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Quaternary Science Reviews 30 (2011) 1948e1964

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Quaternary Science Reviews

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Rapid climate change in the Upper Palaeolithic: the record of charcoal coniferrings from the Gravettian site of Dolní Vĕstonice, Czech Republic

David Beresford-Jones a,*, Sean Taylor a, Clea Paine b, Alexander Pryor a, Ji�rí Svoboda c,d, Martin Jones a

aMcDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing St., Cambridge CB2 3ER, UKbDepartment of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Downing St., Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UKcDepartment of Anthropology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlá�rská 2, Brno, Czech Republicd Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Královopolská 147, Brno, Czech Republic

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 29 July 2010Received in revised form9 April 2011Accepted 28 April 2011Available online 24 May 2011

Keywords:Upper-PalaeolithicGravettianCharcoalTree ringsClimate changeMicromorphologyArchaeobotany

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ44 223 333537.E-mail addresses: dgb27@cam.ac.uk (D. Beresford

Taylor), chp29@cam.ac.uk (C. Paine), ajep2@cam.ac.ukcz (J. Svoboda), mkj12@cam.ac.uk (M. Jones).

0277-3791/$ e see front matter � 2011 Elsevier Ltd.doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2011.04.021

a b s t r a c t

Precisely how Upper Palaeolithic human ecology was shaped by changing climate during the Pleniglacialremains a matter of debate, for while this generally cold period is now understood to include complexand often rapid flux in climate, there are still considerable difficulties in resolving climatic variations atparticular times and places d derived from various lines of proxy evidence d with the high-resolutionproxy record of temperature changes from oxygen isotope analysis of the Greenland ice-cores.

In this paper we apply the methodology of large-scale flotation to newly excavated contexts from theUpper Palaeolithic (Gravettian) site of Dolní Vĕstonice II, Czech Republic, to explore the potential ofcharcoal d as a natural archive of environmental information d to offer information on environmentalchange towards the end of the middle pleniglacial during Oxygen Isotope Stage 3, between c. 32,500 and31,200 Cal yr BP. The results of an analysis of ring widths and other anatomical features d interpretedalongside micromorphological data d indicate that this charcoal may capture a higher-resolution recordof the changing climatic conditions during which humans were first expanding into these hithertomarginal ecologies and, consequently, shed new light upon the complexity of the lifeways that enabledthem to do so.

� 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Background

The natural corridor, sometimes known as the Moravian Gate,which links the Danube basin with the North European Plainthrough the gap between the Carpathian Mountains to the east andthe Bohemian Plateau to the west, is the location of many sites ofthe European Palaeolithic. This corridor constrained the move-ments of early human communities and the herd animals theyfollowed (Svoboda et al., 1994: 457) and archaeological sites alongit enjoy remarkable preservation by virtue of the substantialdeposits of loess, which accumulated here during recurrentepisodes of periglacial conditions during the Middle and LatePleniglacial periods.

One such cluster of sites lies scattered along the western andnorthern slopes of a limestone outcrop, the Pavlov Hills, whichoverlooks the wide valley of the Dyje River, near the village of Dolní

-Jones), st435@cam.ac.uk (S.(A. Pryor), svoboda@iabrno.

All rights reserved.

Vĕstonice, in the Czech Republic (see Fig. 1). Previous excavationshere have revealed several sites having in common the distinctiveflint artefact assemblage defined as ‘Gravettian’, in associationwithhearth features and accumulations of mammoth and other animalbones (see for instance, Svoboda, 1991; Svoboda et al., 2007). Thesesites are the vestiges of Upper Palaeolithic hunteregatherer socie-ties, who pursued a largely mobile lifestyle following migratoryanimal herds through the Moravian corridor during the variousclimatic phases which preceded the last glacial maximum, but whoreturned continually to certain strategic sites, perhaps according toseasonal rounds (Trinkaus and Svoboda, 2006: 6).

Gravettian material culture shows a number of importantinnovations including the increased use of non-local raw materials,sophistication in lithic and organic tool industries and perhaps theearliest evidence of making fabrics (Soffer and Adovasio, 2002).Famously, finds at Dolní Vĕstonice have included assemblages offired-clay figurines and other evidence of ‘art’, elaborated humanburials and some suggestions of ephemeral constructions (Klíma,1988; Alt et al., 1997; Beck, 2000; Trinkaus and Svoboda, 2006).Indeed, this Gravettian ‘techno-complex’ is taken by many asevidence of the increasing social and technological complexity that

Fig. 1. The Moravian corridor.

D. Beresford-Jones et al. / Quaternary Science Reviews 30 (2011) 1948e1964 1949

enabled the expansion of modern humans into hithertomarginal oruninhabited ecologies (see for instance Gamble, 1982; Arnold,1996: 89e90; Beck, 2000; Klein, 1999: 551 and Halstead andO’Shea, 2004; Jones, 2009).

Yet, precisely how Upper Palaeolithic human ecologywas shapedby changing climate remains a matter of debate. For while long-standing notions of a relentlessly permafrosted and treeless land-scape, sweptbyperiglacialwinds throughout thePleistocenearenowunderstood to obscure far more complex and often rapid fluxes inclimate, thereare still greatdifficulties in resolvingclimaticvariationsat particular times and placesd derived from various lines of proxyevidence d with the high-resolution proxy record of temperaturechanges from oxygen isotope analysis of the Greenland ice-cores.

In this paper we apply themethodologies of large-scale flotationand micromorphology to newly excavated contexts from DolníVĕstonice II, to explore how charcoal d as a natural archive ofenvironmental information d might help elaborate a high-resolution record of environmental change at the time of thisparticular Gravettian occupation.

2. Climate change during the Middle Pleniglacial in theMoravian Gate

The oxygen isotope records of the Greenland ice-cores (e.g.‘NGRIP’) show frequent, short-lived temperature oscillations atonly the millennial scale throughout the Pleistocene (Dansgaardet al., 1993; Grootes et al., 1993; Alley et al., 1997). Each of theseDansgaardeOeschger events consisted of extremely abruptwarming, in which maximal temperatures were sustained for a fewdecades, followed by slower reversion to glacial conditions. Thisproxy record of air temperature in Greenland has been shown tocorrelate broadly with changes throughout the northern

hemisphere, using various other proxy indicators including, forinstance, long pollen sequences (Allen et al., 2000; Müller et al.,2003; Fletcher et al., 2010) and marine cores (Roucoux et al.,2001; Shackleton, 2001; Rasmussen and Thomsen, 2008). Indeed,just as it is in Moravia, the Palaeolithic archaeological record ispreserved in many places across Eurasia within deep loess depositsthat record long sequences of alternating aeolian sedimentationand pedogenesis. And, by framing these loess sequences withaccurate radiocarbon dates, Haesaerts et al. (2009, 2010) haveproposed correlations between them, and with the Greenlandoxygen isotope record.

