Theopetra Cave, located in Thessaly, Greece, is known for its impressive combustion layers dating to between 140,000 and 50,000 years before present (BP) and thick deposits of ash and charred remains dated to between 16,000 and 13,000 years BP. A recent study has shed new light on the combustion structures and fuels used by the cave inhabitants during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic.
Through microscopic analysis of thin films and microchemical studies, researchers have discovered that the combustion layers contain large amounts of carbonized fibrous organic matter of non-woody plant origin and very little charcoal.
The structure, composition and chemistry of these remains suggest that a mixture of peat and dung was used as fuel, occasionally enriched with small amounts of firewood.
The integrity of the sequence of combustion structures rules out the possibility that the dung was produced by animals inside the cave, since its transit over the wet substrate would have destroyed the burned layers and homogenized the sediment.
In contrast, the peat and dung mixture was probably collected from peat bogs associated with bogs of ancient Lake Karditsa, which possibly existed in the area until the early Holocene.
Peat and dung were used as fuel when firewood was not available, during the relatively cold intervals of glacial periods, but also during the last interglacial when the area near the cave consisted of a forest mass.
The researchers note that this same fuel was used during both the Middle and Upper Paleolithic, presumably by different human species.
Although Theopetra Cave is the first site where the use of peat and dung as fuel during the Paleolithic has been documented, archaeologists suggest that other sites may also have used this fuel, although evidence has not been preserved.
This study provides new insights into human activities and behavior related to pyrotechnology during the Paleolithic, adaptation to changing environmental conditions, and the ability to use various resources as fuel, demonstrating the ability of the inhabitants of Theopetra Cave to ensure their survival in a challenging environment.
Sources
Panagiotis Karkanas, Nina Kyparissi-Apostolika, Revisiting palaeolithic combustion features of Theopetra Cave: A diachronic use of dung and peat as fuel. Journal of Archaeological Science, vol.165, May 2024, doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2024.105958
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