The mammalian fauna associated with an archaic hominin skullcap and later Acheulean artifacts at Elandsfontein, Western Cape Province, South Africa

The Elandsfontein site, Western Cape Province, South Africa, is well known for an archaic hominin skullcap associated with later Acheulean artifacts. The site has also provided nearly 13,000 mammalian bones that can be identified to skeletal part and taxon. The assemblage derives from 49 species, 15 of which have no historic descendants. Comparisons to radiometrically dated faunas in eastern Africa indicate an age between 1 million and 600 thousand years ago. Unique features of the fauna, including the late occurrence of a dirk-toothed cat and a sivathere, may reflect its geographic origin in a region that was notable historically for its distinctive climate and high degree of biotic endemism. Together, taxonomic composition, geomorphic setting, and pollen extracted from coprolites indicate the proximity of a large marsh or pond, maintained by a higher water table. The small average size of the black-backed jackals implies relatively mild temperatures. The sum of the evidence places bone accumulation during one of the mid-Pleistocene interglacials that were longer and cooler than later ones, including the Holocene. The geomorphic context of the fauna presents no evidence for catastrophe, and most deaths probably resulted from attritional factors that disproportionately killed the young and old. However, only the dental-age profile of long-horned buffalo supports this directly. Field collection methods biased skeletal-part representation, but originally, it probably resembled the pattern in the younger, marsh-edge Acheulean occurrence at Duinefontein 2, 45 km to the south. Excavation there exposed multiple vertebral spreads, which probably mark carcasses from which hominins or large carnivores removed the meatier elements. Bone damage at both sites suggests that, despite abundant artifacts, hominins were much less important than carnivores in the bone accumulation. Together with limited observations from other sites, Elandsfontein and Duinefontein provisionally suggest that Acheulean-age hominins obtained few large mammals, whether by hunting or scavenging.     

Cutmarked bones from Pliocene archaeological sites at Gona, Afar, Ethiopia: implications for the function of the world's oldest stone tools

Newly recorded archaeological sites at Gona (Afar, Ethiopia) preserve both stone tools and faunal remains. These sites have also yielded the largest sample of cutmarked bones known from the time interval 2.58-2.1 million years ago (Ma). Most of the cutmarks on the Gona fauna possess obvious macroscopic (e.g., deep V-shaped cross-sections) and microscopic (e.g., internal microstriations, Herzian cones, shoulder effects) features that allow us to identify them confidently as instances of stone tool-imparted damage caused by hominid butchery. In addition, preliminary observations of the anatomical placement of cutmarks on several of the recovered bone specimens suggest that Gona hominids may have eviscerated carcasses and defleshed the fully muscled upper and intermediate limb bones of ungulates--activities that further suggest that Late Pliocene hominids may have gained early access to large mammal carcasses. These observations support the hypothesis that the earliest stone artifacts functioned primarily as butchery tools and also imply that hunting and/or aggressive scavenging of large ungulate carcasses may have been part of the behavioral repertoire of hominids by c. 2.5 Ma, although a larger sample of cutmarked bone specimens is necessary to support the latter inference.     

Scavenging or Hunting in Early Hominids: Theoretical Framework and Tests

Evidence from Bed I, Olduvai, supports the hypothesis that scavenging, not hunting, was the major meat-procurement strategy of hominids between 2 and 1.7 million years ago. Data used to evaluate the hunting and scavenging hypotheses are derived from studying cut marks on Bed I bovids, comparing adaptations necessary for scavenging with those of early hominids, and a pa-leoecological reconstruction of Bed I carcass biotnass, carnivore guild, and hominidforaging area.     

