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Refining landscape contexts for open-air, Lower and Middle Paleolithic sites: a case study from Muthanna Province, Southern Iraq

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An Erratum to this article was published on 15 February 2015

Abstract

Open-air Paleolithic sites in desert and semiarid landscapes provide interpretive quandaries because of the absence of depositional matrices and stratigraphic controls. This paper argues that datable and stratified vertical contexts may be preserved in the vicinity of open-air artifact scatters. These, in turn, may account for paleo-environmental conditions that would have attracted Paleolithic groups. The site in question is in the Southern Iraqi desert, a locale heretofore terra incognita for early hominin activity. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates were taken from ancient spring and dune deposits in a depression flanking the hamada surfaces on which the artifact distributions were found. Geochemical and granulometric studies were used to reconstruct the depositional histories of the spring locale, and the dates were projected onto contemporary oxygen isotope curves that serve as proxies for the climatic cycles operational across the greater Near East. The advent of OSL dating provides a new window for dating events and environments linked to Paleolithic chronologies. The locations of surface scatters may signify preservation of nearby micro-environments which could be proxies for structuring landscape and occupational chronologies.

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Acknowledgments

First and foremost, the author wishes to thank Dr. Michael Trimble and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (St. Louis District) for providing the opportunity and resources for undertaking this project. Dr. Susan Malin-Boyce first observed the Paleolithic artifacts and recorded and photographed the assemblages. Dr. Mark Smith is responsible for the impeccable GIS plots as well as the mapping and geo-reference work. Malin-Boyce and Smith, as well as Mr. Michael Aiuvalasit, provided critical suggestions and reviewed earlier drafts of this manuscript. Ms. Zenobie Garrett offered key editorial input at the later stages of the review. Her work in finalizing the document was pivotal. OSL determinations were undertaken at the laboratories of the University of Georgia under the supervision of Dr. George Brook and Dr. James Feathers offered insights for interpreting the OSL results. Sediment studies were performed by Dr. Andrew Ivester and Ms. Randa Harris at the University of West Georgia. The archaeological observations benefited from discussions with Dr. Geoffrey Clark and Dr. Michael Petraglia. I wish to thank Dr. Henry Wright for encouraging me to publish the results of this study. Without his prodding, this piece would not have been written. Any and all shortcomings of this study are purely the responsibility of the author.

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    Joseph Schuldenrein

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Schuldenrein, J. Refining landscape contexts for open-air, Lower and Middle Paleolithic sites: a case study from Muthanna Province, Southern Iraq. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 7, 257–273 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-014-0215-2

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