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- A preliminary study on ochre sources in Southwestern Germany and its potential for ochre provenance during the Upper PaleolithicPublication . Velliky, Elizabeth C.; Barbieri, Alvise; Porr, Martin; Conard, Nicholas J.; MacDonald, Brandi LeeThe use of mineral pigments, specifically iron-oxide rich mineral pigments called ochre, has been put forward as a key element in the development of symbolic and non-utilitarian behaviors in human evolution. However, the processes of ochre procurement, trade and use are difficult to conceptualize without the identification and characterization of the sources where these materials were acquired. We present the results of geochemical analyses of ochre source samples collected from the Swabian Jura, Black Forest, and other localities in southern and eastern Germany. The goal of this study was to build the groundwork for future investigations on the range of ochre behaviors at archaeological sites in the region. We aimed to determine whether specific ochre outcrops could be differentiated based on their geochemical signatures. Using data from Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA), we were able to determine that the ochre source regions exhibit greater source inter-variability than infra-variability when observed using a range of statistical techniques, therefore satisfying the provenance postulate. Furthermore, the data provide the foundation for a Central European database of ochre sources to allow the comparison of ochres from different regions to archaeological ochres from important nearby and perhaps distant sites.
- The becoming of a Prehistoric Landscape: Palaeolithic Occupations and Geomorphological Processes at Lojanik (Serbia)Publication . Lesage, Camille; Barbieri, Alvise; Galfi, Jovan; Jovanović, Dragan; Bogosavljević Petrović, VeraAccomplishing long-term plans to harvest and modify natural resources has been a crucial skill for the survival of our species since early Prehistory. Research on this first step of production mostly focuses on the provenience study of lithic artifacts uncovered at archaeological sites, using petrographic and geochemical analyses to correlate the artifacts with potential geological outcrops. Although fundamental for understanding key aspects of landscape use and mobility, regional raw material economy, and extraction technology, Palaeolithic raw material sources have been less intensively investigated, as they are often difficult to locate and challenging to tackle with traditional archaeological approaches. Lojanik in the Central Balkans is one of the largest Prehistoric quarrying areas known in Europe, showing numerous lithic raw material outcrops exploited from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Chalcolithic periods, over an area of 18 hectares. In this paper, we present the results from our renewed research program in this region. Combining airborne LIDAR mapping, geomorphological and archaeological survey, and techno-typological analysis of lithic artifacts, we were able to reconstruct the geomorphological evolution of the landscape and its use by prehistoric societies.
- Post-LGM environments and foragers on the move: New data from the lower Altmühl Valley (Franconian Jura, SE Germany)Publication . Barbieri, Alvise; Maier, Andreas; Lauer, Tobias; Mischka, Carsten; Hattermann, Merlin; Uthmeier, ThorstenAfter the Last Glacial Maximum, the Swabian and Franconian Jura (in SW and SE Germany, respectively) were repopulated by Magdalenian hunter-gatherers within the same communication network. However, while the Magdalenian settlement of the Swabian Jura dates to 17-14 ka cal BP, permanent Magdalenian occupations in the Franconian Jura date to 15-14 ka cal BP. In comparison with its western counterpart, the Franconian Jura was mostly excavated in the early days of archaeological research. Does this different chronology reflect the different history of research? Why did Magdalenian foragers establish permanent occupation in the Franconian Jura nearly 2 millennia after settling in Swabia, despite the fact these regions are only 150 km apart? To address these questions, we reinvestigated two sites in the Altmithl Valley with micromorphology and luminescence dating, namely Felsenhausl-Kellerhohle and Klausennische. Our data show that both sites have intact Pleistocene deposits. Among these, we identified sediments dating between 17 and 15 ka that show only rare lithic artifacts and microfeatures indicative of cold and arid conditions. Our work and published data suggest that the steady settlement of Magdalenian foragers in the Altmithl Valley starting 15 ka cal BP coincides with the end of this harsh period and the onset of cool and wetter environments. Data from the Swabian Jura demonstrated that in the Lone Valley, similar environments and Magdalenian occupations commenced earlier, starting 17 ka cal BR. Therefore, we propose that regional environments acted as a barrier against the dispersal of foragers in the Franconian Jura and determined its later Magdalenian occupation. Our research highlighted that different environments, taphonomic processes, and site uses probably coexisted across the German Jura. Therefore, it remains fundamental to expand the multisite data set proposed in this article to further test hypotheses about human/environment interaction in this region. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.
