Hominin and animal activities in the microstratigraphic record from Denisova Cave (Altai Mountains, Russia)

Abstract

Denisova Cave in southern Siberia uniquely contains evidence of occupation by a recently discovered group of archaic hominins, the Denisovans, starting from the middle of the Middle Pleistocene. Artefacts, ancient DNA and a range of animal and plant remains have been recovered from the sedimentary deposits, along with a few fragmentary fossils of Denisovans, Neanderthals and a first-generation Neanderthal–Denisovan offspring. The deposits also contain microscopic traces of hominin and animal activities that can provide insights into the use of the cave over the last 300,000 years. Here we report the results of a micromorphological study of intact sediment blocks collected from the Pleistocene deposits in the Main and East Chambers of Denisova Cave. The presence of charcoal attests to the use of fire by hominins, but other evidence of their activities preserved in the microstratigraphic record are few. The ubiquitous occurrence of coprolites, which we attribute primarily to hyenas, indicates that the site was visited for much of its depositional history by cave-dwelling carnivores. Microscopic traces of post-depositional diagenesis, bioturbation and incipient cryoturbation are observed in only a few regions of the deposit examined here. Micromorphology can help identify areas of sedimentary deposit that are most conducive to ancient DNA preservation and could be usefully integrated with DNA analyses of sediments at archaeological sites to illuminate features of their human and environmental history that are invisible to the naked eye.

Distinguishing the taphonomic signature of wolves from humans and other predators on small prey assemblages

“…In fact, the large number of taphonomic studies dedicated to wolves, along with the results obtained by studies about wolves' behaviour demonstrating their capacity to accumulate prey remains through carcass transport and scats [37][38][39] , are proof of the important role that this carnivore may have played on archaeological assemblages. This is also confirmed by the archaeological evidence, a good example is the case of Denisova Cave where wolf fossil scats were recovered from different levels and chambers 48 . However, the interest in wolves has always focused on large prey such as cows, bison, horses, sheep, red deer or roe deer [41][42][43][44][45][46][47] .…”

Pleistocene sediment DNA reveals hominin and faunal turnovers at Denisova Cave

“…These data are complemented by faunal mtDNA sequences from 685 samples, which provide information about the diversity of other large mammals and changes in their relative abundance. However, we caution that the inferred sequence of hominin and faunal occupation is constrained by several factors: the existence of two major gaps in the stratigraphic record (170-156 and 97-80 ka), the time-averaging inherent in the accumulation of each sediment layer, the post-depositional disturbance of some layers owing to burrowing animals or small-scale mixing 8,26 , and the precision of the optical ages used to construct the site chronology.…”

The Eneolithic/Bronze Age Transition at Tegole di Bovino (Apulia): Geoarchaeological Evidence of Climate Change and Land-Use Shift

“…In the case of sheltered archaeological sites (caves and rock shelters) [7,10,[17][18][19][20][21] or archaeological sequences buried by thick sedimentary covers [22][23][24][25], the preservation of the pristine signal of Figure 1. Position of the Tegole di Bovino archaeological site on the GoogleEarth™ satellite imagine and on a digital elevation model (red dot); in the latter, the relict of Pleistocene terraces at the foot of the Apennines are evident.…”