Quaternary Environments and Humans
Journal Data
| Type | JOURNAL |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Elsevier B.V (NL) |
| ISSN | 2950-2365 |
| Scopus | 21101369103 |
| OpenAlex | S4389158291 |
| Website | https://www.scopus.com/source/sourceInfo.url?sourceId=21101369103 |
| Total publications | 111 |
| Coverage period | 2023 - 2026 |
| Country | NL |
| Language | EN |
| Access | Open Access |
| Indexing | DOAJ indexed • Scopus indexed |
| Cited by | 30 |
| Impact factor | 0.977 |
| SJR | 0.657 (Q1) |
| SNIP | 0.527 |
| CiteScore | 1.4 |
| h-index | 3 |
| 2-year mean citedness | 0.1176 |
| Female authorship share | 33.2% |
Quaternary Environments and Humans focuses on the interplay between human societies and their environments during the Quaternary period. This directly aligns with environmental anthropology and human ecology, making it a closely cognate venue that frequently publishes work relevant to social anthropologists
Archeology · Archeology (arts and humanities) · Cultural Studies · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Archaeological Research and Protection · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archeology (arts and humanities
What is that building doing there on Via Borgo Vico? New archaeological perspectives on the Iron Age occupation of the Como (Northern Italy) lakeshores
The city of Como (Lombardia, Northern Italy) is in a plain at the interface between the Lake Como and mountain slopes. The most widely accepted narrative states that all the pre-Roman settlements were located on the hills surrounding the Como plain, that was marshy and uninhabited. The present-day downtown lies in the plain. New archaeological remains of a large and complex building dating back to the V cent. BC (Golasecca Culture – Iron Age) wer…
Episodic settlement and mound formation context at Cubalel and Siwré sites, Middle Senegal River
Recent analysis of sediments recovered in 1991 at the sites of Cubalel and Siwré in the Middle Senegal River Valley have revealed new insights into the context of mound formation beginning ca. 1900 cal BP. In this study, we utilized stable isotopes ( δ 13 C, δ 15 N) from Soil Organic Matter (SOM) and applied a Bayesian deposition model to radiocarbon dates to understand differences in the duration and nature of settlement between the two sites co…
A geoarchaeological timeline of India
In the last decade, the growing interest in understanding the long-term human-environment interaction and its enduring impact on Earth systems has drawn scientists from around the world into multidisciplinary studies, including geology, archaeology, palaeoclimatology and palaeoecology. With the current trend towards understanding the roots of human impact on the landscape, the 'Anthropocene', and the complexities within the geosphere, biosphere a…
Cultural responses to the 8.2 ka climatic event in North China
While the 8.2 ka abrupt cooling event is increasingly recognised as a major Holocene climatic anomaly, archaeological discussions of its cultural consequences have often been framed in terms of societal distress, including the collapse and abandonment of settlements. However, prehistoric communities must have responded in more diverse ways. This paper investigates the site-based socio-ecological adaptations at the Jiahu settlement in North China,…
The coevolution of languages, peoples and environments in Central Africa’s Kwilu-Kasai region since ∼1000 BCE
In this article, Jan Vansina’s essay on the deep-time population history of the Kwilu-Kasai region, now more than half a century old, is revisited through the kaleidoscopic lens of newly collected linguistic, archaeological, palaeoecological and genetic evidence collected between 2018 and 2023. In contrast to Vansina’s view of the region as a terminus for the settlement of diverse Bantu speech communities, the area was likely an important center …
High-precision dating of Abrigo de La Boja (Murcia, Spain)
La Boja is a rock-shelter located in Murcia (Spain) whose c. 7 m infilling spans the last 50,000 years of the Pleistocene. Though punctuated by a few episodes of stasis or erosion, sediment accumulation proceeded at a regular rate, while human occupation was intermittent and light. This pattern allowed for the preservation of 31 well-separated Occupation Horizons whose stratigraphic integrity is demonstrated by stone tool refitting, the pristine …
Animals, environments and humans
From open landscapes to forest refugia
The red deer ( Cervus elaphus ) is one of the few remnant species of the European Pleistocene megafauna. It occupies a wide range of habitats across the Holarctic, yet the factors shaping the species’ realized ecological niche over time remain poorly understood. To investigate these dynamics, we analysed published stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from 623 bone collagen samples spanning 21,000 years in Europe. The δ 13 C values, considered …
