Description: Publication date: 20 August 2018 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 485 Author(s): Thomas C. Hauck, Frank Lehmkuhl, Christian Zeeden, Janina Bösken, Arne Thiemann, Jürgen Richter The culture and dispersal of early modern humans are top priorities of many research agendas. While the debate primarily centers on genetics, dispersal trajectories and points of earliest presence, the context (climate, landscape, demography, culture) of the colonizing process is usually considered in a coarse-grained manner or even ignored. To understand the context of human dispersal and to decipher relevant push and pull factors requires the consideration of multiple environmental proxies and the research on different geographic scales. In this paper, we present the Late Quaternary Carpathian Basin as a specific context area of early modern human dispersal into Europe. The multitude of Early Upper Paleolithic sites in this region suggests that it was part of a major dispersal corridor along the Danube and its catchment area some 40,000 years ago. The Aurignacian land-use model describes the interaction of early modern humans with their environment. One important parameter is the specific distribution of archaeological sites that exemplifies their boundedness to specific eco-zones. To reconstruct the latter, paleo-environmental proxies and archaeological data are examined together in regional vector models and in a GIS based landscape archaeology approach. In the final section, we present the Carpathian Basin as an idiosyncratic habitat that mirrors the dynamics and complexity of early modern human adaptation.

Description: Publication date: 20 August 2018 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 485 Author(s): Nicole Klasen, Martin Kehl, Abdeslam Mikdad, Helmut Brückner, Gerd-Christian Weniger The existence of an early Upper Palaeolithic culture at the transition from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Upper Palaeolithic in North African cave sites is currently under debate. We studied Ifri n‘Ammar in North-East Morocco, which is one of the oldest settlement sites of anatomically modern humans (AMH) in the Maghreb and contains several sediment layers which are attributed to Middle and Upper Palaeolithic occupations. In order to investigate processes of sediment accumulation and postdepositional alteration, we studied thin sections from these levels. According to micromorphological analysis, aeolian input considerably contributed to sediment accumulation and postdepositional mixing by bioturbation occurred. We compared multiple and single-grain quartz and multiple-grain feldspar luminescence dating of three samples from corresponding sediment layers to achieve a comprehensive chronology. The single-grain dose distributions scatter strongly and the source of the scatter is unclear. We used an arithmetic mean to calculate the equivalent doses. Archaeological evidence and age control from radiocarbon dating was essential to interpret the data. Quartz and feldspar multiple-grain luminescence ages are between 15 and 80 ka. The central part of the profile shows an intermediate accumulation, which lacks specified lithic artefacts. This supports the idea of an occupational gap between Middle and Upper Palaeolithic layers.

Description: Publication date: 20 August 2018 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 485 Author(s): Diego E. Angelucci, Daniela Anesin, Davide Susini, Valentín Villaverde, Josefina Zapata, João Zilhão We present a case-study in Palaeolithic archaeology focusing on formation processes at cave- and rock-shelter-sites in a Mediterranean context and on the correlation between site deposits, Quaternary surface sediments and the morphology of the surrounding land. We study three sites located in the basin of River Mula (Murcia, Spain): the cave-site of Cueva Antón and the rock-shelters of Finca Doña Martina and Abrigo de la Boja, in the Rambla Perea valley. They are examined through an integrated geoarchaeological approach that takes into account geomorphological, stratigraphic and soil micromorphological data. The three sites are found within a short distance and cover similar time spans within the Upper Pleistocene but have different formations and show distinct degrees of preservation of the archaeological record. Cueva Antón features a densely-stratified, mostly alluvial succession, with excellent preservation of stratigraphic layout and sedimentary facies. The succession represents a well-preserved record of past activity of the River Mula and can be correlated to its open-air alluvial system. The Rambla Perea sites, despite their immediate vicinity, underwent distinct formation dynamics, with a complex interaction among the site deposits and the hillslope along which they are found, and exhibit different degrees of preservation of archaeological layers and features. We summarise the evidence from these sites and then discuss its implications for site formation, for the preservation of the archaeological record and for the correlation between the ‘inside’ (the archaeological successions preserved within caves and in rock-shelters) and the ‘outside’ (the geomorphological setting of the land and the evolution of Quaternary surface dynamics through time).

