Browsing by Subject "Palaeolithic"

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    Combustion at the late Early Pleistocene site of Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Murcia, Spain)
    (Cambridge University Press, 2016-05-17) Walker, Michael J.; Anesin, D.; Angelucci, D.E.; Avilés Fernández, A.; Berna, F.; Buitrago López, A.; Fernández Jalvo, Y.; Haber Uriarte, María; López Jiménez, A.; López Martínez, M.; Martín Lerma, I.; Ortega Rodrigañez, J.; Polo Camacho, J.L.; Rhodes, S.E.; Richter, D.; Rodríguez Estrella, T.; Schwenninger, J.L.; Skinner, A.R.; Prehistoria, Arqueología, Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval y Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas
    Control of fire was a hallmark of developing human cognition and an essential technology for the colonisation of cooler latitudes. In Europe, the earliest evidence comes from recent work at the site of Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar in south-eastern Spain. Charred and calcined bone and thermally altered chert were recovered from a deep, 0.8-million-year-old sedimentary deposit. A combination of analyses indicated that these had been heated to 400–600°C, compatible with burning. Inspection of the sediment and hydroxyapatite also suggests combustion and degradation of the bone. The results provide new insight into Early Palaeolithic use of fire and its significance for human evolution.
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    Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar: a Dated Late Early Pleistocene Palaeolithic Site in Southeastern Spain
    (Springer, 2020-10-06) Walker, Michael J.; Haber Uriarte, María; López Jiménez, Antonio; López Martínez, Mariano; Martín Lerma, Ignacio; Van der Made, Jan; Duval, Mathieu R.; Grün, Rainer; Walker, Michael J.; Prehistoria, Arqueología, Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval y Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas; Haber Uriarte, María; López Martínez, Mariano; Walker, Michael J.; Facultad de Letras
    Systematic excavation and multidisciplinary research undertaken over three decades have deepened our understanding of the early Palaeolithic archaeology at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, Spain). New results from biochronology and combined ESR and U-series dating corroborate previous magnetostratigraphy, placing the entire excavated sequence between the Jaramillo sub-chron and the Matuyama-Brunhes boundary (i.e. ca. 990–772 thousand years ago (ka)); palaeontological and palynological findings reflect temperate environmental conditions. A bifacially flaked limestone hand axe was excavated 1 m below the top of the Pleistocene sequence. The Equus cf. altidens tooth that provided the ESR estimate was excavated 1 m below the hand axe. Throughout its 5-m-deep sedimentary sequence, small nodules, fragments and struck flakes make up the bulk of the Palaeolithic assemblage. Stratigraphical analysis points to undisturbed continuous sedimentary deposition above a layer of ashy sediment, encountered 4.5 m below the top of the Pleistocene sequence, which contained thermally altered bone and heat-shattered chert cores and flakes. Cueva Negra is among the earliest European sites with firm evidence of combustion.