Exploring the environmental and cultural consequences of the 8.2 ka cooling event in Kyushu, Southwestern Japan
Japan’s rich archaeological record, supported by well-established chronological and typological frameworks, offers valuable opportunities to investigate prehistoric socio-cultural responses to climate change, although comprehensive studies remain limited. This exploratory paper examines the impact of climatic disruptions—particularly the 8.2 ka event—on Jomon foragers in Kyushu, aiming to develop an analytical framework and identify future resear…
Neolithic, Copper, and Bronze Age woodland composition and exploitation in the Great Hungarian Plain, East‐Central Europe
In the prehistoric communities of the Great Hungarian Plain (GHP), the exploitation of forest steppe and floodplain woodlands started at ∼6000 cal BC. So far, only scattered and irregular wood charcoal analyses have been performed on Holocene archaeological sites, therefore the species composition of the GHP woodlands is known mainly from pollen records. This study aims to fill this gap by systematic sampling and analysis of key Early, Middle and…
Reflections of Late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age environments, land use and pile dwelling activities in a new palynological record from the varved sediments of Lake Mondsee, Austria
Despite fundamental progress in geoarchaeological research in the Austrian Salzkammergut region, there are still many unanswered questions regarding human activity and its relationship to climate change and the diverse environments during prehistoric times. A new palynological record from the varved composite sediment core MO-05 from the south-eastern part of Lake Mondsee (47°49′N, 13°24′E, 481 m above sea level) provides palaeoecological evidenc…
A forest on the edge
We present a high-resolution continuous palaeoecological study covering the transition from foraging to farming at Limni Vegoritis, a large lake in western Macedonia, Greece. We show how the pristine mixed deciduous oak woodlands from the Early Holocene were severely affected by a climate anomaly in the Eastern Mediterranean between 8600 and 7800 cal yr BP (6650–5850 cal BCE). A strong reduction in moisture availability pushed the deciduous oak w…
Archaeometric analysis of an early copper dagger from Kozareva Mogila, Western Black Sea region
In the fifth millennium BC (the Eneolithic period), copper extractive metallurgy developed in the region of Thrace and the Lower Danube. Massive tools and weapons were produced from copper. At the end of the fifth millennium, this development stopped, and the cultures associated with it disappeared. A period of cultural transformation followed, as a result of which the Early Bronze Age cultures appeared, which developed a different type of metall…
The newly uncovered Madura Strait fossil assemblage and its role in Pleistocene hominin dispersals in Southeast Asia
The effect of the 8.2 ka cold event on Fennoscandian hunter-gatherer metapopulation inferred from climatic, environmental, and archaeological signals
The effects of the 8.2 ka cold event in the Fennoscandian Peninsula have been discussed in palaeoclimatological and archaeological studies for more than two decades. Here we present the first overview of human responses to the abrupt 1–3 °C cooling in Fennoscandia. We summarize the results of 27 archaeological studies discussing the effects of the event on Fennoscandian foragers alongside with a survey of climatic and environmental proxy records …
Modelling the impact of large-scale hydroclimate change on prehistoric Polynesian island life
The South Pacific was one of the last regions on earth to be colonised by humans and offers a unique opportunity to study early climate-human interactions in environments previously untouched by people. Palaeoclimate evidence suggests the South Pacific has experienced shifts between dry and wet periods throughout the past three thousand years, the broad period of colonisation, with extremes in both modes being prevalent. Drought has significant r…
Maritime networks as a vector for early farming/language dispersals
Maritime networks have been proposed as a mechanism for early agricultural and, by extension, language dispersals in several coastal and island regions. In Island Southeast Asia, such networks have sometimes been discussed as an alternative to the farming/language dispersal hypothesis. However, the relationships between Neolithic maritime networks and maritime economies are poorly known. Here, we summarise published information for three regions …
The great divide? Differences in environmental and hunter-gatherer responses to the 8.2 ka BP event between northwestern and northeastern Eurasia
