1
|
Short-term occupations at high elevation during the Middle Paleolithic at Kalavan 2 (Republic of Armenia). PLoS One 2021; 16:e0245700. [PMID: 33539405 PMCID: PMC7861461 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Accepted: 01/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The Armenian highlands encompasses rugged and environmentally diverse landscapes and is characterized by a mosaic of distinct ecological niches and large temperature gradients. Strong seasonal fluctuations in resource availability along topographic gradients likely prompted Pleistocene hominin groups to adapt by adjusting their mobility strategies. However, the role that elevated landscapes played in hunter-gatherer settlement systems during the Late Pleistocene (Middle Palaeolithic [MP]) remains poorly understood. At 1640 m above sea level, the MP site of Kalavan 2 (Armenia) is ideally positioned for testing hypotheses involving elevation-dependent seasonal mobility and subsistence strategies. Renewed excavations at Kalavan 2 exposed three main occupation horizons and ten additional low densities lithic and faunal assemblages. The results provide a new chronological, stratigraphical, and paleoenvironmental framework for hominin behaviors between ca. 60 to 45 ka. The evidence presented suggests that the stratified occupations at Kalavan 2 locale were repeated ephemerally most likely related to hunting in a high-elevation within the mountainous steppe landscape.
Collapse
|
2
|
Kandel AW, Gasparyan B, Allué E, Bigga G, Bruch AA, Cullen VL, Frahm E, Ghukasyan R, Gruwier B, Jabbour F, Miller CE, Taller A, Vardazaryan V, Vasilyan D, Weissbrod L. The earliest evidence for Upper Paleolithic occupation in the Armenian Highlands at Aghitu-3 Cave. J Hum Evol 2017; 110:37-68. [PMID: 28778461 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2017] [Revised: 05/22/2017] [Accepted: 05/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
With its well-preserved archaeological and environmental records, Aghitu-3 Cave permits us to examine the settlement patterns of the Upper Paleolithic (UP) people who inhabited the Armenian Highlands. We also test whether settlement of the region between ∼39-24,000 cal BP relates to environmental variability. The earliest evidence occurs in archaeological horizon (AH) VII from ∼39-36,000 cal BP during a mild, moist climatic phase. AH VI shows periodic occupation as warm, humid conditions prevailed from ∼36-32,000 cal BP. As the climate becomes cooler and drier at ∼32-29,000 cal BP (AH V-IV), evidence for occupation is minimal. However, as cooling continues, the deposits of AH III demonstrate that people used the site more intensively from ∼29-24,000 cal BP, leaving behind numerous stone artifacts, faunal remains, and complex combustion features. Despite the climatic fluctuations seen across this 15,000-year sequence, lithic technology remains attuned to one pattern: unidirectional reduction of small cores geared towards the production of bladelets for tool manufacture. Subsistence patterns also remain stable, focused on medium-sized prey such as ovids and caprids, as well as equids. AH III demonstrates an expansion of social networks to the northwest and southwest, as the transport distance of obsidian used to make stone artifacts increases. We also observe the addition of bone tools, including an eyed needle, and shell beads brought from the east, suggesting that these people manufactured complex clothing and wore ornaments. Remains of micromammals, birds, charcoal, pollen, and tephra relate the story of environmental variability. We hypothesize that UP behavior was linked to shifts in demographic pressures and climatic changes. Thus, by combining archaeological and environmental data, we gain a clearer picture about the first UP inhabitants of the Armenian Highlands.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew W Kandel
- The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities at the University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Boris Gasparyan
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences, Charents St. 15, 0025 Yerevan, Armenia
| | - Ethel Allué
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
| | - Gerlinde Bigga
- Department of Geology, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Angela A Bruch
- The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities at the Senckenberg Research Institute, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Victoria L Cullen
- University of Oxford, RLAHA, Dyson Perrins Building, Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
| | - Ellery Frahm
- Yale Initiative for the Study of Ancient Pyrotechnology, Department of Anthropology, Yale University, 10 Sachem Street, New Haven, CT 06511, United States; Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Peabody Museum, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States
| | - Robert Ghukasyan
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences, Charents St. 15, 0025 Yerevan, Armenia
| | - Ben Gruwier
- Department of Anthropology, Durham University, South Road, Durham, United Kingdom; Department of Experimental Anatomy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Laarbeeklaan 103, Jette, Belgium
| | - Firas Jabbour
- The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities at the University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Christopher E Miller
- Department of Geoarchaeology, Institute of Archaeological Science, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Andreas Taller
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Varduhi Vardazaryan
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Davit Vasilyan
- Department of Geology, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany; JURASSICA Museum, Route de Fontenais 21, 2900 Porrentruy, Switzerland; Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Chemin du musée 6, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Lior Weissbrod
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, 31905, Israel
| |
Collapse
|