PALMOBI · Early Upper Palaeolithic mobility and technological decision-making under changing environmental constraints: case studies from Belgium and Romania

Early Upper Palaeolithic mobility and technological decision-making under changing environmental constraints: case studies from Belgium and Romania

In Europe, the period between 36,000 and 30,000 years ago witnessed a series of profound behavioural changes in human evolutionary history, roughly coinciding with the socio-economic change from the Aurignacian to Gravettian periods, two major periods of the Early Upper Palaeolithic (EUP). The timing and nature of this change, during a period characterised by pronounced climatic variability, are still hotly debated due mainly to the scarcity of Aurignacian and Gravettian assemblages with secure chronostratigraphic and environmental context. PALMOBI investigates EUP hunter-gatherer interactions with their environment under variable ecological conditions through the integrative use of cutting-edge interdisciplinary methodologies and their application to the archaeological record of the Aurignacian and the Gravettian across two contrasting regions (temperate Belgium & continental Romania). A comparison of these two regions by applying state-of-the-art stone tool technology and raw material economy analyses, non-destructive geochemical sourcing and GIS geospatial techniques in tandem with anthropological methods and theories has never previously been attempted. A marked increase in use of high-quality, non-local raw materials in lithic assemblages is unknown until the Gravettian. This has been interpreted as the result of climatic fluctuations and deterioration leading toward the Last Glacial Maximum, which may have triggered greater mobility and more extended social networks than among previous hominin populations. PALMOBI aims to investigate the change in the organisation of stone tool technology and related mobility strategies between the Aurignacian and Gravettian periods. Belgium and Romania with their rich EUP records of human occupation have been chosen as case study areas. PALMOBI's main research objectives can be described as follows: - Develop a renewed understanding of techno-economic variability in the EUP by taking into account parameters such as raw material provenience, secondary depositional context, and transport costs; - Provide a new framework to assess the costs of different EUP technological systems and associated mobility/land-use strategies under variable environments in both case study regions; - Assess the degree to which the Aurignacian and Gravettian technological systems correspond to different risk-minimising strategies under changing climatic-environmental constraints; - The role of shifts in mobility strategies in promoting social change, particularly social inequality.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union