Publications

My publications reflect my aim to study broader-scaled anthropological problems, such as human dispersal and the role of geo-ecosystemic dynamics in preserving, altering, and/or destroying the evidence for such movements. These works incorporate geoarchaeological and archaeological science principles and include such topics as: Pleistocene human dispersal, geoarchaeological method and theory (micromorphology, stratigraphy), archaeological science (geochemistry and soil micromorphology), lithic analysis, photogrammetry, and archaeological survey and excavation.

McDonough, K. Rosencrance, R., Holcomb, J. A. et al. (2022)

Expanding Paleoindian Diet Breadth: Paleoethnobotany of Connley Cave 5,
Oregon, USA, American Antiquity
Abstract: Paleoethnobotanical perspectives are essential for understanding past lifeways yet continue to be underrepresented in Paleoindian research. We present new archaeobotanical and radiocarbon data from combustion features within stratified cultural components at Connley Caves, Oregon, that reaffirm the inclusion of plants in the diet of Paleoindian groups. Botanical remains from three features in Connley Cave 5 show that people foraged for diverse dryland taxa and a narrow range of wetland plants during the summer and fall months. These data add new taxa to the known Pleistocene food economy and support the idea that groups equipped with Western Stemmed Tradition toolkits had broad, flexible diets. When viewed continentally, this work contributes to a growing body of research indicating that regionally adapted subsistence strategies were in place by at least the Younger Dryas and that some foragers in the Far West may have incorporated a wider range of plants including small seeds, leafy greens, fruits, cacti, and geophytes into their diet earlier than did Paleoindian groups elsewhere in North America. The increasing appearance of diverse and seemingly low-ranked resources in the emerging Paleoindian plant-food economy suggests the need to explore a variety of nutritional variables to explain certain aspects of early foraging behavior.

Holcomb J. A., Runnels C., & K. Wegmann (2020)

Deposit-centered archaeological survey and the search for the Aegean Palaeolithic: A geoarchaeological perspective, Quaternary International
Abstract: Recent archaeological discoveries from the Greek islands of Crete and Naxos point to the presence of hominins in the Aegean Basin beginning at least in the Middle Pleistocene (~200 ka), indicating that the region may have been an important dispersal route for hominins (including humans) entering southeastern Europe. Currently, archaeologists lack a clear understanding about where Palaeolithic sites should exist throughout the region. Consequently, archaeologists are hindered in their ability to construct the chronostratigraphic frameworks necessary to place the Aegean Palaeolithic into broader narratives of hominin biogeography until more buried and scientifically dated sites are found. Addressing this issue, we review one successful survey strategy that has proven effective in increasing the likelihood of discovering archaeological sites of Pleistocene age – namely, systematic geoarchaeologically informed research frameworks centered on targeting Pleistocene geologic deposits (soils and sediments). Such an approach has worked well on mainland Greece (and elsewhere) but has yet to be operationalized for application in the Greek islands. Here we review the approach and suggest that deposit-centered surveys can function in four phases of varying degrees of complexity and scale and can be implemented either independently or in tandem with traditional archaeological pedestrian surveys. We also review Quaternary deposits and their associated geomorphic settings that are likely to contain Palaeolithic artifacts to aid future deposit-centered surveys in the Greek islands. We conclude that future archaeologists should implement the approach to target depositional settings in near-shore coastal areas (e.g., alluvial fans with stratified Pleistocene-aged paleosols), sometimes identified by paleo-sea-level-indicators (sea notches, marine terraces, and aeolianites), such as those seen on, Antiparos, Kythera, Crete (northern and southern coasts), Karpathos, and Rhodes. Further, we argue that non-coastal geomorphic settings like internally-drained basins on Crete and Rhodes, similar to those on the mainland, should be systematically searched for Palaeolithic sites. The deposit-centered survey strategies reviewed here provide a means for archaeologists working in the Aegean Basin to predict high probability locations for Palaeolithic archaeological sites. This geoarchaeological approach can be used in similar geomorphic settings around the world and therefore has implications for filling geographic gaps in our understanding of hominin dispersals in the Pleistocene.

Carter, T., Contreras, D., Holcomb, J.A. ... (2019)

Earliest occupation of the Central Aegean (Naxos), Greece: Implications for hominin and Homo sapiens’ behavior and dispersals, Science Advances, 5 (10).
Abstract: We present evidence of Middle Pleistocene activity in the central Aegean Basin at the chert extraction and reduction complex of Stelida (Naxos, Greece). Luminescence dating places ~9000 artifacts in a stratigraphic sequence from ~13 to 200 thousand years ago (ka ago). These artifacts include Mousterian products, which arguably provide first evidence for Neanderthals in the region. This dated material attests to a much earlier history of regional exploration than previously believed, opening the possibility of alternative routes into Southeast Europe from Anatolia (and Africa) for (i) hominins, potentially during sea level lowstands (e.g., Marine Isotope Stage 8) permitting terrestrial crossings across the Aegean, and (ii) Homo sapiens of the Early Upper Paleolithic (Aurignacian), conceivably by sea.

