The earliest occupation of Europe: a short chronology.

The earliest occupation of Europe: a short chronology. A reappraisal of the artefactual adj. 1. of or pertaining to an artefact.2. made by human actions.Adj. 1. artefactual - of or relating to artifactsartifactual and chronological evidence for theearliest occupation of Europe -- with proper attention to its limitationand its reliability -- makes for a short chronology. The first solidtraces of hominid hominidAny member of the zoological family Hominidae (order Primates), which consists of the great apes (orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos) as well as human beings. activities in this part of the world are around500,000 years old.1 IntroductionWhen did the first humans leave Africa, and at what time did theymove into Europe, the Americas or Australia? There are many answers tosuch questions, but hardly any agreement. Establishing the earliestdocumented evidence for human occupation has always involvedcontroversy, usually centred around the artefactual character ofassemblages and/or their chronological position. The situation is notdifferent for the earliest traces of occupation of Europe. Despite thelarge number of meetings devoted to this topic the dates given to thefirst 'Europeans' vary enormously, depending on the book orjournal one opens. On the 'very old' side, Bonifay &Vandermeersch (1991) present a number of sites allegedly dating fromearlier parts of the Early Pleistocene Early Pleistocene (also known as Lower Pleistocene, or Calabrian) is a subdivision of the Pleistocene Epoch of the Geologic time scale. The beginning of the stage is defined at 1.806 �� 0.005 Ma (million years ago). , around two million years ago(cf. Ackerman 1989; Delson 1989). An age of about one million years isconsidered a good estimate for the first occupation of Europe by mostworkers (cf. Rolland 1992), placing the earliest traces in the end ofthe Lower Pleistocene, as at Le Vallonet in France (De Lumley et al.1988) and Karlich A in Germany (Wurges 1986; 1990). In contrast to these'long chronologies' we suggest in this paper thatEurope's earliest human traces Human Traces is a 2005 novel by Sebastian Faulks, best known as the British author of Birdsong and Charlotte Gray. The novel took Faulks five years to write. are in fact considerably younger,dating from well into the Middle Pleistocene So far, the Pleistocene Series is not subdivided into formal units (i.e., Stages). Several solutions were proposed, and dedicated working groups are presently pursuing an agreed solution. .Our paper begins with a short review of the artefactual character ofassemblages and the chronological framework of the Quaternary quaternary/qua��ter��nary/ (kwah��ter-nar?e)1. fourth in order.2. containing four elements or groups.qua��ter��nar��yadj.1. Consisting of four; in fours. , focusingon how sites are put in a chronological succession Noun 1. chronological succession - a following of one thing after another in time; "the doctor saw a sequence of patients"chronological sequence, succession, successiveness, sequencetemporal arrangement, temporal order - arrangement of events in time (section 2). Insection 3 we survey the biostratigraphical position of importantmammalian assemblages (from both archaeological and non-archaeologicalsites), while section 4 reviews early sites in central and northwesternEurope. We then turn to evidence from other parts of Europe, and closewith brief discussion of the implications.2 The earliest occupation of Europe: artefacts and chronology2.1 Evaluating the artefactual character of assemblagesOne century ago, Palaeolithic archaeologists were involved in afierce debate over the alleged existence of Tertiary humans in Europe.Eolithophiles, both on the continent and in Britain, presented thousandsof flints from Tertiary deposits, that in their opinion were humanlyworked implements. The long lasting debate over the character of'eoliths' produced a vast literature on the subject,summarized in popular handbooks from those days, like Sollas'Ancient hunters and their modern representatives (1911),Obermaier's Der Mensch menschor mensh ?n. pl. mensch��es or mensch��en InformalA person having admirable characteristics, such as fortitude and firmness of purpose: der Vorzeit (1912) and Boule's LesHommes Fossiles (1921). Very detailed field observations and experimentscreated a vast body of knowledge concerning the variety of artefact-likeforms produced by various natural processes.The crux of the matter Noun 1. crux of the matter - the most important pointcruxalpha and omega - the basic meaning of something; the crucial partpoint - a brief version of the essential meaning of something; "get to the point"; "he missed the point of the joke"; "life is elegantly summarized by Warren (1920: 250):What is important . . . is the fact that such phenomena as theflaking of flints and occasional bulbs and also edge-knapping areproduced by causes entirely apart from direct human effort. The likenessbetween the flaking produced by Nature and that produced by humanagencies is sufficient to shift any burden of proof upon those whomaintain the human origin of the stones; and this must not be done by acareful selection of picked specimens, but by a survey of the wholegroup.The artefactual nature of 'primitive' assemblages has beenan omnipresent om��ni��pres��ent?adj.Present everywhere simultaneously.[Medieval Latin omnipres issue ever since. In 1958 for instance, J. DesmondClark's study of natural fractures of pebbles showed veryconvincingly (in the African context of 'Kafuan' industries inriver valleys) that nature can make 'pebble tools': they areproduced by a sharp 'follow through' blow, very unlikely underwater, but possibly the result of a rock falling from above on to awedged pebble (Clark 1958). These fractures can simulate artificialfracture to such a remarkable degree that these specimens would not beout of place in any 'Pebble Culture' context. His studies onceagain stressed that one cannot build a strong argument for earlyoccupation on the basis of pieces with only a few negatives, selectedout of river-laid deposits. In fact, any analysis of early sites musttake into account the whole range of natural conditions at the site thatcould produce artefact-like forms, as well as the geological setting ofthe find spot.It is for these reasons that for instance Tuffreau (1987) does notaccept the Ferme de Grace (Somme) terrace material as evidence for EarlyPleistocene occupation of northern France (contra Bourdier et al. 1974)or that Santonja & Villa (1990) consider isolated pieces collectedfrom Iberian river terraces as too rare and undiagnostic to prove humansettlement in the Early Pleistocene.In section 3 we evaluate some important early sites by the issues