Search Results (44)

The archaeological complex of the Benzú rock shelter and cave, located in Ceuta (Spain), represents a heritage site of significant scientific and historical value that is currently at risk due to natural processes and, in particular, the activity of a nearby quarry. This site has been occupied from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age and consequently has been the subject of systematic research since 2002, focusing on its stratigraphic sequence, lithic technology, exploitation of marine resources, and the connection between both shores of the Strait of Gibraltar. With the aim of preserving this endangered heritage, a methodology based on advanced digital technologies such as photogrammetry, 3D laser scanning, and GNSS georeferencing has been implemented. These tools have enabled the creation of high-precision, three-dimensional models of the rock shelter and the cave, which are useful for both documentation and monitoring of their structural condition. In addition, fracture networks have been identified, revealing a high degree of geotechnical vulnerability, exacerbated by blasting activities at the nearby quarry. The project has produced a digital twin of the site in an open access format, serving not only for preventive conservation but also for its enhancement through virtual tours, augmented reality, and accessible outreach activities. This digitalization has been essential to facilitate the access to heritage, particularly in areas that are physically difficult to access. Finally, the integration of these digital resources into institutional policies for the sustainable management of heritage is proposed, highlighting the importance of interdisciplinary approaches that combine archaeology, geotechnology, and scientific communication. The experience at Benzú is presented as a replicable model for the protection, interpretation, and dissemination of heritage sites located in fragile and threatened environments. Full article

The Cantabrian region, located in north Spain, is home to many caves with parietal art, some of them included on the UNESCO World Heritage list, such as El Castillo and Covalanas. These two caves are currently open to tourism and boast an exceptional archaeological heritage that includes magnificent examples of Palaeolithic cave art. Through a multiyear research project (2020–2022) sponsored by the Government of Cantabria, a precise characterisation of the environmental dynamics of each cave under different meteorological contexts was carried out, as well as an evaluation of the evolution of the impacts of anthropic origin on the underground microclimate under different degrees of influx of visitors on an interannual scale. We aimed to unravel the effects of daily visitor flow on cave environmental stability and offer well-defined recommendations to harmonise conservation priorities with public accessibility based on sustainable tourism management. Once the microclimatic control parameters for the conservation of the paintings, engravings, and supporting rock, such as temperature and CO₂ concentration in the air, were assessed under different seasonal meteorological conditions, a standardised graphic method was implemented based on the frequency distribution of the variations in each parameter, grouped according to the different increasing ranges of daily visits. With this method, it is possible to evaluate, probabilistically and in percentage terms, the microclimatic destabilisation of the cave generated by each group of visitors, taking as a reference the daily variation ranges of each control parameter under natural conditions, i.e., during the days or periods of time in which each cave remained closed to tourist visits. The recommended values of maximum visitor capacity for each cave, in terms of average monthly daily visitor numbers, have been set at 60 and 15 visitors/day for El Castillo and Covalanas caves, respectively. Based on these results, the cave managers are carrying out, from May 2024, a progressive adaptation in the tourist management of these caves until they are fully adapted to the environmental sustainability parameters defined in this study. Full article

