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Marquet JC, Freiesleben TH, Thomsen KJ, Murray AS, Calligaro M, Macaire JJ, Robert E, Lorblanchet M, Aubry T, Bayle G, Bréhéret JG, Camus H, Chareille P, Egels Y, Guillaud É, Guérin G, Gautret P, Liard M, O'Farrell M, Peyrouse JB, Thamó-Bozsó E, Verdin P, Wojtczak D, Oberlin C, Jaubert J. The earliest unambiguous Neanderthal engravings on cave walls: La Roche-Cotard, Loire Valley, France. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0286568. [PMID: 37343032 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2022] [Accepted: 05/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Here we report on Neanderthal engravings on a cave wall at La Roche-Cotard (LRC) in central France, made more than 57±3 thousand years ago. Following human occupation, the cave was completely sealed by cold-period sediments, which prevented access until its discovery in the 19th century and first excavation in the early 20th century. The timing of the closure of the cave is based on 50 optically stimulated luminescence ages derived from sediment collected inside and from around the cave. The anthropogenic origin of the spatially-structured, non-figurative marks found within the cave is confirmed using taphonomic, traceological and experimental evidence. Cave closure occurred significantly before the regional arrival of H. sapiens, and all artefacts from within the cave are typical Mousterian lithics; in Western Europe these are uniquely attributed to H. neanderthalensis. We conclude that the LRC engravings are unambiguous examples of Neanderthal abstract design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Claude Marquet
- Unité mixte de recherche 7324, CItés, TERritoires, Environnement et Sociétés, Laboratoire Archéologie et Territoires, Université de Tours, Tours, France
- Equipe d'accueil 6293, GéoHydrosytèmes COntinentaux, Faculté des sciences et techniques, Université de Tours, Tours, France
| | | | | | - Andrew Sean Murray
- Department Physics, Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde, Denmark
- Nordic Laboratory for Luminescence Dating, Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Morgane Calligaro
- Unité mixte de recherche Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique, Musée de l'Homme, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France
| | - Jean-Jacques Macaire
- Equipe d'accueil 6293, GéoHydrosytèmes COntinentaux, Faculté des sciences et techniques, Université de Tours, Tours, France
| | - Eric Robert
- Unité mixte de recherche Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique, Musée de l'Homme, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France
| | | | - Thierry Aubry
- Côa Parque, Fundação para a Salvaguarda e Valorização do Vale do Côa, Vila Nova de Foz Côa, Portugal
- Centro de Arqueologia Universidade de Lisboa, Facultade de Letras, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Grégory Bayle
- Unité mixte de recherche 7324, CItés, TERritoires, Environnement et Sociétés, Laboratoire Archéologie et Territoires, Université de Tours, Tours, France
- Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives, Pantin, France
| | - Jean-Gabriel Bréhéret
- Equipe d'accueil 6293, GéoHydrosytèmes COntinentaux, Faculté des sciences et techniques, Université de Tours, Tours, France
| | - Hubert Camus
- PROTEE association, Villeneuve-les Maguelone, France
| | - Pascal Chareille
- Equipe d'accueil 6298, Centre Tourangeau d'Histoire et d'étude des Sources, Faculté des Arts et Sciences Humaines, Tours, France
| | - Yves Egels
- Ecole Nationale des Sciences Géographiques, Institut Géographique National, Marne la Vallée, France
| | - Émilie Guillaud
- Unité mixte de recherche 7209, Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Guillaume Guérin
- Unité mixte de recherche 6118, Géosciences Rennes, Université de Rennes, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, Rennes, France
| | - Pascale Gautret
- Unité mixte de recherche 7327, Institut des Sciences de la terre, Université d'Orléans, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières, Orléans, France
| | - Morgane Liard
