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- No direct evidence for the presence of Nubian Levallois technology and its association with Neanderthals at Shukbah CavePublication . Hallinan, Emily; Barzilai, Omry; Bicho, Nuno; Cascalheira, João; Demidenko, Yuri; Goder-Goldberger, Mae; Hovers, Erella; Marks, Anthony; Oron, Maya; Rose, JeffreyBlinkhorn et al.present a reanalysis of fossil and lithic material from Garrod’s 1928 excavation at Shukbah Cave, identifying the presence of Nubian Levallois cores and points in direct association with a Neanderthal molar. Te authors argue that this demonstrates the Nubian reduction strategy forms a part of the wider Middle Palaeolithic lithic repertoire, therefore its role as a cultural marker for Homo sapiens population movements is invalid. We raise the following four major concerns: (1) we question the assumptions made by the authors about the integrity and homogeneity of the Layer D assemblage and (2) the implications of this for the association of the Neanderthal tooth with any specifc component of the assemblage, (3) we challenge the authors’ attribution of lithic material to Nubian Levallois technology according to its strict defnition, and (4) we argue that the comparative data presented derive from a biased sample of sites. Tese points critically undermine the article’s conclusion that Shukbah’s Neanderthals made Nubian cores and thus the argument that Neanderthals might have made Nubian technology elsewhere is unsubstantiated.
- 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.