Nonetheless, there are still considerable problems in attemptingto resolve a precise picture of the conditions that prevailed duringparticular times and places of human occupation, from thesebroad-scale understandings of DansgaardeOeschger climaticoscillations d not least those of chronology and the fragmentarynature of most sequences of proxy data (Sroubek et al., 2001;Sümegi and Krolopp, 2002; Shi et al., 2003: 16; Markovi�c et al.,2009). Numerous control factors d such as shifts in the clinesbetween maritime and continental climates (Barron et al., 2003),jet streamvariations and local topographydwill havemodified theamplitude and duration of DansgaardeOeschger oscillations andtheir expression in terms of seasonal temperature and precipitationat particular places. Moreover, while mean annual air temperaturesin central Europe at the timemay have been comparable to those ofarctic regions today, these averages obscure much greater variation,for the greater intensity of insolation at lower latitudes would causevery different seasonal ground temperatures (Guthrie, 2001). Theseare of particular importance to trees and other taller growingplants, so that there are no straightforward modern analogues forthe biomes that persisted under such conditions (see for instanceHuntley and Allen, 2003).

D. Beresford-Jones et al. / Quaternary Science Reviews 30 (2011) 1948e19641950

Meanwhile in general, the Gravettian archaeological recorditself offers rathermixed signals as to the environment prevailing atcertain times of occupation. Its faunal remains are mostly of cold-adapted species: mammoth, reindeer and horse, together withsmaller fur-bearing mammals such as wolf, arctic and common fox,and hare (Musil, 1994, 2003; West, 2001). Nonetheless, the abun-dance of large herbivores at archaeological sites d particularly oflarge numbers of mammoth d suggests an environment of some-time considerable carrying capacity (Stewart et al., 2003; Musil,2003; Huntley and Allen, 2003; Svoboda et al., 2005). As Willis &van Andel (2004:2370) put it, the numbers of mega-faunalremains at these sites bear witness to animal resources being notmerely present, but “plentiful”.

More specifically, the significant quantity of wood charcoal invarious Gravettian hearth contexts at Dolní Vĕstonice is clearevidence that trees grew nearby. Pollen evidence also suggests thattrees were present in these landscapes (Svobodová, 1991; Svobodaet al., 1994). Willis & van Andel’s (2004) review of the diversearchaeobotanical evidence from many Upper Palaeolithic contextsconcludes that at least 20 tree species, including deciduous trees,persisted in sheltered refugia in central Europe throughout theMiddle Pleniglacial (and see also Bhagwat and Willis, 2008 andFletcher et al., 2010). Indeed, for Moravia specifically, Mason et al.(1994: 50) suggest that the climate at the time of the occupationof Dolní Vĕstonice II was “probably continental and relatively cool,but not characterised byextremely low temperatures, permafrost ortundravegetation. [an] environment of high primary productivity,rich enough in plant and animal resources to support permanent orsemi-permanent occupation”. Rather by contrast, however, our own(Beresford-Jones et al., 2010) and Opravil’s (1994) analyses of DolníVĕstonice II hearth contexts yield only charcoal of extremely cold-tolerant conifer taxa. Indeed, Opravil (1994: 177) goes on to notethat these charcoals “in comparison with actual Holocene trees inthe same latitudes . show a much denser structure of narrowgrowth rings, suggesting unfavourable climatic conditions”.

Such mixed interpretations arise both because these ‘GravettianPeriod’ archaeological sites existed in biomes with no modernanalogues, and because they are vestiges of human occupation overa considerable span of time, occurring along a margin of habit-ability which was constantly in flux and driven by short Dans-gaardeOeschger climatic oscillations at only the millennial scale.Moreover, even for specific archaeological contexts, the fewradiocarbon dates available are inherently too imprecise d

particularly once calibrated beyond 31,500 Cal yr BP, (see Fig. 12)dfor specific palaeoenvironmental conditions to be resolved fromfragmentary lines of proxy evidence against such a background ofdynamic climate change.

And yet Opravil’s observations inspire exploration of anotherway by which we might seek to track changing conditions ata particular Gravettian occupation such as Dolní Vĕstonice II. For incertain circumstances tree rings, preserved as charcoal, may offera high-resolution archive of climate variation (see for instanceGodwin and Tansley, 1941; Fritts, 1976; Creber et al., 1987 andSchweingruber, 1988).

3. Trees and climate

That climate influences tree growth is, of course, the lowestcommon denominator of a long tradition of palaeoclimate researchthat covers much of the Holocene (see for instance Hughes et al.,1982). Rarely, however, have tree rings been used to investigatePleistocene environments, especially using charcoal from archae-ological contexts.

Dendroclimatology aims to reconstruct variations in pastclimate based upon relating anatomical evidence within the

structure of wood to processes that control growth (Fritts, 1976:53). These include, in particular, the thickness of tree growth rings,which can be correlated against climate over periods for whichreliable meteorological records exist, so creating a proxy record fordeeper-time sequences. The great advantage of tree rings as a proxyindicator of past climatic conditions is that they can providea continuous record of annual resolution. Indeed, the existence oflarge geographical scale patterns of common year to year tree ringvariability is not only evidence that these rings contain climateinformation, but is also the basis of tree ring dating (see for instanceHughes, 2002: 100e199). Naturally however, difficulties attendsuch reconstructions, not least because growth ring variability isdetermined by various environmental and genetic factors.

The vast majority of dendroclimatology studies have been basedon conifer woods (Hughes et al., 1982: 3), because many of theseshow abrupt discontinuity between the small thick-walled tracheidcells formed at the end of the growing season and large first growthcells. Tree growth depends on both climate and growing location, forthe environmental factors that affect rates of photosynthesis andrespiration aremany and inter-related, including light, temperature,moisture, available gases and soil fertility (see, for instance Fritts,1976: 163, 165, 205, 215, 227e230, 237). Furthermore, the sensi-tivity of tree growth to those environmental variations also dependsupon genetic factorsd certain so-called ‘complacent’ species beingless sensitive than others (Schweingruber, 1996: 26, 76,77). Disen-tangling these various influences upon tree growth to reconstructclimate changes during the Holocene is far from straightforwardeven when using long sequences of ring data obtained from coringtrees in known locations (see for instance Vaganov et al., 1999;Hughes, 2002; Schiermeier, 2010). Attempting to do so using a veryancient and fragmented archaeological charcoal record involves, ofcourse, uncertain control of many important variables of an entirelydifferent order of magnitude, which is likely why it has rarely beenhitherto attempted (although see Salisbury and Jane, 1940 and, fora review of recent studies, Marguerie and Hunot, 2007: 1417e1418).Yet, another reason may also be that, until recently, very few UpperPalaeolithic excavations incorporated flotation to recover charredorganic remains on a scale necessary for such an attempt to evenbegin to be explored. Indeed, however severe the taphonomic limi-tations of such a charcoal dataset, we would argue that they are, inprinciple, little different to those which apply to interpretations ofany Upper Palaeolithic archaeological data.

