The Early Middle Palaeolithic: The European Context

Mapping the human record in the British early Palaeolithic: evidence from the Solent River system

“…It is also likely that these colonisations emanated from different areas, with routes from the south leading into the Channel River and from there into the Solent, Seine and Somme, whereas eastern routes would have led from the Rhine and Meuse into the eastern rivers of England, such as the Thames. Evidence for regional differences in early Middle Palaeolithic archaeological signatures is also now being identified on mainland northwestern Europe, with Levallois-dominated industries in northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands and assemblages with handaxes being found south of the Seine (Scott and Ashton, 2009). In combination, this evidence strongly supports the interpretation that the differences in the early Middle Palaeolithic assemblages between the Thames and the Solent are due to colonisation of distinct populations from different regions of northwestern Europe.…”

Towards the Middle Palaeolithic in Western Europe: The case of Orgnac 3 (southeastern France)

“…These anatomical traits could have influenced behavioural changes within the chronological framework of the Orgnac 3 sequence, such as more careful gestures, reduced force for meat processing activities, or Levallois core technology, all related to an increase in Neanderthal manual dexterity over time (Villemeur, 1994;Churchill, 2001). The gradual introduction of Levallois technology in two phases at Orgnac provides strong evidence for the in situ development of Levallois technology in Europe, one facet of wider social, cognitive, and behavioural change that accompanied the gradual process of "Neanderthalisation" in Europe (Callow and Cornford, 1986;Ashton et al, 1992;Roebroeks et al, 1992;Boëda, 1994;Moncel, 1995;Carbonell et al, 2001;Bar-Yosef and Dibble, 2005;Goval, 2005;Hallos, 2005;Premo and Hublin, 2009;Scott and Ashton, 2011;White et al, 2011). Levallois technology appears to be rooted in MIS 12 ("pre-Levallois" cores described by Tuffreau [1979] and Tuffreau et al [2001] at Cagny la Garenne in Northern France).…”

“…Fagel and Hillaire-Marcel, 2006), located at the top of the sequence. Consequently, this behavioural shift is not due to climatic reasons which could have induced different land-use patterns (more open landscapes, different animal behaviour), as suggested, for instance, in northern Europe in relation to the expansion of the mammoth steppe biotope (Gamble and Roebroeks, 1999;Auguste et al, 2005;Finlayson and Carrión, 2007;Bocquet-Appel and Tuffreau, 2009;Villa, 2009;Scott and Ashton, 2011). The wider exploitation of the site environment and differential prey selection (mainly horse hunting) in level 1 cannot be fully explained by a colder climate, as the behavioural changes occurred in level 2.…”

Dancing to the rhythms of the Pleistocene? Early Middle Paleolithic population dynamics in NW Iberia (Duero Basin and Cantabrian Region)

“…Geneste, 1985;F eblot-Augustins, 1993;Floss, 1994). Furthermore, it has been suggested that the Levallois technique is the result of changes in mobility strategies (Geneste, 1989;Gamble and Roebroeks, 1999;Auguste et al, 2005;Bocquet-Appel and Tuffreau, 2009;Villa, 2009;Scott and Ashton, 2011;contra Moncel et al, 2012: 662). On the other hand, behavioral overlaps and a mosaic of changes in subsistence and technical behavior during the second half of the Middle Pleistocene would suggest that Levallois technology in Eurasia was developed in situ by different populations (Moncel et al, 2012;Adler et al, 2014).…”