Isabel Cáceres

• Dr
• Universitat Rovira i Virgili - IPHES at Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Bone diagenesis is a complex process that modifies bone components in response to burial conditions. These modifications help to understand deposit formation and classify fossils by stratigraphy. The combined techniques of X-ray diffraction with Rietveld refinement and infrared spectroscopy were used to study the bone diagenetic processes along the...

Osseous industry has been observed at an increasing number of Neanderthal sites. Bone fragments were used for practical purposes, and a range of bone shaping techniques were employed. The variability of bone tools observed in different assemblages reflects considerable functional diversity. However, no bone spear points have been reported from thes...

Magnetic properties of iron oxides provide invaluable data for environmental reconstruction during sediment deposition. Encouraged by the results of our previous studies in the near Gran Dolina site, we investigate the GI waterlain facies sediments that fill Galería Complex cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain), in particular the Covacha de los Zarpazo...

El jaciment ibèric (s. VII-I a.n.e.) de l'Assut (Tivenys, Baix Ebre) és un dels assentaments protohistòrics amb una seqüèn-cia cronològica més àmplia del curs inferior de l'Ebre i un exponent clau per comprendre l'evolució de les dinàmiques socials, polítiques i econòmiques en aquesta regió. Les pràctiques ra-maderes, tot i ser la base de les estra...

Since the origins of technology, human groups have used a wide variety of lithic and organic raw materials to make tools. In particular, bone was used as raw material for creating knapped artefacts. Nevertheless, the recognition of these technological elements in the archaeological record has generated some debate, since modern taphonomy has shown...

Bone diagenesis is a complex phenomenon that involves the modification of the physicochemical, histological, and mechanical properties of bone remains in each burial environment. One of the most common diagenetic processes in archaeological and paleontological sites is the incorporation of fluorine in bone mineral which has been widely recorded on...

Throughout 20 years of fieldwork at the Pliocene deposit of Camp dels Ninots (CN; NE Iberia) an outstanding collection of vegetal, micro- and macrovertebrate remains have been unearthed in an extraordinary state of preservation. The recorded taphocenosis is roughly synchronous with the progressive intensification of glacial dynamics in the Northern...

The archaeological data on the earliest hominin behavioral subsistence activities in North Africa are derived primarily from the Early Pleistocene site of Ain Boucherit (northeastern Algeria). Ain Boucherit consists of two archaeological layers, Ain Boucherit Upper (AB-Up) and Ain Boucherit Lower (AB-Lw), estimated to ~ 1.9 Ma and ~ 2.4 Ma, respect...

Since the oldest known Acheulean lithic techno-typological features in Europe were reported at the site of Barranc de la Boella (Tarragona, Spain), continuous fieldwork has been conducted there in archeological deposits of the late Early Pleistocene age (0.99–0.78 Ma). As a result, excavations in two of the three open-air localities have significan...

The BB specimen is an upper right canine belonging to a male of the primate M. sylvanus. The agreement among the qualitative characteristics of the tooth and the chronology of the site suggest its identification as M. sylvanus cf. florentina, although the lack of consensus on the validity of the proposed subspecies and the large biometric overlap d...

The study of European Pleistocene Hippopotamus presents unresolved questions and a lack of consensus among specialists being matter of hotly debate in the last decades. The number of taxa, their geographical and chronological distribution and their palaeobiological affinities are still under evaluation. The present work presents the results of comp...

Fumier sequences play a primary role in the study of livestock management and the use of space in prehistoric pastoralist societies. These sequences are formed when dung accumulated in sheepfold caves and rock shelters is burnt, resulting in an overlapping of burnt and unburnt sedimentary layers. Thus, fire is a key taphonomic agent in the formatio...

Quaternary faunal remains are key for the understanding of the effect of climatic changes on both animal and human populations. Here we show for the first time in Atapuerca the analysis of an avian assemblage through the MIS9/8 boundary, a moment of climatic deterioration that coincides with the spread of Neanderthals and the adoption of Levallois...

