Quaternary Environments and Humans最新文献

{"title":"The geoarchaeology, chronology and environment of Lusakert-1, a Late Middle Palaeolithic rockshelter (Kotayk Province, Armenia)","authors":"Keith N. Wilkinson ,&nbsp;Ethel Allué ,&nbsp;Simon J. Armitage ,&nbsp;Adam van Arsdale ,&nbsp;Guy Bar-Oz ,&nbsp;Alex Brittingham ,&nbsp;Boris Gasparyan ,&nbsp;Jayson Gill ,&nbsp;Philip Glauberman ,&nbsp;Thomas F.G. Higham ,&nbsp;Ellery Frahm ,&nbsp;Tanner Kovach ,&nbsp;Vasilija Lukich ,&nbsp;Carolina Mallol ,&nbsp;Yannick Raczynski-Henk ,&nbsp;Iván Rey Rodríguez ,&nbsp;Jennifer E. Sherriff ,&nbsp;Aayush Srivastava ,&nbsp;Lior Weissbrod ,&nbsp;Reuven Yeshurun ,&nbsp;Daniel S. Adler","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100054","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100054","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Lusakert-1 (LKT-1) is a key site in any discussion of the Palaeolithic of the Armenian Highlands. This is in large part because of a long-running campaign of excavation in the 1970–1980s which recovered an obsidian artefact assemblage that was then interpreted as spanning the Lower–Upper Palaeolithic. Our reinvestigation in 2008–2012 revealed evidence of occupation in the interior of the LKT-1 rockshelter comprising spreads of ash, obsidian artefacts and human-modified bone. Deposits inside the rockshelter interdigitate with alluvial sediments deposited in a now-abandoned meander of the river Hrazdan demonstrating that occupation took place at the floodplain edge. Artefacts are typologically Middle Palaeolithic, and based on refits and inferences made from micromorphological and lithostratigraphical observation, are preserved in a near <em>in situ</em> state in the rockshelter interior. Artefacts recovered from alluvial strata on the rockshelter exterior are, however, in a secondary context. In addition to stone tool production and use, and the laying of fires, the butchery of wild goat and wild ass is also documented. These activities likely took place seasonally given that evidence of the use of the site by owls - raptors that avoid humans - is found through much of the rockshelter stratigraphy. Radiocarbon and luminescence dating indicate that the rockshelter sequence accumulated in the 65–34 ka interval, i.e. during Marine Isotope Stage 3. Indeed, micromorphological and stable isotopes of <em>n</em>-alkanes demonstrate changes between the warm-humid and cool-dry climates that characterise MIS 3 in the region. Nevertheless, stable isotope data, vertebrate remains, and wood charcoal suggest that grassland vegetation dominated throughout, albeit that arboreal vegetation is associated with deposits accumulating during humid phases. LKT-1 offers a unique and detailed perspective on hominin behaviour and palaeoenvironments in the Armenian Highlands prior to the Upper Palaeolithic and serves as a valuable comparison to the growing Middle Palaeolithic record of the broader region.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 1","pages":"Article 100054"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143140497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The mounds of the India Muerta region, Uruguay, as pit oven stations. New data","authors":"Christopher Duarte ,&nbsp;Roberto Bracco Boksar ,&nbsp;Ofelia Gutiérrez ,&nbsp;Daniel Panario","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100053","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100053","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the India Muerta-Paso Barrancas region (Rocha, Uruguay) more than 600 prehistoric mounds have been identified. The archaeological record of these terrestrial structures includes integrated residues of human activity: bone remains, lithic and bone artifacts, charcoal, ochre, a small number of ceramic fragments and human burials. But the most outstanding characteristic of these structures is that they are mounds of thermoaltered sediment. Between 25 % and 30 % of their matrix are fragments of anthills that reaching 6 cm or more in their largest dimension and that were heated to minimum temperatures of 350/380ºC. This work presents a battery of TL and OSL dates carried out on the thermoaltered sediment of the highest and oldest mound structure in the region, known as “Cerro de la Viuda”. The data obtained with the two techniques are compared, along with ¹⁴C chronologies from the same mound. The correlations between the dates obtained and the daily processes that would have led the prehistoric groups of the region to produce, over centuries, of mounds of thermoaltered sediments are analyzed and interpreted. This is a contribution to the understanding of the chronology and function of anthropogenic mounds in the India Muerta-Paso Barrancas region. The data presented support the hypothesis that the sampled clasts were heated in situ and therefore that the mounds were built in association with earth ovens.