Vangelis Tourloukis

On the Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Mediterranean Lower Paleolithic Sites: A Geoarchaeological Perspective

Lower Paleolithic evidence from the Mediterranean region holds a prominent position in discussions about the earliest peopling of Europe. Most studies examining patterns of human occupation focus on purported behavioral capacity, habitat preference, and environmental tolerance of different hominins. This chapter employs a geoarchaeological perspective through the examination of landscape dynamics as a complementary approach. In this context, Lower Paleolithic records of the Mediterranean and the Balkans are reviewed with an emphasis on the geomorphological settings of the best-studied sites. Since most of the oldest, well dated and primary-context material occurs in open-air sites situated in basins, the last part of the chapter explores how basin dynamics could have conditioned the preservation and accessibility of artifact-bearing strata. Spain, Italy, and Greece are used as case-studies and a conceptual model is proposed as a means to assess possible patterned relationships of site locations. A “basin model” offers a working hypothesis for evaluating site distributions and outlines first steps towards a geosciences-based methodology, which can be used to locate new sites.

New Middle Palaeolithic sites from the Mani Peninsula, Southern Greece

We here report the first results from a systematic research project in Mani (Southern Greece), which includes survey and test excavations. Forty-six caves, rockshelters and open-air sites in lowland settings were surveyed. Geomorphological data were collected in order to assess how geological processes affect the preservation of sites and bias site distribution patterns. Artifacts manufactured from non-local rock indicate potential raw material transfers and suggest links among the different regions of Mani, related to mobility patterns. Our research in the Mani has nearly doubled the number of known Middle Palaeolithic sites from the region and confirmed that the peninsula has the strongest ‘Neanderthal signal’ identified to date in Greece. Almost all sites are located at coastal areas. Despite the influence of Pleistocene landscape dynamics, this distribution emerges as a persistent pattern, perhaps indicating a preference for coastal locations. The Neanderthal occupation of Mani can illuminate important aspects of Middle Palaeolithic adaptation in one of the southernmost coastal regions of Europe.

Evidence for precision grasping in Neandertal daily activities

Contrary to common assumptions, Neandertal habitual behavior relied mainly on manual precision rather than brute grip force. Neandertal manual activities, as previously reconstructed from their robust hand skeletons, are thought to involve systematic power grasping rather than precise hand movements. However, this interpretation is at odds with increasing archeological evidence for sophisticated cultural behavior. We reevaluate the manipulative behaviors of Neandertals and early modern humans using a historical reference sample with extensive genealogical and lifelong occupational documentation, in combination with a new and precise three-dimensional multivariate analysis of hand muscle attachments. Results show that Neandertal muscle marking patterns overlap exclusively with documented lifelong precision workers, reflecting systematic precision grasping consistent with the use of their associated cultural remains. Our findings challenge the established interpretation of Neandertal behavior and establish a solid link between biological and cultural remains in the fossil record.