Paleolithic Archaeology

In this paper we investigate the seasonality of site occupation at Amud Cave (Israel). This site presents a long sedimentary sequence featuring two main late Middle Paleolithic occupation phases (70-55 Ka BP) rich in anthropogenic remains, and displaying very high densities of lithic artifacts, faunal remains and evidence of combustion. The abundance of these features appears high relative to the thickness of the sequence, thus raising the question of the duration and frequency of site occupation(s). We aim here to unravel this issue implementing a multiproxy approach to the dental fraction of the faunal assemblage. Combining teeth replacement and wear patterns coupled with micro-and mesowear analyses, we provide insights into the seasonality of occupation and hunting strategies at the site. We found that hunting activities at Amud Cave were conducted mainly in the course of the winter months with possible expansion into the late fall and early spring. This result is consistent with regional and local climate reconstructions and resources procurement locations evidenced in previous works. Assuming a fast depositional rate, we suggest that the sequence results from frequent seasonal returns to the site, forming a palimpsest of short-term occupations. This scenario is compatible with settlements and mobility patterns inferred for the late Middle Paleolithic in the Southern Levant.

The Neolithic peopling of Arabia is a subject of increasing debate, as different scenarios are proposed to describe the relatively sudden appearance of seemingly homogeneous archaeological sites throughout the south of the Peninsula during the Early Holocene. Such sites are identified by the co-occurrence of a laminar core reduction strategy with its supposed fossile directeur, the “ Fasad point.” This techno-typological package has been used by some to link these sites with an expansion of pastoralists from the Levant. A recent study of blade technologies in Southern Arabia, however, demonstrates a large degree of internal variability within these reduction strategies, whilst an inter-regional study of Fasad points reveals this artifact category to be both time-transgressive and morpho-metrically variable across parts of Southern Arabia. Archaeological findings from al-Hatab Rockshelter in Dhofar, Oman go further to challenge the notion of an expansion originating in the Levant and...

The dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa has been extensively researched across several disciplines. Here we review the evidence for spatial and temporal variability in lithic (stone tool) technologies relative to the predictions of two major hypotheses: 1) that a single successful dispersal occurred 60e50 thousand years ago (ka), marked by a trail of geometric/microlithic technologies, and 2) that multiple dispersals occurred, beginning much earlier (probably in Marine Isotope Stage [MIS] 5), associated with Middle Palaeolithic technology in its early phase. Our results show that Late Pleistocene geometric/ microlithic technologies exhibit significant temporal and regional differences between each other. These differences suggest independent, convergent origins for these technologies, which are likely to have been repeatedly re-invented. In contrast, we identify similarities between East African lithic technologies from MIS 8 onwards and Middle Palaeolithic assemblages as far east as India by MIS 5. That this constellation of technological features e particularly an emphasis on centripetal Levallois reduction reflecting interchangeable preferential and recurrent methods, along with particular retouched forms such as points e transcends ecologies and raw material types suggests that it is unlikely to entirely reflect technological convergence (analogy). Our results indicate an early onset of multiple dispersals out of Africa. The hypothesis of an early onset to successful dispersal is entirely consistent with the possibility of further subsequent (post-MIS 5) dispersals out of Africa. Testing such hypotheses through quantified comparative lithic studies and interdisciplinary research is therefore likely to significantly advance understanding of the earliest H. sapiens dispersals.

Many children growing up during the Upper Paleolithic lived within rich pictorial cultures. This article explores how these children might have employed metaphorical thinking in the production and decoding of this imagery. Metaphors are said to act as a bridge between different realities, different levels of meaning and different realms of experience. Humans use metaphorical thinking to recognize patterns and create relationships between disparate elements and to imbue these patterns and relationships with meaning. As young children begin to verbalize and engage in fantasy play, they also begin to spontaneously produce metaphors. Through fantasy play, children employ metaphorical thinking to rearrange disparate thoughts, ideas, objects and forms of expression into novel combinations. As they develop both cognitively and socially and their knowledge of their world expands, children's capacity to generate and understand metaphors similarly expands. Adults continue to use metaphorical thinking to comprehend and communicate their realities and to transform the world around them. It is perhaps not surprising that metaphorical thinking is implicated in many examples of Upper Paleolithic art. If adults produced the majority of these images, it is likely the experiences they garnered in childhood and their expanding competency with metaphorical thinking that allowed them to do so.

Epi-paleolitik ve Mezolitik terimlerinin ortaya çıkışından günümüze kadar olan süreci inceleyen bu çalışma, her iki terimin kullanılmasında Pleistosen-Holosen geçişinin belirgin bir rol oynadığını öne sürmektedir. Bu süreçte yaşanan çevresel değişimlerin, terimlerin ortaya çıktığı Avrupa'da daha belirgin olması nedeniyle, burada kültürel bir sınır olarak da kabul edilmesine imkân tanıdığı görülmektedir. Buna karşın, Güneybatı Asya ele alındığında, aynı geçiş dönemi çevresel süreklilikler nedeniyle erken bir dönemde tanımlanamamış ve bu durum, her iki terimin kullanımında ciddi farklılıklara yol açmıştır. Her iki coğrafyanın arasında yer alan Anadolu'daki tarihöncesi araştırmalarında ise bu süreçte, Avrupa eksenli bir bakış açısından Güneybatı Asya odaklı bir kronolojik anlayışa doğru bir geçiş yaşanmıştır. Anadolu'daki güncel tartışmalarda, esas belirleyici unsurun Pleistosen-Holosen çizgisinden, Neolitik Dönem'in kökeni meselesine doğru evrildiği ve her iki terimin de bu çerçevede ele alınmaya başlandığı anlaşılmaktadır. Bu nedenle Anadolu'nun bazı bölgelerinde ciddi şekilde sürdürülen Neolitik köken tartışmaları nedeniyle, her iki terimin kullanımı konusunda halen belirsizlikler bulunmaktadır.

Pleistosen’den, Holosen’e gecisle birlikte degismeye baslayan iklim kosullari gocer topluluklarin yasam bicimlerinde radikal degisiklikler yapmasina neden olmustur. Topluluklar yavas yavas daha kalici, yerlesik bir yasam bicimini deneyimlemeye baslamis, bu deneyimleme sureci de yeni aletler ve ekonomik cozumlemelerle sonuclanmistir. Yuzlerce yil suren, her baglami birbirinden farkli gelisen, degiskenleri her cografyaya ve toplulugun davranisina gore degisiklik gosteren gecis donemini anlamak kolay degildir. Yeni yasam bicimindeki deneyimleme eylemleriyle kendini gosteren donusum sureci, icinde hem konar gocer yasamin hem de yerlesik yasamin izlerini barindirir. Kapadokya bolgesi, obsidiyen gibi hayati bir hammaddeye ev sahipligi yapmanin yani sira, vadiler, sulak alanlar, yuksek kayaliklar ve sirtlar, tatli su ve tuz kaynaklari gibi farkli jeolojik formasyonlara sahiptir. Bu cesitlilik avci toplayici topluluklara farkli kaynaklara kisa surede erisim imkani saglar. Bu, topluluklar ic...