Holcomb, J. A. and P. Karkanas (2019)

Elemental Mapping of Micromorphological Block Samples Using Portable X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (pXRF): Integrating a Geochemical Line of Evidence, Geoarchaeology, Vol. 34 (5), pp. 613-624.
Abstract: Archaeological soil and sediment micromorphology represent the most efficient way to obtain microcontextual information at archaeological sites. Because of the generally qualitative (descriptive) nature of micromorphology, one difficulty with the method is establishing vertical and lateral continuity of the observed layers or features. Through an Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis approach, we demonstrate that portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) elemental mapping of resin-impregnated micromorphological block samples provides a complementary geoarchaeological approach for gathering valuable chemical information at the mesoscale. Specifically, we integrate these data with micromorphological analyses to aid our interpretation of the formation of a complex Archaic (seventh century) ritual ash midden (eschara) from the site of Kalapodi, in Greece. We demonstrate that pXRF elemental mapping provides a rapid and cost-effective approach to generate a geochemical line of evidence during micromorphological analyses, and can help tease apart and interpret complex formation processes, such as those found in anthropogenic deposits.

Keywords: elemental mapping, greece, microarchaeology, micromorphology, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

Holcomb, J. A. et al. (2018)

New Evidence for the Palaeolithic in Attica, Greece
Journal of Lithic Studies, Vol. 5 (1).
Abstract: Despite Greece’s key geographic position between southeast Europe and southwest Asia, and its potential for documenting hominin dispersals, Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sites are rare. This suggests the need for research to identify deposits that may contain Palaeolithic artefacts. Here we describe 165 quartz and quartzite artefacts with Palaeolithic characteristics (based on technical and morphotypological definitions) from a private collection that was made from erosional lag deposits on the southeastern slopes of Mt. Pendeli and the northern edge of the Spata polje (a large karstic depression filled with terra rossas) in northeast Attica. Artefacts of the same type occur in the region of Ano Souli, another karstic depression. These karstic depressions are of interest because they resemble artefact-bearing deposits found at similar features such as Kokkinopilos in Epirus that have provided datable geologic contexts for Lower and Middle Palaeolithic artefacts. Our study suggests that Attica was frequented by hominins in the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic and that Pleistocene deposits in karstic depressions in Attica may preserve datable contexts for documenting early human activity. The lithic collection described here provides a glimpse of the potential of the region, and we recommend continued archaeological efforts in Attica to investigate the likelihood for buried Palaeolithic sites.

Keywords: Palaeolithic, Lithic Analysis, Quartz, Photogrammetry, Greece
Picture
Fig 2. Example of handaxe (biface) from Attica: A. photograph; B. photorealistic model with Radiance Scaling surface enhancement to reveal surface removals (Vergne et al. 2010); C. photorealistic model with normal shader with flake removal boundaries marked by black lines; arrows indicate the direction of flaking. Colours illustrate the distribution of light (blue = less light; red = more light) revealing undulating surfaces created by flake removals.

Carter, T. et al. (2017)

The Stelida Naxos Archaeological Project: New Studies of an Early Prehistoric Chert Quarry in the Cyclades
Publications of the Canadian Institute in Greece, No. 10.
The double-peaked 152 m high hill of Stélida is located on the northwest coast of Naxos, ca. 3 km to the south of Chora, the island’s modern port and capital (Fig. 1 and 2). Stélida is a major source of chert, a siliceous raw material that was exploited for the manufacture of flaked stone tools from the Lower Paleolithic to the Mesolithic (≥250,000–9,000 B.P.). Tool typology suggests that the quarrying and knapping may have been undertaken by some combination of Homo heidelbergensis, Neanderthals, and early modern humans.

Jenkins,  D., Holcomb, J. A., and K. McDonough (2017)

Current Research at the Connley Caves (35LK50): Late Pleistocene/early Holocene Western Stemmed Tradition Occupations in the Fort Rock Basin, Oregon
Paleoamerica, Vol.  3 (1).
Abstract: Connley Caves in the Fort Rock Basin of Oregon contain stratified deposits dating to the late-Pleistocene/early-Holocene transition and a stone tool assemblage characteristic of the Western Stemmed Tradition. This research brief details preliminary results on stratigraphy, geochronology, and cultural information yielded from Cave 4. Ongoing research at the site stands to shed light on WST technological activities, intra- and inter-assemblage variability and geochronology, and Paleoarchaic subsistence strategies of the Northern Great Basin.