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 1","pages":"Article 100053"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143140441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does form entail function? Understanding pottery functionalities through absorbed residues within ceramics from the Harappan sites of Karanpura and Ropar in India","authors":"Ahana Ghosh ,&nbsp;V.N. Prabhakar ,&nbsp;Eleanora .A. Reber ,&nbsp;Helna Liston ,&nbsp;Sivapriya Kirubakaran ,&nbsp;Sreelakshmi K.S. ,&nbsp;Umesh Talekar ,&nbsp;Mukesh Bhardwaj ,&nbsp;Abhay Vishwakarma ,&nbsp;Sharada Channarayapatna","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100050","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100050","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Harappan Culture emerged in the Indus-Saraswati Region, with sites spreading over present-day northwest India, Gujarat, Pakistan, and Afghanistan between 2600 and 1900 BCE. Harappan sites have yielded extensive structural and material culture discoveries and diverse pottery assemblages, making it clear that it was an important and complex urban society extending over a wide area for more than 700 years. Harappan pottery, well-studied by various scholars, offers valuable insights into the socio-cultural-economic developments of its manufacturers and users during the culture’s existence. The current research directly determines the function of 15 potsherds scientifically from excavated Harappan sites of Karanpura and Ropar in Rajasthan and Punjab, respectively, in India. Besides the usual forms like cooking pots, the study explores unique ones like perforated jars and incised pottery. The samples are typical Harappan pottery types found in most settlements, both in habitation and burial contexts. Interestingly, perforated jars in burials are always associated with a wide-mouthed pot. The inclusion of these two vessel types in association is characteristic of the Harappan burials at other sites like Harappa and Kalibangan. The previous studies on Harappan ceramic types have mainly focused on their typological and morphological attributes, sometimes substantiated through ethnographic analogies. Until recently, only a few pilot studies employed organic residue analysis techniques to examine the relationship between the pottery forms and their possible functions by evaluating the lipids absorbed within their porous matrices (rim, body, and base). From the methodological perspective, this research examines the type and amount of lipids preserved within the sampled sherds, the potential effect of porosity on residue preservation, and possible contaminants affecting the interpretation of these lipids. This study focuses on studying the function of vessels using the direct scientific determination of vessel contents through residue analysis, moving away from ceramic research grounded solely on conventional forms found in the excavated settlements.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 1","pages":"Article 100050"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143140496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Geoarchaeological perspective on Mesolithic and Neolithic settlement pattern and transition in the Ganga Plain, India","authors":"Hemant Kumar Vaishnav ,&nbsp;Deepak Kumar Jha ,&nbsp;B. Janardhana","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100051","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100051","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Ganga River Basin is one of the most densely populated regions in the world, supporting millions of people since the early Holocene, as evidenced by archaeological evidence of early agricultural practices. Over the past two decades, geological, archaeological and archaeobotanical research has provided important insights into human-environment interactions. However, this evidence is diverse and often fragmented, confined within individual disciplines. There is a need for a transdisciplinary approach to synthesise and contextualise this knowledge to guide future archaeological research in India. In this study, we have reviewed the evidence (≥100 articles) for the technological and cultural transition between Mesolithic and Neolithic populations. By combining spatial analysis of geological, geomorphological, biome and rainfall, archaeological information on burials, floral assemblages, and the distribution of archaeological sites, this study aims to identify changes in land-use practices, agriculture and technology that marked the transition from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to Neolithic communities. The Mesolithic occupation in the Ganga Plain spanned from ∼12,000 to ∼4000 years BP, while Neolithic settlements occurred between ∼9000 