The study of European hippopotamus (recorded throughout the Quaternary from the Early to the Late Pleistocene) presents several unresolved questions and a lack of consensus among specialists. The number of identified taxa, their geographical and chronological distribution, and the palaeobiological changes in their populations are still hotly debate...

The taphonomic study of two complete and anatomically connected individuals of Tapirus arvernensis from the Pliocene site of Camp dels Ninots (Caldes de Malavella, Spain) strengthens the attribution to a konservat-Lagerstätte deposit. The macroscopic analysis showed the absence of weathering, predation marks, and scarce superficial modification. Di...

Long and complex sequences of intentional organic rich sediments accumulation known as fumiers can often be found in many caves and rock shelters used for herding activities since the Neolithic to current times in the Mediterranean basin. These are mainly composed of burnt animal dung and vegetal remains and are commonly interpreted as the result o...

The preparation of samples for traceological analysis is a key methodological aspect in the correct interpretation of use-wear; however, it is often poorly reflected in the archaeological literature. The treatment of osseous tissues is particularly overlooked, and receives even less attention than lithic raw materials. The presence of residues and...

The late Early Pleistocene open-air site of Barranc de la Boella (Tarragona, Spain), dated in 960-781 Ka, represents one of the ancient evidence of the arrival of large cutting tools industries in Western Europe. Since the beginning of the excavation in 2007, the site has provided a wide faunal and lithic fossil record in three different areas exca...

ABSTRACT Research on the Algerian localities Ain Boucherit and Ain Hanech led to the dating of the oldest stone tools in North Africa, but also to the recovery of new material of the rare three-toed horse Hipparion ambiguum (Equidae) from its type locality of Ain Boucherit and the dating of the youngest North African hipparion record at Ain Hanech...

El hueso es un material que aparece frecuentemente en las colecciones de patrimonio cultural y especialmente en las colecciones arqueológicas y paleontológicas. Una correcta diagnosis de su estado de conservación es esencial, sin embargo, la información sobre su naturaleza y las transformaciones que se producen en ellos durante el enterramiento no...

The TD6 unit of the Gran Dolina contains an assemblage of the Early Pleistocene, interpreted firstly as a home base. More recently has been proposed a transported origin of the remains according to the sedimentology. Following this model, the remains should be dragged or lagged in a predictable pattern related to their weight, density, shape, and s...

The Early Pleistocene faunal record in North Africa is well known from classic localities, documented already in the 19th century and earlier part of the 20th century, such as Aïn Boucherit and Aïn Hanech. In the second half of the 20th century, radiometric dates became available and correlations were used to estimate the ages of the earliest Pleis...

Les sites pléistocènes inférieurs d’Afrique de l’Est et ceux de Gona (Éthiopie) datés de 2,6 millions d’années en particulier, ont livré les plus anciens outils oldowayens et ossements portant des traces de découpe induites par l’utilisation de ces outils taillés par les hominidés indubitablement reconnus à ce jour. Par comparaison, les artefacts l...

In the original publication of this article, one of the author names was incorrectly captured. The first name should be Razika, then family name should be Chelli-Cheheb.

Available : https://rdcu.be/b4ATN Identification of animal pens offers relevant information as to livestock practices in late prehistoric societies. To date, livestock pens have been identified particularly in caves thanks to the recognition of fumier deposits. However, that is more complex in open-air settlements because dung degrades more rapidl...

Anurans, such as frogs and toads, are occasionally very abundant in archaeo-paleontological sites and representing >80% of the remains. These accumulations have been linked mainly to human consumption in the European context, by the preferential selection of body parts and by the presence of burning, and to a lesser extent, cut marks (as in Chalain...

