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Palaeolithic - Science topic
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Questions related to Palaeolithic
I'm studying Palaeolithic art in clay in Spain and France for my masters and would like to know if you have any palaeolithic art and whether any is made in/from clay
Hi,
I'm looking for the coordinates of three Croatian Middle Palaeolithic sites: Podumci, Razvodje and Tatinja Draga.
Does anyone know a good resource I can use, as I am having trouble finding articles with the locations, let alone a reliable reference.
At neolithic to modern sites it is often possible to spatially delimit a settlement or even classify functional areas with the help of a soil phosphate mapping. Does anyone know of such attempts for open air sites of the palaeolithic period? Because I cannot find anything about it and I wonder whether soil phosphates have been substantially enriched by this former occupation at all and whether the phosphates can outlast 40,000 years.
This piece (see image), coming from a middle palaeolithic site, is most likely a compact (silicified?) limestone about 65 mm in length. One side is convex and seems to be a natural surface, the other side is somewhat flatter and shows a certain degree of iron staining. Most notable, and undoubtedly anthropogenic are two big removals at struck from the flatter side, removing flakes from the cortical side. Further removals can be observed on the flat side, struck from the bottom (cf. the image).
Although the piece shows various scratches across its surface going in variable directions, the top part of the cortical side show a strong concentration of (sub)parallel scratches, starting from the concave extremity up to about 1 cm onto the piece. These traces are matched by small (incidental?) removals on the reverse side.
My question is whether the scratching at the top can be considered the result of anthropogenic activity and what for what kind of activity this partly flaked, partly scrachted piece could have been used? I have considered a retoucher, and a kind of wedge/chisel like piece (the latter possibly struck from the base), but I am lacking comparative finds in the literature. Do people know of comparable finds from other sites?
I am preparing a term paper on the use of plants with pharmacological properties by Neanderthals (in Europe or Eurasia). Also, what information is there about how these properties may have changed over time.
I´m looking for Middle Palaeolithic sites (either residence, symbolic or other activity-related) which have been found in the deep cave interior, or at least in zones lacking natural light, and thus far away from the entrance. An outstanding example of this would be the stalagmite structures of Bruniquel cave, but other not so deep and not so spectacular sites are welcome.
Many thanks in advance.
Historiographical analyses based on epistemologial, externalist and contextual approaches published later than 2012 would be very much appreciated. Focus of research could be also Archaeology or Prehistory as a whole, but the Palaeolithic field should be addressed in detail.
Many thanks in advance.
Manuel Alcaraz-Castaño.
1950s-1990s, esp excavation methods for open air and cave sites.
Sandstones they are printed on these forms belong to Wadi Malik Fm. (Lower Carboniferous) outcropping in Jebel Uweinat (Sudan, on the border with Libya and Egypt). This may be footprints of tetrapods?
The body of Paleolithic finds and information from southeast Europe has been growing to a great extend in the recent years. Nevertheless from certain areas such as Kosovo there are no finds reported whatsoever. Is this due to lack of accessible publications or lack of research in this particular field of archaeology?
I'm working about changing diets from the Late Palaeolithic to Neolithic times. Right now i'm interested in the Mesolithic period.
I've read those most famous of papers regarding Palaeolithic raw material movements (e.g. Feblot-Augustins 1993, 1997, 2009) and am aware of the localised collection and limited transport distance of lithic raw materials in the British and European Palaeolithic. However, I have been reliably informed that the Mediterranean area displays some differences to this pattern. Can anyone provide references to raw material movements in this area that provides a starting point from which to find out more?
Many thanks.
Within the Mousterian record of western Europe, we have evidence for usage of black pigment made from MnO2 by Neandertals (50 000 years old at Pech-de-l'Azé I for instance). I've been using the analogy with the ethnographic record as well as some preliminary experiments to argue that they might have been used as dye stuff/stain (see Soressi et D'Errico, 2007 as well as Soressi et al 2008). Would anybody know of usage of MnO2 pigment for other purposes than body decoration/symbolic purposes?