While carbonization causes shrinkage of wood morphology, theratio of the growth ring width in wood to that after charring doesnot vary significantly with the type of combustion, so that whilering widths cannot be usefully compared between wood andcharcoal, they can between charcoals (Salisbury and Jane,1940: 317,Marguerie and Hunot, 2007: 1422). We compare here the micro-scopic growth characteristics in spatially and temporally distinctassemblages of charcoal recovered through large-scale flotation atthe Gravettian archaeological site of Dolní Vĕstonice II-05. Recog-nising the serious caveats on precisely what factors might bereflected in these growth characteristics, wewill nonetheless arguethat patterns in these data, interpreted alongside other dataobtained through micromorphology, suggest that some inferencescan be made about changing climatic conditions at these remotetime depths, and, in turn, refine our understanding of theseGravettian archaeological contexts.

4. Methods and materials

4.1. New excavations at Dolní Vĕstonice II

The charcoal data presented here unfold from a larger investi-gation of human ecology during the Gravettian Period d the

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‘Moravian Gate Project’ d a joint project between the Centre forPalaeolithic and Palaeoethnological Research of the Institute ofArchaeology, Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic and theMcDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University ofCambridge, UK. The Moravian Gate Project carried out new exca-vations on the edge of the Dolní Vĕstonice II site cluster.

DVII was first excavated during rescue excavations in the 1980s,when the site was divided into three main agglomerations ofGravettian cultural remains, defined according to the excavationtrenches used to investigate them (see Fig. 2). These comprisedtypologically Pavlovian lithic remains, animal bones, in-situ hearthremains, evidence for possible structures, human burials, ochre andsome fired-clay pellets indicative of high firing temperatures(Svoboda, 1991 and Klíma, 1995). A weakly-developed palaeosolhorizon (‘sample 30 in Smolíková,1991: 70; equivalent to ‘layer B’ inKovanda, 1991: 89; equivalent to ‘layer 8, a brown humic soil withcharcoal’, in Svoboda, 1991: Fig. 4) was encountered throughoutthese excavations beneath the Gravettian cultural layer and sepa-rated from it by loess deposits of varying thickness. Various analysesof malacozoology, pollen, and pedology were carried out down thisstratigraphy (see Svoboda, 1991: Fig. 41). Faunal and charcoalremains from various locations in DVII were also analysed andradiocarbon dates obtained from the cultural layers and the under-lying incipient palaeosol (Svoboda,1991;Mason et al.,1994; Opravil,1994). Together these suggested a typical mammoth-steppe envi-ronment (Guthrie, 2001) at the time of occupation characterised bycold-tolerant fauna, molluscs and conifer tree species.

Following these investigations, most of the former Dolní Vĕs-tonice II site was destroyed as its accompanying loess deposits wereremoved for the construction of dams across the adjacent rivervalley bottom. That operation, however, left a steep extant bank tothe south along which Gravettian deposits still survive at somepoints. The DVII-05 excavations were carried out on this bank, closeto the original position of agglomeration 1 and the famous tripleburial site (see Fig. 2). The site had been prepared for excavation in1991 by cutting a large step into the bank and thereby removing its

Fig. 2. Location of DVII-05 in relation to pre

overburden of loess. That overburden varied in depth from 6 m atthe inner, southern edge of the step to zero (i.e. the surface) at itsnorthern, outer edge, due to the natural process of slumping, whichhad occurred since the slope was cut in the 1980’s.

Systematic excavation began from the surface of Gravettiandeposits, defined by the frequent occurrence of distinctive‘Gravettian’ flint artefacts d backed points, blades and bladelets ein association with animal bones and charcoal concentrations (andsee Svoboda et al., 2007 and Beresford-Jones et al., 2010 for furtherdetails). Excavation proceeded by 10 cm deep spits within 50 cm2

quadrants (see Fig. 3) because, other than their content of artefacts,most of these contexts showed very few visible distinctions thatwould have allowed for their definition into stratigraphic unitsduring excavation. However, the fine differences in the site’s stra-tigraphy were clarified through the cleaning of several verticalsections, including most importantly, one along its southern edge(AeA0 on Fig. 3A). The Gravettian surface undulated and inclinedgently at an angle of around eight degrees from north to southwhere its loess matrix was deposited against the limestone outcropof the Pavlov Hills. The height of each excavation spit thereforevaried with each quadrant across the site and was recorded by TotalStation prior to its excavation. As they were excavated the locationof each Gravettian artefact was also recorded by Total Station,thereby defining the orientation and depth of the cultural layer (seeFig. 3B).

Excavations of this Gravettian layer exposed one particularlydense concentration of charcoal at its northwest corner, interpretedto be a hearth. While the uppermost spits of this hearth contextconjoined its surrounding Gravettian deposits, the charcoalconcentrations that defined its form continued to varying depthsbeneath, because its base was disturbed, apparently by processes ofsolifluction. Within some excavation quadrants, four 10 cm spits(numbered 1 to 4 downwards) were required to excavatecompletely this hearth feature. Fire-scars of rubified loess markedseveral hearth bases that were visible in sections within its densecharcoal concentrations (see Figs. 4 and 10D).

vious excavations at Dolní Vĕstonice II.

Fig. 3. Plan and section of the Dolní Vĕstonice II-05 excavation.

D. Beresford-Jones et al. / Quaternary Science Reviews 30 (2011) 1948e19641952

Along the long southern section AeA0 , the Gravettian depositscould be distinguished by the slightest change in colour from thevery pale brown (10 YR 7/3) of their loess matrix to light brownishgrey (10 YR 6/2) silt loam of the deposits themselves (see Fig. 5).Stratigraphically below the Gravettian layer, and separated from itby a thin layer of further loess-like deposits, was a distinct brown(10 YR 4/6) layer, containing frequent charcoal lenses. This layerwas interpreted to be a buried, incipient soil horizon (palaeosol), inapproximately the same stratigraphic arrangement as the incipientpalaeosol identified at the site during the 1980s excavations (‘layer8’ in Svoboda, 1991: Fig. 4). Seven bulk sediment samples con-taining dense concentrations of charcoal were taken from alongthis palaeosol layer in the southern section AeA0, here separatedstratigraphically from the Gravettian deposits, with loess inbetween (see Fig. 5).

