The first appearance of explicitly symbolic objects in the archaeological record marks a fundamental stage in the emergence of modern social behavior in Homo. Ornaments such as shell beads represent some of the earliest objects of this kind. We report on examples of perforated Nassarius gibbosulus shell beads from Grotte des Pigeons (Taforalt, Morocco), North Africa. These marine shells come from archaeological levels dated by luminescence and uranium-series techniques to Ϸ82,000 years ago. They confirm evidence of similar ornaments from other less well dated sites in North Africa and adjacent areas of southwest Asia. The shells are of the same genus as shell beads from slightly younger levels at Blombos Cave in South Africa. Wear patterns on the shells imply that some of them were suspended, and, as at Blombos, they were covered in red ochre. These findings imply an early distribution of bead-making in Africa and southwest Asia at least 40 millennia before the appearance of similar cultural manifestations in Europe.anatomically modern humans ͉ Nassarius shells ͉ modern behavior ͉ Middle Palaeolithic ͉ optically stimulated luminescence

Changes in oceanic radiocarbon ( 14 C) reservoir ages through the deglaciation and Holocene can provide important information on ocean circulation as Earth's climate warmed. Here, we present reservoir ages for the western tropical Pacific that span the mid-Holocene transition from less to more frequent El Nin˜o events. Reservoir ages were calculated using paired U-Th and conventional 14 C dating of eight individual fossil coral samples from Koil and Muschu Islands, northern coastal Papua New Guinea (PNG). AMS 14 C and MC-ICPMS U-Th dating of additional samples from six of the fossil corals were used to confirm the TIMS U-Th and conventional 14 C ages. The combined results show average reservoir ages of 185730 14 C yr (n ¼ 4) for 7220-5850 yr BP compared to 420 14 C yr for a modern coral from Muschu Island. From 5850 to 5420 yr BP reservoir ages increase to modern values. The relatively young reservoir ages from 7220 to 5850 yr BP are best explained by greater influx of well-equilibrated sub-tropical water from the southern branch of the South Equatorial Current (SEC). This is consistent with strengthening trade winds (facilitating air-sea exchange) and a more northerly position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone thought to have occurred at this time. The transition to more modern-like reservoir ages from 5850 to 5420 yr BP suggests modern oceanic circulation patterns were established during this interval. The onset of modern El Nin˜o activity around this time would have served to enhance the intrusion of 14 C-depleted equatorial waters via the south equatorial branch of the SEC. Overall, the changes in reservoir age presented here for the western tropical Pacific suggest that Holocene changes in the El Nin˜o-Southern Oscillation state of the tropical Pacific resulted in reorganisation of oceanic circulation in this region.

We present the longest-duration directly dated terrestrial palaeoclimate record from the western Mediterranean region: a flowstone speleothem from Gitana Cave, southeast Spain. The main phase of growth was 274 to 58 ka, dated by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) U-series methods. Effective precipitation, which we consider primarily responsible for flowstone calcite δ13C variations, measured at 300 μm resolution, was higher during interglacials associated with marine oxygen isotope stages (MIS) 7 and 5, and lower during glacial MIS 6. There is a close correspondence between speleothem δ13C and sea surface temperature (SST) estimates from adjacent Atlantic Ocean cores during MIS 6, which implies that oceanic conditions are critical in controlling the western Mediterranean terrestrial moisture balance during glacial periods. Other features of our record, such as the sequence of termination II warming/moistening between approximately 133 and 127 ka, including a "pause" around 130–128 ka, and the lagged termination of MIS 5 warm intervals (5e, 5c and 5a) are similar to other terrestrial records within the Mediterranean basin, indicating climate synchroneity along the northern Mediterranean coast. The Gitana cave region also may have been a refugium for temperate species during short-lived cold/arid periods during MIS 5.

The province of Burdur (SW Turkey) is seismically an active region. A structural, geochronological, petrographical, geochemical and fluid inclusion study of extension veins and fault-related calcite precipitates has been undertaken to reconstruct the palaeofluid flow pattern in this normal fault setting in the Aegean region. A palaeostress analysis and U/Th dating of the precipitates reveals the neotectonic significance of the sampled calcites. Fluid inclusion microthermometry of calcites-filling extension veins shows final melting temperatures (T m ice) of 0°C. This indicates pure water, most likely of meteoric origin. The oxygen isotope values ()9.8& to )6.5& VPDB) and the carbon isotopic composition ()10.4& to )2.9& VPDB) of these calcites also show a near-surface meteoric origin of the fluid responsible for precipitation. The microstructural characteristics of fault-related calcites indicate that calcite precipitation was linked with fault activity. Final melting temperature of fault-related calcites ranges between 0 and )1.9°C. The oxygen isotope values show a broad range between )15.0& and )2.2& VPDB. Several of these calcites have a d 18 O composition that is higher or lower than the oxygen isotopic composition of meteoric calcites in the area (i.e. between )10& and )6& VPDB). The d 13 C composition largely falls within the range of the host limestones and reflects a rock-buffered system. Microthermometry and stable isotopic study indicate a meteoric origin of the fluids with some degree of water-rock interaction or mixing with another fluid. Temperatures deduced from microthermometry and stable isotope analyses indicate precipitation temperatures around 50°C. These higher temperatures and the evidence for water-rock interaction indicate a flow path long enough to equilibrate with the host-rock limestone and to increase the temperature.The combined study of extension vein-and fault-related calcite precipitates enables determining the origin of the fluids responsible for precipitation in a normal fault setting. Meteoric water infiltrated in the limestones to a depth of at least 1 km and underwent water-rock interaction or mixing with a residual fluid. This fluid was, moreover, tapped during fault activity. The extension veins, on the contrary, were passively filled with calcites precipitating from the downwards-migrating meteoric water.

2008. Sub-millennial climate shifts in the western Mediterranean during the last glacial period recorded in a speleothem from Mallorca, Spain.ABSTRACT: Very few high-resolution and directly dated terrestrial archives of the last glacial period exist for the western Mediterranean region, yet this is a key locality for recording sub-millennial North Atlantic and Mediterranean climate change. Here, we present evidence of effective precipitation changes based on growth history and d 13 C of calcite in a Mallorcan stalagmite that grew between 112 and 48 ka. Effective precipitation in Mallorca appears to have been sensitive to proximal sea surface temperature variations and at certain times, ca. 76 ka for example, changed rapidly from moist to arid conditions in only a few centuries. A sea-level highstand during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5a interrupted growth. Regrowth started promptly after this, but effective precipitation decreased markedly for much of the later part of MIS 5a, and also for shorter periods correlative with Heinrich events H8 (ca. 90 ka) and H6 (ca. 65 ka), with growth ceasing during H5 (ca. 48 ka). Arid episodes in Mallorca appear to be expressions of extremely cold periods recorded further north in Europe and occur contemporaneously with rapid decreases in Greenland temperature.