Quartar. Internationales Jahrbuch fur Eiszeitalter- und Steinzeitfarschung/International Yearbook far Ice Age and Stone Age Research, Band 55 (2008).

Pettitt, Paul

Quartar. Internationales Jahrbuch fur Eiszeitalter- und Steinzeitfarschung/International Yearbook far Ice Age and Stone Age Research, Band 55 (2008). 163 pages, 95 illustrations, 2 tables. English and German text. 2008. Rahden: Marie Leidorf; ISSN: 0375-7471; ISBN 978-3-86757-921-6 hardback 59.90 [euro].

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Quartar was founded in 1936 to promote Pleistocene archaeology and palaeontology, and since 1954 has been edited by the Hugo Obermaier Society. Issue 55 (2008), introduces a new look. From now on the journal will publish papers on an annual basis in English or German (with abstracts in both), in an attractive and high-quality A4 hardcover format. The contents of the remodelled issue reflect the internationality of the journal, and its prestigious editorial team--Miriam Noel Haidle, Werner Muller, Martin Street and Gerd-Christian Weniger--should be congratulated for bringing new life to this important publication. Twelve papers span its 163 pages, superbly illustrated in monochrome and colour, reporting on new research from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic.

There is much new to be commended in the volume. Orscheidt's characteristically meticulous analysis of the Krapina (Croatia) Neanderthal remains reveals how bone fragmentation was due to natural causes and the rarity and unsystematic location of cut marks, casting doubt on interpretations of cannibalism. Serangeli and Bolus make the important point that surprisingly little attention has been paid to the geographical distribution of Neanderthal remains; they present the first (yes--the first) inclusive and objective distribution map of these remains (183 sites from 26 countries), point to the otherwise neglected importance of southern Europe to Neanderthal evolution and conclude with a persuasive argument that Neanderthals evolved in the relatively temperate environments of southern Europe, only sporadically dispersing out from this core area.

The Gravettian benefits from three papers. Refinement of stratigraphy is a reason behind new excavations at both Willendorf--Nigst et al. show that Willendorf II retains considerable promise for revising the chronology and palaeoenvironmental context of the Early and Mid Upper Palaeolithic--and Krems-Hundssteig (Neugebauer-Maresch) in Austria. The latter yielded abundant Gravettian archaeology including several hearths with associated scatters and calcified remains of Pinus wood, surprisingly, given the loessic matrix in which the material is found. Both these sites have important Gravettian layers and underlying Aurignacian layers relevant to the initial dispersal of Homo sapiens through the Danube, a river also seen by Demidenko as important in their dispersal to the north of the Black Sea. The early Gravettian site of La Vigne Brun in central France is situated in the geographical centre of a broad group, c.29-30 kyr BP, spanning Abri Pataud level 5 in the southwest (Dordogne) to Geissenklossterle (Baden-Wurttenberg) in the northeast, characterised by numerous microgravettes used as armatures, some Font Robert points and small numbers of flechettes. Digan's lithic analysis critically improves our hitherto poor understanding of early Gravettian technology, documenting a remarkable diversity of lithic sources with preferential use of high-quality materials, continuity between blade and bladelet chaines operatoires, and the dominance of armatures over 'domestic' lithic forms. By contrast to these rich Gravettian regions, this technology is entirely absent from the northern Black Sea region, otherwise a 'melting pot' where late Middle Palaeolithic and Early Upper Palaeolithic assemblages are diverse (Demidenko).

Chauviere et al. report on the Solutrean, Badegoulian, Lower and Middle Magdalenian levels of Le Petit Cloup Barrat (Lot) in central France, which includes an original Lower Magdalenian level which adds to the growing complexity of the emergence of the Magdalenian. Starnberger et al.'s palaeoecological analysis of MIS2 deposits from Austria show how loess was often deposited by water, and even spruce woodland existed in a watery landscape, forcing a reconsideration of the Last Glacial Maximum of the region. Grimm and Weber present a critical re-evaluation of the chronology of the transition from the Hamburgian to Havelt-phase in northwestern Europe, showing that the transition between the two overlaps with a rise in arboreal and Salix pollen in the middle Bolling period (Greenland Interstadial 1e) and is thus connected to adaptation to increasing shrub and forested vegetation. Linstadter's useful paper proposes a formal terminology for the Epipalaeolithic-Neolithic transition of the North African Maghreb, with the Upper Palaeolithic Iberomaurusian disappearing during the Younger Dryas period succeeded by the Mediterranean Epipalaeolithic/Mesolithic which spanned some 4000 years; it saw increasing temperatures and precipitation and pottery seems to appear prior to the appearance of the Neolithic. Bradtmoller reports on Fedderingen Wurth, the only excavated Ertebolle site on the German North Sea coast, with evidence for ceramics including a lamp fragment and Ertebolle lithics but as yet with insufficient evidence to demonstrate connections with the neighbouring Swifterbant complex. Furthering the complexities of the agricultural frontier, Mauvilly et al. report on the discovery of a clay seal from the Swiss Late Mesolithic site of Arconciel-La Souche which has clear similarities to an Early Neolithic form from Nea Nikomedia in Macedonia, clearly of interest to current debates about pre-Neolithic cereal production and growing.

If Quartar continues to carry such important contributions in future issues it should rise to a leading position amongst a handful of European Pleistocene studies. This is testimony to the efforts of the editors and the Hugo Obermaier Society, and long may it continue.

PAUL PETTITT

Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, UK (Email: P.Pettitt@sheffield.ac.uk)