1Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1560 30th ... dating to MIS 3 on the East European Plain? ... 30,817 â 29,628 cal BP.
New dates on Middle Paleolithic sites of the East European Plain: Implications for human paleogeography John F Hoffecker1 Vance T Holliday2 P. E. Nehoroshev3 L. B. Vishnyatsky3 A. K. Ocherednoi3 V. V. Pitulko3 1Institute
of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1560 30th Street, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0450 USA 2Departments
of Anthropology and Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA 3Institute
of the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya nab., 18, 191186 St. Petersburg, Russia
Paleoanthropology Society ● April 2015 San Francisco
MIS 3: Middle Paleolithic
Betovo
Molodova
Zvanovka
Korman’ 4
Shlyakh
Biryuch’ya Balka
Starosel’e
Kabazi II
Il’skaya
Бызовая Byzovaya
Slimak et al. 2011: 843, fig. 2
[Credit: Ludovic Slimak]
Did Neanderthals occupy all of the Middle Paleolithic sites dating to MIS 3 on the East European Plain? Diagnostic skeletal remains have not been recovered from these sites (only in Crimea and Caucasus). The artifacts in the sites are widely assumed to have been made by Neanderthals on the basis of their technological and typological attributes.
Khotylevo 1 Betovo
Shlyakh
Shlyakh
Shlyakh
Don River
Shlyakh
Шлях Shlyakh
Shlyakh ● low-energy aggrading floodplain ● weak soil formation ● negligible human impact
LAYER 7
LAYER 8 LAYER 9 soil micromorphology (Paul Goldberg)
Shlyakh: Layer 8
Radiocarbon Dates: Shlyakh
CURL-17631
Layer 7 (upper) soil organics
26,020 ± 240 years BP
CURL-17626
Layer 7 (lower) soil organics
25,770 ± 230 years BP
LE-5522
Layer 8
bone
>26,000 years BP
UCIAMS-133290 Layer 8
bone
32,230 ± 460 years BP
UCIAMS-143877 Layer 8
bone
31,940 ± 360 years BP
UCIAMS-143876 Layer 8
bone
45,400 ± 1900 years BP
OxA-8306
Layer 8
bone
46,300 ± 310 years BP
OxA-8307
Layer 8
bone
45,700 ± 3000 years BP
Shlyakh
30,817 – 29,628 cal BP 30,634 – 29,402 cal BP
SOIL ORGANICS
36,606 – 35,020 cal BP LAYER 7
37,624 – 35,120 cal BP
LAYER 8
– 46,015 cal BP
LAYER 9
BONE
LASCHAMP EXCURSION (42-44 ka)
OxCal v4.2.4 Bronk Ramsey (2013); r:5 IntCal13
In Central Europe, the Bohunician industry comprises Levallois blades and Upper Paleolithic tool types and dates to < 50,000 years ago
Stránská skála (Škrdla 2003: 66, figs. 7.1 & 7.3)
“Initial Upper Paleolithic”
Bar-Yosef 2000: 126, fig. 8
Douka et al. 2013: fig. 1
Bryansk
Khotylevo 1
Desna River second terrace
Хотылево 1 Khotylevo 1
Хотылево 1
Khotylevo 1: 2013
Zavernyaev 1978: fig. 28
Radiocarbon Dates: Khotylevo 1
CURL-18727
Horizon 1
charcoal
37,910 ± 1030 years BP
CURL-18746
Horizon 1
charcoal
>45,650 years BP
CURL-18746
Horizon 1
charcoal
>45,650 years BP
CURL-17368
Horizon 1
charcoal
49,780 ± 3710 years BP
CURL-18760
Horizon 2
charcoal
>45,650 years BP
CURL-18766
Horizon 2.1
charcoal
>45,650 years BP
GIN-14414
Horizon 2.2
soil organics
42,270 ± 3300 years BP
CURL-17369
Horizon 2.2
charcoal
47,160 ± 2680 years BP
Хотылево 1 Khotylevo 1 49,780 ± 3710 yrs BP 37,910 ± 1030 yrs BP >45,650 yrs BP >45,650 yrs BP
HORIZON 1
42,270 ± 3300 yrs BP
47,160 ± 2680 yrs BP
HORIZON 2
>45,650 yrs BP
HORIZON 3
>45,650 yrs BP
HORIZON 4
2009 test trench: east wall
Ocherednoi et al. 2014: fig. 4
Бетово Betovo
Бетово Betovo
Radiocarbon Dates: Betovo (cultural layer) UCIAMS-143879
bone (Lepus)
23,960 ± 140 years BP
UCIAMS-143883
bone (Equus)
24,490 ± 150 years BP
UCIAMS-143882
bone (Equus)
24,610 ± 150 years BP
UCIAMS-143884
bone (Bison)
26,490 ± 210 years BP
UCIAMS-143881
bone (Lepus)
28,120 ± 230 years BP
UCIAMS-143878
bone (Lepus)
28,300 ± 240 years BP
UCIAMS-143880
bone (Lepus)
28,330 ± 240 years BP
UCIAMS-143885
bone (Rangifer) 32,170 ± 380 years BP
28,369 – 27,722 cal BP 2009 test trench: east wall
28,855 – 28,151 cal BP
28,987 – 28,296 cal BP 31,081 – 30,339 cal BP 32,710 – 31,386 cal BP 32,927 – 31,499 cal BP 32,966 – 31,516 cal BP 37,132 – 35,153 cal BP OxCal v4.2.4 Bronk Ramsey (2013); r:5 IntCal13 Ocherednoi et al. 2014: fig. 4
Бетово Betovo
East European Plain as a landscape context
At Kostenki, modern humans occupied killbutchery sites, as well as long-term camps, during the same time period (and earlier) that sites such as Betovo and Byzovaya were occupied.
K 1-V: BUTCHERY MAMMOTH (MNI=1)
K 14-II: KILLBUTCHERY (HORSE) & CAMP
K 17-II: CAMP SITE K17
K 12-III: KILLBUTCHERY (HORSE & REINDEER) K6 K15
K 15: KILLBUTCHERY & CAMP
Kostenki 14 ● horse NISP = 1500
● all skeletal parts represented ● green breakage of long-bone shafts ● percussion marks on long-bone shafts ● cut marks on longbones, ribs, other elements ● anatomical groups of foot bones and vertebrae
1954 excavations A. N. Rogachev
Layer II
The “Clovis landscape” in the San Pedro Valley (SE Arizona) provides an analog to the EUP landscape at Kostenki . . .
CAMP SITE BISON KILL (MNI=11) MAMMOTH KILL (MNI=1)
KILL? MAMMOTH (MNI=1)
KILL-BUTCHERY? MAMMOTHS (MNI=2)
KILL-BUTCHERY MAMMOTHS (MNI=13) Haynes (2007:3)
artifacts associated with evidence for large mammal killbutchery at Kostenki comprise the same types found at kill-butchery sites in the San Pedro Valley . . .
Kostenki 1 Layer V
Murray Springs
. . . as well as sites like Betovo and Byzovaya
What are the implications for human paleogeography? ● Did Neanderthals abandon the entire East European Plain during MIS 4 & MIS 3? (if so, why? low winter temperatures? scarcity of resources?) ● Was the East European Plain an “empty niche” for modern humans ~50,000 years ago? ● Did modern humans colonize the East European Plain during GI 12?
Acknowledgments Patrick Cappa Biagio Giaccio Paul Goldberg Steven L. Forman Scott Lehman John Southon Chad E. Wolak
Research funded by a 2013 general grant from the Leakey Foundation.
