Archaeological investigations of settlement patterns in dynamic landscapes can be strongly biased by the evolution of the Earth's surface. The Kuril Island volcanic arc exemplifies such a dynamic landscape, where landscape-modifying geological forces were active during settlement, including sea-level changes, tectonic emergence, volcanic eruptive processes, coastal aggradation, and dune formation. With all these ongoing processes, in this paper we seek to understand how new landscape formation in the Holocene might bias archaeological interpretations of human settlement in the Kurils. Resolving this issue is fundamental to any interpretation of human settlement history derived from the distribution and age of archaeological sites from the region. On the basis of a comparison of landform ages and earliest archaeological occupation ages on those landforms, we conclude that landform creation did not significantly bias our aggregate archaeological evidence for earliest settlement. Some sections of the archipelago have larger proportions of landform creation dates closer to archaeological evidence of settlement and undoubtedly some archaeological sites have been lost to geomorphic processes. However, comparisons between regions reveal comparable archaeological establishment patterns irrespective of geomorphic antiquity.

This article focuses on local paleohydrological changes experienced by the Las Pitas and Miriguaca Rivers in the south-central Andes of Argentina and their impacts on hunter-gatherers as they transitioned to food-producing communities 7000-3000 cal. yr B.P. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on geomorphology, alluvial sedimentology, and diatom evidence indicates a dry phase of reduced streamflow between . 6700 and 4800 cal. yr B.P. for the Las Pitas River, and 6600 and 3000 cal. yr B.P. for the Miriguaca River. A phase of more humid environmental conditions commenced after . 4900 cal. yr B.P. along the Las Pitas River, and after 3000 cal. yr B.P. along the Miriguaca River. Differences in the chronology and magnitude of hydrological changes along both rivers are related to topographic and hydrological characteristics of their respective watersheds. Higher catchment elevation and enhanced orographic precipitation favored greater sensitivity for the Las Pitas River to short humid events during the middle-to-late Holocene. The archaeological evidence suggests that the paleohydrological changes within these catchments played a significant role in human occupational dynamics such that the Las Pitas River offered better environmental conditions for human occupation relative to the Miriguaca River as foragers increasingly relied on plant and animal domestication.

Optical thin section observations represent the core empirical basis for most micromorphological interpretations at archaeological sites. These observations, which often vary in size and shape, are usually documented through digital graphic representations such as photomicrographs, scans, or figures. Due to variability in documentation practices, however, visual thin section data can be captured with a range of methods and in many different formats and resolutions. In this paper, we compare and evaluate five common image-based methods for documenting thin sections in high-resolution: a flatbed scanner, a film scanner, a macro photography rig, and conventional stereo and light microscopes. Through the comparison results, we demonstrate that advances in digital imaging technology now allow for fast and high-resolution visual recording of entire thin sections up to at least ×30 magnification. We suggest that adopting a digital micromorphological documentation practice has several advantages. First, a digital thin section may be observed more efficiently and consistently, for example, on a computer screen, and the spatial configuration of large or complex features may be more accurately documented. Second, they allow for the establishment of digital repositories that may promote scientific reproducibility and inter-laboratory communication, as well as lay the foundations for more consensus-based educational training of archaeological micromorphology.

Geoarchives in ancient settlement sites and their environs bear valuable information about Holocene landscape evolution and human-environment interactions. During the last six millennia, sea-level and coastline changes have had a significant impact on coastal settlements, some of which even had to be relocated. This paper reveals new insights into the spatio-temporal development of the Lycian city of Limyra. Selected sediment cores were analyzed using a multiproxy approach, combining sedimentology, geochemistry, micropaleontology, and C dating. When the postglacial sea-level rise decelerated, a coastal barrier and a deep lake, presumably a lagoon, evolved after the mid-Holocene. The siltation history of the lake is complex: three coastal peat layers (mid-4th millennium BC, end of 3rd/beginning of 2nd millennium BC, beginning of 1st millennium BC), indicate periods of semiterrestrial conditions. That they are sandwiched by lake sediments is consistent with new expansion phases of the lake, most likely triggered by coseismic subsidence. There is evidence of a former lakeshore, dated to between 1400 and 1100 BC, with an intentionally deposited layer of anthropogenic remains, now at 5.5 m below the surface. In the mid-1st millennium BC, the lake silted up, river channels evolved, and people started to settle the area of the later city of Limyra.

The open-air site Feuersteinacker near Stumpertenrod has yielded one of the largest lithic assemblages in Central Germany. It repeatedly served as a workshop for the production of stone tools during an early phase of the Mesolithic. The range of lithic raw materials is extremely diverse, but until today, there is only a limited number of archaeological studies on the occurrence of lithic resources in the area. The following study presents the first in-depth investigation of the use of different rock types by Mesolithic hunter-fisher-gatherers at the site. Provenance analyses using petrographic methods permit raw materials to be assigned to a specific source and provide new insights into their formation. Furthermore, this study explores the way in which the materials were processed throughout the reduction sequence. A comparison of topographic parameters suggests that the location was situated on an important transit route during prehistoric times. The presented results contribute to a better understanding of mobility patterns and subsistence strategies of Early Mesolithic groups in Central Germany.

Paleolithic antiquity of parietal art in Ignatievskaya cave, Southern Ural, is supported by its subject (Late Pleistocene animals) as well as by paleontological and palynological data, and C dates from cultural layers associated with artistic activity (17.8-16.3 cal ka BP; association is established by finds of ochre in these layers). However, three C dates of charcoal motifs yielded younger, Holocene ages (7.4-6.0 cal ka BP). In this study, we constrain the age of parietal art in the cave by Th dating of flowstone that brackets the paintings. Flowstone did not form in the cave between c. 78 and 10 ka BP, due to widespread permafrost in northern Eurasia at that time. Our Th dates do not support the middle Holocene age of art in Ignatievskaya cave and are consistent with its Upper Paleolithic antiquity instead.