This paper explains how mammoths were routinely killed in rivers, floated down to mammoth technocomplexes, butchered while docked in the river below the technocomplexes, and then butchered meat carried to smokehouses. The smokehouses simultaneously smoked the meat for immediate consumption, consumption after re-heating over flames or coals, or storage in elevated meat caches. This process is depicted in the Mezhyrich Map, now correctly interpreted in this paper. The weight of mammoths and riverine siting of technocomplexes defined the mammoth economy. The presence in technocomplexes of all parts of mammoths, including skulls, tusks and long bones, necessarily means the mammoths were both killed and transported docking in the rivers.

Ethics are concerned with maximising the thriving of individuals and societies. One cannot maximise the thriving of a person unless one has some idea about what sort of creature that person is. Ethics follow ontology. Many answers have been suggested to the question 'What is a human?' and the less fundamental question 'What are the defining attributes of a human'? Many of those answers are theological, and hint that the essence of a human is indefinable; that humans are unknowable, contradictory and mysterious. This article contends that, since behaviourally modern humans have been hunter-gatherers for an overwhelming proportion of their history, we are still foundationally hunter-gatherers, and that accordingly useful insights into our constitution can be gained by examining the quintessential characteristics of Upper Palaeolithic people. Those characteristics are wandering, a relationship with the non-human world, consciousness, story-telling and a consequential ethical sense, a metaphysical instinct, and an operating system based on symbolism and metaphors. Those characteristics (many of which overlap with the conditions of human thriving described by Martha Nussbaum) have ethical corollaries. The article builds on the work of Peter Hacker in contending that it is not only legitimate but necessary to derive ethics from biology and evolutionary history. Humans emerge from this examination, as they emerge from theological speculation and from the work of most creative artists, as unfathomable. The mysteriousness of humans is a reason for according them moral weight. The article suggests that ethicists should take the lead from creative artists, not vice versa.

В настоящей работе анализируются события в научной жизни, связанные с состоявшейся 50 лет
назад (1974 г.) первой в истории советско-американской археологической экспедиции на о. Анангула
(Алеутские острова). Делается ряд выводов об особенностях международного сотрудничества на
разных этапах, о долговременном эффекте «наследия Анангулы», а также о роли сибирских исследователей
в развитии таких направлений как американистика и тихоокеанская археология.

In the first part of this book, and particularly in Chapters 4–7, I have presented the basis of this book’s argument by presenting some of the salient characteristics of my approach, such as taking a long-term ex-ante perspective, learning from the past about the present for the future, using complex systems thinking, etc. This chapter begins the presentation and discussion of the central theses of this book by drawing an outline of the long-term coevolution of human societies, focusing on the interaction between cognition, technology, social organization, and societies’ relation with the environment. It will be followed by six chapters that describe the dynamics involved at different spatiotemporal scales, and from different perspectives. Two of the chapters in this middle section use the same perspective but elaborate it at different scales. The first of these, the current chapter, first outlines aspects of the very long-term coevolution of human cognition (from c. 2.5 MY BP to c....

The article is devoted to archaeological research of the Stone Age, carried out in the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus. It is known that studies of the Stone Age in Azerbaijan began for the first time with the registration discovered by S.N. Zamyatin and M.M. Huseynov in 1953 of the Paleolithic site of Damdjily near the village of Dash Salakhly of the Gazakh region. Research was carried out here in 1956–1957. Before that, under the leadership of M.M. Huseynov, M.M. Mansurov, A.G. Jafarov and A.A. Zeynalov, 8 caves, more than 20 sites of the open type of the Paleolithic period in the Lesser Caucasus, Lankaran, in the mountain depression between the middle reaches of the Araxes and the Kura were explored. As a result of these studies, the lower, middle and partially upper cultural layer of the Paleolithic was recorded, while for many years the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus remained outside these studies. In 2005, during exploration archaeological work led by A.A. Zeynalov in the Sheki-Zagatala and Guba-Khachmaz zones, on the south-eastern and north-eastern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Range, the first finds of the Palaeolithic period were discovered. As a result of archaeological research led by M.M. Mansurov in Shamakha, Ismayilli and Gabala regions at the end of 2011 in this region, A.A. Zeynalov together with Korean specialists in the Gabala region in the same year, as well as M.M. Mansurov and N.M. Museibov in 2012 and 2014 respectively, more than 30 Acheulean and Mousterian culture specimens have been recorded.

Answer by J.D. Gleissner to a question posed by Dr. Gary Haynes in "A review of some attacks on the overkill hypothesis, with special attention to misrepresentations and doubletalk" in Quaternary International (2007) and Academia.edu: Were there two different kinds of human hunting and human dispersals in the Old and New Worlds, to account for the two different tempos of Overkill? Yes.

In the Old World, mammoth hunting during the Last Glacial Maximum (and the hunting of other large game such as bison, woolly rhinoceros, horses, etc.) was geographically restricted to riverine environments, to include every facet of the mammoth economy. Mammoths were killed in the rivers, transported downstream to settlements, and butchered in the rivers below the smokehouses overlooking rivers. This is clearly shown in the mammoth-bone circle settlements in the drainage basins of the Don and Dnieper Rivers, and it is also noticeable in the Moravian and Danuban mammoth-bone settlements that preceded those in the Don and Dnieper basins. See, J.D. Gleissner, 'The Mammoth Economy.'

Nomadic hunters in North America faced many obstacles compared to the mammoth hunters in the Old World. This may have induced North American hunters to kill more animals to make up for the many inefficiencies not faced by hunters in Eurasia who operated along rivers.

