Paleolithic hominins and settlement in Croatia from MIS 6 to MIS 3: Research history and current interpretations

Karavanić, Ivor; Vukosavljević, Nikola; Janković, Ivor; Ahern, James C. M.; Smith, Fred H.

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2017.09.034

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…comm. 2020) which would also confirm this taxonomic attribution 42 . In fact, in the surroundings of Matalascañas were located in 1985, several pieces and remains of carvings belonging to the Middle Paleolithic, which reinforces the previous hypothesis 43 .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Tracking late Pleistocene Neandertals on the Iberian coast

Mayoral

Díaz-Martínez

Duveau

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Here, we report the recent discovery of 87 Neandertal footprints on the Southwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Doñana shoreline, Spain) located on an upper Pleistocene aeolian littoral setting (about 106 ± 19 kyr). Morphometric comparisons, high resolution digital photogrammetric 3D models and detailed sedimentary analysis have been provided to characterized the footprints and the palaeoenvironment. The footprints were impressed in the shoreline of a hypersaline swamped area related to benthic microbial mats, close to the coastline. They have a rounded heel, a longitudinal arch, relatively short toes, and adducted hallux, and represent the oldest upper Pleistocene record of Neandertal footprints in the world. Among these 87 footprints, 31 are longitudinally complete and measure from 14 to 29 cm. The calculated statures range from 104 to 188 cm, with half of the data between 130 and 150 cm. The wide range of sizes of the footprints suggests the existence of a social group integrated by individuals of different age classes but dominated, however, by non-adult individuals. The footprints, which are outside the flooded area are oriented perpendicular to the shoreline. These 87 footprints reinforce the ecological scenario of Neandertal groups established in coastal areas.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Tracking late Pleistocene Neandertals on the Iberian coast

Mayoral

Díaz-Martínez

Duveau

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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“…The angle of the edge can vary from flat to abrupt and can be either straight, convex, or concave. Although sidescrapers are usually associated and more common in post-Oldowan technocomplexes (Banda & Karavanić 2019;de Lombera-Hermida et al 2020;Derevianko et al 2017;Groucutt et al 2015;Karavanić et al 2018Karavanić et al , 2021Zaidner et al 2018), we use the sidescraper from this task as a model for retouched tools in general (cf. Inizan et al 1999).…”

Section: Stone Toolmaking Tasksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive performance and specific aspects of language processing are associated with Oldowan-like chert flaking and retouch