inthe eolith debate. It is of course necessary to have a good knowledge ofthe assemblages and their context, either by a detailed site-publicationor by first-hand knowledge. Unfortunately, only a small number of'early' sites have been published in such a detail thatevaluation of interpretations concerning the artefactual character of'primitive' assemblages is possible. We start our review,therefore, with the evidence from central and northwestern Europe, wherewe have a first-hand knowledge of the relevant assemblages. The findingsfrom that area are confronted with those from other areas in section 5.2.2 The chronological frameworkThe classical subdivision of the Pleistocene is by theglacial-interglacial scheme, based on the extensions of glaciers in theAlpine area and northern Europe. Four different extensions were recordedin the Alpine area (Gunz, Mindel, Riss and Wurm) and in northern Europeonly three (Elster, Saale and Weichsel). Glacigenic deposits were linkedwith cold intervals in which ice-sheets formed, separated from eachother by warm-temperate intervals. Detailed investigations ofpollen-bearing deposits in northwestern Europe yielded a rather completerecord of the complex history of the vegetation there. Palaeobotanicaldata was transformed into palaeoclimatic information, making aterrestrial chronostratigraphical subdivision of the Pleistocene (cf.Zagwijn 1985; see FIGURE 1), a scheme that has been the standard fornorthwestern Europe. The presence of well dated biostratigraphicalmarker species in the type area of the standard division offers thepossibility to correlate sites from other areas to this subdivision.Preliminary results of recent investigations in an open lignite lignite(lĭg`nīt)or brown coal,carbonaceous fuel intermediate between coal and peat, brown or yellowish in color and woody in texture. mineat Schoningen near Helmstedt (Germany) and in the Don Basin (Russia)indicate, however, that the FIGURE 1 subdivision is incomplete. ThePleistocene sediments exposed in the Schoningen quarry date from theElsterian to the Holocene and are rich in palaeobotanical, malacologicaland palaeontological Adj. 1. palaeontological - of or relating to paleontologypaleontological information (cf. Urban et al. 1991; Thieme et al.1993). Studies of the Middle Pleistocene sequence indicate that --instead of two as in FIGURE 1 -- there were at least three phases with adistinct, well developed interglacial in��ter��gla��cial?adj.Occurring between glacial epochs.n.A comparatively short period of warmth during an overall period of glaciation. vegetation between the Elsterianand the Saalian till.Long sequences in the Don basin show at least fiveglacial-interglacial cycles in the timespan between the Brunhes/Matuyamaboundary and the Oka (=Elsterian) glaciation (Kasansteva 1987).Correlation between the Don Basin and northwestern Europe, mainly on thebase of mammal fauna associations, indicates that the northwesternstandard subdivision is incomplete for the lower part of the MiddlePleistocene, i.e. in the first half of the 'CromerianComplex'. The incompleteness of this continental subdivision isalso apparent when comparing it with the oxygen isotope record, whichcounts 9 interglacial and 9 glacial phases within the Brunhes Epoch.The oxygen isotope record, the most detailed subdivision of theQuaternary, is regarded as the timescale one should try to refer to. Itis a global record, reflecting changes in the total amount of ice onland the world over, as there is little variation among cores taken fromdifferent areas. It is also a rather continuous record, providing acomplete survey of the entire Quaternary. And it is a kind of'Esperanto' record, easy to 'understand' for workersfrom various parts of the world, not bothered by the details andintricacies of the various regional subdivisions such as thenorthwestern one mentioned above. This 'user-friendliness' iscertainly a very important factor in the increased usage of the deep-searecord for correlation-purposes. We must, however, not forget thatcorrelation to the isotope stages is often mainly based on very simple'counting' procedures, on the results of 'absolute'dating methods and on (often implicit) assumptions, for example that themaximum inland-ice extension corresponds to the highest [O.sup.18]values. Unfortunately, terrestrial sections are dominated by gaps.Absolute dates, in many cases contradictory and inaccurate, should notbe the only basis for a chronological correlation. Using the maximum iceextension for land-sea correlations poses problems as soon as oneexchanges the narrow 'national' perspective for a broader'European' one: the southernmost extension in Great Britain Great Britain,officially United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, constitutional monarchy (2005 est. pop. 60,441,000), 94,226 sq mi (244,044 sq km), on the British Isles, off W Europe. The country is often referred to simply as Britain. was the Anglian (= Elsterian), in the Netherlands it was the Saalianice-cap and in the Don Basin it was the Don glaciation! These problemscan lead to different correlations between the continental subdivisionand the oxygen isotope record.Although not denying the enormous advantages of the deep-sea recordover the continental divisions, we prefer the continental subdivision ofthe Quaternary as the basic framework for terrestrial correlation overthe oxygen isotope record, as long as there are no reliable correlationmethods (in other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"put differently : as long as the absolute dating Absolute dating is the process of determining a specific date for an archaeological or palaeontological site or artifact. Some archaeologists prefer the terms chronometric or calendar methods arecontradictory and inaccurate). Uncritical use of the deep sea stagescreates a pseudo-certainty that hides the basic stratigraphical problemsinherent in all kinds of terrestrial correlations.3 The chronology of Quaternary mammalian fossil assemblagesThe use of palaeobotanical evidence for long-distance correlation tothe terrestrial subdivisions is hampered by the absence of evolutionarytrends in plants and by the inter-regional variations in characters ofvegetation. Mammalian fossils are alternative important biostratigraphicindicators. Their use in dating and correlating deposits is based on thefact that most of the mammals have an extensive distribution area andthat a number show a rapid evolution and/or migratory shifts within theQuaternary (cf. Lister 1992). The composition of the mammalian fauna haschanged relatively fast during the Quaternary due to processes ofevolution, extinction and migration of species; a number of mammalbiozonations has been established by different authors. Some of theseare based on