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Sea-level rise was a key factor changing environments during the Early Holocene in Northwest Europe. It affected Mesolithic hunter-gatherer communities by inundating large areas in the current North Sea, commonly referred to as Doggerland. In this paper we present novel inundation models for the southern North Sea providing visualisations of lateral inundation driven by sea-level rise and relate it to frequency analysis of radiocarbon dates from archaeological sites. These improve on previous studies that relied on bathymetric data, which includes post-inundation overprints of Holocene sedimentation and erosion, and thus significantly underestimates the timing of inundation in some areas. We constructed a paleoDEM (a composite elevation grid of the top of the Pleistocene) for the eastern part of the southern North Sea; and sea level surfaces that combine relative sea-level curves from glacio-isostatic adjustment models optimised for Britain and southern Scandinavia respectively. We corrected our paleoDEMs for tectonic background basin subsidence, and in the inundation modelling account for pre-compaction elevation of peat in coastal areas. We evaluated the impact of these model components on our results and describe the possible inundation history of Doggerland. We suggest earlier inundation than predicted by previous models, showing significant area loss around 10.5–10 ka cal BP. Palaeogeographic changes are compared with archaeological radiocarbon data using a dates-as-data approach. Composite Kernel Density Estimate and permutation tested Summed Probability Distributions are used as a proxy for the visibility, nature and intensity of human activity. Results indicate key periods of growth and decline recorded in the dataset, as well as regional differences in growth rate, some correlating with inundation phases. Chiefly, we find elevated growth rates around 10.5–10 ka in northwest Germany and the Netherlands, contemporaneous with the abovementioned phase of extensive area loss, and moreover, with changes in culture and practices on Early Mesolithic sites. However, the spatiotemporal distribution of archaeological data is significantly influenced by accessibility and preservation of sediments of a certain age. We discuss the importance of inundation modelling and sediment data in understanding how landscape taphonomy affects archaeological patterning, especially in dates-as-data approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to present a detailed zooarchaeological study conducted on the bone assemblage from the Laguna Cabeza de Buey 2 site, located on the margins of a small shallow lake in the center of the Pampa grasslands (province of Buenos Aires, Argentina). Taxonomic structure, taphonomic information, site formation processes, and subsistence strategies for different occupation events are described and discussed. At least three events of pre-Hispanic occupation (two in the Middle Holocene [6800 and 4150 14C years BP] and one in the Late Holocene) and one in Historical moments were identified. Human occupations are developed in relation to a shallow lake under a climate more arid during the Middle Holocene, which decreased up to the current environmental conditions; humid temperate. The camelid Lama guanicoe (guanaco) was always the most important economic resource during the three events of human occupation in the Holocene, followed by Ozotoceros bezoarticus (pampean deer) and, to a lesser extent, by three species of small armadillos ( Chaetophractus sp., Zaedyus pichiy , and Tolypeutes matacus ). In Historical times, modern domestic faunal remains ( Equus caballus and Bos taurus ) were exploited. A subsistence strategy focused on artiodactyls, mainly guanaco, allows suggesting certain specialization through time in the exploitation of animal resources by hunter-gatherer groups in the center of the Pampa grasslands, strategy that contrasts with what is recorded in other areas of the Pampean region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses provisioning strategies of lithic raw materials at Maripe Cave site (province of Santa Cruz, Argentina). The archaeological sequence represents different moments of human occupation at the cave and in the study area, which show different lithic technologies. The morpho-typological analysis of the lithic cores recovered contributes to our knowledge about the strategies related to procurement and provisioning of the lithic raw materials used for artifacts production. We identified different raw materials from the analyses of lithic cores and other artifacts from the site. This allowed analyzing trends in selection and provisioning processes and interpreting the mobility strategies of the groups that inhabited the Deseado Massif since the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Trends suggest that, during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition and early Holocene, abandoned cores from Maripe Cave mainly indicate people provisioning strategies. During middle Holocene, the cores shows blades extractions and raw material use from long distance, discarded with remaining potential utility. Finally, at late Holocene the cores were mainly prepared for blade extractions. Our results do not fully agree with Kuhn's proposal, probably due to both the theoretical polarization between the provisioning strategies and the palimpsest effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithic resources at the Central Plateau of Santa Cruz (Argentina) are abundant, ubiquitous and of very good quality for knapping. They have been exploited by hunter–gatherer societies since the latest Pleistocene until the Late Holocene. The study of their distribution, availability, and ways of exploitation at the quarries, together with the information stemming from the archaeological sites, enable the understanding of the first stages of tool production and consumption. In this paper, two quarries from La María Archaeological Locality (Cantera de Sílex de CDM and Cantera Bosque Petrificado) are studied and compared. Their geomorphologic location is described. The lithological characteristics of the outcrops, the size of the stones, and the variability of raw materials available at them are also addressed. The accessibility and visibility of the quarries are analyzed. The way raw materials were exploited at the sources is evaluated taking into consideration their relationship with the local and regional structure of lithic resources. The information generated for the quarries is complemented and compared with the local trends identified for the habitation sites. This enabled the formulation of a general model about the first stages of production. Although the quarries have different types of raw materials (flint and silicified wood), results show that similar technological strategies were implemented in them. These are in agreement with the general trend at the local and regional levels. Both sources are easily accessible from the surrounding landscape. They are visible from nearby areas. Probably, they were exploited mainly from nearby sites. At the quarries, the first stages of tool production were performed: core decortication and preparation and the production of blanks. The acquisition of raw material involved the selection of good quality nodules and boulders and the production of polyhedral cores knapped in multiple directions. These cores could be transported to the habitation sites or could be discarded in situ while still presenting active platforms. On the other hand, differences in some procurement practices might be related to decisions and variations linked to the particular characteristics of the resources in both outcrops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes and discusses the main results achieved over three decades of research on paleodemographic aspects of Late Holocene hunter-gatherers in Northwestern Santa Cruz (Argentina). Research has been guided by a model of regional settlement that proposes that, as a result of the progressive aridization process recorded in Patagonia during the Late Holocene, human groups would have reduced their residential mobility and concentrated their settlements in low altitude basins with water availability, such as Lake Cardiel and Lake Salitroso. Paleodemographic questions derived from the model relate to population regional continuity and dynamics and were tested using several lines of research at regional and local scales. The assessment of the chronological information and temporal trends of the archaeological record at the regional level allowed for a coarse grain paleodemographic approach, and acted as a mean to support hypotheses related to changes in mobility and land use strategies. Building on this, several lines of bioarchaeological evidence were used to address paleodemographic aspects of the model, including temporal, distributional, and compositional studies of the mortuary record, isotopic, morphometric and DNA analyses and the sex and age structure of the skeletal samples recovered in Lake Salitroso basin. Results point to a biological and cultural population continuity in the region during the Late Holocene. Also, a reduction in residential mobility would have favored a slight population growth of Lake Salitroso populations during the last millennium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]