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Recycling behaviors are becoming increasingly recognized as important parts of the production and use of stone tools in the Paleolithic. Yet, there are still no well-defined expectations for how recycling affects the appearance of the archaeological record across landscapes. Using an agent-based model of recycling in surface contexts, this study looks how the archaeological record changes under different conditions of recycling frequency, occupational intensity, mobility, and artifact selection. The simulations also show that while an increased number of recycled artifacts across a landscape does indicate the occurrence of more scavenging and recycling behaviors generally, the location of large numbers of recycled artifacts is not necessarily where the scavenging itself happened. This is particularly true when mobility patterns mean each foraging group spend more time moving around the landscape. The results of the simulations also demonstrate that recycled artifacts are typically those that have been exposed longer in surface contexts, confirming hypothesized relationships between recycling and exposure. In addition to these findings, the recycling simulation shows how archaeological record formation due to recycling behaviors is affected by mobility strategies and selection preferences. While only a simplified model of recycling behaviors, the results of this simulations give us insight into how to better interpret recycling behaviors from the archaeological record, specifically demonstrating the importance of contextualizing the occurrence of recycled artifacts on a wider landscape-level scale. 

This article presents the preliminary results of a new project aimed at investigating the behavioural aspects of stone tool reutilisation at the Semizbugu Palaeolithic complex. Monuments with surface artifacts are ideal sites for recycling, as artifacts are easy to locate and reuse on the day surface in such environments. As part of this project, artifacts were analysed at a new site, designated P1 (2022) of the Semizbugu settlement complex, with a focus on the identification of recycled objects, mainly by the presence of double patina. The results presented here describe the nature of the secondary use of the artifacts. The relevance of the work carried out is associated primarily with the fact that this is a completely new approach in the study of Paleolithic monuments of Kazakhstan, represented by numerous sites of the so-called "open type". On the example of the Semizbugu P1 monument (2022) it is possible to extrapolate the received conclusions with other similar monuments of the region for understanding of character of principles of reutilization and behavioral aspects in the past. Direct field studies at the Semizbugu complex were preceded by laboratory work on materials collected in the 1960s by A.G. Medoev. 

Abstract Analyses of ancient food webs reveal important paleoecological processes and responses to a range of perturbations throughout Earth's history, such as climate change. These responses can inform our forecasts of future biotic responses to similar perturbations. However, previous analyses of ancient food webs rarely accounted for key differences between modern and ancient community data, particularly selective loss of soft-bodied taxa during fossilization. To consider how fossilization impacts inferences of ancient community structure, we (1) analyzed node-level attributes to identify correlations between ecological roles and fossilization potential and (2) applied selective information loss procedures to food web data for extant systems. We found that selective loss of soft-bodied organisms has predictable effects on the trophic structure of “artificially fossilized” food webs because these organisms occupy unique, consistent food web positions. Fossilized food webs misleadingly appear less stable (i.e., more prone to trophic cascades), with less predation and an overrepresentation of generalist consumers. We also found that ecological differences between soft- and hard-bodied taxa—indicated by distinct positions in modern food webs—are recorded in an early Eocene web, but not in Cambrian webs. This suggests that ecological differences between the groups have existed for ≥48 Myr. Our results indicate that accounting for soft-bodied taxa is vital for accurate depictions of ancient food webs. However, the consistency of information loss trends across the analyzed food webs means it is possible to predict how the selective loss of soft-bodied taxa affects food web metrics, which can permit better modeling of ancient communities.