- Laboratoire de Géographie Physique et Environnementale, Université Clermont-Auvergne, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Magen O'Farrell
- Unité mixte de recherche 5199, De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie, Université de Bordeaux, GPR Hman Past, Pessac, France
| | - Jean-Baptiste Peyrouse
- Unité mixte de recherche 7041, équipe Archéologies Environnementales, Archéologie et Sciences de l'Antiquité, Nanterre, France
| | | | - Pascal Verdin
- Unité mixte de recherche 7264, Gestion des REssources Naturelles, Environnements et Sociétés, Cultures et Environnements: Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen-Age, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, Nice, France
- Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives, Nîmes, France
| | - Dorota Wojtczak
- Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science, University of Basel, Basel, Suisse
| | - Christine Oberlin
- Centre de Datation par le RadioCarbone, Unité mixte de recherche 5138 Archéologie et Archéométrie, Villeurbanne, France Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Université Lumière Lyon 2, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Jacques Jaubert
- Unité mixte de recherche 5199, De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie, Université de Bordeaux, GPR Hman Past, Pessac, France
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Boëda E, Ramos M, Pérez A, Hatté C, Lahaye C, Pino M, Hérisson D, Clemente-Conte I, Fontugne M, Guérin G, Villagran X, Santos JC, Costa L, Germond L, Ahmed-Delacroix NE, Da Costa A, Borges C, Hoeltz S, Felice G, Gluchy M, van Havre G, Griggo C, Lucas L, de Souza I, Viana S, Strauss A, Kerner J, Guidon N. 24.0 kyr cal BP stone artefact from Vale da Pedra Furada, Piauí, Brazil: Techno-functional analysis. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0247965. [PMID: 33690652 PMCID: PMC7946292 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Accepted: 02/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Current archaeological paradigm proposes that the first peopling of the Americas does not exceed the Last Glacial Maximum period. In this context, the acceptance of the anthropogenic character of the earliest stone artefacts generally rests on the presence of projectile points considered no more as typocentric but as typognomonic, since it allows, by itself, to certify the human character of the other associated artefacts. In other words, without this presence, nothing is certain. Archaeological research at Piauí (Brazil) attests to a Pleistocene human presence between 41 and 14 cal kyr BP, without any record of lithic projectile points. Here, we report the discovery and interpretation of an unusual stone artefact in the Vale da Pedra Furada site, in a context dating back to 24 cal kyr BP. The knapping stigmata and macroscopic use-wear traces reveal a conception centred on the configuration of double bevels and the production in the same specimen of at least two successive artefacts with probably different functions. This piece unambiguously presents an anthropic character and reveals a technical novelty during the Pleistocene occupation of South America.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Boëda
- ArScAn-Équipe AnTET, UMR 7041, CNRS, Université Paris Nanterre (UPN), Nanterre, France
- Department of Anthropology, UFR SSA, Université Paris Nanterre (UPN), Nanterre, France
- * E-mail:
| | - Marcos Ramos
- PPGArq-Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Antonio Pérez
- ArScAn-Équipe AnTET, UMR 7041, CNRS, Université Paris Nanterre (UPN), Nanterre, France
- Institut français d’études andines (IFEA), Lima, Peru
| | - Christine Hatté
- LSCE/LAMPEA, UMR 8212, CNRS, CEA UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Christelle Lahaye
- IRAMAT-CRP2A, UMR 5060, CNRS, Bordeaux Montaigne University, Pessac, France
| | - Mario Pino
- Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra and TAQUACH, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile
| | - David Hérisson
- ArScAn-Équipe AnTET, UMR 7041, CNRS, Université Paris Nanterre (UPN), Nanterre, France
| | | | - Michel Fontugne
- LSCE/LAMPEA, UMR 8212, CNRS, CEA UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Guillaume Guérin