and ∼3400 years BP, clearly indicating the ∼4000 year overlap in cultural adaptation between foraging and farming communities. A total of 269 archaeological sites are included in our study, of which 19 are dated. The spatial analysis suggests that both Mesolithic and Neolithic inhabitants occupied low relief topography (valley and pediplain) associated with Precambrian rock formations, rich in tool-making materials such as quartz and chert. Further analysis revealed that more than 80 % of the sites are concentrated in areas receiving 501–1500 mm of annual rainfall, which falls under the tropical moist broadleaf forest biome. The geographical distribution of these sites therefore reflects a strategic selection of locations to optimise resource availability, supporting both tool-making and agricultural activities, and demonstrating the adaptability of ancient populations in the Ganga Plain.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 1","pages":"Article 100051"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143140494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ancient biomolecular analysis of 39 mammoth individuals from Kostenki 11-Ia elucidates Upper Palaeolithic human resource use","authors":"Alba Rey-Iglesia ,&nbsp;Alexander J.E. Pryor ,&nbsp;Deon de Jager ,&nbsp;Tess Wilson ,&nbsp;Mathew A. Teeter ,&nbsp;Ashot Margaryan ,&nbsp;Ruslan Khaskhanov ,&nbsp;Louise Le Meillour ,&nbsp;Gaudry Troché ,&nbsp;Frido Welker ,&nbsp;Paul Szpak ,&nbsp;Alexandr E. Dudin ,&nbsp;Eline D. Lorenzen","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100049","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100049","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Circular structures made from woolly mammoth bones are found across Ukraine and west Russia, yet the origin of the bones remains uncertain. We present ten new mammoth radiocarbon dates from the largest circular structure at Kostenki 11-Ia, identifying two mammoth mandibles ∼200–1200 years older than the other dated materials from the site, suggesting skeletal material from long-dead individuals was scavenged and used in the site construction. Biomolecular sexing of 30 individuals showed a predominance of females, suggesting the Kostenki mammoths are primarily from herds. We identify seven mitochondrial lineages across 16 samples, and thus the mammoths are not all from the same matriline. Integrating biomolecular sexing with stable <em>δ</em>¹³C and <em>δ</em>¹⁵N isotope analysis, we find no isotopically-differentiated resource use by females and males, providing the first analysis of foraging differences between sexes in any Late Pleistocene megafauna. Our study highlights the significance of integrating ancient biomolecular approaches in archaeological inference.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 1","pages":"Article 100049"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143140498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Random forest models highlight early Homo sapiens habitats and their relationship to lithic assemblage composition","authors":"Lucy Timbrell ,&nbsp;James Blinkhorn ,&nbsp;Matt Grove","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100048","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100048","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Eastern Africa plays an enduring role in understanding the evolution of modern humans in relation to palaeoenvironmental change. Numerous studies have implicated ecological and geographic factors in determining the spatiotemporal patterning of technological and cultural behaviour seen in the region during the Middle Stone Age (MSA), the technological phase associated with the emergence of <em>Homo sapiens</em> in Africa. We use an eco-cultural niche modelling approach to evaluate the importance of different environmental and geographical variables in determining where early humans could have lived, and the impact of habitat suitability on different aspects of the eastern African MSA lithic record. We apply random forests, a powerful and highly flexible machine-learning tool for niche modelling, in combination with palaeoclimatic simulations at high temporal resolution. Topographic factors, distance to water and net primary productivity are found to be the most important factors in predicting MSA site locations in eastern Africa, followed by a suite of precipitation and then temperature variables. We find that environmental suitability has a significant impact on overall assemblage composition, suggesting that populations occupying optimal and peripheral zones within the landscapes use distinct artefact types and reduction technologies. These include the use of burins, bifacially retouched tools and bipolar technology, which are more likely to occur in the most optimal areas. Core tools, Levallois point and blade