Abstracts / Quaternary International 279-280 (2012) 346–461 387

Archival documents have been used to reconstruct the hydroclimatic HUMANS, OXYGEN ISOTOPES AND THE DANSGAARD-OESCHGER
variability occurring in the high basin of the Bermejo River (Argentina- EVENTS AT THE KOSTENKI SITE CLUSTER (RUSSIAN PLAIN) BETWEEN
Bolivia) during the last centuries as well as its effects on the droughts, 50-20KYA
floods and swellings in the middle basin.
Administrative documents from the Hispanic-American colonial and Alexander Pryor. University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
republican periods have provided useful information to reconstruct the E-mail address: [email protected]
climate and the hydrology of the region. Documents from the Archivo
General de Indias in Seville, Archivo Nacional de Bolivia, and Archivo
General de la Nación(Argentina) have been used to identify extreme The initial colonisation of Europe by anatomically modern humans 50-
events in the high and middle-basin of the Rio Bermejo from the 17 th 20kya took place during a period of rapid, large-magnitude climatic
century to the first decades of the 20 th century. Old maps of the region oscillations known as the Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) cycles. Twelve such
were also used. oscillations took place between 50-20kya, which have been associated
The archival documents show abrupt hydrological changes in response with large fluctuations in mean annual temperature in the Greenland ice
to the climatic fluctuations in the headwaters region. More than 20 cores and periodic cooling to levels similar to those experienced during the
distinct floods, low water periods and droughts have been identified coldest part of the last glacial cycle c.20kya. How these oscillations
between 1800 and 2000. There is also historical evidence suggesting impacted in continental European climates is less certain, however, which
that flood events have increased in frequency and intensity during the has hampered our understanding of how these rapid climate changes
last century. affected the early human occupation of the area. The cluster of Upper
Analyses of instrumental records from the 20th century show con- Palaeolithic occupation sites in the vicinity of the Kostenki-Borshchevo
trasting trends in discharge from rivers located north and south of the villages (NW Russian Plain, c.500km south of Moscow) comprises
South American “Arid Diagonal”. During the 20th century streamflow approximately 50 occupation assemblages dated throughout the period
for basins north of the “Arid Diagonal” have increased whereas those to 50,000-20,000 years ago, and includes some of the earliest evidence for
the south of it have decreased. In this case, the positive trend from the human occupation in Europe. This long time depth therefore provides an
Bermejo River contrasts with the negative trend and the increased opportunity to assess the impact of the D-O events on humans at a single
variability of the hydrological cycle of the Mendoza River in the Central geographic location, throughout a considerable period of time.
Andes. We report the results of a climatic investigation using oxygen isotope
To corroborate the differences between both north and south river analysis of faunal teeth remains (woolly mammoth, horse and fox species),
streamflows, the historical reconstruction of the Mendoza River stream- which uses the isotopic signal to correlate eight Kostenki assemblages to
flow from 18th century (Neukom et al 2009) was correlated with the the Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles, as reflected in the Greenland ice core d18O
reconstruction of the Bermejo River streamflow. According to the results, it record. The investigated assemblages include two levels from below the
is possible to speculate that, due to warming, the contribution of the Campagnian Ignimbrite tephra layer (c.39.4kya), and the famous assem-
Atlantic moisture over the continent has increased at subtropical latitudes blage from KI-1 typical for the ‘Kostenki-Avdeevo’ cultural tradition. The
during the 20 th century, whereas the Pacific input has decreased at isotopic results are presented alongside existing climatic evidence for the
middle and high latitudes. occupation assemblages, and the implications of the results for the history
of occupation in the Kostenki region are discussed.
PROVENANCE DISCRIMINATION AND SEDIMENT DISPERSAL IN
A MACROTIDAL REGIME, GULF OF KACHCHH, WESTERN INDIA: MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC FIRING STRATEGIES AND EXCEPTIONAL
IMPLICATIONS IN SOURCE TO SINK STUDIES THERMAL BLAST DURING OIS5 AT ABRI DU MARAS (ARDÈCHE, FRANCE)

Siddharth Prizomwala. Department of Geology, The M. S. University of Bar, Simon Puaud. UMR 7194 CNRS-MNHN, France
India E-mail address: [email protected]
E-mail address: [email protected]

The understanding of sediment dispersal system in a macrotidal regime is Stratified archaeological sequences in rock-shelters are of great potential
a complex phenomenon. Source to sink studies emphasises the role of for studying the links between exceptional events and past human
different end members in the region contributing to the ‘ultimate sink’, behaviour. This objective is illustrated by the site of Abri du Maras, near the
and hence we employed several conventional as well as modern tech- Rhône Valley, south-east of France. The sequence displays two major
niques to identify the signatures of all possible end members contributing Middle Palaeolithic occupation dated to the end of MIS 5 (level 5) and to
to this macrotidal regime – the Gulf of Kachchh. Geomorphic assemblages the early MIS 4 (level < 4) based on U-Th series on bones. The sandy-silt
and granulometric analysis used to classify the entire coastline into four sediment with limestone clasts in layer 5 indicates active disaggregation of
major segments namely, (1) Straight sandy segment, (2) Transition zone the shelter wall. Calcitic pendents, weak carbonate corrosion, calcitic
segment, (3) Mudflat bearing inner gulf segment and (4) Narrow sand/ coatings and the dark brown excremental fine mass express a marked
mudflat and rocky cliff bearing coastal segment. The techniques employed seasonal contrast allowing the development of forest soils. Carbonaceous
for provenance discrimination study include grain size analysis, heavy particles, including black vitrous carbon, polymer fibres and rare charcoal,
mineral assemblages, environmental magnetism parameters, concentra- together with baked soil aggregates and heated clasts are identified within
tion of major oxides and clay mineralogy. The results elucidate three major distinctive sub-layers. These are typical signatures of hot debris-fall
end members which contribute to the Gulf of Kachchh regime, namely 1) possibly tracing cosmic airblast of Tunguska type. These exceptional
River Indus, 2) Kachchh mainland and 3) Saurashtra peninsula. The con- events would have occasionally devastated the forest cover. The high
trasting lithology in their catchment, high degree of variations in their concentration of the unusual components in the combustion structures
climatic regimes, relief, the shape and bathymetry of the Gulf of Kachchh might reveal collection of the blasted wood as fuel by the Middle Paleo-
are the major factors influencing this contrasting mineralogical signatures lithic occupants at the end of MIS 5. Layer 4 displays well sorted, massive
found along the Gulf of Kachchh coast. The results reveal that the mouth of silty sands, typical of aeolian accumulation with minimal clast production.
northern coast of Gulf of Kachchh has a dominant Kachchh mainland The range of biogenic calcitic features and the excremental assemblage
provenance signature, which is taken over by the River Indus in the inner expresses development of an herbaceous vegetation with a dense root
Gulf of Kachchh coast, whereas the southern coast has a strong signature of network. The lack of frost-induced and runoff features indicates mild
Saurashtra peninsula. However, the dominance in provenance is strongly climate conditions. Unusual carbonaceous components and heated clasts
grain size dependent as the coarse fraction (>63 micron) has hinterland similar to the ones of layer 5 occur as erratic rounded grains. Rare
signatures and the finer fraction (<63 micron) has either River Indus concentration of fine charcoal with bone and flints indicates the occasional
dominant or mixed signatures. Also we attempt to evaluate the application combustion of wood. The different firing strategies between layers 4 and 5
and advantages of conventional and modern sediment tracing techniques are suggested to express human adaptation to distinctive availability of
in a multi source setting. fuel resources under contrasting conditions.