Description: Available online 29 December 2012 Publication year: 2012 Source: Quaternary International A palaeoclimate and palaeoecological study was carried out using sedimentological, palynological and thecamoebian evidence in a 5m deep sediment core deposited since ∼3630 cal BP from TSpettai mangrove wetland, northeastern part of Cauvery River delta. Textural analysis shows the overall predominance of fine clay with intermittent phases of sand. The palynological climatic period inferred in Phase I (∼3630-3170 cal BP) shows a stabilized estuarine ecosystem conducive for mangroves along with a good percentage of hinterland forest indicating a warm and humid climate with strengthened monsoon. Phase IIa (∼3170-2600 cal BP) shows abundance of salt-tolerant mangroves along with a mixed forest suggesting climatic amelioration from warm and humid to dry and arid. Phase IIb (∼2600-1300 cal BP) shows the dominance of salt tolerant species indicating enhanced dry and arid climate coupled with weakened monsoon. Phase III (since ∼1300 cal BP) is characterized by rejuvenation of true mangroves and high percentages of salinity tolerant mangroves with a low percentage of thecamoebians, thereby indicating increased salinity induced by weakened monsoon and enhanced anthropogenic activity. It is inferred that during the past 3 millennia, climate changed from warm and humid to cool and arid conditions, with an evolution of vegetation from moist to dry deciduous forest. The qualitative and quantitative study shows a decline in the true mangroves and an increase in the salt tolerant vegetation, which is attributed to the increased salinity in the wetland due to high salt accumulation in the root zone which is vulnerable for mangroves.

Description: Available online 27 December 2012 Publication year: 2012 Source: Quaternary International For more than 40 years, zooarchaeologists have explored possible criteria for distinguishing ungulate mass procurement (killing of many animals in one event) from bonebed sites. However, beyond age distributions, there has been little debate about what evidence is sufficient to accept the hypothesis of mass procurement. Here I discuss possible lines of evidence under the broad categories of threshold bone count, human-caused mortality, single depositional episode, and single mortality event. I argue that none of these is adequate by itself, but acceptable proof might emerge from multiple, converging lines of evidence.

Description: Available online 27 December 2012 Publication year: 2012 Source: Quaternary International Finite and directional sea-level indicators were found in the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil, showing that in the Mid- to Late Holocene the sea level was similar to present, and had been stable for at least the preceding 500 years. This sea-level behaviour is different from that observed in the nearest continental coast (of northeastern Brazil), suggesting a slight sinking of the archipelago relative to the mainland. The Caracas Formation that corresponds to the conspicuous aeolianites found on the archipelago was subdivided into two chronological units (I and II). Unit I is Pleistocene, formed before 50,000 BP, and could correspond to an interglacial stage. Unit II was formed during the Holocene, and was built up over the period from 10,700 to 5,700 BP, meaning that the sand dunes were transgressive and formed during the postglacial sea-level rise prior to a Mid-Holocene maximum at 7,000-5,000 BP.

Description: Available online 27 December 2012 Publication year: 2012 Source: Quaternary International This paper summarizes the available paleoenvironmental information for the Mid-Holocene in Northwestern Argentina, in order to systematize a multi-scale scenario for human adaptation in the area. The main results of the studies carried out by several research teams that have studied the conditions during this period in the tropical Andean region are described and compared, taking into account their geographical setting, the proxies involved and their particular space-time resolution. The paleoenvironmental situation prior to the onset of Mid-Holocene conditions (i.e. starting at the Late Glacial Maximum) is summarized to estimate the nature and extent of the changes occurred during this period. Paleoenvironmental results, their characteristics and interpretation, are also considered A general trend towards an aridization process that fostered a hydrologic stress process is traceable along the Mid-Holocene in Northwestern Argentina and the Tropical Andes. However, several localities seem to have retained wetter conditions, increasing the contrast between highly productive environments and the generally dry landscape. This paper is only a first step towards a full understanding of the diversity and complexity of the Mid-Holocene in different space-time scales, but a necessary one in order to start to model the resources structure available for human groups in the past in the Andes.

