The role of environmental change in the evolution of cultural traits is a topic of long-standing scientific debate with strongly contrasting views. Major obstacles for assessing environmental impacts on the evolution of material culture are the fragmentary nature of archaeological and – to a somewhat lesser extent – geoscientific archives and the insufficient chronological resolution of these archives

The discovery of pottery dated to around 20ka cal BP, within terminal Pleistocene cave sites in South China has been heatedly debated over the past decades. While the dates and pottery itself gained great attention, the archaeological context in which these findings were made have received less attention due to language biases, making it difficult to address questions of how and why pottery emerged

The thick and apparently continuous loess-palaeosol sequences in the Vojvodina region of northern Serbia are recognized and well understood as some of the oldest and most complete terrestrial European palaeoclimatic archives. By contrast, there are few published records for loess profiles from other regions in Serbia. Here we address this knowledge gap by investigating an 8 m thick loess sequence exposed

The vegetation history and climate in southeastern Brazil, as well as the oceanic dynamics of the tropical Atlantic Ocean offshore, were reconstructed for the last 7.4 cal ka BP. This reconstruction was based on pollen, fern spores and dinoflagellate cysts identified in a marine core (CF10–04B). It was possible to verify the presence of an ombrophilous forest from 7.4 cal ka BP. Near the base of the

The microscopic study fills the morphological and taphonomical gaps produced on the macroscopic research level of human and animal hard tissues. In this paper 17 burned and unburned animal bone fragment samples (smaller than 4 cm) were subjected to histological non-metric and metric analyses. Characterization of 3 wolf teeth aimed analysis of daily secretion rates and Retzius periodicity to compare

The Himalayan-Tibetan orogen has a great influence on regional and global atmospheric circulation and, hence, it is important for understanding the dynamics of global environmental change. The Kashmir valley, located in the northwestern Himalaya, provides a unique sequence of continuous sedimentary records of unconsolidated sediments of more than a km thickness, dated back to 4 Ma. There are number

In 1890 the so called “Shigir Idol” was found in a peat bog and for a long time discussion on the dating of the wooden sculpture was going on. In the 1990s first conventional radiocarbon dates suggested a Mesolithic context, but a series of recent AMS-results date the object close to the beginning of the Holocene (c. 10,000 calBC). The surprisingly early date makes the find the earliest monumental

The paper is devoted to the role of hares in the composition of hunter's prey in the Upper Paleolithic of the Russian (East European) Plain. Mammoths and hoofed mammals are traditionally considered as main hunting species for these sites. However, sometimes completely different species come to the fore, while the bones of the “main hunting animals” are presented only in small amounts. We have analyzed

This work focuses on the reconstruction of fuelwood procurement during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the southern central Pre-Pyrenees (Spain). The study combines wood charcoal identification with the application of dendro-anthracological approaches in the archaeological sequence of Esplugón (9.4–6.8 kyr cal BP) (Sabiñanigo, Huesca). Scots type pine (Pinus sylvestris tp.) reaches in this record

Northern Asia (here, the Russian Federation east of the Urals) played a key role in the spread of anatomically modern humans (AMH) across the Eurasian continent during the Upper Palaeolithic (UP). This time interval witnessed the climatically harshest and most variable part of the last glacial epoch when AMH spread to all continents, with the exception of ice-covered Antarctica, thus raising questions

We drilled a core in Tingming Lake (located at the tree line) to conduct pollen and diatom analyses. The pollen record shows that the vegetation ecosystem is very stable and has no obvious regime shift signals, although the vegetable belt has moved gradually upward or downward under the backdrop of climate change. There may be a positive relationship between the vegetation ecosystem stability and the

During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 30 to 16.5 ka ago), the Great Adriatic-Po Region (GAPR) was deeply affected by the spread of glaciers from the Alps to the southern foreland and by the dropping of the sea level to ∼ -120 m amsl. The combination of these two events triggered the aggradation of the Great Po Plain (GPP), a vast flat area between the Alpine chain, the Italian Peninsula and the north-western

