"This book presents the papers and discussions held at the second meeting of the European Megalithic Studies Group (Seville, Spain, November 2008). This is therefore a cooperative, international book that brings together leading specialists from several European countries, including France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden, and Spain. This volume revolves around two crucial aspects of recent research on prehistoric monuments: time (chronology) and matter (raw materials as used in both architecture and artefacts). Both topics have generated much discussion in recent years and form one of the main cutting edges of current research on prehistoric monuments. These two main themes have recently witnessed major advances thanks to the application of new scientific techniques to old and new archaeological problems. For the chronology theme, specific issues include the origin of prehistoric monuments, the limitations and advantages of newly available high-resolution dating techniques (such as AMS radiocarbon analysis of pigments, thermoluminiscence and OSL), and patterns of utilisation, re-utilisation and abandonment. For rare rocks, some of the specific issues covered by this book are rock selection, the frequency and type of rare materials (variscite, quartz, amber, etc.), trade and exchange, the manipulation of raw materials, the symbolic catchment of geological landscapes, and the sourcing of stones. The idea here is to explore the value, function and symbolism of the materials in their prehistoric context, their placement and positioning in relation to funerary structures (architecture) and human remains (individuals), and the evidence they provide for interregional interaction."

This paper introduces some of the invaluable aspects of, and new perspectives arising in, the field of zooarchaeology. Studying archaeological animal remains provides clear evidence of past human diet, but the contributions zooarchaeology can make to archaeological research have a much broader scope. Zooarchaeological research provides an interesting insight into the study of past environments, animal domestication, biostratigraphy, the social side of food, animal remains as clothing or even as building materials and art manifestations, amongst others. Zooarchaeology is subdivided here into environmental or physical zooarchaeology, which mainly deals with climate, seasonality and dating of a site, and social zooarchaeology, which deals with hunting techniques, animal management, social hierarchy and symbolism. This array of possibilities is illustrated through examples drawn from diverse periods and places. Some of the issues concerning zooarchaeology are analysed in more depth through the site of Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Murcia, Spain). This case study provides a practical application of zooarchaeological perspectives in the study of human evolution.

The field of zooarchaeology is therefore not limited to the study of past dietary habits. Rather the study of animal remains allows a deeper understanding of complex human-animal interactions and a greater comprehension of archaeological societies and cultures.

This dissertation involves the development of a geologic framework applied to upper Pleistocene and earliest Holocene archaeological site discovery. It is argued that efforts to identify colonizer archaeological sites require knowledge of geologic processes, Quaternary stratigraphic detail and an understanding of basic soil science principles. An overview of Quaternary geologic deposits based on previous work in the region is
presented. This is augmented by original research which presents a new, proposed regional pedostratigraphic framework, a new source of lithic raw material, the Beezley chalcedony, and details of a new cache of lithic tools with Paleoindian affinities made from this previously undescribed stone source.

In this paper we explore Aboriginal oral traditions that relate to Australian meteorite craters. Using the literature, first-hand ethnographic records and fieldtrip data, we identify oral traditions and artworks associated with four impact sites: Gosses Bluff, Henbury, Liverpool and Wolfe Creek. Oral traditions describe impact origins for Gosses Bluff, Henbury and Wolfe Creek Craters, and non-impact origins for Liverpool Crater, with Henbury and Wolfe Creek stories having both impact and non-impact origins. Three impact sites that are believed to have been formed during human habitation of Australia. Dalgaranga, Veevers, and Boxhole do not have associated oral traditions that are reported in the literature.

Sangiran Dome, located 12 kms to the north of Surakarta (Solo), Central Java is a famous site in the Quaternary geology due to the exposures of Pleistocene rocks and fossils of hominids and vertebrates. Sangiran Dome is a remnant shale diapir and mud volcanoes complex. This is based on the nature of deformation, presences of several saline water and methane gas seeps, and erupted materials including exotic blocks of metamorphic basements to Pliocene rocks. Based on the deformation and age dating, the diapiric deformation and eruption is considered took place between 0.7 and 0.5 Ma –million years ago (middle Pleistocene) and could repeat until 0.12 Ma (base late Pleistocene). Hominid (early human) called the sub-species Homo erectus erectus lived in the Sangiran Dome. Their fossils were found in the upper part of Pucangan and lower part of Kabuh Formations. They lived in the Pleistocene (ages remain in dispute as 1.7-1.0 Ma, 1.3-0.7 Ma, or 1.0-0.5 Ma). The termination of the sub-species between 0.7-0.5 Ma could be contemporaneous with the eruption of the Sangiran mud volcanoes. The eruption possibly affected the demise of Homo erectus erectus. The eruption of Sangiran mud volcanoes could also affect the migration of later hominid (sub-species Homo erectus ngandongensis / soloensis). The sub-species did not live in Sangiran area possibly the area was in-habitable due to the eruption. The sub-species migrated eastward downstream of the Solo River into the areas of Sambungmacan, Ngawi, and Ngandong where they lived until the latest Pleistocene (0.05 Ma).

