Short-term occupations at high elevation during the Middle Paleolithic at Kalavan 2 (Republic of Armenia)

PLoS One. 2021 Feb 4;16(2):e0245700. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245700. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

The Armenian highlands encompasses rugged and environmentally diverse landscapes and is characterized by a mosaic of distinct ecological niches and large temperature gradients. Strong seasonal fluctuations in resource availability along topographic gradients likely prompted Pleistocene hominin groups to adapt by adjusting their mobility strategies. However, the role that elevated landscapes played in hunter-gatherer settlement systems during the Late Pleistocene (Middle Palaeolithic [MP]) remains poorly understood. At 1640 m above sea level, the MP site of Kalavan 2 (Armenia) is ideally positioned for testing hypotheses involving elevation-dependent seasonal mobility and subsistence strategies. Renewed excavations at Kalavan 2 exposed three main occupation horizons and ten additional low densities lithic and faunal assemblages. The results provide a new chronological, stratigraphical, and paleoenvironmental framework for hominin behaviors between ca. 60 to 45 ka. The evidence presented suggests that the stratified occupations at Kalavan 2 locale were repeated ephemerally most likely related to hunting in a high-elevation within the mountainous steppe landscape.

Publication types

  • Historical Article
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Altitude*
  • Animal Migration
  • Animals
  • Archaeology / methods*
  • Armenia
  • Artifacts
  • Fossils
  • History, Ancient
  • Hominidae*
  • Humans
  • Occupations / history*
  • Seasons*
  • Technology

Grants and funding

For the essential financial and similar support, we gratefully thank the funding agencies of The Gerda Henkel Stiftung grant n. AZ 10_V_17 and n. AZ 23/F/19, the Leakey Foundation, and the Gfoeller Renaissance Foundation of USA. RT, AC, and SB would like to acknowledge support from the Leverhulme Trust-funded Palaeolithic Archaeology, Geochronology, and Environments of the Southern Caucasus (PAGES) project, and to thank Dr. C. Hayward at the University of Edinburgh for assistance with the microprobe analyses. VO and OB were supported by the ECCOREV Research Federation (Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS) and Labex OT-Med (n° ANR- 11-LABX-0061) funded by the French Government “Investissements d’Avenir” programme of the French National Research Agency (ANR) through the A*MIDEX project (n°ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02).