Hunter-gatherer sea voyages extended to remotest Mediterranean islands

Summary

OverviewOur multidisciplinary study combines archaeobotany (Supplementary Table 1), chronological modelling (Supplementary Tables 2–6), isotopes (Supplementary Table 7), contextual research and broad regional chronological modelling (Supplementary Tables 8 and 9) with anthracology and phytoliths (Supplementary Tables 10–13), lithics (Supplementary Table 14) and the study of faunal remains (Supplementary Tables 15 and 16). The methods used are described below, with further contextual information in the Supplementary Information and Extended Data Figs. 1–11.Excavation and sedimentologyHere, we describe the excavation of a 5 × 5-m trench, designated Trench 4, at Latnija between 2021 and 2023, expanding on a 1 ×1-m test trench excavated in 2019. We set up an alphanumeric grid system in the doline to label each individual 1 ×1-m square, aligned in orientation with the 2019 test trench and with the nearby cave wall, with letters running on a SW–NE axis and numbers increasing on a NW–SE axis. The 2019 test excavation targeted square M2, with the expanded Trench 4 spanning squares J–N and 2–6, located at the northern edge of the doline spanning the dripline (Fig. 1).Excavation was performed using a single-context recording methodology to resolve between discrete sediment units, with arbitrary subdivisions within a single deposit as 5–10-cm spits where necessary to aid control of find recovery and sediment sampling. Features of post-depositional disturbance, such as animal burrows, were readily differentiated from undisturbed sediments owing to their mixed character and friable texture and the presence of sediment voids, and were excavated in their entirety and excluded from our analyses. Finer-scale post-depositional disturbance occurs as limited fine rooting and is restricted to the uppermost deposits. The natural deposition of clasts from the shelter wall presents an alternate form of potential post-depositional disturbance that might have led to localized soft-sediment d...