Regional extinction(s) but continental persistence in European Acheulean culture

Abstract

Traces of early hominin cultural dynamics are revealed through the spatial and temporal character of the archaeological record. In the European Lower Palaeolithic, biface occurrences provide insights into episodes of cultural loss, persistence and convergence during the Acheulean, the longest-known prehistoric cultural phenomenon. Here, the cohesiveness of Europe's Acheulean record is statistically assessed under multiple spatial scenarios. Repeated cycles of cultural loss are identified in northern Europe, while southern Europe is demonstrated to have a continuous record of Acheulean presence. These data support longstanding hypotheses concerning an absence of Acheulean populations in northern Europe during glacial periods; a result that should increasingly be applied with caution. In southern Europe, Iberia displays the loss of Acheulean cultural information between c. 850 to 500 thousand years ago, with the Italian peninsula potentially acting as a source population for its later reintroduction. When investigated at a continental-level there are no clear episodes of cultural loss. Current evidence therefore suggests that once Acheulean cultural information was introduced to Europe, it never wholly left. Impact StatementPresent in Europe for more than 700,000 years, there has long been debate concerning the presence and loss of Acheulean Palaeolithic culture on the continent. Attention has often focused on the role of glaciation and demographic factors in northern and southern regions. Here, the temporal cohesion of the European Acheulean archaeological record is statistically assessed

The Acheulean niche: climate and ecology predict handaxe production in Europe

“…Importantly, because BIO11 is a mean over an entire season, it tells us little about the number of days below the threshold that hominins could have survived. Notably, and supporting past work 19,20,31 but in opposition to more established interpretations 10,21 , western portions of northern Europe appear suitable for hominin habitation during glacial periods (Figure 2). Low summer precipitation has similarly been hypothesized to limit Pleistocene hominin population distributions 16,17 , and the ethnographic literature also indicates this will restrict human population ranges 48 .…”

“…High levels of precipitation along Atlantic coastal regions would have strengthened this distribution trend, making colder mean winter temperatures tolerable (Figures 2 and 5). Potentially, the expansion of the dry Mammoth steppe in the Late Acheulean explains why the latest known European sites are all in southern France and Iberia 31 . Reduced temperature annual range resulted in increased habitable areas, potentially indicating Acheulean populations to better cope with stable climates relative to those that are more seasonally variable.…”

“…For prehistoric cultural occurrencesin this case, European Acheulean biface sitesreconstructed paleoclimatic information for each point in space and time is required. We undertook a comprehensive review of Acheulean sites in Europe 31 , defined as every site on the continent with the confirmed presence of Acheulean bifaces up to the western borders of Russia and Anatolia (Figure 1). Associating each site with paleoclimatic reconstructions requires site-specific spatial and temporal data, while the focus of our investigation necessitated the collection of artifact technological presence and absence information.…”

“…The present data indicate multiple potential dispersal bottlenecks along the Mediterranean coast, including between southern France and the Italian peninsula, where only a thin strip of land between the Mediterranean and the Alps appears suitable (Figure 2). This would have severely limited the flow of cultural and genetic information, helping to explain why the Acheulean may have been present in the Italian peninsula during a sustained period of absence in Iberia between c. 800 and 500 ka 14,31 , and why distinct phenotypes such as H. antecessor are only present in western European regions. At a continental level, Acheulean populations may have experienced highly limited dispersal potential between the Levant and Europe (and vice versa), with only thin coastal routes appearing viable.…”