Knapping tools in Magdalenian contexts: New evidence from Gough’s Cave (Somerset, UK)

Our knowledge of the recolonization of north-west Europe at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum depends to a large extent on finds from Gough’s Cave (Somerset, UK). Ultra-high resolution radiocarbon determinations suggest that the cave was occupied seasonally by Magdalenian hunters for perhaps no more than two or three human generations, centred on 12,600 BP (~14,950–14,750 cal BP). They left behind a rich and diverse assemblage of Magdalenian lithic and osseous artefacts, butchered animal bones, and cannibalised human remains. The faunal assemblage from Gough’s Cave is one of the most comprehensively studied from any Magdalenian site, yet new and unexpected discoveries continue to be made. Here, we record previously unrecognized flint-knapping tools that were identified during a survey of the Gough’s Cave faunal collection at the Natural History Museum (London). We identified bones used as hammers and teeth manipulated as pressure-flakers to manufacture flint tools. Most of the pieces appear to be ad hoc (single-use?) tools, but a horse molar was almost certainly a curated object that was used over an extended period to work many stone tools. This paper explores how these knapping tools were used to support a more nuanced understanding of Magdalenian stone-tool manufacturing processes. Moreover, we provide a standard for identifying minimally-used knapping tools that will help to establish whether retouchers and other organic stone-working tools are as rare in the Magdalenian archaeological record as current studies suggest.

The First and Second Gostiny Dig Sites in Tobolsk

This article continues a series of papers dedicated to introducing in the scientific discourse materials ob-tained during archaeological investigations of the cultural layer of Tobolsk — the main city of Siberia during the Russian colonization. In the course of investigation of the First and Second Gostiny dig sites, laid at the walls of Gostiny Dvor, there were recorded 24 structures of residential and economic purposes, dated to the period from the 17th to the 19th centuries on the basis of planigraphic and stratigraphic analyses and finds. The residential timber structures were single-storeyed, with saddle notch type corners (“v oblo”) with tails. Beside the houses, there were root cellars. A representative collection of finds is related to the houses: animal bones; breakage of stoneware, chinaware, and glassware; fragments of terracotta, enameled, and polychrome tile, as well as objects made of bone, leather, bark, and wood, mainly dated to the 17th — beginning of the 19th century. The most common mate-rial, amounted to several thousand items, was represented by pottery shards — pots, ewers, jars, and pans, which were used for food cooking, food storage, as well as for other everyday purposes. The porcelain ware is associated with the tea ceremony and is mainly represented by fragments of saucers, and sometimes those of drinking cups, bowls, and teapots. By the provenance, two groups of the porcelain have been identified — Chi-nese and Russian, with characteristic makers marks and patterns. The collection of iron items consists of knives, bridle bits, door hinges, latches, nails, hooks, and fragments of scissors. The leather footwear is represented by one-piece leather-hide shoes, high boots, and shoes with iron heeltaps. Another category of the finds is represented by bone combs, which were ordinarily used not only by women, but also by men. The numismatic collection com-prises 36 Russian coins and a counter pfennig struck in the workshop of Johann Adam Dietzel (master 1746–1768) in Nuremberg. The copper articles are represented by five baptismal cross pendants and by a find unique for the Siberian region — a gilded panhagia of a copper alloy with a sliding finial, several liturgical inscriptions, and images, including those of the Crucifixion, the Holy Trinity of the Old Testament, and the Mother of God of the Sign. In ge-neral, the archaeological materials of the digs show that this quarter of the uptown of Tobolsk was part of the resi-dential and commercial housing of the town, while its residents had a relatively high level of material wellbeing.

Nazugum, a new 4000 year old rockshelter in the Ili Alatau, Tien Shan

The PALAEOSILKROAD project has been conducting field surveys in Kazakhstan to explore the regional Palaeolithic record by targeting primarily caves and rockshelters. However, the survey also discovered numerous sites that were occupied during the Holocene. In this paper, we present our preliminary findings from the Nazugum rockshelter, a new archaeological site located in south-eastern Kazakhstan (Almaty region). The stratigraphic sequence demonstrates the transition from fluvial channel deposits without artifacts to aeolian loess deposits with lithics, charcoal remnants, and fragments of animal bones. The lithics recovered from the sediment wall are dominated by bladelet technology, characteristic for Holocene assemblages. Radiocarbon dates from adjacent charcoal samples yielded an age of 2461-2347 cal. years BC attributing the human occupation to the transitional period of late Eneolithic and early Bronze Age. Our study provides new data for the use of rockshelters in Kazakhstan during the late Holocene and lays the groundwork for future salvage work in Nazugum rockshelter due to the active erosion of the archaeological record.

