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Abstract: Abstract Klasies River Main site, on South Africa’s southern Cape coast, has contributed significantly to understanding Late Pleistocene human evolution. Excavations across this complex of caves and rock shelters have uncovered important assemblages of human fossils, faunal remains and lithic artefacts which have allowed interpretations of human anatomy and behaviour, and the palaeoenvironmental context of human occupations. The stratigraphy of the site is complicated, and the deposits have been recorded and published at varying degrees of resolution and detail over three phases of fieldwork. This paper is the first detailed review of the stratigraphy of any part of the sequence, and considers the different stratigraphic approaches used at Klasies and the published data and interpretations for the basal deposits. These units have been assigned to the Light Brown Sand, Rubble Brown Sand and Shell and Sand Members, and have yielded MSA I and MSA II lithic assemblages and most of the human fossils. We argue that some of the published stratigraphic interpretations need to be reconsidered, that a purely lithostratigraphic approach to the deposits at Klasies is not currently viable and that further field description and micromorphological work is needed. More broadly, this review demonstrates potential complications for stratigraphic correlation during the reinvestigation of previously excavated sites. These include the importance of understanding site formation processes in a lithostratigraphic system, and the need to think about how, why and at what resolution we make correlations between different stratigraphic systems or different areas within a site or site complex. PubDate: 2022-03-01 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-022-00110-2
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Abstract: Abstract Levallois technology characterizes the Middle Stone Age/Middle Palaeolithic, but one of its earliest manifestations is from the preceding Acheulean of the Kapthurin Formation, in the Rift Valley of east Africa. Here, ~ 400 ka, hominins were creating large flake blank handaxes and cleavers through Levallois knapping. Comparing these tools with other Rift Valley Acheulean assemblages made on large flakes shows those of the Kapthurin Formation are distinguished by their thinness. This was achieved through symmetrical centripetal preparation of gentle upper surface convexities on the Levallois cores, the creation of a protruding facetted platform, and proximal bevelling of the upper surface. A large elongate flake blank was struck from the facetted platform, then finished with marginal trimming to create the symmetrical and regular edge of the handaxe or cleaver. As they were used for the creation of handaxes and cleavers, the Kapthurin Acheulean Levallois cores and flakes are much larger than that of the Middle Stone Age, with overshot flakes from excessive force a more frequent error. The Acheulean Levallois is further distinguished from those of the Middle Stone Age by the lack of recurrent flaking, with cores apparently producing only a single preferential flake without any repreparation of the main flaking surface, despite the cores being big enough for further large blank removals, and even if the preferential removal overshot and was abandoned. The key advantage offered by Levallois in general is large thin elongate flakes. In its Kapthurin Acheulean manifestation, Levallois was used to create an individual tool, but in the Middle Stone Age it was often used to make toolkits. PubDate: 2022-02-12 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00109-1
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Abstract: Abstract Lithic productions are the main source of information on human groups from early periods of the Palaeolithic. From the time of the first discoveries, prehistorians have probed these remains to try to understand how and why they were made. Percussion techniques have also been a central preoccupation, despite tenuous archaeological references. With the help of experimentation, several chaînes opératoires have been reconstructed, sketching the outlines of the technical evolution of the first human groups. Our work focuses on a major change in lithic technology, the invention of organic soft-hammer percussion. This is attested on the Isenya site (Kenya) around -960 ka, based on an experimental work. This invention represents an innovation and indicates a rupture with the technical environment known until then in which lithic technology and percussion techniques were confined solely to the mineral world. We propose to examine this rupture from another point of view, also using experimental work, based on the principle that the mineral domain offers a wide range of hardness for hammers and that the gesture plays at least an equivalent role to that of the raw material of the hammer. Without supplanting the use of soft organic hammers in bifacial shaping, we demonstrate the possibility of the use of not very tough mineral hammers with tangential motions. These results imply that the technical change that took place during the Acheulean was probably less abrupt than previously thought, and more consistent with previously mastered know-how. PubDate: 2022-01-14 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00104-6
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Abstract: Abstract The Early Ahmarian represents an Early Upper Palaeolithic cultural unit, which spans throughout the Levant to the Sinai Peninsula. At least 40 sites belong to this unit. Both open-air and cave sites provide different amounts of archaeological material at various spatial resolutions. The team of the Collaborative Research Centre 806 “Our Way to Europe” excavated the site of Al-Ansab 1, Wadi Sabra, since 2009. The site provides one of the largest lithic assemblages of the Early Ahmarian. Analysis of intra-site distributions and patterns has been conducted for a small number of sites, providing scarce information on the spatial makeup of Early Ahmarian occupation layers. The internal structure testifies to repeated settlement without task specialisation. While this has been described for the sites on the Sinai Peninsula, the situation has been unclear for locations placed in the escarpments of the Transjordanian Highlands. At Al-Ansab 1, we can observe the repeated, relatively ephemeral occupation of a specific location in the Wadi Sabra for the execution of various tasks such as processing of faunal elements and raw material exploitation. Our results correlate to a pattern of mobility observable at other Early Ahmarian sites such as Abu Noshra II. These sites are usually attributed to relatively small and highly mobile bands of hunter-gatherers. Analysing these patterns of intra-site and regional spatial behaviour in the context of environmental patterning highlights potential external drivers to the expression of human occupation at sites such as Al-Ansab 1, archaeological horizon 1. PubDate: 2022-01-04 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00103-7
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Abstract: Abstract The Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) is a key chrono-cultural concept in our understanding of the cultural and population dynamics at the transition from the Middle Paleolithic to Upper Paleolithic period. This paper presents technological and chronological analyses of lithic assemblages from a rockshelter site at Tor Fawaz in the Jebel Qalkha area, southern Jordan, to provide accurate dating and detailed recognition of the IUP variability in the Levant. We present integrated micromorphological, phytolith, and dung spherulite analyses to evaluate formation and postdepositional processes of archaeological remains through high-resolution micro-contextual studies. As a result, the Tor Fawaz assemblages show general similarity to those of Boker Tachtit Level 4, Tor Sadaf A–B, and Wadi Aghar C–D1 that represent the late phase of the IUP in the southern Levant. Based on the detailed recognition of site-formation processes, we suggest ca. 45–36 ka as the age of IUP occupations at Tor Fawaz. More specifically, the IUP occupations at Tor Fawaz and Wadi Aghar, a nearby IUP site in the same area, may represent slightly different phases that show a lithic technological trend paralleling the IUP sequence at Tor Sadaf in southern Jordan, and possibly post-date Boker Tachtit Level 4. We also discuss the issue of partial chronological overlap between the late IUP and the Ahmarian and also argue for the geographically different trends in cultural changes from the late IUP to the Ahmarian. PubDate: 2021-12-29 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00107-3
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Abstract: Abstract The site of ‘Ubeidiya is one of the earliest and best-known manifestations of the Acheulian Technocomplex outside Africa. Through the archaeological remains excavated in its numerous layers, it provides a wealth of information about the technological tradition and behavior of its occupants. This study applies a morpho-technological methodological approach, combining 3D geometric morphometric and traditional technological analyses to the large cutting tools component sampled from two assemblages at the site. Our results reflect high morphological and technological variability and shed light on the manner in which the morphological patterns are related to technological decisions and preferences of the ancient knappers. The results support the notion that while the final form of the large cutting tools was substantially affected by the morphological characteristics of the selected raw materials, it was not deterministically dictated by environmental factors, but purposefully chosen by the knappers during raw material selection. This notion reflects the advanced planning capacities of the Early Acheulian hominins at the site. Furthermore, it demonstrates how a division of the large cutting tools category into two morphotypes through a decision taken at an early stage of production was already established at ‘Ubeidiya. This appears to be one of the earliest expressions of this behavioral pattern, typical of substantially later Acheulian assemblages. PubDate: 2021-11-29 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00108-2