the smaller mammal fauna, others on the larger or on both.Many palaeontologists work with the generally acceptedbiostratigraphical subdivision of the Quaternary based on theArvicolidae succession, as proposed by Fejfar & Heinrich (1981, infact a modification of the Hungarian smaller mammal zonation zo��na��tion?n.1. Arrangement or formation in zones; zonate structure.2. Ecology The distribution of organisms in biogeographic zones. establishedby Kretzoi (see e.g. Kretzoi 1965; Kretzoi & Pecsi 1979; Van derMeulen 1973)). Fejfar & Heinrich (1981) established three welldefined biozones (stages in their terminology) for the Pleistocene:Villanyian, Biharian and Toringian. A biozonation on the basis ofchanges in the larger mammal fauna was constructed by Italianpalaeontologists (Azzaroli et al. 1988). Their subdivision ofVillafranchian and Galerian faunas is used in large parts of Europe andAsia despite the fact that the boundary between both biozones is poorlydefined.3.1 The smaller mammals: Biharian-ToringianBiharian faunas differ from the preceding Villanyian ones by theoccurrence of Microtus. The Villanyian faunas are recognized by thedominance of Mimomys, the Biharian faunas by the co-occurrence ofMicrotus and Mimomys and the Toringian 'Stage' byArvicola-Microtus assemblages. The Biharian Stage is divided into twosubstages: the Early Biharian with Microtus (Allophaiomys) and the LateBiharian with Microtus (Microtus).The transition from the Villanyian to the Biharian in the EarlyPleistocene corresponds more or less with the Tiglian/Eburoniantransition. Faunas such as Tegelen (the Netherlands) belong to theVillanyian, while the Early Biharian comprises faunas such as LeVallonet (France), Monte Peglia (Italy) and Betfia 2 (Romania).The transition of Microtus (Allophaiomys) to Microtus (Microtus),marking the transition from the Early to the Late Biharian, dates to theearly part of the Bavelian complex, roughly correlated to the Jaramillo.Faunas such as West Runton Coordinates: West Runton is a village in North Norfolk[1] approximately ? of a mile from the North Sea coast. The village straddles the A149 North Norfolk coast road and is 2? miles west of Cromer and 1? miles east of Sheringham. , Stranska Skala, Prezletice (Czechia),Tarko (Layer 16) (Hungary), Ilynka I-II and Ilynka IV (Russia) belong tothe Late Biharian. The genus Mimomys is represented by only one species,the large Mimomys savini, in most of the late Biharian faunas. A secondMimomys, a smaller form often referred to Mimomys (Cseria) pusillus,occurs in some faunas. The Late Biharian covers the later part of theBavelian complex and most of the Cromerian complex, a time-span with atleast five glacial/interglacial cycles as we know from the Don Basinsequence (Kasantseva 1987). The faunas with two Mimomys species datefrom the earlier part of that time-span, the faunas with only Mimomyssavini from the later part.A very important stratigraphical marker is the transition of Mimomyssavini to Arvicola terrestris, which corresponds to theBiharian-Toringian boundary, in the second half of the Cromerian complex(van Kolfschoten 1990; Von Koenigswald & van Kolfschoten in press).Since the most primitive representative of the genus Arvicola, Arvicolaterrestris cantiana (often cited as e.g. Arvicola cantiana or Arvicolamosbachensis), is known in northwestern Europe from CromerianInterglacial The Cromerian interglacial is a name for an interglacial period which occurred between 600,000 and 450,000 years ago. The name is used by British geologists and archaeologists who named it after the site of West Runton near Cromer in the English county of Norfolk where deposits it IV deposits (van Kolfschoten 1990), the transition tookplace before Interglacial IV of the Cromerian Complex. Arvicola appearsfor the first time in the Karlich section in the fauna from Karlich G.The heavy-mineral association of the Karlich G deposits and the mammalfauna indicate a Cromerian Interglacial III or a (beginning of)Interglacial IV age (van Kolfschoten & Turner in press; VonKoenigswald & van Kolfschoten in press). The Mimomys-Arvicolatransition has been documented in western (Chaline 1986), central(Fejfar & Heinrich 1981) and eastern Europe Eastern EuropeThe countries of eastern Europe, especially those that were allied with the USSR in the Warsaw Pact, which was established in 1955 and dissolved in 1991. (Terzea in press). Innorthwestern Europe the transition took place in the second half of theCromerian Complex. This seems to have been the case in other areas too,as for instance shown by the occurrence of Arvicola terrestris beforethe Elsterian in Central Europe Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. In addition, Northern, Southern and Southeastern Europe may variously delimit or overlap into Central Europe. (Terzea in press) and the occurrence ofvery advanced Mimomys savini in faunas from the Don Basin, dated to thesecond interglacial before the Oka-Elsterian glaciation (Kasansteva1987; van Kolfschoten in prep.). It is to be expected that there was anasynchronicity within the regional transition from Mimomys to Arvicola,but such transgressions fall outside the chronological resolution of ourpresent dating methods for this time-range.A problem in this respect is the age of the Arvicola fauna fromIsernia (Italy), supposed to be late Early Pleistocene on the basis ofradiometric dates for crystals from the site matrix and somepalaeomagnetic data (Coltorti et al. 1982; McPherron & Schmidt1983). Isernia has yielded fossil remains of Arvicola terrestriscantiana (assigned to the junior synonym Arvicola mosbachensis by Sala1983; Coltorti et al. 1982). A study of the material, including thatsampled in the period after 1982, allowed the second author tocharacterize the finds of Isernia as a primitive population of the genusArvicola. Only 80% of the molars (only a few of them are juvenile) arerootless, whereas 20% show indications for root formation but are stillrootless. The fauna with Arvicola, Elephas (P.) antiquus, Stephanorhinushundsheimensis and without Mimomys savini, Mimomys pusillus and Microtus(Allophaiomys) sp. suggests a Middle Pleistocene age, as it iscomparable to central European faunas as Mosbach and Mauer (cf. Sala& Fortelius 1993). One could accept a late Early Pleistocene age forIsernia only by suggesting an earlier occurrence of Arvicola in Italy,in a more or less isolated area of Europe. This is not a plausibleargument, however, as there are no indications of a barrier isolatingthe mammalian faunas in Italy from those of central and western Europe Western EuropeThe countries of western Europe, especially those that are allied with the United States and Canada in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (established 1949 and usually known as