Gabrić¹,

Banda²,

Karavanić³

2021

Preprint

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A vast amount of literature suggests a co-evolutionary relationship between Palaeolithic stone toolmaking, and cognition and specifically language. However, empirical data remain limited to indirect findings of neurophysiological studies. Furthermore, most Oldowan studies have used chert and have not investigated retouch, even though quartz and lava were predominant raw materials during periods of chert unavailability, and even though chert was disproportionately more frequently used for retouch compared to other raw materials during periods of chert availability, at least in the Olduvai Gorge. The study recruited 13 young adults with no prior experience in knapping. Subjects were taught by an experienced knapper to produce quartz choppers and chert sidescrapers in either a verbal or gestural condition. Two raters rated on a 5-point scale the subjects’ performances on specific steps of the two stone toolmaking tasks. In a post-experimental interview, subjects stated which aspects of the tasks they preferred or disfavored. Subjects also performed on a neuropsychological battery encompassing visuospatial, executive functioning, and linguistic tasks. Given the small sample size, the results should be regarded as exploratory and preliminary. Our results are further limited to the early acquisition phase and may not reflect processes in modern experienced knappers. Descriptive data suggested better performance across all stone toolmaking variables in the verbal compared to gestural condition, but only flake quality on the sidescraper task was significantly different between groups. Analyses of the stone toolmaking variables suggested subjects perceived quartz and chert flaking very differently. Correlational and other analyses suggested that quartz chopper manufacture was not associated with cognitive performance. Conversely, chert flaking and retouch were strongly associated with visuospatial working memory, showing that subjects with a higher memory span produced better chert flakes and retouch. Retouch only was moderately associated with executive functioning measures, showing subjects who made fewer errors on the tasks were better on retouch. Specific aspects of chert flaking were also associated with verbal fluency performance, showing, among others, moderate and strong positive associations with the productivity and rate of production of syntactically transitive verbs on action fluency. Evolutionary implications can be drawn from our research only if we controversially assume similar results would have been obtained had we tested early hominins and not modern humans. Following this axiom, our results suggest that Oldowan hominins relied on modern-like visuospatial working memory during chert flaking and retouch, and, to a lesser degree, modern-like executive functioning during chert retouch. This is contrary to previous Oldowan studies suggesting no involvement of executive functioning during Oldowan-like flaking. Results from the linguistic tasks controversially suggest that some of the prerequisites for aspects of action language and syntactic transitivity (verb-object phrases) in modern humans were to some degree present in Oldowan hominin populations. Because Olduvai Gorge hominins readily incorporated chert for stone toolmaking in periods of chert availability, our results suggest that these cognitive capacities were phylogenetically not related to chert knapping. Finally, we propose that the quality of performance on Oldowan flaking and retouch may not reflect the full level of cognitive capacities of Oldowan populations. We provide the first direct evidence for an association between Palaeolithic stone toolmaking and cognitive performance in modern humans, while previous studies have inferred cognitive processes from neuroimaging data. We also provide the first direct evidence for an association between Palaeolithic stone toolmaking, and action language and simple syntactic transitivity in modern humans.

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“…Available dates suggest that Mousterian humans visited the cave for the first time around or before 50 ka BP and were also present there during the time of the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transition, around 40 ka cal BP (Karavanić and Vukosavljević, 2019). Although some very late dates obtained from this site (Karavanić et al, 2018) support the hypothesis of Neanderthal late survival (later than 39 ka cal BP) in the eastern Adriatic (Vishnevskiy, 2019), more samples need to be dated from Velika pećina to confirm the accuracy of these results. Use of the Kombewa method in earlier Mousterian levels was determined due to the presence of Janus flakes.…”

Section: Materials Culturementioning

confidence: 84%

A palaeoecological view of the last Neanderthals at the crossroads of south‐central Europe and the central Mediterranean: long‐term stability or pronounced environmental change with human responses

Karavanić

Banda

Radović

et al. 2021

J Quaternary Science

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This paper presents palaeoecological reconstructions and late Neanderthal responses to environmental conditions in two different palaeoecological zones (continental south‐central Europe and the eastern Adriatic) during MIS 3. Our interpretations are based on the available records of climatic conditions, characteristics of Mousterian industries and site characteristics. A variety of data obtained by different methods of analyses (sediments and biological remains) were used for palaeoecological reconstructions, while hominin behaviour was examined from various perspectives based on lithic remains (technology, typology, raw material use), subsistence strategies, land use and site structures. In both regions, Neanderthals practised a broad exploitation of different faunal and lithic resources available to them and successfully adapted to local environments. Based on a variety of evidence, we offer a new synthesis and examine whether continental south‐central Europe and the Adriatic really acted as refugia during the time of late Neanderthal occupations. We also consider the possible causes and/or timing of Neanderthal disappearance in these regions.

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Paleolithic hominins and settlement in Croatia from MIS 6 to MIS 3: Research history and current interpretations

Cited by 17 publications

References 39 publications

Tracking late Pleistocene Neandertals on the Iberian coast

Tracking late Pleistocene Neandertals on the Iberian coast

Cognitive performance and specific aspects of language processing are associated with Oldowan-like chert flaking and retouch

A palaeoecological view of the last Neanderthals at the crossroads of south‐central Europe and the central Mediterranean: long‐term stability or pronounced environmental change with human responses

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