The blessing of a great flood: differentiation of mortality patterns in the large mammal record of the Lower Pleistocene fluvial site of Untermassfeld (Germany) and its relevance for the interpretation of faunal assemblages from archaeological sites

Kahlke, Ralf‐Dietrich; Gaudzinski, Sabine

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.03.004

Cited by 58 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…El estudio de la microfauna de la unidad 7, ha identificado la asociación Mimomys savini -Iberomys huescarensis generalmente considerada como un buen marcador cronológico . Dicha asociación permite posicionar Vallparadís en la misma biozona que los yacimientos de Huéscar-1 (España, Alberdi et al 2001), le Vallonnet (Francia), Untermaßfeld (Alemania, Kahlke et al 2005), o Sima del Elefante, es decir, en una biozona más antigua que la de Atapuerca Gran Dolina-TD6 (Agustí y Madurell 2003;Agustí et al 2007).…”

Section: El Yacimiento De Vallparadís (Evt)unclassified

Datación por <i>ESR</i> del yacimiento arqueológico del Pleistoceno inferior de Vallparadís (Terrassa, Cataluña, España)

Duval¹,

Moreno²,

Shao³

et al. 2011

Trab. prehist.

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Excavated between 2005 and 2007, the site of Vallparadís (Terrassa, Spain) has given an abundant and diversified fauna associated with a rich Mode 1 industry. In order to complete the chronostratigraphic framework, we performed ESR and combined US-ESR dating applied to quartz grains extracted from sediments and fossil teeth, respectively. The results obtained are very significant, giving a weighted mean ESR age of 0.83 ± 0.13 Ma (2σ) for the reference archaeological level of the site (level 10) and another of 0.79 ± 0.23 Ma (2σ) for the archaeological level 12 of the Vallparadís sequence. These ESR results are in total agreement with the ones derived from biochronology and paleomagnetism. This whole dataset allows the elaboration of a reliable and consistent chronostratigraphic framework which chronologically places Vallparadís site in the late Early Pleistocene period, i.e. within a time range comprised between Jaramillo and Brunhes geomagnetic events. Consequently, as well as Gran Dolina-TD6 and Sima del Elefante- TE9 sites, in Atapuerca, Burgos, Vallparadís can be therefore considered as a key site for the study of early hominid settlements in Europe.

Excavado entre 2005 y 2007, el yacimiento de Vallparadís (Terrassa, España) ha aportado una fauna rica y diversa en asociación con un importante conjunto lítico de Modo 1. Con el objetivo de completar el marco cronoestratigráfico, se hicieron dataciones por los métodos de Resonancia Paramagnética Electrónica (Electron Spin Resonance, ESR) y ESR combinada con uranio-torio sobre algunas muestras de granos de cuarzo extraídos de sedimentos y dientes fósiles, respectivamente. Los resultados obtenidos son muy significativos, ofreciendo edades ESR promedias de 0,83 ± 0,13 Ma (2σ) para el nivel arqueológico de referencia del yacimiento (nivel 10) y de 0,79 ± 0,23 Ma (2σ) para el nivel arqueológico 12 de la secuencia de Vallparadís. Dichos resultados por ESR concuerdan con los obtenidos a partir de la biocronología y del paleomagnetismo. El yacimiento de Vallparadís dispone ahora de un marco cronoestratigráfico fiable y coherente, que permite situarlo cronológicamente a finales del Pleistoceno inferior, dentro de un rango temporal comprendido entre los eventos geomagnéticos de Jaramillo y Brunhes. Dicho yacimiento junto a los de Gran Dolina TD-6 y Sima del Elefante TE-9, en Atapuerca, Burgos, se posiciona como un yacimiento clave para el estudio de los primeros poblamientos humanos de Europa

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Section: El Yacimiento De Vallparadís (Evt)unclassified

Datación por <i>ESR</i> del yacimiento arqueológico del Pleistoceno inferior de Vallparadís (Terrassa, Cataluña, España)

Duval¹,

Moreno²,

Shao³

et al. 2011

Trab. prehist.