Description: 23 January 2013 Publication year: 2013 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 284 Using advances in gene geography and anthropophenetics, the phenogeographical method for anthropological research was initiated and developed using dental data. Statistical and cartographical analyses are provided for 498 living Eurasian populations. Mapping principal components supplied evidence for the phene pool structure in Eurasian populations, and for reconstructions of Homo sapiens history on the continent. Longitudinal variability seems to be the most important regularity revealed by principal components analysis (PCA) and mapping, indicating the division of the whole area into western and eastern main provinces. So, the most ancient scenario in the history of Eurasian populations developed from two perspective different groups: a western group related to ancient populations of West Asia and an eastern one rooted in ancestry in South and/or East Asia. In spite of the enormous territory and the revealed divergence, the populations of the continent have undergone wide scale and intensive time–space interaction. Many details in the revealed landscapes are background to different historical events. Migrations and assimilation are two essential phenomena in Eurasian history: the widespread of the western combination through the whole continent to the Pacific coastline and the movement of the paradoxical combinations of eastern and western markers from South or Central Asia to the east and west. Taking into account that no additional eastern combinations in the total variation in Asian groups have been found, but that mixed or western markers’ sets and that eastern dental characteristics are traced in Asia since Homo erectus , the assumption is made in favour of the hetero-level assimilation in the eastern province and of net-like evolution of H. sapiens .

Description: 23 January 2013 Publication year: 2013 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 284 A description of the different layers deposited in La Haute Ville and Bréhat sites is given. Methodological considerations and comparisons with Russian, French and Netherlands stratigraphic scales are summarized. Malacological study shows the existence of shells deposited during the Early, Middle and Late Weichselian. In La Haute Ville, the upper part of the Lower and Middle Weichselian contains four soils which developed above an aeolian dune. Four malacozones have been separated. The groups of molluscs were classified according to their modern ecological preferences. The upper part of La Haute Ville Formation is observed in the lower part of the La Haute Ville cliff. This aeolian accumulation is completely decalcified. There is no fauna. The presence of colored quartz implies the existence of a warm climate. By comparison with other dunes of Brittany, it could be dated to the Early Weichselian. Comparison between the onshore and offshore data shows that the dune has never been as rich in carbonates as the loess or loess-like deposits. The Port Morvan Formation consists of four different soils interlayered with loams. All the soils are located at the level of the dome-like top of the dune. The disappearance of the soils towards the west and the east is associated with an undulation of the dune. The existence of four soils and the presence of molluscs living under broad leaved forests suggest a moderate climate. The cooling of the climate started at the end of the Port Morvan formation. These data allow correlation of this formation with the Middle-Lower Weichselian. The formation of Sables d’Or les Pins corresponds with true loess. It was deposited above the Port-Morvan formation which displays a clear erosion of its top. The top of this formation was affected by the development of a Holocene soil. A light grey layer represents a podzolic horizon. The lower boundary of these layers is affected by thermokarst. Because of their location, their aeolian origin, the existence of thermokarst, the mollusc assemblage and the dating already obtained elsewhere, this section is attributed to the Upper Weichselian. The Holocene deposits are represented by a podzolic soil and slope deposits, which formed during moderately humid conditions. It covers a dark grey soil made of colluvium containing charcoal and prehistoric to recent artifacts, which possibly formed in a forest or bush environment.