Analysis of a bone assemblage made by chimpanzees at Gombe National Park, Tanzania

Chimpanzee hunting provides information on prey characteristics and constraints acting on a large-bodied primate lacking a hunting technology, and has important implications for modeling hunting by fossil hominids. Analysis of the remains of five red colobus monkeys captured and consumed by Gombe chimpanzees in a single hunting bout provides one of the first opportunities to investigate the characteristics of prey bones surviving chimpanzee consumption. Four of the five individuals (an older infant, two juveniles and one subadult) were preserved in the bone assemblage; a neonate was entirely consumed. Cranial and mandibular fragments had the highest survivorships, followed by the scapulae and long bones. Post-cranial axial elements had the lowest survivorships. A high percentage (80%) of the long bones and ribs surviving consumption were damaged, most commonly through crenulation and step fracturing of bone ends. One of two partially reconstructed crania preserves a canine puncture through its left parietal. Proposed characteristics of faunal assemblages formed through chimpanzee-like hunting include small modal prey size, limited taxonomic diversity, a high proportion of immature individuals and a high frequency of skull bones. These characteristics would not uniquely identify hunting by fossil primates in the geological record, necessitating a contextual approach to diagnose hunting by hominids not forming an archeological record.Hominid utilization of vertebrate tissue is first unambiguously documented at 2.5 m.y.a. Rather than representing a strict "scavenging phase" in the evolution of hominid-prey interactions, Oldowan hominid carnivory may represent the overlay of large mammal scavenging on a tradition of small mammal hunting having a low archeological visibility.     

Validation of bone surface modification models for inferring fossil hominin and carnivore feeding interactions, with reapplication to FLK 22, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

Resolving the issue of how Early Stone Age hominins acquired large mammal carcasses requires information on their feeding interactions with large carnivores. This ecological information and its behavioral and evolutionary implications are revealed most directly from the tooth, cut, and percussion marks on bone surfaces generated by hominin and carnivore feeding activities. This paper employs a bootstrap method, a form of random resampling with replacement, to refine published neotaphonomic models that use the assemblage-wide proportions of long bones bearing feeding traces to infer the sequences in which Plio-Pleistocene hominins and carnivores accessed flesh, marrow, and/or grease from carcasses. Results validate the sensitivity of the models for inferring hominin feeding ecology, which have been questioned on grounds shown here to be unfounded. The bootstrapped feeding trace models are applied to the late Pliocene larger mammal fossil assemblage from FLK 22 (Zinjanthropus site), Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. High frequencies of tooth and percussion marking on long bone midshaft fragments from FLK 22 are most consistent with those feeding trace models that simulate hominin scavenging from carcasses defleshed by carnivores, while cut mark data indicate that hominins more often had access to upper forelimb flesh than upper hind limb flesh. Together, the bone surface modification data indicate that hominins typically gained secondary access to partially defleshed carnivore kills, but they also allow for the possibility of some carcasses being processed only by carnivores and only by hominins.     

Middle and Later Stone Age large mammal and tortoise remains from Die Kelders Cave 1, Western Cape Province, South Africa

Die Kelders Cave 1, South Africa, has provided more than 150,000 taxonomically identifiable mammal and tortoise bones from Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) deposits. Cape dune mole-rats dominate the mammal sample, and they appear to have been accumulated mainly by people during the LSA occupation and mainly by eagle owls in the MSA. In sharp contrast to the LSA fauna, the MSA sample contains extralimital ungulates that imply relatively moist, grassy conditions. The large mean size of the MSA mole-rats also points to greater humidity, while the large size of the gray mongooses implies cooler temperatures. The sum supports luminescence and ESR dates that place the MSA occupation within the early part of the Last Glaciation (global isotope stage 4). The Die Kelders ungulate bones support those from Klasies River Mouth in suggesting that MSA people obtained dangerous terrestrial prey much less frequently than their LSA successors, probably because MSA people lacked the bow and arrow and other projectile weapons. The Die Kelders tortoise bones constrain the extent of climatic change, since their abundance indicates that warm, dry days remained common, at least seasonally. The tortoises tend to be much larger in the MSA layers than in the LSA ones, suggesting that MSA people collected tortoises less intensively, probably because MSA populations were relatively sparse.     