This paper compares quantitative and qualitative results from selected pottery assemblages in sites in the northern Philippines with those from sites in the Mariana Islands. Pottery appears in this region sometime between 4000 and 3000 years ago, with the pottery of the Marianas Islands being towards the younger end of this age range. Arguments concerning the origins of the first pottery in the Marianas

Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 was an interstadial stage in the climate history of the Earth where the last phase (40–30 ka) showed relatively warmer climate over the northwest China, Tibetan Plateau, and northwestern India compared to other regions of the world. However, not many studies are reported for climate variability during this period from the Himalayan region. Here, an attempt has been made

The interpretations of late Quaternary climate variation in the Kalahari are controversial. Only few speleothem humidity records do exist and reconstruction of aridity periods using aeolian sediments is challenged by considerable dating uncertainties. On the other hand studies on the large structural lake basins of the Kalahari have to cope with tectonics and the active catchment being far in the north

Despite the ongoing development of cosmogenic techniques to reconstruct deglaciation and glacial advances, these techniques are not always feasible for logistical and economic reasons. In this study, we used Schmidt Hammer R-values (SH) and Crystallinity Ratio (CRF) indices of soils, together with a limited number of absolute 14C dates, to outline the glacial evolution of the Gavia Valley. The study

Whether the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) Maximum started in the early Holocene or middle Holocene remains a controversial issue. Grain-size measurements were conducted on 157-cm-long core ADM-C1 from the Andaman Sea; the core spanned the last 11.2 kyr BP. Four end-members (EMs) were unmixed using lognormal parametric end-member modeling. Genetic analyses of the grain-size EMs suggested the EM1 and EM2

Lacustrine sediments in a poorly documented region regarding to lake sedimentation and paleo-environments (Bangladesh) were investigated using a multiproxy approach. Pukurpara Lake is located in eastern Bangladesh at an elevation of 360 m above sea level with a maximum water depth of 28 m. An age-depth model allowed us to investigate the changes in sedimentation that occurred since 850 CE. The high

The discovery of two undisturbed caves in Jamaica with 14C and 210Pb dating indicating that the oldest layers of guano were ca. 200 years old in the first cave (81 cm long core), and as much as 4300 years old in the second cave (129 cm long core) provides exciting possibilities to examine past ecological communities. We analyzed genetic and pollen profiles in these ancient bat guano deposits and revealed

Changes in monsoon precipitation governed agricultural practices and production, health risks, competition and conflict level of preindustrial human societies in South Asia. To understand monsoon shifts and their implication to the South Asian societies, we produced a sub-decadal scale multiproxy record of monsoon variability from the Rewalsar lake, India encompassing the past ~3200 years. Our multi-proxy

Seismic hazards and risks around an individual fault can be assessed from complementary paleoseismic data. A high-resolution sediment core recovered from the Yileimu Lake revealed 11 potential paleoearthquakes around the Fuyun fault in northern Xinjiang. Among them, three events recorded by ductile deformation and turbidites or coseismic subsidence were possibly correlated with Ms ≥ 7.0 earthquakes

Kettle holes are common ice decay features in formerly glacial landscapes like those in Southern Scandinavia and Northern Germany. Here the kettle holes are represented either as dry depressions, wetland areas or lakes. However, the majority of these features are silted and part of the present farmland. We investigated a small kettle hole at Tyrsted, near the township of Tyrsted, south of Horsens (Denmark)

High-resolution proxy records help to understand natural forcing of climate variability and improving our capability to predict climate variability on decadal to centennial time scales. Present study from the Mawmluh cave, northeastern India shows sudden shifts in speleothem oxygen isotope values, indicating several abrupt changes in the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) during ∼212 BCE to 1986 CE. Moderate

