Lakonis Cave I (lower bone breccia)
Basic information
Sample name: Lakonis Cave I (lower bone breccia)

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

Section: 3066

Unit number: 1

Unit order: below to above

Max Ma: 0.071

Min Ma: 0.057

Age basis: zone

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"

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,other small mammals,birds,turtles

Sampling methods: quarry

Sample size: 131 specimens

Years: 1999 - 2010

Sampling comments: "excavated from 1999 to 2010"
additional indeterminate ungulate remains are present

Metadata
Sample number: 3337

Contributor: John Alroy

Enterer: John Alroy

Created: 2019-08-24 18:52:45

Modified: 2023-04-29 00:30:29

Abundance distribution
9 species
4 singletons
total count 131
geometric series index: 20.0
Fisher's α: 2.191
geometric series k: 0.5589
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.3433
Shannon's H: 0.8368
Good's u: 0.9695
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
Register
Bos primigenius6
"aurochs"
Cervus elaphus3104 kg
"red deer"
Sus scrofa1054 kg herbivore
"pig"
Dama dama10562 kg
"fallow deer"
Carnivora indet.1
"small carnivore"
Lynx sp.1
Testudines indet.1
"tortoise"
Lepus sp.1
"hare"
Aves indet.3
"bird"