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Orgnac 3 (level 1)
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Basic information
Sample name: Orgnac 3 (level 1)

Reference: M.-H. Moncel, A.-M. Moigne, Y. Sam, and J. Combier. 2011. The emergence of Neanderthal technical behavior: new evidence from Orgnac 3 (level 1, MIS 8), southeastern France. Current Anthropology 52(1):37-75 [ER 3978]
Geography
Country: France


Coordinate: 44° 18' N, 4° 26' E
Coordinate basis: based on nearby landmark

Time interval: Middle Pleistocene

Age basis: zone

Geography comments: "on a plateau near the Rhône River valley... on the right-hand bank of the Ardèche River gorges" (coordinate based on the nearby town of Orgnac-l'Aven)
thought to be "about 300,000 BP" and in MIS 8 and there is a date of 298,000 ± 55,000 BP "on volcanic materials" (method unclear) on the immediately underlying level 2, but the age assignment is primarily based on mammal biochronology

Environment
Lithology: claystone

Taphonomic context: cave,human accumulation

Archaeology: stone tools

Habitat comments: an "open air site... formed from the progressive opening of a cave"
"stony red clays mixed with large blocks from the collapsed ceiling"
the bones are intensely broken and weathered, and some are "Burned or heated"
the assemblage is thought to be accumulated through hunting and there are cut marks on three bovid and five equid long bones
there are "more than 50,000 artifacts" of stone

Methods
Life forms: carnivores,ungulates

Sampling methods: quarry

Sample size: 652 specimens

Years: 1959 - 1972

Sampling comments: a 10 cm thick layer "excavated from 1959 to 1972 by Jean Combier" in an area of 53 m2
small mammals including rabbits are presented but not described or counted

Metadata
Sample number: 4391

Contributor: John Alroy

Enterer: John Alroy

Created: 2023-12-04 10:38:29

Modified: 2023-12-03 23:38:29

Abundance distribution
10 species
1 singleton
total count 652
extrapolated richness: 12.8
Fisher's α: 1.676
geometric series k: 0.5190
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.6208
Shannon's H: 1.3000
Good's u: 0.9985
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
Register
Canis lupus343 kg carnivore
Ursus deningeri1
Sus scrofa2054 kg herbivore
Cervus elaphus92104 kg
Dama clactoniana12
valid, see van der Made et al. (2023)
Capreolus capreolus suessenbornensis1122 kg browser
"Capreolus suessenbornensis": see Valli (2010)
Hemitragus bonali2
Bovidae indet.133
Bos or Bison
Equus steinheimensis366
possibly valid, see Boulbes and van Asperen (2019)
Stephanorhinus hemitoechus12
Current reference: Shotwell 1968 (ER 3992)