Molecular and Isotopic Analyses of Charred and Uncharred Sediments: Investigating Environmental Signatures at the Middle Palaeolithic Rock Shelter of Abric del Pastor (Alcoy, Spain)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Charred Organic Matter in the Archaeological Sedimentary Record" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Our understanding of Late Pleistocene Neanderthal habitats is largely based on anthracological and palynological reconstructions set within broader global climatic frameworks. This approach has yielded important environmental information, however, so far it has not been possible to identify fluctuations in climate or vegetation at less than a millennial scale. At this resolution it is difficult to investigate localised microclimates or econiches which could have been favourable to human occupation during periods of global climatic downturn. This represents a considerable drawback to the study of Neanderthal environmental interactions and the role of climate in Neanderthal social and cultural evolution. Molecular and isotopic analyses of sedimentary organic matter, in particular charred sediments from archaeological combustion features, represents a promising avenue of research for investigating palaeoenvironmental dynamics at a high spatial and temporal resolution. Here we present preliminary results from Abric del Pastor, a rock shelter in the Alcoy region of Spain which has yielded evidence for multiple Neanderthal occupations. Molecular and isotopic analyses of both charred and unaltered sediments, is coupled with soil micromorphology to provide high resolution palaeoenvironmental signatures framed within a broader reconstruction of site formation processes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Charred Organic Matter in the Archaeological Sedimentary Record   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25674