The earliest Europeans : : a year in the life : survival strategies in the lower Palaeolithic / / Robert Hosfield.

• VerfasserIn: Hosfield, Robert,
• Place / Publishing House: Oxford, England : : Oxbow Books,, [2020]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (1 p.)

The Earliest Europeans explores the early origins of man in Europe through the perspective of 'a year in the life': how hominins in the Lower Palaeolithic coped with the year-round practical challenges of mid-latitude Europe with its distinctive temperatures, seasonality patterns, and available resources. Current research has provided increasingly robust archaeological and Quaternary Science records, but there are ongoing uncertainties as to both the earliest Europeans' specific survival strategies and behaviours, and the character of their dispersals into Europe. In short, how sustained and 'successful' were the individual phases of European occupation by Lower Palaeolithic hominins and what sorts of 'human' where they?

Table of Contents

1 A seasonal approach p. 1 -- A seasonal perspective: a Palaeolithic 'just so' story? p. 1 -- Fundamentals of seasonality p. 3 -- 2 Lower Palaeolithic Europe p. 15 -- The Pleistocene world p. 15 -- Glacial and interglacial cycles p. 15 -- Long-term Pleistocene change p. 28 -- The woods and the trees p. 33 -- Nature of the Lower Palaeolithic record p. 56 -- The earliest occupations of Europe p. 60 -- Outstanding questions ... and a seasonal approach p. 69 -- 3 A winter wonderland? p. 73 -- It's grim in Europe: a winter challenge p. 73 -- Cold, dark and short days ... everywhere? p. 74 -- Surviving winter p. 79 -- Built for the cold? p. 81 -- A hairy hominin? p. 84 -- Put the heating on ... p. 87 -- Clothing, or I can't feel my fingers p. 97 -- Shelters? p. 107 -- Winter is coming, the deer aren't getting fat p. 112 -- Winter plants? p. 124 -- Scavenging as a strategy: shovelling revisited p. 126 -- 'Every mile is two in winter ...' p. 131 -- Conclusion: a winter's tale p. 139 -- 4 Springtime -- a land awakening p. 143 -- Spring renewal p. 143 -- Spring relocations? p. 143 -- Spring resources: plant and animal foods p. 150 -- Animals and plants in the diet ... but how? p. 160 -- European Homo: always a hunter? p. 165 -- Food, and other stresses? p. 169 -- Who were the foragers...? p. 173 -- Food sharing ... or, where is everyone else? p. 181 -- Springtime babies? p. 189 -- Childbirth and demanding infants: energetics and social costs p. 191 -- Daily living: local spring lives? p. 200 -- Spring: breathing new life p. 202 -- 5 Summertime ... was the living easy? p. 207 -- Hot days ... and dry days? p. 207 -- Water ... and wildfires? p. 209 -- Summer foods p. 211 -- Long days, not lazy days p. 219 -- Learning in a Lower Palaeolithic childhood p. 229 -- Childs' play ...? p. 243 -- A world beyond the horizon? p. 246 -- Summer conception: hunting with benefits? p. 249 -- Long days ... and dry days p. 250 -- 6 Autumn -- rich in food and colour p. 253 -- Wild harvests ... and shorter days p. 253 -- Ruts and nuts p. 253 -- Autumn migrations and winter in the sun? p. 256 -- How far do we have to go ...? p. 263 -- Are we nearly there yet? p. 267 -- Preparing for winter? p. 270 -- Other sorts of stockpiling? p. 282 -- An ability to plan? Preparing clothing p. 285 -- An ability to plan? A lithic perspective p. 292 -- Autumn: season of mists and mellow fruitfulness? p. 301 -- 7 A year in a supremely skilled life? p. 303 -- The hominin year: a seasonal perspective p. 303 -- Adapting to a seasonal Europe? p. 303 -- Continuity in a seasonal world p. 310 -- Coping with seasonal Europe: biology and technology p. 311 -- How different were H. heidelbergensis and H. antecessor? A seasonal perspective p. 312 -- A seasonal world: hominins on the edge? p. 313 -- Benefits of a seasonal perspective p. 315.