In this contribution we provide an overview of the potential impacts of the 8.2 ka BP cooling event on hunter-gatherer societies in northwestern Europe and northern/eastern Eurasia. There seems to be a division between the two parts of the continent, with Atlantic Europe generally seeing a stronger climatic and environmental impact compared to continental Eurasia. This plausibly relates to the greater effects on oceanic weather patterns, particul…
The taphonomy of the Madura Strait fossil assemblage, a record of selective hunting and marrow processing by late Middle Pleistocene Sundaland hominins
The Madura Strait assemblage is the first vertebrate faunal record of submerged Sundaland. The material derives from an ancient valley of the Solo River, which was cut during the lowstand of MIS6. The geological background of the site and the taxonomy of the fossils have been described in previous publications. However, the significance of the assemblage within the Pleistocene biogeography of Southeast Asia can only be understood if we have insig…
Sedimentary records from human-made talavs reveal climate risks in semi-arid watersheds of India
Assessing climate impacts in semi-arid watersheds, which are home to populous semi-arid regions of South Asia, are becoming increasingly critical as these regions emerge as climate hotspots. Century-scale records of climate impacts, preserved in terrestrial sedimentary archives, are some of only kinds of investigations that can provide the necessary insights into how local climate variations impact these watersheds. Here, we investigate sedimenta…
Revisiting the Lahchura pebble tool-complex in Uttar Pradesh, India
The prehistoric site of Lahchura, located at the border of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, India has yielded a distinctive assemblage of pebble cores that offers valuable insights into post-Acheulean stone tool technology. This study analyses 134 pebble cores from a collection of 345 artefacts to understand the reduction sequences, flaking strategies, and technological trends. The remaining artefacts were examined to assess the composition and …
The mounds of the India Muerta region, Uruguay, as pit oven stations. New data
In the India Muerta-Paso Barrancas region (Rocha, Uruguay) more than 600 prehistoric mounds have been identified. The archaeological record of these terrestrial structures includes integrated residues of human activity: bone remains, lithic and bone artifacts, charcoal, ochre, a small number of ceramic fragments and human burials. But the most outstanding characteristic of these structures is that they are mounds of thermoaltered sediment. Betwee…
The Lake of Olympia
Olympia (western Peloponnese, Greece) is known as venue for the Panhellenic Games in ancient times. The wider region is located within a complex tectonic setting and was affected by crustal uplift up to 30 m since the mid-Holocene. Our study consists of a comprehensive investigation of the Basin of Makrisia and the adjacent Basin of Ladiko in the vicinity of ancient Olympia aiming to reconstruct the Holocene landscape development. In addition to …
Random forest models highlight early Homo sapiens habitats and their relationship to lithic assemblage composition
Eastern Africa plays an enduring role in understanding the evolution of modern humans in relation to palaeoenvironmental change. Numerous studies have implicated ecological and geographic factors in determining the spatiotemporal patterning of technological and cultural behaviour seen in the region during the Middle Stone Age (MSA), the technological phase associated with the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa. We use an eco-cultural niche model…
Mid- to northern latitude hunting economies
Mid- to northern latitude hunting peoples could not consume more than ~300 g of protein per day (~1,200 kcal). Exceeding that limit could lead within a week or two to a debilitating, even lethal condition known as "rabbit starvation." The remaining energy deficit had to be filled using non-protein sources, mostly animal fat. To minimize the risk of rabbit starvation, hunting peoples typically consumed diets in which protein remained well below 30…
A Data‐Driven Paradigm Shift for the Middle‐to‐Upper Palaeolithic Transition and the Neandertal Debate
Based on morphologically undiagnostic human remains from the southern Balkans and central Europe, it has been argued that the Bachokirian and Ranisian industries stand for modern humans, have roots in the IUP (Initial Upper Palaeolithic) of the Near East, and emerge ~45,000 years ago. Coevally, Siberia and Central Asia would also have been reached by IUP moderns and, in the process, Western Europe’s Neandertals would have been acculturated, expla…
The geoarchaeology, chronology and environment of Lusakert-1, a Late Middle Palaeolithic rockshelter (Kotayk Province, Armenia)