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Abstract: Abstract Hatis-1 is a Lower Paleolithic open-air site on the Hrazdan-Kotayk Plateau of central Armenia. Although the site was tested in the 1980s, little has been published regarding the material. Consequently, we reinvestigated the site by expanding the original test pit to better understand the stratigraphy and recover a new sample of artifacts. As a result, more than 300 obsidian artifacts were recovered from colluvial deposits found close to primary obsidian outcrops, which sourcing data show to be the exclusive areas of toolstone procurement used by the inhabitants. The recovered assemblages are Late Acheulian in character and are largely homogenous across strata in terms of techno-typology. Hatis-1 records the use of large flakes for production of cores and tools indicative of the Large Flake Acheulian, but also contains limited evidence for simple prepared cores and the recycling of bifaces as cores, suggesting expansion of the technological repertoire of hominins in this region during the Late Acheulian. The in-depth study of large cutting tools presented here reveals that differences in the shape and typology of these tools are largely determined by different production strategies. While samples suitable for direct chronometric dates were not recovered, constraining geological factors suggest this material was deposited after c.700/480 ka. This study expands our understanding of the Late Acheulian and further contextualizes the later Lower–Middle Paleolithic technological transition in the region. In a broader sense, our interpretation of the techno-typological patterns at Hatis-1 expands the current understanding of geographical and chronological variation in the Acheulian record. PubDate: 2021-11-05 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00105-5
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Abstract: Abstract The identification of material culture variability remains an important goal in archaeology, as such variability is commonly coupled with interpretations of cultural transmission and adaptation. While most archaeological cultures are defined on the basis of typology and research tradition, cultural evolutionary reasoning combined with computer-aided methods such as geometric morphometrics (GMM) can shed new light on the validity of many such entrenched groupings, especially in regard to European Upper Palaeolithic projectile points and their classification. Little methodological consistency, however, makes it difficult to compare the conclusions of such studies. Here, we present an effort towards a benchmarked, case-transferrable toolkit that comparatively explores relevant techniques centred on outline-based GMM. First, we re-analyse two previously conducted landmark-based analyses of stone artefacts using our whole-outline approach, demonstrating that outlines can offer an efficient and reliable alternative. We then show how a careful application of clustering algorithms to GMM outline data is able to successfully discriminate between distinctive tool shapes and suggest that such data can also be used to infer cultural evolutionary histories matching already observed typo-chronological patterns. Building on this baseline work, we apply the same methods to a dataset of large tanged points from the European Final Palaeolithic (ca. 15,000–11,000 cal BP). Exploratively comparing the structure of design space within and between the datasets analysed here, our results indicate that Final Palaeolithic tanged point shapes do not fall into meaningful regional or cultural evolutionary groupings but exhibit an internal outline variance comparable to spatiotemporally much closer confined artefact groups of post-Palaeolithic age. We discuss these contrasting results in relation to the architecture of lithic tool design spaces and technological differences in blank production and tool manufacture. PubDate: 2021-09-20 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00097-2
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Abstract: Abstract In this article, we will provide a brief history of the appropriation and development of the concepts of “culture,” “tradition,” “technocomplex,” among others, in Eastern South America (Brazil), and present its state of the art. We will discuss some of the convergences and divergences in the nature of the archaeological record of South America, North America, and Europe, as well as their possible theoretical implications, since classification templates or classificatory schemes are strongly dependent on the phenomena they address, whether we acknowledge that or not. Finally, we aim to present some results and the main lines of future action in our current work on this topic. PubDate: 2021-09-20 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00101-9
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Abstract: Abstract “Across steppes and mountains: the Initial Upper Paleolithic in Eurasia” is a collection of papers that aim at clarifying a once elusive phenomenon that is now recognized throughout Eurasia. Originally, the analytical term Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) referred to an arbitrary step in a continuum of change in the way humans produced their stone tools, occurring around 45,000 years ago. It is now sometimes used as a taxonomic unit which is defined, depending on the region and sites, by the earliest association of blade production with ornaments or bone tools. More recently, fauna, human remains, and genetic data added to a list of characters that points toward the phenomenon being one archeological vector for the dispersal of Homo sapiens in Eurasia. Arguably, the totality of phenomena termed IUP also remains a mix-bag of assemblages, transitional or not, that tell a complex story. There is little doubt that the IUP has become a pivotal notion when discussing the establishment our species outside of Africa. With stimulating discoveries published at an increasing pace comes the need to reflect on the data behind the concept. We invited contributors to do so by discussing relevant assemblages while trying to keep a broad geographical scope and a focus on changes in material culture that are not restricted to IUP, but that are relevant to the major behavioral and biological changes observed during the MIS3 from the Atlantic to northwest China. PubDate: 2021-09-15 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00102-8
