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Finestone EM, Plummer TW, Vincent TH, Blumenthal SA, Ditchfield PW, Bishop LC, Oliver JS, Herries AIR, Palfery CV, Lane TP, McGuire E, Reeves JS, Rodés A, Whitfield E, Braun DR, Bartilol SK, Rotich NK, Parkinson JA, Lemorini C, Caricola I, Kinyanjui RN, Potts R. New Oldowan locality Sare-Abururu (ca. 1.7 Ma) provides evidence of diverse hominin behaviors on the Homa Peninsula, Kenya. J Hum Evol 2024; 190:103498. [PMID: 38581918 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Revised: 01/18/2024] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/08/2024]
Abstract
The Homa Peninsula, in southwestern Kenya, continues to yield insights into Oldowan hominin landscape behaviors. The Late Pliocene locality of Nyayanga (∼3-2.6 Ma) preserves some of the oldest Oldowan tools. At the Early Pleistocene locality of Kanjera South (∼2 Ma) toolmakers procured a diversity of raw materials from over 10 km away and strategically reduced them in a grassland-dominated ecosystem. Here, we report findings from Sare-Abururu, a younger (∼1.7 Ma) Oldowan locality approximately 12 km southeast of Kanjera South and 18 km east of Nyayanga. Sare-Abururu has yielded 1754 artifacts in relatively undisturbed low-energy silts and sands. Stable isotopic analysis of pedogenic carbonates suggests that hominin activities were carried out in a grassland-dominated setting with similar vegetation structure as documented at Kanjera South. The composition of a nearby paleo-conglomerate indicates that high-quality stone raw materials were locally abundant. Toolmakers at Sare-Abururu produced angular fragments from quartz pebbles, representing a considerable contrast to the strategies used to reduce high quality raw materials at Kanjera South. Although lithic reduction at Sare-Abururu was technologically simple, toolmakers proficiently produced cutting edges, made few mistakes and exhibited a mastery of platform management, demonstrating that expedient technical strategies do not necessarily indicate a lack of skill or suitable raw materials. Lithic procurement and reduction patterns on the Homa Peninsula appear to reflect variation in local resource contexts rather than large-scale evolutionary changes in mobility, energy budget, or toolmaker cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma M Finestone
- Department of Anthropology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Dr, Cleveland, OH, 44113, United States; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany.
| | - Thomas W Plummer
- Department of Anthropology, Queens College, 314 Powdermaker Hall 65-30 Kissena Boulevard Flushing, Flushing, NY, 11367, United States; The CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave, New York, NY, 10016, United States; Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States
| | - Thomas H Vincent
- Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, United Kingdom
| | - Scott A Blumenthal
- Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States; Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 1585 East 13th Avenue, Eugene, OR, 97403, United States; Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2020 - 2207 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Peter W Ditchfield
- School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 1 S Parks Rd, Oxford, OX1 3TG, United Kingdom
| | - Laura C Bishop
- Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, United Kingdom
| | - James S Oliver
- Anthropology Section, Illinois State Museum, 502 S Spring St, Springfield, IL, 62706, United States
| | - Andy I R Herries
- The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, Department Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne Victoria, 3086, Australia; Paleo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, 42 Bunting Rd, Cottesloe, Johannesburg, 2092, South Africa
| | - Christopher Vere Palfery
- The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, Department Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne Victoria, 3086, Australia
| | - Timothy P Lane
- Geography and Environmental Science Research Group, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth McGuire
- Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 1585 East 13th Avenue, Eugene, OR, 97403, United States
| | - Jonathan S Reeves
- Technological Origins Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Pl. 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany; Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, George Washington University, 800 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC, 20052, United States
| | - Angel Rodés
- Departamento de Xeografía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Praza da Universidade,1, 15703 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, University of Glasgow, Rankine Ave, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride G75 0QF, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth Whitfield
- Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, United Kingdom
| | - David R Braun
- Technological Origins Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Pl. 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany; Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, George Washington University, 800 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC, 20052, United States
| | - Simion K Bartilol
- Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Nelson Kiprono Rotich
- Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya; Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, Dorodna 16, 03-195, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Jennifer A Parkinson
- Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States; Department of Anthropology, University of San Diego, 5998 Alcala Park Way, San Diego, CA, 92110, United States
| | - Cristina Lemorini
- LTFAPA Laboratory, Department of Science of Antiquities, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Isabella Caricola
- LTFAPA Laboratory, Department of Science of Antiquities, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy; Zinman Institute of Archaeology, Haifa University, 199 Aba Hushi Avenue, Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
| | - Rahab N Kinyanjui
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany; Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States; Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Kipande Rd, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Richard Potts
- Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States; Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Kipande Rd, Nairobi, Kenya
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Rybin EP, Belousova NE, Derevianko AP, Douka K, Higham T. The Initial Upper Paleolithic of the Altai: New radiocarbon determinations for the Kara-Bom site. J Hum Evol 2023; 185:103453. [PMID: 37931353 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2022] [Revised: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 11/08/2023]
Abstract
The Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) is one of the most important phases in the recent period of the evolution of humans. During a narrow period in the first half of Marine Isotope Stage 3 laminar industries, accompanied by developed symbolism and specific blade technology, emerged over a vast area, replacing different variants of the Middle Paleolithic. In western Eurasia, the earliest appearance of IUP technology is seen at the Boker Tachtit site, dated ca. 50 ka cal BP. The earliest evidence of IUP industries in the Balkans and Central Europe, linked to the spread of Homo sapiens, has been dated to around 48 ka cal BP. A key area of IUP dispersals are the mountains and piedmont of southern Siberia and eastern Central Asia. One of the reference assemblages here is Kara-Bom, an open-air site in the Siberian Altai. Three major settlement phases are distinguished in the sediment sequence. In this paper, we present the results of new radiocarbon determinations and Bayesian models. We find that the latest phase of the IUP, Upper Paleolithic 1 ('UP1') is bracketed between 43 and 35 ka cal BP (at 95.4% probability). The earliest IUP phase, 'UP2', begins to accumulate from ca. 49 ka cal BP and ends by ca. 45 ka cal BP. The Middle Paleolithic 'MP2' assemblages all fall prior to 50 ka cal BP. We can detect a spatial distribution of dates from the geographic core of the IUP beyond the Altai where it appears around 47-45 ka cal BP. The current distribution of dates suggests a west-east dispersal of the IUP technocomplex along the mountain belts of Central Asia and South Siberia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evgeny P Rybin
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAET SB RAS): 17, Acad. Lavrentiev Avenue, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
| | - Natalia E Belousova
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAET SB RAS): 17, Acad. Lavrentiev Avenue, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.