- IRAMAT-CRP2A, UMR 5060, CNRS, Bordeaux Montaigne University, Pessac, France
| | - Ximena Villagran
- MAE–Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Janaina C. Santos
- Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco (UNIVASF), Petrolina, Brazil
| | - Lucas Costa
- Universidade Federal do Piauí (UFPI), Teresina, Brazil
| | - Lucie Germond
- ArScAn-Équipe AnTET, UMR 7041, CNRS, Université Paris Nanterre (UPN), Nanterre, France
| | | | - Amelie Da Costa
- ArScAn-Équipe AnTET, UMR 7041, CNRS, Université Paris Nanterre (UPN), Nanterre, France
| | - Carolina Borges
- Instituto do Patrimonio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (IPHAN), Piauí, Brazil
| | | | - Gisele Felice
- Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco (UNIVASF), Petrolina, Brazil
- Fundação Museu do Homem Americano (FUMDHAM), São Raimundo Nonato, Piauí, Brazil
| | - María Gluchy
- Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG), Rio Grande, Brazil
| | | | - Christophe Griggo
- EDYTEM UMR 5204 CNRS, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Le Bourget-du-Lac, France
| | - Livia Lucas
- Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS), Sergipe, Brazil
| | | | - Sibeli Viana
- Pontificia Universidade Católica de Goiás (PUC-GO), Instituto Goiano de Pré-História e Antropologia (IGPA), Goiânia, Brazil
| | - André Strauss
- MAE–Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Jennifer Kerner
- Department of Anthropology, UFR SSA, Université Paris Nanterre (UPN), Nanterre, France
| | - Niède Guidon
- Fundação Museu do Homem Americano (FUMDHAM), São Raimundo Nonato, Piauí, Brazil
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Heydari M, Guérin G, Zeidi M, Conard NJ. Bayesian luminescence dating at Ghār-e Boof, Iran, provides a new chronology for Middle and Upper Paleolithic in the southern Zagros. J Hum Evol 2021; 151:102926. [PMID: 33429259 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2020] [Revised: 11/25/2020] [Accepted: 11/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Ghār-e Boof is a Paleolithic cave site in Iran well known for its rich early Upper Paleolithic Rostamian assemblages. The site is located on the edge of the Dasht-e Rostam plain in the southern Zagros. Recent excavations by the members of the Tübingen-Iranian Stone Age Research Project at Ghār-e Boof also recovered well-stratified Middle Paleolithic assemblages. Here, we provide the first detailed luminescence chronology for the Middle and Upper Paleolithic of the site. More generally, our work is the first luminescence chronology for a Middle and Upper Paleolithic site in the Zagros Mountains region in Iran. The luminescence ages for the Upper Paleolithic of Ghār-e Boof agree with published 14C dates. We applied Bayesian models specifically designed for luminescence dating using the R package 'BayLum' to incorporate the well-established stratigraphic constraints, as well as the published 14C ages with our optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages to improve the precision of the chronological framework. The Bayesian chronology shows a significantly improved precision of the OSL ages in particular for the upper part of the sequence where 14C ages were available. The Bayesian OSL ages for the Rostamian horizons, archaeologicalhorizon (AH) III (a-b-c), and AH IV, fall in the range of 37-42 ka (68% credible interval [CI]). Moreover, we determined a series of dates between 45 and 81 ka (68% CI) for the Middle Paleolithic strata from AH IVd to AH VI. Our results point to a demographic shift in the populations responsible for the Middle Paleolithic and the Rostamian within three millennia. This major technological change accompanied by the rise of symbolic artifacts such as personal ornaments, may or may not reflect a replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans. While we are confident that the Rostamian was made by modern humans, available information does not allow us to be sure who made the local Middle Paleolithic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maryam Heydari
- IRAMAT-CRP2A, UMR 5060, CNRS-Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Maison de l'Archéologie, 33607, Pessac Cedex, France.