Bone artefacts have been widely studied because they can be difficult to identify in ancient chronologies. Taphonomical and zooarchaeological studies have demonstrated problems of equifinality of biotic and/or abiotic agents that create pseudo-tools: marrow fracturing of green bone by hominins and carnivores, trampling, etc. In particular, minimall...

Although stone tools generally co-occur with early members of the genus Homo , they are rarely found in direct association with hominins. We report that both Acheulian and Oldowan artifacts and Homo erectus crania were found in close association at 1.26 million years (Ma) ago at Busidima North (BSN12), and ca. 1.6 to 1.5 Ma ago at Dana Aoule North...

Percussion marks have been studied in the field of archaeology for more than a century. Researchers have identified, characterized and analysed them in order to distinguish them from traces of environment modification to bone and reconstruct hominin subsistence strategies. The multiplicity of studies based on percussion marks in different languages...

The presence of skull cups (bowls made from human calvaria) is considered evidence of the ritualistic treatment of human bodies. These artefacts are characterised by careful manufacturing which can be taphonomically observed in bone surface modifications (BSM) as cut marks and percussion marks. These BSM show morphological similarities across Upper...

Archaeological records of the treatment of human skulls for ceremonial or cult purposes appear at the end of Palaeolithic and are shown in different ways, being able to identify through the taphonomic modifications. According to this, the presence of skull cups (bowls from human calvaria) is currently considered evidence of ritualistic treatment of...

The Ain Boucherit-Ain Hanech sequence in northeastern Algeria documents evidence of the earliest hominid presence in North Africa. The stratigraphic sequence is rich with Lower Pleistocene fluvio-lacustrine deposits. There are four main fossil and artifact-bearing localities, including two deposits at Ain Boucherit, Ain Hanech, and El-Kherba. Ain B...

The archaeological information on Early Homo adaptive and behavioral patterns in Africa is derived chiefly from a number of sites south of the Sahara, e.g. Gona and Konso Gardula (Ethiopia); Olduvai (Tanzania ); Koobi Fora (Kenya); and Sterkfontein and Swartkrans (South Africa). Current investigations at Ai n Hanech and Tighennif in Algeria are bro...

This paper presents the results of a pilot study using dental microwear analysis on 23 sheep and goat teeth dated to the 6th century BC from the Iron Age site of El Turó Font de la Canya (Barcelona, Spain). This study aimed to reconstruct livestock management practices and landscape use. The dental microwear pattern indicates that sheep and goats c...

Recent functional and zooarchaeological studies conducted on the archeological finds of Pirro Nord (PN13) produced new, reliable data on early European hominid subsistence activities. The age of the site is estimated to be ~ 1.3–1.6 Ma, based on bio-chronological data, and the archeological excavation of the Pirro Nord 13 fissure led to the discove...

Categorical variables identifying microscopic features of cut marks produce high accuracy in discrimination of bone surface modifications, but are vulnerable to variable degrees of inter-analyst subjectivity. Metric analyses of cut mark width and depth are presented by Merritt et al. (2018) as a more objective method of identifying cut marks. Howev...

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...

Tumbling is defined as a process in which hyper-concentrated flows alter bone remains, producing changes in their morphology and original structure. Although the process is well known, little experimental research has focused on describing the effects this process has on bone surface modifications (BSM), which can subsequently be applied to the fos...

Early humans in northern Africa Evidence for the earliest stone tools produced by human ancestors (from ∼2.6 million years ago) has hitherto come from East Africa. Sahnouni et al. report the discovery of Oldowan stone artifacts and associated cutmarks on fossil bones excavated in Algeria, with the earliest dated to 2.4 million years ago. Thus, homi...

Konso in Ethiopia and Kokiselei in Kenya, both dated to ~1.7 million years ago (Ma), and FLK West, a recently reported site from Olduvai dated to 1.7 Ma, are the earliest Acheulean sites known in East Africa. Ongoing archaeological investigations at Gona, in the Afar Depression of Ethiopia, have also produced early Acheulean stone assemblages at se...