In order to make a detailed characterisation of the Dolní Ves-tonice sediments, monolith samples for micromorphological anal-ysis were taken in intact blocks down section AeA0 , across itssequence of: overlying loess; Gravettian layer; interleaving loesslayer; and, underlying palaeosol. Monolith samples were also takenfrom the hearth context for the same purpose. Thin sections wereproduced from these monoliths in the McBurney Geoarchaeology

Laboratory, University of Cambridge (after Murphy, 1986), andanalysed (following Bullock et al., 1985) using a Nikon Optiphot-2polarising microscope.

5. Extraction and identification of organic remains

Given the various aims of the Moravian Gate Project, ourmethodology (following Hather, 2000a: 74) included flotation ofthe DVII-05 excavation on as large a scale as possible. Flotationsamples generally comprised the entire excavated contextfollowing the removal of larger finds. Indeed, a total of 3632 L ofexcavated contexts were floated in the field using a robust versionof the standard Cambridge Flotation Tank, including the 14 contextsfrom the hearth area discussed here. This proved an effectiveway ofextracting charred organic remains from their fine, massive loesssediment contexts.

Light fractions were separated by a 500 mm and 2.0 mm sievestack, dried in their sieves and then packed for transport to theGeorge PitteRivers Laboratory for Bioarchaeology, University ofCambridge, and slowly dried further in a drying oven on minimumsetting over 24 h. Several categories of charred plant remains werethereby extracted from DVII-05 contexts, but the larger (greater

Fig. 4. Hearth contexts of Dolní Vĕstonice II-05 excavations.

D. Beresford-Jones et al. / Quaternary Science Reviews 30 (2011) 1948e1964 1953

than 2 mm) wood charcoals of interest here were sorted andidentified under low and high power light microscopy usingPhillips (1948), Schweingruber (1978) and Hather (2000b). Largercharcoals were also extracted from the seven bulk sedimentsamples taken from the palaeosol layer using small-scale flotationand sieving in the laboratory.

Fig. 5. Southern section (AeA0) of Do

6. Measuring charcoal ring widths

Our investigation here seeks to compare themicroscopic growthcharacteristics in spatially and temporally distinct assemblages ofcharcoal. For this purpose charcoals were chosen from 14 spitcontexts within the hearth area associated with Gravettian

lní Vĕstonice II-05 excavations.

D. Beresford-Jones et al. / Quaternary Science Reviews 30 (2011) 1948e19641954

remains, and from the seven bulk samples taken from within thesingle context of the incipient palaeosol layer where it was exposedalong Section AeA0 (see Fig. 5).

We aspired to examining 12 charcoal fragments from eachcontext and to measuring incremental growth and cellular struc-ture in each across as many growth rings as possible. While floatedhearth contexts often contained sufficiently well preserved char-coal for this purpose, others d particularly the palaeosol bulksamples d contained fewer. From these latter contexts as manycharcoal fragments as possible were selected of sufficient size forrings to be measured.

Transverse sections of these charcoals were examined usinga Lintab 5 tree ring measurement station in the Godwin Institute ofQuaternary Research, University of Cambridge (following Cooket al., 1990 and Rinn, 1996), allowing their individual rings widthsto be measured to a resolution of 10 mm, and recorded using theTSAP (time series analysis program), software platform. All recor-ded ring widths were then analysed using SPSS statistical software.

7. Results and interpretations

7.1. Radiocarbon dates

Table 1 shows radiocarbon dates from charcoal recovered in theDVII-05 excavations (and see Beresford-Jones et al., 2010) andcompares them to the relevant published radiocarbon dates fromprevious excavations at Dolní Vestonice II.

Two radiocarbon dates obtained from Picea/Larix charcoalfragments from the hearth (OxA-17813 and OxA-17814, see Figs. 3B

Table 1Comparison of comparable radiocarbon dates from all Dolní Vĕstonice II excavations. ReJones et al., 2010. Dates from references 1e3 measured using conventional methods. Da

Stratigraphic unit Sample no. Context Sample m

DVII eAgglomeration1

Triple human burial DV XIIIeXV Charcoal

DVII eAgglomeration2

Northern fireplace VI-6 CharcoalEastern hearth II-2 CharcoalSouthern fireplace IV/8 CharcoalWestern hearth XXI/6 CharcoalHearth close to humanremains 36, 39, 49.

Charcoal

DVII eAgglomeration3

Human burial DV XVI(II-I, ‘1st settlement unit’)

Charcoal

Fireplace near DV XVI burial CharcoalHearth D near DV XVI burial CharcoalHearth (’2nd settlement unit’) CharcoalHearth (’3rd settlement unit’) CharcoalLayer 8, Section 1, near burial XVI Charcoal

DVII e NorthernSlope (LP/1-4)

Hearth Charcoal

DVII-05 U3 B2 S28 (DVII 6) Gravettian Layer Picea/LariV5 A2 S30 (DVII 7) Gravettian Layer Picea/LariX-1 A1 S285 (DVII 10) Hearth Picea/Lari

cf. Pinus tCH11 S286 (DVII-11) Hearth Picea/LariR1 A1 S25 (DVII 4) Palaeosol Picea/LariS1 B1 S26 (DVII 5) Palaeosol Picea/LariV5 A2 S30 (DVII 8) cf. Picea/L

charcoalV5 A2 S30 (DVII 9) Picea/Lari

charcoal

and 12), bracket a time period within which the hearth may havebeen used of nearly five centuries, between 31,545 and31,057 Cal yrs BP. Two other radiocarbon dates from elsewhere inthe Gravettian layer (OxA-17811 and OxA-18038) are calibrated tobetween 31,383 and 30,869 Cal yrs BP, expanding the period withinwhich occupation occurred to over six centuries. They lie within therange of dates obtained from the Gravettian contexts of other partsof the DVII site complex, which, taken together bracket a period oftime of over two millennia, between 31,884 and 29,666 Cal yrs BP.

Two radiocarbon dates from the palaeosol layer, one fromsection AeA0 (OxA-17809) and another from an adjacent, excavatedspit quadrant (OxA-17810) bracket the period when this incipientsoil formation occurred to between 33,181 and 31,628 Cal yrs BP.These dates are far less precise than those of the Gravettian occu-pation because of the flatness of the calibration curve at these timedepths, but they are more or less consistent with the single previ-ously published date (GrN-15280) of 33,700e31,200 Cal yrs BPfrom the incipient palaeosol (‘layer 8’ in Svoboda, 1991: Fig. 4) inprevious excavations at DVII.