Dating painted Panel E1 at Nawarla Gabarnmang, central-western Arnhem Land plateau

IntroductionThe southern Arnhem Land plateau contains a rich mosaic of thousands of rock art sites located in outcrops of Proterozoic Marlgowa Sandstone of the Kombolgie formation (Carson et al. 1999) (Figure 11.1). Within this region in Jawoyn Country can be found Nawarla Gabarnmang, an impressive rockshelter exhibiting a gridded network of pillars that supports a thick ceiling of 10 cm to 40 cm thick cross-beds of hard sandstone and quartzite (Figures 11.2 and 11.3; see also Chapter 10). The inter-layer joints and fissures between these compact and poorly soluble quartz-rich sandstones and quartzites have witnessed geologically slow dissolution of the bedrock, resulting in a hollowing out of the rock in a process known as ‘ghost rock’ formation or ‘phantomisation’ (Quinif 2010), a particular cave-forming process causing the regular gridshaped structure of underground cavities and pillars (for details of site formation processes, see Chapter 13).The remnant pillars supporting ceiling rock strata at Nawarla Gabarnmang are an anthropic cave structure (Delannoy et al. 2013; see Chapter 10): in addition to the slow geological dissolution of the rock along layer planes and fissure lines, people have also entirely or partially removed individual pillars, and possibly ceiling strata, over a period commencing sometime after the site was first occupied around 50,000 years ago (e.g. David et al. 2011, completed manuscript). What catches one’s attention at Nawarla Gabarnmang are the voids between the pillars, typically c. 1–2 m apart in the southwestern corner of the site, but more than 8 m apart in the central eastern portion. In that noticeably more open central-eastern area, a large, sub-horizontal and flat ceiling is supported by some 20 sparsely distributed pillars. Here, as in most other parts of the site, the floor of the sheltered area is generally flat and sub-horizontal, consisting of ashy sand with sparsely scattered, relatively small blocks of rock originating from the ceiling but not in their original fallen positions (these blocks have all, without exception, been moved by people). Within the fill across the site are rich archaeological deposits including stone artefacts, ochre pieces and animal bones, as revealed in the archaeological excavations (David et al. 2011; Geneste et al. 2012). What we see today in the shelter are the results of tens of thousands of years of human occupation, modification of rock surfaces and site use that express well the notion of ‘dwelling’ and ‘inhabitation’ (e.g. David et al. 2013, 2014; Delannoy et al. 2013; Geneste et al. 2010; cf. Ingold 2000; Thomas 2008).

COMPARING ANALYSIS OF PRETREATMENT METHODS OF WOOD AND BONE MATERIALS FOR THE CHRONOLOGY OF PERIPHERAL BURIALS AT TUNNUG 1, TUVA REPUBLIC, RUSSIA

ABSTRACT Nine burials from Tunnug 1 site in Tuva Republic, which contained human and animal bones as well as remains of wood, were chosen for intercomparison study of preparation methods. Nine human bones, nine animal bones and 11 pieces of wood were prepared. Gelatin extracted from bones was purified using the UF method but the extraction from bones was modified with respect to acid and base treatment. Wood samples were treated as whole using acid-base-acid and cellulose was extracted for comparison. The results confirmed a highly consistent chronology of the sites centered at 200–400 CE, however, a few bones resulted in an offset between ages obtained by different methods. The extraction of cellulose was limited due to the poor preservation of wood. Our results highlight problems of dating poorly preserved bones and wood.

Possible Neolithic ard marks and field boundaries at Wellhill and Cranberry, Perth and Kinross, and an evaluation of current physical evidence for Neolithic farming in Scotland

Although the Neolithic period is defined by farming, physical evidence for processes associated with farming are rare, with agricultural practices usually indicated by environmental and biomolecular proxies for domesticates such as pollen evidence, ceramic residues and lipids, animal bones, plant remains and stable isotope studies. This paper will, we hope, invigorate discussion on the recognition, interpretation and significance of physical traces of farming in Scotland. The starting point will be the summary of two excavations, Wellhill and Cranberry, both Perth and Kinross, in 2014 and 2016 respectively, part of the Strathearn Environs and Royal Forteviot (SERF) project. These cropmark sites revealed evidence for possible Neolithic farming in the form of possible ard marks and field ditches. There follows a synthesis of physical evidence for Neolithic farming in Scotland, drawing together evidence for ard marks, field boundaries, cultivation ridges, cultivated middens, and soils. Recommendations are made for recognising and interpreting such features on excavations, and the potential benefits of giving a higher profile to the act of farming in our narratives about Neolithic lifeways in Scotland and beyond are briefly explored.

