Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15

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Quaternary International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint

On the relationship between climate and Neandertal re use during

the Last Glacial in south-west France
Andrew C. Sorensen
Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Both environmental and cultural factors dictate how, when and where hunter-gatherers use re in the
Received 19 May 2016 landscape, as well as how well evidence for any one re will preserve in the archaeological record.
Received in revised form Variability in the production and preservation of anthropogenic re traces can potentially skew our
30 September 2016
perception of re use in the past. With this in mind, the research presented in this article weighs in on
Accepted 3 October 2016
the debate concerning Neandertal re use and re making, specically, the assertion that Neandertals
Available online xxx
were unable to produce re for themselves (Sandgathe et al., 2011a, 2011b). This hypothesis is based on
the inferred correlation between climatic deterioration, concurrent lowering of lightning-ignited re
Keywords:
Fire
frequencies, and reduced signals for re use in layers presumably deposited during the Lower Pleniglacial
Neandertals (Marine Isotope Stage 4) at the Middle Palaeolithic sites of Roc de Marsal and Pech de lAze
IV (Aquitaine
Middle Palaeolithic Basin, southwestern France), the logic being that if Neandertals could produce re at will, re use signals
Last Glacial would remain largely consistent throughout the deposits despite there being limited access to natural
Lightning res in the landscape during this colder period. This review challenges these assertions at multiple scales
Fire regime by looking at regional lightning and re regime dynamics, comparing the re signals observed at Roc de
Marsal and Pech de lAze
IV to those of other sites nearby and around France, and exploring the various
environmental and cultural factors likely inuencing these signals. Ultimately, the data suggests that
estimated reductions in lightning frequencies and re regime during the Lower Pleniglacial (and colder
stadial periods, in general) were not adequate to severely limit Neandertal access to natural re, while
possible artefactual evidence for Neandertal re making challenges the assumption that they were at all
reliant on lightning-ignited re. Moreover, at the nearby Neandertal site of Combe Grenal, the majority of
the layers exhibiting evidence of re use have cold climatic signals, suggesting the re use trends
observed at Roc de Marsal and Pech de lAze
IV are potentially local expressions of changes in regional
site use patterns, possibly brought on by increased reliance on highly mobile, migratory reindeer prey
species and reductions in local woodfuel availability during cold periods. Other factors potentially
reducing the archaeological visibility of cold climate re use are discussed.
2016 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Lumley, 2006; Wrangham, 2009; Roebroeks and Villa, 2011a;

Fire has been integral to the human toolkit for a long time. Its
uses are manifold and include providing heat for warmth, cooking
and tool manufacture, light for night time working and protection
from predators, smoke to reduce harassment by ying insects, and
ames to burn old bedding, manipulate the landscape or aid in
hunting (for an overview, see Clark and Harris, 1985). But just when
and how re entered the human technological repertoire is still
subject to intense debate (Goudsblom, 1986; James, 1989; de
E-mail address: a.c.sorensen@arch.leidenuniv.nl.
Sandgathe et al., 2011a; Ferna
ndez Peris et al., 2012; Gowlett and
Wrangham, 2013; Stahlschmidt et al., 2015).
Human interaction with re likely occurred in four stages: 1)
conceptualizing and understanding re (Pruetz and LaDuke, 2010;
Parker et al., 2016), 2) passive use of re, 3) active control, i.e. the
collection, preservation, and transportation of re, and 4) articial
production of re using stone percussion or wood friction (Frazer,
1930; Goudsblom, 1986). Determining what constitutes each
stage and how to recognise it archaeologically is central to the
debate and is often the main source of ambiguity when it comes to
the positioning of the onset of these stages chronologically (and
spatially). Further compounding the issue are the problems

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.10.003
1040-6182/ 2016 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Sorensen, A.C., On the relationship between climate and Neandertal re use during the Last Glacial in south-
west France, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.10.003
2 A.C. Sorensen / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15
inherent in differentiating anthropogenic re from natural re (e.g.,
Bellomo, 1993; Gowlett et al., 2005; Mentzer, 2014), as well as our
understanding of how various re residues and other evidences for
re use are produced and preserved (Sergant et al., 2006; Mallol
et al., 2007, 2010; Carrancho and Villalan, 2011; Courty et al.,
2012; Henry, 2012; Vallverd et al., 2012; Mallol et al., 2013;
Carrancho et al., 2016; Rhodes et al., 2016).
Neandertals were certainly knowledgeable about the properties
of re and not only used it passively for warmth and light, but
actively as a tool for cooking food (e.g., Henry et al., 2011; Blasco
et al., 2016), or for synthesizing birch bark tar adhesive for haft-
ing (for an overview, see Wragg Sykes, 2015). This latter activity,
while not only being complex (i.e., entailing many steps), appeared
early in the archaeological record, at least prior to Marine Isotope
Stage (MIS) 6 at Campitello Quarry in Italy (Mazza et al., 2006;
Modugno et al., 2006), and again in Germany at Ko nigsaue (Koller
et al., 2001; Grnberg, 2002) during the Last Glacial (MIS 5a).
Despite demonstrating some Neandertals had developed by at least
200,000 years ago a complex hafting technology for which
controlled use of re was essential, these ndings are not proof-
positive evidence of re production, despite perhaps lending
credence to the idea (Roebroeks and Villa, 2011b).
The case for articial re making (see Section 2.4.5.) is further
supported, however, by the recovery of Mousterian re making
tools from multiple Middle Palaeolithic (MP) archaeological sites in
France dating to the Last Glacial (Rots et al., 2011; Sorensen et al.,
2014; Sorensen and Claud, 2016; Sorensen and Rots, 2014; Rots,
2015; Heyes et al., 2016), suggesting at least some Neandertal
groups had developed the ability to produce re.
This paper focuses on the transition between active re use and
re production. This act was arguably the rst true instance of
domestication by humans (Goudsblom, 1992), wherein all the
benets conferred by re are instantly made available. Roebroeks
and Villa (2011a) contend the increasing regularity with which
re is observed in the MP suggests Neandertals (and their imme-
diate predecessors) were habitual re users from 400 to 300 ka
onwards in Europe and the Near East (see also Gowlett et al., 2005;
Shahack-Gross et al., 2014), and likely capable of producing re for
themselves (Shimelmitz et al., 2014). Conversely, Sandgathe et al.
(2011b, 2011a) suggests this trend of increasing re use through
the MP is an artefact of taphonomy and does not reect the more
regular use of re by Neandertals, going so far as to suggest re was
not a xed component of the Neandertal toolkit. They cite the
sporadic nature of re use at European MP sites as evidence for
Neandertals being obligate re users (i.e., reliant on natural sources
of re, predominately caused by lightning strikes), while anatom-
ically modern humans (AMH), on the other hand, were the rst to
kindle re articially (Sandgathe et al., 2011b). However, re-
making tools are largely absent from the early Upper Palaeolithic
(UP) record, as well (Sorensen et al., 2014), and archaeological ev-
idence for re use by AMH during this period is also sporadic
(Roebroeks and Villa, 2011b). Without evidence for re making,
could not any increase in the prevalence of re traces during the UP
also be interpreted as a relic of taphonomy? Moreover, these pre-
sumably re-wielding groups had no noticeable effect on re re-
gimes in SW France and Spain upon their arrival to the region
(Daniau et al., 2010a). Are we to presume then that the earliest
AMH inhabitants of Europe were also obligate re users? If not,
what factors might then account for the variation in re use signals
between these two groups, as well as between conspecic groups
over time and space?
Using the observed trends for re use at Roc de Marsal and Pech
de lAze
IV as a point of departure (Sandgathe et al., 2011a), the goal
of the research discussed here is to test the strength of the concept
of obligate re use by Neandertals during the Last Glacial by
Please cite this article in press as: Sorensen, A.C., On the relationship between climate and Neandertal re use during the Last Glacial in south-
west France, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.10.003
comparing and contrasting archaeological signals for re use dur-
ing cold and warm climatic periods in SW France with shifts in
modelled lightning re ignition frequencies and palaeore regimes,
and to provide possible explanations for re signal variability be-
tween cold and warm occupation layers and between sites.
1.1. The environmentally determined Neandertal re use model
Sandgathe et al. (2011b, 2011a) assert that if Neandertals were
dependent on natural, lightning-caused conagrations as their
primary source for domestic re, the prevalence of anthropogenic
re should be linked to prevailing climatic conditions. Thus,
changes in the re use signal within MP archaeological sites should
correspond to shifts in climate. The fundamental assertions of this
model (both implicit and explicit) are as follows (see also Table 1):
1) Global and regional climate phenomena inuence lightning
frequency, with cooler climates resulting in reduced lightning
frequencies (cf., Rakov and Uman, 2003).
2) Lightning frequency determines the regional and local re
regime, dened as the pattern of frequency, season, type,
severity and extent of res in a landscape (Bond and Keeley,
2005), meaning fewer lightning strikes would result in fewer
overall ignitions.
3) Shifts in re regime directly determined the frequency of
Neandertal access to re and should thus a) manifest similarly in
contemporaneous layers at nearby archaeological sites, and b)
coincide with climatic shifts indicated by the faunal and oral
records. In other words, archaeological layers with strong re
signals should, as a rule, coincide with environmental proxies
that indicate warm conditions, while re-poor layers should
coincide with cold climate environmental proxies.
4) If Neandertals were capable of articially producing re at will,
then the archaeological signals for re use should be similar
throughout the glacial and interglacial cycledif not more pro-
nounced when it is cold.
Sandgathe et al. point specically to the apparent decrease in
re use during colder periods observed at the late MP sites of Roc de
Marsal and Pech de lAze
IV (Dordogne, France) as evidence for this
model.
1.2. Site descriptions and re evidence
Roc de Marsal (hereafter, RdM) is a small south-facing cave
situated about 80 m above a tributary valley of the Ve
ze
re River
(located 1.7 km to the north-west), approximately 1.5 km south-
east of Campagne and 5 km south-west of Les Eyzies (Fig. 1). The
site has yielded high numbers of int tools, cores and akes (more
than 23,000 artefacts
2.5 cm), large numbers of faunal remains,
and numerous combustion features (Bordes and Lalle, 1962; Turq,
1979; Sandgathe et al., 2007, 2008; Turq et al., 2008). With a total
thickness between 1 and 2 m, the stratigraphic sequence at Roc de
Marsal is comprised of seven geological lithostratigraphic units
containing 13 archaeological layers (Fig. 2; for more detailed de-
scriptions of the stratigraphy, see Aldeias et al., 2012, and Goldberg
et al., 2012).

IV (hereafter, Pech IV) is a south-facing collapsed
Pech de lAze
cave situated approximately 50 m above a small, usually dry stream
valley that runs into the Ene
a, a small tributary of the Dordogne
River (1.7 km south of Pech IV), 5 km south-east of Sarlat-la-Cane
da,
and roughly 20 km east of Roc de Marsal (Fig. 1). Pech IV is one of a
series of four caves in the area bearing MP deposits (Bordes, 1972,
1975). Using revised lithostratigraphic designations, eight major
stratigraphic layers (17 levels in total, including subdivisions) have
 A.C. Sorensen / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15 3

Table 1
Outline of the factors potentially inuencing archaeological re signals, including the primary arguments presented by Sandgathe et al. (2011a) and the counterarguments
discussed in the text and their associated section number.

Natural fire availability
Sandgathe et al. (2011a) p. 235 - "Lightning frequency is directly
arguments related to temperature and
humidity and drops significantly in
cold dry clima c condi ons (Rakov
and Uman 2003). Interes ngly, the
rela onship between climate and
lightning frequency matches what
the data show is the case during
the Mousterian, namely less fire in
cold/dry periods and more during
warm/humid ones."
Site funcon/use
p. 231 - "[T]he lithic and faunal data
suggest that the presence or
absence of fires is not a reflec on of
dierences in the site use. The most
parsimonious explana on in the
face of the ethnographic data and
what we see at Pech IV and Roc de
Marsal is that both sites served
generally as base or residen al
camps, and there is nothing to
suggest that this func on changed
significantly throughout their
occupa onal histories."
Seasonality
p. 231 - "As yet we cannot exclude
the possibility that the other
non-fire occupa ons were
limited to summer months,
but given the long temporal
span of these deposits, it
would seem unlikely that
occupa ons took place only
during warm months for many
tens of millennia."
Fuel availability/type
p. 235 - "[E]ven during extreme cold
periods there were always
some trees around, though
likely restricted mainly to river
valleys."
p. 235 - "[B]one can also be used as
fuel."
Taphonomy/Preservaon
p. 224 - "[S]trong arguments can be made to
show that preserva on was not a
significant factor."
p. 224 - "Further evidence that the lack of
fires in the upper layers is not a
result of preserva on comes from
indirect data that reflects the
presence of fire even when more
direct evidence of actual fire residues
are missing."
Sampling methods
Fig. 6, - "[Artefact] counts are based on
p. 227 objects greater than 2.5cm in
length and the flint includes only
proximal and complete pieces
(flakes, tools, and cores)."
Excavaon extent
p. 229 - "Realis cally it is highly unlikely
that fires could have been
constructed in these remaining
areas without resul ng in residues
(even if only burned lithics)
bleeding into the adjacent
excavated areas."
Fire making
p. 235 - "European Neandertals did not
know how to make fire."
2011b - "We would argue that, if
Neandertals had the ability to
make fire at will, then evidence for
it should occur with much greater
frequency in Middle Paleolithic
sites and occupa ons and
especially, those sites associated
with such cold stages."

p. 231 "[C]ondi ons during even the p. 227 - "At both sites, the percentage of
warm months of MIS 4 were burned objects, both lithic and fauna,
s ll far cooler than todays agrees very closely with the
and, again, modern hunter- frequency of more ephemeral, direct
gatherers in even substan ally fire residues (charcoal and ash)."
warmer environments s ll rely
on fire to warm themselves,
especially at night."

Counterarguments (this 2.1.1. - Lightning and fire igni on rates
paper) are very low in the Dordogne today
despite prevailing warm and humid
condi ons.
2.4.1. - This assessment does not consider
poten al changes in site use
frequency or dura on caused by
increased mobility.
2.4.1. - Increased spring/summer
seasonality at Pech IV in
colder layers may reflect shi
in site use pa erns based on
seasonal local availability of
migratory reindeer prey.
2.4.2. - Trees likely not in the direct
vicinity of upland sites like Pech
IV and RdM during colder
periods, so more eort would
be needed to collect wood from
valley bo oms, likely leading to
increased fuel economiza on
(i.e., smaller, more task-specific
fires of shorter dura on).
2.4.3. - Notable amounts of fire proxies
present in layers without combus on
features should be an argument for
the influence of destruc ve post-
deposi onal processes, not against. If
taphonomic impacts were minimal,
then intact combus on features (just
fewer of them) should be present in
all layers where fire proxies are
present. This is not the case.
2.4.4. - The minimum artefact size of 2.5
cm for inclusion in the sample
disregards the smaller artefact size
classes where most fire aected
artefacts fall.
2.4.4. - This is probable, but it also
assumes 1) hearth features would
have been preserved in the (cold)
upper layers, and 2) that no ceably
higher amounts of fire proxies
would have been produced.
2.4.5. - Possible fire making tools have
been recovered from mul ple
Middle Palaeololithic sites da ng
to the Last Glacial.

2.1.2. - Marine microcharcoal
concentra ons, as a proxy for
palaeofire regime, are only weakly
to moderately lower during colder
stadial events compared to warmer
interstadials.
2.1.3. - If these were reduced, it probably
wasnt enough to virtually
eliminate archaeological fire use.
Disparity not great enough to
account for reduc on in fire
proxies at RdM and Pech IV.
2.4.1. - Roof collapse and/or sedimentary
infilling may have caused changes in
how a site is used, aec ng fire use
and hearth placement.
2.4.1. - Observing diachronic change
in seasonality not currently
possible at RdM, though layer
4 (Quina) gives a mixed signal.
2.4.1. Strong spring/summer
seasonality can reduce the
frequency of site visits in a
year and can aect hearth
placement (i.e., outside of the
cave/shelter).
2.4.2. - Bones likely only used as
primary fuel source if heat is
more important than caloric
intake, or to clear bone debris
from a site.
2.4.2. - Bone is a weak producer of
conduc ve heat, causing less
thermal impact on a substrate.
2.4.3. - Lower (hearth) layers at Pech IV
protected by rockfall, with resultant
'chemical buer' helping to preserve
ash.
2.4.3. - Evidence for cryoturba on in upper
layers and li le to none in lower
layers.
2.4.4. - Fine-grained site-wide sampling 2.4.5. - The ability to make fire at will
necessary to iden fy microcharcoal may have reduced the fire signal by
and highly fragmented bone. allowing for more economic, task-
specific fires (i.e., there was no
need to maintain fires for long
periods when fuel is in short
supply).
2.4.4. - Micromorphology is helpful, but
sampling is limited; one cannot
easily direct sampling to invisible
hearth loca ons, so there is more
focus on overt hearth features.

2.2. - Strong evidence for cold stage 2.4.2. - Increased fragmenta on rate 2.4. - Fire proxies are not only about
fire use is present at a number of of burned bone generally preserva on, but also condi ons for
Neandertal sites in France da ng results in pieces falling below crea on: higher geogenic
to the Last Glacial, including the Sandgathe et al. minimum sedimenta on rates and reduced site
Combe Grenal. Conversely, there 2.5 cm sample size. use frequencies (perhaps indicated
are numerous instances of warm by lower artefact densi es), coupled
layers (at Combe Grenal and with reduced frequency, intensity
elsewhere) with very weak fire and dura on of fires, decreased the
signals. chances of incidental hea ng of
extant lithic and bone artefacts.

2.3. - Nega ve shi s in fire proxies can

be seen either well before the
onset of colder clima c condi ons
(Pech IV) or poten ally well a er
(RdM).

Fig. 1. Locations of archaeological sites discussed in the text.

been identied (Fig. 2; for a more detailed stratigraphic description, 2009; Aldeias et al., 2012). The reduction in re signals coincides
see Goldberg et al., 2012); of these, layers 3e8 are Pleistocene de- with 1) a reduced presence of temperate forest fauna species (e.g.,
posits containing abundant MP artefacts, faunal remains and re red deer, roe deer) and an increase in reindeer remains (the main
residues (McPherron and Dibble, 1999; Dibble et al., 2009; Turq faunal proxy indicating cold, dry and more open conditions) to
et al., 2011). between ~60 and 90% of the fossil bone assemblages in layer 4 at
Sandgathe et al. (2011a) point to the comparable stratigraphic Pech IV and layers 5e2 at RdM (Laquay, 1981; Guadelli, 1987;
succession of these two sites as evidence for their rough contem- Gue
rin et al., 2012; Morin et al., 2014; Hodgkins et al., 2016; Cas-
poraneity. Discrete hearth structures (some stacked) only appear in tel et al., in press), which the authors interpret as indicating the
the lowest occupation levels of the sites (layer 8 at Pech IV, and transition from MIS 5 (warmer) to MIS 4 (colder); and 2) a transi-
layers 9 and 7 at RdM), with only diffuse or no re residues (i.e., tion from Levallois-based lithic techno-complexes (Ante-Quina,
charcoal, ash) and reduced frequencies of re proxies (i.e., heated Discamps et al., 2011) to the Quina Mousterian in layer 4 at Pech IV
int, burned/charred bone) in the layers above (Fig. 2) (Dibble et al., and layers 4e2 at RdM (Turq et al., 2008, 2011; Goldberg et al.,

Please cite this article in press as: Sorensen, A.C., On the relationship between climate and Neandertal re use during the Last Glacial in south-
west France, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.10.003
 4
west France, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.10.003
Please cite this article in press as: Sorensen, A.C., On the relationship between climate and Neandertal re use during the Last Glacial in south-

A.C. Sorensen / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15

Fig. 2. Site proles for Roc de Marsal, Pech de lAze
IV and Combe Grenal, with associated re proxies, reindeer data and Mousterian typological designations*. The reindeer curves represent the relative taxonomic abundance of
reindeer remains compared to the Number of Identied SPecimens (% NISP) of other ungulates recovered in each level (Laquay, 1981; Guadelli, 1987; Gue
rin et al., 2012; Hodgkins, 2012; Hodgkins et al., 2016; Castel et al., in press; data
largely compiled by Morin et al., 2014). Layer designations, Mousterian industries and re proxy data for RdM and Pech IV are after Sandgathe et al. (2011a), while the reindeer curve for Pech IV is based on the older layer designations
(right) by Bordes (1975). The re use signals for Combe Grenal are based on observations by Bordes (1955, 1972) of strong (3) and weak re traces (2), while one (1) indicates layers where heated int or burned bone have been
observed (Vogel and Waterbolk, 1967; Bowman and Sieveking, 1983; Faivre, 2011); underlined layer numbers indicate the presence of re. The Combe Grenal prole and Mousterian industry designations are both after Bordes (1972).
The prole photo of Pech IV is after Goldberg et al. (2012). The prole photo of RdM is used with the permission of Alain Turq. *Mousterian typological designations are abbreviated as follows: A Anisipodian, D Denticulate,
FFerrassie, MTA Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition, Q Quina, T Typical.
 A.C. Sorensen / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15 5

2012). At Pech IV, the re signal remains weak into the uppermost
MP layers (3e2), which contain Discoid lithic techno-complexes
assigned to the Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition A/B typology.
The authors assert that the observed re trends cannot be
explained by variable preservation of re traces due to taphonomic
agencies, excavation extent or methods, site function or seasonality
of site use.
1.3. Testing the model
A top-down approach is used to explore the assertions inherent
to this environmentally determined Neandertal re use model,
wherein the following questions are addressed:
1. To what degree did climatic shifts affect lightning ash fre-
quencies, and how might these changes in lightning frequency
have inuenced natural re ignition frequency?
2. How do these estimated shifts in re frequency compare in
timing and magnitude to diachronic shifts in a) re regime in
south-west France, inferred from fossil marine microcharcoal
concentrations from the Bay of Biscay, and b) re use signals
observed at RdM and Pech IV?
3. Do the patterns for cold and temperate re signals from these
sites indeed capture the same climatic shift from MIS 5 to MIS 4,
and how do these signals compare with other presumably
contemporaneous archaeological sequences in the region?
4. What other factors (environmental and cultural) potentially
create disparities in the production and preservation of re
residues and re proxies between cold and warm periods, and
how might excavation and sampling methods (in general) skew
re signals?
2. Results and discussion
2.1. Lightning, ignition and changes in palaeore regime in SW
France during the Last Glacial
2.1.1. Lightning and re ignition rates
Sandgathe et al. (2011a) contend that lightning frequency, being
linked to temperature and humidity (cf., Williams, 1995; Rakov and
Uman, 2003), would have been reduced during colder, drier stadial
periods, thus limiting the availability of natural re sources. If Ne-
andertals were indeed obligate re users, this reduction in light-
ningdand the assumed parallel reduction in re regimedmay
have limited Neandertal re use enough to account for the dispa-
rate re signals encountered between the warm and cold occupa-
tion layers at RdM and Pech IV.
Discussing in detail all the complexities dictating re ignition
and propagation in any one location (Keeley et al., 2011) is beyond
the purview of this article. Among the most important, however,
are vegetation/fuel type, which is largely determined by annual
rainfall and rainfall seasonality (Archibald et al., 2009; Woillez
et al., 2014), fuel state (especially the moisture content of ne
fuels), the presence of a high pressure weather system, the amount
and positioning of rainfall during a storm event (Nash and Johnson,
1996; Latham and Williams, 2001), the percentage of tree cover/
openness of the landscape (Uhl and Kauffman, 1990; Hennenberg
et al., 2006), fuel connectivity (Archibald et al., 2012), and wind
speed (see also: Kourtz and Todd, 1992; Wotton and Martell, 2005).
Lightning is, of course, integral to this process, but it is important to
point out that lightning frequency is only loosely correlated to re
ignition (Court, 1960; Komarek, 1964; Flannigan and Wotton, 1991;
Latham and Williams, 2001; Minnich et al., 2009). In other words,
areas with higher lightning frequencies do not necessarily have
higher re ignition rates.
So how different might re ignition rates have been during
colder glacial conditions compared to the warm interglacial con-
ditions today? According to data compiled by NASA (Cecil et al.,
2014), the Aquitaine Basin today only receives on average 2e6
lightning ashes km2 yr1, with the Dordogne receiving around 3
(Fig. 3). While lightning causes most natural res (Stewart, 1956;
Komarek, 1965), not every strike results in an ignition. About 75%
of all lightning ashes are restricted to the clouds, meaning only
around 25% ever make contact with earth's surface (CIGRE WG
C4.407, 2013). Ultimately, only around 1e4% of these cloud-to-
ground strikes ignite a re (Latham and Williams, 2001, and ref-
erences therein). This estimate is based largely on (sub)boreal for-
est environments and can perhaps serve as a mid-range estimate,
since re frequencies are often higher in steppic regions (Sannikov
and Goldammer, 1996) and lower in temperate deciduous forests
(Bond and Van Wilgen, 1996). Given these rates, one could expect
between 0.0075 and 0.03 res km2 yr1 in the Dordogne

Fig. 3. Global annual distribution of lightning, 1996e2014, from the combined observations of the NASA OTD (1995e2000) and LIS (1998e2014) instruments. Inset: Close-up of
France, star indicates location of the Dordogne, which receives on average 3 ashes km2 yr1. Global lightning Image obtained from ftp://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/pub/lis/climatology/
HRFC/browse/HRFC_COM_FR_V2.3.2014.png, maintained by NASA EOSDIS Global Hydrology Resource Center (GHRC) DAAC, Huntsville, AL. 2015. Data for the image were provided
by the NASA EOSDIS GHRC DAAC. (For clarity, we refer readers to the color version of this gure on the web.)

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6 A.C. Sorensen / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15

(Supplementary Table 1). To compare, historic re frequency data
from the Dordogne (1993e2013) closely align with the modelled
range at 0.00916e0.0526 res km2 yr1, with the inclusion of
human-caused res skewing the data towards the high end of the
range (Data provided by the European Forest Fire Information
System or EFFIS (http://efs.jrc.ec.europa.eu) of the European
Commission Joint Research Centre; San-Miguel-Ayanz et al., 2012).
Lightning frequency tends to rise by 12 5% for every 1  C in-
crease in global mean annual temperature (GMAT) (Romps et al.,
2014), and likely drops by a similar percentage for every 1  C
decrease (Romps, pers. comm. 2015). The modelled 3e6  C reduc-
tion in GMAT for the Last Glacial Maximum (MIS 2) (Annan and
Hargreaves, 2013, and references therein) provides a conservative
lower limit for the coldest stadial periods encountered during the
Last Glacial. This would potentially result in a 31.2 11.6% to
51.3 16% drop in lightning frequency, causing between 0.002453
and 0.02412 res km2 yr1 in the Dordogne (Supplementary
Table 1). It is important to note here the overlap between the
number of expected res in colder and warmer periods; it dem-
onstrates the potential (alluded to above) for there to be more res
during a cooler period despite reduced lightning strike frequencies
if favourable vegetation and climatic conditions increase ignition
rates.
Neandertals were not static beings waiting for the re to come
to them, however (Gowlett, 2015). Depending on weather
conditions and terrain, smoke plumes are potentially visible up to
50 km away (Horvath, 1995). Using the average single day foraging
distance for modern hunter-gatherers of around 15 km (round-trip)
(Binford, 2001), one could reasonably expect to encounter between
1.3 and 5.3 natural res yr1 (of any size) in the Dordogne today
within this 176.7 km2 daily foraging area surrounding a site, and
between 0.4 and 4.3 natural res yr1 under full glacial conditions.
If whole groups relocated near to active re sources (again,
assuming an average daily walking distance of 15 km), then they
could expect between 5.3 and 21.2 res yr1 within this range
(706.86 km2) today, or 1.7e17.0 res yr1 during glacial periods.
Logs left smouldering can potentially burn for days or weeks
(Minnich, 1987; Rabelo et al., 2004), while peat res (usually in
boreal zones) can smoulder for months on end (Rein, 2009),
meaning if the desire were great enough, any re within visible
range could be reached within a few days and may still be
exploitable long after the aming re front has been extinguished.
Using the 50 km maximum visibility radius, 75e300 res yr1
could potentially be exploited under interglacial conditions, and
24.5e241.2 res yr1 under glacial conditions. Indeed, on any given
day during the summer months within the boreal zone of Alaska
today, about 100 (natural) forest res will be burning (Farukh and
Hayasaka, 2012), which if distributed evenly, would yield at least
one active re within this 50 km distance. Together, the mobile
nature of Neandertal groups and their ability to transport and

Fig. 4. Microcharcoal data from deep-sea core MD04-2845 (Bay of Biscay) plotted by age (left), and box plots (right) comparing combined microcharcoal concentrations (CCnb) and
total microcharcoal surface areas (CCsurf) for warmer Greenland interstadial (GI) and cooler stadial (GS) periods. The dashed lines (red in the electronic version) denote median
microcharcoal values for the entire period displayed. Percentages correspond to the relative distance from median values for the highest and lowest data points for each metric.
Microcharcoal data are after Daniau et al. (2009).

Please cite this article in press as: Sorensen, A.C., On the relationship between climate and Neandertal re use during the Last Glacial in south-
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 A.C. Sorensen / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15 7

conserve re could have helped, in part, to negate the modest
differences in re ignition frequencies between climatic periods.
2.1.2. Palaeore regime
Microcharcoal data obtained from marine core MD04-2845 in
the Bay of Biscay has been shown to be a reliable proxy for
describing changes in biomass burning that reect shifts in re
regime in SW France (Daniau et al., 2009, 2010b). This data is
expressed as the concentration of microcharcoal (CCnb number
of microcharcoal per gram, nb g1) and as the total surface area of
the microcharcoal (CCsurf the sum of all surfaces of micro-
charcoal in one sample per gram, mm2 g1). This latter measure
helps to correct for inated microcharcoal concentrations caused
by increased fragmentation related to transport (Daniau et al.,
2009) or production, where higher intensity res tend to increase
rates of fragmentation (Komarek et al., 1973; The
ry-Parisot, 2001).
Determining the relative differences in re regime between these
warmer and colder periods may provide a means to test the validity
of the Sandgathe et al. model, at least at the larger regional scale.
To assess how re regimes uctuated during the portion of Last
Glacial likely represented at RdM and Pech IV, median micro-
charcoal values spanning MIS 5c through mid-MIS 3(c. 105e32 ka)
were compared after further subdivision into warmer Greenland
interstadial (GI) and colder Greenland stadial (GS) periods (North
Greenland Ice Core Project Members, 2004; Sanchez-Gon ~ i et al.,
2008; Daniau et al., 2009; Svensson et al., 2008).
CCnb values vary between 218.4  104 and 1607  104 nb g1, or
-75.2% and 82.2% (respectively) relative to the overall median
value of 8820  104 (Fig. 4). CCsurf values vary between 5069  104
and 20,137  104 mm2 g1, or 55.1% and 78.2% relative to the
median value of 11,299  104. The median CCnb values for GS and
GI (respectively) are 8333  104 and 9782  104 nb g1, or -5.5%
and 10.9% relative to the overall median. The median CCsurf
values for GS and GI are 11,216  104 and 11,332  104 mm2 g1,
or 0.7% and 0.3% relative to the median. For CCnb, 41.2% of data
points during GS are above are above the median, while 63.9% are
above the median during GI (Fig. 5). For CCsurf values, 49.1% are
above the median for GS, and 51.8% are above the median for GI.
As expressed above, microcharcoal values for GI and GS are
given both in terms of their relation to median CCnb and CCsurf
values for the whole period in question (Fig. 4), as well as the
percentage of data points per GI/GS that present values above or
below median CCnb and CCsurf values (Fig. 5). This latter measure
helps to gauge the relative amount of time re regimes were above
or below average within a given time slice, while largely negating
the effects of anomalously high or low data points within a series.
For example, three of the ve lowest CCnb values and two of the
ve lowest CCsurf values occur during Heinrich Event 6 (H6), a
major cold snap during the Last Glacial. Nevertheless, median
microcharcoal values for this period are, perhaps surprisingly, just
above the overall median (CCnb 0.25%, CCsurf 4.42%), while
55.5% of CCnb values and 75.8% of CCsurf values are above the
median. These values appear to run counter to the expectations of
the Sandgathe et al. model.
Overall, the two microcharcoal metrics appear to be slightly at
odds, with CCnb values appearing moderately lower during GS
compared to GI, while CCsurf values are nearly identical. As alluded
to previously, this difference may partially be related to increased
charcoal fragmentation caused by higher intensity burning asso-
ciated with forest res during warmer GI, thereby inating

Fig. 5. Microcharcoal data presented as the number of data points above or below median CCnb and CCsurf values (see Fig. 4) within Greenland interstadial (GI) and stadial (GS)
periods. Pie charts (left) compare combined GI and GS data for the entire period analysed, while the bar graph (right) provides a breakdown of the relative percentages of data
points above and below median values and the number of data points represented per GI and GS period.

