Quaternary Science Reviews最新文献

{"title":"The crucial role of vegetation cover in shaping the dipole pattern of East Asian summer monsoon changes during the late Pliocene warm period","authors":"Ruoxiao Gu ,&nbsp;Xiangyu Li ,&nbsp;Bo Liu ,&nbsp;Hua Li ,&nbsp;Zhongshi Zhang ,&nbsp;Yong Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109317","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109317","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The late Pliocene warm period is the most recent geological warm period with atmospheric CO₂ concentrations similar to today's (∼405 ppm) but higher than the modern reference pre-industrial period (280 ppm), featured distinct vegetation cover. Both CO₂ concentrations and vegetation cover influence global and regional climate, but their relative roles in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) are not well understood. In this study, we assess the impacts of vegetation change and CO₂ enhancement on the EASM during the late Pliocene through sensitivity experiments. Compared to the pre-industrial period, the EASM intensified with a meridional dipole pattern in summer precipitation change over East China during the late Pliocene. Changes in vegetation cover played a major role in shaping the dipole pattern of EASM variation, while elevated CO₂ alone played a minor role. The late Pliocene vegetation caused a dipole pattern in surface albedo changes, increasing at 50–65°N and decreasing at 30–50°N, thereby altering the regional thermal structure across the Asian continent. As a result, tropospheric warming was more pronounced at mid-latitudes, primarily driven by albedo feedback. The vegetation-induced adjustment of thermal structure over East Asia enhanced the summer monsoon and increased northward water vapor transport through diabatic heating modification. This process likely contributed to the dipole pattern of summer precipitation over East Asia, influenced by the secondary circulation due to the poleward shift of the westerlies. Our experiments highlight the crucial role of vegetation in EASM variation pattern during the late Pliocene and underscore the importance of the vegetation feedback in a future warming world.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"357 ","pages":"Article 109317"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143759955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"sedaDNA and pollen disclose treeline advancing and plant diversity trajectory under recent climate warming in southwestern Hengduan Mountains, China","authors":"Kai Li ,&nbsp;Yang Yang ,&nbsp;Shaolin Shi ,&nbsp;Mengna Liao ,&nbsp;Jian Ni ,&nbsp;Lingyang Kong ,&nbsp;Enlou Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109348","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109348","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The ongoing climate warming has been casting unprecedented impacts on alpine ecosystems within the Hengduan Mountain (HDM), a globally renowned biodiversity hotspot. However, current knowledge of how alpine vegetation and plant diversity are responding to recent climate warming remains inadequate. Here, we conducted pollen and sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) analyses on a short sediment core from Tiancai Lake, located in the southwestern HDM, to explore the vegetation and plant diversity changes over the past four centuries. The results manifested that the regional vegetation composition has undergone obvious changes during this period. Specifically, the ratio of broad-leaved to coniferous taxa (B/C), as well as palynological richness and diversity, exhibited significant correlations with the increasing mean annual temperature, implying that alpine species in the southwestern HDM have been subjecting to recent climate warming trends. The sedaDNA results further illustrated watershed-scale vegetation turnover, characterized mainly by the replacement of <em>Rhododendron</em> scrub by <em>Abies</em> forest and the upward migration of the alpine ecotone. The establishment of alpine coniferous forest around Tiancai Lake occurred about 1880 C.E. Additionally, the trajectories of plant diversity on watershed scale were highly resembled the mean annual temperature variations during post-industrial warming, indicating that the plant diversity around Tiancai Lake should be highly sensitive to and controlled by climate changes. Concurrently, warming-induced alpine habitat degradation may be imperiling plant diversity in the Tiancai Lake region, despite the upward trend in palynological diversity observed in the southwestern HDM.