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- The evolution of pyrotechnology in the Upper Palaeolithic of EuropePublication . Murphree, William; Aldeias, VeraPyrotechnology, the ability for hominins to use fire as a tool, is considered to be one of the most important behavioural adaptations in human evolution. While several studies have focused on identifying the emergence of fire use and later Middle Palaeolithic Neanderthal combustion features, far fewer have focused on modern human fire use. As a result, we currently have more data characterizing the hominin fire use prior to 50,000 years before present (BP), than we do for Upper Palaeolithic of Europe. Here we review the available data on Upper Palaeolithic fire evidence between 48,000 and 13,000 years BP to understand the evolution of modern human pyrotechnology. Our results suggest regional clustering of feature types during the Aurignacian and further demonstrate a significant change in modern human fire use, namely in terms of the intensification and structural variation between 35,000 and 28,000 years BP. This change also corresponds to the development and spread of the Gravettian technocomplex throughout Europe and may correspond to a shift in the perception of fire. Additionally, we also show a significant lack of available high-resolution data on combustion features during the height of last glacial maximum. Furthermore, we highlight the need for more research into the effects of syn- and post-depositional processes on archaeological combustion materials and a need for more standardization of descriptions in the published literature. Overall, our review shows a significant and complex developmental process for Upper Palaeolithic fire use which in many ways mirrors the behavioural evolution of modern humans seen in other archaeological mediums.
- 40 years of excavations at Mitoc–Malu Galben (Romania): changing fieldwork methodologies and implications for the comparability of archaeological assemblagesPublication . Noiret, Pierre; Libois, Timothée; Chirica, Vasile; Branscombe, Tansy; Murphree, William; Bosch, Marjolein D.; Haesaerts, Paul; Nigst, Philip R.Mitoc-Malu Galben (Romania) is one of the key-sites for the Upper Palaeolithic in Eastern Europe, with abundant Upper Palaeolithic archaeological layers embedded in a similar to 14 meters long loess-palaeosol sequence. The excavations in 1978-1990 yielded rich remains of Aurignacian and Gravettian workshops. From 1992 to 1995, an international collaboration helped better define their stratigraphical position, age, and typological characteristics. Since 2013, our team has conducted new fieldwork focusing on interdisciplinary study of site formation processes and a detailed technological study of the lithic artefacts. These different excavation phases have employed quite substantially different fieldwork methodologies. Here, we explore the impact of the changing excavation methodologies on the comparability of the generated assemblages by analyzing the frequency of bladelets among the elongated blanks as well as the length distribution of elongated blanks. Our preliminary study allows us to suggest that some of the assemblages seem to be influenced by the fieldwork methodology employed by each excavation phase, but more studies are needed to start to understand how the assemblages are biased.
- Correction to: The evolution of pyrotechnology in the Upper Palaeolithic of EuropePublication . Murphree, William; Aldeias, VeraCorrection to: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences