Excavations at Yeghegis-1, a rockshelter in southern Armenia, reveal long-term human habitation from the late fifth to mid-fourth millennia BC. Here, the authors present a preliminary overview of the materials recovered from the site and highlight the potential of ongoing research to shed light on Chalcolithic human lifeways in the region.

Recent excavations by the Ancient Southwest Texas Project of Texas State University sampled a previously undocumented Younger Dryas component from Eagle Cave in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Texas. This stratified assemblage consists of bison (Bison antiquus) bones in association with lithic artifacts and a hearth. Bayesian modeling yields an age of 12,660–12,480 cal BP, and analyses indicate behaviors associated with the processing of a juvenile bison and the manufacture and maintenance of lithic tools. This article presents spatial, faunal, macrobotanical, chronometric, geoarchaeological, and lithic analyses relating to the Younger Dryas component within Eagle Cave. The identification of the Younger Dryas occupation in Eagle Cave should encourage archaeologists to revisit previously excavated rockshelter sites in the Lower Pecos and beyond to evaluate deposits for unrecognized, older occupations.

Sourced from the Tyrrhenian Islands and exchanged over long distances, obsidian was used widely across prehistoric Western Europe. An obsidian core and bladelets from a newly discovered rockshelter site in south-eastern Spain, however, raised the possibility of an unrecognised mainland source of obsidian. EDXRF analysis of the Early Magdalenian finds from La Boja links them to a source 125km to the south-west. The artefacts were discarded during two brief activity phases at the site, indicating that obsidian procurement was integral to the technological choices of the site's users. The specificities of the technocomplex may explain the unique nature of this occurrence.

The discovery of an Early Upper Palaeolithic rockshelter, Nahal Rahaf 2, in the southern Judean Desert revives the debate about whether the Levantine Aurignacian extended into the arid regions of the Southern Levant.

Jaguariaíva 1 is a sandstone rockshelter located in Jaguariaíva, Paraná State, Brazil, with rock art on the surface of the walls and ceiling. A stratigraphic analysis of the soil within the shelter showed six occupational layers and a superficial disturbed layer with evidence from the end of the 19th century. The establishment of a rock-art chronology became possible using fallen painted rock sections incorporated into three sedimentary levels underlying this rock shelter. These show superimpositions of several pictures of differently sized animals, such as deer, and lattice motifs, which are generally associated with the Planalto rock art tradition. The chronological study was performed based on radiocarbon (14C) analysis of charcoal collected from six excavated subsurface archaeological contexts. The two oldest layers, associated with hunters and gatherers of the Umbu tradition, were dated to 7680–7516 cal BP and 6913–6656 cal BP. There are four occupational layers from ceramists and farmers related to the south Jê linguistic family, and linked to the Itararé-Taquara archaeological tradition: layer 3 linked to the oldest of such occupation, dated to 3058–2796 cal BP, followed by layer 4, dated to 2080–1701 cal BP. Layers 5 and 6, dated to 1995–1526 cal BP and 540–152 cal BP, respectively.

Caves and rockshelters are a key component of the archaeological record but are often regarded as natural places conveniently exploited by human communities. Archaeomorphological study shows however that they are not inert spaces but have frequently been modified by human action, sometimes in ways that imply a strong symbolic significance. In this paper the concept of ‘aménagement’, the re-shaping of a material space or of elements within it, is applied to Chauvet Cave in France and Nawarla Gabarnmang rockshelter in Australia. Deep within Chauvet Cave, fallen blocks were moved into position to augment the natural structure known as The Cactus, while at Nawarla Gabarnmang, blocks were removed from the ceiling and supporting pillars removed and discarded down the talus slope. These are hence not ‘natural’ places, but modified and socially constructed.