In the Nile catchment, a growing number of site-and reach-based studies employ radiocarbon and, more recently, OSL dating to reconstruct Holocene river histories, but there has been no attempt to critically evaluate and synthesise these data at the catchment scale. We present the first meta-analysis of published and publically available radiocarbon and OSL dated Holocene fluvial units in the Nile catchment, including the delta region, and relate this to changing climate and river dynamics. Dated fluvial units are separated both geographically (into the Nile Delta and White, Blue, and Desert Nile sub-regions) and into depositional environment (floodplain and palaeochannel fills). Cumulative probability density frequency (CPDF) plots of floodplain and palaeochannel units show a striking inverse relationship during the Ho-locene, reflecting abrupt (<100 years) climate-related changes in flooding regime. The CPDF plot of dated floodplain units is interpreted as a record of over-bank river flows, whilst the CPDF plot of palaeochannel units reflect periods of major flooding associated with channel abandonment and contraction, as well as transitions to multi-centennial length episodes of greater aridity and low river flow. This analysis has identified major changes in river flow and dynamics in the Nile catchment with phases of channel and floodplain contraction at c. 6150e5750, 4400e4150, 3700e3450, 2700e2250, 1350e900, 800e550 cal. BC and cal. AD 1600, timeframes that mark shifts to new hydrological and geomorphological regimes. We discuss the impacts of these changing hydromorphological regimes upon riverine civilizations in the Nile Valley.

This report involves discovering the dynamic interaction between various geological scenarios regarding St. Martin’s Island, which were evaluated through a number of modern and traditional exploration techniques from
various branches of geoscience. It concerns with outcome of the integrated fieldwork in St. Martin’s Island conducted by 4th year undergraduate students and several faculty members of Department of Geology, University of Dhaka.

Applying geochemical proxies as measure for the weathering intensity of paleosols and sediments such as loess, the Quaternary scientist is confronted with various element ratios that have been proposed in literature. This paper gives an overview on the principle of geochemical weathering indices. Different types of indices are evaluated with respect to the suitability for loessepaleosol sequences, regarding the special characteristics of this type of sediments and paleosols. Case examples in this study are key sections in Southeastern and Eastern Europe: the loessepaleosol sequences Batajnica/Stari Slankamen (Serbia), Mircea Voda (Romania) and Stary Kaydaky (Ukraine), which represent archives of the Late and Mid-Pleistocene climate change of the region. Considering element behavior during weathering or diagenesis, the Chemical Proxy of Alteration (CPA) e i.e. the molar ratio Al 2 O 3 /(Al 2 O 3 þ Na 2 O) Â 100 e is proposed as the most appropriate index for silicate weathering. The CPA was evaluated against commonly used weathering indices including the "Chemical Index of Alteration" (CIA), the "Chemical Index of Weathering" (CIW), the "Plagioclase Index of Alteration" (PIA), the Index B of Kronberg and Nesbitt, and the Ba/Sr and Rb/Sr ratio. Depth profiles of "Sr-type indices" (e.g. Ba/Sr, Rb/Sr) are likely to be influenced by the dynamics of secondary carbonate. On the other hand, common "Na-type indices" (e.g. CIA, PIA, CIW) may suffer from uncertainties in separating carbonateeCa from silicateeCa or from biases due to K-fixation (illitization). The CPA is insensitive against such effects. Additionally, using the CPA (as with other Na-type indices) provides the possibility to evaluate the homogeneity of the parent material regarding the relevant host minerals via the AeCNeK diagram.

ABSTRACT This paper reviews the various Late Quaternary records that are available from western Egypt and northern Sudan, which includes more than 500 published radiocarbon dates and various sedimentary archives from local landscape components, including palaeolakes, soils, drainages (wadis), and archaeological sites. This palaeoenvironmental compilation frames the spatial and temporal context of local cultural activities when the region was most hospitable B9000–6000 BP; at this time, monsoonal weather influenced the portion of the African continental interior, creating enough convective rainfall for occasional surface water storage. In this part of the modern Sahara, rapid hydroclimatic changes play a key role in geomorphic evolution and resource availability. As ‘watering holes’ formed and dried up in the Early to Middle Holocene, Neolithic people developed various subsistence strategies, including opportunistic hunting of small animals (e.g. gazelle and hare), and food-related (e.g. wild sorghum, millet, and legumes) activities: gathering, plant cultivation and livestock-rearing. During its wettest phases during the ‘monsoonal maximum,’ the area was drought-prone, sustaining a meager steppe– shrub desert flora. Further desertification and aeolian deflation during the Middle and Late Holocene fostered technological innovation,
migration and settlement, as well as the further development of agrarian communities and complex culture.

