Benfer Albuerque hearths

Quaternary …, 2010

Most researchers agree about the importance of the fire during the Pleistocene. The controlled use of fire could allow advances in the ways of life, not only for its value as a constant source of light and heat, but also because it contributed to the processing of food, to warding off the carnivores, and especially, to human socialization, as fire can be understood as a focus of concentration of activities and structuring of inhabited space. Apart from the many utilities that the hearths may have had during the Pleistocene, this research does not allow specification of the chronological and geographical context of the first controlled use of fire. From this perspective, the present study contributes to this discussion with the data from Bolomor Cave (Valencia, Spain). This site contains a sedimentary deposit composed of seventeen stratigraphical levels ranging from MIS 9 to MIS 5e (c. 350e100 ky). The stratigraphical series presents clear evidence of the controlled and reiterative use of fire. The used analytic techniques have confirmed the presence of hearths at levels II, IV, XI and XIII of the site. This paper discusses the hearths from level XIII, chronologically located in MIS 7c with an amino-acid racemization (AAR) date of 228 AE 53 ky. These combustion structures are the most ancient known today not only at Bolomor Cave and in Spain, but also in Southern Europe. From this perspective, the aim of this study is to make known the hearths from Level XIII of Bolomor Cave and to provide data that contribute to the general debate about the presence, knowledge and use of fire in the European Middle Pleistocene.

2015

The use of fire technology in prehistoric societies is very well known. However, research is still being carried out into its production and control during the middle Paleolithic period. The study of hearths has illustrated the social aspects of human groups through studies of their typology and morphology, the study of the combustible materials and the spatial distribution of remains. In the latter case it is important to differentiate that which has occurred naturally or as a result of human activity. Another factor which must also be considered is the influence of the location of the materials used to make the fire, as well as the temperatures. In this paper we present a comparative study of experimental fire places with archaeological examples from the El Cañaveral middle Paleolithic site. This study analyzes the relationship between temperature, location inside the fireplace, and the spatial distribution of heated elements in order to consider the "fire spatial displacemen...

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2014

Significance Recent archaeological discoveries on the south coast of Peru demonstrate that Paracas period peoples constructed a complex set of geoglyphs to mark ceremonial mounds and residential sites. Paracas societies in this region created a built or artificial landscape in an open desert to mediate periodic social events. Several of these architectural features were oriented to the sunset during the winter solstice. These data provide insight into the ways by which people in stateless societies organized their social, economic, and political life. Social units, labor, and astronomically significant periods mesh, attracting participants to cyclical events in the midvalley zone. This case study refines our understanding of the processes of human social evolution prior to the development of archaic states.

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2019

During the course of the excavations of the San Quirce open-air archaeological site in Spain, an unusual negative structure was identified in the Holocene level dated ca. sixth millennium cal BC. A fire pit alongside a single post-hole and intense fire-burning activity was recorded. Yet, the most striking feature of the structure is the absence of any artifactual or faunal record associated to it, something without a known archaeological parallel. Its interpretation represents an archaeological challenge addressed through a multidisciplinary approach including geoarchaeological, paleobotanical techniques and experimental archaeology. Fifteen stratigraphically distinguishable combustion events showing a diachronic fire record, the significant structure's dimensions and particularly the post-hole, indicate its anthropic origin. Archaeomagnetic and micromorphological data allowed reconstructing and temporally sequencing some formation and post-depositional processes, some involving water flows. Maximum heating temperatures between 480 and 525°C were determined in one of the combustion features studied. The identification of grassy tufts would suggest a seasonal settlement of the site. We cannot yield a definite explanation for the artifactual absence, but the available data and an experimental archaeology recreation suggest that the structure could be used as a small hut/open-air bivouac, over which short-lived occupations were repeatedly carried out. Keywords Open-air camp. Sixth millennium cal BC. Start of Neolithic. Combustion structures. Duero River basin Highlights • This paper analyzes the Holocene level dated ca. Sixth millennium cal BC. • A fire pit alongside a single post-hole and intense fire-burning activity was recorded. • The most striking feature of the structure is the absence of any artifactual or faunal record. • Its interpretation represents an archaeological challenge addressed through a multidisciplinary approach. • The available data and an experimental archaeology recreation suggest that the structure could be used as a small hut/open-air bivouac.

Multiple imagery is now available for two giant platform mounds from a four thousand year old Late Preceramic Chillón coastal valley site of Perú (Figure 1). The site of El Paraíso has been studied by a number of archaeologists including Patterson and more recently, Marco Antonio Guillén has excavated at the site. Elsewhere we have presented (Benfer and Adkins 2008) but not published some astronomical alignments from the major temple. The imagery we discuss here includes drawings and photographs of carved bone figures, plane table maps, a Total Station map, a kite wire frame map, legacy aerial photos, Google Earth satellite maps, and planetarium maps. Taken together with on the ground “truthing,” ethnography, and ethnohistory, the imagery permits identification of the mounds as giant animal effigies based on dark cloud constellations in the Milky Way (Benfer 2011m 2013; Benfer et al. 2011; Benfer et al. 2014). These constellations were first brought to the attention of archaeologists by Leo Pucher de Kroll in 1950 in a now unavailable publication but cited in Villena (2008). Gary Urton brought their identity in modern Andean peoples to the attention of archaeology with his ethnographic studies and reviews of earlier ethnographic identifications (1981b:109). Eeckhout (1998) and Itier (1997) showed the widespread distribution of the myth of the fox across South America. The Fox Constellation is embedded in its dark cloud constellation in the Milky Way. We showed that the Fox Constellation was linked to the December solstice sunrise at the site of Buena Vista (Benfer and Adkins(2008), and we associate animal effigy mounds as earthly representations of dark cloud constellations. We have discussed a number of possible giant animal effigy mounds in detail elsewhere (Benfer 2011, 2013; Benfer et al. 2011; Benfer et al. 2014)

The study presents a synthesis of research that analyses air power and operational effectiveness in the second Gulf War and the Russia-Ukrain wars. The paper identified factors that were used to compare the utilisation of air power in both wars, especially by the coalition of air forces in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM and counter-offensive strategies utilised by the Ukrainian Air Force (UkrAF) to destroy the modern air assets of the Russian Air Force (RuAF). The methodology used is qualitative, utilizing a literature review approach. Researchers investigated and discussed formulating journal articles and online books. This study will employ comparative analysis as its technique for analyzing data. The collected data will be analyzed by comparing the operational effectiveness of air power during the Russia-Ukraine War and the Second Gulf War. The results find include psychological operation, aerial combat engagement, financial cost implications, the employment of ISR, and combat employment of hypersonic weapons. The authors introduce a new terminology in air power/public diplomacy known as 'aggressor burden', which denotes a need in the use of air power to seek alliances or acceptance from the international community for mission effectiveness. The paper also posits that joint coordination could enhance operational effectiveness. Air power planners/operators are encouraged to consider these in their application of air power. This study concluded that air power application provides a better opportunity for effective operations using management functions.