| | - Anatoly P Derevianko
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAET SB RAS): 17, Acad. Lavrentiev Avenue, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
| | - Katerina Douka
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Djerassiplatz 1, University of Vienna, Vienna 1030, Austria; Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS), University of Vienna 1030 Vienna, Austria
| | - Tom Higham
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Djerassiplatz 1, University of Vienna, Vienna 1030, Austria; Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS), University of Vienna 1030 Vienna, Austria.
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García-Medrano P, Moncel MH, Maldonado-Garrido E, Ollé A, Ashton N. The Western European Acheulean: Reading variability at a regional scale. J Hum Evol 2023; 179:103357. [PMID: 37060623 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Revised: 03/08/2023] [Accepted: 03/12/2023] [Indexed: 04/17/2023]
Abstract
In the context of the Western European Acheulean Project, this study aims to characterize Acheulean technology in Western Europe through the analysis of handaxes and cleavers from 10 key sites (Britain 4, France 4, and Spain 2) to acquire a regional view of the occupation. The historically different systems used to categorize and analyze the data have made it difficult to compare results. Here we apply a unified and simple method (Western European Acheulean Project) that combines the traditional technological and metrical analysis of assemblages containing handaxes and cleavers with an in-depth geometric morphometric approach using three-dimensional models. This approach allows us to achieve a regional interpretation that identifies innovations through time and shaping strategies across the area. Our findings indicate the existence of two main technological groups in the sampled record: 1) northwestern and central France and Britain, from MIS 17/16 to MIS 11, and 2) Atlantic edge (Atapuerca in Spain and Menez-Dregan in France), from MIS 12/11 to MIS 8. Based on our technological analysis, the shaping of handaxes and cleavers was developed through time as a continuum of accumulative actions, with longer and more complex shaping strategies over time. Shaping technology shows traditions of manufacture over both time and geographical areas, which suggest cultural diffusion. Our geometric morphometric analysis further helped to identify not only general trends but also local adaptations in handaxe forms. Based on our findings, there were no apparent sudden innovations, but rather the application and development of specific techniques to refine size and shape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula García-Medrano
- Dept. Britain, Europe and Prehistory, British Museum, Frank House, 56 Orsman Road N1 5QJ, London, UK; UMR 7194 HNHP, MNHN-CNRS-UPVD, Département Homme et Environnement, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, IPH 1 Rue René Panhard, 75013, Paris, France; Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain.
| | - Marie-Hélène Moncel
- UMR 7194 HNHP, MNHN-CNRS-UPVD, Département Homme et Environnement, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, IPH 1 Rue René Panhard, 75013, Paris, France
| | - Elías Maldonado-Garrido
- Dept. Britain, Europe and Prehistory, British Museum, Frank House, 56 Orsman Road N1 5QJ, London, UK
| | - Andreu Ollé
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
| | - Nick Ashton
- Dept. Britain, Europe and Prehistory, British Museum, Frank House, 56 Orsman Road N1 5QJ, London, UK
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Shemer M, Boaretto E, Greenbaum N, Bar-Yosef Mayer DE, Tejero JM, Langgut D, Gnezdilov DL, Barzilai O, Marder O, Marom N. Early Upper Paleolithic cultural variability in the Southern Levant: New evidence from Nahal Rahaf 2 Rockshelter, Judean Desert, Israel. J Hum Evol 2023; 178:103342. [PMID: 36934495 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Revised: 02/07/2023] [Accepted: 02/08/2023] [Indexed: 03/19/2023]
Abstract
The Levantine Early Upper Paleolithic (ca. 45-30 ka) has been a focus of research because of its unique position as a conduit of human, flora, and fauna species between Africa and Eurasia. Studies have mainly focused on the Early Ahmarian and Levantine Aurignacian, two entities, the former endemic and the latter foreign, which are considered to have coinhabited the region during that period. However, other cultural entities, such as the Atlitian in the Mediterranean region and the Arkov-Divshon in the arid regions of the southern Levant received less attention, and accordingly, suffer from broad definitions and chronological insecurity. These cultures hold potential insights regarding nuanced adaptations, reciprocal influences, and diachronic assimilation processes. The recently discovered site of Nahal Rahaf 2 Rockshelter in the Judean Desert provides integral information on one of these entities-the Arkov-Divshon. Two excavation seasons revealed a sequence of archaeological layers, with lithic assemblages in which laterally carinated items were prominent. Alongside rich faunal assemblages, other components of the material culture include perforated marine shells and bone tools, marking the first association of these elements with Arkov-Divshon and implying some degree of contact with the Mediterranean regions of the Levant. Good preservation of organic materials allowed radiocarbon dating of the human occupation at the site to ca. 37.5-34.0 ka cal BP, indicating chronological overlap with the Levantine Aurignacian, and possibly also with the latest phases of the Early Ahmarian. Thus, challenging the validity of the widely accepted 'Two Tradition' Model of the Levantine Upper Paleolithic. Lithic analyses suggest the use of one main reduction sequence and the primary production of bladelets from carinated items. Faunal remains suggest targeted hunting of ibex and gazelle. Botanical remains and sedimentary analyses suggest roughly similar environmental conditions, with a possible woodier environment in the surroundings of the site.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maayan Shemer
- Department of Bible, Archaeology and the Ancient Near East, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel; Archaeological Research Department, Israel Antiquities Authority, P.O. Box 586, Jerusalem 9100402, Israel.