The seven counties of Caltrans District 6/9 encompass a diverse landscape, extending eastward from the
Diablo and Temblor ranges, across the San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Nevada, to the southwestern Great Basin and
northern Mojave Desert (Figure 1). Included within the study area are Mt. Whitney and Death Valley, the highest
(4,421 meters [14,505 feet] above sea level) and lowest (86 meters [282 feet] below sea level) points, respectively, in
the contiguous United States. Over the span of human occupation in the new world, roughly the past 15,000
years, this landscape has changed dramatically, providing a dynamic backdrop for human colonization, social
development, and economic change. In response to world-wide fluctuations in climate, massive glaciers that once
occupied the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada receded, extensive river and lake systems east and west of the Sierra
Nevada declined and often dried, 35 genera of mammals including the largest ice-age herbivores became extinct
(Grayson 1993), and repeated cycles of erosion and deposition sculpted and transformed the landscape. Such
extensive changes not only affected the ways in which humans interacted with the environment, but also how and
where evidence of past human occupation is preserved in the modern landscape.
The current study begins with the premise that the archaeological record is inherently biased by processes
of landscape evolution. Older archaeological deposits are frequently under-represented at the surface of the
modern landscape due to cyclical periods of erosion and deposition during the Holocene (<11,500 cal BP). This
is particularly true in the southern San Joaquin Valley and basins east of the Sierra Nevada where substantial
alluvial fans and floodplains developed episodically during the span of human occupation. Yet the region also has
among the highest concentrations of surface archaeological deposits in California dating to the late Pleistocene
and early Holocene. The presence of these ancient surface sites attests to the temporal mosaic that is the modern
geomorphic landscape.
With this in mind, a primary goal of the current study was to establish the age and depositional history
of late Pleistocene landforms (<25,000 years old) within the seven counties of Caltrans District 6/9.
Understanding the age of different landforms is first-order geochronology (Butzer 1980; Renfrew 1976; Waters
1992), a fundamental step in discerning where the archaeological record is likely to be buried, and where
cultural remains deposited over the entire span of human occupation may be preserved on or just below the
modern ground surface. By mapping the age of surface landforms, we are able to make an initial assessment of
the potential for buried archaeological resources throughout a large segment of south-central California, from
the eastern foothills of the Coast Ranges to the valleys of the western Great Basin and northern Mojave Desert,
providing baseline information on the age of associated archaeological sites. Maps and descriptions of Holocene
landscape evolution generated by this study should supplement surface surveys and provide additional contextual
information that can be used by resource managers to make decisions about the need for subsurface
reconnaissance in particular project areas.

The first settlement of Europe by modern humans is thought to have occurred between 50,000 and 40,000 calendar years ago (cal B.P.). In Europe, modern human remains of this time period are scarce and often are not associated with archaeology or originate from old excavations with no contextual information. Hence, the behavior of the first modern humans in Europe is still unknown. Aurignacian assemblages—demonstrably made by modern humans—are com-monly used as proxies for the presence of fully behaviorally and anatomically modern humans. The site of Willendorf II (Austria) is well known for its Early Upper Paleolithic horizons, which are among the oldest in Europe. However, their age and attribution to the Aurignacian remain an issue of debate. Here, we show that archaeological horizon 3 (AH 3) consists of faunal remains and Early Aurignacian lithic artifacts. By using stratigraphic, paleoenvironmen-tal, and chronological data, AH 3 is ascribed to the onset of Green-land Interstadial 11, around 43,500 cal B.P., and thus is older than any other Aurignacian assemblage. Furthermore, the AH 3 assem-blage overlaps with the latest directly radiocarbon-dated Neander-thal remains, suggesting that Neanderthal and modern human presence overlapped in Europe for some millennia, possibly at rather close geographical range. Most importantly, for the first time to our knowledge, we have a high-resolution environmental con-text for an Early Aurignacian site in Central Europe, demonstrating an early appearance of behaviorally modern humans in a medium-cold steppe-type environment with some boreal trees along valleys around 43,500 cal B.P.

The laboratory uses methods and equipment developed at the Physics Department. They are subject to three Bulgarian inventions, and one Canadian patent of our laboratory’s team. Some of the devices developed, and used by the laboratory have no analogues abroad, others are subject to numerous attempts of coping or modifing by other laboratories around the world.
The laboratory was created in 2001. In 2005 and 2006, a PhD student from the University of Bologna, Italy was trained for six months here within the European exchange program ERASMUS.