Please cite this article in press as: Sorensen, A.C., On the relationship between climate and Neandertal re use during the Last Glacial in south-
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8 A.C. Sorensen / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15
microcharcoal concentrations (CCnb) relative to those produced by
lower intensity grass and brush res during GS.
2.1.3. Comparisons with archaeological re proxy data
As it is argued below, treating the amount of re residues
observed within archaeological layers as another environmental
proxy is fraught with problems (see Section 2.4.3.). Nevertheless,
accepting momentarily the assumption that there is a direct rela-
tionship between natural re prevalence, Neandertal re use and
relative quantities of re proxies, re proxy data for RdM suggests
there was roughly 23 times more res in layer 9 (containing the
highest proportion of heated lithic artefacts at 30%) compared to
layer 4 (the lowest at 1.3%), and at Pech IV, around 23.7 times more
res in layer 8 (21.3%) than layer 4 (0.9%, the average of levels 4A-C
according to Turq et al., 2011). By contrast, the model outlined above
in Section 2.1.1. suggests the annual number of lightning res could
be at most 13.25 times greater under interglacial conditions than
under glacial conditions, assuming the most favourable and least
favourable conditions for ignition prevailed during these periods,
respectively. While it is true that, compared to the median GS and GI
microcharcoal values, greater shifts between individual peaks and
troughs can be observed in Fig. 4, the highest CCnb value recorded is
7.36 times greater than the lowest, while the highest CCsurf value is
only 3.97 times greater (Figs. 4 and 5). The lack of precision dating
and the potential effects of time averaging in archaeological de-
posits preclude accurate assignment of individual microcharcoal
data points to specic archaeological levels or occupations. Ulti-
mately, neither proxy, even at their extremes, suggests rates of re
prevalence in the landscape were ever so low for long enough pe-
riods to account for the drastic reductions in re signal at RdM and
Pech IV, indicating other factors are more likely responsible.
2.2. Archaeological signal for cold stage re use by Neandertals
Evidence alluding to the presence of re on archaeological sites
during the MIS 4 cold stage is common (see Roebroeks and Villa,
2011a), but Sandgathe et al. observe that the degree of burning
rarely approaches that seen in the levels of RdM and Pech IV
attributed to MIS 5, at least as far as preserved combustion features
are concerned. While the authors acknowledge that It is clear that
the evidence from these few sites cannot easily be applied to an
entire region (Sandgathe et al., 2011a, p. 234), their conclusions
appear to do just that despite strong evidence for re use through
the coldest periods of MIS 4/3 at the nearby site of Combe Grenal.
A portion of the 13 m sequence at Combe Grenal (Domme)
appears to be contemporaneous with RdM and Pech IV (Discamps
et al., 2011; Faivre et al., 2014; Morin et al., 2014), exhibiting
similar climatic and archaeological trends (for detailed descriptions
of the stratigraphic sequence, see Bordes, 1972 and Mellars, 1996).
However, despite being located very near Pech IV (6 km) and Roc de
Marsal (22 km) (Fig. 1), the re signal there seems to run counter to
what would be expected according to the Sandgathe et al. model.
In all, 127 small and 19 large hearths (foyers, in French) were
documented by Bordes in his excavation notebooks (Binford, 2007).
Just over one-third of the Combe Grenal layers (22 of 65) are pur-
ported to have traces of re use (Fig. 2), with three-quarters of these
in cold layers (in bold: 9, 12, 14,17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29,
30, 38, 43, 49, 50, 52, 54, 55, 60), as indicated by greater relative
presence of reindeer (Guadelli, 1987; Laquay, 1981; Morin et al.,
2014) and/or reduced arboreal pollen (AP) (Bordes, 1972). There
are nine layers with strong traces (54, 52, 50, 43, 29, 27, 23, 20, 14),
as described by Bordes (1955, 1972) using terms like large,
continuous, or lacking the qualiers scattered, small,
diffuse, ashy, or thin used to distinguish the nine layers with
weak traces (38, 30, 28, 25, 24, 22, 21, 12, 9). Fifty-four heated int
Please cite this article in press as: Sorensen, A.C., On the relationship between climate and Neandertal re use during the Last Glacial in south-
west France, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.10.003
fragments were observed in layer 17 (Faivre, 2011). Five other layers
(60, 55, 50, 49 and 20) contained heated ints that were subjected
to TL analysis (Bowman and Sieveking, 1983). And layer 12 (E2)
contained burned bone that was collected for radiocarbon dating
(Vogel and Waterbolk, 1967). Bordes (1975) also notes re-
reddened patches of limestone bedrock directly underlying layer
55. Despite the current lack of re proxy data from Combe Grenal
for quantitative comparison, the signal of re use does not at all
appear to conform to the Sandgathe et al. model: re traces occur
regularly in the cold layers associated with elevated reindeer
presence during MIS 4, with seven of the ten layers assigned to the
Quina lithic techno-complex (Faivre et al., 2014) exhibiting evi-
dence for re use.
Other sites in France also exhibit strong re signals in layers
assigned to cold periods. For example, layer 4 at Abris du Maras
(near the conuence of the Arde che and Rho^ ne Rivers in south-east
France), exhibits combustion structures, high percentages of
burned bone, charcoal and heated ints, with a faunal assemblage
comprised of ~85% reindeer (NISP) (Daujeard and Moncel, 2010;
Moncel et al., 2015). At La Quina (Charente, SW France), Bed 8 is
dominated by reindeer remains (~90%) and contains large amounts
of burned bone (~95% < 2.5 cm) (Chase, 1989; as cited in Jelinek,
2013).
It should also be noted that the logic of the Sandgathe et al.
model could cut both ways: if anthropogenic re signals weaken
when it is colder, then they should become stronger when it is
warmer. Yet, this is not always the case, as attested to by the near
absence of observed re traces at any number of Last Interglacial
(MIS 5e) and Early Glacial (MIS 5d-a) sites (see Dataset S1 in
Roebroeks and Villa, 2011a,b for examples).
One is then left to wonder whether the reduced re signals
witnessed in the cold layers at RdM and Pech IV are indeed related
to reduced re in the environment, or instead to reduced use of re
by Neandertals for some other reason, taphonomy, or some com-
bination of these factors. Given the contradictory pattern observed
at Combe Grenal, it is possible that the changes in re signals at
RdM and Pech IV reect local phenomena and are not indicative of a
region-wide pattern.
2.3. Contemporaneity: problems and implications for addressing
re and environmental signals
The limitations of chronometric dating are rarely more frus-
trating than around transitional periods. The volatile nature of
climatic uctuations during the Last Glacial and the implications
these have on Neandertal lifeways makes this problem of dating
particularly vexing, as interpretations of climatic signals are often
heavily inuenced by newly acquired absolute dates. While the
primary concern of this paper is the relationship between envi-
ronmental and corresponding re signals, (re)interpretation of
climate signals based on chronometric data can potentially cause
conicts with established models. The Sandgathe et al. model
hinges on the assertion that the similar environmental, cultural and
re signals observed at RdM and Pech IV together indicate a degree
of contemporaneity, in this case, the assumed transition from (re-
rich) MIS 5 to (re-poor) MIS 4. On its face, this seems reasonable;
however, chronometric redating of layers from RdM by Gue
rin et al.
(2012, in press) casts doubt on this interpretation by suggesting the
re-rich lower layers 9e7 were deposited early to mid-MIS 4
(70e65 ka). Moreover, these dates coincide with recent thermo-
luminescence dates (Richter et al., 2013) and single-grain optically
stimulated luminescence dates (Jacobs et al., 2016) acquired for
layer 4C at Pech IV (68.5 6.6 ka and 71.8 6.7 ka, and 68.3 3.9
ka, respectively), a colder layer virtually devoid of re traces ac-
cording to the ndings of Sandgathe et al. (2011a). The incongruity
 A.C. Sorensen / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15
between the more temperate environmental signal present in these
layers at RdM and the cold snap inferred from multiple climatic
proxies during this date range (i.e., GS 18e19; see Sanchez-Gon ~i
et al., 2008; Daniau et al., 2009) could suggest regional or local
factors (specically vegetation type and distribution) are more
inuential on the prevalence of particular kinds of fauna, as well as
the prevalence of re. Indeed, despite prevailing colder tempera-
tures, boreal forests appear to have expanded in the Aquitaine basin
through mid-MIS 4 (Sanchez-Gon ~ i et al., 2008), providing a degree
of continuity for more forest-adapted species while serving as
sheltered wintering grounds for south-expanding reindeer, thus
creating the more composite faunal spectrum observed in the
lower layers at RdM and other sites in the region (Discamps et al.,
2011; Gue
rin et al., 2012). Moreover, retention of the forests (i.e.,
abundant fuel resources) in this area would potentially allow for
continuity of re use practices by Neandertals through the rst half
of MIS 4, prior to the onset of Heinrich Event 6.
Ignoring chronometric dates for the moment, the climate and
re signals at RdM and Pech IV also show discrepancies when
comparing relative percentages of reindeer remains (Laquay, 1981;
Guadelli, 1987; Gue
rin et al., 2012; Morin et al., 2014; Hodgkins
et al., 2016; Castel et al., in press) to re proxies (Sandgathe et al.,
2011a,b). The earliest archaeological horizons at RdM (layers
9e6), which contain hearth structures (layers 9 and 7) and the
highest percentages of heated int (~30e13%, respectively; see
Fig. 2), already have faunal assemblages comprised of 10.6e33.2%
reindeer; whereas at Pech IVdhere, hearths are again only present
at the base of the sequence (layer 8)dre proxies drop steadily
from 21.3 to 4.6% between layers 8 and 6A, while reindeer presence
remains almost nil (0e1.5%, respectively), suggesting the re signal
at the site dropped off already prior to the climatic deterioration
signalled by the relative increase in reindeer fauna. Only in layer 5B
(Bordes levels J3 and J2) do reindeer percentages (17.1e34.7%,
respectively) approach levels seen in the hearth-bearing layers at
RdM, but by this point, percentages of heated int have already
dropped to below 1%. Does this support the younger chronology for
RdM proposed by Gue
rin et al. (2012, in press)? While this disparity
could be attributed to differences in when or how the sites were
used, perhaps caused by differential positioning of prey species in
the landscape (see Section 2.4.1.), the apparent waning of re use at
Pech IV prior to the shift towards a more cold climate faunal
spectrumda similar reduction in re signal occurring well after
this transition at RdMdagain calls into question the forces driving
these changes in re signal, and the applicability of Sandgathe
et al.'s re use model to the region as a whole.
2.4. Factors inuencing archaeological re signals
Reconstructing the chane op
eratoire of a re from its resultant
residues is no easy affair (cf., March et al., 2014): primary re res-
idues rarely preserve (cf., Mallol et al., 2007), and the direct rela-
tionship between re use and archaeological re proxies is complex
and remains poorly understood. Whether or not an individual re
leaves behind evidence of it having burned depends not only on
preservation conditions at a site, but also on the nature of the re
itself. External controls, both environmental and cultural, will in-
uence how a re burns (e.g., large and hot, small and cool, long or
short duration), which in turn dictate the strength of the initial re
signal. After a re is abandoned, attritional processes, both short-
term (e.g., displacement by wind or water) and long-term (e.g.,
diagenesis), determine to what degree the original re signal re-
mains intact. Finally, the excavation and analysis methods
employed by archaeologists will determine if and to what extent
the necessary evidence is collected for identifying and interpreting
this depleted re signal.
Please cite this article in press as: Sorensen, A.C., On the relationship between climate and Neandertal re use during the Last Glacial in south-
west France, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.10.003
9
With regards to the production, preservation and recovery of
re residues and proxies, Sandgathe et al. (2011a) addresses many
of the possible explanations for why re signals appear weaker in
the upper levels of RdM and Pech IV, ultimately discounting site
function, seasonality, fuel availability, taphonomic agencies, exca-
vation extent and excavation methods. These options having been
exhausted, the authors propose Neandertals lacking the ability to
make re best explains the pattern. Below are some alternative
interpretations of the record that should provide insight into the
problematic nature of inferring the relative degree of anthropogenic
burning from re residues and re proxy data between sites and
occupation layers.
2.4.1. Site function and seasonality
Sandgathe et al. question the notion that a change in primary
site function at RdM or Pech IV to one that did not require re could
account for the lack of re traces in layers with cold climatic signals.
They reject this explanation based on roughly comparable carcass
transport strategies, butchering activities and compositions of
stone tool assemblages between re-rich and re-poor layers,
which to them suggests these sites remained base/residential
camps throughout their use lives. This assessment, however, does
not take into consideration potential changes in site use frequency
or duration.
As colder conditions forced reindeer southward in high
numbers through MIS 4/3 (Discamps et al., 2011; Morin et al., 2014),
Neandertal subsistence strategies shifted to accommodate this new
migratory prey by becoming increasingly more mobile (Niven et al.,
2012; Rendu et al., 2012). If the inferred function of RdM and Pech
IV as habitation sites remained unchanged, an increase in resi-
dential mobilitydpossibly coupled with reduced population den-
sities (cf., Morin, 2008)dwould have led to fewer and shorter site
visits, naturally resulting in weaker re signals due to the presence
of fewer res of shorter duration. The absence of combustion fea-
tures itself could be an indication that the function of these sites did
change with the onset of colder climate (cf., Niven et al., 2012). Or if
these sites were never primary residences, but instead perhaps
hunting-observation stations or some other short-term campsites
within a more logistic system all along, other external factors (e.g.,
easy access to wood fuel, discussed in the section below) may have
been at play.
Switching to a reindeer-based subsistence strategy would also
have led to changes in when sites were occupied based on the local
availability of this resource. Site use at Pech IV (Table 2 in Sandgathe
et al., 2011a) shows an apparent increase in seasonality after rein-
deer become more prevalent that could possibly be related to the
position of the site relative to the boundary between forest and
steppe vegetation zones (cf., Stewart, 2005). The exploitation of
forest species throughout the year in layers 8-6A suggests the site
was well within the forested zone. As reindeer often prefer to
overwinter just inside wooded areas due to the greater prevalence
of lichens for winter forage (Klein, 1982), the hunting of reindeer
during the winter and spring at Pech IV during Layer 5A suggests the
site may have been located near the forest-steppe ecotone, and then
located north(east) of this boundary during the colder period rep-
resented by layers 4C-4A, when spring and summer hunting may
have been focused on intercepting reindeer migrating northward
from more sheltered, southerly wintering grounds. Moreover, the
appearance of swarms of biting insects during the spring and
summer months (as is usual in the high-latitudes today) may have
made more windswept upland locations preferred camping spots
(Binford, 1978; Sharp and Sharp, 2015). This pattern could suggest
Pech IV was utilised multiple times a year during warmer climatic
intervals and perhaps only once a year during colder intervals, again
reducing the number of opportunities for re to have been
10 A.C. Sorensen / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15
introduced into the site. Furthermore, if occupations were indeed
largely restricted to the warmer months, it is possible that hearths
were placed outside the protected connes of the cave/shelterda
common practice among some modern northern hunter-gatherers
(e.g., the Dene
suline

of the northern Canadian Subarctic; Sharp
and Sharp, 2015). The few seasonality data reported from RdM are
restricted to layer 4, thus not allowing for a diachronic comparison
with Pech IV. Foetal reindeer bones suggest a late winter or early
spring occupation, while teeth from two reindeer individuals indi-
cate they were hunted in the summer or fall (Castel et al., 2016). This
mixed signal could suggesting RdM may have been a multi-seasonal
stop, possibly coinciding with the spring and fall reindeer
migrations.
Roof collapses and sedimentary inlling at Pech IV and RdM also
likely altered when and how Neandertals utilised these caves over
time. The receding of the porch at Pech IV caused it to function
more like a rock shelter and is cited as a possible reason for so few
re remains in the upper layers (Turq et al., 2011). More generally,
reduced clearance caused by sedimentary inlling can reduce both
mobility and smoke ventilation within a cave (Gentles and
Smithson, 1986; Lioubine, 1992), making it less attractive for use-
dat least with redlater in its use life. Other enclosed sites where
the use of re appears to have been limited or discontinued in
upper deposits possibly due to reduced clearance caused by sedi-
mentary inlling include Combe Grenal (Bordes, 1972), Abri du
Brugas (Meignen, 1981) and La Rochette (Soressi, 2002).
2.4.2. Fuel availability
Sandgathe et al. argue that the widespread replacement of
woodland by grasses during the colder periods does not explain the
apparent reduction in re use during these periods for two reasons:
1) There is always some wood around, though often conned to
river valleys. 2) Bone can be used as a fuel when wood is scarce.
These points are both valid but carry with them important
restrictions.
Fuel foraging generally conforms to the principle of least effort,
though this can be amended based on the importance of re to the
group in question at any given moment (The
ry-Parisot, 2001).
During forested interglacial periods, high-quality wood fuel could
be easily procured in the immediate vicinity of both RdM and Pech
IV. Thus relatively little effort would have been needed to collect an
abundance of fuel, allowing the inhabitants to maintain larger,
longer-burning res with minimal extra effort. During colder pe-
riods when grasses dominate the landscape, however, the likeli-
hood of there being robust woody fuel sources in close proximity to
either of these upland sites is low, as trees would have been largely
restricted to valley bottoms. Considering the rough terrain (see
Henry et al., in press), and depending on the distance to these fuel
sources, the amount of energy required to extract a comparable
amount of wood as was used during warm periods likely out-
weighed the benets of the re itself (Henry et al., 2016), likely
leading to increased fuel economisation and perhaps shorter resi-
dency times as combustible materials in the immediate vicinity of
the caves would have been rapidly consumed (Ofek, 2001). This has
many negative implications for re signals. Fires would have been
lit more out of necessity rather than convenience or comfort, and
would likely have been smaller and/or of shorter duration, i.e., more
task-specic (cf., Mallol et al., 2007). Shrubs, grasses and herba-
ceous plants located in the immediate vicinity of these sites would
have likely supplemented meagre wood fuels, potentially reducing
re signals for a number of reasons. Finer fuels tend to burn quickly
and are poor producers of conductive heat (Cheney and Sullivan,
2008); they also tend to combust fully (in hearths), leaving
behind few if any robust charcoals, and are nearly impossible to
maintain in a non-aming state since they do not produce glowing
Please cite this article in press as: Sorensen, A.C., On the relationship between climate and Neandertal re use during the Last Glacial in south-
west France, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.10.003
coals that can be banked in ashes and revived later.
Much like ner fuels, the combustion of bone results in a
aming re that extinguishes quickly (i.e., no glowing coals) and
favours the production of radiative and convective heat, but is
completely ineffective at producing conductive heat (The
ry-Parisot,
2002; The
ry-Parisot et al., 2005), meaning res fuelled primarily by
bone (and/or ne fuels) were less likely to alter the underlying
substrate. Also, if site visits were only short-term affairs, site
maintenance would likely have been minimal, and it is unlikely
bone would have been extensively burned as a means of disposal.
It should be remembered that the combustible portion of bone
is also the nutritive portion, meaning the purposeful burning of
bones suitable for use as fuel would mean sacricing internal heat
(i.e., calories) for external heat. During periods of nutritive stress,
bones were probably only used as fuel if there was a surplus. Given
the intensity with which Neandertals often processed bone to
extract marrow at RdM and Pech IV (Hodgkins et al., 2016; Castel
et al., in press), unless they had a surplus of marrow bones, only
trabecular (spongy) bonedgenerally considered a more effective
fuel than cortical (compact) bonedwould likely have been sacri-
ced to the re as fuel (Costamagno et al., 1999; The
ry-Parisot et al.,
2005). Trabecular bone only comprises around 20% of a skeleton, so
the relative proportion of elements burned may have been low to
begin with, while the tendency for burned spongy bone to fragment
easily would cause most remaining fragments to fall outside the