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"357 ","pages":"Article 109348"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143759959","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bones and teeth isotopes as archives for palaeoclimatic, palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological data","authors":"Rhiannon E. Stevens ,&nbsp;Sarah Pederzani ,&nbsp;Kate Britton ,&nbsp;Sarah K. Wexler","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109320","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109320","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This review paper explores the contribution of the stable isotope analysis of mammalian bones and teeth to the study of palaeoclimate, palaeoenvironment, and palaeoecology. These skeletal remains, composed of both organic and inorganic materials, preserve isotopic signals that reflect an organism's dietary habits and other behaviours, as well as environmental, and climatic conditions during an animal's lifetime. Here, we discuss how carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, oxygen, hydrogen, strontium, and zinc isotopes in bones and teeth have been used to reconstruct past changes in temperature, precipitation, aridity, permafrost, vegetation, seasonality, and animal diet and mobility. We identify areas where understanding is limited and suggest avenues for future research. Additionally, we highlight how information from different isotopes and tissues can be integrated with archaeological findings to assess the impact of environmental shifts on animal behaviour and ecosystems, offering a deeper understanding of human-animal interactions throughout (pre)history. Ultimately, stable isotopes in bones and teeth serve as more than just palaeo-proxies; they offer insights into human and non-anthropogenic impacts on ecosystems, and help establish baselines for contemporary conservation, ecosystem restoration and rewilding policies and practices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"357 ","pages":"Article 109320"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143759960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scales of toolstone transport in the Armenian Highlands during MIS 3: The contribution of Ararat-1 Cave (Ararat Depression) to reconstructing opportunities for social interactions","authors":"Ellery Frahm ,&nbsp;David Nora ,&nbsp;Boris Gasparyan ,&nbsp;Artur Petrosyan ,&nbsp;Ariel Malinsky-Buller","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109324","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109324","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, ranging from around 57,000 to 29,000 years ago, is a period of significant archaeological interest due to notable transitions in lithic technology and hominin populations. In Europe, this time saw the replacement of Middle Palaeolithic (MP) technologies associated with Neanderthals by Upper Palaeolithic (UP) technologies linked to anatomically modern humans (AMHs). This technological shift is conventionally attributed to a demographic turnover; however, the timing of this transition varied regionally. The presence of Neanderthals and AMHs in the Levant, western Europe, and elsewhere over extended periods complicates the narrative, suggesting asynchronous and regionally diverse associations of hominin species and lithic technologies. This study shifts the attention to potential technological and cultural transmissions among MP- and UP-making groups, emphasizing the roles of social and exchange networks. Recent data from the obsidian-rich Armenian Highlands enable us to consider the mobility and land use of these groups without the added complication of toolstone with different knapping qualities, so patterns more clearly reflect mobility patterns, land use strategies, and potential social connections of foraging groups. These results suggest that, while MP-making groups in MIS 3 had overlapping territories, the UP-making groups at Aghitu-3 had smaller movements on the landscape. In contrast, MIS 2 sites with UP lithic assemblages have resource territories that apparently overlapped much like those of the MIS 3 MP sites. The findings hint at the possibility that differing mobility and land use during MIS 3 might have contributed to the coexistence of distinct lithic technologies, potentially through social transmission rather than a direct replacement of hominin populations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"357 ","pages":"Article 109324"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143759956","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Vegetation change and grazing activities since the middle Holocene in the Zoige Basin, eastern Tibetan Plateau, China","authors":"Yuanqi Pan ,&nbsp;Xiaochun Zha,&nbsp;Chunchang Huang,&nbsp;Jiangli Pang,&nbsp;Yali Zhou,&nbsp;Na Wang,&nbsp;Yuxin Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109330","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109330","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Large herbivores of grazing activities are the most important production factor to maintain the permanent settlement of human beings in the high-altitude area of the Tibetan Plateau, China, and their population changes are the products of the interaction between climate change and human activities since the Holocene. Using pollen and fungal spore fossil records from a profile since mid-Holocene in