| | - Elisabetta Boaretto
- Dangoor Research Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
| | - Noam Greenbaum
- Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
| | - Daniella E Bar-Yosef Mayer
- The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, 6997801, Tel Aviv, Israel; The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Jose-Miguel Tejero
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Wien Biocenter, Djerassiplat 1, 1030, Vienna, Austria; Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS), University of Vienna, Djerassiplat 1, 1030, Vienna, Austria; Seminari d'Estudis I Recerques Prehistòriques (SERP), Universitat de Barcelona, C/ Montalegre 6, 08001, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Dafna Langgut
- The Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Ancient Environments, Institute of Archaeology, The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, 6997801, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Dariya Lokshin Gnezdilov
- Laboratory of Archaeozoology, School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
| | - Omry Barzilai
- Archaeological Research Department, Israel Antiquities Authority, P.O. Box 586, Jerusalem 9100402, Israel
| | - Ofer Marder
- Department of Bible, Archaeology and the Ancient Near East, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
| | - Nimrod Marom
- Laboratory of Archaeozoology, School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
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Ravon AL, García-Medrano P, Moncel MH, Ashton N. Acheulean variability in Western Europe: The case of Menez-Dregan I (Plouhinec, Finistère, France). J Hum Evol 2021; 162:103103. [PMID: 34883259 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2021] [Revised: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 10/16/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
The establishment of the Acheulean in Europe occurred after MIS 17, but it was after the harsh glaciation of MIS 12 and during the long interglacial of MIS 11 that human occupation of Western Europe became more sustained, with an increased number of sites. Menez-Dregan I (Brittany, France) is one of the key sites in Western Europe that dates from this threshold, with an alternating sequence of 16 occupation levels and four marine deposits, from MIS 12 to 8. The large lithic assemblages of more than 154,000 artifacts from knapping (cores, flakes) and shaping (macrotools and shaping flakes) show the varying use of raw materials and activities at the site through the sequence. This work focuses on the study of the handaxes and cleavers using technological and metrical methods with multivariate analysis, in combination with geometric morphometrics, and places these analyses within the context of other technological changes at the site. Collectively, results show the persistent use through the sequence of the same lithic raw materials and technologies, including fire use and the import of glossy sandstone from 20 km away, but with variation in activities at the site. These findings suggest that Menez-Dregan I shows the development of a specific material culture that reflects the local resources and environment. Results further indicate that the site shows the sustained hominin occupation of the area, despite varying climate and environment, with strong traditions of social learning that were maintained through flexibility of site use, deep understanding of the local territory, and the innovation of new technologies, such as the use of fire. Evidence from the site is placed within the wider context of Europe, and contrasted with areas to the north, such as Britain, where hominin occupation was more sporadic and driven by cyclical climate change.
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Linares-Matás GJ, Clark J. Seasonality and Oldowan behavioral variability in East Africa. J Hum Evol 2021;:103070. [PMID: 34548178 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2021] [Revised: 08/11/2021] [Accepted: 08/12/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
The extent, nature, and temporality of early hominin food procurement strategies have been subject to extensive debate. In this article, we examine evidence for the seasonal scheduling of resource procurement and technological investment in the Oldowan, starting with an evaluation of the seasonal signature of underground storage organs, freshwater resources, and terrestrial animal resources in extant primates and modern human hunter-gatherer populations. Subsequently, we use the mortality profiles, taxonomic composition, and taphonomy of the bovid assemblages at Kanjera South (Homa Peninsula, Kenya) and FLK-Zinj (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania) to illustrate the behavioral flexibility of Oldowan hominins, who were targeting different seasonally vulnerable demographics. In terms of the lithic assemblages, the specific opportunities and constraints afforded by dry season subsistence at FLK-Zinj may have disincentivized lithic investment, resulting in a more expedient toolkit for fast and effective carcass processing. This may have been reinforced by raw material site provisioning during a relatively prolonged seasonal occupation, reducing pressures on the reduction and curation of lithic implements. In contrast, wet season plant abundance would have offered a predictable set of high-quality resources associated with low levels of competition and reduced search times, in the context of perhaps greater seasonal mobility and consequently shorter occupations. These factors appear to have fostered technological investment to reduce resource handling costs at Kanjera South, facilitated by more consistent net returns and enhanced planning of lithic deployment throughout the landscape. We subsequently discuss the seasonality of freshwater resources in Oldowan procurement strategies, focusing on FwJj20 (Koobi Fora, Kenya). Although more analytical studies with representative sample sizes are needed, we argue that interassemblage differences evidence the ability of Oldowan hominins to adapt to seasonal constraints and opportunities in resource exploitation.
