Lakonis Cave I (hearth complex)
Basic information
Sample name: Lakonis Cave I (hearth complex)
Reference: B. M. Starkovich, P. Elefanti, P. Karkanas, and E. Panagopoulou. 2018. Site use and maintenance in the Middle Paleolithic at Lakonis I (Peloponnese, Greece). Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology x:1-30 [ER 3066]
Geography
Country: Greece
Coordinate: 36° 46' N, 22° 34' E
Coordinate basis: based on nearby landmark
Time interval: Late Pleistocene
Max Ma: 0.043335
Min Ma: 0.03964
Age basis: radiocarbon (uncalibrated)
Geography comments: "on the Mani Peninsula, 3 km east of the town of Gytheion" (basis of coordinate)
"AMS dating results based on cultural material taken from well-defined hearths yielded dates of 39,640 ± 1000 BP (uncal), 43,335 ± 1800 BP (uncal), and 43,150 ± 1790 BP (uncal)... for the hearth context, while the upper bone breccia with a date of 43,010 ± 350 BP (uncal)... is broadly contemporaneous... The lower bone breccia overlies beach conglomerate deposits dated preliminary to marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 5a... and likely formed during MIS 4"
"AMS dating results based on cultural material taken from well-defined hearths yielded dates of 39,640 ± 1000 BP (uncal), 43,335 ± 1800 BP (uncal), and 43,150 ± 1790 BP (uncal)... for the hearth context, while the upper bone breccia with a date of 43,010 ± 350 BP (uncal)... is broadly contemporaneous... The lower bone breccia overlies beach conglomerate deposits dated preliminary to marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 5a... and likely formed during MIS 4"
Environment
Substrate: ground surface
Lithology: breccia
Taphonomic context: cave,human accumulation
Habitat comments: "Overlying unit V is a bone breccia (Figs. 2 and 3) with lithic and charcoal remains in a reddish clayey matrix, unit IV, which preserves the site’s initial use sometime after 100 ka. In the central part of the sequence, units III and II consist of a reddish-brown sandy clay matrix containing anthropogenic remains interspersed with roofspall and boulders from the gradual overhang collapse. The uppermost unit (I) is a palimpsest of overlapping hearth lenses forming complex combustion structures"
Methods
Life forms: carnivores,ungulates,turtles
Sampling methods: quarry
Sample size: 49 specimens
Years: 1999 - 2010
Sampling comments: "excavated from 1999 to 2010"
additional indeterminate ungulate remains are present
additional indeterminate ungulate remains are present
Metadata
Sample number: 3335
Contributor: John Alroy
Enterer: John Alroy
Created: 2019-08-24 18:46:09
Modified: 2023-04-03 06:55:48
Abundance distribution
5 species
2 singletons
total count 49
geometric series index: 9.8
Fisher's α: 1.394
geometric series k: 0.4238
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.5149
Shannon's H: 0.9715
Good's u: 0.9592
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
• Find matching samples
Register
| Cervus elaphus | 1 | 104 kg |
| "red deer" | ||
| Sus scrofa | 3 | 54 kg herbivore |
| "pig" | ||
| Dama dama | 31 | 62 kg |
| "fallow deer" | ||
| Carnivora indet. | 1 | |
| "large carnivore" | ||
| Testudines indet. | 13 | |
| "tortoise" | ||