the Zoige Basin, the history and controlling factors of vegetation change and grazing activities were revealed. The results showed that the history of vegetation change and grazing activities in the Zoige Basin could be divided into three stages: (ⅰ) During the period of 8.5–5.8 ka, alpine meadow dominated by Cyperaceae developed in the Zoige Basin with the highest tree pollen content and the best hydrothermal conditions. The low concentration of coprophilous fungal spore at this stage was probably related to wild herbivores. (ⅱ) During the period of 5.8–3.6 ka, the alpine meadow dominated by Cyperaceae developed further, the tree pollen content decreased slightly, and the climate began to change to drought, but the overall climate was still warm and humid. At this stage, coprophilous fungal spores occurred continuously and their concentration gradually increased, suggesting that there were human activities in the basin and grazing activities began at about 5.8ka. (ⅲ) During about 3.6–0 ka, the vegetation type changed to the desert steppe dominated by Chenopodiaceae and Asteraceae, and after 0.5 ka, the alpine meadow redeveloped. The pollen content of trees decreased significantly, and the climate was mainly cool and dry. Grazing activities, as represented by the concentration of coprophilous fungi spores, began to increase gradually after about 3.6 ka. There was a reverse correlation between grazing activities and the dry and cool climate in this stage. The dry and cool climate was one of the key factors to promote the development of grazing in the Zoige Basin. The research results further complement the evolution of human activities and environmental background in the eastern Tibetan Plateau, and have certain reference significance for understanding the impact of climate change on human survival strategies in the plateau environment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"357 ","pages":"Article 109330"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143759958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hydrological changes in the East Asian monsoon region around 4.2 ka precisely reconstructed from multi-proxy stalagmites","authors":"Chao-Jun Chen ,&nbsp;Yao Wu ,&nbsp;Jun-Yun Li ,&nbsp;Hai-Wei Zhang ,&nbsp;Hai Cheng ,&nbsp;Chuan-Chou Shen ,&nbsp;You-Feng Ning ,&nbsp;Dao-Xian Yuan ,&nbsp;R. Lawrence Edwards ,&nbsp;Jian Zhang ,&nbsp;Ting-Yong Li","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109321","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109321","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The 4.2 ka event was considered a climatic event that influenced ancient cultural transitions during the Middle-Late Holocene. However, whether this was a global climate event, remains controversial. Although some studies have discussed the changes in the Asian summer monsoon during the 4.2 ka event, the climate change patterns in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) during this period remain unclear. In this study, we utilized multi-proxy (δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C, and Mg/Ca) records from stalagmite YK1306 to reconstruct the climatic changes in the YRB during 3000∼5000 yr BP. Based on comparative analysis of the high-resolution stalagmite records and other geological proxies within this region, the increased precipitation in the YRB during 4300∼4000 yr BP led to frequent flooding disasters, while double droughts occurred during 4000∼3700 yr BP and 4500∼4300 yr BP. Although there are differences in the characteristics of the 4.2 ka event recorded by speleothems across the Asian summer monsoon region, the 4.2 ka event indicated in the δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C records from speleothems in the YRB is inconsistent with the previously defined 4.2 ka event. The transition of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events resulted in the occurrence of flooding and droughts in the YRB during 4500∼3700 yr BP. This study not only provides new evidence of the hydrological changes in the YRB, but also helps evaluate the impact of climate change on civilizations in the YRB in the Late Neolithic.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"357 ","pages":"Article 109321"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143747480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Central South Pacific bottom water response to thermohaline circulation crisis during the Middle Pleistocene Transition","authors":"N. Mahanta,&nbsp;Sunil K. Das,&nbsp;Raj K. Singh","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109344","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109344","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) is still enigmatic in paleoclimatology, and the major disruption of the ocean thermohaline circulation (THC) system, which is known as the THC crisis during the MPT from ∼950 to 860 thousand years ago, is even more puzzling. Hence, benthic foraminifera and Iceberg rafted debris (IRD) of the Central South Pacific (CSP), International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1540 are examined, and compared with existing Nd isotope records (ε_Nd) from the South and North Atlantic, and δ¹³C of South Atlantic and Equatorial Pacific to evaluate the properties and influence of CSP bottom water during THC crisis in comparison to pre and post-THC crisis. Our data suggests variability in CSP bottom water conditions from oxic to suboxic throughout the MPT. During the pre-THC crisis (MIS 38-26), bottom water was suboxic with low bottom water current strength, which continued up to the Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 25, except for MIS 31. Evidence of a strong bottom water current with a high oxic species population and low IRD is found at MIS 31. During the THC crisis, between MIS 25 and 23, a sharp decline in the coarse sediment fraction (&gt;63 μm), oxic species and <em>Globocassidulina subglobosa</em> population is observed, which suggests sluggish bottom water at the CSP. However, during MIS 22, bottom water was relatively strong, marked by an increase in <em>G. subglobosa</em> and <em>Nuttallides umbonifera</em> and oxic species abundances. This suggests stronger southern source bottom water, which may reach up to the North Atlantic due to reduced northern sourced bottom water mass and is consistent with the interpretation of observed ɛ_Nd value. After the THC crisis, bottom water became better oxygenated, especially during the interglacials with high bottom water current strength, which continued post-MPT period. Bottom water current strength nearly follows the ACC strength during the MPT except for MIS 22.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"357 ","pages":"Article 109344"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143747128","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Thin on the mountainous landscape: The Late Pleistocene zooarchaeology of the southern Caucasus, Zagros, and Alborz","authors":"Reuven Yeshurun","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109325","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109325","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Only a handful of examples speak for Middle and Upper Paleolithic adaptations to mid-latitude highlands. Mountainous southwest Asia, consisting of the southern Caucasus (including the Armenian Plateau) and the Zagros and Alborz ranges, is arguably the richest, featuring numerous Late Pleistocene (ca. 130–12 ka) archaeological records. The region's long zooarchaeological research history and especially the data gathered during the last two decades are now sufficient to support a study of Neanderthal and modern human subsistence and mobility patterns. In this paper, I present a synthesis of the available zooarchaeological data from the southern Caucasus and the Zagros/Alborz. Using abundance indices of animal groups and taphonomic variables, I test the null hypothesis that humans hunted the available game proportionally to its abundance on the landscape. To this end, the natural abundance baselines were extrapolated from bioclimatic variables and nonhuman-generated Pleistocene faunas. Taphonomic and taxonomic patterns that pertain to site-occupation intensity were evaluated against a pertinent external reference, the well-studied zooarchaeological record of the southern Levant, representing a warmer and more habitable region.</div><div>The null hypothesis was only partially confirmed, enabling the identification of prey choice patterns, hunting specialization, and diversification. While acknowledging the region's archaeological variability, the study showed that the Middle and Upper Paleolithic habitations in the southern Caucasus and Zagros/Alborz were primarily ephemeral, attesting to low site habitation intensity and little, if any, population growth. It seems that all groups inhabiting the region could afford to practice highly selective game procurement strategies, exploiting vast territories and occupying many short-term camps, some strategically positioned to intercept migrating game. Both Middle and Upper Paleolithic populations consisted of small and highly mobile groups that sporadically inhabited the rugged landscape; they lived under harsh climatic conditions well under the environmental carrying capacity. This scenario contributes to viewing mountainous southwest Asia as a geographic cul-de-sac during the Pleistocene; it demonstrates that regardless of their biological and cultural backgrounds, human groups adopted similar behaviors in accordance with the regions' natural conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"357 ","pages":"Article 109325"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Examining the relationship between temperature and δ18O of freshwater molluscan carbonate from modern and Pleistocene fluvial sediments from the British Isles","authors":"J.E. Sherriff ,&nbsp;I. Candy ,&nbsp;A.P. Palmer ,&nbsp;R.C. Preece ,&nbsp;D.C. Schreve ,&nbsp;T.S. White","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109332","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109332","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The δ¹⁸O of freshwater molluscan carbonate (δ¹⁸O_c) from fluvial sequences has the potential to be a key palaeoclimate archive, given the close association between δ¹⁸O_c values and temperature in temperate lowland freshwater systems. However, the scarcity of systematic modern and Pleistocene studies from these deposits has limited the use of molluscan carbonate δ¹⁸O_c as a proxy for climate change. Here we present a study of fluvial molluscan carbonate δ¹⁸O_c from modern river systems and Pleistocene fluvial sequences located in central and southeast Britain. We compare molluscan carbonate δ¹⁸O_c from four species of gastropod to independently-derived estimates of temperature from the same contexts. We demonstrate that the δ¹⁸O_c of modern shells from three sites in southeast Britain are consistent with formation under equilibrium conditions with modern water temperature and δ¹⁸O_w values, which are in turn controlled by prevailing air temperature. The relationship between the δ¹⁸O_c value and temperature is also observable in the data obtained from fossil shells from ten Pleistocene sequences. Despite uncertainties with the interpretation of both the δ¹⁸O_c and palaeotemperature data at several localities, and the paucity of mollusc shells from cold climate contexts, this study highlights the potential of using δ¹⁸O_c analysis to obtain palaeoclimatic records from long Pleistocene fluvial sequences in temperate regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"357 ","pages":"Article 109332"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715575","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Not by chemistry alone: Tephrostratigraphy, correlation, and context at two Palaeolithic sites in the southern Caucasus and Armenian Highlands","authors":"D.S. Adler ,&nbsp;V.L. Cullen ,&nbsp;K.N. Wilkinson ,&nbsp;B. Gasparyan ,&nbsp;N. Tushabramishvili ,&nbsp;P. Griffith ,&nbsp;C. Mallol ,&nbsp;J.P. Gill ,&nbsp;T.Z. Kovach ,&nbsp;S. Blockley ,&nbsp;P. Glauberman ,&nbsp;V.C. Smith","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109292","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109292","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the timing of Late Pleistocene population expansions and interactions is hindered by myriad factors among which the imprecision of absolute dating is of particular concern. The identification and geochemical characterization of cryptically preserved volcanic ash layers (cryptotephra) in archaeological sites can alleviate this problem, and in the southern Caucasus and Armenian Highlands has allowed for the correlation of lithostratigraphic units at Palaeolithic sites in the two geographic regions. Compositionally distinct tephras (isochrons) allow specific stratigraphic layers to be linked temporally at the sites of Ortvale Klde (OK, Georgia) and Lusakert-1 (LKT-1, Armenia). The ∼30 ka V-18/Nemrut Formation tephra from the Nemrut volcano, eastern Türkiye is correlated with an Upper Palaeolithic layer at OK and a Late Middle Palaeolithic layer at LKT-1. This isochron suggests the long-term regional coexistence of technologically distinct populations, and the late survival of Late Middle Palaeolithic hominins. These results appear to capture a critical and until now elusive moment in hominin evolution, a period when two distinct tool-making groups, generally assumed to be <em>Homo sapiens</em> and Neanderthals, occupied the same region and likely interacted. However, careful comparison of results with site-specific sedimentological, taphonomic, archaeological, and chronometric data throw these correlations into question. Closer consideration of newly available glass geochemistry for Nemrut suggests further correlations: OK Layer 4c correlates to the V-30 tephra in Lake Van (∼42–37 ka); LKT-1 Lithostratigraphic Unit (LU) 4 correlates to both the ∼60 ka V-45/Çekmece and ∼62 ka V-51/Ahlat Pumice 6; and the younger LKT-1 LU 3 also correlates to the V-51, but with a different compositional range to those seen in the older LU 4. The only way to reconcile the range of compositions observed is that there are additional Nemrut eruptions that have similar glass chemistries to the deposits characterized, and that our current understanding of Nemrut's eruption stratigraphy is incomplete thus hampering our ability to resolve the age(s) of these distal tephra deposits with confidence. Therefore, while the analysis of cryptotephra holds great promise for understanding the timing of key evolutionary events, its application in the southern Caucasus and Armenian Highlands, and elsewhere, must be predicated on the careful consideration of site-specific contextual data rather than chemistry alone.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"356 ","pages":"Article 109292"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143706061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}