Lusakert-1 (LKT-1) is a key site in any discussion of the Palaeolithic of the Armenian Highlands. This is in large part because of a long-running campaign of excavation in the 1970–1980s which recovered an obsidian artefact assemblage that was then interpreted as spanning the Lower–Upper Palaeolithic. Our reinvestigation in 2008–2012 revealed evidence of occupation in the interior of the LKT-1 rockshelter comprising spreads of ash, obsidian artef…
The late Middle Pleistocene Homo erectus of the Madura Strait, first hominin fossils from submerged Sundaland
Eastern Asia yielded a rich fossil record of Pleistocene hominins, ranging from Homo erectus and the diminutive island species Homo floresiensis and Homo luzonensis , to post- erectus grade late archaic Homo (including Denisovans), and finally to anatomically modern humans. The Sunda Shelf played an important role in the dispersal and evolution of hominin populations. The shelf has been widely exposed during most of the Pleistocene, forming a lan…
A late Middle Pleistocene lowstand valley of the Solo River on the Madura Strait seabed, geology and age of the first hominin locality of submerged Sundaland
The island of Java (Indonesia) is renowned for its Pleistocene hominin-bearing vertebrate fossil site s . Recently, a marine sand extraction work in the Madura Strait, off the coast of Surabaya, hit upon vertebrate-rich sandstones. More than 6000 vertebrate fossils have been retrieved from the dredged sand, amongst which are two skull fragments ascribed to Homo erectus . The fossils form the first vertebrate record from submerged Sundaland, the l…
An integrative study of new environmental and cultural data from the Hoabinhian of Laang Spean Cave (Cambodia) including modern human remains
Although the Hoabinhian culture is renowned for its unifacial pebble tools and its discovery dates back more than a century, only a handful of sites provide complete information on this period. The site of Laang Spean, in Cambodia, has recently been described as a burial cave for the Neolithic period, but it was previously known as an emblematic Hoabinhian site for Cambodia. More comprehensive studies indicate that it offers a wide window onto th…
First vertebrate faunal record from submerged Sundaland
The Sunda Shelf currently holds the world’s largest shelf sea. During Pleistocene sea-level lowstands the area emerged, forming a vast landmass called Sundaland. Intermittently exposed Sundaland played an important role in the regional vertebrate biogeography and evolution of species including Homo erectus and, in the Late Pleistocene, Homo sapiens . So far, our models of the Pleistocene biogeography of Sundaland were based on the distribution of…
Coasting into India? - Assessing lithostratigraphic context of Middle Palaeolithic occupation in Saurashtra Peninsula
The coastal rim of the Indian subcontinent is believed to have played a crucial role in the dispersal of early Modern Humans from Africa into the Indian subcontinent during the Late Pleistocene. However, the paucity of substantial evidence along the Indian coastal margins has made it difficult to assess this hypothesis directly. The peninsular region of Saurashtra in Gujarat (India) is one of the key regions that possesses a vast coastline of ∼16…
Ecology of large ungulates in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the Upper Palaeolithic through stable isotopes and tooth wear analysis
The northeastern Iberian Peninsula acted as a refuge zone during the Late Pleistocene where the persistence of terrestrial ecosystems could provide hunter-gatherers with large prey, mainly horse (Equus ferus) and red deer (Cervus elaphus). Isotopic (δ13C, δ18O, δ15N) and dental wear (mesowear and microwear) analyses have been applied on the remains of both species from the archaeological sites of Arbreda and Bora Gran at Serinyà (Girona), where e…
Does size matter? Morphological and content analysis of the coprolites from a Quaternary deposit in the Iberian Peninsula
Coprolites are very abundant in Quaternary deposits. However, they are often overlooked despite offering insights into both the surrounding environment and the species that produced them, particularly when skeletal remains are absent. We selected a Quaternary cave deposit from the Iberian Peninsula, Juan Labranz Cave, where an abundant and diverse coprolite collection was recovered, in order to develop a non-destructive study method that allows a…
Resource dependency and communication networks in Early Neolithic western Europe
During the European Neolithisation Process, a pivotal facet of Neolithic population dynamics lay in the capability of agro-pastoral communities to procure high-quality raw material for stone tools. Whether this material was sourced from local geological units or got transported via large-scale communication networks is, however, not yet fully understood. To trace the distribution patterns of Early Neolithic resource dispersal, we present a multic…
