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When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk 1 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF LAW, ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES School of Humanities Neanderthal archaeology in MIS 3 Western Europe: ecological and anthropological perspectives by Charalampos Garefalakis Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2009 2 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF LAW ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES Doctor of Philosophy NEANDERTHAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN MIS 3 WESTERN EUROPE: ECOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES. By Charalampos Garefalakis This thesis focuses on the occupation of selected regions in Western Europe by Neanderthals during the earlier part of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), namely the period between c. 60 and 40 kyr ago. It examines the archaeological evidence from three different areas, Britain, Belgium and South-Western France aiming to understand the occupation in these areas, both at a synchronic and at a diachronic level. To achieve this, two models are employed. The first integrates archaeological data with climatic and environmental information; the second integrates archaeological data with ethnographic information from modern hunter-gatherers and modern social carnivores. Both models are applied to selected sites from each of the three regions. Each region is initially examined as a separate case study. The results for each site are discussed separately and then all the sites are brought together at the end of each case study. The collected information from all three regions is brought together at the end of the thesis and the collective results are discussed. The evidence brought together with this approach suggests a possible movement of Neanderthals between the three regions, in response to climatic and environmental change in MIS 3. It also suggests a degree of variability in Neanderthals’ approach to their landscape that is difficult to fit within a rigid classification scheme. 3 Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES.....................................................................................................................5 LIST OF TABLES.....................................................................................................................10 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP ..........................................................................................13 AKNOWLEDGEMENTS..........................................................................................................14 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION................................................................................................15 CHAPTER 2: UNDERSTANDING NEANDERTHAL BEHAVIOUR...............................................17 2.1. Climatic and environmental change in the MIS 3 time scale: Contextualising Neanderthal behaviour........................................................................................................17 2.1.1. Introduction...............................................................................................................17 2.1.2. Dating methods and problems. .................................................................................18 2.1.3 Using the NGRIP climatic curve: highlighting potential problems..............................23 2.1.4. Neanderthal occupation in the context of the MIS 3 climatic change. .....................27 2.1.5 The MIS 3 Environment and regional micro-climate types. .......................................38 2.2. Neanderthals at the synchronic level: integrating ecological and anthropological approaches. .........................................................................................................................41 2.2.1. Introduction...............................................................................................................41 2.2.2. Neanderthals: a top-level carnivore. .........................................................................43 2.2.3. Neanderthal communities: group size, range size and energy requirements. .........51 2.2.4. Neanderthal sites: searching for categories..............................................................57 2.2.5. A descriptive framework for Neanderthal lithic assemblages. .................................61 CHAPTER 3: THE LATE MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC OCCUPATION OF BRITAIN..........................64 3.1. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................64 3.1.1. The history of research..............................................................................................64 3.1.2. The chronology of the sites. ......................................................................................67 3.2. The archaeology of the sites.........................................................................................72 3.2.1. Lynford Quarry in Munford, Norfolk. ........................................................................72 3.2.2. Pin Hole Cave, Creswell Crags, Derbyshire ................................................................78 3.2.3. Robin Hood cave, Creswell Crags, Derbyshire...........................................................93 3.2.4. Oldbury, Kent........................................................................................................... 104 3.2.5. Kent’s Cavern, Torquay, Devon. ..............................................................................110 3.2.6. Hyaena Den, Wookey, Sommerset..........................................................................115 3.3. A summary and discussion of the data and their interpretation. ..............................122 4 CHAPTER 4: THE LATE MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC IN BELGIUM..............................................126 4.1. Introduction................................................................................................................126 4.2. Scladina.......................................................................................................................128 4.3. Trou du Diable. ........................................................................................................... 143 4.4. Veldwezelt-Hezerwater ..............................................................................................153 4.4.1. The TLB horizon occupations...................................................................................154 4.4.2. The WFL horizon occupation. ..................................................................................163 4.3. A summary and discussion of the sites and their interpretation. ..............................170 CHAPTER 5: THE LATE MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC IN SOUTH-WESTERN FRANCE ..................173 5.1. Introduction................................................................................................................173 5.1.1. The history of research............................................................................................173 5.1.2. Criteria for site selection. ........................................................................................175 5.2. La Ferrassie. ................................................................................................................179 5.2.1. The Layer M2e .........................................................................................................182 5.2.2. The Layer M2c .........................................................................................................186 5.3. Le Moustier.................................................................................................................190 5.3.1. The layer G (G1-G4) .................................................................................................193 5.3.2. Layer H (H1-H9) .......................................................................................................207 5.4. Combe-Capelle Bas .....................................................................................................219 5.4.1. The layer I-1D...........................................................................................................223 5.4.3. The layer I-1E ...........................................................................................................229 5.4.4. The layer I-2A...........................................................................................................231 5.4.5. The layer I-2B...........................................................................................................234 5.5. A discussion of the data and their interpretation. .....................................................237 CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS...................................................................243 6.1. Western