Scientific fields and experiments:

Study of global climate changes in the past.
The main activity of the laboratory is the study of global climate changes in the past, and solar influences on them. Until recently, variations of solar radiation reaching the surface of the Earth (insolation), could only be calculated theoretically from orbital variations of Earth's orbit, causing a change in the distance from any point on the Earth's surface to the Sun, resulting in a change in the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface. But their calculations require many incorrect assumptions, leading to significant inaccuracies in the results (50% of the variation in the theoretical curves do not match this in the experimental records).
Therefore the team of our laboratory was developed an indirect index of insolation (Figure 10), which is obtained from measurements of the distribution of the luminescence of the organic acids in flowstone calcites along the growth axis of their crystals (Figures 10, 11,12). Absolute dating of these calcites allows measurement records of insolation (Figure 10) in the last 250,000 years. So far these are the only experimental records of insolation. They are widely used in studies of global climate change in the past.
Study of regional climate changes.
An important activity of the laboratory is the study of regional climate changes using flowstone calcites as natural climatic stations. For this purpose, the laboratory has developed indirect indices of annual temperature and annual rainfall, which are obtained from measurements of the distribution of the luminescence of the organic acids in flowstone calcites.
Using luminescence for search, field and laboratory diagnostics of minerals, oil and gas
Part of the research of our laboratory is dedicated to using luminescence for search, field and laboratory diagnostics of minerals, oil and gas. This includes:

a. Development of a new method, techniques, and apparatus for registration of luminescence of minerals and its spectrum in the field conditions.
The known method for the search of minerals by their luminescence in field conditions uses portable continuous UV sources to observe only fluorescence of minerals. The disadvantage of this method is the low brightness of the sources and the inability to observe phosphorescence of minerals and its attenuation. For observing and registration of these phenomena we developed a new method "Impulse photography luminescence". For the use of this method in field conditions we developed and patented a fundamentally new equipment, that can record images of fluorescence or phosphorescence separately or together. We proposed a new system for field diagnostic of minerals using luminescence which led to finding deposits of many new minerals for Bulgaria.
With the development of the new technique "Time-resolved photography of phosphorescence", field studies and registration of phosphorescence attenuation and the color change of phosphorescence with time in the presence of several luminescent centers in the sample became possible. This appeared to be particularly useful to distinguish phosphorescence of inclusions of oil and natural gas (Figure 15) from that of humic and fulvic acids (Figure 11) in calcite under field conditions, which can be used for oil survey.

b. Research on the spectra of the luminescence of the minerals in the laboratory
The diagnostics of minerals by their luminescence sometimes requires a detailed study of the spectra, the nature and properties of their luminescence by selective excitation with laser emission with different wavelengths. This is achievable only in laboratory conditions. At such measurements Raman spectra of the samples are obtained as well, which are very effective for diagnostics of microscopic mineral agregates and inclusions.

Studies of records of contamination and migration of toxic metals and of groundwater acidity.

The luminescence of some samples flowstone calcite is induced by toxic elements. Some of them even have annual zonality (Figure 15) due to variations in the acidity of the groundwater, which causes variations in the solubility of some toxic elements such as uranium, lead, etc.

On Figure 16 is shown fine zonality of the fluorescence in a flowstone calcite upon irradiation with short-wave UV (left) due to uranium impurities. Fine fluorescent zonality upon irradiation with long-wave UV (right) is due to impurities of rare earth elements in the same sample.
Dating of fluorescent records
Luminescent records required development of a new dating method due to lack of any dating method with the precision corresponding to their high resolution and precision. The apparent annual cyclicity of records allows calculating the average annual growth rate of the flowstone by determining the average annual period (in pixels) using time series analysis. This procedure was set at the base of a fundamentally new dating method called "Autocalibration dating."
Autocalibration dating of time series with unknown uneven time step uses time- frequency mathematical spectral analysis or Fourier transformation to determine the mean time step of the time series and to determine the time interval from the beginning to the end of the time series. If the beginning of the time series is known it can be dated using its thus obtained duration. The method is applicable to the dating of any natural materials with cyclic structure and was recognized for invention. So far this is the only dating method based entirely on a numerical method.

