Exploring Eemian Interglacial Landscapes. Taphonomy and site formation processes at the region of Neumark-Nord (Sachsen-Anhalt, Northern Germany)
Final Report Abstract
The last interglacial (Eemian, MIS 5e, approx. 125,000 years BP) lake-land at Neumark-Nord (Saxony-Anhalt) offers a rare opportunity to study Neanderthal behaviour during interglacials on the Northern European Plain. Understanding the adaptation of Neanderthals in respect to interglacial environments will contribute to a better evaluation of the evolution of the behavioural repertoire or the “behavioural plasticity” during the Pleistocene. Multidisciplinary studies of the large basin Neumark-Nord 1 (NN1) and the flanking small pond Neumark-Nord 2 (NN2) revealed contemporaneous high-resolution environmental archives, in which the archaeological record is placed in a narrow time frame and distinct spatial context. The funded project focussed on zooarchaeological and taphonomical analyses of faunal assemblages from NN1 and NN2 (find horizon NN2/2). Both assemblages were deposited during the Corylus-phase in the vegetation succession of the Eemian, but they are completely different in nature. At NN1 we analysed a minimum number of 224 complete deer skeleton scattered within the basin. In contrast find horizon NN2/2 is a highly fragmented faunal assemblage deposited along the margin of the small pond NN2. For NN1 we can demonstrate that Neanderthals played a role in the formation of the deer skeleton assemblage. In contrast to previous interpretation, the deer skeleton must have been deposited under dry conditions for a certain amount of time, before they became embedded in a waterlogged deposit. Neanderthal had access to the skeletons as we could find presence of cut marks on individual bones and entire skeletons. In addition, we found evidence of potential hunting lesions on the bones. This evidence is currently under further examination. At NN2/2 more than 100,000 fragmentised bones, from more than 160 individuals, mostly horses, large Bovids and Cervids were analysed. Our results suggest an exclusively anthropogenic origin and in-situ spatial context of the assemblage. Evidence of ravaging by carnivores is absent and hydrodynamic overprint is very limited. Data on age and season of death indicate perennial hunting throughout the year, with no strict focus on certain age classes of prey. Hunted individuals were transported to the site and intensively processed, indicated amongst others by the high amount of butchery marks, the timing of breakage and the high fragmentation of the bones. The presence of burnt bones, the overall spatial context of the assemblage, and spatial features, such as roundish depressions in which bones were deposited suggest heat treatment of bones most likely for boiling out fat and marrow was performed at the pond NN2. The permanence of occupation of the Neumark-Nord lake-land, as our result suggest, is not demonstrated in other environmental settings of the Middle Palaeolithic on the Northern European Plain. Settling in favourable biotopes over a prolonged time with intense exploitation of nutritional resources may have been the behavioural adaptation towards the interglacial, partially forested environments of the Eemian.
Publications
- 2011. Direct terrestrial-marine correlation demonstrates surprisingly late onset of the Last Interglacial in central Europe. Quaternary Research 75, 213-218
Sier, M.J., Roebroeks, W., Bakels, C.C., Dekkers, M.J., Brühl, E., De Loecker, D., Gaudzinski- Windheuser, S., Hesse, N., Jagich, A., Kindler, L., Kuijper, W.J., Laurat, T., Mücher, H.J., Penkman, K.E.H., Richter, D., van Hinsbergen, D.J.J.
- 2011. On Neanderthal Subsistence in Last Interglacial Forested environments in Northern Europe. In: Conard, N., Richter, J. (Eds.), Neanderthal Lifeways, Subsistence and Technology. Springer, Dordrecht, 61-71
Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Roebroeks,W.
- 2012. Neandertals in the Last Interglacial lake area of Neumark-Nord (Germany). Proceedings of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution 1, 150
Roebroeks, W., Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Kindler, L., Pop, E., Smith, G.M.
- 2012. Stable isotope analysis of well-preserved 120,000-year-old herbivore bone collagen from the Middle Palaeolithic site of Neumark-Nord 2, Germany reveals niche separation between bovids and equids. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 333-334, 168-177
Britton, K., Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Roebroeks, W., Kindler, L., Richards, M.P.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.03.028) - 2013. Actualistic experiments to establish the biostratinomic sequence at Neumark-Nord 2. Proceedings of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution 2, 128
Kindler, L., Smith, G., García-Moreno, A.
- 2013. The Eemian Interglacial lake-landscape at Neumark-Nord (Germany) and its potential for our knowledge of hominin subsistence strategies. Quternary International 331, 31-38
Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Kindler,L., Pop, E., Roebroeks, W., Smith, G.
- 2014. Introduction to faunal analysis at Neumark-Nord 2. In: Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Roebroeks, W. (Eds.), Multidisciplinary Studies of the Middle Palaeolithic Record from Neumark-Nord (Germany). Volume 1. Veröffentlichungen des Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, Halle, 197-209
Kindler, L., Smith, G., Wagner, M.
- 2014. Multidisciplinary Studies of the Middle Palaeolithic Record from Neumark-Nord (Germany). Volume 1. Veröffentlichungen des Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, Halle
Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Roebroeks, W. (Eds.)
- 2014. Neanderthal spatial behaviour during the last Interglacial within a lakeshore environment: The case of Neumark-Nord 2. Proceedings of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution 3, 77
García-Moreno, A., Smith, G., Kindler, L., Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S.
- 2015. Semi-open environmental conditions during phases of hominin occupation at the Eemian Interglacial basin site Neumark-Nord 2 and its wider environment. Quaternary Science Reviews 117, 72-81
Pop, E., Bakels, C.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.03.020) - 2015.The Eemian Zoo of Neumark-Nord 2 (Germany): Neanderthal adaptations to interglacial environments on the European Plain. Proceedings of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution 4, 130
Kindler, L., Smith, G., García-Moreno, Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Roebroeks, W.
- 2016. Evaluating the incidence of hydrological processes during site formation through orientation analysis. A case study of the middle Palaeolithic Lakeland site of Neumark-Nord 2 (Germany). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 6 , 82-93
García-Moreno, A., Smith, G.M., Kindler, L., Pop, E., Roebroeks, W., Gaudzinski- Windheuser, S., Klinkenberg, V.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.01.023) - 2016. Fires at Neumark-Nord 2 (Germany) - an analysis of fire proxies from a Last Interglacial Middle Palaeolithic basin site. Journal of Field Archaeology
Pop, E., Kuijper, W., van Hees, E., Smith, G., García-Moreno, A., Kindler, L., Gaudzinski- Windheuser, S., Roebroeks, W.
(See online at https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2016.1208518)
