We are pleased to present five articles that discuss original research on late Pleistocene environments and Upper Palaeolithic assemblages in Europe during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 2. These articles arose from the second “World of Gravettian Hunters” conference, held May 16–20, 2016, in Kraków, Poland. The conference followed from an initial meeting two years earlier to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the first excavations at the Gravettian site of Kraków Spadzista in southern Poland. The scientific success of that meeting encouraged us to organize a second meeting to cover the period of 30–15 ka BP, the time when different Gravettian and Epigravettian societies existed in Europe. The second conference in 2016 was organized by the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals of the Polish Academy of Sciences and by the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, in cooperation with the Archaeological Museum in Kraków. In all, 67 scientists participated, representing dozens of scientific institutions in Europe and North America. During eight sessions, 43 lectures and 11 posters presented the results of research in archaeology, palaeontology, zooarchaeology, geology, and related disciplines.
The articles in this thematic group provide a broad perspective on past environments and human activities during a period spanning the last glacial maximum (LGM). In this Introduction, we briefly summarise important aspects of each article.
The article by Haynes, Klimowicz, and Wojtal uses several different data sets to interpret the life conditions of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) in the Gravettian archaeological assemblage at Kraków Spadzista. Two analytical methods for determining the live shoulder heights of Kraków Spadzista mammoths suggest the site’s mammoths were relatively small compared with mammoths from other sites of various ages and geographic locales, and the assemblage includes only female adults, juveniles, and a few adolescent males. A detailed mortality profile based on analysis of mammoth mandibular dentitions and isolated teeth shows that the youngest cohorts were recurrently depleted, probably as a result of opportunistic human hunting pressure during periods of environmental stress. Earlier traceological analysis of the site’s Gravettian shouldered points and backed blades had indicated that many of them were hafted and impact-damaged from use as spear points, supporting the interpretation of hunting. Recurring environmental stress on the mammoths is supported by published evidence of abundant bone pathologies and unstable climate at the time the mammoth bone accumulation was forming.
The article by Nadachowski, Lipecki, Baca, Żmihorski, and Wilczyński concerns woolly mammoth population fluctuations, range expansions, and range reductions in Europe during MIS 2. More than 300 radiocarbon dates on mammoth material were analysed, to show that the largest range of the mammoth was during Greenland stadial (GS) 3, and the once continuous range of mammoths in Europe was fragmented several times thereafter during MIS 2, although the distribution and relative abundance of mammoths were significantly nonlinear over time. Mammoths disappeared from the North European Plain during the LGM, but after ~19 ka, mammoths were again present and were heavily exploited by Epigravettian groups for several millennia until their extinction at ~14 ka in all but the far northeast of Europe. The distribution of European mammoths at different times does not appear to correlate positively with high or low levels of human settlement. Humans significantly influenced European mammoth distribution only in the late glacial interval, when mammoth ranges were fragmented and local subpopulations were relatively small.
The article by Drucker, Stevens, Germonpré, Sablin, Péan, and Bocherens presents results of an analysis of stable isotopes in bone collagen of mammoths and other large herbivores and carnivores from Epigravettian sites dating ~18–17 ka BP in the central East European Plain. Mammoths from the sites Mezhyrich and Buzhanka 2 had unexpectedly low values of δ15N, whereas mammoths from Yudinovo had high values comparable to associated large canids, and mammoths from Eliseevichi I had intermediate values. Dissimilar migration patterns cannot account for the variability, because δ34S values showed none of the same differences among mammoths from the separate sites. The authors conclude that habitat variability attributable to climatic changes affected each site’s mammoth subpopulation differently as the widespread mammoth steppe was disappearing and mammoths had to adapt to different feeding niches in each locality, often competing with other ungulates such as Equus sp. (horse). The loss of optimal habitat may have eventually led to extinction within a few thousand years, probably exacerbated by the added pressure of human hunting.
The article by Peresani, Ravazzi, Pini, Margaritora, Cocilova, Delpiano, Bertola, Castellano, Fogliazza, Martino, and Nicosia presents data from the recently discovered Early Gravettian site Piovesella, located in the northern Apennine mountains at 870 m above sea level. The site was occupied during GS 5 (~30 ka), near the time of maximal expansion of local glaciers. Results of analyses of macro- and microbotanical charred remains, sediments, pollen, and radiocarbon dates suggest the site may have been occupied above the tree line under cold and harsh palaeoenvironmental conditions, with very little local vegetation. Pine wood was apparently carried up to the site from forests below in the Po Plain. The lithic technology and typology are compared to records of Gravettian sites elsewhere in Italy and the western Mediterranean region, to support the cultural assignment to Early Gravettian. The site provides evidence for mobile and adaptable Gravettian hunter-gatherers exploiting the challenging edges of a mountain biome.
The article by Boschin, Boscato, Berto, Crezzini, and Ronchitelli presents multivariate analyses of data from macromammal (mainly ungulates) and micromammal associations from the multicomponent Upper Palaeolithic site of Grotta Paglicci (Apulia, southern Italy), which contains Aurignacian through Final Epigravettian materials. The abundance of three mammalian taxa—Equus spp. (horse), Capra ibex (ibex), and Microtus arvalis (common vole)—is interpreted to mean the surrounding landscape was open and dry. However, a change in relative abundance between horse and ibex through time is further interpreted as reflecting change in human hunting territories. The larger lessons that may be learned from the work are that analyses of mammalian assemblages as a whole in archaeological sites can provide reliable reflections of palaeoenvironments, but, beyond that, multivariate analysis of individual mammalian taxa can also reveal differing human hunting choices over time. The results are discussed in the broader context of southern Italy, where regionalization was notably marked because of different climatic conditions.
We think these articles contain useful new information that will allow a better understanding of the palaeoenvironmental record and variable human behaviour during MIS 2 in Europe.
