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This contribution synthesizes archaeological studies of human economies from the Barrow–Montebello islands and uses the area's archaeological record to determine the effects of Late Pleistocene and early Holocene sea-level rise on regional coastlines. At the height of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), Australia's north-western coast extended much further west than the present-day shoreline. During subsequent sea-level rise, the gently prograding continental shelf was inundated, and with it, nearly all archaeological evidence for coastal occupation. The Barrow and Montebello Islands are one of the few exceptions, as they corresponded to inland hinterland ranges during the LGM, with the coastline lying some 50 km to their west. Evidence from all late Pleistocene and Holocene occupation phases of the Barrow–Montebello Islands demonstrate that foragers continued to visit the coast and engage in the exploitation of both terrestrial and marine environments. During the late Pleistocene, when the shoreline was 10–15 km away, coastal exploitation is seen through the presence of transportable estuarine and rocky-shore gastropods. By the early Holocene, when sea-levels were within close proximity of the sites, there is a marked increase in marine fauna including reef fish, estuarine and reef shellfish, crustaceans and estuarine crocodile. Together, this suggests that the nearby muddy, procumbent coastlines were productive, as well as an important component of coastal and hinterland economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper will focus on the ecology of the first Anatomically Modern Humans in SW Iberia based on the rock shelter of Vale Boi (Algarve, Portugal), a site with a long stratigraphic record starting with Late Middle Paleolithic followed by early Gravettian, Proto-Solutrean, Solutrean, and Magdalenian. Early Gravettian remains are present in various areas and different levels of the site, and are dated to c. 32 ka cal BP, corresponding to the earliest modern human occupation in SW Iberia. These communities most likely came from the Iberian Mediterranean coast as bone technology and body ornaments seem to confirm. The Gravettian of Vale Boi provides clear evidence of an intensification and diversification of dietary resources from very early, including the use of grease-rendering. Here, reconstruction of the Gravettian human ecology at Vale Boi is based on the diversity of human occupations, focusing mostly on diachronic changes in the patterns of resources acquisition and land-use, but also on subsistence, technological, social and symbolic elements. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The coastal site of Vale Boi is unique in southern Portugal for its well-preserved and lengthy Upper Paleolithic cultural record. The archaeological context of Vale Boi suggests that the site was treated as a seasonal residential camp. Long-term exploitation of marine resources is indicated by marine shellfish remains and tentative evidence of fishing. High-level exploitation of rabbits (Oryctolagus) began with the initial use of Vale Boi (c. 28,000 BP) and continued throughout the duration of site occupation. Intensive grease-rendering of ungulate bones is demonstrated by the presence of impact features, reduced presence of skeletal portions associated with increased quantities of bone grease and a significant correlation between the fragmentation of red deer (Cervus elaphus) remains and the quantities of marrow and bone grease within these portions. Although grease rendering at Vale Boi pre-dates other known sites in Eurasia by several thousand years, faunal assemblages in Mediterranean Spain suggest that resource diversification connected with intensification may have appeared there coevally with Vale Boi. The application of models of diet breadth and patch-choice suggests that southern Iberia may not have had the large and medium game to easily support human consumer demand. Instead, foragers may have had to turn to novel approaches of resource harvesting to maintain their needs. This set of circumstances may have arisen from a patchy landscape, where resources were either spatially and/or seasonally restricted. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Archaeological deposits from Boodie Cave on Barrow Island, northwest Australia, reveal some of the oldest evidence for Aboriginal occupation of Australia, as well as illustrating the early use of marine resources by modern peoples outside of Africa. Barrow Island is a large (202 km 2 ) limestone continental island located on the North-West Shelf of Australia, optimally located to sample past use of both the Pleistocene coastline and extensive arid coastal plains. An interdisciplinary team forming the Barrow Island Archaeology Project (BIAP) has addressed questions focusing on the antiquity of occupation of coastal deserts by hunter-gatherers; the use and distribution of marine resources from the coast to the interior; and the productivity of the marine zone with changing sea levels. Boodie Cave is the largest of 20 stratified deposits identified on Barrow Island with 20 m 3 of cultural deposits excavated between 2013 and 2015. In this first major synthesis we focus on the dating and sedimentology of Boodie Cave to establish the framework for ongoing analysis of cultural materials. We present new data on these cultural assemblages – including charcoal, faunal remains and lithics – integrated with micromorphology, sedimentary history and dating by four independent