NATO). during the Pleistocene. On the contrary, the abundant similarities inEarly, Middle and Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene (also known as Upper Pleistocene or the Tarantian) is a stage of the Pleistocene Epoch. The beginning of the stage is defined by the base of Eemian interglacial phase before final glacial episode of Pleistocene 126,000 �� 5,000 years ago. faunas of Italy and eastern, centraland western Europe show a general and almost continuous faunal exchangebetween these areas during the Quaternary (Von Koenigswald & vanKolfschoten in press). Therefore we seriously question thepalaeomagnetic and radiometric dates for the Isernia site, and do notbelieve that Isernia is as old as 700,000 years BP.Toringian faunas can be divided into two groups: an older one withArvicola terrestris cantiana co-occurs with so-called relict RELICT. A widow; as A B, relict of C D. species(such as Talpa minor, Trogontherium cuvieri) and a younger group withArvicola terrestris ssp. A and B, co-occurs with a modern smaller mammalfauna (see van Kolfschoten 1990). The first group comprises faunas suchas Miesenheim I, Karlich G, Mauer (Germany), Boxgrove,Westbury-sub-Mendip (Great Britain), Sprimont (Belle Roche) (Belgium),Tarko (Hungary) with Arvicola terrestris cantiana together with Sorex(Drepanosorex) sp. and Pliomys episcopalis and a number of faunas e.g.Swanscombe (Great Britain), Bilzingsleben (Germany) younger in age andwithout Sorex (Drepanosorex) and Pliomys episcopalis.Since the early Saalian, thinning of the convex sides of the dentine dentine,n See dentin.dentineone of the hard tissues of the teeth which constitutes most of its bulk. Lies between the pulp cavity and the enamel, and where it is not covered by enamel is covered by cementum, the third hard substance triangles has resulted in changes in the relative thickness of theenamel band of the Arvicola molars. This development can be used forstratigraphical correlations of younger, i.e.post-'Holsteinian' faunas, such as those from Caune del'Arago at Tautavel (Desclaux 1992a; 1992b), Maastricht-Belvedereand Weimar-Ehringsdorf (cf. van Kolfschoten 1990).3.2 The larger mammals: Villafranchian-GalerianThe widely used Italian biochronology, with a subdivision inVillafranchian and Galerian faunas, is mainly based on changes in thelarger mammal fauna. The Villafranchian, starting about 3 million yearsago, covers part of the Pliocene and the Early Pleistocene. It has beensub-divided into an early, a middle and a late phase, a subdivisionrefined by Azzaroli (1977), who divided the Villafranchian faunas intosix more or less well-defined faunal units. The beginning of theVillafranchian itself, of some of its units and its end arecharacterized by pronounced dispersal events (Azzaroli et al. 1988; Salaet al. 1992). Azzaroli et al. (1988) state that theVillafranchian-Galerian transition (the end-Villafranchian event,1.0-0.9 million years ago) saw a complete faunal turnover, with massiveextinctions and new, previously unknown adaptations. Late Villafranchiantaxa such as Eucladoceros, Dama nestii, Leptobos etruscus, Sus strozziiand Archidiskodon meridionalis became extinct, whereas many taxa(Megaceros, Soergelia sp., Praeovibos priscus, Bison schoetensacki,Equus sussen-bornensis, Ursus deningeri) appear during the EarlyGalerian.The transition of the late Villafranchian to the Galerian did nottake place at once; according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Azzaroli et al. (1988), thetransitional phase was of (geologically) short duration because only afew sites have 'naturally mixed' assemblages -- an assumptionpartially based on the inferred Early Pleistocene age of Isernia. Theyassign a late Matuyama age to the Isernia fauna, and hence infer thatfaunas from normally magnetized deposits (such as the faunas from WestRunton and Voigtstedt) have to be correlated with the Jaramillo event.In such a scenario the Villafranchian/Galerian faunal shift indeed seemsboth very pronounced and relatively abrupt. In our opinion the faunasfrom Isernia, West Runton and Voigtstedt are of Middle Pleistocene age,which means that the faunal turn-over could have taken place moregradually. For us the 'faunal watershed' is simply the resultof a giant temporal collapse, caused by an accumulation of correlationerrors.This interpretation is confirmed by the fauna from Venta Micena,dated at around 1.2 million years ago yet already containing severalGalerian immigrants (Megaloceros, Praeovibos, Soergelia and Bison)(Agusti et al. 1987). The end-Villafranchian 'event' in thesense of e.g. Azzaroli et al. (1988) therefore probably has a longstratigraphical range, which necessitates a re-definition of the lateVillafranchian-Galerian boundary. At the current state of knowledge theterms late Villafranchian or Galerian are of little biostratigraphicalvalue.4 The earliest occupation of central and northwestern Europe4.1 The Early PleistoceneThe pseudo-artefact problem is especially apparent in centralEuropean sites where (amateur) archaeologists sampled huge amounts ofgravels and came up with primitive looking 'choppers' and'chopping-tools'. A good example is the Beroun site, nearPrague (Fridrich 1991), where about 80 artefacts were collected from thetop of Early Pleistocene river gravels, exposed over an area of about2000 sq. m. Two overlying overlyingsuffocation of piglets by the sow. The piglets may be weak from illness or malnutrition, the sow may be clumsy or ill, the pen may be inadequate in size or poorly designed so that piglets cannot escape. levels yielded 10 more 'items ofindustry'. The 80 rolled 'artefacts', mostly'side-choppers' with only a few negatives, were collected fromthe gravel surface 'after rain'. According to Fridrich (1991:111), the assemblage 'includes choppers, bifaces, proto-bifaces,picks, cleavers, polyhedrons, subspheroids, representing Acheulean s.I.,comparable to the African finds'. The finds, both those publishedand those displayed in the Prague National Museum, are clearly in therange of what can be collected from natural gravel deposits; they arenot acceptable evidence of Early Pleistocene occupation (see Kozlowski1991 for a comparable interpretation).The same applies to the Musov and Ivan assemblages, described byValoch (1991). Both sites, approximately 40 km south of Brno, werevisited by an amateur archaeologist, who collected hundreds of'choppers' and 'chopping-tools' from re-workedMiocene deposits, present on top of Early or early Middle Pleistocenedeposits. As in Beroun, we are dealing with a selection from thousandsand thousands of non-modified pebbles. The 'artefacts' have ingeneral only a few irregular negatives, and almost all'chopping-tools' display completely blunted 'workingedges'.Comparable arguments apply to other