- Interpreting gaps: a geoarchaeological point of view on the Gravettian record of Ach and Lone valleys (Swabian Jura, SW Germany)Publication . Barbieri, Alvise; Bachofer, Felix; Schmaltz, Elmar M.; Leven, Carsten; Conard, Nicholas J.; Miller, Christopher E.Unlike other Upper Paleolithic industries, Gravettian assemblages from the Swabian Jura are documented solely in the Ach Valley (35-30 Kcal BP). On the other hand, traces of contemporaneous occupations in the nearby Lone Valley are sparse. It is debated whether this gap is due to a phase of human depopulation, or taphonomic issues related with landscape changes. In this paper we present ERT, EC-logging and GPR data showing that in both Ach and Lone valleys sediments and archaeological materials eroded from caves and deposited above river incisions after 37-32 Kcal BP. We argued that the rate of cave erosion was higher after phases of downcutting, when hillside erosion was more intensive. To investigate on the causes responsible for the dearth of Gravettian materials in the Lone Valley we test two alternative hypotheses: i) Gravettian humans occupied less intensively this part of the Swabian Jura. ii) Erosion of cave deposits did not occur at the same time in the two valleys. We conclude that the second hypothesis is most likely. Ages from the Lone Valley show increasing multimillennial gaps between 36 and 18 Kcal BP, while a similar gap is present in the Ach Valley between 28 and 16 Kcal BP. Based on geoarchaeological data from previous studies and presented in this paper, we interpreted these gaps in radiocarbon data as indicating of cave erosion. Furthermore, we argued that the time difference across the two valleys show that the erosion of cave deposits began and terminated earlier in the Lone Valley, resulting in a more intensive removal of Gravettian-aged deposits. The hypothesis that cave erosion was triggered by regional landscape changes seems to be supported by geochronological data from the Danube Valley, which show that terrace formation at the end of the Pleistocene moved westwards throughout southern Germany with a time lag of few millennia.
- Hunter-gatherer environments at the Late Pleistocene sites of Mwanganda's Village and Bruce, northern MalawiPublication . Schilt, Flora; Miller, Christopher E.; Wright, David K.; Mentzer, Susan M.; Mercader, Julio; Moss, Patrick; Choi, Jeong-Heon; Siljedal, Gunnar; Clarke, Siobhán; Mwambwiga, Aloyce; Thomas, Kelly; Barbieri, Alvise; Kaliba, Potiphar; Gomani-Chindebvu, Elizabeth; Thompson, Jessica C.Mwanganda's Village (MGD) and Bruce (BRU) are two open-air site complexes in northern Malawi with deposits dating to between 15 and 58 thousand years ago (ka) and containing Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic assemblages. The sites have been known since 1966 and 1965, respectively, but lacked chronometric and site formation data necessary for their interpretation. The area hosts a rich stone artifact record, eroding from and found within alluvial fan deposits exhibiting poor preservation of organic materials. Although this generally limits opportunities for site-based environmental reconstructions, MGD and BRU are located at the distal margins of the alluvial fan, where lacustrine lagoonal deposits were overprinted by a calcrete paleosol. This has created locally improved organic preservation and allowed us to obtain ecological data from pollen, phytoliths, and pedogenic carbonates, producing a regional-to site-scale environmental context for periods of site use and abandonment. Here, we integrate the ecological data into a detailed site formation history, based on field observations and micromorphology, supplemented by cathodoluminescence microscopy and mu-XRF. By comparing local, on-site environmental proxies with more regional indicators, we can better evaluate how MSA hunter-gatherers made decisions about the use of resources across the landscape. Our data indicate that while tree cover similar to modern miombo woodland and evergreen gallery forest prevailed at most times, MSA hunter-gatherers chose more locally open environments for activities that resulted in a lithic artifact record at multiple locations between 51 and 15 ka.(C) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
- Was fire use a cultural trait of the Gravettian? New micro-archaeological data from Fuente del Salín cave (Val de San Vicente, Cantabria)Publication . Alzate-Casallas, Guillermo Alfonso; Miguel Angel Sánchez-Carro; Barbieri, Alvise; Manuel R. González-MoralesMicro-archaeological data from sites located in central and eastern Europe show that, in comparison with other Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherers, Gravettian foragers used fire more intensively and for a wider range of purposes. At these sites, this shift in pyrotechnology overlaps with the onset of periglacial conditions. Gravettian occupations of non-periglacial regions have been poorly investigated with micro-archaeological methods, and it remains to be further demonstrated whether these foragers also made a similar intensive and multipurpose use of fire. To further investigate this topic, we studied the sequence preserved at the cave of Fuente del Salín, in Cantabria, where previous excavations unearthed potential fire residues of Gravettian age. Using micromorphology, µ-X-ray fluorescence, and Scanning Electron Microscopy we reconstructed multiple phases of human visits to the site. Our results show that, during the main Gravettian occupation, foragers made intensive use of fire, as indicated by abundant heated bones and seashells, charcoals, amorphous char, fat-derived char, and in situ remains of potential stacked open hearths as well as burnt grass beddings. The intensive burning, systematic reuse of combustion features, and multiple purposes of the fires at Fuente del Salín are comparable with Gravettian sites from central and eastern Europe, indicating that these fire-use behaviors probably do not reflect a regional adaptation to periglacial environments but a cultural trait of the Gravettian tradition across Europe.