7.2. The charcoal assemblage

Many thousands of charred plant remains have been examinedin the context of this and other ongoing investigations of thecharred plant remains from the Dolní Vĕstonice II-05 excavations(Beresford-Jones, 2006; Beresford-Jones et al., 2010). Over 1000charcoal fragments were, for instance, examined during the selec-tion of suitable charcoals for this investigation. And, all the speciesso far identified from the rich DVII-05 contexts are from a small

ferences: (1) Klíma 1995; (2) Svoboda 1991; (3) Damblon et al., 1996; (4) Beresford-tes from reference 4 measured using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry.

aterial Lab. No. D13C Date þ/� Calibrateddate range

Ref.

From To

GrN-14831 26,640 110 31,305 30,996 1

GrN-15326 26,970 160 31,506 31,096 1GrN-15325 26,970 160 31,506 31,096 1GrN-15324 27,070 170 31,566 31,126 1GrN-15327 27,080 170 31,570 31,129 1GrN-21122 26,970 200 31,540 31,075 3

GrN-15276 25,570 280 30,955 29,666 2

GrN-15277 25,740 210 31,015 30,225 2ISGS-1744 26,390 270 31,315 30,550 2GrN-15279 26,920 250 31,574 31,019 2GrN-15278 27,070 300 31,884 31,019 2GrN-15280 27,900 550 33,677 31,189 2

GrN-21123 26,390 190 31,267 30,683 3

x charcoal OxA-17811 �23.2 26,770 140 31,383 31,028 4x charcoal OxA-18038 �24.4 26,460 140 31,265 30,869 4x (a) &wig (b)

OxA-17813 �24.7 27,080 140 31,545 31,144 4

x charcoal OxA-17814 �24.8 26,850 140 31,426 31,057 4x charcoal OxA-17809 �23.9 28,310 150 33,181 31,940 4x charcoal OxA-17810 �23.6 28,050 150 32,856 31,628 4arix (v. small) OxA-17853 �24.9 28,450 170 33,335 32,058 4

x (v. small) OxA-17812 �23.4 28,550 150 33,430 32,218 4

Fig. 6. Relationship between numbers of rings and ring widths for all charcoalfragments.

D. Beresford-Jones et al. / Quaternary Science Reviews 30 (2011) 1948e1964 1955

range of cold-adapted conifer genera: Pinus, Abies, Larix/Picea andJuniperus. The only non-coniferous genus so far identified in thisassemblage is a single fragment of Betula sp. d another taxontolerant of extreme cold.

The majority of charcoals identified in this study were of Larix/Picea, two Northern European species of whichd Larix decidua andPicea abies d unfortunately cannot always be safely distinguishedanatomically, especially in archaeological contexts (see for instanceSchweingruber, 1978). Opravil (1994) distinguishes between thetwo in his analysis of charcoals from Dolní Vĕstonice, although hedoes not specify on what criteria. Bartholin (1979) and Hather(2000b: 40e43) describe small differences between the twospecies, such as in the bordered pits of the ray tracheids, although

Fig. 7. Comparison of mean ring wi

Bartholin (1979: 8) notes that these have “often been burnt away oncharcoal”. Biogeography might suggest that Pleniglacial Larix/Piceacharcoals from DVII-05 are more likely of L. decidua, since thespecies is tolerant of cold down to minus 50 �C by virtue of beingone of the few conifers that sheds its needles annually, therebyachieving an almost complete physiological ‘shutdown’. L. deciduagrows only onwell-drained soils, for instance along the Alpine treeline at 2400m asl. Yet some investigators identify spruce remains ina number of sites north of latitude 50� (Binney et al., 2009), so thateven this biogeographical distinction remains uncertain. FollowingBartholin (1979) and Hather (2000a,b) therefore, we conservativelyidentified a small number (22) of charcoal fragments from onehearth context (X-1 B2 BL2 (S294b)) and one palaeosol bulk sample(R3 B (S57) sample 3) as Larix/Picea (cf. Larix sp.).

Such an ancient fragmented charcoal dataset offers only fewclues as to the dimensions of the wood from whence they came.Nonetheless, tree-ring curvature can be suggestive: the strongerthe curvature, the smaller bough (Marguerie and Hunot, 2007:1421). Following Marguerie and Hunot (2007), the charcoal frag-ments from the DVII-05 hearth contexts selected here were clas-sified to have strong curvature d evidence that they derive fromsmaller branches. Charcoals from the hearth represent an obviousanthropogenic assemblage and there are many good reasons whyconifer wood, and pine in particular, might be selected preferen-tially by humans for fire-making, including the occurrence of easilycollected deadwood lower branches (Beresford-Jones et al., 2010:2809). Nonetheless, the absence of any thermophilous tree speciesrecorded to date within the very large assemblage of charcoal fromthe DV II-05 hearth context is highly suggestive that generally coldconditions prevailed at the time of this particular Gravettianoccupation (cf. Opravil, 1994). The palaeosol layer, meanwhile,contained no evidence of human occupation, so that the charcoal init is likely of natural, wildfire origin (cf. Damblon and Haesaerts,2002).

dths between various contexts.

Table 2Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of Mean Widths for charcoal fragments in various DVII 05 contexts.

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8. Systematic variations in growth rings andmicromorphology

Table A (see Supplementary Information) shows all the ringwidths measured in this investigation for the 185 fragments ofconifer charcoal analysed, together with the mean ring widths foreach fragment, from each of the DVII-05 contexts examined here:14 contexts from the area of the Gravettian hearth; and seven bulksamples extracted from the palaeosol layer exposed along sectionAeA0 , underlying the Gravettian layer.

As discussed, many climatic and growing location influence treegrowth and the sensitivity of growth to those environmentalfactors varies very much with genetic factors. In principle, as wewill attempt shortly, this latter variable can be controlled bymaking comparisons between identified charcoal fragments,although in practice when using archaeological charcoal, thisentails a dramatic decrease in the numbers of data. But a furtherlimitation imposed by taphonomy on this ancient dataset is hintedat by Fig. 6, which plots the number of rings per charcoal fragmentas a function of the mean ring width of that fragment. It shows anexponential tailing off in the numbers of rings recorded as meanring width increases, and, indeed, these measures are apparentlybroadly related since they have a covariance (R2) of 0.58. Thissuggests that, in these thirty thousand year-old contexts, fragments

with narrow growth rings are better preserved than those withwider rings, thanks to their differentially stronger charred structure(cf. Scott, 1989). Indeed, this was precisely what we observed in thefield and laboratory, for although the bulk samples from thepalaeosol layer containedmany charcoals, some of these turned outto be humified wood fragments, and even the condition of itscharcoals was extremely friable. The relatively poor preservation ofthese charcoals is consequently reflected in our analyses here.These taphonomic factors would likely skew populations of ringwidths in the palaeosol layer towards narrower ring widths, andtogether with the considerable ‘noise’ caused by genetic andgrowing location variation, might well be expected to obscure anypatterns of variation in ring widths.

