From the Bay of Naples to the River Don: the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption and the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Eastern Europe

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.08.018

Journal of Human Evolution

Volume 55, Issue 5, November 2008, Pages 858-870

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.08.018 Get rights and content

Abstract

The Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) eruption, dated by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and various stratigraphic methods to ca. 39,000 cal BP, generated a massive ash plume from its source in southern Italy across Southeastern and Eastern Europe. At the Kostenki-Borshchevo open-air sites on the Middle Don River in Russia, Upper Paleolithic artifact assemblages are buried below, within, and above the CI tephra (which is redeposited by slope action at most sites) on the second terrace. Luminescence and radiocarbon dating, paleomagnetism, and soil and pollen stratigraphy provide further basis for correlation with the Greenland and North Atlantic climate stratigraphy. The oldest Upper Paleolithic occupation layers at Kostenki-Borshchevo may be broadly correlated with warm intervals that preceded the CI event and Heinrich Event 4 (HE4; Greenland Interstadial: GI 12–GI 9) dating to ca. 45,000–41,000 cal BP. These layers contain an industry not currently recognized in other parts of Europe. Early Upper Paleolithic layers above the CI tephra are correlated with HE4 and warm intervals that occurred during 38,000–30,000 cal BP (GI 8–GI 5), and include an assemblage that is assigned to the Aurigancian industry, associated with skeletal remains of modern humans.

Section snippets

The chronology of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe

Deposits in European sites dating to between 50,000 and 40,000 cal BP contain the earliest known artifact assemblages assigned to the Upper Paleolithic. These deposits were laid down during the age-equivalent of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), the lower and upper temporal boundaries of which are placed at ca. 60,000 and 30,000 cal BP, respectively. According to the Greenland and North Atlantic records, climates in the northern hemisphere during MIS 3 were characterized by a series of brief warm

The Campanian Ignimbrite eruption

Approximately 39,000 cal BP, a massive volcanic eruption took place in southern Italy, spewing a plume of ash across large areas of south-central and Eastern Europe. The CI eruption deposited a tephra horizon that represents a major chrono-stratigraphic marker for the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition. Because the tephra is dated in a variety of contexts (Ton-That et al., 2001, Pyle et al., 2006), it provides a temporal marker that is not based on radiocarbon. The CI tephra also represents

The Kostenki-Borshchevo sites

Kostenki is located on the Middle Don River near the city of Voronezh in the Russian Federation at 51°40′N and 39°10′E. The village lies on the west bank of the river and the eastern margin of the Central Russian Upland at an elevation of approximately 125 meters above mean sea level. The village of Borshchevo is situated several kilometers southeast of Kostenki. The area is within the modern forest-steppe zone and experiences a continental climate with mean July and January temperatures of 19

Geology of the Kostenki-Borshchevo sites

The high west bank of the Don Valley, which represents the eastern margin of the Central Russian Upland, is composed on Cretaceous marl (chalk) and sand that unconformably overlie Upper Devonian clay (Lazukov, 1982: 15–17). Upper Paleolithic sites are buried in fill deposits of the first and second terraces of the Don River. The terraces are found in both the main valley and in portions of the large side-valley ravines—described above—incised into the west bank of the valley. The terraces are

The CI tephra at Kostenki-Borshchevo

The problem of the origin and age of the volcanic tephra horizon at Kostenki—first reported in 1928—has been researched for many decades (Klein, 1969: 38; Grishchenko, 1976: 190–198). During the 1980s, the source of the tephra was identified as the Phlegrean Field in southern Italy (Melekestsev et al., 1984, Sinitsyn et al., 1997: 27–28). Recently, on the basis of chemical analysis of samples collected in 2002, Pyle and colleagues (2006: 2717–2719) concluded that it was the CI Y5 tephra; this

The chronology of the Kostenki-Borshchevo sites

Identification of the CI tephra at Kostenki-Borshchevo provided a chrono-stratigraphic marker for the sites on the second terrace that contain early Upper Paleolithic occupation layers (Pyle et al., 2006: 2722–2723). Although the CI tephra represents the key marker, the Kostenki-Borshchevo chronology also is based on luminescence dating and paleomagnetic stratigraphy (Gernik and Gus'kova, 2002, Pospelova, 2005, Holliday et al., 2007: 194, their Table III), which suggest that the stratigraphic

Kostenki-Borshchevo and the chronology of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition

Identification of the CI tephra, combined with the application of other non-radiocarbon chronometric techniques, has permitted integration of the sequence of early Upper Paleolithic occupation layers at Kostenki-Borshchevo with the MIS 3 climate stratigraphy for the northern hemisphere (e.g., GISP2) and the more reliably-dated regional frameworks for the period of the transition (e.g., Italy [Fedele et al., 2003, Giaccio et al., 2006]). The revised Kostenki-Borshchevo chronology provides new