The oldest process chart or flowchart in the world, the Mezhyrich Map, shows critical junctures in the mammoth economy and verifies the smokehouse hypothesis. The Mezhyrich Map is faintly scratched in ivory and drawn for better visual appearance with bold lines. Different drawings can be found; the original is difficult to see.  The stylized mammoth at the very bottom depicted with apparently straight tusks has a wood or bone plank or dock connecting with the riverbank. With the water flowing from left to right, as shown by the chevrons, the wood or bone plank or dock is secured to the riverbank with a large "L" attaching twice to the plank or dock. One long member or rope connects the tail end of the mammoth with the shore. The lines within the stylized mammoth at the bottom of the chart are most likely incisions made for purposes of butchery, which were probably made on the top of the carcass. The displayed length of the mammoth, incision marks, two lines for tusks, and perhaps one line for a trunk support its identity. The parallel angled lines at the bottom, including chevrons above the stylized mammoth, represent the river. Other discernible objects are reflected in the Mezhylich Map, which confirms the smokehouse hypothesis and the mammoth economy set forth in The Mammoth Economy by John Dewar Gleissner.

Between the settlements dating from the Middle Palaeolithic in Romania, a special place is held by the Mousterian from the Carpathian caves which provided lithic industries made of a great diversity of local rocks: flint, chaille, chert, jasper, radiolarite, quartz, quartzite, quartzolite, andesite, basalt, diorite etc. So far, all the specialized studies highlight the use of rocks other than flint, chaille or chert as a form of substitution of the high-quality raw materials missing in a certain area. As the use of certain types of rocks provides particular technological and typological features to the material culture from the Carpathian caves, we shall attempt to understand to what extent the Mousterian dwellers of the Carpathian caves chose, for debitage, certain categories of rocks with different mechanical properties and petrographic characteristics. The types of rocks analysed in this article come from the following Mousterian settlements: Bordul Mare Cave from Ohaba Ponor, Cu...

In the second half of the 1980s, after the three-year period 1984-1986 dedicated to the educational/popular Experimental Archaeology project (“Let’s relive the past”), I tried with several projects conducted in schools to combine the above mentioned orientation with environmental exploration projects, to unite some prehistoric sites of the Lessini Mountains (Verona) with exploratory itineraries that would allow us to place their paleo-environmental meanings. This new objective aimed to fill, at least in part, the limits of museum’s perception that inevitably decontextualizes the finds from their original environmental dimension.  The itinerary between the sites of Passo Fittanze and Ponte di Veja, which had already revealed traces of both Epigravettian and Mousterian hunters/gatherers, was placed in this direction. Unfortunately, I had to note several times the lack of involvement of the institutions competent for the territory and for cultural areas. Nonetheless, I am still convinced that environmental itineraries can integrate museum and archaeo-experimental knowledge of Paleolithic traces, especially in mountainous areas.

Nella seconda metà degli anni ’80, dopo il triennio 1984-1986 dedicato al progetto di Archeologia Sperimentale didattico/divulgativa (“Riviviamo il Passato”), ho provato con diversi progetti condotti in ambito scolastico ad unire il suddetto orientamento con progetti di esplorazione ambientale che sapessero unire alcuni siti preistorici dei Monti Lessini (Verona) con itinerari esplorativi che permettere di collocarne le valenze paleo-ambientali. Questo nuovo obbiettivo si proponeva di colmare, almeno in parte, i limiti della percezione museale che, inevitabilmente, decontestualizza i reperti dalla loro originaria dimensione ambientale.
In questa direzione si collocava l’itinerario fra i siti di Passo Fittanze e di Ponte di Veja, che avevano già rivelato diffuse tracce di cacciatori-raccoglitori, sia Epigravettiani che Musteriani. Purtroppo ho dovuto più volte constatare l’assenza di coinvolgimento delle Istituzioni competenti per territorio e per ambiti culturali.  Ciononostante, sono tuttora convinto che gli itinerari ambientali possano integrare la conoscenza, museale e archeo-sperimentale, delle tracce paleolitiche specie in ambiti montani.

The southern region of the Caspian Sea is regarded as a potential dispersal corridor through which humans
migrated from western Eurasia to Central Asia during the Pleistocene epoch. In the last decade, new research has
focused on the Palaeolithic archaeology of this area. One significant site is Takht-e Rostam, an open-air Paleolithic
___location situated west of Neka City in the southeastern part of the Caspian Sea. In 2020, 13 test trenches were
excavated as part of a site delimitation project. Takte-e Rostam features a Lower Pleistocene marine terrace
landform, surrounded by Late Pleistocene deposits, formed on the Lar limestone formation, rising about 40 to 50
metres above sea level. Palaeolithic artefacts were discovered within a chocolate-coloured sediment deposit. For
dating purposes, two soil samples were collected from the excavated trenches and analysed using the OSL method,
conducted by the Geophysics Institute, University of Tehran. A total of 2,659 lithic artefacts were recovered from
both in situ and secondary layers, underscoring the site’s historical importance. The OSL dating and lithic analyses
suggest that the Takht-e Rostam site likely served as a campsite for lithic production and hunting along the coast
of the Caspian Sea during the transition from the late Middle to early Upper Palaeolithic periods. Furthermore, the
geological landmark of this site may have played an essential role in the hunting strategies of Palaeolithic human
groups, and their ability to monitor and dominate the surrounding environment. This research indicates that the
deposit’s formation is associated with the Khvalynian stage of the Caspian Sea, with the last layer of loess dating
back to marine isotope stage 3.

I received this message, and it inspired this blog post:

“Hello Damien, I’m a Spanish follower of yours. I discovered your artistic work online some time ago, and recently, I found you on “X.” First of all, I want to thank you for your amazing work and art; they have helped me a lot in understanding humanity’s past. I would like to ask you a question I’ve had for a while, and I believe you are the right person to help me solve it. Here’s the thing: I don’t understand the origin of the WHG and its relationship with Cro-Magnon. Is the WHG the evolution of Cro-Magnon? What Y-haplogroup did Cro-Magnon have? If they are not related, what is the origin of the WHG? Thank you very much in advance. Keep up the great work; you’re doing an excellent job! Greetings from the other side of the Atlantic!” – Commemtor

My response, Well, I don’t use the term “Cromagdon.” It is an outdated language from when people were not sure all humanity came from Africa or had bigoted ideas that Europeans came from Europe, not Africa. Cro-Magnons, now stated as “European early modern humans,” were the first early modern humans (Homo sapiens) to settle in Europe. I mainly use the “cultures,” such as the “Aurignacian culture,” an archaeological industry of the Upper Paleolithic associated with early European modern humans lasting from around 45,000 to 25,000 years ago. Or the “Gravettian culture,” an archaeological industry of the Upper Paleolithic associated with early European modern humans lasting from around 35,000 to 20,000 years ago.