| | - Guillaume Guérin
- IRAMAT-CRP2A, UMR 5060, CNRS-Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Maison de l'Archéologie, 33607, Pessac Cedex, France
| | - Mohsen Zeidi
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nicholas J Conard
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Germany
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Chevrier B, Lespez L, Lebrun B, Garnier A, Tribolo C, Rasse M, Guérin G, Mercier N, Camara A, Ndiaye M, Huysecom E. New data on settlement and environment at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary in Sudano-Sahelian West Africa: Interdisciplinary investigation at Fatandi V, Eastern Senegal. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0243129. [PMID: 33296412 PMCID: PMC7725507 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2019] [Accepted: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The end of the Palaeolithic represents one of the least-known periods in the history of western Africa, both in terms of its chronology and the identification of cultural assemblages entities based on the typo-technical analyses of its industries. In this context, the site of Fatandi V offers new data to discuss the cultural pattern during the Late Stone Age in western Africa. Stratigraphic, taphonomical and sedimentological analyses show the succession of three sedimentary units. Several concentrations with rich lithic material were recognized. An in situ occupation, composed of bladelets, segments, and bladelet and flake cores, is confirmed while others concentrations of lithic materials have been more or less disturbed by erosion and pedogenic post-depositional processes. The sequence is well-dated from 12 convergent OSL dates. Thanks to the dating of the stratigraphic units and an OSL date from the layer (11,300-9,200 BCE [13.3-11.2 ka at 68%, 14.3-10.3 ka at 95%]), the artefacts are dated to the end of Pleistocene or Early Holocene. Palaeoenvironmental data suggest that the settlement took place within a mosaic environment and more precisely at the transition between the open landscape of savanna on the glacis and the plateau, and the increasingly densely-wooded alluvial corridor. These humid areas must have been particularly attractive during the dry season by virtue of their rich resources (raw materials, water, trees, and bushes). The Fatandi V site constitutes the first stratified site of the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary in Senegal with both precise geochronological and palaeoenvironmental data. It complements perfectly the data already obtained in Mali and in the rest of western Africa, and thus constitutes a reference point for this period. In any case, the assemblage of Fatandi V, with its bladelets and segments and in the absence of ceramics and grinding material, fits with a cultural group using exclusively geometric armatures which strongly differs from another group characterized by the production of bifacial armatures, accompanied in its initial phase by ceramics (or stoneware) and grinding material.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benoît Chevrier
- Archéologie et Peuplement de l’Afrique, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- * E-mail:
| | - Laurent Lespez
- Department of Geography, University Paris Est Créteil, LGP-CNRS UMR 8591, Créteil, France
| | - Brice Lebrun
- Centre Européen de Recherche et d'Enseignement des Géosciences de l'Environnement, Aix-en-Provence, France
| | - Aline Garnier
- Department of Geography, University Paris Est Créteil, LGP-CNRS UMR 8591, Créteil, France
| | - Chantal Tribolo
- Centre de recherche en physique appliquée à l’archéologie, UMR 5060 CNRS Institut de recherche sur les Archéomatériaux, Pessac, France
| | - Michel Rasse
- UMR 5133 CNRS Archéorient, University Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon, France
| | - Guillaume Guérin
- Centre de recherche en physique appliquée à l’archéologie, UMR 5060 CNRS Institut de recherche sur les Archéomatériaux, Pessac, France
| | - Norbert Mercier
- Centre de recherche en physique appliquée à l’archéologie, UMR 5060 CNRS Institut de recherche sur les Archéomatériaux, Pessac, France
| | - Abdoulaye Camara
- Archaeology laboratory, University Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal
| | - Matar Ndiaye
- Archaeology laboratory, University Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal
| | - Eric Huysecom
- Archéologie et Peuplement de l’Afrique, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
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Forget Brisson L, Lamothe M, Hardy F, Graf K. Exploring the use of a low temperature preheat in IRSL dating of feldspar in Beringian archaeological contexts. RADIAT MEAS 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.radmeas.2020.106387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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6
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OSL signal saturation and dose rate variability: Investigating the behaviour of different statistical models. RADIAT MEAS 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.radmeas.2018.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Christophe C, Philippe A, Guérin G, Mercier N, Guibert P. Bayesian approach to OSL dating of poorly bleached sediment samples: Mixture Distribution Models for Dose (MD 2 ). RADIAT MEAS 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.radmeas.2017.10.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Guibert P, Christophe C, Urbanová P, Guérin G, Blain S. Modeling incomplete and heterogeneous bleaching of mobile grains partially exposed to the light: Towards a new tool for single grain OSL dating of poorly bleached mortars. RADIAT MEAS 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.radmeas.2017.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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