And yet, notwithstanding these considerable limitations, ringwidths in the DVII-05 archaeological contexts do appear to showsome striking variations, which we explore here together withpossible interpretations in conjunction with micromorphologicaldata. Attempting to discriminate between these interpretationsthrows, we will argue, fresh light on the Gravettian archaeo-logical record of Dolní Vĕstonice II and its palaeoenvironmentalcontext.

Fig. 7 shows box plots of the mean ring widths for all the conifercharcoal fragments from each of the types of DVII-05 contexts d

the four spit depths of the hearth and the palaeosol layer bulk

Fig. 8. Comparison of Larix/Picea (cf. Larix sp.) ring widths between hearth and palaeosol contexts.

Fig. 9. Transverse sections of selected Larix/Picea (cf. Larix sp.) charcoal fragments from hearth and palaeosol contexts.

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Fig. 10. Micrographs of selected DVII-05 stratigraphic units.

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samples. Mean ring widths in spit 2 are significantly narrower thanthose of the overlying hearth spits, and also than those of thepalaeosol layer (see Table 2). The relatively poor preservation of thecharcoals from the palaeosol layer is reflected in a fractured datasetfor those samples in which box plots of mean ring widths, showa much higher number of outlier measurements than thoseextracted by flotation from the hearth area, lying well above the 1.5upper quartile range.

Fig. 8 shows box plots of ring widths in 12 fragments (witha total of 217 rings), and 10 fragments (with 82 rings), all identifiedas Larix/Picea (cf. Larix sp.) from the spit 2, Gravettian hearth sampleof X-1 B2 BL2 (S294b) and the palaeosol sample of R3 B S57 (3),respectively. The figure shows that the ring widths of the fragmentsfrom the palaeosol are, almost, consistently wider than those fromspit 2 of the hearth. An independent t-test on these two pop-ulations of ring widths (n ¼ 217 and 82) from these two contexts

gives a (two-tailed) significance of <0.001, which strongly suggestsignificant difference between them. By way of crude comparison,the figure also shows the box plot of ring widths in charcoalsprepared from L. decidua growing today in the Cambridge Univer-sity Botanical Gardens.

Nor are these distinctions in anatomy between Larix/Picea (cf.Larix sp.) charcoals from these two contexts limited to this differ-ence between their ring widths, for, to the extent that they can bedistinguished in transverse sections of charcoal, the rings of char-coals from the hearth context generally show far less early wood inproportion to late wood growth than did those from the palaeosolsample. This sort of qualitative description of the structure oftracheid cells within growth rings d and in particular, theproportion of early to late wood growth d has been used to makeinterpretations, for instance, about the environmental conditions inwhich fossil tree wood grew at great time depths (Chaloner and

Table 3The stratigraphy of DVII-05, section AeA0 .

Unit Description e see Fig. 5

1. A base of interstadial cambisol A-horizon with occasional macro-charcoal; underlying,2. A weakly-developed B-horizon of the palaeosol (Unit 3).3. Reworked loam with episodes of hillwash resulting in lenses of very charcoal-and humified wood-rich, coarse-grained material (‘palaeosol’ herein); underlying,4. Weakly decalcified, reworked loess, indicating an onset of colder, drier conditions, though less severe than those that eventually prevailed during the deposition

of the Pleniglacial loess (Unit 6); underlying,5. Incipient soil with gleyic features containing artefacts, charcoals, animal bone etc. (labelled the ‘Gravettian layer’ herein for convenience).

The soil contains abundant evidence both for periodic saturation and for aridity, including humified plant matter, likely grass, iron oxide patches and mottles,and abundant small-scale calcium carbonate accumulations. micro-debitage and bone have been incorporated into that incipient soil by bioturbation,while the soliflucted archaeological sediments also contain crumbs of humic-rich A-horizon material from the ancient soil surface. Despite high artefact density,the anthropogenic sediments contain relatively little micro-debitage or other evidence of human activity. They are subsequently capped by,

6. The deep primary Pleniglacial loess overburden, with a few lenses of tundra gley visible in places in the section, representing severe climatic deteriorationwith the approach of the Last Glacial Maximum.

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Creber, 1973; Creber, 1977). In fragments from the palaeosol, earlywood is composed of as many as 15 tracheid cells and up to sixlatewood cells (see Fig. 9 C&D), which appear more uniformwithingrowth rings and are generally larger than those from the hearthcontext, some of which have growth rings made up of only one ortwo late wood cells, generally with very little cell wall thickening(see Fig. 9A&B).

Although, the factors influencing tree growth are many,temperature, particularly during August and September, hasa strong effect on both the density of late wood conifer tracheidsand also upon ring growth (Vaganov et al., 2006: 160e162). Thecombination of those features observed in the fragments from thehearth context suggests that temperature might have been themain limiting factor to their growth. Indeed, this pattern of thin-walled, late wood cells, produced by pronounced cooling towardsthe end of the summer, is observed today in conifers growing alongmargins of the timberline in the Arctic (Briffa et al., 1988). Thesefeatures, therefore, hint at conditions of delayed springs, coolsummers and early onset of cold autumns. In contrast, while thebroader ring widths of the palaeosol may correlate with higheraverage summer temperatures, their increased proportion of latewood tracheids is more certainly accounted for by a longer growingseason (Vaganov et al., 2006: 45). Low soil humidity, however, mayalso account for the narrower ring widths observed in these hearthcharcoals (Fritts, 1976: 50; Creber, 1977: 361 and Schweingruber,1996), for micromorphological analyses suggest that, relative tothe palaeosol layer, the period of Gravettian occupation was notonly cold, but arid too (Paine, 2011).

Fig. 10 shows micrographs of selected units of the DVII-05stratigraphy (see Fig. 5), while Table 3 summarises the interpreta-tion of each stratigraphic unit based upon those micromorpho-logical descriptions. Unit 3 d herein the ‘palaeosol’ context d

shows incipient soil formation, indicating relative stability andclimatic amelioration with increasing humidity (see Fig. 10A&B). Itunderlies Unit 5 d an incipient soil with gleyic features containingartefacts, charcoals, animal bone etc. d herein the ‘Gravettianlayer’, which contains abundant evidence both for periodic satu-ration and for aridity (see Fig. 10CeF). Indeed, the micromorpho-logical features of Unit 5 d increased structural developmentincluding increased aggregate size, decreased packing void space,increased root pore space, slight decalcification, and slightlyincreased organic matter content, together with evidence for soilsaturation d all suggest a slight climatic amelioration relative tothe underlying reworked loess-like sediment of Unit 4, althoughnotably not relative to the earlier incipient palaeosol of Unit 3,which underwent a much greater degree of pedogenesis.