They were an early movement of mainly Haplogroup C male DNA. Aurignacian samples are the paternal male haplogroups C1a, C1b, and K2a and female mt-DNA haplogroup M, N, R, and U. It is much more involved, and I will get to it all. The Aurignacian people with male Haplogroup C came from the Middle East through Turkey and the Balkans into France and Germany from 50,000 to 40,000 years ago. Then, a different branch and different culture, now called Gravettian culture, came from the Middle East into Siberia, then turned into East Europe and then Germany 30,000 to 25,000 years ago, male Haplogroup C but different from the Aurignacian culture branch. This was all before Western Hunter-Gatherers, who had yet a different culture and somewhat different DNA.

Western hunter-gatherers (also known as West European hunter-gatherers) date to around 15,000~5,000 years ago and are a distinct ancestral component of modern Europeans. Before them was yet another culture of Europe, Magdalenian refers to a prehistoric European cultural period and toolmaking industry that lasted from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. The three samples of Y-DNA included two samples of haplogroup I and one sample of HIJK. All samples of mtDNA belonged to U, including five samples of U8b and one sample of U5b. Western hunter-gatherers came in a different wave of migrations.

WHG-associated remains belonged primarily to the human Y-chromosome haplogroups I-M170 with a lower frequency of C-F3393 (specifically the clade C-V20/C1a2), which has been found commonly among earlier Paleolithic European remains such as Kostenki-14 and Sungir. Kostenki is in Russia, somewhat near the Caucasus Mountains. Sungir is in Russia, somewhat near Moscow. So, migrations from Eastern Europe have DNA similar to that of Aurignacian culture.

The village of Tadevan is located in the Khafr district of Jahrom County, Fars Province, Iran. To the north of the village, within a gorge bearing the same name, a group of karstic caves has formed through the dissolution of limestone. These include several cave entrances and rock shelters, considered young in terms of speleological classification. The steep, rocky slopes and limited access made them suitable for defensive and shelter purposes. Among the caves, four exhibit architectural modifications, including stone and mortar constructions, small hand-cut chambers, and connecting corridors carved into the rock, forming an integrated defensive network.

The site, known as Tadevan Cave-Castle, likely functioned as a watchtower and stronghold along important ancient routes, providing refuge for local inhabitants during times of conflict. Surface collection from the cave’s slopes yielded chipped stone tools attributed to the Epipaleolithic period, while the architectural features suggest initial use during the Sasanian period. Evidence of reuse and modification during the Islamic era is also present. This paper describes the architecture, rock-cut spaces, and the strategic defensive role of the Tadevan cave complex in southern Iran.

During 70s and 80s, two intensive studies on the Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers' settlement pattern con- ducted by Michael Rosenberg in the Marvdasht and Jiro Ikeda is in Arsanjan, led to the identification of a large number of sites. The results of these studies give a relatively clear picture of the Palaeolithic period in the Southern Zagros Mountains. Although these researches stopped due to the political up- rising, new research's conducted by the Iranian scholars after the Islamic Revolution and led to a better understanding of the Palaeolithic period in the region. Nevertheless, the results of the Rosenberg's and Ikeda's studies are still important in most respects. In the present study, by the spatial analysis of the sites, the authors propose a new framework for the Middle, Upper and Epipalaeolithic sites. Based on the data provided by Rosenberg and Ikeda, as well as the data from the new findings in the study area, we used GIS (Geographic Information System) software to extract more results from the Palaeolithic studies in the Arsanjan and Marvdasht plains. In total, 262 sites including 45 Middle Palaeolithic, 23 Upper Palaeolithic and 194 Epipalaeolithic sites have been studied and using GIS software and 61 maps on th edistribution of these sites were pre- pared. The analysis shows that the easy accessibilty to and the direction of the opening of the sites are important factors for the selection of the site. These factors were more important than the slope and the distance to the raw material resources for hunter-gatherer populations. Another important issue is the accessibility to the water resources, mostly in case of long-term and seasonal than for short-term settlements. However, the use of caves and rockshelters changed during different periods. During Mid- dle and Upper Palaeolithic, the distribution of the sites does not show a specific pattern, while during Epipalaeolithic, the distribution of the sites was formed around a base camp. This new data shows a novel approach in the study of settlement pattern and landscape studies in the Southern Zagros.

La necropoli romana di epoca imperiale rinvenuta in via P.V. Aldini si è sviluppata in un'area precedentemente interessata da strutture riferibili ad un impianto agricolo di età medio-repubblicana e da un percorso viario in invaso che, con il suo orientamento NO-SE, costituiva un antico collegamento tra Roma e l'area dei Colli Albani 1 (tav. 1). Lo sfruttamento agricolo del suolo è documentato dai resti di un edificio in opera quadrata di tufo grigio, sulla sponda orientale dell'invaso, da identificarsi con una fattoria 2 , da una serie di opere idrauliche come canalizzazioni e pozzi, e da tracce di arature e fosse per piantumazioni. Ad epoca repubblicana è da riferire anche un edificio in blocchi di tufo giallo (M1), su platea in cementizio, costruito all'interno del riempimento del grande invaso stradale, riferibile quindi al momento in cui il tracciato stradale si era spostato sul versante nord-orientale dell'invaso stesso. La necropoli, inquadrabile cronologicamente tra I e II sec. d.C., è caratterizzata da semplici sepolture costituite prevalentemente da fossae scavate nel banco piroclastico provviste, nella maggior parte dei casi, di una copertura Tav. 1. Via Aldini. Planimetria dell'area di scavo (rilievo di Giampaolo Luglio).

Está estructurada en cinco apartados: génesis, construcción, visor, reflexión, explotación y un caso práctico: el análisis de las cavidades con registros funerarios. El proyecto ofrece hoy más de 8.400 dataciones de carbono 14 de la Península Ibérica (y de Baleares), sobre la que es posible realizar búsquedas complejas cuyas respuestas se devuelven para un consumo libre. Se accede al repositorio desde dos direcciones web: y geogis.us.es/siac/. Como proyecto colaborativo cualquier usuario puede proponer modificar o añadir nuevas dataciones. Además se aprovechan las fortalezas del software GIS para ofrecer salidas cartográficas de las consultas. Informamos las características del repositorio y reflexionamos sobre su potencial.

