Browsing by Author "Jones, Emily Lena"
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- Ecospaces of the middle to upper paleolithic transition: the archaeofaunal record of the Iberian PeninsulaPublication . Jones, Emily Lena; Carvalho, MilenaThe rich archaeofaunal record of Iberia provides a means of exploring potential differences between Neanderthal and anatomically modern human interactions with the environment. In this article, we present an analysis of Iberian archaeofaunas dating between 60 and 30 ka to explore if, how, and why the faunal ecospaces of Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans differed. We test for impacts of chronology (as a proxy for Neanderthal and anatomically modern human exploitation) and environmental regionalization (using bioclimatic regions) on archaeofaunal composition, using a combination of cluster (unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages) and nonmetric multidimensional scaling. Our chronological analysis finds no significant compositional difference between Neanderthal and anatomically modern mammalian faunal assemblages; however, bioclimatic regionalization is stronger in anatomically modern human-affiliated assemblages than in Neanderthal ones, a finding that may indicate a difference in site occupation duration or foraging mobility between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans. (c) 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
- Initial and Lower Magdalenian Large Mammal Faunas and Human Subsistence at El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain)Publication . Carvalho, Milena; Jones, Emily Lena; Marín-Arroyo, Ana B.; Geiling, Jeanne Marie; Straus, Lawrence Guy; González Morales, Manuel R.In late Upper Paleolithic Cantabrian Spain, humans developed sophisticated territorial systems, used specialized lithic and osseous tools and weapons, and were skilled hunters of red deer and ibex while also depending increasingly on supplementary food resources, as means of adapting to climatic and environmental change after the Last Glacial Maximum. However, the specific effects of the environment on hunting decisions are not well understood for the early Magdalenian. Was subsistence specialization a byproduct of environmental change, does it reflect human population pressure and preferences, or are hunting strategies dictated by the geographic setting of El Miron? In this paper, we present the results of taphonomic and zooarchaeological analyses of Initial and Lower Magdalenian faunas from levels 119.2, 119, and 115 from El Miron, a large cave site in the Ason River valley of montane eastern Cantabria. We assess the human role in accumulation of these faunal assemblages and then explore whether there were differences in subsistence between the Initial and Lower Magdalenian. The results of this study complement analyses of other Magdalenian assemblages from El Miron and support the patterns of general continuity observed for the Cantabrian Magdalenian at several other regional sites.
- Neanderthal palaeoecology in the late Middle Palaeolithic of western Iberia: a stable isotope analysis of ungulate teeth from Lapa do Picareiro (Portugal)Publication . Carvalho, Milena; Jones, Emily Lena; Ellis, M. Grace; Cascalheira, João; Bicho, Nuno; Meiggs, David; Benedetti, Michael; Friedl, Lukas; Haws, JonathanAdaptation to Late Pleistocene climate change is an oft‐cited potential contributor to Neanderthal disappearance in Eurasia. Accordingly, research on Neanderthal behaviour – including subsistence strategies, mobility, lithic technology, raw material procurement and demography – often focuses on linking changes observable in the archaeological record to specific phases of climate and environmental change. However, these correspondences are often tenuous because palaeoclimatic and archaeological records are rarely available on the same scale. In Iberia, a critical location for understanding the demise of Neanderthals, some research indicates that Neanderthal populations were unable to recover from environmental degradations known as Heinrich Events, while other studies suggest that enclaves of Neanderthal populations survived for several millennia longer in refugial zones. Here, we present a palaeoenvironmental reconstruction study using analysis of δ13C and δ18O of herbivore tooth enamel recovered from two Mousterian deposits at Lapa do Picareiro, a site located in Portuguese Estremadura. We then use these data, combined with other site‐based palaeoenvironmental indicators, to assess whether central Portugal acted as a refugium during periods of unfavourable climate, and to test whether Neanderthals in Portuguese Estremadura reorganised their mobility strategies after severe climate episodes.
- Seasonality of human occupations in El Mirón cave: late upper paleolithic hunter-gatherer settlement-subsistence systems in Cantabrian SpainPublication . Marín-Arroyo, Ana B.; Geiling, Jeanne Marie; Jones, Emily Lena; Carvalho, Milena; Morales, Manuel R. González; Straus, Lawrence GuyWe revisit the models of Upper Paleolithic forager settlement-subsistence systems for the coastal greater Cantabrian region of Spain proposed by K.W. Butzer and L.G. Straus in the 1980s, with a significant new seasonality dataset from El Mir & oacute;n Cave in Cantabria (northern Atlantic Iberia). This large, strategically located site contains a nearly complete, archeologically rich, and well-studied stratigraphic sequence from the late Middle Paleolithic to the Bronze Age. Based on the seasonality data obtained from the most hunted taxa, red deer (Cervus elaphus) and ibex (Capra ibex/pyrenaica), the diachronic human occupation of the site is discussed. Visits to the cave during the Mousterian and early Upper Paleolithic were fleeting, with an uptick in use of the site during the Solutrean, possibly as a short-term hunting camp during the cool-cold seasons. Throughout the Initial and Lower Magdalenian, this physically and locationally advantageous site in the montane interior was often occupied as a long-term, multifunctional, residential base camp but, at other times, during the cold months of the year, as a minor, short-term, specialized hunting bivouac. A clear shift in the cave's use to mainly the warm months in the Middle and Upper Magdalenian and Azilian is observed. The results indicate that major residential base camps were not only located in or strictly adjacent to the coastal zone as was argued a quarter-century ago. These findings confirm that the montane interior of Cantabrian Spain & mdash;only 25-50 km from the Last Glacial shore & mdash;was an integral part of band territories for both logistical and residential purposes.