Bridging prehistoric caves with buried landscapes in the Swabian Jura (southwestern Germany)

Barbieri, Alvise; Leven, Carsten; Toffolo, Michael B.; Hodgins, Gregory W. L.; Kind, Claus-Joachim; Conard, Nicholas J.; Miller, Christopher E.

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2017.08.002

Cited by 18 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…The Swabian Jura is a karstic plateau formed primarily of Jurassic limestone which ranges from 500 to 1500 m a.s.l. and extends across part of southwestern Germany, with the Neckar Valley to the north and the Danube Valley to the south [30]. The Ach and Lone valleys, formed by tributaries of the Danube River, include a number of important archaeological cave sites with MP and UP deposits.…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…and comprises a 29 meter long corridor and a 23 m long main hall, both of which were filled with sediments deposited primarily through a now closed chimney at the back of the cave [30,31]. The cave entrance opens to the northwest and overlooks the Ach Valley, which is now filled with fluvial sediments and lies 5–10 m higher than in the Late Pleistocene [30]. Archaeological excavation of the cave has been ongoing since 1977 by the University of Tübingen under the direction of Joachim Hahn and subsequently Nicholas Conard.…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Did climate determine Late Pleistocene settlement dynamics in the Ach Valley, SW Germany?

2019

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The loss of Neanderthal groups across Western and Central Europe during Oxygen Isotope Stage (OIS) 3 has held the attention of archaeologists for decades. The role that climatic change, genetic interbreeding, and interspecies competition played in the extinction of Neanderthal groups is still debated. Hohle Fels is one of several important Middle and Upper Paleolithic sites from the Ach Valley in southwestern Germany which documents the presence of Neanderthals and modern humans in the region. Chronological and stratigraphic records indicate that these two groups occupied the site with little to no overlap or interaction. This provides the opportunity to examine the behavioural variability of Swabian Neanderthal populations without the complication of cross-cultural influence. In this study we contribute a terrestrial paleoenvironmental record derived from the small mammal material from Hohle Fels Cave to the ever-growing archaeological record of this period. By reconstructing the climate and landscape of the Ach Valley during this time we can identify the effect that the OIS 3 environment had on the presence of Neanderthals in the region. Based on indicator taxa and the habitat weighing method, the small mammal record, which includes rodents, insectivores, and bats, from Hohle Fels shows that the earliest Neanderthal occupation took place on a landscape characterized by substantial woodland and forest, rivers and ponds, as well as moist meadows and grasslands. A gradual increase in cold tundra and arctic environments is clear towards the end of the Middle Paleolithic, extending to the end of the early Aurignacian which may correlate with the onset of the Heinrich 4 event (~42,000 kya). Our taphonomic analysis indicates the material was accumulated primarily by opportunistic predators such as the great grey owl, snowy owl, and European eagle owl, and therefore reflects the diversity of landscapes present around the site in the past. Importantly, at the time Neanderthals abandoned the Ach Valley we find no indication for dramatic climatic deterioration. Rather, we find evidence of a gradual cooling of the Swabian landscape which may have pushed Neanderthal groups out of the Ach Valley prior to the arrival of modern human Aurignacian groups.

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Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Did climate determine Late Pleistocene settlement dynamics in the Ach Valley, SW Germany?

2019

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“…For instance, environmental fluctuations during and after the LGM caused a drop in water table and increased hillside erosion in the Ach and Lone valleys (Barbieri et al . 2018), which may have increased the surface accessibility of ochre outcrops.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results are compared with environmental data from the UP (Barbieri et al . 2018), which we use to infer landscape knowledge and adaptations to changing environmental and climatic conditions. The data are also compared with previously published behavioural patterns related to lithic (Hahn 1987; Burkert and Floss 1999; Scheer 2000; Floss and Kieselbach 2004) and osseous (Münzel 2001; Barth et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First large‐scale provenance study of pigments reveals new complex behavioural patterns during the Upper Palaeolithic of south‐western Germany

et al. 2020

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The use of red iron‐based earth pigments, or ochre, is a key component of early symbolic behaviours for anatomically modern humans and possibly Neanderthals. We present the first ochre provenance study in Central Europe showing long‐term selection strategies by inhabitants of cave sites in south‐western Germany during the Upper Palaeolithic (43–14.5 ka). Ochre artefacts from Hohle Fels, Geißenklösterle and Vogelherd, and local and extra‐local sources, were investigated using neutron activation analysis (NAA), X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that local ochre sources were continuously and systematically accessed for c.29 500 years, with periodic events of long‐distance (about > 300 km) ochre acquisition during the Aurignacian (c.35–43 ka), suggesting higher mobility than previously suspected. The results reveal previously unknown long‐term, complex spatio‐temporal behavioural patterns during the earliest presence of Homo sapiens in Europe.

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“…Shells of live bivalves/gastropods brought to the site for food consumption (as opposed to shells collected post mortem) provide an age for the sedimentary matrix in which they are found and for the associated artifacts. XRD or FTIR should be performed to verify that no calcite is present due to diagenetic alteration (e.g., Barbieri et al, 2018; Bosch et al, 2015). Standard sample pretreatment often includes etching of the shell surface with diluted HCl aimed at removing calcite, although there is no control over the reaction and how it may affect the preserved aragonite (e.g., Chiu, Fairbanks, Mortlock, & Bloom, 2005).…”

Section: Archaeological Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

The significance of aragonite in the interpretation of the microscopic archaeological record

Toffolo

2020

Geoarchaeology

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Aragonite is one of the metastable polymorphs of calcium carbonate and is commonly found at archaeological sites in the form of mollusk shells and speleothems. Other occurrences include corals, fish otoliths, seed endocarps, wood ash, and lime plaster. These materials contain microscopic embedded information of fundamental importance for the assessment of the state of preservation of the archaeological record, the reconstruction of paleoenvironments, the identification of pyrotechnological processes, and the establishment of absolute chronologies. However, this information can be used only if the aragonite found at archaeological sites preserves its pristine structure and chemistry. Aragonite is metastable at ambient conditions and tends to dissolve and recrystallize into secondary aragonite or calcite, a process that entails the loss of its original elemental and isotopic signature. Therefore, well‐grounded archaeological interpretations depend on the correct identification of aragonite and the careful characterization of its basic properties. This article reviews the dissolution processes of different types of aragonite, the methods used for their identification, and the archaeological information that can be extracted. Particular emphasis is given to the discussion of key issues regarding absolute dating and postdepositional processes of archaeological sediments, and to a detailed overview of the recently observed pyrogenic aragonite.

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Bridging prehistoric caves with buried landscapes in the Swabian Jura (southwestern Germany)

Cited by 18 publications

References 65 publications

Did climate determine Late Pleistocene settlement dynamics in the Ach Valley, SW Germany?

Did climate determine Late Pleistocene settlement dynamics in the Ach Valley, SW Germany?

First large‐scale provenance study of pigments reveals new complex behavioural patterns during the Upper Palaeolithic of south‐western Germany

The significance of aragonite in the interpretation of the microscopic archaeological record

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