Interpreting the edge angle efficiency of middle palaeolithic lithic assemblage with Artifact-3D – A case study Barwaniya W1, North Karanpura Valley, Eastern India
The lithic technology is directly linked with knapping skills, cognition, and economic production of a particular culture. The central objective of lithic production was to obtain desirable edge angles and sharpness for cutting/ butchering work in an efficient manner to achieve the highest utility/ efficiency and low production ratio. The angle of an edge, whether unaltered or retouched and as part of the overall tool design, is undoubtedly a par…
The bird remains from La Crouzade Cave (Gruissan, Aude)
Avian remains are commonly found in Pleistocene cave sites. La Crouzade Cave (Gruissan, Aude, Southern France) is no exception, as it yielded thousands of bird bones recovered from the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic deposits. In Mousterian layers 8, 7 and 6 (MIS 3) the avifaunal spectrum is dominated by cliff-nesting taxa such as doves and corvids from the genus Pyrrhocorax. Some of these birds may have died naturally in situ but the presence of d…
No time to waste. Evidence for communal waste management among hunter-gatherer-fishers at Riņņukalns, Latvia (5400-3200 BC)
This study discusses waste management by mid-Holocene hunter-gatherer-fisher communities at Riņņukalns, on the Salaca river in Latvia. It combines microscopic analyses with geochemistry and radiocarbon dating. We observe natural landscape changes and human responses, with Mesolithic and earlier Middle Neolithic occupation on the backswamp. During the later Middle Neolithic, we see a pattern of selective deposition of waste categories (food waste,…
The latest steps of human evolution
The latest periods of human evolution are a heated topic of debate and have been at the center of paleoanthropological discussions since the beginning of the field. In the last twenty years, new excavations increased the geographic range of paleoanthropological data, new fossil hominins of the last third of the Pleistocene were found, and old key fossils were redated by modern and more accurate methods. The new picture emerging from this research…
Human membership in the large carnivore guild
Conventional wisdom holds that when humans began acquiring meat on a regular basis, whether by hunting or by scavenging, they became part of the large carnivore guild and, as a consequence, faced greatly increased levels of potentially life-threatening competition with other predators. This paper offers an alternative view based on fundamental nutritional and metabolic differences between humans, who are descended from primates of largely vegetar…
How and why is Homo sapiens so successful
By 30,000 years ago, Homo sapiens was the only type of hominin and had colonised most environments in the Old World. We argue that this success resulted from its ability to increase its population because more H. sapiens women than their contemporaries were able to have three or more children that survived into adulthood. This increased reproductive rate was accompanied by the development of a rounder brain and a longer childhood. A rounder brain…
Evolution and controlling factors of natural levees during the past 4500 years derived from lowland archaeological ruins in central Kanto Plain, Japan
Lowland archaeological ruins are frequently used in conjunction with sediment cores to reconstruct geomorphological evolution on alluvial plains. Lowland ruins are, as a rule, heterogeneously distributed across alluvial plains and retain short chronological records when compared to sediment cores. Along the historic banks of the Tone River, in the central Kanto Plain, thorough surveying prior to major construction projects in the Tokyo metropolit…
Fossil Bovidae (Mammalia
Bovids are usually the most common large mammal family encountered in archaeological accumulations from African sites. However, despite their dominant status in bone assemblages, there are proportionally very few taxonomic studies of the southern African material. Here, we provide the first updated overview of the Southern African Bovidae fossil record from the Miocene to the Holocene. We used the bovid faunal list from 95 deposits comprising 65 …
Searching for prehistoric campfires in the Patagonian Andes, Southern Chile, with implications for the global-scale debate on the use of forest resources in pre-industrial societies
Little is known about human occupation of the Aysén region of Patagonia beyond a relatively small number of cave and rock shelter sites. Recent magnetic survey and auguring over a broad area in the vicinity of known sites yielded no cultural material, drawing attention to ongoing debate about human use of forests in prehistory
Mining, farming, and diplomacy. Understanding the human landscape of Bronze Age Sardinia (Italy) through geospatial analysis