The landscape evolution of the southern North Sea basin is complex and has left a geographically varying record of marine, lacustrine, fluvial and glacial sedimentation and erosion. Quaternary climatic history, which importantly included glaciation, combined with tectonics gave rise to cyclic and non-cyclic changes of sedimentation and erosion patterns. Large-scale landscape reorganisations left strong imprints in the preserved record, and are important for the detail that palaeogeographical reconstructions for the North Sea area can achieve. In the spirit of the North Sea Prehistory Research and Management Framework (NSPRMF; Peeters et al., 2009), this paper provides background geological information regarding the North Sea. It summarises current stratigraphical and chronological frameworks and provides an overview of sedimentary environments. As we go back in time, the understanding of Quaternary palaeo-environmental evolution in the North Sea basin during the last 1 million years becomes decreasingly accurate, with degree of preservation and accuracy of age control equally important controls. Comparing palaeogeographical reconstructions for the Middle Pleistocene, the last interglacial-glacial cycle and the period following the Last Glacial Maximum illustrates this. More importantly, a series of palaeogeographical maps provide an account of basin-scale landscape change, which provides an overall framework for comparing landscape situations through time.

The special issue is a background volume to the 2009 anglo-dutch policy document http://www.academia.edu/209383/: NSPRMF North Sea Prehistory Research and Management Framework, Peeters et al., RCE and English Heritage) -

This paper describes the results of archaeological testing conducted at 18 TA 212b, which is part of the Paw Paw Cove Paleo-Indian Site Complex in Talbot County on Maryland’s portion of the Delmarva Peninsula.  The Paw Paw Cove Complex represents one of Maryland’s largest and most intact Paleo-Indian occupation sites.  The site is presently in a coastal setting, but approximately 13,000 years ago the setting was an interior upland situated near a series of spring-fed wetlands.  Previous archaeological investigations have focused on the archaeological components associated with 18 TA 212a.  The report presents the history linked to the site’s discovery, an overview of the historical impacts to the study area, an overview of the prehistoric impacts to the study area, and provides a summary of all of the earlier work linked to the various archaeological sites in the same vicinity as 18 TA 212b.  Archaeological excavations were conducted at 18 TA 212b through a non-capital grant from the Maryland Historical Trust; efforts donated by members of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Archaeological Research Foundation; volunteer time provided by Dr. R. Michael Stewart of Temple University; efforts donated by Geo-Sci Consultants, Inc.; and countless hours of earlier research conducted by the principle investigator.  The methodologies associated with the 1999-2000 excavations at 18 TA 212b are described.  The excavations located and documented stratified Paleo-Indian and Early Archaic cultural materials.  The Paleo-Indian occupation surface is associated with a buried landscape.  The Paleo-Indian landscape was buried during a Late Pleistocene aeolian loess event coeval with the Younger Dryas climate episode.  Current research suggests that this Paleo-Indian landscape occurs throughout the region and would seem to be an easily recognizable chronostratigraphic unit unique to the northern and western sections of the Delmarva Peninsula. 
Previous Paleo-Indian researchers in the region have summarized the Paleo-Indian period of the Delmarva Peninsula.  The views of local Paleo-Indian lifeways have been largely reconstructed by means of limited stone tool assemblage data.  As such, the report summarizes the lithic materials associated with the Delmarva Peninsula and highlights the Paleo-Indian lithic technologies based on local assemblages.  Some researchers have suggested that the Delmarva Peninsula Paleo-Indian record is documented by a limited number of isolated fluted point finds.  These same researchers have suggested that the greatest concentration of Clovis or Clovis-like points in the region is located near the primary jasper quarries associated with the Delaware Chalcedony Complex in northern Delaware.  Specific data are provided that indicate these assertions are in error.  The middle to lower Delmarva Peninsula has revealed a Paleo-Indian archaeological database that is as rich as anywhere in North America.  It is argued that this rich Paleo-Indian record is linked to restricted mobility and entrenched settlement patterns that may have been focused toward the food and animal resources unique to the outer coastal plain.  Paleo-Indian settlement patterns are compared with the local Late Woodland sites that are situated in the same ecological settings as their earlier Paleo-Indian counterparts.  It is noted that Delmarva’s interior upland Late Woodland sites and the Paleo-Indian sites in the equivalent settings have the same “character” and overall make-up.  The report suggests Paleo-Indian peoples in the coastal plain may have been exploiting marine resources along the Late Pleistocene Atlantic seashore and within the diminutive ancestral Chesapeake Bay.  The suggested dense Paleo-Indian populations, restricted mobility, and entrenched settlement patterns with possible territorial boundaries would imply that the claims for earlier pre-Clovis peoples in the Middle Atlantic are valid.  The report concludes with suggestions for future research.