Humans are well known to have made paintings and engravings on rock surfaces, both geometric motifs with an unclear representation, and representative motifs that refer to their activities and aspects of their environment. This kind of art is widespread across time and space and has throughout history been subjected to various kinds of approaches. Typically, rock art research focuses on its role in the development of the hominin brain and the capability of abstract thinking, as well as on interpreting representative and non-representative motifs. Ethnography and cognitive research have often stressed that rock art is the result of ritual practises and the expression of a shamanic belief system. However, representative motifs may also shed light on a region’s ecological and human prehistory. Here, we give an overview of the general development of rock art study: we highlight the development of artistic behaviour in humans by discussing aesthetic preferences, and the creation of simple geometric motifs and eventually representative motifs, before describing the theories that developed from the earliest study of rock art. These have largely focused on classification and interpretation of the motifs, and often centred on Palaeolithic material from Europe. We then move on to discuss how ethnography among rock art creating communities often suggests important relationships between specific animals in both the realms of spiritual belief systems and within the local environment. Lastly, we highlight how rock art reflects the local penecontemporaneous environment when it comes to depictions of animals, plants, technologies, humans and their activities. We argue that animal depictions are a useful subject to study on a large scale, as it is the most widespread representative motif, and the most appropriate subject to study when the goal is to draw conclusions on environmental changes. Rock art can fill gaps in the local archaeological record and generate new questions of it, but also offer new insights into the history of local human–animal interaction: animal species depicted and/or referred to in rock art are likely to have been a selection of spiritually important animals and a comparison to known information on human interactions with local species may reveal patterns among which animals are selected for local rock art depictions and which are not. Interregional comparison can in turn shed light on whether humans in general tend to ascribe meaning to the same types of animals. We end the review with suggestions for future study, with a special role for computational methods, which are suitable for the analysis of large databases of visual imagery. Full article

The Gubbio Revisited project, initiated to reinterpret the archaeological evidence collected during the 1980s Gubbio Project, primarily by a conversion from a paper to a digital record, has revealed significant insights into the evolving settlement patterns and religious expression in the Gubbio valley in Central Italy. This reanalysis of the survey evidence underscores the rhythms of settlement and ritual practice from the Neolithic through the Bronze and Iron Ages, into Roman times. Key excavations in the 1980s at Monte Ingino, Monte Ansciano, San Marco Romano, and San Marco Neolitico added details not only of settlement activity but also of embedded ritual, evidenced by material culture including pottery, faunal remains, and votive offerings. The foundation myth of indigenous religious practices, even amidst Roman influence, is documented through the Iguvine Tables alongside the introduction of new cults, showcasing a blend of local and imperial religiosity, a common feature in the Roman world. This research enriches the understanding of Gubbio’s historical and cultural landscape, emphasizing the demographic rhythms of the valley alongside the integral role of ritual in its societal evolution. Full article

In the present work, more than one hundred and thirty lithic artefacts rediscovered in several archaeological sites dating from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages from Calabria (Southern Italy) were petroarchaeometrically characterised through minimally invasive techniques. In more detail, 110 specimens were found in the Grotta della Monaca site (Sant’Agata di Esaro), and the other 23 belong to a collection kept in the Museo Nazionale Preistorico ed Etnografico “Luigi Pigorini” (Roma), coming from several localities (Longobucco, Spezzano della Sila, Cicala, Gimigliano, Roccaforte del Greco, and Bova). For preservation needs, 2 small axes in polished stone and 2 obsidians collected from Grotta della Monaca were analysed by absolutely non-destructive techniques. Optical and electron microscopic investigations, sometimes integrated with wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction spectrometry, allowed us to ascertain that the source area of all the lithic tools was in Calabria, except for obsidians, which come from the island of Lipari (Messina, Southern Italy). For a small number of particularly favourable cases, it was possible to define with great precision the outcrop area of the used rocks given their textural and mineralogical features. The specific source area contained a pickaxe originating from Cetraro–Fuscaldo metabasalt (lawsonite–albite facies) outcrops and two small axes in polished stone, one derived from migmatitic metapelites from Palmi and the other from meta-ultramafic rocks from Curinga. The choice of the used lithologies, harder or softer, had to be linked to the use that humans had to make of the lithic artefacts. Full article

