Behavioural Adaptations to a Novel Environment: Phytolith Analysis of an Early Holocene Rock Shelter in the Sri Lankan Dry Zone

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Seadin Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Early Holocene ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Rock Shelter ◽  
Novel Environment ◽  
Phytolith Analysis ◽  
Dry Zone ◽  
Behavioural Adaptations

Beads, pigments and early Holocene ornamental traditions at Bushman Rock Shelter, South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 635-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laure Dayet ◽  
Rudolph Erasmus ◽  
Aurore Val ◽  
Léa Feyfant ◽  
Guillaume Porraz
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Rock Shelter

Coprolites from Rock Shelters: Hunter-Gatherers “Herding” Barbary Sheep in the Early Holocene Sahara

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocco Rotunno ◽  
Anna Maria Mercuri ◽  
Assunta Florenzano ◽  
Andrea Zerboni ◽  
Savino di Lernia
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Differentiation ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Arid Environments ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Rock Shelter ◽  
Barbary Sheep ◽  
Subsistence Economies ◽  
Multidisciplinary Analysis ◽  
Pastoral Neolithic ◽  
Rock Shelters

Abstract Archaeological deposits in rock shelters have enormous informative potential, particularly in arid environments where organic materials are well preserved. In these areas, sub-fossilized coprolites and dung remains have been identified as valuable proxies for inferences about past environments, subsistence economies and cultural trajectories. Here we present a multidisciplinary analysis of bovid (ovicaprine) coprolites collected from the Early Holocene hunter-gatherer occupation at Takarkori rock shelter (SW Libya, central Sahara). Our results show that Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia) were managed as early as ~9500 years cal BP, mostly with the rearing of juveniles. Palynological analysis of individual pellets suggests a seasonal confinement of the animals and the selection of fodder. GIS analysis of coprolite distribution also indicates sophisticated strategies of Barbary sheep “herding” and spatial differentiation of specialized areas within the rock shelter, including the construction and use of a stone-based enclosure for corralling animals. These highly structured and organized forms of control over wild animals are interpreted as a potential co-evolutionary trigger for the subsequent rapid adoption and integration of the incoming pastoral Neolithic economy.

Coastal palaeoenvironments and hunter-gatherer plant-use at Waterfall Bluff rock shelter in Mpondoland (South Africa) from MIS 3 to the Early Holocene

2020 ◽  
Vol 250 ◽  
pp. 106664
Author(s):  
Irene Esteban ◽  
Marion K. Bamford ◽  
Alisoun House ◽  
Charlotte S. Miller ◽  
Frank H. Neumann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Rock Shelter ◽  
Plant Use ◽  
Mis 3

Early Holocene Occupations at Ashash Rock Shelter (Zemmur, Western Sahara)

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-103
Author(s):  
Ferran Borrell ◽  
Gabriel Alcalde ◽  
Ignacio Clemente ◽  
Maria Saña ◽  
Joaquim Soler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Holocene ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Rock Shelter ◽  
Western Sahara ◽  
First Time

AbstractThe archaeological record of the Western Sahara remains extremely fragmentary, with very few sites systematically excavated. The excavation at Ashash rock shelter (Zemmur region) has provided, for the first time in the region, the evidence of superimposition of two prehistoric occupations that have been radiocarbon dated to the early 9th millennium cal.BPand to the mid-7th millennium cal.BP. The Epipalaeolithic occupation is strongly marked by the standardised production of geometric microliths and points using a microburin blow technique. The Neolithic occupation of the site has yielded a few potsherds that provide the first unambiguous evidence of pottery in the Zemmur area in the mid-7th millennium cal.BP.

scholarly journals Techniques for Processing Lithic Material during Epipalaeolithic in the Eastern Elbrus Region (On Materials of the Naves Badynoko Site)

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 112-131
Author(s):  
Maxim V. Seletskiy ◽  
Svetlana V. Shnaider ◽  
Alexander Yu. Fedorchenko
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Northern Caucasus ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
Rock Shelter ◽  
Experimental Modelling ◽  
The Common ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Important Evidence

Purpose. The rock shelter Badynoko site is one of the key archaeological sites of the Eastern Elbrus region, which contains stratified archaeological complexes of the Final Pleistocene and Early Holocene. Stone industries at this site are the most important evidence for studying the cultural dynamics, economic and technological transformations that took place during the Epipalaeolithic time in Northern Caucasus. We aimed at conducting technological analysis of the Badynoko’s archaeological complexes using experimental data on knapping flint and obsidian raw materials. To achieve this goal, we analyzed available information on morphometric criteria to identify knapping techniques. Our research interests included experimental modelling of the main methods which were used at the rock shelter Badynoko site for producing obsidian lamellar blanks; we also identified knapping techniques for producing blanks from other lithic materials. Results. We described the main strategies used in processing lithic materials which existed during the Final Pleistocene and Early Holocene periods at the rock shelter Badynoko site. Identified are basic techniques applied in the fracture zone and methods for producing lamellar blanks of several types, namely microblades, bladelets, and blades. The common feature of all the assemblages is that primary flaking was meant to obtain bladelets and microblades from volumetric cores mainly by unidirectional knapping. The technological and morphological study of each type of the blanks has allowed us to link the production of these items with different stages of utilizing cores and determine knapping techniques used, such as direct hitting with a soft mineral chipper tool and pressure. Conclusion. Based on our technological reconstructions, we provide a more detailed description of the evolution of strategies and knapping techniques used to process lithic materials during various stages at the rock shelter Badynoko site.

scholarly journals Agricultural adaptation to drought in the Sri Lankan dry zone

2016 ◽  
Vol 77 ◽  
pp. 92-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily K. Burchfield ◽  
Jonathan Gilligan
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Agricultural Adaptation ◽  
Dry Zone ◽  
Adaptation To Drought

Investigating mobility and highland occupation strategies during the Early Holocene at the Cuncaicha rock shelter through strontium and oxygen isotopes

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 811-827 ◽  
Author(s):  
Döbereiner Chala-Aldana ◽  
Hervé Bocherens ◽  
Christopher Miller ◽  
Katherine Moore ◽  
Gregory Hodgins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Isotopes ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Rock Shelter

scholarly journals Water Harvesting and Water Management: A Discussion of the Implications of Scale in Artificial Irrigation: the Sri Lankan Example

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-96
Author(s):  
Eva Myrdal
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Water Harvesting ◽  
State Control ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Dry Zone

The pre-colonial, large-scale, irrigation systems of the dry zone of Sri Lanka have been used as examples of large-scale undertakings with given social consequences of centralisation and state control. A close reading of a given cultura! landscape and a focus on chronology give possibilities for an alternative approach, one in which artificial irrigation does not have an independent role. The starting point for the discussion is the archaeologically comparatively well-explored uplands of the capital city Sigiriya, which dates to the 5th century AD.

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