Lakonis Cave I (hearth complex)
Basic information
Sample name: Lakonis Cave I (hearth complex)

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

Max Ma: 0.043335

Min Ma: 0.03964

Age basis: radiocarbon (uncalibrated)

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,turtles

Sampling methods: quarry

Sample size: 49 specimens

Years: 1999 - 2010

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

Metadata
Sample number: 3335

Contributor: John Alroy

Enterer: John Alroy

Created: 2019-08-24 18:46:09

Modified: 2023-04-03 06:55:48

Abundance distribution
5 species
2 singletons
total count 49
geometric series index: 9.8
Fisher's α: 1.394
geometric series k: 0.4238
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.5149
Shannon's H: 0.9715
Good's u: 0.9592
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
Register
Cervus elaphus1142 kg browser-grazer
"red deer"
Sus scrofa354 kg herbivore
"pig"
Dama dama3162 kg
"fallow deer"
Carnivora indet.1
"large carnivore"
Testudines indet.13
"tortoise"