The Lieth Moor area, located in the district of Pinneberg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, is a hotspot of Late Palaeolithic settlement activity. The exceptional abundance of archaeological sites is commonly attributed to the presence of a large palaeolake. However, in the Weichselian Late glacial, there were numerous large lakes in Schleswig-Holstein. Thus, a well-founded explanation for the find concentration in Lieth Moor is still lacking, and forming a research desideratum until today. To improve our understanding of this Late Pleistocene landscape and its appeal to hunter–gatherer groups of that time, we conducted a large-scale archaeogeophysical study focusing on a possible ford of the potential palaeolake. We employed Ground-Penetrating Radar and Electromagnetic Induction measurements, supplemented by existing legacy drill-probing data, to identify and map limnic gyttja (organic lake mud) sediments and their spatial distribution within the area. The findings of our study indicate that during the Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene, the Lieth Moor area comprised a cluster of small ponds rather than a continuous lake. These ponds likely interconnected during periods of increased water levels. The presence of dry islands within the region corresponds with archaeological evidence, suggesting that Late Palaeolithic communities visited some of these islands. The absence of the previously postulated palaeolake places the known findings within a completely new palaeoenvironmental context: instead of the previously suspected ford, we assume that the proximity to the Elbe Palaeovalley played a decisive role in the repeated habitation of Lieth Moor. This area, rich in fresh water and fish, along with the dune chain situated to the west, serving as both a vantage point and windbreak, presented an ideal location for awaiting animals migrating along the river Elbe and/or as a resting place within the settlement system of mobile hunter–fisher–gatherer groups. Full article

This paper considers some problems of the Late Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic periods in Northern Italy. More precisely, it deals with chronology, settlement pattern, techno-typological characteristics of knapped stone assemblages, and climatic changes that have taken place in the region from the discovery of the first sites in the 1960s and the excavations that soon followed to the present state of research. The Italian Alps, the Piedmont, and the valleys that descend from the high massifs have yielded important traces of Late Palaeolithic (Final Epigravettian) and Mesolithic (Sauveterrian and Castelnovian) sites and findspots, some of which are rock shelters that were settled throughout several millennia. This paper describes and discusses the evidence available mainly from two regions of the western and eastern Alpine arc, which are characterised by very different landscapes and yielded a great variety of archaeological features. Full article

Integrating geomatics remote sensing technologies, including 3D terrestrial laser scanning, unmanned aerial vehicles, and ground penetrating radar enables the generation of comprehensive 2D, 2.5D, and 3D documentation for caves and their surroundings. This study focuses on the Altamira Cave’s karst system in Spain, resulting in a thorough 3D mapping encompassing both cave interior and exterior topography along with significant discontinuities and karst features in the vicinity. Crucially, GPR mapping confirms that primary vertical discontinuities extend from the near-surface (Upper Layer) to the base of the Polychrome layer housing prehistoric paintings. This discovery signifies direct interconnections helping with fluid exchange between the cave’s interior and exterior, a groundbreaking revelation. Such fluid movement has profound implications for site conservation. The utilization of various GPR antennas corroborates the initial hypothesis regarding fluid exchanges and provides concrete proof of their occurrence. This study underscores the indispensability of integrated 3D mapping and GPR techniques for monitoring fluid dynamics within the cave. These tools are vital for safeguarding Altamira, a site of exceptional significance due to its invaluable prehistoric cave paintings. Full article

Starting roughly 50,000 years ago, the Arctic region of East Siberia remained continuously populated by groups of anatomically modern humans including the most uncomfortable episodes in the development of the late Quaternary environment; for some of them, human presence in the area became ephemeral. At present, archaeological fossil records allow for distinguishing three main stages in human occupation of the area: Early (~50 to ~29 ka, MIS 3), middle (~29 to ~11.7 ka, MIS 2), and late (from 11.7 to ~8 ka). For most of the time, they the populated open landscapes of the Mammoth Steppe, which declined at the onset of the Holocene. Human settlement of the Arctic was driven by various abiotic and biotic factors and thus archaeologically visible cardinal cultural and technological changes correspond to the most important paleoclimatic and habitat changes in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. Successful peopling of the Arctic was largely facilitated by the adoption of critically important innovations such as sewing technology based on the use of the eyed bone needle and the manufacture of long shafts and pointed implements made of mammoth tusks. Mammoth exploitation is seen in mass accumulations of mammoths formed by hunting. An obvious connection between archaeological materials and such accumulations is observed in the archaeological record. In the lithic technology, the early stage is presented by archaic-looking flake industries. Starting the LGM, the wedge-core based-microblade technology known as the Beringian microblade tradition spread widely following the shrinkage of the mammoth range. At the late stage, starting at the Holocene boundary, microprismatic blade technology occurs. In all stages, the complex social behavior of the ancient Arctic settlers is revealed. The long-distance transport of products, knowledge, and genes occurs due to the introduction of the land transportation system. Initial human settlement of this region is associated with carriers of the West Eurasian genome who became replaced by the population with East Asian ancestry constantly moving North under the pressure of climate change. Full article

