Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MAMBA (Exploring Mammoth Bone Accumulations In Central Europe)
Période du rapport: 2022-07-01 au 2024-12-31
The discovery of large accumulations of woolly mammoth remains together with Upper Palaeolithic artefacts has fascinated both researchers and the general public since the 19th century. Despite many years of scientific research and dispute our knowledge about these sites and the relationship between mammoths and contemporaneous Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers remains incomplete. This project focuses on the mammoth bone accumulations found in the West Carpathian forelands and seeks to establish why they formed and their function for hunter-gatherer groups 35,000-25,000 years ago – a period of major techno-cultural and environmental change in approaching the Last Glacial Maximum. For the first time we will study materials covering the full chronological range of this archaeological phenomenon, considering both existing collections alongside new fieldwork at the key sites of Dolní Věstonice I, Kraków Spadzista and Langmannersdorf.
Site-specific signals of human-mammoth interaction within their local palaeoenvironmental context will be used to investigate chrono-spatial changes in both mammoth populations and hunter-gatherer societies. We will employ standardised field and laboratory protocols that utilise recent methodological and technological advances in ancient DNA research, stable isotope studies, radiometric dating, palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and palaeodemographic modelling.
The resulting dataset will allow an integrated investigation of the formation of mammoth bone accumulations and produce a statistically analysable dataset expected to reveal the interactions between human and mammoth populations in Central Europe in the context of palaeoenvironmental changes. This will have great impact not only for Upper Palaeolithic research in Central Europe, but will on a general scale also contribute to an improved understanding of human behaviour, cultural developments, and human adaptation to dynamically changing climatic and environmental conditions.
Site-specific signals of human-mammoth interaction within their local palaeoenvironmental context will be used to investigate chrono-spatial changes in both mammoth populations and hunter-gatherer societies. We will employ standardised field and laboratory protocols that utilise recent methodological and technological advances in ancient DNA research, stable isotope studies, radiometric dating, palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and palaeodemographic modelling.
The resulting dataset will allow an integrated investigation of the formation of mammoth bone accumulations and produce a statistically analysable dataset expected to reveal the interactions between human and mammoth populations in Central Europe in the context of palaeoenvironmental changes. This will have great impact not only for Upper Palaeolithic research in Central Europe, but will on a general scale also contribute to an improved understanding of human behaviour, cultural developments, and human adaptation to dynamically changing climatic and environmental conditions.
In the summer of 2022, excavations were carried out at one of the most famous Upper Palaeolithic site in Central Europe - Dolní Věstonice (southern Moravia). This research were led by M. Novák and J. Wilczyński, and in addition to employees from the Czech Republic and Poland, as well as students from the University of Olomouc and the University of Exeter. The research lasted over two and a half months, and during it over 50 square meters of the site were explored. This research was supplemented by a short, two-week excavation carried out in the summer of 2023. During the research, a local depression filled with Pleistocene sediments containing numerous remains of a woolly mammoth, reindeer and wolf was uncovered. These remains were accompanied by a few lithic artefacts, including blades of retouched tools. In 2023, research was conducted at the Kraków Spadzista site (Poland). This research were led by J. Wilczyński with employees from Poland, Slovakia, USA and Switzerland as well as students from the University of Olomouc and the University of Exeter. The research covered over 20 square meters and provided several thousand flint artefacts and animal remains - mainly woolly mammoth. During the field research, a number of geological samples were taken from both Dolni Vestonice and Kraków Spadzista. The fieldwork planned and carried out in 2022 and 2023 is crucial for understanding the human-mammoth relationship in their local paleoenvironmental context. At the same timethe obtained materials will be used to reconstruct changes occurring both within hunter-gatherer communities and co-occurring mammoth populations. In parallel with the excavations, the team involved in the implementation of the MAMBA grant collects samples for ancient DNA research, paleodietary studies, migrations and radiocarbon dating.To date, 322 samples have been collected from over twenty sites located in Central Europe (mainly Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland). These activities were carried out within three organized joint research trips, in which a significant part of the team involved in the implementation of the MAMBA project took part. At the same time, in 2023, during the WOGH conference in Krakow, the first workshop-type meeting was organized in order to discuss in more detail the sampling procedure (which will sometimes be examined by several specialists simultaneously) and to present the preliminary results of our studies.
The project is intended to answer the question of what factors led to the formation of the huge accumulations of mammoth remains that we discover in Central Europe in the period 35,000-25,000 years BP. At the same time, this project should provide new data on the mammoth population and hunter-gatherer communities inhabiting the Western Carpathians during the Mid Upper Palaeolithic.
Our research is based on already developed methods for dating organic remains, isotope studies or fossil DNA. However, in our research is the first-ever such complementary studies of such numerous mammoth remains covering all the most important Central Europe localities dated to 30-20 ka BP. Thanks to the cooperation of several centers scattered across the European continent (Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Great Britain, Germany and Sweden), which also deal with different fields of science (e.g. archaeology, paleobiology, geology), each of these centers can familiarize themselves with different work organization, which allows for the development of optimal patterns and strategies for cooperation and conducting scientific research.
Our research is based on already developed methods for dating organic remains, isotope studies or fossil DNA. However, in our research is the first-ever such complementary studies of such numerous mammoth remains covering all the most important Central Europe localities dated to 30-20 ka BP. Thanks to the cooperation of several centers scattered across the European continent (Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Great Britain, Germany and Sweden), which also deal with different fields of science (e.g. archaeology, paleobiology, geology), each of these centers can familiarize themselves with different work organization, which allows for the development of optimal patterns and strategies for cooperation and conducting scientific research.