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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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shumon Tobias Hussain
- Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Moesgård Allé 20, 8270 Højbjerg, Denmark
| | - Marie Soressi
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, 2333CC Leiden, The Netherlands
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Douze K, Lespez L, Rasse M, Tribolo C, Garnier A, Lebrun B, Mercier N, Ndiaye M, Chevrier B, Huysecom E. A West African Middle Stone Age site dated to the beginning of MIS 5: Archaeology, chronology, and paleoenvironment of the Ravin Blanc I (eastern Senegal). J Hum Evol 2021; 154:102952. [PMID: 33751962 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Revised: 01/19/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The Ravin Blanc I archaeological occurrence, dated to MIS 5, provides unprecedented data on the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of West Africa since well-contextualized archaeological sites pre-dating MIS 4/3 are extremely rare for this region. The combined approach on geomorphology, phytolith analysis, and OSL date estimations offers a solid framework for the MSA industry comprised in the Ravin Blanc I sedimentary sequence. The paleoenvironmental reconstruction further emphasizes on the local effects of the global increase in moisture characterizing the beginning of the Upper Pleistocene as well as the later shift to more arid conditions. The lithic industry, comprised in the lower part of the sequence and dated to MIS 5e, shows core reduction sequences among which Levallois methods are minor, as well as an original tool-kit composition, among which pieces with single wide abrupt notches, side-scrapers made by inverse retouch, and a few large crudely shaped bifacial tools. The Ravin Blanc I assemblage has neither a chronologically equivalent site to serve comparisons nor a clear techno-typological correspondent in West Africa. However, the industry represents an early MSA technology that could either retain influences from the southern West African 'Sangoan' or show reminiscences of the preceding local Acheulean. A larger-scale assessment of behavioral dynamics at work at the transition period between the Middle to Upper Pleistocene is discussed in view of integrating this new site to the global perception of this important period in the MSA evolutionary trajectories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katja Douze
- Laboratory of Archaeology and Population in Africa, Anthropology Unit, Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, 1205 Genève, Switzerland.
| | - Laurent Lespez
- Laboratory of Physical Geography (LGP), CNRS-UMR 8591, Department of Geography, University Paris-Est Creteil, 1 Place Aristide Briand, 920195 Meudon, France
| | - Michel Rasse
- Laboratory Archéorient, CNRS-UMR 5133, Maison de L'Orient et de La Méditerranée, University of Lyon II, 7 Rue Raulin, 69007 Lyon, France
| | - Chantal Tribolo
- Research Institute on Archaeological Materials-Centre of Research on Physics Applied to Archaeology (IRAMAT-CRP2A), CNRS-UMR 5060, University Bordeaux-Montaigne, Esplanade des Antilles, F-33607 Pessac Cedex, France
| | - Aline Garnier
- Laboratory of Physical Geography (LGP), CNRS-UMR 8591, Department of Geography, University Paris-Est Creteil, 1 Place Aristide Briand, 920195 Meudon, France
| | - Brice Lebrun
- Research Institute on Archaeological Materials-Centre of Research on Physics Applied to Archaeology (IRAMAT-CRP2A), CNRS-UMR 5060, University Bordeaux-Montaigne, Esplanade des Antilles, F-33607 Pessac Cedex, France
| | - Norbert Mercier
- Research Institute on Archaeological Materials-Centre of Research on Physics Applied to Archaeology (IRAMAT-CRP2A), CNRS-UMR 5060, University Bordeaux-Montaigne, Esplanade des Antilles, F-33607 Pessac Cedex, France
| | - Matar Ndiaye
- Laboratory of Prehistory and Protohistory, Institut Fondamental D'Afrique Noire, University of Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, 33 Route de La Corniche Ouest, Dakar, Senegal
| | - Benoît Chevrier
- Laboratory of Archaeology and Population in Africa, Anthropology Unit, Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, 1205 Genève, Switzerland
| | - Eric Huysecom
- Laboratory of Archaeology and Population in Africa, Anthropology Unit, Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, 1205 Genève, Switzerland
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Shipton C, Blinkhorn J, Archer W, Kourampas N, Roberts P, Prendergast ME, Curtis R, Herries AIR, Ndiema E, Boivin N, Petraglia MD. The Middle to Later Stone Age transition at Panga ya Saidi, in the tropical coastal forest of eastern Africa. J Hum Evol 2021; 153:102954. [PMID: 33714916 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2019] [Revised: 01/18/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
The Middle to Later Stone Age transition is a critical period of human behavioral change that has been variously argued to pertain to the emergence of modern cognition, substantial population growth, and major dispersals of Homo sapiens within and beyond Africa. However, there is little consensus about when the transition occurred, the geographic patterning of its emergence, or even how it is manifested in the stone tool technology that is used to define it. Here, we examine a long sequence of lithic technological change at the cave site of Panga ya Saidi, Kenya, that spans the Middle and Later Stone Age and includes human occupations in each of the last five Marine Isotope Stages. In addition to the stone artifact technology, Panga ya Saidi preserves osseous and shell artifacts, enabling broader considerations of the covariation between different spheres of material culture. Several environmental proxies contextualize the artifactual record of human behavior at Panga ya Saidi. We compare technological change between the Middle and Later Stone Age with on-site paleoenvironmental manifestations of wider climatic fluctuations in the Late Pleistocene. The principal distinguishing feature of Middle from Later Stone Age technology at Panga ya Saidi is the preference for fine-grained stone, coupled with the creation of small flakes (miniaturization). Our review of the Middle to Later Stone Age transition elsewhere in eastern Africa and across the continent suggests that this broader distinction between the two periods is in fact widespread. We suggest that the Later Stone Age represents new short use-life and multicomponent ways of using stone tools, in which edge sharpness was prioritized over durability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ceri Shipton
- Institute of Archaeology, Gordon Square, University College London, London, WC1H 0PY, UK; Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2000, Australia.
