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- Peninsular southern Europe refugia during the Middle Palaeolithic: an introductionPublication . Bicho, Nuno; Carvalho, MilenaNeanderthals faced great environmental and climatic instability during the Pleistocene, which may have influenced their lithic technology, subsistence patterns, mobility, behaviour and survival. Modern research assessing the effect of climate and environment on the Middle Palaeolithic and transition to the Upper Palaeolithic has often turned to southern Europe, specifically peninsular southern Europe (Iberia, Italy and the Balkans). These are regions typically regarded as refugia during periods of unfavourable climatic conditions, inspiring hundreds of palaeoenvironmental studies at Neanderthal sites and hypotheses on late Neanderthal survival in locations with relative ameliorated conditions. Here, we present the topic of the special issue focusing on peninsular southern Europe refugia during the Middle Palaeolithic covering the three main peninsulas. Its 16 contributions discuss relevant data on peninsular southern Europe as possible refugia during periods of unfavourable climate during the Middle Palaeolithic and transition to Upper Palaeolithic.
- SPIN enables high throughput species identification of archaeological bone by proteomicsPublication . Rüther, Patrick Leopold; Husic, Immanuel Mirnes; Bangsgaard, Pernille; Gregersen, Kristian Murphy; Pantmann, Pernille; Carvalho, Milena; Godinho, Ricardo Miguel; Friedl, Lukas; Cascalheira, João; Taurozzi, Alberto John; Jørkov, Marie Louise Schjellerup; Benedetti, Michael; Haws, Jonathan; Bicho, Nuno; Welker, Frido; Cappellini, Enrico; Olsen, Jesper VelgaardSpecies determination based on genetic evidence is an indispensable tool in archaeology, forensics, ecology, and food authentication. Most available analytical approaches involve compromises with regard to the number of detectable species, high cost due to low throughput, or a labor-intensive manual process. Here, we introduce “Species by Proteome INvestigation” (SPIN), a shotgun proteomics workflow for analyzing archaeological bone capable of querying over 150 mammalian species by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Rapid peptide chromatography and data-independent acquisition (DIA) with throughput of 200 samples per day reduce expensive MS time, whereas streamlined sample preparation and automated data interpretation save labor costs. We confirm the successful classification of known reference bones, including domestic species and great apes, beyond the taxonomic resolution of the conventional peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF)-based Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) method. In a blinded study of degraded Iron-Age material from Scandinavia, SPIN produces reproducible results between replicates, which are consistent with morphological analysis. Finally, we demonstrate the high throughput capabilities of the method in a high-degradation context by analyzing more than two hundred Middle and Upper Palaeolithic bones from Southern European sites with late Neanderthal occupation. While this initial study is focused on modern and archaeological mammalian bone, SPIN will be open and expandable to other biological tissues and taxa.
- Human adaptive responses to climate and environmental change during the Gravettian of Lapa do Picareiro (Portugal)Publication . Haws, Jonathan; Benedetti, Michael; Carvalho, Milena; Ellis, Grace; Pereira, Telmo; Cascalheira, João; Bicho, Nuno; Friedl, LukasOn the Iberian Peninsula, abrupt climate shifts during the Late Pleistocene impacted human and natural systems. Our knowledge of human adaptive responses to these climatic perturbations has improved in recent years with the development of new radiocarbon techniques that have increased the temporal resolution of cultural chronologies. At the same time, new high-resolution paleoclimatic records from Greenland ice cores, deep-sea sediment cores, speleothems, and microfaunal assemblages have permitted detailed paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Combined with the archaeological record of culture change, these data sets allow for a better understanding of the nature of human socio-ecological systems during the Late Pleistocene. Here we present new data on the Gravettian occupations at Lapa do Picareiro, a cave site in Portugal with a long continuous stratigraphic sequence spanning MIS 3 and 2. The ongoing excavation of Lapa do Picareiro has revealed at least three Gravettian levels with very different patterns of raw material use and technological reduction. The Early Gravettian levels contain a quartzite flake assemblage with several refitting clusters and a small chert assemblage with nosed endscrapers and bladelet technology. The Late or Terminal Gravettian level contains carinated endscraper/core-bladelet technology, mainly quartz, with chert blade production, and a few bone tools. The faunal assemblages also have a different character. Both contain a similar range of medium and large ungulates but the earlier Gravettian has a much richer and more diverse assemblage of small animals. These combined archaeological data sets provide a new perspective on Gravettian human adaptations in response to climate shifts, especially Heinrich Event 3 and Greenland Interstadials 4 and 3.
- Complexity in the middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Peninsular Southern Europe and application of refugium conceptsPublication . Carvalho, Milena; Bicho, NunoDuring the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in the Balkan, Italian and Iberian peninsulas of southern Europe, late Neanderthal and early Anatomically Modern Human (AMH) populations may have overlapped in some capacity. Many of the hypotheses and models for the transition interval suggest that Neanderthal populations remained in, or migrated to, refugial zones while AMHs colonized areas not suitable for, or abandoned by, Neanderthals. However, many hypotheses and models have not been conclusively tested due to general issues impeding a clear understanding of the relevant archeological record and because of a lack of specificity in defining and applying the term ‘refugium’. This paper briefly summarizes what is known about the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in southern European Peninsulas and discusses some new directions in the use of refugium concepts in the study of Neanderthal extinction and AMH dispersal. We highlight the complexity of the archeological record in each region and in the studies of refugia more generally. Finally, we make an appeal for generating local, multi‐proxy paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic records to address these complexities so that hypotheses and models integrating refugial concepts in explanations of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition can be properly formulated and tested. © 2021 The Authors. Journal of Quaternary Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Creating an Earth ArchivePublication . Fisher, Christopher; Leisz, Stephen; Evans, Damian; Wall, Diana H.; Galvin, Kathleen; Laituri, Melinda; Henebry, Geoffrey; Zeidler, James; Fernandez-Diaz, Juan Carlos; Pallickara, Shrideep; Pallickara, Sangmi; Garrison, Thomas; Estrada-Belli, Francisco; Neves, Eduardo; Reese-Taylor, Kathryn; Opitz, Rachel; Lovejoy, Thomas; Sarni, William; Solinis, Rodrigo; Ellis, Grace; Carvalho, Milena; White, Cheryl; Daggars, Louisa; Gasson-Pacheco, Rafael Angel; Bolaños, Aldo; Scarborough, VernA rapidly changing Earth presents a grandchallenge for humanity: We must preserveor record our cultural and ecological heri-tage, along with information about habitatscritical for biodiversity—before they are lostcompletely.