The aim of this paper is to investigate the Sibudu Cave habitat that is dated to the late Pleistocene using archaeological wood charcoal, in order to reconstruct the environment and the activity of the people who interacted with the landscape. Standard anthracology procedures were applied in this qualitative study to analyse charcoal remains from the cave. A representative subset of charcoal remains

The Nepal Himalaya is a transition zone for pollutants transport from the South Asia onto the Tibetan Plateau, with the moist convection identified as dominating the chemical composition that would be transported onto the Plateau. Yet little is known regarding the atmospheric water vapor transport over this region, and how the summer monsoon flows would interact with local topography, with traces detectable

Rock surfaces covered with desert varnish frequently feature petroglyphs and thus comprise an important resource for the artistic expression of ancient societies. Knowledge about the processes of varnish formation would be helpful to assess the production, regeneration and durability of this “natural canvas” and related rock art. We performed a multidisciplinary study of rock varnish associated with

The Magdalena River is the longest inter-Andean river in Northern South America. We focus on the middlesection calling attention to the implication of a geoarchaeological approach to understanding the role of depositional and erosional processes over time in the preservation and destruction of archaeological sites. Most likely the majority of the earliest Preceramic deposits - predating ca 12,900 BP

Among the well-known small mammal assemblages of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, the one from Tunel Wielki Cave is one of the most interesting for the Pleistocene biochronology of Poland. As a new trench was opened in 2018, it was possible to reanalyse the entire sequence. Its complex stratigraphy is divided into two phases: the Holocene–Late Pleistocene series and the Middle Pleistocene. In this work

The article is devoted to the problems of definition, classification and genesis of the Epigravettian in the Central regions of the East European plain. It is concluded that Epigravettian sites could be characterized as industrially variable and multicultural. Epigravettian should be considered as a polygenetic phenomenon characterized by a cultural mosaic peculiar to specific geographical regions

In the southern part of Kyushu Island in southern Japan and the small islands further south the earliest pottery is found beneath the Satsuma tephra, which has been well dated to ca. 12,800 cal BP. Here we focus on Incipient Jomon pottery, 14,000/13,500–12,800 cal BP, from the Sankakuyama I site on Tanegashima Island. Previous visual analysis of the fabrics suggested that about half of the vessels

Here we evaluate the hypothesis that during cold climatic phases, people and resources became increasingly packed along highland Lesotho's riverine corridors as the viability of palatable grasslands for large mammal hunting on the upland plateaus declined. These intensification efforts resulted in increased reliance on lower-ranked aquatic (fish) resources with knock-on effects for lithic technological

A number of AMS radiocarbon dates, accumulated since the 1990's, reveal that ceramic technology first developed among non-agricultural, hunter-gatherer societies in the late Pleistocene of East Asia. Specifically, on the Japanese Archipelago the radiocarbon chronology indicates a diverse trajectory of pottery adoption. The earliest adoption of pottery here was by mobile hunter-gatherers, regardless

Magnetite is typomorphic, and its crystal textures and chemical fingerprint form unique signatures that can be used to determine sediment provenance. Determination of the provenance of sediments in the upper Yangtze River is critical for understanding its evolution and the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau. In this study, petrographic analysis and electron-probe microanalysis (EPMA) of 800 detrital magnetite

Studies of the East Asian Neolithic have been conducted for more than a century and many attempts have been made to interpret the functions of prehistoric pottery, particularly the earliest ceramics. The unsophisticated pottery discovered in the Weijiawopu site opens a window for the study of early ceramic function. We conducted plant residue analyses of ceramics from the Weijiawopu Neolithic site;

Boves Castle, located in northern France, was occupied between the 9th and 16th centuries AD. Under excavation since 1996, this high-status site has yielded more than six tons of faunal remains. Until now, archaeozoological studies have focused on the early occupation of the site (10th and 11th centuries AD), revealing specific supply and consumption strategies, widely based around birds. Aside from