A diagnosis of crocodile feeding traces on larger mammal bone, with fossil examples from the Plio-Pleistocene Olduvai Basin, Tanzania

Neotaphonomic studies have determined the patterns of bone damage created by larger mammalian carnivores when consuming mammalian carcasses. Typically, mammalian carnivores gnaw and break bones to various degrees in order to access marrow, grease, and brain tissue. In contrast, crocodiles attempt to swallow whole parts of mammal carcasses, inflicting in the process tooth marks and other feeding traces on some of the bones they are unable to ingest. Although crocodiles are major predators of larger mammals along the margins of protected tropical rivers and lakes, their feeding traces on bone have received little systematic attention in neotaphonomic research. We present diagnostic characteristics of Crocodylus niloticus damage to uningested mammal bones resulting from a series of controlled observations of captive crocodile feeding. The resulting bone assemblages are composed of primarily complete elements from articulating units, some of which bear an extremely high density of shallow to deep, transversely to obliquely oriented tooth scores over often large areas of the bone, along with shallow to deep pits and punctures. Some of the tooth marks (bisected pits and punctures, hook scores) have a distinctive morphology we have not observed to be produced by mammalian carnivores. The assemblages are also characterized by the retention of both low- and high-density bone portions, an absence of gross gnawing, and minimal fragmentation. Together, the damage characteristics associated with feeding by crocodiles are highly distinctive from those produced by mammalian carnivores. Modern surface bone assemblages along the Grumeti River in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park contain a mixture of specimens bearing damage characteristic of crocodiles and mammalian carnivores. Comparison of Plio-Pleistocene fossil bones from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, to bones damaged by captive and free-ranging Nile crocodiles reveals direct evidence of fossil crocodilian feeding from larger mammal bones associated with Oldowan stone artifacts.     

许家窑遗址马科动物的死亡年龄

普氏野马(Equus przewalskii)和野驴(Equus hemionus)是许家窑遗址动物群中的优势属种。本文基于对这两种动物牙齿材料的测量与分析,确定了遗址中马科动物的死亡年龄,并对上、下文化层的死亡年龄分布进行了研究,以期探知古人类获取肉食资源的方式与特点。通过与马科动物在自然生存状态下以及死于不同原因(如疾病或营养衰竭、食肉动物猎杀、现代人类狩猎等)的年龄结构对比,结果表明:古人类在许家窑文化早期(下文化层)可能通过捡拾自然死亡的动物尸体、与食肉类动物抢夺猎物、主动狩猎等多种方式获取马科动物,而在许家窑文化晚期(上文化层)可能以主动狩猎作为获取马科动物的主要方式。此外,古人类在遗址的早期就可能已经具有捕获整个马科动物居群中任意年龄个体的能力,并能做出最优化判断,有选择地去捕猎脂肪和肉量较高的壮年动物群体。     

L’assemblage lithique du site Acheuléen de Namib IV (Namib central,Namibie)

Despite a rich archaeological record, the old prehistory of Namibia, particularly from the Earlier Stone Age, is poorly documented, due to the surface context of the findings, exposed by erosional processes. In this context, human behaviors and responses to environment changes in this region during the Middle Pleistocene remain unclear. In the late 1970's, Myra Shackley surveyed the Central Namib dune desert and discovered lithic artefacts associated to fragmented fossilized bones of antelopes, elephants, zebras and buffalos at Namib IV. She interpreted this locality as an Acheulean butchery site on the shores of a paleolake. The radiometric dating suggested an age of ~347ka whereas biochronology broadly pointed the human occupation to the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (1–0.5 Ma). Thanks to these ages, Namib IV is currently the earliest dated evidence of human presence in the current Namib coastal desert. Contextualized by the existing chronological and paleoenvironmental data, we analyzed the unstudied lithic material recovered at Namib IV. To do so, we applied a qualitative morpho-structural approach to the stone tools and tried to reconstruct the productional schemes (chaînes opératoires). Our results argue for an important economy of the raw material, a spatial fragmentation of stone tool production and an important technical homogeneity of the lithic assemblage despite few possible intrusive elements. In the light of these analyses, we finally discussed the advanced site function of Namib IV as butchery site.     