The stratigraphy of the Quaternary sedimentary deposits. A first compilation of the Quaternary lithostratigraphic units
of the province, defined by different authors and appearing in national and international scientific literature, is presented
here. The order followed is based on a description of geological formations that typify the main geomorphological environments,
organized according to a known or inferred age for each formation. This resulted in five lithostratigraphical
units representative of the Inter-mountain Valleys of the Pampean Ranges of Córdoba (Brochero, Las Rabonas, Mina
Clavero and Charbonier Formations), four informal sedimentary units in the named high pampas, twelve units recognized
in the Central Eastern Piedmont and of the Sierra de Comechingones (Alpa Corral, Estación Belgrano, Río Primero,
General Paz, Río La Granja, Pampeano, Chocancharava, La Invernada, Río Cuarto, Arroyo Las Lajas, Laguna Oscura
and Reducción Formations), eight representative units of the Western Flank of Sierra Norte, the Inter-mountain Basin
of the Salinas Grandes and Ambargasta and the Northeastern Piedmont (Río Cruz del Eje, Toro Muerto, Charbonier,
Chuña, La Batea, Las Ollas, Guanaco Muerto and Zanjas Hondas Formation), four units of the Fluvio-Aeolian Central
Plain (Carcarañá, Tezanos Pinto, Lucio V. López and San Guillermo Formations), four units of the Tectonic Depression
of Mar Chiquita Lake (Lagunilla del Plata, Tezanos Pinto, Lomita del Indio Formations, and Las Saladas Sands), three
units recognized in the Elevated Block of San Guillermo (Palo Negro, Tezanos Pinto and San Guillermo Formations),
and three representative units of the Southern Aeolian Sandy Plain (Teodelina and San Gregorio Formations, and Aeolian
Sands of the Little Ice Age). Data related to the analysis of the outcropping pedosedimentary sequences investigated by
several authors in the province are also integrated. A reconstruction of the paleoenvironmental evolution of the Upper
Quaternary based primarily on the stratigraphic record and geomorphological information supplements the analysis.
Keywords: Stratigraphy, Quaternary, Pleistocene, Holocene, Province of Córdoba.

A comparison of well-ordered, rough-water reefs shows a remarkable degree of conformity between the size and character of their major morphological features. All of them consist of five first-order or “standard” zones: a calm reef lagoon, with varying number of patch reefs; a largely barren, shallow reef flat strewn with detritus; a narrow, gently sloping reef front exposed to waves and swells; a steeper reef slope bearing corals to as deep as 100 m; and a less steeply inclined fore-reef apron, where coral and reef detritus accumulate. (Continues...).

Laboratory of Archeo-geophysics
www.phys.uni-sofia.bg/bul/departments/ucsrt/agpl/index.html
The laboratory was created in 2006 for the implementation of space technology (Ground penetrating radars) for the survey and geophysical exploration of archaeological sites in Bulgaria
Paleoluminescence Laboratory
The laboratory uses methods and equipment developed at the Physics Department. They are subject to three Bulgarian inventions, and one Canadian patent of our laboratory’s team. Some of the devices developed, and used by the laboratory have no analogues abroad, others are subject to numerous attempts of coping or modifing by other laboratories around the world.

The island of Britain is surrounded by a ‘moat’ of water, of which the English Channel and the North Sea are two major components. This talk described some major events that occurred to shape these seaways and, in particular, the evidence preserved on the Channel seabed. Here a system of valleys occurs that was carved by the westward-flowing Channel River. At its maximum in the last glacial period this river was larger than any other river in Europe today. It carried water not only from the rivers currently entering the Channel, but also from rivers flowing into the southern North Sea. Today the Holocene is characterised by limited glaciation and therefore high sea level. However, for much of the time, global sea level was lower, exposing shallow areas as dry land.
Throughout the last 2–3Ma, the build-up and decay of ice sheets on the continents have driven spectacular changes of global sea level. Driven by climatic fluctuations, these sea-level changes resulted in cycles of emergence and submergence of the Channel floor. About 500,000 years ago the English Channel and North Sea were flooded, as they are today, but unlike today there was a substantial land barrier, the Weald–Artois ridge, that linked Britain to the European continent. During cold periods up to 500,000 years ago the two seas were drained by separate river systems: the Channel River, aligned along the Channel basin’s axis, drained towards the Atlantic Ocean, while in the North Sea the major rivers flowed northward.
Although there were earlier events, the first major extension of a continental-scale ice sheet into lowland central Europe and Britain occurred c. 450,000 years ago (the Anglian advance). Critically, this ice advanced across the emergent North Sea floor from the mountains of southern Scandinavia and Scotland, blocking the northward-flowing rivers and causing an immense glacial lake to develop in the basin south of the ice front. Once dammed, the water that continued flowing from most of western Europe’s rivers caused the lake
level to rise. The substantial land barrier of the Weald–Artois Anticline held up the water and it was this barrier that was overtopped and breached. The narrow waterway thus formed became the Dover Strait (a.k.a. Pas de Calais), linking the North Sea to the English Channel. The breaching of the ridge to form the Dover Strait was critical to the evolution of the Channel from then onward, up to the present. It forced the rivers Thames and Scheldt to flow through the new Dover Strait and into the Channel River. This drainage system continued to evolve for the next 200,000 years, but events were brought to a climax some 160,000 years ago when a second major continental-scale glaciation occurred (known as the Saalian advance). The resulting megafloods sealed Britain’s fate: during high sealevel periods it would henceforth be an island.
The implications of such striking geographical changes for plant and animal — including human — migration are profound, resulting, among other things, in the impoverishment of British flora and fauna during warm periods such as today’s British climate, but providing a major route [between the Continent and Britain] during glacial periods. In addition, the rapid release of huge volumes of fresh water in megafloods into the Atlantic Ocean could have triggered changes in oceanic circulation, which, in turn, could have affected the climate of the whole North Atlantic region.

