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Is Palaeolithic cave art consistent with costly signalling theory? Lascaux as a test case (2017)
Journal Article
Gittins, R., & Pettitt, P. (2017). Is Palaeolithic cave art consistent with costly signalling theory? Lascaux as a test case. World Archaeology, 49(4), 466-490. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2017.1386590

Several proponents of costly signalling theory (CST) have noted its potential for understanding prehistoric art. We use the Late Upper Palaeolithic art of Lascaux Cave (Dordogne, France) as a test case as to whether we may be able to identify an asse... Read More about Is Palaeolithic cave art consistent with costly signalling theory? Lascaux as a test case.

Methods for U-series Dating of CaCO3 Crusts Associated with Palaeolithic Cave Art and Application to Iberian Sites (2016)
Journal Article
Hoffmann, D., Pike, A., García-Diez, M., Pettitt, P., & Zilhão, J. (2016). Methods for U-series Dating of CaCO3 Crusts Associated with Palaeolithic Cave Art and Application to Iberian Sites. Quaternary Geochronology, 36, 104-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2016.07.004

U-series dating is a precise and accurate geochronological tool which is widely applied to date secondary CaCO3 formation, for example in speleothem based palaeoclimate research. It can also be employed to provide chronological constraints for archae... Read More about Methods for U-series Dating of CaCO3 Crusts Associated with Palaeolithic Cave Art and Application to Iberian Sites.

Shoot First, Ask Questions Later: interpretative Narratives of Neanderthal Hunting (2016)
Journal Article
White, M., Pettitt, P., & Schreve, D. (2016). Shoot First, Ask Questions Later: interpretative Narratives of Neanderthal Hunting. Quaternary Science Reviews, 140, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.03.004

This paper examines the hunting strategies employed by Neanderthals at a series of kill or near-kill sites from the Middle Palaeolithic of Europe (Mauran, La Borde, Taubach, Zwoleń and Salzgitter Lebenstedt). Using palaeolandscape reconstructions and... Read More about Shoot First, Ask Questions Later: interpretative Narratives of Neanderthal Hunting.

Dating Palaeolithic cave art: why U-Th is the way to go (2016)
Journal Article
Pike, A., Hoffmann, D., Pettitt, P., García-Diez, M., & Zilhão, J. (2016). Dating Palaeolithic cave art: why U-Th is the way to go. Quaternary International, 432(B), 41-49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.12.013

The chronology of European Upper Palaeolithic cave art is poorly known. Three chronometric techniques are commonly applicable: AMS 14C, TL and U–Th, and in recent years the efficacy of each has been the subject of considerable debate. We review here... Read More about Dating Palaeolithic cave art: why U-Th is the way to go.

Isotope and faunal evidence for high levels of freshwater fish consumption by Late Glacial humans at the Late Upper Palaeolithic site of Sandalja II, Istria, Croatia. (2015)
Journal Article
Richards, M., Pettitt, P., Karavanic, I., & Miracle, P. (2015). Isotope and faunal evidence for high levels of freshwater fish consumption by Late Glacial humans at the Late Upper Palaeolithic site of Sandalja II, Istria, Croatia. Journal of Archaeological Science, 61, 204-212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2015.06.008

Problematizing Bayesian approaches to prehistoric chronologies (2015)
Journal Article
Pettitt, P., & Zilhao, J. (2015). Problematizing Bayesian approaches to prehistoric chronologies. World Archaeology, 47(4), 525-542. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2015.1070082

In recent years Bayesian exploration of radiocarbon datasets has been employed widely in prehistoric archaeology. Pertinent especially to major biogeographic and behavioural changes such as human dispersals and extinctions, the spread of agriculture... Read More about Problematizing Bayesian approaches to prehistoric chronologies.

An alternative chronology for the art of Chauvet cave (2015)
Journal Article
Pettitt, P., & Bahn, P. (2015). An alternative chronology for the art of Chauvet cave. Antiquity, 89(345), 542-553. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2015.21

It is now 20 years since the discovery of the Grotte Chauvet with its impressive cave art, but controversy continues over the antiquity of the images. Radiocarbon assays have been used to argue that the ‘black series’ charcoal drawings date to the Au... Read More about An alternative chronology for the art of Chauvet cave.

New views on old hands: the context of stencils in El Castillo and La Garma Caves (Cantabria, Spain) (2014)
Journal Article
Pettitt, P., Maximiano Castillejo, A., Arias, P., Ontañon Peredo, R., & Harrison, R. (2014). New views on old hands: the context of stencils in El Castillo and La Garma Caves (Cantabria, Spain). Antiquity, 88(339), 47-63. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00050213

Hand stencils are an intriguing feature of prehistoric imagery in caves and rockshelters in several parts of the world, and the recent demonstration that the oldest of those in Western Europe date back to 37 000 years or earlier further enhances thei... Read More about New views on old hands: the context of stencils in El Castillo and La Garma Caves (Cantabria, Spain).

Palaeo-environments of the Balkan Lateglacial and their potential – were humans absent from the Garden of Eden? (2013)
Journal Article
Magyari, E., Gaydarska, B., Pettitt, P., & Chapman, J. (2013). Palaeo-environments of the Balkan Lateglacial and their potential – were humans absent from the Garden of Eden?. Bulgarian e-Journal of Archeology, 3(1), 1-30

The lower part of a sediment core taken from the Ezero lake, next to Tell Ezero, in the Thracian Plain, Bulgaria, covers the period 15500–13500 calBP (Greenland Ice Core Stages G1-1c–1e). The recovery of plant macrofossils as well as pollen grains in... Read More about Palaeo-environments of the Balkan Lateglacial and their potential – were humans absent from the Garden of Eden?.

Biosocial archaeology of the Early Neolithic: synthetic analyses of human skeletal remains from the LBK cemetery of Vedrovice, Czech Republic. (2013)
Journal Article
Zvelebil, M., & Pettitt, P. (2013). Biosocial archaeology of the Early Neolithic: synthetic analyses of human skeletal remains from the LBK cemetery of Vedrovice, Czech Republic. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 32(3), 313-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2012.01.011

Bioarchaeology is a powerful tool in the examination of prehistoric collections of human skeletal remains. Application of a few bioarchaeological techniques (ancient DNA, carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, and dental micro-wear) to the human osteol... Read More about Biosocial archaeology of the Early Neolithic: synthetic analyses of human skeletal remains from the LBK cemetery of Vedrovice, Czech Republic..

John Lubbock, caves, and the development of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology. (2013)
Journal Article
Pettitt, P., & White, M. (2013). John Lubbock, caves, and the development of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology. Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science, 68(1), 35-48. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2013.0050

John Lubbock's Pre-Historic Times (1865) was the first publication to use the terms ‘Palaeolithic’ and ‘Neolithic’ to define major periods of early prehistory. Because of this he has come to be seen as one of the most influential figures in the histo... Read More about John Lubbock, caves, and the development of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology..

Cave Men: stone tools, Victorian science and the ‘primitive mind’ of deep time (2011)
Journal Article
Pettitt, P., & White, M. (2011). Cave Men: stone tools, Victorian science and the ‘primitive mind’ of deep time. Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science, 65(1), 25-42. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2010.0100

Palaeoanthropology, the study of the evolution of humanity, arose in the nineteenth century. Excavations in Europe uncovered a series of archaeological sediments which provided proof that the antiquity of human life on Earth was far longer than the b... Read More about Cave Men: stone tools, Victorian science and the ‘primitive mind’ of deep time.