Lithic raw material sourcing is one of the most effective approaches for inferring exploitation territories during the Palaeolithic, including for Neanderthals. Certain raw materials, particularly chert, are especially well suited to this type of investigation because the distinctive characteristics of each geological source can be reliably identified through a combination of macroscopic observation, low-magnification analysis...

Adaptation to Late Pleistocene climate change is an oft‐cited potential contributor to Neanderthal disappearance in Eurasia. Accordingly, research on Neanderthal behaviour – including subsistence strategies, mobility, lithic technology, raw material procurement and demography – often focuses on linking changes observable in the archaeological record to specific phases of climate and environmental change. However, these corresp...

At Praia Rei Cortiço (PRC), coastal Portugal, we analyzed compound‐specific isotopes of plant wax‐derived n ‐alkanes in combination with molecular distribution proxies and C/N ratios to reconstruct hydrologic and environmental change in a mid‐Holocene wetland. During this relatively brief segment of the Holocene (6.6–5.4k cal a BP ), substantial shifts in the stable hydrogen isotope composition of terrestrially sourced C 29 n...