Changing environment at the Late Upper Palaeolithic ite of Lynx Cave, North Wales

• Main Authors: Stevens, Rhiannon E., Reade, Hazel, Tripp, Jennifer, Sayle, Kerry L., Walker, Elizabeth A.
• Other Authors: Gaudzinski-Windheuser, Sabine, Jöris, Olaf
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums 2021
• Subjects: Ice; Ice Sheet; permafrost; Lynx
• Online Access: http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/260298/; http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/260298/1/260298.pdf; https://doi.org/10.11588/propylaeum.950.c12581

Lynx Cave is one of a handful of locations in North Wales that provide evidence of Late Upper Palaeolithic huntergatherers at the end of the last ice-age. With the region being recolonized at a time of rapid environmental change there is a need to develop on-site palaeoenvironmental records that are directly linked to the archaeology in order to further understanding of the environments and landscapes that these hunter-gatherer groups experienced. Through carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N) and sulphur (δ34S) stable isotope analysis of animal bones we explore the environmental conditions during the human occupation of Lynx Cave. Analysis of the data indicates the faunal isotope results cluster into three distinct groupings, which when considered in light of the species composition, radiocarbon dates, sample layer provenance and known temporal patterns in herbivore isotope data from Northern Europe, are likely to relate to GI-1cba (the Allerød period) around 13,700-13,000 cal BP, GI-1cba/GS-1 (the Late Allerød/ early Younger Dryas period) around 13,100-12,800 cal BP, and the Bronze Age. The isotope data indicates that the Late Upper Palaeolithic or Late Palaeolithic occupations occurred in an open landscape in which soils were undergoing changing hydrological conditions linked to ice sheet melt and permafrost thaw process and subsequent recovery. The evidence of butchery marks on the faunal remains from both Late Glacial isotope clusters, along with the disparate radiocarbon dates and the presence of three hearths, support the idea of very short-term episodic use of the cave over an extended time period.