Reconstructing Middle and Upper Paleolithic human mobility in Portuguese Estremadura through laser ablation strontium isotope analysis

Author:

Linscott Bethan12ORCID,Pike Alistair W. G.2ORCID,Angelucci Diego E.34ORCID,Cooper Matthew J.5ORCID,Milton James S.5ORCID,Matias Henrique4ORCID,Zilhão João467ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, United Kingdom

2. Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BF, United Kingdom

3. Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, Università degli Studi di Trento, Trento 38122, Italy

4. Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade le Letras, Universidade de Lisboa, 1600 - 214 Lisboa, Portugal

5. School of Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton SO14 3ZH, United Kingdom

6. Instituci Catalana de Recerce i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona 08010, Spain

7. Department of History and Archaeology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona 08007, Spain

Abstract

Understanding mobility and landscape use is important in reconstructing subsistence behavior, range, and group size, and it may contribute to our understanding of phenomena such as the dynamics of biological and cultural interactions between distinct populations of Upper Pleistocene humans. However, studies using traditional strontium isotope analysis are generally limited to identifying locations of childhood residence or nonlocal individuals and lack the sampling resolution to detect movement over short timescales. Here, using an optimized methodology, we present highly spatially resolved 87 Sr/ 86 Sr measurements made by laser ablation multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry along the growth axis of the enamel of two marine isotope stage 5b, Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal teeth (Gruta da Oliveira), a Tardiglacial, Late Magdalenian human tooth (Galeria da Cisterna), and associated contemporaneous fauna from the Almonda karst system, Torres Novas, Portugal. Strontium isotope mapping of the region shows extreme variation in 87 Sr/ 86 Sr, with values ranging from 0.7080 to 0.7160 over a distance of c. 50 km, allowing short-distance (and arguably short-duration) movement to be detected. We find that the early Middle Paleolithic individuals roamed across a subsistence territory of approximately 600 km 2 , while the Late Magdalenian individual parsimoniously fits a pattern of limited, probably seasonal movement along the right bank of the 20-km-long Almonda River valley, between mouth and spring, exploiting a smaller territory of approximately 300 km 2 . We argue that the differences in territory size are due to an increase in population density during the Late Upper Paleolithic.

Publisher

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Subject

Multidisciplinary

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