Practically all archeological assemblages are palimpsests. In spite of the high temporal resolution of Abric Romaní site, level O, dated to around 55 ka, is not an exception. This paper focuses on a zooarcheological and taphonomic analysis of this level, paying special attention to spatial and temporal approaches. The main goal is to unravel the pa...

Long bone breakage by Neanderthals to extract marrow is noticed in many archaeological sites. Indeed, marrow was an important nutritional resource to many human groups, particularly during glacial and periglacial periods. Archaeological experiments concerning long bone breakage could be useful for example to characterize percussion marks or to iden...

A series of experimental cut marks have been analyzed by eleven taphonomists with the goal of assessing if they could identify similarly 14 selected microscopic variables which would identify those marks as cut marks. The main objective was to test if variable identification could be made scientifically; that is, different researchers using the sam...

The late Early Pleistocene site Barranc de la Boella provides an unparalleled opportunity to assess the context of the activities of the hominin populations that inhabited the Iberian Peninsula at 1 Ma. Recently, strong evidence for access to mammoth meat has been described at the Pit 1 locality. At the la Mina and el Forn excavation areas, little...

The identification of social learning processes and knowledge transmission mechanisms in the archaeological record is a matter currently explored on lithic record but not very often on faunal assemblages. As soon as the Middle Palaeolithic, the uniformity and orientation of cut marks or patterns of bone breakage may represent very useful tools to h...

The Ain Boucherit-Ain Hanech sequence in northeastern Algeria do¬cuments evidence of the earliest hominid presence in North Africa. The stratigraphic sequence is rich with Lower Pleistocene fluvio-lacustrine de¬posits. There are four main fossil and artifact-bearing localities, including two deposits at Ain Boucherit, Ain Hanech, and El-Kherba. Ain...

Coprolites are commonly identified in the Pleistocene archaeo-palaeontological record. They have often been described as indirect evidence for the presence of carnivores (usually hyenids) during the formation of a depositional sequence. However, coprolites are a much larger source of information that can provide data relating to factors affecting a...

We present here the first results on the taphonomic analyses of the faunal assemblages from the stratigraphic Member R and Member P at Ain Boucherit (Ain Hanech, Algeria), which yielded the earliest currently known archaeological occurrences in northern Africa. The majority of the fossil assemblages belong to the Bovidae family (with several subfam...

Galería is one of the main sites of the Trinchera del Ferrocarril (railway trench) in Atapuerca, together with Gran Dolina and Sima del Elefante. The Galería excavations took place mainly during the 1980s and 1990s and continued until 2010. Work has recently resumed in the upper levels of the sequence, which has prompted us to summarize the previou...

The Ciota Ciara cave is located in the karst area of Monte Fenera (Borgosesia-VC) and, with the Ciotarun cave, it is the only Middle Palaeolithic site in Piedmont where the presence of Homo neanderthalensis has been confirmed by discoveries of human remains. Preliminary taphonomic and archaeozoological studies have been performed on a portion of th...

This chapter aims to describe the complete scenario that existed during the Middle Pleistocene in Azokh Caves and the Lesser Caucasus area from the evidence provided by the fossil assemblages recovered from excavations between 2002 and 2009. In the case of Azokh 1, taphonomic studies are particularly relevant since there is no such information from...

The discovery of small, very well-defined and perfectly preserved tooth marks on the humerus of a mole, Talpa cf. europaea (TE9, Sima del Elefante, Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos), is extraordinary. To date, no micromammal fossil is known with puncture prints produced by a bite with a clear or delimited morphology that would permit its detailed study....

Unit TE9 of the Sima del Elefante (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain), where the remains of Homo sp. have been discovered (1.2–1.3 Ma), is also a level rich in small mammals. The taphonomic study of these small vertebrates sheds light on the landscape that provided the setting for the activities of these early hominids and allows us to describe wh...