During the past decade research into the German Final Paleolithic and Mesolithic has experienced an important revival. One clear sign of this renewed interest in the periods are the annual meetings of the “Arbeitsgruppe Mesolithikum” (Mesolithic Working Group) which have taken place every spring since 1992. At these meetings, which take place at changing venues, topical themes of Final Paleolithic

Fra il 19 aprile ed il 26 giugno 2007 è stato praticato nel cortile superiore dello stabile compreso tra le vie G. Lanza, Cavour e Sforza, un saggio di scavo archeologico (saggio I) nell’ambito delle opere preliminari rientranti nel progetto di riqualificazione dell’immobile stesso.
A seguito delle risultanze del saggio, un supplemento d'indagine è stato realizzato fra il 3 ed il 18 settembre 2008, dopo la conclusione delle verifiche archeologiche nel cortile inferiore. dell’immobile (saggi II-III).
Queste ultime, praticate nel periodo 22/06-06/08/2008, hanno rivelato  nel sottosuolo profondo del cortile l’esistenza di strutture del periodo romano databili alla media età imperiale (II sec. d.C.).
Le indagini realizzate in entrambi i cortili fanno seguito ad una campagna di accertamenti archeologici preliminari mediante carotaggio sviluppata tra giugno e luglio 2006 (fase I), che ha dettato le prime indicazioni di carattere generale utili alla dislocazione ed al “pilotaggio” dei saggi a cielo aperto.
Le indagini sono scaturite dalla necessità di acquisire elementi cognitivi indispensabili per una corretta valutazione del rischio archeologico che il progetto di riqualificazione dell'immobile comporta, soprattutto nella parte in cui prevede la realizzazione d’interventi nel sottosuolo, nella fattispecie afferenti all’ipotesi di un parcheggio pertinenziale inizialmente previsto in gran parte nei volumi del cortile superiore e parzialmente in quelli del cortile inferiore.
Gli scavi hanno rivelato nel cortile superiore l’esistenza di significativi e pluristratificati resti archeologici, qualificando questa zona quale vero e proprio relitto archeologico della propaggine più meridionale del Cispio.
Ai fini dell'ipotesi progettuale del parcheggio sotterraneo, i risultati del saggio I hanno determinato lo spostamento dell’attenzione sul cortile inferiore, dove i carotaggi del 2006 e gli scavi del 2007 (saggi II-III) indicavano una situazione stratigrafica differente e più favorevole al progetto, con coltri di riporto di formazione moderna di potenza mai inferiore a m 5.

New trends in the interpretation of prehistoric female iconography in rock art, which, among others, focus on health, gynecology, self-image,  are compared with old ones, which stress reproduction and magico-religious symbolism of these representations.

Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, ranging from around 57,000 to 29,000 years ago, is a period of significant archaeological interest due to notable transitions in lithic technology and hominin populations. In Europe, this time saw the replacement of Middle Palaeolithic (MP) technologies associated with Neanderthals by Upper Palaeolithic (UP) technologies linked to anatomically modern humans (AMHs). This technological shift is conventionally attributed to a demographic turnover; however, the timing of this transition varied regionally. The presence of Neanderthals and AMHs in the Levant, western Europe, and elsewhere over extended periods complicates the narrative, suggesting asynchronous and regionally diverse associations of hominin species and lithic technologies. This study shifts the attention to potential technological and cultural transmissions among MP-and UP-making groups, emphasizing the roles of social and exchange networks. Recent data from the obsidian-rich Armenian Highlands enable us to consider the mobility and land use of these groups without the added complication of toolstone with different knapping qualities, so patterns more clearly reflect mobility patterns, land use strategies, and potential social connections of foraging groups. These results suggest that, while MP-making groups in MIS 3 had overlapping territories, the UP-making groups at Aghitu-3 had smaller movements on the landscape. In contrast, MIS 2 sites with UP lithic assemblages have resource territories that apparently overlapped much like those of the MIS 3 MP sites. The findings hint at the possibility that differing mobility and land use during MIS 3 might have contributed to the coexistence of distinct lithic technologies, potentially through social transmission rather than a direct replacement of hominin populations.

Начало и развитие достижений энеолитической эпохи в Донской лесостепи (V–IV тыс. до н.э.) традиционно соотносят с появлением здесь населения из  степной зоны Днепро-Донского междуречья (мариупольской культурно-исторической области, а затем и хвалынско-среднестоговской культурно-исторической общности). Долгое время для обоснованности данных эпохальных процессов в публикациях прибегали прежде всего к характеристике керамики, достаточно четко отличающейся от местной лесостепной неолитической традиции. А при характеристике энеолита как самостоятельной
эпохи пользовались термином «медно-каменный» век, избегая понятия «медный век», делая, тем самым, акцент на значимости изделий из камня в период жизнедеятельности древнего населения, уже знакомого с первым металлом – медью. К настоящему времени липецкими и воронежскими археологами при исследовании поселенческих и погребальных памятников собраны данные, показывающие, что, помимо своеобразной керамики, в Донскую лесостепь приникали и иные достижения палеометаллической
эпохи, характерные для обширной зоны степей Восточной Европы. Это, прежде всего, находящие аналогии в «закрытых» погребальных степных комплексах изделия из кремня (ножи на крупных пластинах) и предметы вооружения (наконечники стрел и дротиков стандартизированной формы), украшения из кости, рога и клыка кабана, редкие металлические изделия. Немаловажно, что по этим находкам можно проводить как аналогии с эталонными поселенческими (Раздорское I, Стрильча Скеля, Дереивка)
и погребальными (могильник Мариупольский, Никольский, Лысогорский, Хвалынский I) памятниками, так и осуществлять прямое абсолютное датирование образцов из органических материалов. Анализу
этих материалов, происходящих с бытовых и погребальных памятников (Голубая Криница, Черкасская, Васильевский Кордон 17, Ксизово 6 и др.) Донского лесостепного региона посвящена работа авторов.

The Last Glacial maximum (LGM), spanning from 26.5 to 19 thousand years before present (ka BP), is a period of extreme climatic degradation associated with reduced biomass production and resource stress throughout Eurasia. Arguably, one of the
most fundamental tools for human survival during this cold and arid period was the ability to create, maintain and use fire. While fire is widely considered a ubiquitous tool in modern human behaviour, there are surprisingly few well‐described
combustion features during the LGM in Europe. In this paper, we provide high‐resolution geoarchaeological research into three combustion features associated with Epigravettian occupations at the site of Korman' 9 (Ukraine) with ages falling in the LGM. Our results show distinct variations in the size and structure of the combustion features, potentially indicating multiple occupations within the same layer or reflect differences in site organization or function during a single occupation. Additionally,
our analysis shows clear evidence of the effect of solifluction and the lack of preservation of the ash layer(s) of the combustion features, as well as the development of bioturbation features enhanced by anthropogenic input. To better estimate heating temperatures of the combustion events, we employed a novel approach using colour analysis showing temperatures reaching 600°C in the substrate underlying the combustion features. In all, the combustion features at Korman' 9 provide invaluable new insights as well as high resolution description of pyrotechnological behaviours during the LGM, which has been lacking during this critical period in our evolutionary history.