| | - James Blinkhorn
- Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK; Pan-African Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Will Archer
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Pl. 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany; Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa; Department of Archaeology, National Museum, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa
| | - Nikolaos Kourampas
- Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK; Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Mary E Prendergast
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Saint Louis University, Avenida del Valle 34, Madrid, Spain; Department of Anthropology, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Richard Curtis
- The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne Campus, Bundoora, 3086, Australia
| | - Andy I R Herries
- The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne Campus, Bundoora, 3086, Australia; Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, Gauteng, South Africa
| | - Emmanuel Ndiema
- Department of Earth Sciences, National Museum of Kenya, Museum Hill Road, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745, Jena, Germany; Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 600 Maryland Ave SW, Washington, D.C., USA; School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, 620 2500, University Drive NW, Calgary, Canada
| | - Michael D Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745, Jena, Germany; Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 600 Maryland Ave SW, Washington, D.C., USA; School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
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10
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Hérisson D, Soriano S. A view of the Lower to Middle Paleolithic boundary from Northern France, far from the Near East? J Hum Evol 2020; 145:102814. [PMID: 32673890 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2019] [Revised: 04/16/2020] [Accepted: 04/16/2020] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Northern France and the Near East play and have played a central role in the debate around the Lower Paleolithic (LP) to Middle Paleolithic (MP) boundary. In the early 1990s, the renewed Saalian record for Northern France began to outline a mosaic model of the LP-to-MP transition-mainly based on Tuffreau's works. It implied the coexistence of Upper Acheulean assemblages (numerous bifaces with few standardized retouched flakes), 'Epi-Acheulean' assemblages (rare bifaces and diversified retouched flakes), and Mousterian assemblages (Levalloisian industries) during the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 8-6 period. Since the 2000s, the discovery of new key sites and enhanced field and laboratory methods are challenging this model. We present first a brief historical summary of previous approaches to the LP to MP boundary in Northern France. A large data set of Saalian archaeological units available from previous works has been updated and expanded to include additional sites. This allows us to demonstrate that the current Saalian record from Northern France is both rich and sparse as it is heterogeneously biased through time and space and that these biases limit the accuracy of any attempt to model the LP-to-MP transition. Nevertheless, we describe the differences between pre-MIS 9 and MIS 9 and MIS 8-6 records for lithic industries and discuss whether the current periodization is still relevant considering new data on technological, behavioral, and cultural changes. The comparison between Northern France and Near Eastern records allows regional cultural patterns to be distinguished from global trends in lithic trajectories of change and determination of how they slotted together. Our review of the available data from these two distant regions confirms that the LP-to-MP transition is probably one of the major cultural shifts in human evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Hérisson
- CNRS-UMR7041 ArScAn, Équipe AnTET (Anthropologie des Techniques, des Espaces et des Territoires au Pliocène et au Pléistocène), MSH Mondes, Université Paris Nanterre, 21 Allée de l'Université, Nanterre Cedex, 93023, France.
| | - Sylvain Soriano
- CNRS-UMR7041 ArScAn, Équipe AnTET (Anthropologie des Techniques, des Espaces et des Territoires au Pliocène et au Pléistocène), MSH Mondes, Université Paris Nanterre, 21 Allée de l'Université, Nanterre Cedex, 93023, France
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11
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Abstract
Current perspectives of stone tool technology tend to emphasize homogeneity in tool forms and core reduction strategies across time and space. This homogeneity is understood to represent shared cultural traditions that are passed down through the generations. This represents a top-down perspective on how and why stone tools are manufactured that largely restricts technological agency to experts, adults and teachers. However, just as bottom-up processes driven by children and youth influence technological innovation today, they are likely to have played a role in the past. This paper considers evidence from the archaeological record of early Homo sapiens' lithic technology in Africa that may attest to our long history of bottom-up social learning processes and learner-driven innovation. This evidence includes the role of emulative social learning in generating assemblages with diverse reduction strategies, a high degree of technological fragmentation across southern Africa during some time periods, and technological convergence through the Pleistocene. Counter to some perspectives on the uniqueness of our species, our ability to learn independently, to 'break the rules' and to play, as opposed to conforming to top-down influences, may also account for our technological success.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jayne Wilkins
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, QLD4111, Australia; and Human Evolution Research Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa
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12
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Zaidner Y, Weinstein-Evron M. The emergence of the Levallois technology in the Levant: A view from the Early Middle Paleolithic site of Misliya Cave, Israel. J Hum Evol 2020; 144:102785. [PMID: 32428731 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2019] [Revised: 03/13/2020] [Accepted: 03/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The Early Middle Paleolithic (EMP) lithic assemblage of Misliya Cave, dated to 240-150 ka, is associated with one of the earliest occurrences of Homo sapiens outside Africa. Our research provides a detailed technological study of the lithic assemblage of stratigraphic unit 5-6c of the site, using the chaîne opératoire approach, to characterize the technological behavior of the early H. sapiens. Our results indicate that both Levallois and laminar volumetric concepts were used. The Levallois reduction strategy involved preparing subtriangular cores with steep distal edges that allowed producing a series of triangular/subtriangular Levallois blanks using a unidirectional convergent method. Laminar débitage constitutes a semirotating/rotating method. The results of our study and comparisons with other Levantine sites indicate that the EMP represents a distinct entity within the Levantine Middle Pleistocene record that can be distinguished by the earliest occurrence of a full-fledged Levallois technology in the region, laminar technology, and a distinct tool kit dominated by elongated retouched points. The level of core management involved in producing convergent Levallois products and in preparing laminar cores points to a major conceptual change from the preceding Acheulian and Acheulo-Yabrudian. This suggests a break in knapping strategies between the Lower and the Middle Paleolithic. The finding of a H. sapiens maxilla at Misliya Cave in association with the EMP industry supports the hypothesis that the introduction of the Levallois technology in the Near East was associated with an early dispersal of H. sapiens from Africa. A comparison between the Levantine EMP and other regional records indicates that different Levallois methods were routinely used by hominins from the beginning of the Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age.