La Cansaladeta is a site located in a narrow passage dug out by the Francolí River in the Pre-littoral Catalan range (NE Iberia). The archaeological deposit lies on top of a+45-50m fluvial terrace, and contains a rich Middle Pleistocene stratigraphic succession in which 10 archaeological layers have been identified.Here, we present the description...

Here we present a preliminary approach to the taphofacies analysis of the El Forn Lower Pleistocene site. Since 2007, tree open air archeo-paleontological sites have been excavated at Barranc de la Boella (Tarragona, Spain): La Mina, Pit 1 locality and El Forn, dated at around 1 my old. Fossil mammals and lithic remains point to these sites as the...

Barranc de la Boella is made up of several open-air late Early Pleistocene archaeological sites (Pit 1, La Mina and El Forn) the formation of which is related to a deltaic sedimentary environment. Its age makes it a key site for studying the behavior of the early hominin groups of the Iberian Peninsula and western Europe and the ecological context...

This article focuses on the origins for technological variation during the Middle Pleistocene through the analysis of the lithic assemblages from Galería and Gran Dolina-subunit TD10.1 (Atapuerca, Spain). The technological study was organized into three main levels of analysis. The first stage consisted of the technological characterization of the...

Two archaeological assemblages from the Sierra de Atapuerca sites show evidence of an-thropogenic cannibalism. These are the late Early Pleistocene level TD6-2 at Gran Dolina, and the Bronze Age level MIR4 in the Mirador Cave. Despite the chronological distance between these two assemblages, they share the common feature that the human remains exhi...

Several studies have attempted to identify diagnostic criteria for distinguishing between evidence of trampling and cut marks, two common modifications at archaeological sites. These studies have brought to light, with relative precision, the features that identify and differentiate the two types of modifications. However, few studies differentiate...

The first arrivals of hominin populations into Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene are currently considered to have occurred as short and poorly dated biological dispersions. Questions as to the tempo and mode of these early prehistoric settlements have given rise to debates concerning the taxonomic significance of the lithic assemblages, as trace...

This work presents a study of the oldest Acheulean lithic assemblages from the Galería site, specifically the GIIa subunit, which has been dated to c. 503 ± 95 ka, and compares them with the subsequent subunit in the sequence, GIIb, dated to around 237–269 ka. The main goals of this study are to offer a detailed technological characterization of th...

The discovery of small, very well-defined and perfectly preserved toothmarks on a humerus of a mole Talpa cf. europaea from level TE9 of Sima del Elefante (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos) with a chronology of the Early Pleistocene is extraordinary. In a previous paper, this bite was compared with current small carnivores such as Mustela nivalis molars...

The most common prey of humans during the European Middle Palaeolithic was large and medium-sized ungulates. In contrast, evidence of human processing of small animals and carnivores is very scarce in this chronology. In Level O of the Abric Romaní site, dated to 55 ka, various evidence of human activity has been identified in Cervus elaphus, Bos p...

Several recent works have suggested that Neanderthal spatial behaviour may have been more complex than previously thought. One of the archaeological sites that has contributed the most data on this issue is the Abric Romaní (Capellades, Barcelona, Spain). This paper focuses on the study of Neanderthal ac-tivities related to animal resources that to...

Large Carnivore neotaphonomy is used to provide guidelines for understanding fossil bone assemblages. However, few studies have been carried out on the taphonomic signatures of wolves (Canis lupus) in their natural settings. From 2001 to 2007, 56 wolf feeding places were studied in 2 geographic areas of Poland (Bialowieza, Bieszczady). We recorded...

Pleistocene level TD6-2 of the Gran Dolina site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain) is the result of anthropogenic accumulation. Hominin groups occupied the cave as a home base, where they brought in, butchered and consumed the carcasses of ungulates and other hominins. In this paper, we reassess the role of carnivores in the formation and/or modification...