[OUGS Canterbury Symposium: Marine Geotales; original transcription by Dick Millard from the seminar recording; written up by Prof. Gibbard and Dr Cohen, and edited by POUGS Editor David M. Jones]

Multidisciplinary analysis on high-resolution undisturbed core material gives new insight in the development of the Late-Pleistocene Rhine-Meuse system (southern North Sea Basin, the Netherlands). Over 120 quartz OSL-dates allowed constructing a detailed geochronological framework and makes the Rhine-Meuse record by far the best dated Late-Pleistocene fluvial record in the world. The Late-Pleistocene Rhine-Meuse sedimentary sequence starts with fine-grained sediments from the last interglacial and early glacial period (130-80kyr BP). These sediments are overlain by a massive sequence of coarse grained sediments that were deposited between 80-15 kyr BP. The sequence is mapped as twelve sedimentary units based on regionally traceable bounding surfaces and sediment characteristics. Strong climatic and sea-level controls are evident as variations in sedimentary characteristics (grainsize, lithology, geometries) and architecture (erosion-deposition history, reworking, preservation) while part of the system architecture is related to forebulge upwarping and collapse, caused by glaciations in Scandinavia and Britain. Results from 3D landscape evolution modelling indicate a strong non-lineair relation between sediment source areas (Germany) and the depositional record (Netherlands) and explains grain-size and incision/aggradation trends. The model shows that particularly the timing of delayed responses needs to be taken into account to explain the type and timing of sediment-delivery to the study area.

The following geoarchaeological investigation was implemented as part of the inventory to provide Caltrans with baseline information on the potential for buried archaeological resources along rural road segments. This is the fourth in a series of geoarchaeological investigations conducted for Caltrans designed to address the relationship between late Quaternary landscape evolution and the structure and visibility of the archaeological record. Studies similar to this were previously performed within Caltrans districts 1, 3, 6/9, and 10, which include the southern Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys (Meyer and Rosenthal 2008; Rosenthal and Meyer 2004), the southwestern Great Basin and northern Mojave Desert (Meyer et al. 2010), the eastern Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada (Rosenthal and Meyer 2004b), and adjacent portions of the North Coast Ranges and Klamath Mountains (Meyer et al. 2011).
The seven counties of Caltrans District 2 encompass a large segment of northeastern California, extending eastward from the rugged uplands of the Klamath Mountains and North Coast Ranges across the northern Sacramento Valley, and portions of the southern Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada, Modoc Plateau, and northwest Great Basin.
The current study begins with the premise that the archaeological record is inherently biased by processes of landscape evolution. Older archaeological deposits are frequently under-represented at the surface of the modern landscape due to cyclical periods of erosion and deposition during the Holocene (<11,500 cal BP). These geomorphic processes are well expressed in District 2 where many once habitable landforms were removed by erosion of the uplands, or were buried episodically by sediments deposited within the lowland valleys over the last 15,000 years. The net-effect of these changes is a loss of many portions of the landscape once available for human occupation, as well as a modern ground surface made up of a mosaic of ancient and recent landforms, each of which has very different potential to preserve a complete record of human occupation.

Stratigraphic exposures, fluvial archives and borehole data have been allowed to reconstruct the alluvial history of Late Pleistocene to Late Holocene and climate changes in the monsoonal wet – dry region of lower Damodar Basin (West Bengal, India). The facies architectures and climate proxies suggest that five to six climate changes occurred in between ~ 14 ka and 6 ka. Supporting evidence from the floodplain of Damodar River demonstrates that the successive phases of aggradation and incision were linked to the south-west monsoonal variability of Late Quaternary period. The onset of semi-arid climate was associated with caliches, pond and backswamp deposits of wanning low energy floods. The relatively warm-humid climate was associated with sandy bedforms, valley fills, slack water deposits and ferruginous nodules. This paper presents a synthesis of the available palaeoclimatic records from the lower Ganga Basin and the rivers of western and central India for the palaeoenvironmental significance of Late Quaternary deposits and discusses the influence of palaeoclimatic controls on the fluvial architectures and archives that developed below the floodplain of Damodar River. We have taken some representative studies from the region to reveal the spatial variability in fluvial successions in response to climate changes during this period.