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Abstract: Abstract The recent elaboration and rapid expansion of aDNA, paleoproteomics, and related fields have propelled a profound “biomolecular turn” in archaeology and fundamentally changed the topology of archaeological knowledge production. Such a transformation of the archaeological research landscape is not without consequence for long-standing research practices in the field, such as lithic analysis. This special issue derives from the session Old Stones, New Eyes' organized by the authors at the UISPP World Congress in Paris in 2018, which aimed to explore the future of lithic studies. An underlying theme of our session was the felt need to respond to the increasing marginalization of lithic research in terms of its capacity to (1) contribute to the grand narratives of early human evolution and (2) better articulate the role and significance of lithic studies in interdisciplinary human origins research. In this editorial, we briefly outline some of the questions and challenges raised by the biomolecular turn and advocate for a more self-conscious and reflexive stance among lithic experts. We argue that lithic studies fulfill all necessary requirements to act as a basic science for human origins research and that its role and status depends less on technological advances, such as, e.g., improved computing facilities, novel analytical software, or automated shape capture technologies, than on continuous work on the conceptual and methodological foundations of inquiry. We finally draw attention to the unique capability of lithic studies to shed light on the human technological condition and illustrate this potential by introducing and briefly discussing the papers included in this issue. PubDate: 2021-08-27 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00098-1
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Abstract: Abstract The publication of H. Breuil in 1932 defining the Clactonian culture was based, in particular, on two reference sites: Observatoire Cave (Monaco) and the open-air site of Curson (Chanos-Curson, Drôme, France). This choice was due to the exceptional lithic series from these sites consisting of abundant large Clactonian flakes. After the resumption of research in Observatoire Cave, the study of the lithic assemblages at the base of the infilling renewed the characterization of the technical and cultural environment of the Monegasque assemblages. It thus seemed judicious to compare them once again with those from Curson, in order to refine and verify the technical links between the assemblages. The lithic industries from these two sites actually reveal different typological compositions due to the type and functions of occupations. These disparities were accentuated by heterogeneous acquisition methodologies and the early period of excavations. Nonetheless, the analysis and comparison of these assemblages highlight the singularity of the lithic series and, in particular, of the remarkable series of large Clactonian flakes. The economic, technical, technological and morpho-functional behaviours involved in making these products are very similar and incite us to place them in the same technical tradition. On the other hand, specific characters attest to independent adaptations and innovations. These Acheulean-Clactonian assemblages, which are not very common in southeast France and in northern Italy, seem to present similarities with Acheulean series from the Iberian Peninsula and southwest France. PubDate: 2021-07-24 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00093-6
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Abstract: Abstract Fluvial terrace sequences of Pleistocene rivers provide a chronological framework for examining broad patterns of change in the Palaeolithic record. Collections of artefacts recovered from individual terraces represent a time-averaged sample of the range of lithic technology discarded in a river valley over thousands of years. These can be compared and contrasted with other terraces to identify the timing of the appearance of key technological innovations and chronological variation in lithic technology. In Britain, the punctuated nature of human presence during the Pleistocene means that archaeological variation across a river terrace sequence is likely to relate in part to successive phases of occupation by human groups derived from populations in mainland Europe. This paper presents an analysis of the Lower and early Middle Palaeolithic record of the River Test, Hampshire, which was a tributary river of the former River Solent. The timing of the first appearance of handaxes and Levallois technology is established, and chronological patterning in handaxe typology and technology is identified. The Test record is placed in its regional context, and its implications for understanding the human occupation history of northwest Europe during the Middle Pleistocene are discussed. PubDate: 2021-07-22 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00096-3
