Fig 1.
Map of Middle Paleolithic sites of the Swabian Jura discussed in the text.
Legend: Caves/Abris and open-air sites are marked with a respective symbol. The site Heidenschmiede is in the upper right corner. Background map: C. Summer (ROCEEH), this work is distributed under CC-BY 4.0 license, see doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3460300.
Fig 2.
Radiometric dating and chronological classification of the Middle Paleolithic of the Swabian Jura.
Legend: Oxygen isotope according to NGRIP [80], Greenland interstadials according to Rasmussen et al. [81]; a) Geißenklösterle (ESR—U/Th) [70], b) Geißenklösterle (AMS 14C) [75], c) Sirgenstein (estimates) [41], d) Hohle Fels (AMS 14C) [82,83], e) Kogelstein (estimates) [51], f) Große Grotte (estimates) [84], g) Vogelherd (estimates) [41,42], h) Bockstein-Schmiede (Fauna) [52], i) Bockstein-Törle (AMS 14C) [73,74], j) Hohlenstein-Bärenhöhle (estimates) [85], k) Fetzershalderhöhle (estimates) [86], l) Hohlenstein-Stadel (Fauna and Sediment) [76], m) Hohlenstein-Stadel (genetic clock from Neanderthal femur) [79], n) Haldensteinhöhle (estimates) [87], o) Göpfelsteinhöhle (estimates) [88,89], p) Schafstall I (estimates) [88,89], q) Irpfelhöhle (estimates) [90], r) Winderhalde bei Schnaitheim (estimates) [91], s) Heidenschmiede (AMS 14C, this study and Münzel & Çep in press) and t) Eisenberg near Börslingen (estimates) [43,46,92]. Red bars—radiometric dating (ESR—U/Th and AMS 14C) and yellow bars—estimates.
Fig 3.
Legend: a) Rock shelter before excavation in 1930 (G. Odenwald); b) Rock shelter during excavation in 1930 [103]; c) Hermann Mohn during excavation in 1930; d) Rock shelter with medieval wall during excavation in 1930 [103: Taf. III1]; e) Altitude of the Hellenstein castle and the Heidenschmiede (section along the slope at Heidenschmiede redrawn from [103: Taf. II2]) and f) floor plan of Heidenschmiede, redrawn from [103: Taf. II1].
Table 1.
Radiocarbon AMS dates of three bones with anthropogenic modifications from Heidenschmiede.
Fig 4.
Diagram of integrative and cascadic branching strategies of lithic reduction.
Legend: Two examples of branching strategies. Diagrams according to Geneste [135] and Bourguignon [29,134]. Left: Integrative branching strategy in which a complete volume (raw piece) is divided into usable units. In this case, an upper, middle and lower volume. Right: Cascade branching strategy in which a complete volume (raw piece) is converted to a core, which in turn can generate products for further use.
Table 2.
List of cores at Heidenschmiede.
Fig 5.
Drawing of the refitted reduction sequence.
Legend: a) drawing of the three pieces, refitted; b) blade/Levallois core of the middle volume; c) core cap of the lower volume and d) core-edge blank of the upper volume. The bluish, reddish and greenish colored areas correspond to the working steps in Fig 6.
Fig 6.
Working stage analysis of the three refitted pieces.
Legend: Read from bottom to top, this working stage analysis represents the temporal succession of the reduction. After processing the entire volume (stages 1–3), the reduction splits up (stage 4). From this point on, the three parts (upper, middle and lower volume) go through different working stages. The symbols and colors used are specified in the figure.
Fig 7.
Supporting objects for the hypothetical reduction sequence.
Legend: 1) refit of two flakes from non-axial bipolar splitting (inventory nos. HS 967 and HS 995); 2) diagram of bipolar splitting; 3) core with former blade negatives on one side and an unfinished Levallois reduction face on the other side (inventory no. HS 1851); 4) diagram of this blade/Levallois core, 5) lower core cap (bulged flake with centripetal negatives, inventory no. HS 23); 6) diagram of this core cap; 7) refitted reduction sequence of three pieces, as discussed (inventory no. HS 23, HS 234 and HS 1587); 8) diagram of a small depleted blade/flake core; 9) small depleted blade/flake core (inventory no. HS 1198); 10) refit of a small depleted blade/flake core and a lateral blade (inventory no. HS 31 and HS 1524; 11) diagram of a blade/flake core that is almost depleted and 12) blade/flake core that is almost depleted (inventory no. S 83,6 Hei). The pieces with inventory no. HS are all from the Storage facility of the historic museums (Historische Museen) in Heidenheim, the core with inventory no. S83,6 Hei is in the Württemberg State Museum (Landesmuseum Württemberg) in Stuttgart.
Fig 8.
Reconstructed linear reduction sequence with added blanks.
Legend: Hypothetical reduction sequence based on the mean volume and the products hypothetically generated in the individual reduction steps. The blade face is shown in green, the Levallois face in orange and the bulged flake face in yellow.
Fig 9.
Schematic diagram of the reconstructed reduction sequence.
Legend: The diagram contains all possible paths that can be followed with the reconstructed superordinate system. In addition to the non-branched reduction possibility, it contains the paths that can be taken through integrative and cascadic branching. The parts of the main refitting group are highlighted.
Fig 10.
Reconstructed (almost) non-branched reduction sequence.
Legend: Reconstructed nearly homothetic reduction on truncated cone-shaped core. Drawings by H. Würschem.
Table 3.
Lithic assemblage of Heidenschmiede.