Luminescence chronology of the key-Middle Paleolithic site Khotylevo I (Western Russia) - Implications for the timing of occupation, site formation and landscape evolution

Hein, Michael; Weiß, Marcel; Otcherednoy, A.K.; Lauer, Tobias

doi:10.1016/j.qsa.2020.100008

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Of course, as the tool only represents a single aspect of Neandertal material culture and daily life [ 86 ], the Lichtenberg Keilmesser concept is not necessarily the main marker for identity within a specific Neanderthal realm. But its presence and manufacture strategies might be shared by a late Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal community of yet unknown size, within an estimated geographical range across the northern European Plain from Germany to western Russia [ 15 – 18 , 20 , 22 – 27 ] and a time depth between potentially MIS 5a to MIS 3 [ 28 , 84 ] or MIS 3 only [ 87 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Examples are Salzgitter-Lebenstedt (Lower Saxony, Germany) [ 15 , 16 ], Königsaue layer A and C (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) [ 17 , 18 ], Pouch (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) [ 1 , 19 ], Piekary IIa layer 7c [ 20 ] and Piekary III [ 21 ] (Poland), Wroław-Hallera Av. (Poland) [ 22 ], Pietraszyn 49a (Poland) [ 23 ], and Khotylevo (Russia) [ 24 – 28 ]. Potentially, comparable tools to the Lichtenberg Keilmesser occur as far east as southern Siberia [ 29 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Lichtenberg Keilmesser - it’s all about the angle

Weiß

2020

PLoS ONE

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The presence of the 'Keilmesser-concept' in late Middle Paleolithic assemblages of Central and Eastern Europe defines the eponymous 'Keilmessergruppen'. The site of Lichtenberg (Lower Saxony, Germany) was discovered in 1987 and yielded one of the most important Keilmessergruppen assemblages of the northwestern European Plain. At that time, researchers used the bifacial backed knives to define a new type, the 'Lichtenberger Keilmesser', which they characterized by an aesthetic form-function concept with a specific range of morphological variability on the one hand, and a standardized convex cutting edge one the other hand. Thereby, a shape continuum was observed between different formfunction concepts in the Lichtenberg assemblage, from Keilmesser through to Faustkeilblä tter and handaxes. In a contrasting view, it was recently suggested that the morphology of Keilmesser, including what is defined here as type Lichtenberg, is the result of solutions to establish and maintain edge angles during resharpening. With the intention to evaluate these contrasting hypotheses, I conducted a re-analysis of the Keilmesser from Lichtenberg and their relationship to central German late Middle Paleolithic knives, using 3D geometric morphometric analyses and an automatized approach to measure edge angles on 3D models. Despite a morphological overlap of the tools from both regions, I could show that the Lichtenberg Keilmesser concept refers to one solution to create a tool with specific functionalities, like potentially cutting, prehension, and reusability. To establish and maintain its functionality, certain angles where created by the knappers along the active edges. This behavior resulted in specific shapes and positions of the active parts and created what looks like a standardized or template morphology of this Keilmesser type.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Lichtenberg Keilmesser - it’s all about the angle

Weiß

2020

PLoS ONE

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“…The discarded outer material was added to the dose rate samples (Table S3), otherwise taken within 15 cm below and above the D e ‐samples. Sample preparation and D e ‐measurements on coarse‐grained potassium‐feldspar (125–180 μm) were conducted at the MPI‐EVA, Leipzig, using the pIRIR 290 approach proposed by Thiel et al (2011; cf., Hein et al, 2020). Detailed information on the data evaluation can be found in Method S4.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eemian landscape response to climatic shifts and evidence for northerly Neanderthal occupation at a palaeolake margin in northern Germany

Hein

Urban

Tanner

et al. 2021

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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The prevailing view suggests that the Eemian interglacial on the European Plain was characterized by largely negligible geomorphic activity beyond the coastal areas. However, systematic geomorphological studies are sparse. Here we present a detailed reconstruction of Eemian to Early Weichselian landscape evolution in the vicinity of a small fingerlake on the northern margin of the Salzwedel Palaeolake in Lower Saxony (Germany). We apply a combination of seismics, sediment coring, pollen analysis and luminescence dating on a complex sequence of colluvial, paludal and lacustrine sediments. Results suggest two pronounced phases of geomorphic activity, directly before the onset and at the end of the Eemian period, with an intermediate period of pronounced landscape stability. The dynamic phases were largely driven by incomplete vegetation cover, but likely accentuated by fluvial incision in the neighbouring Elbe Valley. Furthermore, we discovered Neanderthal occupation at the lakeshore during Eemian pollen zone (PZ) E IV, which is chronologically in line with other known Eemian sites of central Europe. Our highly‐resolved spatio‐temporal data substantially contribute to the understanding of climate‐induced geomorphic processes throughout and directly after the last interglacial period. It helps unraveling the landscape dynamics between the coastal areas to the north and the loess belt to the south.

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The Late and Final Middle Palaeolithic of Central Europe and Its Contributions to the Formation of the Regional Upper Palaeolithic: a Review and a Synthesis

2022

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For decades, the relationship of pre-modern hominins to anatomically modern humans (AMH) and the transition from mode 3 to mode 4 industries remain topics of ongoing scientific debate. Over the last 20 years, different disciplines have added new data and much detail to these questions, highlighting the demographic and social and cultural complexity underlaying these major changes or turnovers in human evolution. As with most other regions outside Africa, archaeologists faced long-lasting discussions whether or not the central European archaeological record is to be understood as a regional transition from the Middle Palaeolithic (MP) to the Upper Palaeolithic (UP) or if it is characterised by the replacement of Neanderthal MP techno-complexes by industries of overall UP character imported by modern humans. These debates have been re-fuelled by the discoveries of new sites, of new hominin fossil remains and by aDNA studies pinpointing towards the arrival of AMH in Europe several millennia earlier than previously thought (Slimak et al., Science Advances,8, eabj9496, 2022; Hajdinjak et al., Nature,592, 253-257, 2021; Prüfer et al., Nature Ecology & Evolution,5, 820–825, 2021). Together with new radiometric age-estimates and detailed archaeological site studies, these developments call to recapture the present knowledge of the Late (LMP) and Final Middle Palaeolithic (FMP) of central Europe, viewed from the perspective of lithic technology and typology, raw material exploitation and land-use strategies. We will review and characterise this record as it represents the demographic and cultural substrate that AMH had met and will discuss to which degree this substrate contributed to the formation of the central European UP.

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Luminescence chronology of the key-Middle Paleolithic site Khotylevo I (Western Russia) - Implications for the timing of occupation, site formation and landscape evolution

Cited by 6 publications

References 83 publications

The Lichtenberg Keilmesser - it’s all about the angle

The Lichtenberg Keilmesser - it’s all about the angle

Eemian landscape response to climatic shifts and evidence for northerly Neanderthal occupation at a palaeolake margin in northern Germany

The Late and Final Middle Palaeolithic of Central Europe and Its Contributions to the Formation of the Regional Upper Palaeolithic: a Review and a Synthesis

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