Human agency on landscape modification and land use is often seen in terms of socio-economic opportunities vs. natural constraints. In the study of prehistoric cultures this is both a strong source of information about sustenance strategies and community behaviours, and a subject potentially easy to analyse within a limited set of physical and social parameters. The recent advancements in the use of spatial analysis tools in landscape archaeology…
Holocene Palaeoenvironmental change at the mouth of Sabarmati River, Gulf of Khambhat, Western India
The fluvio-marine archives have been widely used to assess the imprints of land-sea interaction during the Holocene period, which has been enigmatic in terms of changes in environmental conditions. To comprehend the fluvial-marine interactions during the Holocene period in response to relative sea level changes, a sedimentary record has been studied from the mouth of the Sabarmati river at the Gulf of Khambhat (western India), which has also host…
Mangrove dynamics driven by Late Holocene drought at Laguna Bacalar, Mexico
Laguna Bacalar, one of Mexico's most significant near-coast lakes, remains underexplored in the context of its Late Holocene paleoecology. A 2,40 m long core was retrieved in northern Laguna Bacalar. Palynological and geochemical proxies were isolated and analyzed. Our findings reveal the intricate paleoecological dynamics and hydrodynamic shifts of this vital area in southeastern Mexico. Climate and ecological changes delineate three pivotal pha…
Early hominins
We can see an increasing consumption of meat together with the corresponding behavioral adaptations in early hominins, such as Homo erectus. This new development was driven by one or more behavioral adaptations, such as a shift to a higher-quality diet, increased social interactions and/or changes in the life history strategies. The methods by which these hominins obtained meat—through scavenging the carcasses of large herbivores or hunting thems…
Ecomorphological study of Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) distal phalanx
Reindeer mobility patterns exhibit significant variability in modern ecosystems, especially between open and wooded environments. This variability makes it difficult to reconstruct past reindeer migration patterns, which is key to understand the role of reindeer herds in the sustenance and territorial organization of Prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies. By examining morphology associated with different habitats and movement patterns, insights i…
A MaxEnt predictive model for palaeontological sites in the Siwalik Hills
This study presents application of the MaxEnt predictive model to identify potential palaeontological sites in the Siwalik Hills, focusing on the Pinjor Formation near Chandigarh, northern India. The Siwalik region holds rich vertebrate palaeontological records, yet lacks comprehensive site prediction models. This research employs MaxEnt (3.4.0) software, to predict areas suitable for fossil occurrences. Georeferenced presence data was derived fr…
Understanding the presence of Cannabis across the Holocene in Central India
Pollen records from sediment cores do not allow understanding of past human use of Cannabis because Cannabis may also grow naturally or increase incidentally in the presence of human settlements. This is particularly true in Asia, where Cannabis was not used as hemp as often as it was in Europe; hemp retting makes it easy to identify Cannabis use as it causes characteristically high increases in Cannabis fossil pollen in strata where it was used.…
Stable isotope analysis of Late Pleistocene mammalian teeth from western, central, and north-central India and the associated Palaeolithic archaeology of the Indian Subcontinent
The oxygen (δ 18 O) and carbon (δ 13 C) ratios in bioapatite from dental tissues of fossil mammals are well-established proxies for climatic conditions and dietary patterns. In the present study, a total of 24 Late Pleistocene mammalian teeth belonging to Cervid, Bovid, Suid, Hippopotamid, Canid, Equid from Gopnath in Gujarat, ten separate localities from the Narmada Basin, and one in Son River Basin, India were analysed for δ 13 C and δ 18 O val…
Coasting into India? - Assessing lithostratigraphic context of Middle Palaeolithic occupation in Saurashtra Peninsula
The coastal rim of the Indian subcontinent is believed to have played a crucial role in the dispersal of early Modern Humans from Africa into the Indian subcontinent during the Late Pleistocene. However, the paucity of substantial evidence along the Indian coastal margins has made it difficult to assess this hypothesis directly. The peninsular region of Saurashtra in Gujarat (India) is one of the key regions that possesses a vast coastline of ∼16…
Early human foraging paleoecology in the highlands of Potosí, Bolivia