Biodiesel Synthesis from the Used Cooking Oil Using CaO Catalyst Derived from Waste Animal Bones

The synthesis of biodiesel from the used cooking oil with CaO catalyst from waste animal bones has been investigated. The content of free fatty acids (FFA) in the used cooking oil was reduced by adsorption using activated charcoal from a salak peel. Biodiesel synthesis was carried out via transesterification using CaO catalyst. The CaO catalyst was obtained from waste animal bones calcined in the Ney Vulcan furnace. The effect of calcination temperature was studied in the range of 873‒1273 K. The effect of catalyst loading was investigated by varying within the range of 1‒9 wt %. The methanol to oil molar ratio was investigated in the range from 6:1 to 18:1. The effect of the transesterification reaction time was studied with a time variation of 1‒5 h. The optimum operating conditions were determined. Under these conditions, the yield of biodiesel produced was 97.56 % with an ester content of 96.06 %. It was shown that the physicochemical properties of biodiesel produced meet the standards.

ANIMAL BONES IN THE VOLGA-DON BABINO GRAVES AS CULTURAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL INDICATORS AND MARKERS OF THE ECONOMIC MODEL

Статья посвящена характеристике и анализу такого признака погребального обряда волго-донской бабинской культуры (2200-2000 CalBC), как кости животных. Их расположение в могиле и анатомический состав являются надежными культурно-хронологическими индикаторами. «Визитной карточкой» культуры является помещение в могилы костей конечностей МРС, КРС и МРС/КРС. Располагаются они, как правило, перед умершим, у левой руки. Анализ количественного соотношения и территориального распространения погребений с костями МРС и КРС позволяет предварительно охарактеризовать хозяйственную модель носителей волго-донской бабинской культуры. He paper is devoted to characterization and analysis of «animal bones» as an attribute of the funerary rite of the Volga-Don Babino culture (XXII-XX cc. cal BC). Their location in the grave and their anatomical composition are reliable cultural and chronological indicators. Placement of goats and sheep extremity bones, cattle extremity bones and goats/sheep and cattle extremity bones is a signature characteristic of this culture. As a rule, the bones were placed in front of the deceased near the left arm. The analysis of proportions and distribution of the graves with sheep/goat bones and the graves with cattle bones gives insight into the economic model of the Volga-Don Babino populations.

CREMATED REMAINS IN THE GROUND BURIALS FROM THE YURYEVSKAYA GORKA CEMETERY IN THE CONTEXT OF CULTURAL INTERRELATION IN THE NORTH OF EASTERN EUROPE IN MID - THIRD QUARTER OF THE FIRST Mill. AD

Трупосожжение - наиболее распространенный тип погребальной обрядности в I тыс. н. э. в Северной и Центральной Европе. Изучение погребальных памятников редко сопровождается подробным анализом самих материалов кремации. Впервые представлено разностороннее исследование костных останков из семи погребений эталонного могильника памятников удомельского типа третьей четверти I тыс. н. э. - Юрьевской Горки. В погребениях идентифицированы молодые и взрослые мужчины из одиночных и парных захоронений, выявлены кости животных, определены породы деревьев, горевших в погребальном костре: дуб и сосна. Индивидуальная изменчивость изотопного состава стронция находится в границах 0,71390 - 0,71536 промилле, что может быть интерпретировано в целом как свидетельство умеренной мобильности людей, оставивших могильник. Сопоставление локализации и состояния кремированных останков в захоронениях различных культур Восточной Европы середины - второй половины I тыс. н. э. позволяет предполагать наличие общих черт в погребальной обрядности этого времени. Cremation is the most common type of funerary rituals in Northern and Central Europe in the first millennium AD. The study of funerary sites is rarely accompanied by the analysis of cremated remains. This paper is the first to present a comprehensive study of bone remains from seven graves at the Yuryevskaya Gorka cemetery which is a reference cemetery of the Udomlya type dating to the third quarter of the first millennium. Young and adult males from individual and paired burials, animal bones were identified; wood species used in funeral pyre were determined (oak and pine). Individual variability of the strontium isotope composition is within 0,71390-0,71536 %o which may be taken to be an evidence of moderate mobility of people who have left behind this cemetery. Comparison of the distribution and conditions of cremated remains in graves attributed to various cultures of Eastern Europe in the mid - second half of the first millennium suggests common features of burial rites practiced at that time.