Browsing by Author "McPherron, Shannon J. P."
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- How heat alters underlying deposits and implications for archaeological fire features: A controlled experimentPublication . Aldeias, Vera; Dibble, Harold L.; Sandgathe, Dennis; Goldberg, Paul; McPherron, Shannon J. P.While it is true that the use of fire is undoubtedly an important behavioral trait, fire can also leave important traces in archaeological deposits, including altering previously deposited sediments and artifacts. The set of controlled experiments reported here do not focus on fire per se, but rather on the effects of some of the most important variables underlying the transfer of heat to subsurface sediments. These variables, including temperature, duration, sediment type, moisture, and mineralogy, are altered here in ways that essentially bracket the range of conditions under which past fires may have existed. The results show that sediments as much as 10 cm directly below a heat source routinely reach temperatures of 200 degrees C, with higher temperatures and greater depth of heat transfer possible with longer durations or higher surface temperatures. One of the implications of these results is that a surface can produce substantial thermal-alterations of archaeological artifacts and sediments deposited much earlier in the sequence. Likewise, there are significant implications for the analyses and chronometric dating of thermally altered sediments and burned artifacts. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
- Identifying the unidentified fauna enhances insights into hominin subsistence strategies during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transitionPublication . Sinet-Mathiot, Virginie; Rendu, William; Steele, Teresa E.; Spasov, Rosen; Madelaine, Stéphane; Renou, Sylvain; Soulier, Marie-Cécile; Martisius, Naomi L.; aldeias, vera; Endarova, Elena; Goldberg, Paul; McPherron, Shannon J. P.; Rezek, Zeljko; Sandgathe, Dennis; Sirakov, Nikolay; Sirakova, Svoboda; Soressi, Marie; Tsanova, Tsenka; Turq, Alain; Hublin, Jean-Jacques; Welker, Frido; Smith, Geoff M.Understanding Palaeolithic hominin subsistence strategies requires the comprehensive taxonomic identification of faunal remains. The high fragmentation of Late Pleistocene faunal assemblages often prevents proper taxonomic identification based on bone morphology. It has been assumed that the morphologically unidentifiable component of the faunal assemblage would reflect the taxonomic abundances of the morphologically identified portion. In this study, we analyse three faunal datasets covering the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition (MUPT) at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria) and Les Cottes and La Ferrassie (France) with the application of collagen type I peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS). Our results emphasise that the fragmented component of Palaeolithic bone assemblages can differ significantly from the morphologically identifiable component. We obtain contrasting identification rates between taxa resulting in an overrepresentation of morphologically identified reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and an underrepresentation of aurochs/bison (Bos/Bison) and horse/European ass (Equus) at Les Cottes and La Ferrassie. Together with an increase in the relative diversity of the faunal composition, these results have implications for the interpretation of subsistence strategies during a period of possible interaction between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens in Europe. Furthermore, shifts in faunal community composition and in carnivore activity suggest a change in the interaction between humans and carnivores across the MUPT and indicate a possible difference in site use between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. The combined use of traditional and biomolecular methods allows (zoo)archaeologists to tackle some of the methodological limits commonly faced during the morphological assessment of Palaeolithic bone assemblages.