For centuries the Cerro Rico of Potosí in the South American Andes has been known as the richest silver mine in the world but also as a notoriously challenging place for human habitation due to its extreme elevation. Nevertheless, little is known about the temporal depth and socioecological dynamics associated with the initial occupation of this region. In this paper, we present an archaeological and paleoecological assessment of the earliest hum…
Human activities, early farming and natural environment in the north-western Kanto Plain (Central Japan) during the Final Jomon–Early Kofun period (990 cal BCE–330 cal CE) inferred from palynological …
The emergence, spread and intensification of agriculture, the impact of early agriculture on the natural environment and the possible role of climate on subsistence economies and population dynamics are important research questions in Japanese geoarchaeology. New directly dated archaeobotanical records of the Middle Yayoi (390–200 cal BCE, 1σ error) and Early Kofun (210–330 cal CE) periods from the Ikegami archaeological site and a 1300-year paly…
Caring for preservation - coring for prehistoric life. Revisiting 15 000 years of sedimentation at the Ageröd peatland, Southern Sweden
The Rönneholm-Ageröd peatland complex, situated in central Scania, contains numerous archaeological sites discovered since the 19th century. Two sediment sequences were obtained at the Ageröd peatland to compare the sediment stratigraphy with a previous sequence obtained in 1960 to detect any modern-day changes and to establish the Holocene environmental development in the area. To clarify the timing of ceased peat-cutting activities, dendrochron…
An open letter to evolutionary and human sciences; Statistics has moved on and so should we. A proposal for more transparent research, and some notes on p < 0.003
Statistical reasoning and inference have become integral to how we reach conclusions as scientists. Few papers in evolutionary, biological, and human sciences, are published at present without at least one report of a p -value, or the term “statistically significant”. As a product of this, discoveries and results often hinge on p -values below the infamous threshold of 0.05. This is due to how well ingrained these notions are in many of our highe…
Assessing the applicability of protein residues in combination with lipid residues to reconstruct Indus foodways from Gujarat
When extracted and analysed in tandem, proteomics and lipid residue analysis can provide high resolution identification of ancient foodstuff. Here, we apply lipid residue and shotgun proteomic analyses to 11 ceramic vessel sherds from the Gujarat, India-based Indus Valley Civilization site of Kotada Bhadli. Our results demonstrate variable success. Lipids were successfully recovered from each ceramic vessel and suggest the presence of dairy and m…
Sulfur isotope analysis of collagen
Sulfur isotopes ( δ 3 4 S values) have significant potential for addressing archaeological, paleontological, and paleoecological research questions. Studies of ancient materials rely on the assumption that δ 3 4 S values have been minimally altered by diagenesis , yet meaningful analyses of sulfur isotope preservation/alteration are rare. This paper has 3 objectives: (1) to review and revise previous approaches to evaluating sulfur isotope altera…
Reconsidering the Vaddas of Sri Lanka
This paper aims to re-examine key scholarly works pertaining to the Sri Lankan Vadda, an indigenous community of the island, in order to explore extant research of the said community. Despite considerable progress, lingering misunderstandings and uncertainties persist regarding their origins, connections to prehistoric populations, affiliations with contemporary ethnic groups, and the interrelationships among different Vadda communities across th…
Early Pleistocene freshwater fish from Dursunlu (Ilgın Basin, south-western Türkiye)
Dursunlu, located in the Ilgın Basin (south-western Türkiye), represents one of the most prolific sites to explore early human occupations in Anatolia. This paper describes the lacustrine fish assemblage from this site during the Early Pleistocene (Günz glaciation). The fish community comprised two families, namely Cyprinidae and Cobitidae. Within the cyprinids, the genera had a wide range of ecological diversity. The most frequently observed gen…
Geoarchaeological perspective on Mesolithic and Neolithic settlement pattern and transition in the Ganga Plain, India
The Ganga River Basin is one of the most densely populated regions in the world, supporting millions of people since the early Holocene, as evidenced by archaeological evidence of early agricultural practices. Over the past two decades, geological, archaeological and palaeobotanical research has provided important insights into human-environment interactions. However, this evidence is diverse and often fragmented, confined within individual disci…