In western Europe, the Middle Pleistocene is marked by Acheulean settlement and their diversification after the MIS 12. The Arago cave recovery of numerous human settlements correlate to MIS 14, 13 and MIS 12 making it an important site for the understanding of the Lower Palaeolithic in Southwestern Europe. It is also an important site for the understanding of palaeoenvironments and palaeobiodiversity as it has yielded rich faunal associations. The faunal associations allow us to observe three climatic stages within this study: two cold ones and a mild one. Small vertebrates, with their abundance and their diversity, are particularly useful for observing these periods, which historically have been correlated to glacial or interglacial stages. If the first cold phase, dated 438 ± 31 ka, is correlated to the Marine Isotopic Stage 12 (MIS 12), the correlation of the following phases to isotopic stages can be discussed. They may correspond to climatic variations of the MIS 12. Indeed, the latest studies about palaeoclimatic reconstitution which allow us to define the evolution of the palaeo-temperature show that these differences are relatively small. Therefore, instead of a correlation to MIS 12, 13 and 14, the medium complex of the Arago cave could belong solely to MIS 12. The correlation of these environmental changes to other global data, notably the isotopic curve, is challenging because there are various local factors influencing faunal association. We propose here both hypotheses and discuss the various factors which influence the distribution and the representation of the small vertebrate species present on the site. Full article

Wolves, dogs and humans share extremely social and cooperative minds. These similarities are rooted in phylogenetic homology and in the convergence of neuronal and physiological mechanisms, particularly the brain, in the functioning and communication of basic affects and in the mechanisms of stress and calming. The domesticated wolves called dogs are particularly close companion animals. Both Palaeolithic humans and wolves were hypercursorial hunters, cooperating in complex and prosocial ways within their clans with respect to hunting, raising offspring, and defending against conspecific and heterospecific competitors and predators. These eco-social parallels have shaped the development of similar social mindsets in wolves and humans. Over the millennia of domestication, this social match was fine-tuned, resulting in the socio-cognitive specialists humans and dogs, possessing amazingly similar social brains and minds. Therefore, it can be concluded that the quality of their relationships with their human masters is a major factor in the wellbeing, welfare and even health of dogs, as well as in the wellbeing of their human partners. Based on their strikingly similar social brains and physiologies, it can be further concluded that anthropomorphically applying human empathy to dogs in an educated manner may not be as inappropriate as previously thought. Full article

This research addresses the geomorphological connectivity existing amid the piedmont’s karstic fillings (Sierra de Esparteros) and the Guadaíra and Guadalquivir Rivers’ alluvial terraces (SW of Spain), spotted with vestiges of human activities (Middle Palaeolithic). This study includes the analysis of 20 geoarchaeological sites and 28 lithic assemblages, with a total of 13,233 lithic pieces. Techno-typological and use–wear (SEM) analyses were conducted on these artifacts. Depending on the raw materials and the provenance of these lithic industries, two groups of assemblages were identified: one made of quartzite from the north, and another made of flint from the south. Two main geochronological periods were established (OSL and U/Th): (1) a short duration (MIS6/MIS5) and (2) a long duration (MIS5/MIS3). Techno-typological analysis showed three sorts of activities: (a) the provision and distribution of raw materials, (b) knapping, and (c) other activities that imply the use of a lithic workshop (LW), along with the settlement characteristics of habitual or recurrent (HS), temporary (TS), and indeterminate (IN). This geoarchaeological connectivity is called the “hominid alluvial corridor” (HAC). The underlined features are the geomorphological units, the continuum alluvial series, the raw material of the lithic industries as an indicator of provenance and transportation throughout the alluvial system, and the use–wear analysis of the tool-kit to interpret the functionality of the pieces. Full article

