Papers by Stefania Titton
Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, Jun 28, 2022
Little is known about the subsistence practices of the first European settlers, mainly due to the... more Little is known about the subsistence practices of the first European settlers, mainly due to the shortage of archaeological sites in Europe older than a million years. This article contributes to the knowledge of the subsistence of the first Europeans with new zooarchaeology and taphonomic data from the Palaeolithic site of Barranco León (Orce, Granada, Spain). We present the results of the analysis of the faunal assemblages retrieved in the context of new excavations undertaken between 2016 and 2020. We have followed a standard methodology for the identification and quantification of species, mortality profiles, skeletal representation and taphonomic analysis. With regard to the taphonomic evidence, we have documented the extent of rounding, abrasion and other alterations. Finally, we examined traces from the activities of carnivores and hominins that led to the accumulation and alteration of the bone assemblages. Results indicate that the archaeo-paleontological deposits from Barranco León present a dual-patterned mixed taphonomic origin. The first phase primarily involved waterborne processes (BL-D1), which led to the accumulation of lithic raw materials, a few archaeological stone tools, and some faunal remains with percussion and cutmarks. The second phase (BL-D2) contains several stone tools associated with faunal remains with more anthropogenic alterations, such as cutmarks and percussion marks. After analysing the Barranco León zooarchaeological assemblage, the present study concludes that hominins had access to the meat and within-bone nutrients of animals of diverse sizes. However, the specific carcass acquisition mechanisms that hominins followed are less certain because the presence of tooth marks suggests that carnivores also played a role in the accumulation and modification of the Barranco León faunal assemblage.
Comptes Rendus Palevol, Mar 1, 2018
The emergence and significance of heavy-duty scrapers in ancient stone toolkits L'émergence et la... more The emergence and significance of heavy-duty scrapers in ancient stone toolkits L'émergence et la signification des heavy-duty scrapers dans les assemblages lithiques archaïques
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, May 1, 2022
Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in publishe... more Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Nov 5, 2021
Over the last few decades, several types of evidence such as presence of hominin remains, lithic ... more Over the last few decades, several types of evidence such as presence of hominin remains, lithic assemblages, and bones with anthropogenic surface modifications have demonstrated that early human communities inhabited the European subcontinent prior to the Jaramillo Subchron (1.07-0.98 Ma). While most studies have focused primarily on early European lithic technologies and raw material management, relatively little is known about food procurement strategies. While there is some evidence showing access to meat and other animal-based food resources, their mode of acquisition and associated butchery processes are still poorly understood. This paper presents a taphonomic and zooarchaeological analysis of the Fuente Nueva-3 (FN3) (Guadix-Baza, Spain) faunal assemblage, providing a more in-depth understanding of early hominin subsistence strategies in Europe. The present results show that hominins had access to the meat and marrow of a wide range of animal taxa, including elephants, hippopotami, and small-and medium-sized animals. At the same time, evidence of carnivore activity at the site suggests that these communities likely faced some degree of competition from large predators when acquiring and processing carcasses.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Jun 7, 2021
Barranco León (Orce, Andalusia, Spain) provides the oldest case of knapping and percussive activi... more Barranco León (Orce, Andalusia, Spain) provides the oldest case of knapping and percussive activities on an ancient raw material reservoir deposit. This site has already proven to be one of the oldest and most significant Oldowan open-air sites in Europe (1.4 Ma), with an exceptionally rich flint and limestone lithic assemblage, in association with large and small faunal remains, including a tooth fragment attributed to Homo sp. All of these finds have been discovered after years of excavations from a clear stratigraphic succession, complimented by multidisciplinary analyses of environmental proxies. The analysis of the entire lithic collection presented here describes a tool kit composed of cores flakes and debris, hammerstones, and other macro-tools like heavy-duty scrapers and sub-spheroidal morphologies. This paper combines geological and sedimentological data with archeology, providing a new interpretation of site formation processes and how they shaped hominin activities at Barranco León. We examine the dynamics forming the depositional sequence and document taphonomic alterations of the archeological finds, while also analyzing their distribution over the excavation area. This information is key to understanding the nature of post-depositional phenomena and to evaluate primary versus secondary deposition. The positioning of the refitting items in the site highlights in situ action, reaffirming the importance of the Barranco León site as a raw material repository. The observation of a refitted lithic set provides information about knapping strategies and hominin behavior in this European Oldowan site.