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“…This is different from what was observed in other actualistic studies of rock shelters, in which a thick layer of sheep dung prevented burial of bones (Rindel and Belardi 2006). In archaeological sites located in lacustrine deposits or on river margins, one of the usual questions concerns the origin of the bone assemblage and the role of water in the formation of the deposit (Bonomo and Massigoge 2004;Gutiérrez and Kaufmann 2007;Kahlke and Gaudzinski 2005;Kaufmann and Gutiérrez 2004). Fluvial effects on faunal remains and the role of water in the formation of the faunal record have been closely studied (Behrensmeyer 1975;Fernandez Jalvo and Andrews 2003;Gutierrez and Kaufmann 2007;Nasti 2005;Trapani 1998;Voorhies 1969) and it has been demonstrated that bones have different displacement potential according to size, shape, and density, and that bones behave differently if they are dry or wet and articulated or disarticulated when they contact the water (Coard 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Longitudinal Taphonomic Studies of Mammal Carcasses from the Rio Salado Valley, Mendoza, Argentina

Otaola

Tripaldi

2016

EBL

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Taphonomic studies aid in understanding the transition of organic matter from living contexts (the biosphere) to geological contexts (the lithosphere), and how agents and processes affect skeletal remains in the archaeological record. Archaeological research in the Atuel River valley, Mendoza, Argentina, has been carried out for several years. However, actualistic approaches to examine local and regional taphonomic processes have only been recently developed in this area. Longitudinal studies of disarticulation and dispersion of bones from carcasses are presented here in order to understand how skeletal materials are naturally added to, subtracted from, and mixed within the archaeological record. In this paper we explore variability in the influence of taphonomic processes in different microhabitats of the valley and how these mechanisms impact the potential of mixing during bone deposition in the archaeological record. There are some qualitative differences between carcasses deposited in different landforms, showing that each place has its own taphonomic history, principally influenced by the geomorphic and ecologic processes that operate in different landforms.

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“…However, as repeatedly emphasised in publications on the site, no traces of a hominin presence whatsoever could be identified thus far (Kahlke 2006;Kahlke and Gaudzinski 2005). How then, does the material presented by Landeck and colleagues (Garcia Garriga et al 2013;Landeck 2008Landeck , 2010Landeck and Garcia Garriga 2015, 2017 fit in the Untermassfeld evidence?…”

Section: The Untermassfeld Site: Research History and Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 95%

Uneven Data Quality and the Earliest Occupation of Europe—the Case of Untermassfeld (Germany)

Roebroeks

Gaudzinski‐Windheuser

Baales

et al. 2017

J Paleo Arch

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The database regarding the earliest occupation of Europe has increased significantly in quantity and quality of data points over the last two decades, mainly through the addition of new sites as a result of long-term systematic excavations and large-scale prospections of Early and early Middle Pleistocene exposures. The site distribution pattern suggests an ephemeral presence of hominins in the south of Europe from around 1 million years ago onward, with occasional short northward expansions along the western coastal areas when temperate conditions permitted. From around 600,000-700,000 years ago, Acheulean artefacts appear in Europe and somewhat later hominin presence seems to pick up, with more sites and now some also present in colder climatic settings. It is again only later, around 350,000 years ago, that the first sites show up in more continental, central parts of Europe, east of the Rhine. A series of recent papers on the Early Pleistocene palaeontological site of Untermassfeld (Thuringia, Germany) makes claims that are of great interest for studies of earliest Europe and are at odds with the described pattern: the papers suggest that Untermassfeld has yielded stone tools and humanly modified faunal remains, evidence for a 1 million years old hominin presence in European continental mid-latitudes, and additional evidence that hominins were well-established in Europe already around that time period. Here, we evaluate these claims and demonstrate that these studies are severely flawed in terms of data on provenance of the materials studied and in the interpretation of faunal remains and lithics as testifying to a hominin presence at the site. In actual fact, any reference to the Untermassfeld site as an archaeological one is unwarranted. Furthermore, it is not the only European Early Pleistocene site where inferred evidence for hominin presence is problematic. The strength of the spatiotemporal patterns of hominin presence and absence depends on the quality of the data points we work with, and database maintenance, including critical evaluation of new sites, is crucial to advance our knowledge of the expansions and contractions of hominin ranges during the Pleistocene.J Paleo Arch (2018) 1:5-31 https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-017-0003-

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The blessing of a great flood: differentiation of mortality patterns in the large mammal record of the Lower Pleistocene fluvial site of Untermassfeld (Germany) and its relevance for the interpretation of faunal assemblages from archaeological sites

Cited by 58 publications

References 34 publications

Datación por <i>ESR</i> del yacimiento arqueológico del Pleistoceno inferior de Vallparadís (Terrassa, Cataluña, España)

Datación por <i>ESR</i> del yacimiento arqueológico del Pleistoceno inferior de Vallparadís (Terrassa, Cataluña, España)

Longitudinal Taphonomic Studies of Mammal Carcasses from the Rio Salado Valley, Mendoza, Argentina

Uneven Data Quality and the Earliest Occupation of Europe—the Case of Untermassfeld (Germany)

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