this deficiency. In Panama, trading cured fish from coastal to inland sites is documented ethnohistorically and can be inferred from the current archaeozoological record. Very large numbers of marine fish remains have been recovered at pre-Columbian sites located on and around Parita Bay, a mangrove-fringed estuary on the central Pacific coast. At Sitio Sierra, a farming village 12 km inland from the active marine shore, more than 70% of fish remains deposited between ca. 1800 and 1500 uncalibrated radiocarbon years BP proved to be of marine origin. Two small rock-shelters located downriver from Sitio Sierra and now 2.6 km from the marine shore (Vampiros-1 and Vampiros-2) show evidence for having been used intensively for fishing and preparing fish between ca. 2200 and 1900 BP. A prior model based on air photograph interpretation and sedimentological analyses of marine and terrigenous sediments suggest that these shelters would have been on or very near the active marine shore at this time. A much earlier occupation at Vampiros-1 dating to ca. 11,500–7700 BP corresponds to pre-agricultural (Paleoindian) and early agricultural (Early Preceramic) people who camped occasionally in this shelter when the transgressing ocean was in the process of flooding Parita Bay. No shell or bone was recovered in this earlier cultural component. In the more recent (2200–1900 BP), component abundant remains of marine mollusks and crustaceans and vertebrate bones (mostly fish) are in excellent condition. A synopsis of the geological and cultural history of the Vampiros shelters is followed by preliminary observations on the relationship between pre-Columbian human activities and these sites’ formation processes, soil chemistry, bone integrity and animal species. Evidence is accruing for human impacts on fish skeletons resulting from the in situ preparation of fish (i.e., gutting, cutting and smoking) providing the opportunity to compare our archaeofaunal data with the results of Irit Zohar's ethno-archeological research, which identified how preparing fish for salting and sun-drying at present-day Panamanian fishing villages around Parita Bay affects the fish skeleton physically and proportionally. There is a strong possibility that the Vampiros shelters were used to provision inland sites like Sitio Sierra with inshore marine fish although we cannot yet ascertain the means by which coastal foodstuffs may have arrived at the latter site.

Osteobiographic analysis of skeleton I, Sítio Toca dos Coqueiros, Serra da Capivara National Park, Brazil, 11,060 BP: first results.

This paper presents an osteobiographic analysis of a single skeleton found in a small rock shelter known as Toca dos Coqueiros, Piauí, Brazil. This find is of interest because of an exceptionally old radiocarbon date associated with it. The date (11,060 BP) was obtained from charcoal associated directly with the skeleton. This is an interesting find because of the rarity of osteobiographic studies of skeletons of such antiquity. Despite the existence of two projectile points in association with the burial, the morphological and molecular analyses of the skeleton demonstrated that this was a female. She was about 35-45 years of age at death. The skeleton exhibited acute and chronic bone lesions. Oral pathology was also observed, including an interproximal dental groove, probably caused by the therapeutic use of a cactus thorn. This could be one of the oldest cases of an analgesic plant used in the prehistoric Americas.

Ethnohistory and Archaeology of the Ju/'hoansi Bushmen

The 'Great Kalahari Debate' which revolved around the degree of isolation of the Ju/'hoansi Bushmen failed to adequately interrogate the Bushmen on what they knew of their own history. A combination of interviews with respected Ju/'hoansi elders and archaeological excavation indicates that those Bushmen living in the Sandveld of north-eastern Namibia, although in contact with Kavango farmers, would use them as a convenient source of hxaro exchange items only when needed. This meant only a limited number of exotic pieces were found in the excavations at the hxaro exchange place of Cho/ana in the Kaudom Reserve, suggesting that the Bushmen retained their independence. By way of contrast, hunters living in small rock shelters on the edge of Tswana settlements around Gaberone in Botswana gradually saw their cultural material being completely replaced by exotic goods and food, indicating encapsulation by the dominant society.

Taphonomy of Tortoises Deposited by Birds and Bushmen

In the semi-arid Karoo of South Africa's central plateau, tortoises are commonly preyed upon by raptors, some of which roost on ledges in the backs of small rock shelters. In the past, any suitable ledge could be occupied only when the shelter was not in use by Bushman hunter–gatherers. Thus, both agents could have contributed tortoise elements to the faunal deposits which accumulated in the shelter fills over the past two millennia. Element survival and breakage rates of tortoise remains in a recent shelter roost accumulation show reversed frequencies to those for tortoise carcasses left at raptor kill sites: what is abundant at the roost (skeletal elements, particularly from the neck and head) are scarce at the kills. When the roost sample is compared with the Bushman foodwaste sample beneath it, the two are readily distinguished by their element composition and condition. A surface sample from a neighbouring shelter without roosting ledges is also rich in skeletals, but lacks the characteristic cranials and vertebrae. Small carnivores are the suspected non-human agents. Although radiocarbon dates indicate an earlier hiatus in this sequence, no such raptor-like tortoise assemblages are detectable at this level.

La Préhistoire ancienne en Gironde : apport des recherches récentes

In the low Dordogne and Garonne valleys the oldest prehistoric occupation appears during the Mindel but the human presence becomes more obvious during the Riss, in numerous open air settlements close to local flint sources or mixed assemblages in the alluvial deposits. During the old Würm the Mousterian people almost exclusively settle in open air stations, less frequently in caves like Pair-non- Pair's lowest layers. In this geographical area the Chatelperronian remains discrete. Aurignacians and Gravettians settled in open air sites, on foot-clives or in small rockshelters with lithic assemblages and bones. The long controversy on a Solutrean occurrence on the footcliff of Grand-Moulin is nowadays closed. Badegoulian occupation is usually known in small open air sites, on top hills, more scarcely on footclives, by polymorphous lithic industries. Magdalenian sites are numerous, in rockshelters along some small tributaries of the Dordogne valley, sometimes on open air slopes close to limestome dives and in one case, actually dug, in the sandy plateau between the river Garonne and the atlantic coast. Two main sites, with representative sequences of lower and middle Magdalenian have been recently revised and the Upper Magdalenian known in small rockshelters, shows the invention of new projectile points.

Lithic Procurement in the Eastern Mojave Desert and the Use of the Juan Obsidian Clast Source

This paper describes lithic research conducted on materials recovered from a small rockshelter in the Eastern Mojave Desert. This research utilizes a replicative systems approach to explore changes in the prehistoric use of a local obsidian clast source, the Juan obsidian source. These changes are important for understanding general lithic reduction technologies in the Mojave Desert, and they also have implications for lithic resource procurement strategy modifications through time. Procurement strategy modifications become most apparent as the need for high quality lithic raw materials increased because of changes in hunting technology.