technology, and denticulates are associated with more peripheral areas, and thus perhaps could be associated with adapations to riskier ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"3 1","pages":"Article 100048"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143140442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Constraining the age of the Middle Stone Age locality of Bargny (Senegal) through a combined OSL-ESR dating approach","authors":"E. Ben Arous ,&nbsp;K. Niang ,&nbsp;J.A. Blinkhorn ,&nbsp;M. Del Val ,&nbsp;A. Medialdea ,&nbsp;C. Coussot ,&nbsp;M.J. Alonso Escarza ,&nbsp;M.D. Bateman ,&nbsp;A. Churruca Clemente ,&nbsp;A.F. Blackwood ,&nbsp;J. Iglesias-Cibanal ,&nbsp;C. Saíz ,&nbsp;E.M.L. Scerri ,&nbsp;M. Duval","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100044","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100044","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Middle Stone Age (MSA) is the major chrono-cultural phase associated with the emergence and evolution of <em>Homo sapiens</em> in Africa. Despite its importance, the MSA has not been evenly investigated across Africa, and West Africa in particular remains poorly understood. Although new research is beginning to fill in this crucial gap of knowledge, the existing MSA chronologies in West Africa only rely on Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating. In this context, the increasing use of a multi-method dating approach appears essential to strengthen this emerging geochronological framework. Here, we apply such approach to constrain the age of Bargny locality, located in close proximity to the modern Senegalese coast (South of Dakar), and which documents one of the oldest MSA occupations in West Africa. Specifically, we combine OSL and Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) methods to date the MSA sites of Bargny 3 (BG3) and Bargny 1 (BG1). A mean OSL age of 127±8 ka may be proposed for the MSA of BG3, which is in good agreement with a mean Ti-H ESR age of 125±14 ka from the same unit. Interestingly, similar ages are obtained by OSL (144±7 ka) and Ti-H ESR (138±14 ka) for the MSA horizon from BG1. While these results illustrate the great potential of the combined OSL-ESR dating approach to establish robust chronologies, they also contribute to improve the geographical and chronological resolution of the MSA record in West Africa. More specifically, they also corroborate the presence of MSA occupations along the Senegambian coast around the MIS 6-MIS 5 transition. In combination with the associated estuarine environments and mangrove forest, the evidence from Bargny adds to the known diversity, and likely complex behaviour, of early human populations living by Africa’s coastlines.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"2 6","pages":"Article 100044"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142744005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Data‐Driven Paradigm Shift for the Middle‐to‐Upper Palaeolithic Transition and the Neandertal Debate","authors":"João Zilhão ,&nbsp;Francesco d’Errico ,&nbsp;William E. Banks ,&nbsp;Nicolas Teyssandier","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100037","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100037","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Based on morphologically undiagnostic human remains from the southern Balkans and central Europe, it has been argued that the Bachokirian and Ranisian industries stand for modern humans, have roots in the IUP (Initial Upper Palaeolithic) of the Near East, and emerge ∼45,000 years ago. Coevally, Siberia and Central Asia would also have been reached by IUP moderns and, in the process, Western Europe’s Neandertals would have been acculturated, explaining the innovations (namely, body ornamentation) seen in the Châtelperronian. However, current usage of the IUP label confuses terminology and conceals issues of association raised by syn- and post-depositional disturbance, genomic patterns do not correlate with skeletal morphology, and the people of the Bachokirian and the Ranisian had Neandertal ancestors who lived many centuries after those technocomplexes’ start dates, as did a Neandertal from Spy (Belgium), a site of the Ranisian. Moreover, the stratigraphic provenience and taxonomic affinity of the fossils associated with the Uluzzian, the Protoaurignacian, and the Ahmarian are uncertain. The former is coeval with the Châtelperronian, the latter two emerge no earlier than ∼41,500 years ago, and the sufficiently complete fossils of broadly the same age are of mosaic anatomy and mixed ancestry. For western Eurasia, our review supports the Assimilation model, whereby ten millennia of converging cultural developments and increased demic interaction bridge the initial (Neandertal) and final (Cro-Magnon) terms of a complex evolutionary and historical process. Throughout, the observed diversity cannot be reduced to a taxonomic dichotomy. As human biology varied in a continuous space and material culture varied in a discrete space, no one-to-one correspondence between the two domains can exist. Advancing our understanding of the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition requires abandoning outdated frameworks and fully embracing the taphonomic perspective and the potential of genetics to approach the evidence in terms of communities, populations, and short-term history.