TY - JOUR

T1 - Neanderthals in changing environments from MIS 5 to early MIS 4 in northern Central Europe – Integrating archaeological, (chrono)stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental evidence at the site of Lichtenberg

AU - Weiss, Marcel

AU - Hein, Michael

AU - Urban, Brigitte

AU - Stahlschmidt, Mareike C.

AU - Heinrich, Susann

AU - Hilbert, Yamandu H.

AU - Power, Robert C.

AU - von Suchodoletz, Hans

AU - Terberger, Thomas

AU - Böhner, Utz

AU - Klimscha, Florian

AU - Veil, Stephan

AU - Breest, Klaus

AU - Schmidt, Johannes

AU - Colarossi, Debra

AU - Tucci, Mario

AU - Frechen, Manfred

AU - Tanner, David Colin

AU - Lauer, Tobias

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2022/5/15

Y1 - 2022/5/15

N2 - The resilience of Neanderthals towards changing climatic and environmental conditions, and especially towards severely cold climates in northern regions of central Europe, is still under debate. One way to address this is to investigate multi-layered occupation in different climatic intervals, using independently-compiled paleoenvironmental and chronological data. Unfortunately, most open-air sites on the northern European Plain lack a robust chronostratigraphy beyond the radiocarbon dating range, thereby often hampering direct links between human occupation and climate. Here we present the results of integrative research at the Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Lichtenberg, Northern Germany, comprising archaeology, luminescence dating, sedimentology, micromorphology, as well as pollen and phytolith analyses. Our findings clearly show Neanderthal presence in temperate, forested environments during the Mid-Eemian Interglacial, MIS 5e and the latest Brörup Interstadial, MIS 5c/GI 22 (Lichtenberg II). For the previously known occupation Lichtenberg I, we revise the chronology from the former early MIS 3 (57 ± 6 ka) to early MIS 4/GS 19 (71.3 ± 7.3 ka), with dominant cold steppe/tundra vegetation. The early MIS 4 occupation suggests that Neanderthals could adjust well to severely cold environments and implies recurring population in the region between MIS 5 and MIS 3. The artefact assemblages differ between the temperate and cold environment occupations regarding size, blank production, typology and tool use. We argue that this distinctness can partially be explained by different site functions and occupation duration, as well as the availability of large and high-quality flint raw material. Raw material availability is in turn governed by changing vegetation cover that hindered or fostered sediment redeposition as a provider of flint from the primary source of the glacial sediments nearby.

AB - The resilience of Neanderthals towards changing climatic and environmental conditions, and especially towards severely cold climates in northern regions of central Europe, is still under debate. One way to address this is to investigate multi-layered occupation in different climatic intervals, using independently-compiled paleoenvironmental and chronological data. Unfortunately, most open-air sites on the northern European Plain lack a robust chronostratigraphy beyond the radiocarbon dating range, thereby often hampering direct links between human occupation and climate. Here we present the results of integrative research at the Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Lichtenberg, Northern Germany, comprising archaeology, luminescence dating, sedimentology, micromorphology, as well as pollen and phytolith analyses. Our findings clearly show Neanderthal presence in temperate, forested environments during the Mid-Eemian Interglacial, MIS 5e and the latest Brörup Interstadial, MIS 5c/GI 22 (Lichtenberg II). For the previously known occupation Lichtenberg I, we revise the chronology from the former early MIS 3 (57 ± 6 ka) to early MIS 4/GS 19 (71.3 ± 7.3 ka), with dominant cold steppe/tundra vegetation. The early MIS 4 occupation suggests that Neanderthals could adjust well to severely cold environments and implies recurring population in the region between MIS 5 and MIS 3. The artefact assemblages differ between the temperate and cold environment occupations regarding size, blank production, typology and tool use. We argue that this distinctness can partially be explained by different site functions and occupation duration, as well as the availability of large and high-quality flint raw material. Raw material availability is in turn governed by changing vegetation cover that hindered or fostered sediment redeposition as a provider of flint from the primary source of the glacial sediments nearby.

KW - Biology

KW - Middle paleolithic

KW - Neanderthals

KW - Quaternary Stratigraphy

KW - Luminescence dating

KW - Palynology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128383577&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107519

DO - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107519

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 284

JO - Quaternary Science Reviews

JF - Quaternary Science Reviews

SN - 0277-3791

M1 - 107519

ER -