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13
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Dinnis R, Bessudnov A, Reynolds N, Pate A, Sablin M, Sinitsyn A. Response to Bataille et al.'s 'Technological differences between Kostenki 17/II (Spitsynskaya industry, Central Russia) and the Protoaurignacian: Reply to Dinnis et al. (2019)' [J. Hum. Evol. (2019), 102685]. J Hum Evol 2020; 146:102792. [PMID: 32359721 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102792] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2019] [Revised: 03/24/2020] [Accepted: 03/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Rob Dinnis
- The British Museum, Franks House, 56 Orsman Road, London, N1 5QL, UK.
| | - Alexander Bessudnov
- Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaia Naberezhnaia 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russia
| | - Natasha Reynolds
- UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, Bâtiment B8, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023, Pessac Cedex, 33615, France
| | | | - Mikhail Sablin
- Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya Nab. 1, Saint Petersburg, 199034, Russia
| | - Andrei Sinitsyn
- Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaia Naberezhnaia 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russia
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14
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Schmidt P, Hiscock P. The antiquity of Australian silcrete heat treatment: Lake Mungo and the Willandra Lakes. J Hum Evol 2020; 142:102744. [PMID: 32199300 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2019] [Revised: 01/08/2020] [Accepted: 01/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The evolution of heat treatment for stone artefact production is a subject of major interest for our understanding of early modern humans. In this study, we examine the evidence from one region in Australia to provide a new record of the antiquity of heat treatment, explore chronological shifts in the frequency of heat treatment, and discuss the implications of these findings for early population dynamics and the technical knowledge early settlers might have brought with them. Until now, Australian heat treatment has only dated back 25000 years. This study of the Willandra Lakes, including Lake Mungo, has identified the oldest systematic evidence of heat treatment yet reported in Australia, dating to ∼42000 years. We also document time-dependent directional change in the frequency of the practice. At those early times, with over 60% of all silcrete artefacts heat-treated, we hypothesize that the practice was mastered and integrated as a recurrent technical solution to the complexities of knapping silcrete. Over time, the use of heat treatment decreased progressively until less than 10% of the artefacts were heat-treated in the terminal Holocene. This trajectory has implications for understanding the antiquity of heat treatment on the Australian continent and for investigating the factors that governed its use.
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15
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Bataille G, Falcucci A, Tafelmaier Y, Conard NJ. Technological differences between Kostenki 17/II (Spitsynskaya industry, Central Russia) and the Protoaurignacian: Reply to Dinnis et al. (2019). J Hum Evol 2019; 146:102685. [PMID: 31669124 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2019] [Revised: 09/26/2019] [Accepted: 09/26/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Guido Bataille
- Landesamt für Denkmalpflege im Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart (State Office for Cultural Heritage Baden-Wuerttemberg), Management UNESCO-Welterbe "Höhlen und Eiszeitkunst der Schwäbischen Alb" (Management UNESCO World Heritage "Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura"), Kirchplatz 10, D-89143 Blaubeuren, Germany; Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Armando Falcucci
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany; DFG Center for Advanced Studies "Words, Bones, Genes, Tools", University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Yvonne Tafelmaier
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nicholas J Conard
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany; Tübingen-Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoecology, Schloss Hohentübingen, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany
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16
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de la Torre I, Mora R. Oldowan technological behaviour at HWK EE (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania). J Hum Evol 2019; 120:236-273. [PMID: 29773229 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2017] [Revised: 03/07/2018] [Accepted: 04/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
HWK EE (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania) is a late Oldowan site dated to ∼1.7 Ma that contains a large fossil and lithic assemblage. This paper reports on the technology of the recently excavated stone tool collection, over 18,000 pieces. Our results indicate that reduction sequences were generally short, flaking productivity was low, and knapping methods were largely simple and expedient, lacking the technical skills observed in other Oldowan assemblages. Conspicuous differences are observed in the chaînes opératoires of the three main raw materials used at HWK EE: the quartzite reduction sequence can be reconstructed in full at the site, most of the lava detached pieces are missing, and there is a preferential use of chert for retouched tools. This portrays a composite picture, where knapping expediency and low productivity are accompanied by raw material selectivity and consistent presence of retouched artefacts. Coexistence of these features in the same assemblage leads us to question the monolithic structure of the Oldowan techno-complex, and highlights the kaleidoscopic nature of technological strategies at Olduvai immediately before the earliest Acheulean handaxes appear in the sequence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ignacio de la Torre
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PY London, United Kingdom.
