Paleolithic Human Responses to Changing Aridity at ucagizli I cave, southern-coastal Turkey: Application of a Novel Carbon Isotope-Based Method
Abstract
This paper investigates relationships between intervals of local environmental aridity
and site occupation intensity at the Upper Paleolithic cave site of Üçağızlı I (Hatay
coast, south-central Turkey) by combining a stable carbon isotope-based paleoenvironmental
record with several classes of archaeological evidence. A novel method
for synthesizing stable isotope data from multiple ungulate species is used to create
an integrated archaeofauna-based paleoenvironmental record. This method increases
the temporal resolution of the investigation in the absence of precise chronological
control for some sedimentary layers and reveals patterns of habitat segregation
among coeval prey taxa in each layer. The method also demonstrates significant variation
in the δ13Cdiet of ungulates occupying contemporaneous landscapes, reflecting
the existence of multiple micro-habitats within the foraging ranges of the Paleolithic
occupants. Overall, the degree of environmental aridity does not correlate with
measurable changes in land use or site occupation intensity based on archaeological
proxies in the Üçağızlı I sequence. One exception is the Ahmarian occupation in
layer B1-3 that records the wettest environmental conditions in conjunction with a
marked increase in site occupation intensity, increased dietary breadth, and evidence
for meat storage practices. These patterns likely signal a reorganization of forager
land-use strategies in response to a short-lived interval of especially productive
environmental conditions, possibly in conjunction with reduced mobility of local
foragers
Source
JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD AND THEORYVolume
29Issue
4URI
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10816-022-09553-xhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12418/13293