2.5 cm size range analysed by Sandgathe et al. (see Section 2.4.4.).
However, if Neandertals were stressed to the point where it may
have been better to process trabecular bone into bone meal rather
than burn it, as postulated by Castel et al. (in press), then this
practice would be one more factor potentially weakening the re
signal in the colder layers at these sites.
2.4.3. Taphonomic factors
Sandgathe et al. point out the apparent correlation between the
presence of combustion features and the greater prevalence of re
proxies in the warmer lower levels at RdM and Pech IV, and
conversely, the paucity of hearth traces and low percentages of re
proxies in the colder upper levels. On its face, this observation
seems logical, but the actual relationship between combustion
features and re proxies is not nearly so relative due to variability in
re use, depositional settings and preservation.
Indeed, comparable levels of re proxies can occur in archaeo-
logical layers devoid of intact combustion features (e.g., the Lower
Palaeolithic site Gesher Benot Ya'akov: Goren-Inbar et al., 2004;
Alperson-Al et al., 2007; Alperson-Al and Goren-Inbar, 2010) as
are recovered from layers with multiple well-preserved hearth
structures (e.g., the UP Magdalenian sites of Champre
veyres and
Monruz: Leesch et al., 2010). Hypothetically speaking, variability in
re use (i.e., re size, duration, intensity, frequency) can result in
disparate re signals; but in some cases, it could lead to similar
signals due to equinality. Regarding this latter point, if conditions
are such that hearth features are not preserved, one large re
burning for an extended period could potentially result in a similar
proportion of dispersed re residues or re proxies as numerous
smaller, short-lived hearths. On the other hand, if a re is built over
an extant lithic scatter (Sergant et al., 2006), the resulting number
of heated lithic fragments will be much higher than from an
identical re built on a previously unoccupied surface devoid of
artefacts (e.g., Johansen and Stapert, 2001). This would also apply to
shallowly buried artefactsdperhaps up to 5 cm deep (Stiner et al.,
1995)dthough the depth at which temperatures high enough to
visibly alter bone and stone can penetrate is dependent, again, on
the size, intensity and duration of the re, as well as the compo-
sition and moisture content of the underlying substrate (Bellomo,
1990; Campbell et al., 1995; Bennett, 1999), with even very
 A.C. Sorensen / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15
shallowly buried artefacts remaining largely unaffected by small,
short-term, low-intensity res.
Lower geogenic sedimentation rates, coupled perhaps with
more intensive re use and redundant hearth placement in the re-
rich layers at RdM and Pech IV, left extant artefact scatters directly
below the hearths exposed to repeated episodes of heating, thus
increasing the frequency of re proxies (i.e., the palimpsest effect,
see Henry, 2012). This effect was possibly amplied by the prox-
imity of these early occupation layers to the cave oors, which may
have acted as a reective surface allowing for more intense heating
of the overlying sediments and artefacts after any excess moisture
is evaporated away. The smaller available occupation surface area
within RdM likely restricted hearth placement to some degree,
which in turn increased the chances of later hearths being placed
over extant knapping scatters produced near the previous
hearth(s). Thus, the smaller size of RdM compared to Pech IV could
explain the higher frequencies of re proxies recovered from the
hearth layers at RdM despite possibly greater site use intensity at
Pech IV, as suggested by lateral blurring of hearth features (Turq
et al., 2011; Aldeias et al., 2012; Goldberg et al., 2012).
Increased rates of geogenic sedimentation during colder pe-
riods, especially if coupled with reduced frequencies in site use,
may have allowed for more vertical separation of individual occu-
pation layers. This additional thermal buffer likely reduced the
chances for incidental heating of extant artefacts (e.g., Quebrada
Cave: Eixea Vilanova, 2015). The parallel reduction of heated lithics
and lithic artefacts densities as conditions deteriorated at RdM
could be indicative of this trend (Fig. 7 in Sandgathe et al., 2011a),
while the increase in faunal bone densities could reect minimal
site maintenance (i.e., removing or burning bone), better preser-
vation due to colder conditions, or perhaps inated numbers of
bone fragments from more intensive marrow processing
(Hodgkins, 2012; Hodgkins et al., 2016). The relationship between
re proxies and artefact densities is less clear at Pech IV, and may
reect a more complex depositional history.
Concerning the possibility of differential preservation of re
traces between the lower and upper layers at Pech IV and RdM, the
authors assert that preservation was not a signicant factor
(Sandgathe et al., 2011a, p. 224). However, the fact that combustion
features are lacking in layers containing notable amounts of re
proxies, by denition, seems to suggest otherwise. The excellent
preservation of combustion features (and residues) in layer 8 at
Pech IV has been attributed to large roof fall fragments (associated
with layer 6B) effectively capping the layer and acting as a chemical
buffer, while calcite dissolution and precipitation cycles may have
degraded ash deposits in the upper levels (Dibble et al., 2009; Turq
et al., 2011). The proximity of the hearth layers at RdM to the un-
derlying bedrock may have acted as a similar buffer. Moreover,
rapid localised cementing of the upper portions of ash deposits in
layer 8 at Pech IV, as well as in layers 9 and 7 at RdM (here also the
formation of mm-thick phosphatic weathering crusts), may have
acted as protective caps against the winnowing away of ash and
ne charcoal fragments by wind or water runoff and prevented
further diagenetic alteration (Turq et al., 2011; Aldeias et al., 2012).
Furthermore, the upper layers at RdM and Pech IV effectively
shielded the lower horizons from the adverse climatic conditions
encountered from MIS 4 onward. Varying degrees of cryoturbation
are reported in nearly all layers above layer 8 at Pech IV (Bordes,
1975; Goldberg et al., 2012; Turq et al., 2011), with evidence of
soliuction in layer 7 and possibly layer 5B (Turq et al., 2011). At
RdM, evidence of ice segregation, platy freeze-thaw structures and
ice wedges were observed throughout the sequence into the upper
portion of layer 8, but no deeper, while soliuction affected the
upper layers outside the cave entrance (Couchoud, 2003; Goldberg,
in Sandgathe et al., 2007).
Please cite this article in press as: Sorensen, A.C., On the relationship between climate and Neandertal re use during the Last Glacial in south-
west France, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.10.003
11
2.4.4. Excavation methods and sampling
As suggested by Sandgathe et al., it seems unlikely that obvious
hearth features were simply missed during excavations at Pech IV
and RdM, and the idea that combustion features might remain
undiscovered within the unexcavated portions of the sites, while
possible, is also unlikely to change the overall trend. However, it
appears obvious, based on the evidence provided above, that ne-
grained excavation, analytical and sampling methods are necessary
to aid in the identication and characterization of poorly expressed
episodes of Neandertal re use.
Studies have shown that the collection and incorporation of
smaller artefact classes (generally <2 cm) into a sample tends to
give the spatial resolution necessary to identify phantom hearth
locations (Sergant et al., 2006; Alperson-Al and Goren-Inbar,
2010; Leesch et al., 2010). Moreover, higher percentages of heated
lithic artefacts are often observed when smaller artefact classes are
included in analyses (Roebroeks, 1988; Sergant et al., 2006; Stapert,
2007; He
risson et al., 2013). The disparity between different size
classes of burned/charred bone tends to be even more pronounced
(Chase, 1989; as cited in Jelinek, 2013; Costamagno et al., 1999;
ris, 2001; Villa et al., 2002; Daujeard, 2008; Daujeard and
Jo
Moncel, 2010; Jelinek, 2013; Abrams and Cattelain, 2014). While
this trend may to an extent reect the thermal fragmentation of
larger pieces into many smaller ones (Stiner et al., 1995; Sergant
et al., 2006), it also can reect incidental heating of (shallowly
buried) artefacts directly underlying a re. This is important for a
couple of reasons: 1) In situations where res are of short duration
and/or lower intensity, only smaller artefacts at or very near the
surface may have enough time to heat up to temperatures required
to result in noticeable thermal alteration; glowing res can burn at
low enough temperatures to cause no thermal alteration at all
(Sergant et al., 2006). 2) Thermal alteration of bone often makes it
more brittle and susceptible to mechanical fragmentation and/or
dissolution (Stiner et al., 1995). At RdM and Pech IV, only int and
bone artefacts
2.5 cm were included in re proxy analyses
(Sandgathe et al., 2011a), likely meaning the majority of the re-
affected artefacts fell outside of this sample. In a recent study
conducted on layer 4 of RdM (Castel et al., 2016), it was indeed
shown that burned bone percentages, while still providing a rela-
tively weak re signal compared to the lower re-rich layers, were
highest among the smallest size classes: 0e10 mm (3.14%),
10e20 mm (1.86%), 20e50 mm (0.2%) and >50 mm (0%).
Mechanical fragmentation and/or dissolution also affect pri-
mary re residues like charcoal, ash or phytoliths (The
ry-Parisot,
2001). Finer fuels (branches, shrubs, grasses) are much less likely
to produce robust charcoal fragments that can better withstand
these processesdespecially in more basic environments like
limestone caves (Cohen-Ofri et al., 2006)dresulting in a scatter of
charcoal composed only of microscopic fragments that would
potentially go unnoticed without special collection and analytical
