Death in the high mountains: Evidence of interpersonal violence during Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age at Roc de les Orenetes (Eastern Pyrenees, Spain).

OBJECTIVES: To test a hypothesis on interpersonal violence events during the transition between Chalcolithic and Bronze Age in the Eastern Pyrenees, to contextualize it in Western Europe during that period, and to assess if these marks can be differentiated from secondary funerary treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Metric and non-metric methods were used to estimate the age-at-death and sex of the skeletal remains. Perimortem injuries were observed and analyzed with stereomicroscopy and confocal microscopy. RESULTS: Among the minimum of 51 individuals documented, at least six people showed evidence of perimortem trauma. All age groups and both sexes are represented in the skeletal sample, but those with violent injuries are predominantly males. Twenty-six bones had 49 injuries, 48 of which involved sharp force trauma on postcranial elements, and one example of blunt force trauma on a cranium. The wounds were mostly located on the upper extremities and ribs, anterior and posterior. Several antemortem lesions were also documented in the assemblage. DISCUSSION: The perimortem lesions, together with direct dating, suggest that more than one episode of interpersonal violence took place between the Late Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age in northeastern Spain. The features of the sharp force trauma indicate that different weapons were used, including sharp metal objects and lithic projectiles. The Roc de les Orenetes assemblage represents a scenario of recurrent lethal confrontation in a high mountain geographic context, representing the evidence of inferred interpersonal violence located at the highest altitude settings in the Pyrenees, at 1836 meters above sea level.

OBJETIVOS: Estudiar nuevas evidencias de violencia interpersonal durante la transición entre el Calcolítico y la Edad del Bronce en los Pirineos Orientales, contextualizarlas en la Europa occidental durante ese periodo, y diferenciar estas marcas del tratamiento funerario secundario. MATERIALES Y MÉTODOS: Se han utilizado métodos métricos y no métricos para estimar la edad de muerte y sexo de los restos esqueléticos. Las heridas perimortem fueron observadas y analizadas con estereomicroscopio y microscopio confocal. RESULTADOS: Entre el mínimo de 51 individuos documentados en el yacimiento, al menos seis individuos mostraron evidencias de traumas perimortem. Todos los grupos de edad y ambos sexos están representados en el enterramiento, pero aquellos con heridas violentas son mayoritariamente masculinos. Veintiséis huesos tenían un total de 49 lesiones, 48 de ellos traumatismos cortantes en elementos postcraneales, y un traumatismo contundente en un cráneo. Las heridas estaban mayoritariamente localizadas en las extremidades superiores y costillas, tanto anterior como posterior. Varias lesiones antemortem fueron también documentadas en el conjunto. DISCUSIÓN: Las lesiones perimortem, junto a las dataciones directas, sugieren que se produjo más de un episodio de violencia interpersonal entre el Calcolítico Final y la Edad del Bronce Antiguo en el noreste de España. Las características de los traumatismos cortantes indican que se utilizaron diferentes armas, incluyendo objetos cortantes de metal y proyectiles líticos. El conjunto de Roc de les Orenetes representa un escenario de confrontaciones letales recurrentes en un contexto geográfico de alta montaña, representando la evidencia de violencia interpersonal localizada a mayor altitud de los Pirineos, a 1836 metros sobre el nivel del mar.

Microbotanical residues for the study of early hominin tools.

More than 2 million years ago in East Africa, the earliest hominin stone tools evolved amidst changes in resource base, with pounding technology playing a key role in this adaptive process. Olduvai Gorge (now Oldupai) is a famed locality that remains paramount for the study of human evolution, also yielding some of the oldest battering tools in the world. However, direct evidence of the resources processed with these technologies is lacking entirely. One way to obtain this evidence is through the analysis of surviving residues. Yet, linking residues with past processing activities is not simple. In the case of plant exploitation, this link can only be established by assessing site-based reference collections inclusive of both anthropogenic and natural residues as a necessary first step and comparative starting point. In this paper, we assess microbotanical remains from rock clasts sourced at the same quarry utilized by Oldowan hominins at Oldupai Gorge. We mapped this signal and analysed it quantitatively to classify its spatial distribution objectively, extracting proxies for taxonomic identification and further comparison with freestanding soils. In addition, we used blanks to manufacture pounding tools for blind, controlled replication of plant processing. We discovered that stone blanks are in fact environmental reservoirs in which plant remains are trapped by lithobionts, preserved as hardened accretions. Tool use, on the other hand, creates residue clusters; however, their spatial distribution can be discriminated from purely natural assemblages by the georeferencing of residues and statistical analysis of resulting patterns. To conclude, we provide a protocol for best practice and a workflow that has the advantage of overcoming environmental noise, reducing the risk of false positive, delivering a firm understanding of residues as polygenic mixtures, a reliable use of controls, and most importantly, a stronger link between microbotanical remains and stone tool use.

The Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition occupations from Cova Foradada (Calafell, NE Iberia).

The Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe covers the last millennia of Neanderthal life together with the appearance and expansion of Modern Human populations. Culturally, it is defined by the Late Middle Paleolithic succession, and by Early Upper Paleolithic complexes like the Châtelperronian (southwestern Europe), the Protoaurignacian, and the Early Aurignacian. Up to now, the southern boundary for the transition has been established as being situated between France and Iberia, in the Cantabrian façade and Pyrenees. According to this, the central and southern territories of Iberia are claimed to have been the refuge of the last Neanderthals for some additional millennia after they were replaced by anatomically Modern Humans on the rest of the continent. In this paper, we present the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition sequence from Cova Foradada (Tarragona), a cave on the Catalan Mediterranean coastline. Archaeological research has documented a stratigraphic sequence containing a succession of very short-term occupations pertaining to the Châtelperronian, Early Aurignacian, and Gravettian. Cova Foradada therefore represents the southernmost Châtelperronian-Early Aurignacian sequence ever documented in Europe, significantly enlarging the territorial distribution of both cultures and providing an important geographical and chronological reference for understanding Neanderthal disappearance and the complete expansion of anatomically Modern Humans.