Cargando…

Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal)

Gruta do Caldeirão features a c. 6 m-thick archaeological stratification capped by Holocene layers ABC-D and Ea, which overlie layer Eb, a deposit of Magdalenian age that underwent significant disturbance, intrusion, and component mixing caused by funerary use of the cave during the Early Neolithic....

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Zilhão, João, Angelucci, Diego E., Arnold, Lee J., d’Errico, Francesco, Dayet, Laure, Demuro, Martina, Deschamps, Marianne, Fewlass, Helen, Gomes, Luís, Linscott, Beth, Matias, Henrique, Pike, Alistair W. G., Steier, Peter, Talamo, Sahra, Wild, Eva M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8550450/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34705887
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259089
_version_ 1784590963302203392
author Zilhão, João
Angelucci, Diego E.
Arnold, Lee J.
d’Errico, Francesco
Dayet, Laure
Demuro, Martina
Deschamps, Marianne
Fewlass, Helen
Gomes, Luís
Linscott, Beth
Matias, Henrique
Pike, Alistair W. G.
Steier, Peter
Talamo, Sahra
Wild, Eva M.
author_facet Zilhão, João
Angelucci, Diego E.
Arnold, Lee J.
d’Errico, Francesco
Dayet, Laure
Demuro, Martina
Deschamps, Marianne
Fewlass, Helen
Gomes, Luís
Linscott, Beth
Matias, Henrique
Pike, Alistair W. G.
Steier, Peter
Talamo, Sahra
Wild, Eva M.
author_sort Zilhão, João
collection PubMed
description Gruta do Caldeirão features a c. 6 m-thick archaeological stratification capped by Holocene layers ABC-D and Ea, which overlie layer Eb, a deposit of Magdalenian age that underwent significant disturbance, intrusion, and component mixing caused by funerary use of the cave during the Early Neolithic. Here, we provide an updated overview of the stratigraphy and archaeological content of the underlying Pleistocene succession, whose chronology we refine using radiocarbon and single-grain optically stimulated luminescence dating. We find a high degree of stratigraphic integrity. Dating anomalies exist in association with the succession’s two major discontinuities: between layer Eb and Upper Solutrean layer Fa, and between Early Upper Palaeolithic layer K and Middle Palaeolithic layer L. Mostly, the anomalies consist of older-than-expected radiocarbon ages and can be explained by bioturbation and palimpsest-forming sedimentation hiatuses. Combined with palaeoenvironmental inferences derived from magnetic susceptibility analyses, the dating shows that sedimentation rates varied in tandem with the oscillations in global climate revealed by the Greenland oxygen isotope record. A steep increase in sedimentation rate is observed through the Last Glacial Maximum, resulting in a c. 1.5 m-thick accumulation containing conspicuous remains of occupation by people of the Solutrean technocomplex, whose traditional subdivision is corroborated: the index fossils appear in the expected stratigraphic order; the diagnostics of the Protosolutrean and the Lower Solutrean predate 24,000 years ago; and the constraints on the Upper Solutrean place it after Greenland Interstadial 2.2. (23,220–23,340 years ago). Human usage of the site during the Early Upper and the Middle Palaeolithic is episodic and low-intensity: stone tools are few, and the faunal remains relate to carnivore activity. The Middle Palaeolithic is found to persist beyond 39,000 years ago, at least three millennia longer than in the Franco-Cantabrian region. This conclusion is upheld by Bayesian modelling and stands even if the radiocarbon ages for the Middle Palaeolithic levels are removed from consideration (on account of observed inversions and the method’s potential for underestimation when used close to its limit of applicability). A number of localities in Spain and Portugal reveal a similar persistence pattern. The key evidence comes from high-resolution fluviatile contexts spared by the site formation issues that our study of Caldeirão brings to light—palimpsest formation, post-depositional disturbance, and erosion. These processes. are ubiquitous in the cave and rock-shelter sites of Iberia, reflecting the impact on karst archives of the variation in climate and environments that occurred through the Upper Pleistocene, and especially at two key points in time: between 37,000 and 42,000 years ago, and after the Last Glacial Maximum. Such empirical difficulties go a long way towards explaining the controversies surrounding the associated cultural transitions: from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic, and from the Solutrean to the Magdalenian. Alongside potential dating error caused by incomplete decontamination, proper consideration of sample association issues is required if we are ever to fully understand what happened with the human settlement of Iberia during these critical intervals, and especially so with regards to the fate of Iberia’s last Neandertal populations.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8550450