Although, as we have seen, this Gravettian layer is defined by itsrelatively dense accumulation of bone and flints, the

micromorphology of Unit 5 shows remarkably little micro-debitageor other evidence of human activity, which suggests ephemeraloccupation, perhaps according to seasonal rounds. Meanwhile, thestratigraphic position of these anthropogenic sediments on thesurface of the Unit 5 incipient soil d subsequently capped by deepPleniglacial loess, empty of charcoal or indeed any other evidenceof human occupation, and deposited during the severe climaticdeterioration of the Late Pleniglacial d puts beyond reasonabledoubt that these Gravettian occupations took place during thecourse of a single DansgaardeOeschger event.

Previous analyses of archaeological charcoals from much latertime periods during the Holocene have discounted the effects ofclimate change on ring widths in favour of other environmentalfactors, such as the spacing of trees from which fuel was gathered,because, as Marguerie and Hunot (2007: 1428) put it, during thePostglacial period “climatic variations were too weak to modifyclearly the average radial growth of the trees”. But, during thePleniglaciald as evidenced by our micromorphological analyses ofthese contexts d climate shifts were much more extreme andcannot so easily be dismissed as a powerful influence on treegrowth. On the contrary, we suggest that such shifts might verywell account of the significant contrasts noted here between theanatomical structures of Larix/Picea (cf. Larix sp.) in charcoal frag-ments from these two contexts at DVII-05.

Turning to look in more detail at the area of the hearth itselfreveals further contrasts between growth ring widths recorded incharcoal. Fig. 11 shows box plots of mean ring widths for a total of124 conifer charcoal fragments (containing 1150 growth rings),grouped according to the excavated spit depth from which theywere extracted. Notwithstanding its very great age, the hearthpreserved dense concentrations of charcoal to a depth of over20 cm in certain places (see Fig. 4). In form it was merely anindistinctly defined, shallow depression into the loess of theGravettian layer with a particularly imprecise bottom disturbed inplaces by solifluction. Yet in some parts of the hearth a fire-scar ofrubified loess of around 10 cm in thickness marked a hearth base,while several others were also visible within the charcoal accu-mulations of its upper two contexts. Micromorphological analysesof the thin sections prepared from monolith samples down thesehearth contexts confirm a microstratigraphy of several rubifiedhearth bases, comprising fine-grained deposits of loess-like mate-rial (see Fig. 10D). These are evidence of many episodes of fire-making here, separated by significant periods of disuse duringwhich aeolian sedimentation took place: a pattern noted also inother Gravettian hearths (Nigst, 2004; Antl-Weiser et al., 2010). Inits lower spit contexts the hearth deposits intrude into the under-lying palaeosol layer, both because of the depth of the hearth itselfand because of disturbance of the hearth base, presumably through

Fig. 11. Variation of ring widths with depth in the hearth area.

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Fig. 12. d Comparison of previously published radiocarbon data for Dolní Vĕstonice II (Svoboda, 1991; Klíma, 1995; Damblon et al., 1996) and new Moravian Gate Projectradiocarbon data (Beresford-Jones et al., 2010) for Dolní Vĕstonice II-05, all re-calibrated using the IntCal09 calibration curve (Reimer et al., 2009), and plotted using OxCal (BronkRamsey, 2009). v18O data taken from Svensson et al. (2008), and re-plotted from years before AD 2000 to years before AD 1950. Maximum chronological errors for the ice core dataare estimated to be c.�500 years at 30 ka (1 standard deviation; Svensson et al., 2008).

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D. Beresford-Jones et al. / Quaternary Science Reviews 30 (2011) 1948e19641962

processes of solifluction leading to infilling of a small erosion gulley(see Fig. 4). And, as we have seen, that palaeosol layer is itself rich incharcoal.

Fig.11 shows a pattern of a narrowing of mean ringwidths downfrom the first to the second 10 cm spit, followed by successivelywidening ring widths in the third and fourth spits. An analysis ofvariance (ANOVA) between the mean ring widths recorded showsno significant differences between ring widths in the first twohearth contexts, but significant differences between those of spit 2and the contexts below (see Table 2). Indeed, this pattern of ringwidth change is repeated systematically down each quadrantanalysed of the hearth (see Fig. 11B).

The average period recorded by annual growth rings preservedon charcoal fragments from these hearth contexts is 8 years, withsome up to 35 years (see Table A). Clearly therefore, thesesystematic variations in the widths of a large number of conifergrowth ring with depth in this Gravettian hearth context havenothing to do with any seasonal timing of burning. Rather, they areexplained most straightforwardly by the changing proportions ofhearth to palaeosol charcoal as the former grades into the latter inthe lower two spits. Indeed, that proportion might almost be pre-dicted by the ring widths measured in each spit d charcoals fromspit 3 being a mix of both the Gravettian hearth context and thepalaeosol, while those from the lowermost spit 4 are almost allderived from the palaeosol.

9. Conclusions

The chronological difficulties in precisely resolving local palae-oenvironmental conditions from high-resolution Greenland icecore data are well illustrated by the case of the Gravettian occu-pation of the Dolní Vĕstonice II complex, for which the publishedradiocarbon dates cover over two millennia (see Table 1). However,as shown in Fig.12, all these dates, including those from the DVII-05excavations which cover some six centuries, lie within a relativelycold DansgaardeOeschger period (GS5) recorded in the proxyrecord of air temperature recorded in the v18O NGRIP ice core.

Meanwhile, the dating of the DVII-05 palaeosol layer d and theincipient palaeosol (‘layer 8’ in Svoboda 1991: Fig 4) recorded inapproximately the same stratigraphic arrangement in the DVIIWestern Slope excavationsd is even less precise due to the flatnessof the calibration curve at this time depth. Nonetheless, these datescorrespond rather well with thewarmDansgaardeOeschger period(GIS5), which preceded GS5 (see Fig. 12).

These chronological coincidences are considerably elaboratedby the micromorphological and stratigraphic data presented here,which suggest ephemeral, episodic Gravettian occupations at DolníVĕstonice taking place within a single DansgaardeOeschger event.