Chert from the limestones and marly limestones of Castelltallat Formation (Ebro Basin) was widely used throughout prehistoric times in north-eastern Iberia to produce stone tools due to its properties and accessibility. A rough estimate indicates that this rock -either as raw material or as lithic products-was distributed mainly to the north of the outcrops, over an area of 6000-8000km 2 . However, other rocks in the area have similar characteristics which can lead to confusion in the interpretation of its prehistoric use and distribution. In order to establish useful archaeometric criteria for differentiating this chert from other similar, the Castelltallat chert is characterised in petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical terms. The chert nodules are found to be homogenous at the macro-and microscopic level, with a significant presence of bioclasts, thus indicating they might be formed in a freshwater lake environment by the early diagenetic replacement of carbonates in shallow waters. The mineralogical composition is homogeneously uniform and of a flint type, characterised by an almost exclusive predominance of quartz, without any opaline phases, and a variable proportion of moganite. The iron oxide content is very low, whereas its chemical composition is unusually high in uranium which correlates positively with carbonate content and negatively with silica. Archaeometrical parameters are provided to reach a proper identification of tools knapped with this chert. This way, chert from Castelltallat Formation turns out to be a valuable lithological marker to evaluate the range of mobility of the human groups who lived in the north-eastern Iberia and their contacts with neighbouring areas.

Model of the Economically Efficient Mammoth Technocomplex

John Dewar Gleissner [email protected] or [email protected]
ORCID ID = 0000-0001-5275-5518
Independent Researcher & Writer
4232 Vestview Circle, Vestavia Hills, Alabama 35242 USA

Abstract  1
1. Introduction  3
2. Established Facts & Analysis 5
    Weight & Mass of Mammuthus primigenius
    River Site Selection
    All Parts of Skeletons at Technocomplexes
3. Segments of Efficient Mammoth Economy
A. Procurement within Riverbeds
B. Efficient Transportation in Rivers
C.  Efficient Processing of Mammoth Carcasses 
                Cold-Smoking
    Other Methods of Meat Processing Inadequate
4. Artifacts & Structures Supporting a Smokehouse Hypothesis  14
    Dolní-Věstonice
    Kostenki 1
    Avdeevo
    Kostenki 4
    Zaraysk
    Pushkari 1
    Gontsky/Ginsy
5. The Entire Production Process within the Mammoth Economy
    Mezhyrich Map or Process Chart 21
6. Discussion  23
7. References  27
8. Dedication to the Ukrainian People  34
9. Acknowledgements  35
10. Declaration Regarding Funding & Conflicts of Interest  35

Figure 1: Mammoth Sites Drawing  5
Figure 2: Hearths at Kostenki 1 - Layer I  18
Figure 3: Hearths at Avdeevo  19
Figure 4: Hearths in Long Smokehouses at Kostenki  19
Figure 5: One Drawing of Mezhyrich Map or Process Chart  22

                                                    Abstract

The mass and weight of Mammuthus primigenius and river site selection substantially drove, defined, necessitated, predetermined, and largely explained the hunting locations, architectural designs, transportation and preparation methods, and economic systems for the mammoth-bone structure technocomplexes in the drainage basins of the Don and Dnieper Rivers approximately 30,000 to 10,000 years ago. Mature woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) weighed between 4 and 6 metric tons. Applying a reasonable dressing percentage of 50%, the slaughter of an adult woolly mammoth resulted in 2 to 3 metric tons of meat and fat. This mass was highly desired by hunters, although the methods for obtaining, transporting, and processing the meat, fat, and bones at a central ___location were constrained by various factors, thus defining the proposed model.
Mammoth hunters in the Don and Dnieper basins consistently established their Eastern Gravettian technocomplexes on terraces overlooking navigable rivers, which were integral to their economy. All parts of mammoth skeletons were routinely found within these technocomplexes containing mammoth-bone structures, commonly referred to as mammoth-bone circles, as well as larger oval and elongated mammoth-bone structures. Single-kill sites near technocomplexes were neither found nor expected. Given the weight of mammoths, logistical necessity dictated that the carcasses had to arrive below the technocomplexes via downstream movement. Consequently, they were killed or found upstream in hunter-friendly rivers.
A crucial element of the proposed economic model is that the arrival of whole carcasses required handling the derived meat in bulk. After butchering the whole carcass at the river docks, the meat was typically transported uphill to large smokehouses, the shortest available land transport route. Here, cold-smoking and drying processes prepared two to three tons of raw meat en masse behind smoke containment hides or glued birch bark.
The Mezhyrich Map—the oldest process chart or flowchart in the world—depicts on ivory the docking of mammoths and the routine route for transporting meat to smokehouses, turnaround, and return for additional meat. It includes depictions of the river flowing left to right, mammoth carcass, butchery incisions, dock, dock and mammoth securement, bone beds, four smokehouses, and elevated meat caches. The smokehouses are stylistically shown receiving raw meat and producing smoked meat.
Artifacts supporting the smokehouse hypothesis include charcoal, micro-lithics, ash found in floors and pits, floor dimensions consistent with the quantities of meat, structural use of large mammoth bones, skulls, and tusks, pits surrounding the smokehouses, multiple hearths in rows, partially burned bones and tusks, the Mezhyrich Map, and notably, the absence of designed ingress/egress to and from the smokehouses. Several larger structures featured nine hearths aligned on a NW/SE axis, consistent only with cold-smoking large quantities of meat in smoke containment structures.
This economic system allowed sedentary hunter-gatherers to arrange for mammoth carcasses to be brought to their technocomplexes for mass handling with minimal transportation labor, fire fuel, and attendant labor. Cold-smoking using small smoldering fires simultaneously prepared the meat for immediate consumption, consumption after heating over fire, and storage, providing consumers with flexible options.
In this model, mammoth hunters efficiently employed batch production methods with a division of labor in a pre-industrial production line, including water transport. Smokehouses were essential for managing the mass of mammoth meat, just as river procurement and transport of mammoth carcasses were vital in this economic model of Eastern Gravettian technocomplexes.

Questo articolo, parte della collana “Echi: Riflessioni dal passato, risonanze nel presente”, "

esplora le prime religioni del Paleolitico, il quale segna l’inizio delle prime forme di pensiero religioso, un sistema di credenze che verrà successivamente definito religione naturale.