Early Pleistocene sites inMoravia (Brno-Cernovice, with one good flake though, not recovered insitu In place. When something is "in situ," it is in its original location. , and Brno-Cernovice Kopec). A polyhedron polyhedron(pŏl'ēhē`drən), closed solid bounded by plane faces; each face of a polyhedron is a polygon. A cube is a polyhedron bounded by six polygons (in this case squares) meeting at right angles. from Mladec cave, found ina calcite calcite(kăl`sīt), very widely distributed mineral, commonly white or colorless, but appearing in a great variety of colors owing to impurities. layer covering the Early Pleistocene sediments there, has nochronological context.Early Pleistocene artefacts from the river deposits exposed in theKarlich section (Karlich A) were found and published by Wurges (1986).Three 'pebble tools' were flaked on one surface only. The'best' piece is a pebble, broken along a quartz vein, with twonegatives. The pieces fall in the range of naturally produced'artefacts' (cf. Clark 1958) and they were not recovered in acontrolled situation; at best they are to be treated as typicalincertofacts, a category of pieces of which the artificial character canneither be established with certainty nor excluded. The same applies tothe trachytic tra��chyte?n.A light-colored igneous rock consisting essentially of alkali feldspar.[French, from Greek trkhus, rough. tuff core from Karlich Ba, recovered outsidestratigraphical context (Vollbrecht 1992).4.2 The Middle PleistoceneMost archaeology textbooks mention the Czech site of Prezletice asone of the earliest sites in Europe. Palaeomagnetic and faunal studies(a fauna with Mimomys) have placed it in the beginning of the MiddlePleistocene. The find of what was once thought to be a human molar (nowan Ursus sp. molar, see Fridrich 1989: 29) initiated archaeologicalexcavations (1969-1985) that focussed on sediments deposited near anancient lake at the foot of a lydite massif mas��sif?n.1. A large mountain mass or compact group of connected mountains forming an independent portion of a range.2. . It yielded 4 horizonsbearing 'artefacts' produced out of locally occurring lyditedebris. Fridrich (1989: passim PASSIM - A simulation language based on Pascal.["PASSIM: A Discrete-Event Simulation Package for Pascal", D.H Uyeno et al, Simulation 35(6):183-190 (Dec 1980)]. ) himself stressed that it was verydifficult to differentiate between 'flaking and natural fracturingof raw material in lydite debris. . . . There is complete lack of flakesor, on the contrary, of primitive cores . . . treatment of raw material,manufacturing of half-products and their waste fracturing occurred alonghidden cleavages in raw material. There are not typical traces afterworking, namely bulbs, therefore the possibility to recognize anddifferentiate between artificial working and natural fracturing isextremely low' (emphasis added). Nevertheless, the drawings inFridrich (1989) display many negatives of flaking and retouch on the'proto-bifaces', 'picks' and other artefactsrecognized among the lydite debris, but there is a big discrepancybetween the drawings and the photos of the objects. Likewise, the pieceson display in the Prague National Museum in our opinion do not show anyconvincing traces of human interference.The site of Stranska skala, near Brno, yielded a Late Biharian faunacomparable to Prezletice. In 1968 Valoch described some 'flakes ofhornstone suggestive of suggestive ofDecision making adjective Referring to a pattern by LM or imaging, that the interpreter associates with a particular–usually malignant lesion. See Aunt Millie approach, Defensive medicine. human workmanship' recovered from earlyMiddle Pleistocene scree-deposits in the 1910-1945 excavations. Hethought the site was problematic because 'Weathered nodules, oftennaturally cracked and broken, occur in the debris in considerablequantity, making it difficult to identify those chips that could havebeen flaked and utilized by man' (Musil & Valoch 1968: 538;also Valoch 1972). Since then new palaeontological fieldwork has yieldedmore finds, which led Valoch to give up his doubts about the artificialcharacter of the stone assemblage selected from the slope deposits andfrom within two small caves in the Stranska skala exposure (Valoch1987). Three dozen artefacts have been identified by him. Thesehornstone fragments display no clear traces of human workmanship: thereare virtually no bulbs (only three observed), no clear negatives orripples. While visiting the site with Dr Valoch the first author couldpick up hornstone fragments from the scree-section, which is full ofhornstone debris; one wonders what the ratio between'discarded' and 'accepted' pieces within thisdeposit actually was.On these grounds, arguments concerning context and attributes of thefinds, the site cannot be considered as proof for an early MiddlePleistocene occupation of Moravia. We support Valoch's earlierdoubts concerning the artefactual character of the assemblage.The first good evidence from this part of central Europe comes fromSedlesovice near Znojmo, where a quartz artefact See artifact. was discovered in aloess profile, in the fossil soil PK VI ('Holstein'; seeValoch 1984). The first finds from Poland (Trzebnica) are from aroundthis time horizon too (Burdukiewicz & Winnicki 1988; 1989; alsoKozlowski 1992).For the western part of central Europe, Wurges (1986) claims earlierfinds from the top of the Karlich Mosel gravels (Karlich Bb). Over anarea of 40 x 40 m Wurges collected a set of 8 quartzite quartzite,usually metamorphic rock composed of firmly cemented quartz grains. Most often it is white, light gray, yellowish, or light brown, but is sometimes colored blue, green, purple, or black by included minerals. pieces, somefrom the top of the gravel deposits, some from the base of the gravels,having slid downslope n. 1. a downward slope.Noun 1. downslope - a downward slope or benddeclivity, declination, declension, fall, decline, descentdownhill - the downward slope of a hill . Some of the pieces are heavily rounded, othersless so. It took Wurges more than one year to assemble this set, veryclearly a selection of pieces, whose number is infinitesimally in��fin��i��tes��i��mal?adj.1. Immeasurably or incalculably minute.2. Mathematics Capable of having values approaching zero as a limit.n.1. smallcompared to the whole. The 'primitive' morphology of thepieces and their context lead us to doubt the artefactual character ofthese, and to interpret them in the same way as Tuffreau (1987) did withFerme de Grace material.In our opinion western central Europe has its earliest solid evidencefor human occupation around the Cromer IV interglacial (Oxygen IsotopeStage 11 to 13? (respectively 362,000-423,000 and 478,000-524,000 yearsBP)), in the form of the finds