| | - Rafael Mora
- Centre d'Estudis del Patrimoni Arqueologic de la Prehistoria, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
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17
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Kadowaki S, Tamura T, Sano K, Kurozumi T, Maher LA, Wakano JY, Omori T, Kida R, Hirose M, Massadeh S, Henry DO. Lithic technology, chronology, and marine shells from Wadi Aghar, southern Jordan, and Initial Upper Paleolithic behaviors in the southern inland Levant. J Hum Evol 2019; 135:102646. [PMID: 31450172 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2019] [Revised: 08/01/2019] [Accepted: 08/01/2019] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
The Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) temporally overlaps with the range expansion of Homo sapiens populations in various parts of Eurasia and is often considered a key archaeological phase for investigating behavioral changes from the Middle Paleolithic. This paper reports upon new data from IUP occupations at Wadi Aghar, a rock shelter site in the southern Levant. In combining the results of radiometric dates and lithic analyses, we clarify the chronological and cultural position of Wadi Aghar assemblages in the Levantine IUP. As for the records about mobility, on-site activities, and resource procurement behaviors, we present analyses of lithic use-wear, tool-type composition, soil micromorphology, and marine shells. The lithic analyses and the optically stimulated luminescence (and subsidiary radiocarbon) dating of the Wadi Aghar materials suggest their chronocultural position in the IUP (45-40 ka for Layers C-D1; 39-36 ka for Layer B; possibly 50 ka for Layer D2), providing the southernmost location for the IUP in Eurasia. In the Levant, Wadi Aghar represents one of the few IUP sites in the inland areas. The results also indicate that the timing and technological sequences from the IUP to the following bladelet industries differed between the inland and coastal zones, likely reflecting geographically variable adaptive behaviors and/or cultural transmissions. One of the behavioral characteristics of IUP foragers at Wadi Aghar is the procurement of remote resources, represented by the transportation of marine shells from the Red Sea: Canarium fusiforme and Canarium cf. mutabile. Whether it was a direct procurement with increased mobility or a result of intergroup exchanges, it was not part of behavioral repertoires during the late MP in the same area. This can be understood as the expansion of resource procurement range, functioning as additional buffers from risk in the semiarid environments in the inland Levant.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seiji Kadowaki
- Nagoya University Museum, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
| | - Toru Tamura
- Geological Survey of Japan, AIST, Central 7, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8567, Japan; Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8561, Japan
| | - Katsuhiro Sano
- Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University, Kawauchi 41, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8576, Japan
| | - Taiji Kurozumi
- Natural History Museum and Institute, Chiba, Aoba-cho, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8682, Japan
| | - Lisa A Maher
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, 232 Kroeber Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3710, USA
| | - Joe Yuichiro Wakano
- School of Interdisciplinary Mathematical Sciences, Meiji University, Nakano 4-21-1, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164-8525, Japan
| | - Takayuki Omori
- The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
| | - Risako Kida
- Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
| | - Masato Hirose
- Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
| | - Sate Massadeh
- Department of Antiquities, Jordan, Jebal Amman, Third Circle, Abdel Moneim Street, Building No. 21, Jordan
| | - Donald O Henry
- Department of Anthropology, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA
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18
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Kuman K, Sutton MB, Pickering TR, Heaton JL. The Oldowan industry from Swartkrans cave, South Africa, and its relevance for the African Oldowan. J Hum Evol 2018; 123:52-69. [PMID: 30097184 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2017] [Revised: 06/12/2018] [Accepted: 06/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The oldest recognized artifacts at the Swartkrans cave hominid-bearing site in South Africa have long been known to occur in the Lower Bank of Member 1, now dated with the cosmogenic nuclide burial method to ca. 1.8-2.19 Ma. However, the affinities of this industry have been debated due to small sample size. In this paper we present newly excavated material from the Lower Bank retrieved since 2005 in the Swartkrans Paleoanthropological Research Project. The sample is now large enough to confirm its affinity with the Oldowan industrial complex. The assemblage is highly expedient and core reduction strategies are largely casual. Although freehand flaking is present, the bipolar technique is most significant, even in non-quartz raw materials. The Swartkrans assemblage shows some significant contrasts with the Sterkfontein Oldowan, ca. 2.18 Ma, which can be explained by its closer proximity to raw material sources, its somewhat different geographic context, and its more expedient nature. The Swartkrans Oldowan now provides us with the first good indication of Oldowan variability in southern Africa, where only two sizeable assemblages have thus far been discovered. Comparisons are made with other sites across Africa that help to place this variability within our overall understanding of the Oldowan industrial complex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen Kuman
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050, South Africa.
| | - Morris B Sutton
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050, South Africa
| | - Travis Rayne Pickering
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 53706, USA; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050, South Africa
| | - Jason L Heaton
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050, South Africa; Department of Biology, Birmingham-Southern College, Birmingham, AL, 35254, USA
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19
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Abstract
The aim of this paper is to apply a previously published method (Bargalló and Mosquera, 2014) to the archaeological record, allowing us to identify the hand laterality of our ancestors and determine when and how this feature, which is exhibited most strongly in humans, appeared in our evolutionary history. The method focuses on identifying handedness by looking at the technical features of the flakes produced by a single knapper, and discovering how many flakes are required to ascertain their hand preference. This method can potentially be applied to the majority of archaeological sites, since flakes are the most abundant stone tools, and stone tools are the most widespread and widely-preserved remains from prehistory. For our study, we selected two Spanish sites: Gran Dolina-TD10.1 (Atapuerca) and Abric Romaní (Barcelona), which were occupied by pre-Neanderthal and Neanderthal populations, respectively. Our analyses indicate that a minimum number of eight flakes produced by the same knapper is required to ascertain their hand preference. Even though this figure is relatively low, it is quite difficult to obtain from many archaeological sites. In addition, there is no single technical feature that provides information about handedness, instead there is a combination of eight technical features, localised on the striking platforms and ventral surfaces. The raw material is not relevant where good quality rocks are used, in this case quartzite and flint, since most of them retain the technical features required for the analysis. Expertise is not an issue either, since the technical features analysed here only correlate with handedness (Bargalló and Mosquera, 2014). Our results allow us to tentatively identify one right-handed knapper among the pre-Neanderthals of level TD10.1 at Gran Dolina (Atapuerca), while four of the five Neanderthals analysed from Abric Romaní were right-handed. The hand preference of the fifth knapper from that location (AR5) remains unclear.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amèlia Bargalló
- University College London, Institute Archaeology, London, Great Britain, UK.