Thus, the most straightforward explanation for the contrastsnoted here between the growth ring widths in charcoals from theGravettian hearth and underlying palaeosol layer is that they areaccounted for by the dramatic distinctions between their respectiveclimatic regimes, evident in the micromorphological analyses ofthese two contexts. Indeed, the general correspondences betweenthese DVII-05 data, the interpretations of the malacological andpedological data from previous DVII excavations (Svoboda, 1991),and the climate oscillations evident in the NGRIP ice core data, addsto the growing body of evidence that changes in the North Atlanticoceanic regime had strong and far-reaching consequences rightacross the terrestrial environments of northern Europe. Forconceivably, the slight climatic amelioration during the generallycold stadial phase evident in Unit 5, the time of Gravettian occu-pation, could correspond to the short GS5b oscillation in the NGRIPrecord (Anderson et al., 2007), noted by Haesaerts et al. (2010) inseveral loess sequences across Eurasia.

There are of course many other variables that influence growthring width and which cannot be controlled for in this archaeolog-ical context with anything like the rigour in which they would inconventional analyses of wood to reconstruct climate during theHolocene. For instance, growth rings narrow with age andaccording to where on the tree they occur d smaller brancheshaving narrower ring widths than main trunks. They also varysignificantly with species and according to growing locations. Thus,contrasts noted here between charcoals from the anthropogenichearth and the (presumably natural) palaeosol, and conceivablyeven the systematic patterns with the hearth itself, might alsoreflect the selection or availability of wood, and methods, of theancient Gravettian fire makers. These might include the use ofgraded sizes of boughs within a fire, the selection of particularlycombustible species for fire lighting with others added once the firewas set, or, the specific locality fromwhich fuel was collected (andsee Théry-Parisot et al., 2010). The influence of these uncontrolledvariables may, however, be diminished by some further consider-ations of this particular archaeological context.

Tree growth may vary significantly depending upon localtopography. Soils, for instance in shade or on north-facing slopes,may remain frozen, delaying the breaking of spring dormancy(Fritts, 1976: 227e228). The site of DVII-05 sits on the gentlenorthwestern slope of the Pavlov limestone outcrop, overlookingthewide valley of the Dyje River. So fuel wood collected in the site’simmediate vicinity could have different growth characteristics fromthat collected from more distant locations. Yet, while today’slandscape has been altered from that of the Gravettian by the deeploess deposits that bury and preserve these sites, it is and wasrather gentle and flat. Almost the only topography in the vicinity isthe Pavlov Hills, whose highest point of 550 m asl is merely 200 mabove the Dyje River floodplain. Moreover, it is unlikely thatGravettian hunter gathers moved significant quantities ofexpendable, heavy wood fuel across great distances over thisrelatively uniform landscape, for ethnographic studies show that, inalmost all cases, fuel wood is gathered within a radius of not morethan 2 h walking from the hearth site (Willis & van Andel, 2004:2371). Indeed, the occurrence of occasional humified conifer woodin the micrographs of the Gravettian layer suggests the presence ofsome trees in the immediate vicinity of the site. Elsewhere we haveargued that the DVII-05 charcoal assemblage reflects “an environ-ment that provided d seasonally d easily collected conifer dead-wood for fuel, but only in quantities that required energy to procureand consequent strategies of resource conservation” (Beresford-Jones et al., 2010: 2809). These circumstances, and the ring curva-ture evidence suggesting that the hearth fuel wood derived fromsmaller branches, fit with an assumption of least effort collection byGravettian people (see Shackleton and Prins, 1992). Meanwhile,cutting down larger, living green wood with the Gravettian tool kitwould clearly have expended considerable effort, so that the factoridentified as underlying the patterns of ring width change in otherarchaeological studies for much later time periods d humanimpact on woodland density through the cutting down of trees(Salisbury and Jane, 1940; Marguerie and Hunot, 2007) d wouldseem hardly likely to apply during the Upper Palaeolithic.

Together then, these considerations would seem to mitigateagainst the observed patterns in ring width in many charcoalfragments, within an accumulation from many burnings, as beingexplained somehow by the structure of the hearth itself. Rather,they more likely reflect the dramatic, wider-scale climatic changesin either precipitation or temperature, or both, associated witha DansgaardeOeschger cycle, that are so evident in the micro-morphological record for these contexts.

There is one final observation worth making about thesystematic variation in ring widths with depth within the DVII-05

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hearth area, for, as we have seen, its several rubified bases, eachrepresenting loess deposition during hearth abandonment, suggestthat it was returned to and used over a significant period of time.The imprecision inherent in a few radiocarbon dates at this timedepth and the difficulties in estimating a rate of loess deposition donot allow for that time period to be assessed with any certainty, butin principle, if it were long enough, the patterns of ring widthswithin the hearth might themselves be reflections of rapid climaticchange. This would be extremely intriguing, both because of theevidence in the NGRIP ice record and elsewhere suggestingsignificant shifts in temperature and/or moisture availability withinGS5 d including, for instance, the sudden and extremely coldHeinrich Event 3 (see Fig. 12 and EPICA, 2006) d and, moreover,because however rapid those climate oscillations might appear onthe scale of Fig. 12, it would nonetheless still imply that the DVII-05hearth was in episodic use over decades or perhaps even centuries.Consequently, such an interpretation would offer real insight intothe cycles of Gravettian hunteregatherer lifeways and the capacityof those strategies to persist even in the teeth of considerableclimate deterioration. It would also raise questions about preciselyhow they were able to recognise or mark out this place in an openlandscape, so as to be able to make their returns to that hearth oversuch a great time span.

The patterns of variation that we have described here froma thirty thousand year-old fragmented charcoal dataset are onlya moon-cast shadow of those routinely used by dendroclimatolo-gists: themselves subject to considerable uncertainty. Yet theseresults from Dolní Vĕstonice II-05 show the potential of archaeo-logical charcoal d interpreted in conjunction with other data d

both for offering a higher-resolution understanding of the changingclimatic conditions during which humans were first expanding intothese hitherto marginal ecologies, and indeed, for shedding newlight upon the complexity of the lifeways that enabled them todo so.

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank all members of the Moravian Corridor Projectwho participated in the excavations at Dolní Vĕstonice andP�redmostí, especially Dawn Moody and Alexander Pullen. Wethank Simon Crowhurst of the Godwin Laboratory and TamsinO’Connell for their help and advice. We thank also the reviewers ofthis paper, one anonymous and, particularly, Freddy Damblon, fortheir careful and most useful comments. Funding for the MoravianGate Project is provided by The Royal Society, NERC EFCHED, TheEuropean Commission and the McDonald Institute for Archaeo-logical Research.

Appendix. Supplementary material

Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, inthe online version, at doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2011.04.021.

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