Erlitou (Henan province, China) is a Bronze Age site which occupies a prominent position in the study of early state and civilization of China. 359 charcoal fragments >4 mm and 40 charred fruit stones unearthed during the 2010 and 2011 excavation seasons at Erlitou have been analysed. Wood charcoals belong to 18 taxa: Platycladus, Pinus, Picea, Prunus armeniaca, Prunus persica, Quercus (deciduous oaks)

The paper by E. Méndez-Quintas et al. (2020) aims to give an interdisciplinary overview of the lower Miño River terrace record in NW Iberia by combining geological and archaeological data. The authors also pretend to re-interpret the geological-geomorphological evolution of this river by presenting new data and by comparing them to data published in our five related papers. However, a wrong interpretation

A detailed characterization of the crustal deformation in the Himalaya is important to understand the tectonic and non-tectonic deformation processes responsible for the strain build-up and transients in deformation. In the present work, we have characterised the present day tectonic and non-tectonic deformations in the Kumaun Garhwal Himalaya estimated from the continuous GPS measurements. We observed

A specific Late Upper Paleolithic Byki site complex is located in the Seim River basin, in the center of Eastern Europe. It consists of four sites with preserved cultural layers. They are designated as Byki 1, Peny (Byki 4), Byki 5, Byki 7. Materials from other four sites (Byki 2, Byki 3, Byki 6 and Byki 8) are represented only by surface finds. Radiocarbon uncalibrated dates for major Byki sites are

The steppe of northern Tierra del Fuego is an important region for studying climate variability in the Southern Hemisphere, due to its position at the southern margin of the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Wind belt. Here we present a multiproxy analysis of a sedimentary sequence from Laguna Carmen (53°S, 68°W) which provides evidence of the progressive aridity and strengthening of the low-level Westerlies

Red junglefowl are regarded as the primary wild ancestor of domestic fowl and are thought to have been domesticated in multiple regions. The osteological microevolution of red junglefowl and domestic fowl during domestication, especially at the earliest stage, has still not been thoroughly investigated, despite the fact that a proper understanding of this process is required to chart the progress of

The island of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain) shows great potential for studying the wooden raw materials used by the indigenous population during the Prehispanic period based on xylological analyses from domestic and funerary contexts. This paper includes archaeobotanical data from wooden funerary artefacts recovered from several archaeological contexts of the island and deposited at El Museo

Recovery and analyses of perishable non-charred archaeological wood is extremely rare. Traceological analyses in general are still scarce and mainly focused on waterlogged remains. Ancient desiccated wood from the Canary Islands offers an exceptional opportunity to identify the processes and techniques of the indigenous populations prior to the arrival in the 14th and 15th centuries AD of European

Compared to the unparalleled cultural achievements and population boom of the Gravettian hunter-gatherers in Eastern Central Europe, the succeeding Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) occupation is signified by extremely low populations densities, which is reflected in the scant archaeological record. This chrono-cultural contrast can be generally attributed to the severe climatic downturn of the LGM. An attempt

The results of surface morphology and InSAR analyses carried out along a NNE-SSW oriented (∼7 km-long) transfer fault are presented. This structure actively accommodates differential motion across two blocks in the western Sub-Himalayan belt of India. Segmentation is most pronounced in this sector of the accretionary wedge, where minimal climatic variations and a three-fold sub-division (Kangra Renetrant-Nahan

The dire wolf was one of the successful top predators in North America during the Pleistocene. It is best known from the southern part of North America, and it even immigrated to South America. Fossils of dire wolves are very rare north of 42° North latitude in North America. That distribution supported the belief that the low temperatures and ice sheets in the higher latitudes of North American formed

Zöld Cave is a recently discovered Late Epigravettian site in Hungary. It yielded a small archaeological collection dated to 17.0–14.9 ka cal BP. The findings consists of faunal remains of horse and reindeer bearing extensive marks of human activity, and lithic artifacts of hunting armature types, including curved backed points, backed truncated bladelets, and backed bladelet, typical for a Late Epigravettian

