Crossing taxonomic and isotopic approaches in charcoal analyses to reveal past climates. New perspectives in Paleobotany from the Paleolithic Neanderthal dwelling-site of La Combette (Vaucluse, France)

New climatic approaches to the analysis of the middle Paleolithic sequences: Combined taxonomic and isotopic charcoal analyses on a Neanderthal settlement, Les Canalettes (Aveyron, France)

“…Nevertheless, the constant carbon content of about 60% that was found for all samples reveals the same degree of carbonization and allowed us to avoid a "carbonization correction" of the values in δ 13 C (Audiard et al, 2018;Ferrio et al, 2006). However, this observation had already been made in a previous study of Paleolithic charcoal (Audiard et al, 2019). This phenomenon could be a response to differential resistance to the post-deposition process.…”

“…The analysis of the isotopic signal (δ 13 C) in charcoal remains from archaeological contexts is an additional climatic proxy, which raises new perspectives. Pioneering research have attested to its potential to reconstruct long-term climatic trends, in both the Holocene (Aguilera et al, 2012;Baton et al, 2017;Ferrio et al, 2006;Fiorentino et al, 2012a;Masi et al, 2013;Voltas et al, 2008) and the Pleistocene archeological context (Audiard et al, 2019;Hall et al, 2008;Vernet et al, 1996). However, the resolution and application of isotope analyses in Pleistocene sequences is an important issue.…”

“…Thus, the method needs to be adapted for each archeological site. In particular, the type of charcoal deposit (spread, hearth), the sampling method (manual, or sifting), the intensity of the taphonomic processes and fragmentation (size, mass and number of charcoal samples; reliability of taxonomic identification) can restrict the potential of the isotopic study (Audiard et al, 2019). In addition, the taphonomic processes and the nature of the sediment can lead to exogenous carbon contamination and necessitate pretreatment, which can decrease the mass of charcoal (Vaiglova et al, 2014).…”

“…The methodological bases of the application of δ 13 C to Pleistocene can be found in (Audiard et al, 2018) and a first application to the study of the Middle Paleolithic sequence of La Combette (Vaucluse, France) has shown the potential of δ 13 C as a paleoclimatic proxy (Audiard et al, 2019). In the continuation of this work, we present here, the first application of the method to charcoal, with individual analyses from a major Middle Paleolithic settlement: Les Canalettes rock shelter (Aveyron, France).…”

“…The variability and the climatic resolution of the isotopic signal will be discussed with respect to previous, complementary paleoenvironmental results. In addition, methodologic issues will be addressed regarding previous isotopic works in paleolithic sequences with charcoal grouping analyses (Audiard et al, 2019).…”