laboratories. First occupation occurs between 51.1 and 46.2 ka, overlapping with the earliest dates for occupation of Australia. Marine resources are incorporated into dietary assemblages by 42.5 ka and continue to be transported to the cave through all periods of occupation, despite fluctuating sea levels and dramatic extensions of the coastal plain. The changing quantities of marine fauna through time reflect the varying distance of the cave from the contemporaneous shoreline. The dietary breadth of both arid zone terrestrial fauna and marine species increases after the Last Glacial Maximum and significantly so by the mid-Holocene. The cave is abandoned by 6.8 ka when the island becomes increasingly distant from the mainland coast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are few archaeological sites that contain records for Pleistocene coastal occupation in Australia, as is the case globally. Two major viewpoints seek to explain why so few sites exist. The first is that the Pleistocene coast was a relatively marginal environment where fluctuating sea levels actively inhibited coastal resource productivity until the mid-to-late Holocene. The second position suggests that the Pleistocene coast (and its resources) was variably productive, potentially hosting extensive populations, but that the archaeological evidence for this occupation has been submerged by sea level rise. To help reconcile these perspectives in Australia, this paper provides a review, discussion, and assessment of the evidence for Australian Pleistocene coastal productivity and occupation. In doing so, we find no reason to categorically assume that coastal landscapes were ever unproductive or unoccupied. We demonstrate that the majority of Pleistocene coastal archaeology will be drowned where dense marine faunal assemblages should only be expected close to palaeo-shorelines. Mixed terrestrial and marine assemblages are likely to occur at sites located >2 km from Pleistocene shorelines. Ultimately, the discussions and arguments put forward in this paper provide a basic framework, and a different set of environmental expectations, within which to assess the results of independent coastal research. • Addresses Pleistocene coastal occupation and productivity in Australia. • Australian Pleistocene coasts were likely widely occupied and variably productive. • A basic framework within which to assess coastal occupation patterns is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present Bayesian modelling on a long sequence of radiocarbon ages from the archaeological site of Nawarla Gabarnmang, central Arnhem Land plateau, northern Australia. A horizon of wind-borne sediments containing flaked stone artefacts and charcoal commencing >45,610 cal BP (the young end of the modelled boundary age range, which extends beyond the limit of the calibration curve), with a median modelled age of 48,500 cal BP, signals the onset of aeolian mobilisation of fine sands and silts across the landscape, and re-deposition within the site at a time synchronous with the first evidence of people. This earliest cultural horizon (Stratigraphic Unit 4) contains 509 stone artefacts, and is marked by a contemporaneous sedimentary break, from underlying culturally sterile sediments consisting of disintegrating roof-fall and in situ sandstone and quartzite to overlying culturally-rich wind-blown sand. The new radiocarbon ages and wind-blown sediments together provide evidence for the commencement of noticeable landscape burning on the Arnhem Land plateau c. 48,500 cal BP, suggesting an intensification of landscape management practices at the summit of the Arnhem Land plateau some 10,000–15,000 years after the lowest dense band of artefacts (Phase 2) at Madjedbebe on the floodplains 90 km to the north. These results have ramifications for the structure and timing of the spread of people across Australia, and the extinction of megafauna in Sahul. • Radiocarbon ages spanning the past c. 48,500 years of human occupation are presented for Nawarla Gabarnmang, north Australia. • Earliest flaked stone artefacts and in situ charcoal appear in tandem. • The first stone artefacts and charcoal appear within the site with the onset of aeolian sediments. • The earliest artefacts, in situ charcoal and aeolian sediments overlie soft sediments originating from roof-fall. • The onset of aeolian sediments with artefacts and charcoal in the site suggest anthropic landscape modifications 45,610–52,160 years ago. • These results suggest permanent occupation of the rugged Arnhem Land plateau > 10,000 years after the northern floodplains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Before the 90s, data on Paleolithic human occupation of southern Portugal was very scarce. During the last decade, the knowledge of the Upper Paleolithic of Algarve increased substantially due to the work of a research team based at the University of Algarve. The present paper is a report on the recent results from Algarve, focusing specially on the site of Vale Boi. It will present the chronology and stratigraphy of different human occupations from the early Upper Paleolithic up to the early Neolithic. It will focus on aspects of zooarchaeology and the exploitation of large and medium mammals as well as on marine fauna. In addition, we will present new data on stone and bone tools. Finally, we will also refer to the social and symbolic aspects present at the site, base on shell and teeth pendants and to an engraved plaquette with animal motifs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]