Royal Society Open Science
Spheroids are one of the least understood lithic items yet are one of the most enduring, spanning... more Spheroids are one of the least understood lithic items yet are one of the most enduring, spanning from the Oldowan to the Middle Palaeolithic. Why and how they were made remains highly debated. We seek to address whether spheroids represent unintentional by-products of percussive tasks or if they were intentionally knapped tools with specific manufacturing goals. We apply novel three-dimensional analysis methods, including spherical harmonics and surface curvature, to 150 limestone spheroids from ‘Ubeidiya ( ca 1.4 Ma), presently the earliest Acheulean occurrence outside of Africa, to bring a new perspective to these enigmatic artefacts. We reconstruct the spheroid reduction sequence based on trends in their scar facets and geometry, finding that the spheroid makers at ‘Ubeidiya followed a premeditated reduction strategy. During their manufacture, the spheroids do not become smoother, but they become markedly more spherical. They approach an ideal sphere, a feat that likely required...
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the ad... more This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
The onset of the Middle Pleistocene (780 ka) in the European continent is associated with signifi... more The onset of the Middle Pleistocene (780 ka) in the European continent is associated with significant environmental variations (Middle Pleistocene Revolution), innovative behavioural strategies (bifacial productions, land-use patterns, raw material management) and a global increase in the archaeological evidence from 600 ka onward. Whether these changes are related to the rise of the Acheulean, the informative potential carried by these contexts is currently being explored through multidisciplinary approaches, allowing us to infer the role of these sites and the type of activities conducted. From this perspective, the Italian peninsula is a hot spot to compare the different technical behaviours and strategies human groups employ, given its crucial geographic location and solid archaeological record, both culturally and functionally speaking (the presence of sites with and without bifaces and core-and-flake assemblages). The site of Isernia La Pineta (590 ka), offering a rich lithic ...
Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology
Little is known about the subsistence practices of the first European settlers, mainly due to the... more Little is known about the subsistence practices of the first European settlers, mainly due to the shortage of archaeological sites in Europe older than a million years. This article contributes to the knowledge of the subsistence of the first Europeans with new zooarchaeology and taphonomic data from the Palaeolithic site of Barranco León (Orce, Granada, Spain). We present the results of the analysis of the faunal assemblages retrieved in the context of new excavations undertaken between 2016 and 2020. We have followed a standard methodology for the identification and quantification of species, mortality profiles, skeletal representation and taphonomic analysis. With regard to the taphonomic evidence, we have documented the extent of rounding, abrasion and other alterations. Finally, we examined traces from the activities of carnivores and hominins that led to the accumulation and alteration of the bone assemblages. Results indicate that the archaeo-paleontological deposits from Bar...
Aquesta tesi doctoral tracta per primera vegada, de l’estudi en la seva totalitat del conjunt de ... more Aquesta tesi doctoral tracta per primera vegada, de l’estudi en la seva totalitat del conjunt de les eines lítiques de Barranco León, proporcionant una anàlisi tipològica, morfo-tecnològica i tafonòmica d’un conjunt lític de més 1,4 milions d’anys. S'han analitzat les cadenes operatives en calcària i en sílex, identificant internament diferents seqüències de talla. La reconstrucció de la formació del dipòsit arqueològic s’ha dut a terme mitjançant la combinació de les dades geològiques i arqueològiques, les quals han permès determinar les activitats dels hominids en context primari com ara: la selecció de les matèries primeres, mida i forma del suports, activitats de talla i percussió, i l’abandonament de les eines produïdes i utilitzades pels hominids. La combinació de metodologies clàssiques i innovadores ens ha permès entendre millor les estratègies de gestió dels nuclis, dels percussors i les eines. La identificació de gratadors de gran format i subesferoides com a morfologi...