from Karlich G, the primary-contextMiesenheim I site and the Mauer mandible mandible/man��di��ble/ (man��di-b'l) the horseshoe-shaped bone forming the lower jaw, articulating with the skull at the temporomandibular joint.mandib��ular man��di��blen. , all associated with Arvicolaterrestris cantiana faunas. From that time-period onwards there are moreprimary context sites in central Europe, both from temperate and fromcolder, dryer settings (Roebroeks et al. 1992; Gamble 1993).In the northwest region This article is about the region in Pennsylvania. For the area of the United States of America, see Pacific Northwest.The Northwest Region , the earliest solid traces of occupation aremore or less contemporaneous with the Miesenheim I site, for example thewell-preserved find scatters at Boxgrove in southern England (Roberts1986; 1990) and the earliest sites in the Somme valley of northernFrance (Tuffreau 1987). The Boxgrove site is tentatively correlated toOxygen Isotope Stage 13.Independent of their correlations to the deep-sea record, theearliest sites from both central and northwest Europe fall in theArvicola terrestris cantiana range. From that period onwards, there is alarge number of well-documented primary context sites in thenorthwest-central region, with conjoining knapping debris preserved infine-grained fluvial flu��vi��al?adj.1. Of, relating to, or inhabiting a river or stream.2. Produced by the action of a river or stream.[Middle English, from Latin and aeolian Ae��o��li��an?adj.1. Of or relating to Aeolis or its people or culture.2. Greek Mythology Of or relating to Aeolus.3. aeolian Variant of eolian.n.1. deposits (cf. Roebroeks et al. 1992).5 Other regions, comparable results?Like those in the northern regions, Iberian river terraces haveyielded isolated pieces, whose human manufacture or precise age havebeen doubted by various researchers (Raposo 1985; Santonja & Villa1990), who place the oldest sites from Iberia at the beginning of theMiddle Pleistocene, though such traces are very rare. Some of the bestsites are in the Guadix-Baza depression (Granada), famous for its richEarly Pleistocene mammalian faunas. The oldest site, Cullar de Baza Baza(bä`thä), town (1990 pop. 21,123), Granada prov., S Spain, in Andalusia. It is a food-processing center for a fertile farm area noted especially for its cattle. Baza has flour and textile mills, tanneries, and cement plants. , hasyielded only a few pieces (six flakes and two choppers), in associationwith a Middle Pleistocene fauna. The faunal list varies from author toauthor (cf. Santonja 1992: 57); on biostratigraphical grounds the siteis very probably contemporaneous with the earliest sites from thenorthwest-central region. If the five artefacts recently reported fromAtapuerca TD4 (Carbonell & Rodriguez 1994) indeed are man-madeobjects, they would be older than the other archaeological sitesreviewed so far, as they are associated with a Mimomys fauna (Gil &Sese 1991). The handaxes reported from Atapuerca TD6 are from a laterperiod, when Pliomys episcopalis disappears (Aguirre 1991), possiblyStage 13, according to the excavators (Carbonell & Rodriguez 1994).Italy's settlement history (cf. Mussi 1992) shows no unambiguousindications for an Early Pleistocene occupation. A number of the'old' Italian sites are surface sites, where a'primitive' morphology of artefacts has led somearchaeologists to infer a high age. In view of those correlationproblems, the site of Monte Poggiolo Monte Poggiolo is a hill near Forl��, Italy in the Emilia-Romagna area. At Monte Poggiolo is an ancient castle named Ca’ Belvedere (for Casa Belvedere). does not provide very firm evidencefor Early Pleistocene occupation, though the preliminary results of thepalaeomagnetic studies indicate that it deserves our attention as apossible candidate (Gagnepain et al. 1992). All unquestionablearchaeological sites with solid dating evidence date from well into theMiddle Pleistocene, and those with abundant faunal remains are more orless comparable in age to the Boxgrove and Miesenheim I sites in thenorth: Fontana Ranuccio (with hominid remains), Visogliano (humanfossils too) and probably also Venosa-Loreto. As already explained, inour opinion, Isernia falls into this time range too.In Croatia, the bone breccia a breccia containing bones, usually fragmentary.See also: Breccia of the Sandalja I cave yielded anincisor incisor/in��ci��sor/ (I) (-si��zer)1. adapted for cutting.2. incisor tooth.in��ci��sorn. , once considered to be a hominid fossil (Malez 1976 vs. Cook etal. 1982) and one small and primitive 'chopper', a single findtoo undiagnostic to provide a firm ground for Early Pleistoceneoccupation of former Yugoslavia.So while the regions discussed as yet have not yielded solid proof ofhuman occupation prior to the Middle Pleistocene, there are some sitesin southern France that seem to be older: a group of sites in the MassifCentral Massif Central(mäsēf` säNträl`)[Fr.,=central highlands], great mountainous plateau, c.33,000 sq mi (85,470 sq km), S central France, covering almost a sixth of the surface of the country. , and the famous cave-site of Le Vallonet.The Massif Central has a large number of sites with rich EarlyPleistocene faunas, recovered in a good stratigraphical context. Thestone assemblages collected from some of these sites (cf. Bonifay 1991)consist in general of small series, selected out of natural piecesoccurring in often coarse-grained deposits. The short communications onthese assemblages do not deal with the problems of differentiatingbetween natural and humanly modified pieces. In many ways an exceptionis the Chilhac III site, excavated by Chavaillon (1991; also Guth &Chavaillon 1985) in order to test Guth's earlier assessments of thesite. Among the split pebbles and rocks in the Chilhac III deposits,Chavaillon could identify 46 indisputable artefacts. The age of theseartefacts is uncertain for the time being, for reasons elaborated byChavaillon (1991). In his words 'Tout est possible pour ChilhacIII' (1991: 87).Another well-known Massif Central site is Soleilhac. Unfortunatelyits lithic lith��ic?1?adj.Consisting of or relating to stone or rock.Adj. 1. lithic - of or containing lithium2. lithic - relating to or composed of stone; "lithic sandstone" assemblage has not been published in detail. According toBonifay, we are dealing with a small assemblage of primitive technology.The quartz pebbles have been more 'shattered'('brises') than flaked, whereas the majority of the'objets de grande taille taille:see tallage. en basalte' have been made out ofnatural fragments (Bonifay 1987: 13). From the description, it is clearthat the excavators selected basalt basalt(bəsôlt`, băs`ôlt), fine-grained rock of volcanic origin, dark gray, dark green, brown, reddish, or black