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-85504502021-10-28 Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal) Zilhão, João Angelucci, Diego E. Arnold, Lee J. d’Errico, Francesco Dayet, Laure Demuro, Martina Deschamps, Marianne Fewlass, Helen Gomes, Luís Linscott, Beth Matias, Henrique Pike, Alistair W. G. Steier, Peter Talamo, Sahra Wild, Eva M. PLoS One Research Article Gruta do Caldeirão features a c. 6 m-thick archaeological stratification capped by Holocene layers ABC-D and Ea, which overlie layer Eb, a deposit of Magdalenian age that underwent significant disturbance, intrusion, and component mixing caused by funerary use of the cave during the Early Neolithic. Here, we provide an updated overview of the stratigraphy and archaeological content of the underlying Pleistocene succession, whose chronology we refine using radiocarbon and single-grain optically stimulated luminescence dating. We find a high degree of stratigraphic integrity. Dating anomalies exist in association with the succession’s two major discontinuities: between layer Eb and Upper Solutrean layer Fa, and between Early Upper Palaeolithic layer K and Middle Palaeolithic layer L. Mostly, the anomalies consist of older-than-expected radiocarbon ages and can be explained by bioturbation and palimpsest-forming sedimentation hiatuses. Combined with palaeoenvironmental inferences derived from magnetic susceptibility analyses, the dating shows that sedimentation rates varied in tandem with the oscillations in global climate revealed by the Greenland oxygen isotope record. A steep increase in sedimentation rate is observed through the Last Glacial Maximum, resulting in a c. 1.5 m-thick accumulation containing conspicuous remains of occupation by people of the Solutrean technocomplex, whose traditional subdivision is corroborated: the index fossils appear in the expected stratigraphic order; the diagnostics of the Protosolutrean and the Lower Solutrean predate 24,000 years ago; and the constraints on the Upper Solutrean place it after Greenland Interstadial 2.2. (23,220–23,340 years ago). Human usage of the site during the Early Upper and the Middle Palaeolithic is episodic and low-intensity: stone tools are few, and the faunal remains relate to carnivore activity. The Middle Palaeolithic is found to persist beyond 39,000 years ago, at least three millennia longer than in the Franco-Cantabrian region. This conclusion is upheld by Bayesian modelling and stands even if the radiocarbon ages for the Middle Palaeolithic levels are removed from consideration (on account of observed inversions and the method’s potential for underestimation when used close to its limit of applicability). A number of localities in Spain and Portugal reveal a similar persistence pattern. The key evidence comes from high-resolution fluviatile contexts spared by the site formation issues that our study of Caldeirão brings to light—palimpsest formation, post-depositional disturbance, and erosion. These processes. are ubiquitous in the cave and rock-shelter sites of Iberia, reflecting the impact on karst archives of the variation in climate and environments that occurred through the Upper Pleistocene, and especially at two key points in time: between 37,000 and 42,000 years ago, and after the Last Glacial Maximum. Such empirical difficulties go a long way towards explaining the controversies surrounding the associated cultural transitions: from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic, and from the Solutrean to the Magdalenian. Alongside potential dating error caused by incomplete decontamination, proper consideration of sample association issues is required if we are ever to fully understand what happened with the human settlement of Iberia during these critical intervals, and especially so with regards to the fate of Iberia’s last Neandertal populations. Public Library of Science 2021-10-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8550450/ /pubmed/34705887 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259089 Text en © 2021 Zilhão et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Zilhão, João
Angelucci, Diego E.
Arnold, Lee J.
d’Errico, Francesco
Dayet, Laure
Demuro, Martina
Deschamps, Marianne
Fewlass, Helen
Gomes, Luís
Linscott, Beth
Matias, Henrique
Pike, Alistair W. G.
Steier, Peter
Talamo, Sahra
Wild, Eva M.
Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal)
title Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal)
title_full Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal)
title_fullStr Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal)
title_full_unstemmed Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal)
title_short Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal)
title_sort revisiting the middle and upper palaeolithic archaeology of gruta do caldeirão (tomar, portugal)
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8550450/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34705887
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259089
work_keys_str_mv AT zilhaojoao revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal
AT angeluccidiegoe revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal
AT arnoldleej revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal
AT derricofrancesco revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal
AT dayetlaure revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal
AT demuromartina revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal
AT deschampsmarianne revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal
AT fewlasshelen revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal
AT gomesluis revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal
AT linscottbeth revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal
AT matiashenrique revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal
AT pikealistairwg revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal
AT steierpeter revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal
AT talamosahra revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal
AT wildevam revisitingthemiddleandupperpalaeolithicarchaeologyofgrutadocaldeiraotomarportugal