Frontiers in Earth Science
Situated in southern Spain’s Guadix-Baza basin, Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Andalusia... more Situated in southern Spain’s Guadix-Baza basin, Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Andalusia, Spain) are two of the most important western European Oldowan archeological sites. After 30 years of quasi-uninterrupted excavations, these two occurrences have yielded exceptional lithic and faunal records in precisely dated stratigraphic situations, providing a wealth of information about the oldest presence of hominins outside of Africa (1.4 and 1.3 Ma, respectively). Recently, excavations and multidisciplinary research have allowed to discern new patterns of lithic raw material procurement and use patterns practiced by the Orce hominins that enable us to clearly distinguish different behavioral schemes between these two sites; in spite of their spatial proximity. This paper explores new data from the lithic collections in relation to hominin technical and economic behavior, highlighting subtle but significant differences in their exploitation of local limestone and flint clasts mor...
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in publishe... more Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Comptes Rendus Palevol
The emergence and significance of heavy-duty scrapers in ancient stone toolkits L'émergence et la... more The emergence and significance of heavy-duty scrapers in ancient stone toolkits L'émergence et la signification des heavy-duty scrapers dans les assemblages lithiques archaïques
Revista del Centro de Estudios Históricos de Granada y su Reino, 2020
espanolEn este trabajo se resumen los estudios llevados a cabo en los distintos yacimientos arque... more espanolEn este trabajo se resumen los estudios llevados a cabo en los distintos yacimientos arqueopaleontologicos de Orce durante las ultimas decadas, haciendo especial hincapie en los resultados obtenidos a raiz de las ultimas campanas de excavacion (2017-2020), enmarcadas en el Proyecto General de Investigacion «Primeras ocupaciones humanas y contexto paleoecologico a partir de los depositos Pliopleistocenos de la cuenca Guadix-Baza. Zona Arqueologica de la cuenca de Orce». Los trabajos realizados en estos ultimos anos son una buena muestra del enfoque inter e intradisciplinar de la Prehistoria, y evidencian ademas que, aunque se lleve trabajando en los yacimientos de Orce casi 50 anos, estos siguen proporcionando datos muy interesantes acerca del contexto del poblamiento humano de Europa en las etapas mas antiguas del Pleistoceno. EnglishThis work summarizes the research carried out at the Orce archaeopalaeontological sites over the last few decades with particular emphasis on th...
Quaternary Science Reviews
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Barranco León (Orce, Andalusia, Spain) provides the oldest case of knapping and percussive activi... more Barranco León (Orce, Andalusia, Spain) provides the oldest case of knapping and percussive activities on an ancient raw material reservoir deposit. This site has already proven to be one of the oldest and most significant Oldowan open-air sites in Europe (1.4 Ma), with an exceptionally rich flint and limestone lithic assemblage, in association with large and small faunal remains, including a tooth fragment attributed to Homo sp. All of these finds have been discovered after years of excavations from a clear stratigraphic succession, complimented by multidisciplinary analyses of environmental proxies. The analysis of the entire lithic collection presented here describes a tool kit composed of cores flakes and debris, hammerstones, and other macro-tools like heavy-duty scrapers and sub-spheroidal morphologies. This paper combines geological and sedimentological data with archeology, providing a new interpretation of site formation processes and how they shaped hominin activities at Barranco León. We examine the dynamics forming the depositional sequence and document taphonomic alterations of the archeological finds, while also analyzing their distribution over the excavation area. This information is key to understanding the nature of post-depositional phenomena and to evaluate primary versus secondary deposition. The positioning of the refitting items in the site highlights in situ action, reaffirming the importance of the Barranco León site as a raw material repository. The observation of a refitted lithic set provides information about knapping strategies and hominin behavior in this European Oldowan site.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Over the last few decades, several types of evidence such as presence of hominin remains, lithic ... more Over the last few decades, several types of evidence such as presence of hominin remains, lithic assemblages, and bones with anthropogenic surface modifications have demonstrated that early human communities inhabited the European subcontinent prior to the Jaramillo Subchron (1.07–0.98 Ma). While most studies have focused primarily on early European lithic technologies and raw material management, relatively little is known about food procurement strategies. While there is some evidence showing access to meat and other animal-based food resources, their mode of acquisition and associated butchery processes are still poorly understood. This paper presents a taphonomic and zooarchaeological analysis of the Fuente Nueva-3 (FN3) (Guadix-Baza, Spain) faunal assemblage, providing a more in-depth understanding of early hominin subsistence strategies in Europe. The present results show that hominins had access to the meat and marrow of a wide range of animal taxa, including elephants, hippo...
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Papers by Stefania Titton