Elongation as a factor in artefacts of humans and other animals: an Acheulean example in comparative context

Elongation is a commonly found feature in artefacts made and used by humans and other animals and can be analysed in comparative study. Whether made for use in hand or beak, the artefacts have some common properties of length, breadth, thickness and balance point, and elongation can be studied as a factor relating to construction or use of a long axis. In human artefacts, elongation can be traced through the archaeological record, for example in stone blades of the Upper Palaeolithic (traditionally regarded as more sophisticated than earlier artefacts), and in earlier blades of the Middle Palaeolithic. It is now recognized that elongation extends to earlier Palaeolithic artefacts, being found in the repertoire of both Neanderthals and more archaic humans. Artefacts used by non-human animals, including chimpanzees, capuchin monkeys and New Caledonian crows show selection for diameter and length, and consistent interventions of modification. Both chimpanzees and capuchins trim side branches from stems, and appropriate lengths of stave are selected or cut. In human artefacts, occasional organic finds show elongation back to about 0.5 million years. A record of elongation achieved in stone tools survives to at least 1.75 Ma (million years ago) in the Acheulean tradition. Throughout this tradition, some Acheulean handaxes are highly elongated, usually found with others that are less elongated. Finds from the million-year-old site of Kilombe and Kenya are given as an example. These findings argue that the elongation need not be integral to a design, but that artefacts may be the outcome of adjustments to individual variables. Such individual adjustments are seen in animal artefacts. In the case of a handaxe, the maker must balance the adjustments to achieve a satisfactory outcome in the artefact as a whole. It is argued that the need to make decisions about individual variables within multivariate objects provides an essential continuity across artefacts made by different species.     

Modern hunting behavior in the early Middle Paleolithic: faunal remains from Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel

Understanding the behavioral adaptations and subsistence strategies of Middle Paleolithic humans is critical in the debate over the evolution and manifestations of modern human behavior. The study of faunal remains plays a central role in this context. Until now, the majority of Levantine archaeofaunal evidence was derived from late Middle Paleolithic sites. The discovery of faunal remains from Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel (>200 ka), allowed for detailed taphonomic and zooarchaeological analyses of these early Middle Paleolithic remains. The Misliya Cave faunal assemblage is overwhelmingly dominated by ungulate taxa. The most common prey species is the Mesopotamian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica), followed closely by the mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella). Some aurochs (Bos primigenius) remains are also present. Small-game species are rare. The fallow deer mortality pattern is dominated by prime-aged individuals. A multivariate taphonomic analysis demonstrates (1) that the assemblage was created solely by humans occupying the cave and was primarily modified by their food-processing activities; and (2) that gazelle carcasses were transported complete to the site, while fallow deer carcasses underwent some field butchery. The new zooarchaeological data from Misliya Cave, particularly the abundance of meat-bearing limb bones displaying filleting cut marks and the acquisition of prime-age prey, demonstrate that early Middle Paleolithic people possessed developed hunting capabilities. Thus, modern large-game hunting, carcass transport, and meat-processing behaviors were already established in the Levant in the early Middle Paleolithic, more than 200 ka ago.     

