Stratigraphy, sedimentology, and site formation at Konispol Cave, Southwest Albania

Abstract

Recent geoarchaeological investigations at Konispol Cave (Epirus), Albania concluded nearly a decade of interdisciplinary human ecological investigations. Questions of site formation, cave history, and environmental change were examined through microstratigraphic study and sedimentological analysis. Artifacts and occupation layers from Upper Paleolithic through Iron Age times were preserved in three discrete sediment complexes. Sedimentology supplemented by micromorphology isolated the principal characteristics of the sediment complexes. The chronology and site formation history was characterized sequentially by: (1) initial deposition and/or pedogenesis of basal sediment; (2) sheetflow, spring discharge, and ponding in the cavern; (3) rockfall, roof attrition, and solution weathering; (4) episodic flushing and reworking of allogenic sediment; (5) human activities; (6) autogenic reworking and diagenesis of human debris and slope sediment. The changing history of the cave is linked to regional paleoenvironmental and land use signals in Epirus and the greater Aegean from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the late Holocene. ᭧

Integrating geochemistry and micromorphology to interpret feature use at Dust Cave, a Paleo‐Indian through middle‐archaic site in Northwest Alabama

“…The most common applications of chemical analysis focus on: (a) pre-excavation prospecting to locate and delimit archaeological sites; (b) identifying areas of concentrated activity for full-scale excavation; and (c) delineation of features and activity areas (Cook and Heizer, 1965;Lippi, 1988;Manzanilla and Barba, 1990;Schuldenrein, 1995;Sánchez and Cañabate, 1999;Wells et al, 2000;Parnell et al, 2001). Recently, researchers have successfully expanded this research to study not just open-air sites, but caves and rockshelters as well (Schiegl et al, 1996;Farrand, 2000;Karkansas et al, 2000;Schuldenrein, 2001;Braillard et al, 2004).…”

“…It has helped archaeologists to understand the construction of earthworks, house floors, and stables (Gebhardt, 1992;Matthews, 1995;Macphail and Goldberg, 1995;Gebhardt and Lanhogr, 1999;Macphail et al, 2003); identify and interpret the nature of agricultural soils and the impact of farming and deforestation on them (Macphail et al, 1987;Courty et al, 1989;Gebhardt, 1992;French and Whitelaw, 1999); and determine the depositional histories of complex archaeological sites, such as caves and rockshelters (Goldberg 1979a(Goldberg , 1979b(Goldberg , 2000Goldberg and Bar-Yosef, 1998;Goldberg and Arpin, 2000;Schuldenrein, 2001;Sherwood, 2001). Micromorphological studies have also allowed for a more refined analysis of burned deposits, including their form, function, and diagenesis (Courty et al, 1989;Schiegl et al, 1996 ;Goldberg and Bar-Yosef, 1998;Karkansas et al, 2000;Sherwood, 2001;Homsey, 2004).…”

“…This is not to suggest that archaeologists stop excavating features separately from the surrounding matrix, but as deposits, we should record and describe them within the same paradigm and using the same nomenclature as we would record and describe any sedimentologic unit (Stein, 1987). Recent research on feature function at archaeological sites has begun to move in this direction by employing geologic techniques including micromorphology (e.g., Courty et al, 1989;Goldberg, 2000;Schuldenrein, 2001;Sherwood, 2001) and geochemistry (e.g., Manzanilla and Barba, 1990;Schuldenrein, 1995;Middleton and Price, 1996;Homsey, 2003). This research integrates both of these techniques with more traditional morphological and content analysis.…”

The sedimentary records in Mediterranean rockshelters and caves: Archives of environmental change

“…Reworked loess and terra rossa may be introduced into rockshelters by this process (see Bar-Yosef, 1993). This mechanism has been recognised in numerous rockshelter and cave sites in the Mediterranean region including Franchthi (Farrand, 1988), Megalakkos (Woodward, 1997b), Konispol (Schuldenrein, 2001), and Aetokremnos (Mandel and Simmons, 1997).…”

“…The new insights provided by a micromorphological approach revealed that the previous interpretation of these features as paleosols was no longer sustainable. Many of the rockshelters and caves of the Mediterranean region contain reddened sediments that often represent reworked soil materials derived from terra rossa that have been washed, slumped, or blown from their place of origin (Table III; see Bar-Yosef, 1993;Schuldenrein, 2001;Ellwood et al, this issue). Strongly weathered and decalcified soils that are rich in iron oxides with distinctive red hues are a characteristic feature of Mediterranean limestone terrains (Macleod, 1980;Woodward et al, 1994).…”