Schöningen locality is a significant complex for understanding hominin behaviour and their adaptation to the changing environment during the Lower Palaeolithic in Central Europe. Schöningen 13II-1 ...Show moreSchöningen locality is a significant complex for understanding hominin behaviour and their adaptation to the changing environment during the Lower Palaeolithic in Central Europe. Schöningen 13II-1 (site 13, channel II, level 1) was the first and oldest sedimentary cycle of Schöningen 13II from the bottom, dating to MIS 9 interglacial at around 300 ka. The climate at Schöningen 13II-1 was reconstructed to be the warmest compared to the climate of other layers at Schöningen 13II. The landscape of Schöningen 13II-1 was featured with forested and regularly flooded marsh. The preservation of faunal assemblages as well as lithics provides a good opportunity to conduct taphonomic and spatial analysis to reconstruct the depositional and post-depositional processes of Schöningen 13II-1. The taphonomic analysis of large mammal remains has revealed that both hominins and carnivores were involved in the accumulation and modification of faunal deposits which were evidenced by the percussion marks and carnivore gnawing marks, fragmentation pattern, as well as the skeletal presentations. The coexistence of hominins and carnivores was also documented in fragments with percussion and carnivore gnawing marks on the surface. However, the absence of overlap between these marks made it challenging to determine which group initially accessed the carcasses. The total absence of hominin cut marks and less frequent carnivore-induced modifications might be the results of abiotic agents that engaged in the taphonomic processes of altering bone surfaces, which were consistent with the varying degrees of weathering and abrasion of bones. For the results of spatial analysis, the fauna remains were distributed in a clustered pattern, which could be the results of where the fauna died naturally, such as rhinoceros bones. Additionally, the influence of hominin activities and carnivores carrying carcasses away first and consuming them cannot be ruled out. The patterns of orientation and vertical distribution indicate that different parts of Schöningen 13II-1 might have been affected by post-depositional processes to various extents which could be the bioturbation, and abiotic agents such as water movement from flooding and glacial erosion. Due to the post-depositional processes, it was hard to differentiate each accumulation event by hominins and other predators that happened at Schöningen 13II-1. However, regarding vertical distribution, the accumulations of faunal remains and lithics were mainly concentrated in the upper sublayers of Schöningen 13II-1. This could be interpreted as the outcome of spatial palimpsest formed over an unknown time scale. Within this context, various independent events involving biotic or abiotic agents happened at Schöningen 13II-1, depositing atop one another in a sequence that might have been disturbed by post-depositional processes. Despite the impact of post-depositional factors that might obscure the original spatial and taphonomic information of the accumulations, it is plausible to conclude that hominins were already well adapted to the interglacial environments by consciously taking advantage of forested lakeland with rich resources and less competition with other predators, to exploit botanic and faunal resources during the Middle Pleistocene in Central Europe.Show less
Neanderthal behaviour has formed a popular and debated field of research over the past decades. Within this debate the extent to which Neanderthals show symbolic behaviour, comparable to that of...Show moreNeanderthal behaviour has formed a popular and debated field of research over the past decades. Within this debate the extent to which Neanderthals show symbolic behaviour, comparable to that of the Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH), has been an important subject. Artefacts associated with symbolic behaviour have been found within the Châtelperronian layer (authored by Neanderthals) at Grotte du Renne (France). However, the validity to interpret these as indicative of symbolic behaviour amongst Neanderthals is debated: post depositional processes are believed to have transported these artefacts from the superior Protoaurignacien layer (authored by AMH) into that of the Châtelperronian, and could also have transported Neanderthal skeletal remains from the underlying Mousterian layer. As the integrity of the Châtelperronian is generally challenged, and as at the site of Les Cottés, France, a Protoaurignacien, Châtelperronian and Mousterian layer are present, this thesis reconstructs what site formation processes might have taken place at Les Cottés, and how these site formation processes may have influenced the degree of integrity of the Châtelperronian layer. This is done by performing a fabric analysis on the Châtelperronian layer of Les Cottés. Within this analysis, the orientations of all elongated artefacts are used as indicators of the site formation processes that took place. Patterning within the orientations are used to distinguish between different types of site formation processes.Show less