Description: 23 January 2013 Publication year: 2013 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 284 Early Pleistocene arvicolid faunas from the Norwich Crag Formation of the UK contain species found across Eurasia, indicating that this was then a single faunal province. Several examples of arvicolid evidence for intercontinental connections are discussed, with reference particularly to new material from the locality Easton Wood, Suffolk, UK. This includes teeth referred to Mimomys glendae sp.nov., apparently closely related to Siberian and North American species. The locality also provides the earliest UK occurrences of Lemmus kowalskii and Mimomys tigliensis , a wide ranging and biostratigraphically important species. The immigration of M. tigliensis to West Europe took place in arvicolid zone MNR2 at a time apparently close to its appearance in Russian faunas. The faunas from Easton Wood and the Netherlands support the current arvicolid Early Pleistocene biozonation of South East Europe suggesting that it is applicable to at least the northern part of West Europe. The age of the Norwich Crag deposits at Easton Wood is estimated according to this scheme at between 2.25 and 2.35 Ma, indicating that palaeomagnetic inferences previously used to support a younger age require review.

Description: 23 January 2013 Publication year: 2013 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 284 Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Tanalyk River valley (Trans-Uralian area, Bashkortostan Republic, Russia) between the Late Pleistocene and the Late Holocene has been established through biostratigraphic investigations. The Tanalyk Bronze Age settlement is located on the first overflood terrace of the Tanalyk River. From the base to the top, this terrace consists of fluvial and lacustrine deposits of the Tabulda horizon, water-slope deposits of the Kudashevo horizon (Late Pleistocene), and subaerial deposits of the Middle and Upper Holocene. During the Late Pleistocene, open landscapes covered by herbs- Artemisia -Chenopodiaceae meadow-steppe associations with Ephedra sp. admixture dominated. Betula and Pinus forests grew in small areas. Picea with Polypodiaceae understory grew in humid valleys. The climate was warm and dry during the Tabulda and cold during the Kudashevo. The subaerial Holocene deposits (soil and cultural layer) were correlated with the Boreal and Subboreal periods of the Blytt–Sernander scale. The late Subboreal climate was cold and dry. The vegetation of this period was represented by Artemisia-Chenopodiaceae steppe and by small Pinus forests with Betula, Tilia and Alnus . The climate of the Subatlantic was wet at the beginning and drier at the end. The vegetation of this period was represented mainly by the Artemisia steppe associations. Small mammals, and land and freshwater mollusc remains have been discovered in the same deposits and complete the palaeoecological characteristic of these periods. A cultural layer has been dated at 2830 ± 110 BP LU-3713 on bones of Equus sp. Numerous Holocene large mammal remains have been found in the cultural layer deposits, dated to Subboreal-3. The large Holocene mammal fauna is constituted of eurybiotic species and species of semi-open landscapes. Bone remains of domestic animals dominate in the collection. Pastoral farming constituted the base of the economy of this ancient people, and the role of hunting was small. The investigated area is now covered by the waters of the Tanalyk water reservoir.

Description: 23 January 2013 Publication year: 2013 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 284 As a result of multidisciplinary investigations carried out, in the last two decades, the knowledge of the Pliocene and Quaternary stratigraphy from Dacian Basin has increased considerably. New lithostratigraphic units were revealed, for example: Trajkovo Fm (Romanian), Vlǎdeni Fm, Vânǎtori Fm (Pleistocene), and other units have been reassessed: Izvoarele Fm, Tuluceşti Fm (Romanian). A new biozonation based on molluscan fauna from the Late Pliocene ( NSM11 , NSM12 ) and Pleistocene ( QM1-QM9 ) deposits made possible a more accurate subdivision and cronostratigraphical assignments and correlations. Many localities with Romanian mammal associations (Lupoaia, Drǎnic, Podari, Tetoiu, Leu etc.) were reviewed, adding new taxa in the faunal list, with implications for accurately establishing host deposit ages. These studies, together with bio-magnetostratigraphic investigations led to revision of the Romanian Stage boundaries and subdivisions (Pelendavian, Valahian) and to outline several new Pleistocene chronostratigraphic units: the Argedavian, Dinogetian, Ilfovian stages and Milcovian, Uzunian, Netindavian, Musaisian substages. Finally, one major achievement consisted in the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary relocation in the Dacian Basin, in agreement with its new position at ∼2.6 Ma in the Mediterranean realm.

Description: 23 January 2013 Publication year: 2013 Source: Quaternary International, Volume 284