Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Update from Vanguard Cave


The sieving station is now up-and-running (above) and we've started picking up some good climatic indicators, especially small reptiles and amphibians (below)


The area that we have been cleaning was ready for excavation this morning, showing a nice range of levels (below). The top level (9) was showing charcoals in section which was promising.


Our expectations were more than met as excavation started to reveal a hearth (below). It will become clearer as we excavate but we already picked up two flakes and a few herbivore bones, including some burnt ones. The hearth would have been made by Neanderthals maybe some 45-50 kyr. The date is no more than a rough guess at this stage, based on 40 kyr levels above this part. The next few days will reveal more but it's exciting to find Neanderthal activity high up in the sequence.


I leave you with some images of today's sieving activity...and they're not hanging out their washing but the sieved material out to dry!







Close of play today

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