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Abstract: Abstract Visual conditions around Palaeolithic sites determine how the landscape was perceived by prehistoric hunter-gatherers. By placing the site in different landscapes, different visual foci were encoded in the locational characteristics of the different places. For the Early Ahmarian sites in the Levant, it can be shown that visual characteristics differ significantly with the combination of large ungulate prey exploited at the respective location. A Higuchi viewshed approach was combined with total viewsheds of the study area to introduce a human scale into the viewshed modelling. While diverse prey locations in the Mediterranean biome provide an overview over the landscape, specialised prey locations in the steppe biomes of the Irano-Turanian and Saharo-Arabian biome have their focus on the immediate vicinity of the sites. This correlates with the placement of sites in the context of highly humid environments which can be best exemplified with the site of Al-Ansab 1 in the escarpments of the Jordanian Rift Valley. Here, the environmental conditions acted as a magnet, focusing gazelles on the migration between different environments. PubDate: 2021-07-13 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00090-9
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Abstract: Abstract The dietary proclivities of an early adolescent Neandertal, Kůlna 1, are reconstructed using dental microwear texture analysis. Examining the diet of Kůlna 1 provides new information about the lifeways and paleoecological conditions faced by Neandertals living in the Moravian karst, an area of extensive anthropogenic activity during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3. Comparative samples include Hortus cave (n = 6), La Quina 5, Malarnaud, Spy I, Krapina (n = 19), and Vindija (n = 4) as well as human foragers, farmers, and pastoralists (n = 181). Kůlna 1 yields a relatively low value for anisotropy (epLsar) compared to most of the Neandertals investigated, suggesting heterogeneous jaw movements typical of Holocene foragers. In contrast, Kůlna 1 exhibits one of the highest Middle Paleolithic complexity (Asfc) values. Since elevated complexity is associated with Holocene humans who consumed poorly processed, abrasive, and mechanically hard resources, the diet of Kůlna 1 is reconstructed as based largely on hard and brittle plant foods, perhaps available from an interval of higher temperatures during an interstadial period of MIS 3 or possibly from other factors, including individual variation in diet preferences, food availability, grit load, seasonality, and group cultural traditions. PubDate: 2021-07-13 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00099-0
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Abstract: Abstract Tabun Cave is a major point of reference for Paleolithic research because of both its long sequence of cultural deposits and its rich and variable artifact assemblages. Roughly one third of the Tabun sequence contains Lower–Middle Paleolithic assemblages referred to as Yabrudian, Acheulean, and Amudian. Together, these facies comprise the Acheulo-Yabrudian (AY) complex. Previous work on these assemblages focused on distinctions between these facies based on relative frequencies of diagnostic tool types—scrapers, blades, and bifaces—present within each. This study instead examines metrics and attribute data for one artifact class shared by all three facies, scrapers, to compare variation in artifact production and life histories. Because they are well represented, scrapers are an excellent measure of continuity and/or discontinuity in technological behavior throughout the AY, providing insight into the relationships between the individual facies. Results reveal broadly consistent scraper manufacture across all facies. Small-scale differences in blanks, cortex, and dorsal scar patterns occur among beds but with no apparent directional trends. While the general structure of scraper production and design remained relatively unchanged, the chaîne opératoire was gradually altered. These clearer temporal trends are seen in artifact life histories, first with a shift from single to multiple retouched edges, later incorporating more intensive resharpening of individual edges, accompanied by increase in blank size. Between 302 and 256 Ka, Acheulo-Yabrudian hominins showed high levels of continuity in methods of blank production yet flexibility in how long artifacts were in use and how that utility was extended. PubDate: 2021-06-25 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00100-w