The current study begins with the premise that the archaeological record is inherently biased by processes
of landscape evolution. Older archaeological deposits are frequently under-represented at the surface of the
modern landscape due to cyclical periods of erosion and deposition during the Holocene (<11,500 cal BP).
These geomorphic processes are well expressed in District 1 where the many high-relief river canyons have
undergone intense periods of erosion, removing once habitable terraces; and the inter-montane valleys became
sediment traps as floodplains and alluvial fans developed episodically over the last 15,000 years. Just as
importantly, the Pacific coastline in District 1 has progressively been inundated and eroded since sea-level began
to rise at the end of the Pleistocene, continuing to the present day. The net-effect of these changes is a loss of
many portions of the landscape once available for human occupation, as well as a modern ground surface made
up of a mosaic of ancient and recent landforms, each of which has very different potential to preserve a complete
record of human occupation.

The pattern of spatial distribution of Lower Palaeolithic (LP) sites east of the Rhine is peculiar. The sites are rare; they do not come in clusters, and they do not seem to be associated with ancient river terraces. This is a robust pattern that has been recognized but not addressed as a distinct research topic so far. It may represent either a real past phenomenon such as climate variability, different dispersal routes ‘out of Africa’ or simply reflects modern research bias. A new alternative is suggested here based on recent developments in geological mapping. It is argued that uninterrupted mantel of glacial derived silt (loess) sealing interglacial soil levels may be covering traces of Lower Palaeolithic human activity at significant depths throughout most of Central and Eastern Europe.

During the late Pleistocene, Patagonia had a rich fauna of large mammals including some megamammals
such as ground sloths (Mylodon darwini), horse (Hippidion saldiasi), and camelids (e.g., Lama guanicoe).
The carnivore guild was represented by several extinct taxa such as the sabretooth cat (Smilodon), the
Patagonian Panther (Panthera onca mesembrina), a short-faced bear (Arctotherium tarijense) and a large
fox (Dusicyon avus), but also by the extant puma (Puma concolor). In order to reconstruct the relationships
within the predator guild and between these carnivores and their potential prey, body size, prey
size and diet habits of each predator were estimated. These results are complemented with stable isotopic
analyses and taphonomic information. Results indicate that the guild was composed of three felids
that were large hypercarnivores, two of which (Smilodon, P. onca) could prey on most large mammals.
Morphology suggests that the short-faced bear was mainly an omnivore that may have scavenged and
occasionally hunted medium-large mammals like camelids and horses. D. avus was slightly larger and
more carnivorous than the living culpeo fox (Lycalopex culpaeus), and preyed mostly on small mammals
(rodents) but occasionally on camelids. Stable isotopes (d13C and d15N) are congruent with these interpretations,
although they indicate that Arctotherium and D. avus were highly carnivorous. This could
be explained by scavenging habits. Stable isotopes also indicate that P. o. mesembrina ate larger proportions
of Hippidion and Lama gracilis. Taphonomic studies showed that P. o. mesembrina gnawed bones
of Mylodon, Hippidion and camelids, a result that suggests that these taxa were common prey, and agrees
with the ecomorphological and stable isotope interpretations. The diversity of potential prey is lower
than that observed in lower latitudes (e.g., Pampean Region) while the number of predators is similar,
a relationship that could be explained by the high latitude where these mammals lived.

New coring data provides a complete 14C dated sequence covering the paleo-environmental evolution of the
Larnaca Salt Lakes from c. 9000 BP onwards. This suggests the formation of a relatively confined lagoon after
4000 cal. BP. On the western shore of the main Aliki basin, overseas imports from the Late Bronze Age site of
Dromolaxia-Vyzakia (Hala Sultan Tekke) reflect use of the Salt Lakes as a harbour during the secondmillennium
BC. Coring and geomorphological mapping were employed to determine routes of navigation between this port
and the open sea, with two main natural channels identified. A third potential communication in the form of an
artificial cut, previously dated by Gifford (1978) to the Venetian period, is discussedwith reference to changes in
relative sea level along the island's south-east coast. Abandonment of settlement at Dromolaxia-Vyzakia in the
early 12th century BC relates to the gradual isolation of the Salt Lakes lagoon from the surrounding marine environment
through sedimentation. The timing of this event correlates with other known instances of population
displacement throughout the eastern Mediterranean c. 1200 BC.