Description: Publication date: 20 August 2018 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 485

Description: Publication date: 20 August 2018 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 485 Author(s): Karin Kindermann, Martin Kehl, Thomas Hauck, Nicole Klasen

Description: Publication date: 20 August 2018 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 485 Author(s): Karin Kindermann, Philip Van Peer, Felix Henselowsky Open-air sites dating to the Pleistocene are very rare in the Eastern Desert of Egypt due to the often erosive hyper-arid landscape and its highly geomorphological dynamics. But information retrieved from such sites is also important for an enhanced understanding of the Middle Stone Age in Northeast Africa, though open-air sites present challenges of their own in comparison with cave sites. During an archaeological survey conducted by the universities of Cologne and Leuven, such a new open-air site associated with Pleistocene lacustrine deposits in close proximity to the Sodmein Cave was discovered. The recorded lithic artefacts, which eroded out of the sediments, can be attributed to the Middle Stone Age (MSA). Several Nubian type 2 cores assigned this assemblage most likely to the Early Nubian Complex. Together with the stone artefact material from the lowest layer J at the nearby Sodmein Cave, this new open-air site clearly establishes the presence of the Early Nubian Complex in the region east of the Nile. Although chronometric dating of the Pleistocene playa silts is in progress, the Early Nubian Complex can be correlated, according to the Northeast African chronological evidence, to the Last Interglacial.

Description: Publication date: 30 August 2018 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 486 Author(s): Özlem Bulkan, M. Namık Yalçın, Heinz Wilkes Beginning from the Early Holocene marked environmental changes have been revealed by a multi-proxy study of two radiocarbon-dated sediment cores from Lake Marmara. Both cores are composed of fine clastic sediments deposited over the last 1845 years. The core taken from the western depocentre supplementary consists of a 20 cm thick interval which represents a time period of 10.28 to 8.28ka yrBP. A desiccation event caused 6435 year hiatus in the sedimentary record. The lake was established again at 1.85ka yrBP. After a transitional humid phase at the beginning of the Late Holocene, overall arid conditions were continuously effective. Especially the difference between the geochemical composition of Early and Late Holocene sediments indicates distinctive environmental conditions. Respective humid phases took place in between 10.28 and 8.28ka yrBP (Early Holocene) and 1.85 to 1.72ka yrBP (Late Holocene). The Early Holocene phase is characterized by higher fluvial activity controlled by the humid climate and active tectonics. Right after the Middle Holocene droughts, a short-termed tendency to relatively fresh and oxic conditions prevailed. However, the small surface area of the lake and its shallow conditions caused fast variations of hydrology, oxidation level, salinity and organic productivity during the last 1850 years. We suggest that a combination of the instability of the Eastern Mediterranean climate and local conditions is the main control on the changing paleo-environment during the study period.

Description: Publication date: 30 August 2018 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 486

Description: Publication date: 30 August 2018 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 486 Author(s): Enis Kemal Sagular, Zeki Ünal Yümün, Engin Meriç This study discusses the detailed chronobiostratigraphic history and paleoenvironmental features in the Quaternary period at Lake İznik (NW Turkey) based on fossil ascidian spicules and nannofossil records. New ascidian spicule data and nannofossils were identified in three lake bottom mud cores, K-1, K-2, and K-3, and in the muddy sediments of two drilled samples, SK-1 and SK-2. In the samples, eleven fossil ascidian spicule species, including two new species, were recorded: Bonetia acuta Varol & Houghton, Bonetia brevis Varol & Houghton, Bonetia quasitruncata Varol & Houghton, Micrascidites vulgaris Deflandre & Deflandre-Rigaud, M. gothicus sp. nov., Monniotia aciformis Varol & Houghton, M. fasciculata Varol & Houghton, M. minutula sp. nov., Rigaudia multiradiata Varol & Houghton, and R. praecisa Varol & Houghton. Ascidian spicules in the core muds probably released from the Didemnum species ( i.e. , D. candidum ) were compared to Holocene nannofossil data, such as Alisphaera sp., Coronosphaera mediterranea , Emiliania huxleyi , small Gephyrocapsa spp., and Scyphosphaera spp., representing the NN21 Emiliania huxleyi zone. Drilling core sediments also include the same ascidian fossils, and also one nannofossil species, Gephyrocapsa oceanica , indicating the NN21 zone of upper Pleistocene stage, as found in sample SK-1. Based on the ascidian spicules and nannofossil records of the coring/drilled muds of Lake İznik was marine, as an inlet or lagoon connected to the modern Gulf of Gemlik, during the Pleistocene to Upper Holocene. It was likely separated from the Marmara Sea and turned into a freshwater lake after the upper Holocene.

Description: Publication date: 30 August 2018 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 486 Author(s): Ahmet Evren Erginal