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Abstract: Abstract Archaeological assemblages labeled as Initial Upper Paleolithic are often seen as possible evidence for dispersals of Homo sapiens populations in Eurasia, ca. 45,000 years ago. While most authors agree that the IUP can be recognized by a set of shared features, there is far less consensus on what these features are, and what they mean. Because of methodological challenges inherent to long distance comparisons, documenting and establishing a firm connection between archaeological assemblages remain difficult and often draw legitimate skepticism. There could be many reasons why Paleolithic hunter-gatherers used comparable technologies, but it usually comes down to two kinds of processes: cultural transmission or convergence. In other words, technological similarities may illustrate a cultural link between regions or may be caused by mechanisms of independent reinvention between more distantly related populations. Here, I focus on three assemblages from the Siberian Altai, Zabaikal region, and North Mongolia to address one main question: is there such thing as a united IUP in Central and East Asia, or are we looking at unrelated yet comparable adaptive processes' First, I describe the common structure of lithic blade production at the sites, with special attention to derived features relative to the regional sequence. After comparing the complexity of the production system with those of other lithic technologies, I suggest that this coherent, intricate, yet unprecedented technological pattern found across contiguous regions in Asia is better explained by transmission processes than by multiple unrelated reinventions, or local developments. The blade production system described in Siberia and Mongolia reoccur as a package, which is consistent with indirect bias and/or conformist cultural transmission processes. Overall, the results point toward close contact between individuals and hunter gatherer populations, and supports the recognition of a broad cultural unit to encapsulate Asian IUP assemblages. Considering other lines of evidence, the geographical and chronological distribution of Asian IUP lithic technology is consistent with a dispersal of Homo sapiens populations in Central and East Asia during the Marine Isotopic Stage 3, although the geographical origin of such movement is less clear. PubDate: 2021-06-20 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00085-6
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Abstract: Abstract Technical and socio-economic behaviours of Middle Pleistocene human groups in Western Europe still remain under-studied. In addition to the so-called Acheulean industries that include bifacial tools, other lithic traditions that are focused on flake production are present. This is the case of the ‘L’ stratigraphic layer of the Caune de l’Arago site in Tautavel, France. Here, we present the results of the techno-economic and techno-morpho-functional study conducted on the lithic industry, which was well-defined and well-preserved in the Caune de l’Arago sequence. Dated to approximately 540 ka and correlated with the end of the MIS 14, it contains 4428 lithic artefacts that are associated with numerous remains of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). This occupation has been culturally attributed to the Acheulean. However, the layer L assemblage does not contain bifacial tools and presents a lithic production chaîne opératoire only oriented towards flake production. This study is carried out within a previously refined stratigraphic framework, thereby allowing a relevant return on the lithic material. Despite different raw materials, there are recurrences in the selection of volumes, the production methods, the choice of tool blanks and the desired techno-functional objectives. Additionally, the prehensile components are integrated into the production of tools. Some of the chaînes opératoires are fragmented, and we can see techno-economic dynamics with some tool movements more widely across the landscape. These results lead us to question the activities carried out during this occupation and to highlight the diversity of lithic technical expressions during Lower Palaeolithic. PubDate: 2021-06-19 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00092-7
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Abstract: Abstract Microblade technology was widely adopted in northeastern Asia during the Late Upper Paleolithic, which was represented by various types of microcores in Siberia, Mongolia, northern China, the Korean Peninsula, and the Japanese Archipelago, as well as northwestern North America in eastern Beringia. Although some works have turned to technology-function-oriented research, most of the current studies follow a culture-historical paradigm, which has severely limited archaeological investigation on variation and change of hunter-gatherers’ adaptive strategies equipped with microblade technology. This paper aims to provide a new viewpoint to investigate the role of microblade technology in the development of human adaptations in northeastern Asia, by proposing a new concept: “microblade-based societies.” Assuming that paleoenvironmental changes stimulated cultural changes due to available food resources and that local environment conditioned cultural variation, the development of microblade-based societies can be divided into four phases (c.40–22 kya, 22–15 kya, 15–10 kya, 10–c.1 kya uncal. BP) in four regions (north continental, south continental, north insular, and south insular). Two waves of cultural change among microblade-based societies are also recognized in this paper, which needs a macroecological approach to do further explanation. PubDate: 2021-06-19 DOI: 10.1007/s41982-021-00095-4
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