Summary

Identification of the CI tephra at Kostenki-Borshchevo presents an opportunity for better integration of the early Upper Paleolithic record for the central plain of Eastern Europe with that of Western and Central Europe (see Fig. 8). The CI tephra provides a key chrono-stratigraphic marker in a temporal zone beyond the effective range of radiocarbon dating. Luminescence dating, calibrated radiocarbon dates, paleomagnetism, and soil and pollen stratigraphy offer additional support for the

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Susan Antón and anonymous reviewers for the Journal of Human Evolution who commented on the first draft of this paper, and also to the following colleagues who commented on a revised draft: C. Cameron, F. Eddy, J. Hester, S. Holen, P. Sheets, and P. Villa. Fig. 1 was prepared by the University of Wisconsin Cartography Lab and revised by I. T. Hoffecker. This research was supported by NSF grants BCS-0132553, BCS-0442164, and BCS-0715519; Leakey Foundation 2001, 2004,

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From the Bay of Naples to the River Don: the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption and the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Eastern Europe

Abstract

Section snippets

The chronology of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe

The Campanian Ignimbrite eruption

The Kostenki-Borshchevo sites

Geology of the Kostenki-Borshchevo sites

The CI tephra at Kostenki-Borshchevo

The chronology of the Kostenki-Borshchevo sites

Kostenki-Borshchevo and the chronology of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition

Summary

Acknowledgments

J. Volc. Geotherm. Res.

Quatern. Sci. Rev.

J. Hum. Evol.

Italy. J. Volc. Geotherm. Res.

J. Volc. Geotherm. Res.

J. Volc. Geotherm. Res.

Quatern. Sci. Rev.

J. Volc. Geotherm. Res.

J. Volc. Geotherm. Res.

Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

Quatern. Int.

Quatern. Sci. Rev.

The Szeletian and the stratigraphic succession in Central Europe and adjacent areas: main trends, recent results, and problems for resolution

Early Upper Paleolithic industries of Eastern Europe

J. World Prehist.

Uzlovye problemy perekhod k verkhnemu paleolitu v Evrazii

Early Upper Paleolithic in Eastern Europe and implications for the dispersal of modern humans

Science

Novye dannye o khronostratigrafii mnogosloinoi stoyanki Kostenki 1 (stoyanka Polyakova)

Who made the Aurignacian? A reconsideration of the Brassempouy dental remains

Bull. Mem. Soc. Anthropol. Paris

The Campanian Ignimbrite: a major prehistoric eruption in Neapolitan area (Italy)

Bull. Volc.

La Grotte de Fumane. Une site aurignacien au pied des Alpes

Preistoria Alpina

Correlations between climate records from North Atlantic sediments and Greenland ice

Nature

Typologie du Paléolithique Ancien et Moyen

The Old Stone Age

Ocherki po Paleolitu Basseina Dona

Materialy i Issledovaniya po Arkheologii SSSR

Kostenki 17 (Spitsynskaya stoyanka)

Early Upper Paleolithic in the Russian plain: streletskayan flaked stone artifacts and technology

Antiquity

CalPal-SFCP-2005 glacial calibration curve

Makers of the early Aurignacian of Europe

Yearb. Phys. Anthropol.

Evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250-kyr ice-core record

Nature

New constraints on the pyroclastic eruptive history of the Campanian volcanic Plain (Italy)

Mineral. Petrol.

Early Upper Palaeolithic assemblages from layer 4, trench TD-1

Kostenki I

Integration of late Quaternary climatic records from France and Greece

The Campanian Ignimbrite eruption, Heinrich Event 4, and Palaeolithic change in Europe: a high-resolution investigation

Geophys. Monogr.

Fossil hominids from the early Upper Palaeolithic (Aurignacian) of France

Precise dating of Dansgaard-Oeschger climate oscillations in western Europe from stalagmite data

Nature

Paleoliticheskii chelovek, ego material'naya kul'tura i prirodnaya sreda obitaniya

Paleomagnitnye kharakteristiki otlozhenii razreza ct. Kostenki 14 (Markina gora)

The Campanian Ignimbrite (c. 40 ka BP) and its relevance for the timing of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic shift: timescales and regional correlations

The Campanian Ignimbrite and Codola tephra layers: two temporal/stratigraphic markers for the Early Upper Palaeolithic in southern Italy and Eastern Europe

J. Volc. Geotherm. Res.

Rastitel'nost' na Russkoi ravnine v pozdnem paleolite

Stratigraficheskoe polozhenie i geologicheskie usloviya Donskikh paleoliticheskikh stoyanok

Trudy Kommissii po Izucheniyu Chetvertichnogo Perioda

Pleistotsen i Golotsen Basseina Verkhnego Dona

Comparison of oxygen isotope records from the GISP2 and GRIP Greenland ice cores

Nature