Viveen et al., (2020) raise several issues concerning the chronostratigraphic interpretations in our recent paper on the fluvial and archaeological deposits of Lower Miño River (Méndez-Quintas et al., 2020). Here we respond to these criticisms, reinforcing the key findings of our study and questioning the validity of their arguments. We find that the concerns of Viveen et al. (2020) are based on a

The Ladakh Range in the Trans Himalaya houses sub-routes of the Silk route through its passes (La in local language) which may have been the main commercial and cultural passage to connect the central Asia and Tibetan region the rest of India. A ca 6400-220 cal yr B.P. hydroclimatic record of two lakes viz Tsoltak lake and Yaya Tso near the Chang La and Hor La passes of Ladakh Range is presented here

Analysisof charcoal particles preserved in lake sediments has been frequently used to reconstruct fire, vegetation and climate history. Larger macroscopic particles (>125 μm) are attributed to local fires, whereas microscopic charcoal particles (<125 μm), observed on pollen slides, are a signal of regional fire. Taxonomic identification of the charcoal particles adds to the fire-history reconstruction

This paper offers an updated review of the variety of physicochemical analysis applied so far to Levantine rock art (Spain) to characterize de composition of the pigments, as well as the substrate and/or the natural coating covering these particular prehistoric paintings. This paper is part of a broader special issue evaluating the real contribution of scientific approaches to rock art research, assessing

Ecological niche models (ENM) of species distributions and dispersal patterns are well established in the biological sciences. Their use in paleoanthropological reconstructions of hominin niches is relatively recent, successfully focusing on out of Africa dispersals and human land preference in Europe and Central Asia. These studies have suggested that some of the most important variables for predicting

To investigate the connection of phosphorus (P) forms with peatland succession and history of fire in Tuqiang peatland, a 57 cm peat core was sampled with high-resolution (1-cm intervals) in the north of the Great Khingan mountain (Northeast China). AMS 14C dating techniques combined with sequential chemical extraction was used to determine and calculate the accumulation rates of phosphorus fractions

In order to study the history of natural fires under warming scenarios and to evaluate the possible incidence of fires in the future, we analyzed the carbon concentration and carbon isotope composition of black carbon within the loess-paleosol sequence of the Chinese Loess Plateau. Notably, the interglacials in this East Asian monsoon region were abnormally warm. The results from the interval of L5-S5

The Channel Islands of California have received much attention from researchers, in part, due to the long occupation history of the islands that spans at least 13,000 years. The Northern Channel Islands have played an important role in our understanding of early coastal adaptations and development of complexity among maritime adapted peoples; however, this is only part of the picture. The Southern

The climate and environmental conditions in the Carpathian Basin and the adjacent northern Italy/Adriatic region during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) exhibit some major differences, as compared to present-day conditions. For instance, high accumulation rates recorded in loess deposits point to an active dust cycle during the LGM. Here, we investigate the climate conditions and provide new insights

Here we present charcoal identifications for Rose Cottage Cave, Eastern Free State, from layers dated between about 96,000 and 35,000 years ago (∼96 and ∼35 ka ago). We then suggest plant community types that might have been established in the area in warm Marine Isotope Stage 5 (MIS5) versus cooler MIS4/MIS3 phases. The hypothesis is that frost-tender plants should occur in warm phases while hardy

Preventive excavation in the ancient Forum Iulii city (Fréjus, southern France) in 2013 revealed a housing block where a very well preserved charred wooden floor was discovered. It was laid in a house dating back to the first half of the 1st century AD and used as the floor of a room decorated with painted plaster. It was destroyed by fire around 70 AD. The ligneous species used for its construction

Slope failures are widespread phenomena in mid-latitude mountain environments that were glaciated during the Last Glacial Cycle. This is the case of the Aran valley, in the Upper Garonne catchment, Central Pyrenees, that included glaciers several hundred meters thick. Following postglacial warming and ice thinning, the recently deglaciated slopes were subject to intense stress readjustments - the so-called