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"2 6","pages":"Article 100037"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143172628","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reconsidering the Vaddas of Sri Lanka: Biological and cultural continuity, and misconceptions","authors":"Wijerathne Bohingamuwa ,&nbsp;Kalangi Rodrigo ,&nbsp;Harendralal Namalgamuwa","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100043","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100043","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper aims to re-examine key scholarly works pertaining to the Sri Lankan Vadda, an indigenous community of the island, in order to explore extant research of the said community. Despite considerable progress, lingering misunderstandings and uncertainties persist regarding their origins, connections to prehistoric populations, affiliations with contemporary ethnic groups, and the interrelationships among different Vadda communities across the island. Furthermore, uncertainties persist regarding the authenticity of Vadda skeletal remains and the adequacy of archaeological samples, which often suffer from fragmentation and incompleteness. It is this archaeological sample that has been used to draw conclusions about the cultural and biological continuity of the Mesolithic population or the Balangoda man (<em>Homo sapiens balangodensis</em>) with the Vaddas and the modern populations of the island, thus perhaps distorting interpretations. Similarly, this study underscores concerns regarding the representation of modern samples collected from diverse Vadda clans inhabiting various ecological zones and engaging in different subsistence practices, potentially skewing the conclusions of preceding research. In this study, fresh ethnoarchaeological data are used to examine some misconceptions prevailing about the <em>Warugas</em> (clans) as well as the use of the term <em>Wanniyalaetto</em> as a synonym for Vaddas. Given the rapid acculturation of Vaddas, there is a pressing need for continued interdisciplinary investigations into the Vadda communities, encompassing different <em>Warugas</em> and geographic regions, to ensure a better understanding of their socio-cultural dynamics with the aim of enhanced insight into their evolutionary pathways.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"2 6","pages":"Article 100043"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143172629","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Early human foraging paleoecology in the highlands of Potosí, Bolivia","authors":"José M. Capriles ,&nbsp;Juan Albarracin-Jordan ,&nbsp;Sergio Calla Maldonado ,&nbsp;Claudia Rivera Casanovas","doi":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100046","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.qeh.2024.100046","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>For centuries the Cerro Rico of Potosí in the South American Andes has been known as the richest silver mine in the world but also as a notoriously challenging place for human habitation due to its extreme elevation. Nevertheless, little is known about the temporal depth and socioecological dynamics associated with the initial occupation of this region. In this paper, we present an archaeological and paleoecological assessment of the earliest human peopling of Potosí and the eastern south-central Andes. Systematic surveys in two neighboring regions complemented by test excavations, artifact analysis, and radiocarbon dating revealed evidence of foraging occupations dating to the Early Holocene as well as by agropastoralist communities during the Late Holocene. Local paleoenvironmental records suggest that periods of increased humidity might have fostered ecological productivity that incentivized settlement in this high elevation setting. The nature of the occupations and associated technological organization is consistent with findings from sites elsewhere in the arid Andes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101053,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Environments and Humans","volume":"2 6","pages":"Article 100046"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143172627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}