TY - JOUR

T1 - The depositional environments of Schöningen 13 II-4 and their archaeological implications

AU - Stahlschmidt, Mareike

AU - Miller, Christopher

AU - Ligouis, Bertrand

AU - Goldberg, Paul

AU - Berna, Francesco

AU - Urban, Brigitte

AU - Conard, Nicholas J.

PY - 2015/12/1

Y1 - 2015/12/1

N2 - Geoarchaeological research at the Middle Pleistocene site of Schöningen 13 II-4, often referred to as the Speerhorizont, has focused on describing and evaluating the depositional contexts of the well-known wooden spears, butchered horses, and stone tools. These finds were recovered from the transitional contact between a lacustrine marl and an overlying organic mud, originally thought to be a peat that accumulated in place under variable moisture conditions. The original excavators proposed that hominin activity, including hunting and butchery, occurred on a dry lake shore and was followed by a rapid sedimentation of organic deposits that embedded and preserved the artifacts. Our geoarchaeological analysis challenges this model. Here, we present evidence that the sediments of Schöningen 13 II-4 were deposited in a constantly submerged area of a paleolake. Although we cannot exclude the possibility that the artifacts were deposited during a short, extreme drying event, there are no sedimentary features indicative of surface exposure in the sediments. Accordingly, this paper explores three main alternative models of site formation: anthropogenic disposal of materials into the lake, a geological relocation of the artifacts, and hunting or caching on lake-ice. These models have different behavioral ramifications concerning hominin knowledge and exploitation of the landscape and their subsistence strategies.

AB - Geoarchaeological research at the Middle Pleistocene site of Schöningen 13 II-4, often referred to as the Speerhorizont, has focused on describing and evaluating the depositional contexts of the well-known wooden spears, butchered horses, and stone tools. These finds were recovered from the transitional contact between a lacustrine marl and an overlying organic mud, originally thought to be a peat that accumulated in place under variable moisture conditions. The original excavators proposed that hominin activity, including hunting and butchery, occurred on a dry lake shore and was followed by a rapid sedimentation of organic deposits that embedded and preserved the artifacts. Our geoarchaeological analysis challenges this model. Here, we present evidence that the sediments of Schöningen 13 II-4 were deposited in a constantly submerged area of a paleolake. Although we cannot exclude the possibility that the artifacts were deposited during a short, extreme drying event, there are no sedimentary features indicative of surface exposure in the sediments. Accordingly, this paper explores three main alternative models of site formation: anthropogenic disposal of materials into the lake, a geological relocation of the artifacts, and hunting or caching on lake-ice. These models have different behavioral ramifications concerning hominin knowledge and exploitation of the landscape and their subsistence strategies.

KW - Environmental planning

KW - Geoarchaeology

KW - Lower Paleolithic

KW - Site formation

KW - Lake sites

KW - Geoarchaeology

KW - Lake sites

KW - Lower Paleolithic

KW - Site formation

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84940706738&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.07.008

DO - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.07.008

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 26341030

VL - 89

SP - 71

EP - 91

JO - Journal of Human Evolution

JF - Journal of Human Evolution

SN - 0047-2484

ER -