Con questo termine si indica quella categoria di religioni in cui gli elementi della natura – fenomeni meteorologici, corpi celesti, flora, fauna e aspetti legati alla vita umana – vengono divinizzati o considerati espressioni di potenze sovrannaturali.
I primi esseri umani, cercando di dare un senso all’ambiente che li circondava, iniziarono a sviluppare culti rivolti a entità non umane, identificando nei fenomeni naturali la presenza di forze sacre

Only a handful of examples speak for Middle and Upper Paleolithic adaptations to mid-latitude highlands. Mountainous southwest Asia, consisting of the southern Caucasus (including the Armenian Plateau) and the Zagros and Alborz ranges, is arguably the richest, featuring numerous Late Pleistocene (ca. 130-12 ka) archaeological records. The region's long zooarchaeological research history and especially the data gathered during the last two decades are now sufficient to support a study of Neanderthal and modern human subsistence and mobility patterns. In this paper, I present a synthesis of the available zooarchaeological data from the southern Caucasus and the Zagros/Alborz. Using abundance indices of animal groups and taphonomic variables, I test the null hypothesis that humans hunted the available game proportionally to its abundance on the landscape. To this end, the natural abundance baselines were extrapolated from bioclimatic variables and nonhumangenerated Pleistocene faunas. Taphonomic and taxonomic patterns that pertain to site-occupation intensity were evaluated against a pertinent external reference, the well-studied zooarchaeological record of the southern Levant, representing a warmer and more habitable region. The null hypothesis was only partially confirmed, enabling the identification of prey choice patterns, hunting specialization, and diversification. While acknowledging the region's archaeological variability, the study showed that the Middle and Upper Paleolithic habitations in the southern Caucasus and Zagros/Alborz were primarily ephemeral, attesting to low site habitation intensity and little, if any, population growth. It seems that all groups inhabiting the region could afford to practice highly selective game procurement strategies, exploiting vast territories and occupying many short-term camps, some strategically positioned to intercept migrating game. Both Middle and Upper Paleolithic populations consisted of small and highly mobile groups that sporadically inhabited the rugged landscape; they lived under harsh climatic conditions well under the environmental carrying capacity. This scenario contributes to viewing mountainous southwest Asia as a geographic cul-de-sac during the Pleistocene; it demonstrates that regardless of their biological and cultural backgrounds, human groups adopted similar behaviors in accordance with the regions' natural conditions.

This paper aims to frame a discussion on the philosophy of the city within the context of cognitive sciences. In the first part of the paper, we will outline the double shift from a linguistic and ocularcentric account towards a sensorimotor one; then we will defend the idea that the less you refer to language and ocularcentrism in handling the urban dimension, the better phenomena can be understood and described. More generally, we argue that the most intriguing conceptual contaminations between cognitive sciences and urban philosophies, as well as the best approach in designing and planning cities, have become attainable because of the marginalisation of language-inspired models of cognition and ocular imperialism in favour of other aspects of our phenomenal consciousness, like emotions, habits, and sensorimotor attitudes.

The article examines a batch of fragments of painted plaster from the Roman period with a red ochre background, found during excavations coordinated in the years 2006-2007 by the Office of Archaeological Heritage during the renovation of the building housing the Faculty of Sociology in Trento (Via G. Verdi - Via G. Prati). The observation of the reed impressions on the back of the finds suggested that they belonged to a flat ceiling, while the analysis of the decorative motifs, among which the presence of several variants of “carpet borders” is particularly relevant, made it possible to frame stylistically and chronologically the pictorial
decoration within the so-called “IV Pompeian style” and to trace the original ornamental scheme, namely a centralized geometric type system defined as “concentric frames,” widespread during the first century AD
throughout the Roman Empire and also well attested in Regio X until the Hadrianic period.

The commencement of construction works on the outskirts of the ancient town of Nusaybin has resulted in the unearthing of an ancient necropolis. In March 2023, the Mardin Museum organised an expedition with the objective of exploring the site’s potential and preserving the archaeological context of the features that had been uncovered. A geophysical survey of the area (covering more than 9,000 square metres) revealed the presence of
pits and scattered structures. The objective of the team was to locate as many burials as possible and extract their contents in order to prevent them from being destroyed by the town planning works currently underway. The exceptional discovery of a gold diadem is discussed in depth in this article. The final report on the excavations is presented here.

Juan de Villanueva plasmó en el mapa conocido como Plan Geographico de las Lagunas de Ruidera, fechado en el año 1781, su idea de construir un canal de riego y molinar, que seguiría el cauce del río Alto Guadiana, desde las Lagunas de Ruidera hasta su salida del territorio del Gran Priorato de San Juan.
Casi 250 años después se ha realizado un trabajo de cotejo y comparación entre imágenes aéreas del trazado del canal obtenidas por el Vuelo Americano Serie B, realizado en los años 1956 y 1957, y fotografías recientes del Plan Nacional de Ortofotografía Aérea (PNOA). Asimismo se han localizado y georreferenciado los tramos del canal que presentan en la actualidad un mejor estado de conservación y los molinos y batanes, propiedad de la Dignidad Prioral, establecidos en el cauce del río Alto Guadiana en la fecha en la que el arquitecto redactó su proyecto.

Juan de Villanueva expressed in the map known as Plan Geográfico de las Lagunas de Ruidera, dated on 1781, his idea of constructing an irrigation channel (that would serve to make the mills work), which would follow the course of the Alto Guadiana river, from the Lagunas de Ruidera to its exit from the territory of the Gran Priorato de San Juan.
Nearly 250 years later a work of comparison has been made, between aerial photographs of the course of the channel obtained by the Vuelo Americano Serie B, taken in the years 1956 and 1957, and some recent ones from the Plan Nacional de Ortofotografía Aérea (PNOA). The channel sections which have a better conservation status have been localized and geographically referenced, along with the water and fulling mills, property of the Dignidad Prioral, placed alongside the riverbed of the Alto Guadiana
river on the date when the arquitect wrote down his project plan.

In the 1980’s, artifacts of an early Paleolithic industry were found within a cave filling at Belle-Roche, a site located ∼60 m above the present-day floodplain of the Amblève River, one of the main ardennian subtributary of the Meuse River in eastern Belgium. The most controversial issue about these traces of human presence remains that of their age. Thanks to numerous remains of microand macromammals (Dicerorhinus etruscus, Arvicola cantania, etc) associated with the artifacts, an age of 500±70 ka was proposed for the archaeological layers (Cordy et al., 1993), which are underlain by a fluvial gravel of the paleo-Amblève. However, based on geometric correlations between the terrace sequences of both the Amblève and the lower Meuse, where paleomagnetic data were available, Juvigné et al. (2005) assigned the paleomagnetic normal polarity of the Belle-Roche cave gravels to the Jaramillo event, therefore dating them to ∼1 Ma.