methods (Cui et al., 2009; Marquer, 2009; Marquer et al., 2010,
2012).
Micromorphology is a powerful tool for providing very detailed
data on site formation processes and archaeological features (e.g.,
Albert et al., 2012; Mallol et al., 2013; Mentzer, 2014; Mallol and
Mentzer, 2015), and was utilised at RdM and Pech IV (Aldeias
et al., 2012; Couchoud, 2003; Goldberg et al., 2012). However, the
localised nature of these samples and the propensity for re-
searchers to sample locations where (re) features are plainly
visible is less than helpful when one wishes to know more about
possible re use in layers where burning is not evident.
2.4.5. A case for Neandertal re making?
Based on their interpretation of the re records at RdM and Pech
IV, Sandgathe et al. ultimately point to the Neandertal lack of re
12 A.C. Sorensen / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15
making technology and reliance on climatically-mediated natural
res as the salient force behind the reduced re signals observed in
the upper layers at these sites (and elsewhere), their logic being
that if Neandertals could make re at will, re signals should
remain consistent between cold and warm intervals. However, in
light of the evidence presented above, this may not necessarily be
the case. In fact, within the framework of fuel economisation during
colder periods, one could hypothesise (perhaps counterintuitively)
that possessing the ability to make re could actually reduce the
overall signal of re use in the archaeological record by allowing
res to be kindled only when they are needed, as opposed to being
kept burning constantly so as not to lose one's ameda potentially
very labour-intensive task during periods when robust, high-
quality fuel sources are in short supply. These smaller, short-term,
perhaps task-specic res would likely have been carefully ten-
ded to ensure near complete combustion of all available fuel. Since
aming res are fuel-expensive (Braadbaart et al., 2012), res of
longer duration were probably often maintained as less costly
glowing res that tend to burn at lower ambient temperatures
(Rein, 2009), making them less likely to signicantly alter the un-
derlying substrate or any shallowly buried artefacts that might be
present (Sergant et al., 2006).
Moreover, and arguably most importantly, there exists direct
and indirect evidence for re making by Neandertals during the
Last Glacial. This includes a probable int strike-a-light from
Bettencourt-Saint-Ouen (75e85 kya) in northern France (Rots et al.,
2011; Sorensen and Rots, 2014; Rots, 2015), as well as several
Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition (MTA) bifacial tools from Chez-
Pinaud (Jonzac) in south-west France exhibiting microwear traces
comparable to those produced on experimental bifaces used in
conjunction with pyriteda requisite component of the stone-on-
stone re making methoddto make re (Sorensen and Claud,
2016). The potential for re making can be inferred from the re-
covery of allochthonous pyrite nodules and fragments from
Mousterian layers at multiple sites (Weiner and Floss, 2004;
Sorensen et al., 2014), including a nodule from layer 4 at RdM
(Turq, 2016). Moreover, the recurring presence of manganese di-
oxide (MnO2) at MP sites (see Demars, 1992)despecially abraded
fragments like those recovered from Pech de lAze
I (Soressi et al.,
2008)dmay be additional evidence for re making, as it has
recently been shown that this mineral, when powdered and mixed
with tinder, lowers the temperature required for ignition by nearly
100  C (Heyes et al., 2016), signicantly increasing the efcacy of
the stone-on-stone re production method.
3. Conclusion
The pyrotechnical prowess of Neandertals has long been the
subject of lively scientic debate. While still sparse in the MP,
artefactual evidence of re making (outlined in the section above)
is slowly becoming more prevalent, lending credence to the idea
that Neandertals coulddand indeed, likely diddmake re at least
by the Last Glacial. A large body of evidence suggesting regular re
use by Neandertals during this perioddas well as by much earlier
Neandertals and their contemporaries (Karkanas et al., 2007;
Shimelmitz et al., 2014)dadds further support (Roebroeks and
Villa, 2011b, a). However, based on re residues and proxy data
from RdM and Pech IV, Sandgathe et al. (2011a, 2011b) point to
weak re signals (relatively speaking) in archaeological layers
deposited during cold periodsdpresumably coinciding with
reduced lightning activitydas evidence suggesting Neandertals
were reliant on natural sources of re and did not make it for
themselves.
The current study has tested the veracity of this environmen-
tally determined re use model at multiple scales (see Table 1).
Please cite this article in press as: Sorensen, A.C., On the relationship between climate and Neandertal re use during the Last Glacial in south-
west France, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.10.003
While signals for re use do appear suppressed in the layers pre-
senting colder climatic signals at RdM and Pech IV (especially those
associated with Quina Mousterian lithic techno-complexes), the
apparent chronological offset between the more re-rich lower
layers at these sites, as indicated by chronometric dating and dis-
parities between faunal signals and re traces, calls into question
the relationship between climate and re use (see Section 2.3.).
Furthermore, the faunal assemblages in the re-rich layers at RdM
indicate more temperate conditions despite the most recent dates
for these layers placing them mid-MIS 4 (Gue
rin et al., 2012, in
press), generally considered to be quite cold despite pollen re-
cords suggesting an expansion of boreal forests in the region during
this period (Sanchez-Gon ~ i et al., 2008). At Pech IV, re signals drop
drastically already prior to the onset of colder conditions, as indi-
cated primarily by the increased prevalence of reindeer remains
onsite. Moreover, the trends observed at RdM and Pech IV conict
with that seen at the nearby and coeval site of Combe Grenal, where
strong evidence of re use is noted in the majority of the cold stage
Quina layers (see Section 2.2.). The desire to understand the un-
derlying phenomena behind this disparity prompted a re-
evaluation and reinterpretation of the re evidence from these
sites within a broader environmental context.
The similar morphology and geographical positions of RdM and
Pech IV (i.e., relatively small caves, located on uplands around
1.7 km from major waterways) may make them comparable to one
anotherdperhaps as short-term stops during annual migra-
tionsdbut not necessarily representative of the region as a whole,
as demonstrated by Combe Grenal, which may have been more
suitable as a longer-term residential site (i.e., a larger cave/rock
shelter located lower in the landscape, much closer to a major
water sourcedthe Dordogne River located ~300 m to the north-
westdand presumably nearer stands of trees), thus making it more
likely to exhibit stronger re signals during colder periods.
Generally speaking, a reduction in re signal during cold cli-
matic episodes does not necessarily indicate a climatically-
mediated reduction in re use; instead, shifts in fauna (i.e., to
more mobile reindeer, see Section 2.4.1.) and vegetation (i.e.,
reduced prevalence of wood fuel, see Section 2.4.2.) triggered cul-
tural responses that resulted in a fundamental change in how and
when re was used, the practice likely becoming more ephemeral
but no less important or regular in its use. Moreover, a reduction in
re signal does not indicate Neandertals lacked or lost the ability to
make re. Articial re making may have actually allowed for
greater fuel economisation in cold periods by shifting from a
strategy of long-term re maintenance afforded by abundant and
readily accessible wood fuel to one focused more on short-term,
task-specic res. These low-intensity res, when coupled with
reduced site use frequencies and increased geogenic sedimentation
rates, would have resulted in weakened cold stage re signals that
were potentially exacerbated by less favourable preservation con-
ditions (see Section 2.4.3.), ultimately requiring more ne-grained
excavation and sampling methods to extract (see Section 2.4.4.).
Even if one accepts the premise that Neandertals did not make
re, basic modelling and comparison with marine microcharcoal
records suggest it is unlikely that a reduction in lightning frequency
and regional re regime during the Lower Pleniglacial in south-
west France would have signicantly limited Neandertal access to
re to the point that it virtually disappears from the archaeological
record (see Section 2.1). These ndings suggest that while climate
change may have ultimately been the underlying force behind the
variability in re use and resultant re signals between colder and
warmer periods at RdM and Pech IV, this relationship does not
appear to be the direct cause-and-effect scenario of less lightning
means less re posited by Sandgathe et al. Instead, a highly complex
interplay between wider environmental and cultural trends and
 A.C. Sorensen / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e15
more localised factors together inuenced how and when Nean-
dertals used re, and whether or not evidence of its use would be
preserved.
Acknowledgements
Funding was provided by the Netherlands Organisation for
Scientic Research (Grant# PGW-13-42). Many thanks to Anne-
Laure Daniau for sharing her microcharcoal dataset and for her
very helpful instruction. Thank you to David Romps, Graeme
Anderson and Martin Uman for taking the time to answer my
questions about lightning. I am also grateful for the insightful dis-
cussions held with various members of the Leiden Human Origins
Group and to Wil Roebroeks, Alexander Verpoorte, Alain Turq and
two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data related to this article can be found at http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.10.003.
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