Taphonomic evidence of a Paleogene mammalian predator–prey interaction

A taphonomic study has been undertaken on an assemblage of bones and teeth of Isoptychus sp. and Thalerimys fordi (extinct rodent family Theridomyidae) from a single bed in a coastal plain setting, in the Late Eocene (Priabonian) Osborne Member, Headon Hill Formation (Hampshire Basin, UK). The vertebrate fossils show good preservation and do not bear the marks of obvious long distance transport. The two theridomyid species show similar patterns of mortality, element representation and surface modifications, which indicate similar mechanisms of accumulation. There is high mortality of juvenile and old individuals indicating accumulation of the assemblage by the action of attritional not catastrophic agents. The postcranial elements show fragmentary states and very low relative abundances. The vast majority of elongate bones (limb bones, phalanges and metapodials) are broken and exhibit a spiral irregular type of fracture with rounded fracture edges indicating that the bones were broken when they were fresh and have subsequently undergone additional modification. The enamel of most of the cheek teeth and incisors shows localized etching to various degrees and most of the bones show etching. By elimination of other modifying agents the observed etching is attributed to digestive corrosion. Collectively, these data indicate that the majority of the theridomyid individuals were eaten and digested by an animal that could cause high fragmentation during ingestion and with stomach juices of relatively high acidity. Both these features characterize mammalian carnivores. The presence of puncture marks on bones of both theridomyid species and comparisons with sizes of bite marks caused by extant mammalian carnivores suggest predation by a small mammalian carnivore about the size of an arctic fox. The extinct amphicyonid carnivoran Cynodictis cf. lacustris occurs in the same bed and the sizes of some of its teeth match well with the sizes of the puncture marks on the theridomyid bones. A predator–prey interaction is, therefore, deduced for the amphicyonid and the two theridomyid species, thereby reconstructing a small part of the continental Paleogene food chain.     

A 400,000-year-old Acheulean assemblage associated with the Aroeira-3 human cranium (Gruta da Aroeira,Almonda karst system,Portugal)

Bifaces dominate the Acheulean stone tools recovered during the archaeological excavation of layer X of Gruta da Aroeira, dated to 389–436 ka. Faunal remains and a human cranium were found in association with this lithic assemblage. The raw materials used are mostly quartz and quartzite cobbles available in the vicinity of the site. Technological and systematic analysis shows that there are no Levallois elements and suggests that on-site knapping consisted of the reduction of centripetal cores. Flake cleavers are absent. Use-wear analysis indicates the processing of hard materials, mainly wood. Gruta da Aroeira represents one of the few Middle Pleistocene sites that provide securely dated diagnostic human remains and associated Acheulean lithics, thus representing a major step forward in our understanding of the variability of westernmost Europe's Acheulean and of the human populations that made it.     

Was the European cave bear an occasional scavenger?

Rabal‐Garcés, R., Cuenca‐Bescós, G., Canudo, J.I. & de Torres, T. 2011: Was the European cave bear an occasional scavenger? Lethaia, Vol. 45, pp. 96–108. The cave bear Ursus spelaeus fossils remains are quite abundant in the Late Pleistocene site of Coro Tracito (Huesca, Spain). The site constitutes the highest mountain record of cave bears in the Iberian Peninsula. Being a monospecific locality, it permits the study of the biology and dietary habits of this species. The study of the limb bones established first, the mortality pattern of this population of Ursus spelaeus and, second, the alteration pattern due to carnivore tooth‐marks. Some authors have performed similar analyses in the same kind of skeletal elements in other cave bear localities all over Europe and, therefore it has been possible to compare our results with those from other sites. The tooth‐marks found in the bones of cave bears, especially in monospecific sites, have been attributed to a scavenging behaviour. In agreement with the authors, our analysis presented here supports the hypothesis of scavenging behaviour for cave bears. □Behaviour, Late Pleistocene, Spain, taphonomy, tooth‐marks, Ursus spelaeus.     

河南灵井许昌人遗址动物骨骼表面人工改造痕迹

河南灵井许昌人遗址发掘出土了距今约10—8万年前的古人类头骨化石, 与头骨化石同层发现的还有大量哺乳动物化石及石制品等文化遗物。本文是对该遗址2005—2006年出土动物化石骨骼表面人工改造痕迹的观察分析结果。灵井遗址中13%的动物骨骼表面有人工切割痕的产生, 其中切割痕位于长骨骨干部位的约占此类标本总数的98.45%; 同时,在具切割痕的长骨类化石材料中,属于食草动物上部和中部肢骨的分别为34%和41%, 属于下部肢骨的则仅为25%。此外, 灵井动物群中具敲击痕、火烧痕迹、人工使用痕迹的骨骼标本分别占全部观察例数的4.2%、1%、1.32%。总之, 通过对动物骨骼表面保留的上述人工改造痕迹的观察与统计分析, 并与埋藏学实验及其他考古遗址相关属性的对比, 表明古人类是这一遗址中大量脊椎动物肉食资源的初级获取者和利用者, 他们是导致这一动物群聚集形成的主要埋藏学因素。同时, 许昌人遗址中大量破碎动物骨骼的出现可能也与古人类敲骨取髓的取食行为有着非常紧密的联系。     

