Browsing by Subject "Geoarchaeology"

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    Erosión y desertificación.-Human-induced erosion and sedimentation during the Holocene in the central Ebro depression, Spain
    Constante, A.; Peña-Monné, J. L.; Universidad de Murcia
    ABSTRACT Small secondary valleys in the Central Ebro Depression in northeast Spain have tended to be infilled with sediment, and record a complex sequence of accumulations and incisions of Holocene age. Level N3, the main accumulation level based on extent and depth, is characterized by a long period of sedimentation (from the Late Epipaleolithic to the end of the Late Roman period), the dominance of gypsiferous silt resulting from hillslope erosion, and a thickness up to 15 m. This deposit does not connect directly to the fluvial terraces of the Ebro River, and it accumulated over a long period of climate fluctuations. Thus, its evolution appears to have been largely independent of climate variability, but is closely related to human activities (deforestation, forest fires, farming development), particularly those associated with the main human settlements.
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    Rethinking stratigraphy and site formation of the Pleistocene deposit at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Spain)
    (Elsevier, 2013-09-13) Angelucci, Diego E.; Anesin, Daniela; López Martínez, Mariano; Haber Uriarte, María; Rodríguez Estrella, Tomás; Walker, Michael J.; Prehistoria, Arqueología, Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval y Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas
    Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, Spain), hereinafter Cueva Negra, is a key-site for understanding the early peopling of Europe. Since 1990, systematic excavation has revealed an intriguing assemblage of lithic and faunal remains, and hominin teeth. It was deposited 0.99–0.78 Ma according to palaeomagnetic and biostratigraphical data; pollen data indicate warm moist conditions. Recently, possible evidence of thermal alteration was detected in a deep part of the deposit. We report here on our revision of the Cueva Negra stratigraphy, and offer information on site formation processes, based on new field observations and preliminary data from soil micromorphology. The Cueva Negra succession comprises three main stratigraphical complexes. Complex 1 is late Holocene. Complexes 2 and 3 are Pleistocene and are formed mainly of alluvial sediment, with subordinate inputs from the cave walls. Complexes 2 and 3 were accumulated almost without interruption, being separated by an erosive surface truncating a thin alluvial soil developed at the top of Complex 3. Our initial micromorphological findings indicate that anthropic inputs are mostly in derived positions, very likely having undergone inward displacement from the mouth of the rock-shelter.