in color. Basalt is an igneous rock, i.e., one that has congealed from a molten state. objects (with'rostrocarinate' forms) out of other non-modified basaltfragments. More important is that the Soleilhac fauna (with Arvicola,Elephas (P.) antiquus and Hippopotamus hippopotamus,herbivorous, river-living mammal of tropical Africa. The large hippopotamus, Hippopotamus amphibius, has a short-legged, broad body with a tough gray or brown hide. : Bonifay 1991) could fit verywell into the late Cromerian faunas mentioned above. Awaiting theresults of further study of the chronology of the site and detailedpublication of the stone finds, we see no good reason to think Soleilhacprovides an Early or early Middle Pleistocene hominid occupation.Le Vallonet has been well published, in a way that allows a detailedevaluation of the artefacts. The cave has yielded a rich fauna (withMicrotus [Allophaiomys] pliocaenicus) and a small lithic assemblage,recovered from TABULAR DATA OMITTED sediments of 'Jaramillo'age (age assessments by means of biostratigraphy bi��o��stra��tig��ra��phy?n.The study of the spatial and temporal distribution of fossil organisms, often interpolated with radiometric, geochemical, and paleoenvironmental information as a means of dating rock strata. , absolute dating (ESR ESR - Eric S. Raymond )and palaeomagnetic studies (see various contributions inL'Anthropologie 92 (1988); but also Bonifay 1991: 74-5). The lithicassemblage comes from stratigraphic stra��tig��ra��phy?n.The study of rock strata, especially the distribution, deposition, and age of sedimentary rocks.strat Unit III (layers B1, B2, C), loamysands with many angular rocks and pebbles. These sediments are to alarge extent re-worked from the Roquebrune Miocene conglomerate depositspresent above the cave. The sand and rock/pebble fraction flowed intothe Vallonet cave through chimneys and fissures. After Unit III wasformed, the sediments were subjected to intensive geochemicalweathering, leading to all kinds of 'deformation' of the rocksand pebbles in the matrix: 'Les cailloux et les galets de cesniveaux sont souvent craqueles avec deplacements de fragments' (DeLumley 1988: 416). Excavations in the stony deposits yielded in total 70pieces from a 'fairly underdeveloped stone tool industry'.Fifty-nine of these are interpreted as intentionally modified. Virtuallyall artefacts were made from limestone pebbles from the RoquebruneMiocene conglomerate. The artefacts consist primarily of flaked pebbles,among which 'percussion tools', 'pebbles with a singleconvex chip' are the most common (13 examples). Well representedare pebbles 'with a single concave ConcaveProperty that a curve is below a straight line connecting two end points. If the curve falls above the straight line, it is called convex. chip' (primary choppers, 8examples), but these are badly fragmented. Pebble tools (choppers,chopping-tools and atypical chopping-tools) are present (10 examples),though not standardized and mostly of mediocre quality. The dorsalsurface of half of the 26 flakes consists of 100% cortex, only 5 flakeshave no cortex at all. The majority of the flakes have no butt or a'reduced' one.The Le Vallonet limestone pieces, partially decarbonated, areoccasionally extremely fragile. Some of the rocks and pebbles werefractured, 'craqueles' by chemical weathering. Thenon-modified as well as the flaked pebbles and rocks in the Unit IIImatrix display several kinds of surface modifications, with ridges andprotruding parts smoothed, or displaying a glossy surface polish. Thisapplies to about 60% of the natural stones in the matrix. Comparablephenomena are present on the 'flaked' pieces: 'Les piecesde l'industrie lithique decouvertes dans le remplissage duPleistocene inferieur de l'ensemble III n'echappent pas acette regle generale: un important emousse adoucit parfois les aretes etoblitere le modele des enlevements. La surface de ces pieces presentesouvent un lustrage caracteristique' (De Lumley et al. 1988: 505).It is clear that the lithic assemblage from Le Vallonet is aselection of 'primitive' pieces picked out from a matrix richin rocks and pebbles derived from Miocene deposits (see the photos ofthe Unit III sediments in De Lumley et al. 1988: figures 1-7). Theircharacteristics suggest that we are dealing with an assemblage that wasnot modified by human agents, and instead displays all thecharacteristics of a selection out of a natural deposit.6 ImplicationsBy our reading of the evidence, there is a difference between theEuropean 'archaeological' record from before the Arvicolaterrestris cantiana time-range (for convenience' sake here: fromabout 500,000 years ago) and the later one (cf. TABLE 1; also Dennell1983 for a comparable interpretation). Before 500,000, virtually allfinds come from a disturbed, coarse matrix, afterwards we have primarycontext sites in fine-grained deposits. The assemblages dating frombefore 500,000 are virtually all the result of selection of isolatedpieces from natural deposits, younger ones are often excavated fromknapping floors.There are two basic ways to interpret these differences. Thepre-500,000 finds could reflect the sparse traces of intermittentoccupation of Europe, substantial colonization of Europe taking placefrom about 500,000 onwards (cf. Turner 1992). Nevertheless, thedifferences in geological context and recovery procedures See: explosive ordnance disposal procedures. between pre-and post-500,000 sites are problems to be explained by those adhering tothis long chronology.In view of the attributes of the 'artefacts' and contextsof the pre-500,000 sites, we instead interpret these differences as noundisputable proof for human occupation of Europe prior to about 500,000years ago. The first primary context sites with good archaeologicalevidence date from a later period within the Middle Pleistocene,possibly from about Stage 13 onwards.Our scenario has several advantages. A first one is that it is veryeasy to falsify falsify,v to forge; to give a false appearance to anything, as to falsify a record. . The find of only one Early Pleistocene site of primarycontext in Europe would disprove disprove,v to refute or to prove false by affirmative evidence to the contrary. it, and one would have to conclude thatbefore about 500,000 occupation existed (but was largely intermittent).New studies of some of the sites mentioned in our short survey couldlead to such a result.A further advantage is that our short chronology is supported by abody of data independent of arguments concerning stone tools: thechronological distribution of human remains. The discrepancy between theinferred high age of the earliest European artefacts and the relativelyrecent date for the earliest European hominid fossils, the Mauer lowerjaw and the human remains from