In the 1980’s, artifacts of an early Paleolithic industry were found within a cave filling at Belle-Roche, a site located ∼60 m above the present-day floodplain of the Amblève River, one of the main ardennian subtributary of the Meuse River in eastern Belgium. The most controversial issue about these traces of human presence remains that of their age. Thanks to numerous remains of microand macromammals (Dicerorhinus etruscus, Arvicola cantania, etc) associated with the artifacts, an age of 500±70 ka was proposed for the archaeological layers (Cordy et al., 1993), which are underlain by a fluvial gravel of the paleo-Amblève. However, based on geometric correlations between the terrace sequences of both the Amblève and the lower Meuse, where paleomagnetic data were available, Juvigné et al. (2005) assigned the paleomagnetic normal polarity of the Belle-Roche cave gravels to the Jaramillo event, therefore dating them to ∼1 Ma.

The techno-functional approach has been employed to better understand one of the more relevant artifact types generally found in Lower Palaeolithic sites: so-called small tools. Particularly, some Italian sites, such as Ficoncella, Isernia and others, have been the subject of specialized studies which provide evidence of an unexpected complexity of technical behaviours mainly related to highly specialized functional properties of the small tools. In this paper, we aim to enhance the debate on the topic by presenting a techno-functional study of the entire lithic assemblage coming from one of the most renown Middle Pleistocene sites in southern Europe, the open-air site of Fontana Ranuccio (Central Italy). Five groups of retouched tools have been identified: cutting tools, where retouch is usually applied to isolate a cutting edge on the blank; pointed tools, where retouch isolates a pointed edge; scrapers; and few other types of retouched tools such as notches and denticulates. We d...

As known, artefacts made from wood are very rarely encountered in prehistoric deposits due to the low durability of this material. Emergency excavations in the spring of 2012 at Poggetti Vecchi, Central Italy, brought to light an open-air, stratified Palaeolithic site of an overall area of around 160 m 2 . The finds are radiometrically dated to the late Middle Pleistocene. The site is therefore of particular interest, not only because it offers snapshots of the local environment at a time when early Neanderthals occupied the area but also in view of the recovery of wooden tools. The presence of a burnt film on some of the artefacts has led us to conjecture that, in addition to stone tools, fire was also used in the manufacture of the sticks, as documented in ethnography and hypothesised for prehistoric digging sticks. An experimental study was carried out to reconstruct the operational chain of this kind of tool. This study demonstrates that the use of fire was functional to the manufacture of the sticks featuring this morphology. The working of a very hard wood like Buxus is painstaking and requires a complex operational chain, from the selection of the particular wood to its working employing stone tools and fire, with a significant investment of time and effort.

We report the first identifications of species and element used to produce Paleolithic bone needles. Archaeologists have used the tailored, fur-fringed garments of high latitude foragers as modern analogs for the clothes of Paleolithic foragers, arguing that the appearance of bone needles and fur bearer remains in archaeological sites c. 40,000 BP is indirect evidence for the advent of tailored garments at this time. These garments partially enabled modern human dispersal to northern latitudes and eventually enabled colonization of the Americas ca. 14,500 BP. Despite the importance of bone needles to explaining global modern human dispersal, archaeologists have never identified the materials used to produce them, thus limiting understanding of this important cultural innovation. We use Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) and Micro-CT scanning to establish that bone needles at the ca. 12,900 BP La Prele site (Wyoming, USA) were produced from the bones of canids, felids, and hares. We propose that these bones were used by the Early Paleoindian foragers at La Prele because they were scaled correctly for bone needle production and readily available within the campsite, having remained affixed to pelts sewn into complex garments. Combined with a review of comparable evidence from other North American Paleoindian sites, our results suggest that North American Early Paleoindians had direct access to furbearing predators, likely from trapping, and represent some of the most detailed evidence yet discovered for Paleoindian garments.

Evidence of symbolic and ritual activity was one of the major behaviors of Modern Humans from the Upper Paleolithic onward. However, during the Mesolithic period, such symbolic behavior changed as regional identity with a collective memory. In 2020, excavation of Hotu Cave, a child burial, was discovered in the Mesolithic context. At a depth of -700 Cm from the surface and under the context of 110, a 6-8-month-old child was discovered below an oven. The bones were relatively well-preserved. Most parts of the bone were covered with ocher, but the important aspects of this burial are that nearly a long necklace which it seems belongs to an adult person was found. 54 beads were found around the chest and neck, along with probably five Canidae tooth pendants and a polished animal rib. The emergence of complex ritual systems during the Mesolithic period is fascinating, and such ritual activities were also repeated in other caves, such as Komishan and Kamarband. We assume the development of belief systems or cultural practices beyond mere survival needs became very important from 15000 years ago until 10000 years ago between the hunter/gatherers of the southern of the Caspian Sea people. These rituals could have served various purposes, such as marking important events, reinforcing group cohesion, or appeasing spiritual beliefs. However, understanding the specifics of these rituals often relies on archaeological evidence, which can be open to interpretation.

چکیده
در رشته کوههای البرز مرکزی، گنجینه‌ی ارزشمندی از معماری دستکند صخره‌ای معروف به کافرکِلی در منطقه‌ی لاریجان استان مازندران و مشرف بر رود هراز وجود دارد و نکته‌ی قابل تأمل پراکنش بالای این ساختارها در این منطقه است که در هیچیک از نقاط ایران این حجم از ساخت و ساز معماری صخره‌ای در کنار روستاهای مسکونی دیده نمی‌شود.
پس از بررسی‌های پراکنده غارنوردان، نخستین بار استاد منوچهر ستوده جامع‌ترین معرفی را از این آثار در اثر گرانسنگ خود از آستارا تا استارباد، جلدسوم  ارائه نمود. در سال‌های اخیر چند پژوهش حول معرفی کافرکِلی‌های لاریجان و گمان‌هایی برای کاربری آنها انجام گرفته، که فاقد سند موثق تاریخی و گواهی برای اثبات، داعیه‌های خود بوده و نتیجه‌ای نداشت.
اما در پژوهش پیشرو هدف نگارندگان بر آن است، علت ساخت و کاربری این کافرکِلی‌ها را برمبنای سندی تاریخی از قرن سوم هجری و ارتباط آن با کوه دماوند و اَژیدهاک بر پایه رویکرد تاریخی- استوره پژوهی و تحلیلی با استفاده از روش‌های مطالعات کتابخانه‌ای و پژوهش میدانی مورد بررسی قرار دهد.
واژگان کلیدی: لاریجان، دماوند، اَژی دهاک بیوراسپ، کافرکِلی، دستکند.