Celtis australis remains are usually present in Palaeolithic sites of the Mediterranean Basin. However, their uncharred state of preservation and the absence of wood charcoal remains of this species raise some doubts regarding the contemporaneity of the remains and the deposit wherein they were found. The mineral composition of their endocarps and their possible use as food lead us to discuss the available data of Celtis australis during Prehistory. In this paper, the history of this species from the Lower Pleistocene to the Middle Holocene is reconstructed, considering the impact of the Quaternary climatic changes on its geographical distribution. The nutritional composition of Celtis australis fruits is analysed to assess their current value and potential as food, especially in Palaeolithic contexts. Based on these issues, the doubts about its presence in these contexts are dispelled and possibly explained by intentional human gathering in some sites, considering the high content in carbohydrates, proteins and minerals of their fruits. The chronological and geographical distribution of the Celtis spp. remains shows a coherence, which only the variations in the distribution of this taxon according to the regional climatic conditions can explain, especially disturbed by cold fluctuations, such as MIS 10 or 2. The radiocarbon dating presented here demonstrates the unquestionable presence of Celtis sp. in the Iberian Mediterranean Basin during MIS 3. Full article

There are many opinions and arguments about the types of weapons that Neanderthals may have used. We list five assumptions about Neanderthal weapon-assisted hunting and suggest that the tip cross-sectional area (TCSA) approach may be used to assess these, and to provide a hypothetical overview of stone-tipped weaponry used in south eastern France between MIS 7 and MIS 3. We analysed stone points from Abri du Maras, Saint-Marcel, Grotte du Figuier, and Payre, and discuss possible hunting strategies in tandem with faunal evidence. Our results suggest that early Neanderthals may have hunted with bimanual thrusting spears in combination with one-handed stabbing spears, but that later groups possibly introduced javelin hunting to the Neanderthal arsenal. Stone-tipped assegais or one-handed stabbing spears, however, stand out as the Neanderthal weapons of choice throughout the Middle Palaeolithic, and we discuss the adaptive advantages of hunting with these weapons. Comparative results that include assemblages from elsewhere in the Old World suggest similarities in hunting with stone-tipped weapons between Neanderthal and H. sapiens before MIS 5, marked differences during MIS 5–4, but similarities again during MIS 3. We suggest that caution is needed when attributing MIS 3 point assemblages to Neanderthals based on age and/or technology only. Full article

The results of a review of the chelonian remains retrieved in the excavations carried out in Mealhada (Coimbra, central Portugal) are presented here. Mealhada is a Portuguese Middle Palaeolithic classical site, discovered at the end of the 19th century, and chronologically ascribed to the interglacial Riss-Würm (ca. 120 ka BP). This study has allowed the identification, justification, and figuration of remains attributed to three Iberian chelonian taxa, Testudinidae indet., Mauremys leprosa, and Emys orbicularis, the last one being recognized for the first time in this site. Thus, an update on the data concerning the chelonian record from Mealhada has been achieved, offering new justified taxonomic evidence regarding Iberian chelonian taxa distribution during the Upper Pleistocene. Furthermore, chelonian consumption amongst pre-Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer groups has been documented worldwide. Frequently a locally captured resource, archaeological turtle remains offer relevant information concerning the role that small prey has played in hominid nutritional choices. The potential presence of anthropic alterations (e.g., cutmarks) in some of the chelonian remains from Mealhada is here analysed and the human consumption hypothesis assessed. Full article