Fontana Ranuccio and (possibly)Visogliano has been a conspicious problem in the search for the earliestEuropeans. From the 'Mauer' time period onwards we have MiddlePleistocene human remains all over Europe: Arago, Atapuerca,Biache-Saint-Vaast, Bilzingsleben, Cava Pompi, Castel di Guido, LaChaise, Ehringsdorf, Fontana Ranuccio, Fontechevade, Grotte du Prince,Lazaret laz��a��ret��to? also laz��a��ret or laz��a��retten. pl. laz��a��ret��tos also laz��a��rets or laz��a��rettes1. A hospital treating contagious diseases.2. , Mauer, Montmaurin, Orgnac III, Petralona, Pontnewydd,Steinheim, Swanscombe, Venose, Vergranne, Vertesszollos and Visogliano,to mention them in alphabetical order (cf. Cook et al. 1982). Therecently discovered tibia tibia:see leg. from Boxgrove, a site with one of the earliestArvicola terrestris cantiana faunas, of course fits very well in ourscenario too (Roberts et al. 1994; see also Gamble 1994).From the long period before the Arvicola terrestris cantiana range wedo not have a single (uncontested!) tooth yet, despite huge amounts ofother mammalian fossils. Absence of evidence is of course no evidence ofabsence, and negative evidence has rarely proved durable in archaeology.But absence of exposures of older deposits is not a goodcounter-argument here. At a large number of palaeontological sites,early Middle and/or Early Pleistocene faunas are recovered fromfine-grained deposits. Some of these have been under observation formany decades or even centuries, yielding huge amounts of faunal remains:for instance the Tegelen pits in the Netherlands, Untermassfeld,Voigtstedt and Sussenborn in Germany, West Runton (England), Seneze(France), Deutsch Altenburg in Austria and the Val d'Arno exposuresin Italy. Europe is without any doubt the most heavily researched partof the Old World, with a high-quality record to which many hundreds ofworkers have contributed over a period of one-and-a-half centuries.In our scenario Europe is extremely 'marginal', late intime as compared to for instance the Asian evidence as that stands now.The human spread out of Africa went eastwards first, via Ubeidiya(Israel) and Dmanisi (Georgia; see Dzaparidze et al. 1989), and hominidswere present in the eastern parts of Asia at the end of the EarlyPleistocene, at around 1,000,000 to 800,000 (Schick & Zhuan 1993;even earlier, if one accepts the Swisher swisherSexology A regional term for a really queer queer, not that there's anything wrong with that et al. (1994) dates). Europewas occupied later. Soon after we see the first undisputable traces,humans are virtually 'everywhere' in Europe (with as notableand interesting exceptions the Russian plains and Scandinavia).At issue is not only whether the first Europeans arrived much earlierthan 500,000. What, if any, ecological, climatical or social factorswere triggering the occupation at about 500,000, or, formulated inanother way, what kept hominids out of Europe before 500,000? Someavenues worth exploring may be developments in the social domain, suchas the emergence of dispersed mating networks, neural developmentsassociated with brain expansion and differences in the character of theLower as opposed to the Middle Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles(cf. Zagwijn 1992; see also Gamble 1993).In our scenario, the 500,000 'wave' represents the firstoccupation, virtually synchronous throughout Europe south of the icesheets. In this view Europe does not seem to have presented big problemsfor the first occupants, be it perhaps in the northern- and easternmostparts. This image of a swift occupation can very well be the result ofthe low chronological resolution of our dating methods for the MiddlePleistocene (as compared to 14C, whose resolution allows our Americancolleagues to infer that Palaeoindians colonized the entire New World injust a few centuries: Meltzer 1993). These analogues yield fascinatingthought-experiments that have the additional advantage of moving ourfield into the domain of other disciplines studying the migration ofmammal species (cf. Gamble 1993).While those adhering to (various forms off a long chronology can makethe case for a very gradual adaptation by 'Out of Africans' tothe wide range of European habitats, our short chronology supportsanother view, a rather fast (within the time resolution limits)adaptation, once they are in this cul de sac CUL DE SAC. This is a French phrase, which signifies, literally, the bottom of a bag, and, figuratively, a street not open at both ends. It seems not to be settled whether a cul de sac is to be considered a highway. See 1 Campb. R. 260; 11 East, R. 376, note; 5 Taunt. R. 137; 5 B. & Ald. of the Eurasian continentthat we call Europe. It is for such reasons that we need to discuss theempirical values and implications of the various long and shorterchronologies. We hope that our paper can contribute to such an'updating' of the discussion on the first'Europeans'.Acknowledgements. A first version of this paper was written for aEuropean Science Foundation (ESF (1) (Extended SuperFrame) An enhanced T1 format that allows a line to be monitored during normal operation. It uses 24 frames grouped together (instead of the 12-frame D4 superframe) and provides room for CRC bits and other diagnostic commands. ) Workshop on The Earliest Occupation ofEurope, held at Tautavel (France), November 1993, and hosted by H. DeLumley. That meeting was organized by the ESF Network on ThePalaeolithic Occupation of Europe: G. Bosinski (chairman -- Neuwied,Germany), W. Roebroeks (scientific secretary -- Leiden, TheNetherlands), C. Farizy (Paris, France), C. Gamble (Southampton, UnitedKingdom), L. Larsson (Lund, Sweden), M. Mussi (Rome, Italy), N. Praslov(St. Peterburg, Russia), L. Raposo (Lisbon, Portugal), M. Santonja(Salamanca, Spain) and A. Tuffreau (Lille, France). The members of theNetwork committee made valuable remarks on the content of our paper. Weare further very grateful to F.C. Howell (Berkeley), A. Turner(Liverpool) and R. Dennell (Sheffield) for their detailed comments on anearlier draft of the paper, while the first author wishes to acknowledgehis gratitude towards K. Valoch, for his hospitality during his visit toBrno. The proceedings of the Tautavel meeting are being edited by thepresent authors, in cooperation with G. Bosinski, and are scheduled toappear in the course of 1994.The research was supported by the Netherlands Organisation forScientific Research and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts andSciences The Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) is an organisation dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. .ReferencesACKERMAN, S. 1989. European prehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. 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