Predator size and prey size–gut capacity ratios determine kill frequency and carcass production in terrestrial carnivorous mammals

Carnivore kill frequency is a fundamental part of predator–prey interactions, which are important shapers of ecosystems. Current field kill frequency data are rare and existing models are insufficiently adapted to carnivore functional groups. We developed a kill frequency model accounting for carnivore mass, prey mass, pack size, partial consumption of prey and carnivore gut capacity. Two main carnivore functional groups, small prey‐feeders versus large prey‐feeders, were established based on the relationship between stomach capacity (C) and pack corrected prey mass (iMprey). Although the majority of small prey‐feeders is below, and of large prey‐feeders above a body mass of 10–20 kg, both occur across the whole body size spectrum, indicating that the dichotomy is rather linked to body size‐related ecology than physiology. The model predicts a negative relationship between predator size and kill frequency for large prey‐feeders. However, for small prey‐feeders, this negative relationship was absent. When comparing carnivore prey requirements to estimated stomach capacity, small carnivores may have to eat to their full capacity repeatedly per day, requiring fast digestion and gut clearance. Large carnivores do not necessarily have to eat to full gastric capacity per day, or do not need to eat every day, which in turn reduces kill frequencies or drives other ecological processes such as scavenging, kleptoparasitism, and partial carcass consumption. Where ecological conditions allow, large prey‐feeding appears attractive for carnivores, which can thus reduce activities related to hunting. This is particularly so for large carnivores, who can achieve distinct reductions in hunting activity due to their relatively large gut capacity.     

The TD6.3 faunal assemblage of the Gran Dolina site (Atapuerca,Spain): a late Early Pleistocene hyena den

Ethological studies have shown that besides human groups, large-medium carnivores have bone-collecting habits. The research developed since the last half of the twentieth century has attempted to characterise the carnivore’s accumulations and to identify them in the archaeo-paleontological record. At present, we have diagnostic criteria that define the accumulations produced by hyenids (mainly, Crocuta crocuta), thereby allowing us to differentiate them from the other accumulating agents. The faunal assemblage recovered at the Early Pleistocene TD6.3 layer of the Gran Dolina site is characterised by the presence of typical elements described in hyena dens: presence of small carnivores remains, high bone breakage, low epiphysis survival and a high frequency (>30%) of specimens with carnivore induced modifications, including large amounts of digested bones. However, attritional mortality profiles, hyena’s cubs remains, mid-shaft bone cylinders or differential anatomical composition among different weight-sizes, have not been observed or are ambiguous. In addition, anthropic evidences are scarce and concentrated in the uppermost section of the layer. TD6.3 is the result of an accumulation produced by hyenas using the cave as a den, in alternation with sporadic occupations by hominin groups. TD6.3 shows that hyena fossil accumulations may present great anatomical and taxonomic variability.     

Zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of the Die Kelders Cave 1 layers 10 and 11 Middle Stone Age larger mammal fauna

Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Middle Paleolithic (MP) faunal assemblages have gained widespread attention due to their relevance to the debate over the modernity of hominid behavior during the MSA/MP. A recent critique of the scavenging argument for MSA/MP behavior drew on a summary presentation of the skeletal abundance and surface modification data from Die Kelders Cave 1 Layer 10 (Marean, 1998). This paper provides a more complete presentation of those data, adds the smaller Layer 11 sample, and provides a detailed analysis of the taphonomic history of both samples.Bone fragment density is higher in Layer 10 than in Layer 11. Bone densities vary horizontally as well, with Layer 10 showing greater deposition in the exposed areas of the cave. An analysis of long bone breakage patterns indicates that non-nutritive breakage on the Layers 10 and 11 samples was present but not intense. Size 1 mammals were predominantly accumulated by owls and/or other large raptors, not hominids, in Layer 10. Hominids were the predominant accumulator of Sizes 2-4 mammals in Layers 10 and 11 as indicated by the frequency of hammer-stone percussion marks and carnivore toothmarks. After discard by hominids, a significant portion of these remains were discovered and scavenged by carnivores. Overall, the larger mammal fauna of Layer 10 is dominated by Sizes 3 and 4 bovids, mostly young and adult eland, and thus hominids were focusing on the high-ranked prey items. Shaft portions of long bones, the portions with the most flesh, have the highest frequencies of cutmarks. A comparison of the Layers 10 and 11 cutmark frequencies to Selvaggio's (1998) scavenging model shows that the frequencies are significantly outside the range of variation documented in Selavaggio's scavenging sample.     

Early Evidence of Acheulean Settlement in Northwestern Europe - La Noira Site,a 700 000 Year-Old Occupation in the Center of France

The human settlement of Europe during Pleistocene times was sporadic and several stages have been recognized, both from paleaoanthropological and archaeological records. If the first phase of hominin occupation (as early as 1.4 Ma) seems mainly restricted to the southern part of the continent, the second phase, characterized by specific lithic tools (handaxes), is linked to Acheulean settlements and to the emergence of Homo heidelbergensis, the ancestor of Neanderthals. This phase reached northwestern Europe and is documented in numerous sites in Germany, Great Britain and northern France, generally after 600 ka.At la Noira (Brinay, Central France), the Middle Pleistocene alluvial formation of the Cher River covers an archaeological level associated with a slope deposit (diamicton). The lithic assemblage from this level includes Large Cutting Tools (LCTs), flakes and cores, associated with numerous millstone slabs. The lithic series is classified as Acheulean on the basis of both technological and typological analyses. Cryoturbation features indicate that the slope deposits and associated archaeological level were strongly frozen and disturbed after hominin occupation and before fluvial deposition. Eight sediment samples were dated by the electron spin resonance (ESR) method and the weighted average age obtained for the fluvial sands overlying the slope deposits is 665±55 ka. This age is older than previous chronological data placing the first European Acheulean assemblages north of 45^th parallel north at around 500 ka and modifies our current vision of the initial peopling of northern Europe. Acheulean settlements are older than previously assumed and the oldest evidences are not only located in southern Europe. La Noira is the oldest evidence of Acheulean presence in north-western Europe and attests to the possibility of pioneering phases of Acheulean settlement which would have taken place on a Mode 1-type substratum as early as 700 ka. The lithic assemblage from la Noira thus provides behavioral and technological data on early Acheulean occupation in Europe and contributes to our understanding of the diffusion of this tradition.     

Hearth-side socioeconomics, hunting and paleoecology during the late Lower Paleolithic at Qesem Cave, Israel

The late Lower Paleolithic archaeofaunas of Qesem Cave in the southern Levant span 400-200 ka and associate with Acheulo-Yabrudian (mainly Amudian) industries. The large mammals are exclusively Eurasian in origin and formed under relatively cool, moist conditions. The zooarchaeological findings testify to large game hunting, hearth-centered carcass processing and meat sharing during the late Lower Paleolithic, not unlike the patterns known from Middle and Upper Paleolithic caves in the region. Well-defined hearth features are rarely preserved in Qesem Cave, but the heterogeneous distributions of burned bones indicate areas of frequent hearth rebuilding throughout the occupation sequence. The hominins delayed consumption of high quality body parts until they could be moved to the cave, where hearths were hubs of processing activities and social interaction. Paradoxically, the cut marks on the Qesem bones are both more abundant and more randomly oriented than those observed in Middle and Upper Paleolithic cases in the Levant. These results suggest that several individuals were directly involved in cutting meat from the bones and that the social mechanics of meat sharing during the late Lower Paleolithic at Qesem Cave differed from those typical of both the Middle and Upper Paleolithic in the region.