| | - Marina Mosquera
- Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona, Spain; IPHES, Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Sergi Lozano
- IPHES, Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Tarragona, Spain; Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona, Spain
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20
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Kandel AW, Gasparyan B, Allué E, Bigga G, Bruch AA, Cullen VL, Frahm E, Ghukasyan R, Gruwier B, Jabbour F, Miller CE, Taller A, Vardazaryan V, Vasilyan D, Weissbrod L. The earliest evidence for Upper Paleolithic occupation in the Armenian Highlands at Aghitu-3 Cave. J Hum Evol 2017; 110:37-68. [PMID: 28778461 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2017] [Revised: 05/22/2017] [Accepted: 05/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
With its well-preserved archaeological and environmental records, Aghitu-3 Cave permits us to examine the settlement patterns of the Upper Paleolithic (UP) people who inhabited the Armenian Highlands. We also test whether settlement of the region between ∼39-24,000 cal BP relates to environmental variability. The earliest evidence occurs in archaeological horizon (AH) VII from ∼39-36,000 cal BP during a mild, moist climatic phase. AH VI shows periodic occupation as warm, humid conditions prevailed from ∼36-32,000 cal BP. As the climate becomes cooler and drier at ∼32-29,000 cal BP (AH V-IV), evidence for occupation is minimal. However, as cooling continues, the deposits of AH III demonstrate that people used the site more intensively from ∼29-24,000 cal BP, leaving behind numerous stone artifacts, faunal remains, and complex combustion features. Despite the climatic fluctuations seen across this 15,000-year sequence, lithic technology remains attuned to one pattern: unidirectional reduction of small cores geared towards the production of bladelets for tool manufacture. Subsistence patterns also remain stable, focused on medium-sized prey such as ovids and caprids, as well as equids. AH III demonstrates an expansion of social networks to the northwest and southwest, as the transport distance of obsidian used to make stone artifacts increases. We also observe the addition of bone tools, including an eyed needle, and shell beads brought from the east, suggesting that these people manufactured complex clothing and wore ornaments. Remains of micromammals, birds, charcoal, pollen, and tephra relate the story of environmental variability. We hypothesize that UP behavior was linked to shifts in demographic pressures and climatic changes. Thus, by combining archaeological and environmental data, we gain a clearer picture about the first UP inhabitants of the Armenian Highlands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew W Kandel
- The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities at the University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Boris Gasparyan
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences, Charents St. 15, 0025 Yerevan, Armenia
| | - Ethel Allué
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
| | - Gerlinde Bigga
- Department of Geology, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Angela A Bruch
- The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities at the Senckenberg Research Institute, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Victoria L Cullen
- University of Oxford, RLAHA, Dyson Perrins Building, Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
| | - Ellery Frahm
- Yale Initiative for the Study of Ancient Pyrotechnology, Department of Anthropology, Yale University, 10 Sachem Street, New Haven, CT 06511, United States; Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Peabody Museum, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States
| | - Robert Ghukasyan
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences, Charents St. 15, 0025 Yerevan, Armenia
| | - Ben Gruwier
- Department of Anthropology, Durham University, South Road, Durham, United Kingdom; Department of Experimental Anatomy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Laarbeeklaan 103, Jette, Belgium
| | - Firas Jabbour
- The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities at the University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Christopher E Miller
- Department of Geoarchaeology, Institute of Archaeological Science, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Andreas Taller
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Varduhi Vardazaryan
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Davit Vasilyan
- Department of Geology, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany; JURASSICA Museum, Route de Fontenais 21, 2900 Porrentruy, Switzerland; Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Chemin du musée 6, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Lior Weissbrod
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, 31905, Israel
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21
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Blegen N. The earliest long-distance obsidian transport: Evidence from the ∼200 ka Middle Stone Age Sibilo School Road Site, Baringo, Kenya. J Hum Evol 2017; 103:1-19. [PMID: 28166905 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2016] [Revised: 11/12/2016] [Accepted: 11/15/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
This study presents the earliest evidence of long-distance obsidian transport at the ∼200 ka Sibilo School Road Site (SSRS), an early Middle Stone Age site in the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya. The later Middle Pleistocene of East Africa (130-400 ka) spans significant and interrelated behavioral and biological changes in human evolution including the first appearance of Homo sapiens. Despite the importance of the later Middle Pleistocene, there are relatively few archaeological sites in well-dated contexts (n < 10) that document hominin behavior from this time period. In particular, geochemically informed evidence of long-distance obsidian transport, important for investigating expansion of intergroup interactions in hominin evolution, is rare from the Middle Pleistocene record of Africa. The SSRS offers a unique contribution to this small but growing dataset. Tephrostratigraphic analysis of tuffs encasing the SSRS provides a minimum age of ∼200 ka for the site. Levallois points and methods of core preparation demonstrate characteristic Middle Stone Age lithic technologies present at the SSRS. A significant portion (43%) of the lithic assemblage is obsidian. The SSRS obsidian comes from three different sources located at distances of 25 km, 140 km and 166 km from the site. The majority of obsidian derives from the farthest source, 166 km to the south of the site. The SSRS thus provides important new evidence that long-distance raw material transport, and the expansion of hominin intergroup interactions that this entails, was a significant feature of hominin behavior ∼200 ka, the time of the first appearance of H. sapiens, and ∼150,000 years before similar behaviors were previously documented in the region.
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22
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Kadowaki S, Omori T, Nishiaki Y. Variability in Early Ahmarian lithic technology and its implications for the model of a Levantine origin of the Protoaurignacian. J Hum Evol 2016; 82:67-87. [PMID: 25924809 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.02.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2014] [Revised: 02/23/2015] [Accepted: 02/24/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
This paper re-examines lithic technological variability of the Early Ahmarian, one of the early Upper Palaeolithic cultural entities in the Levant, which has often been regarded as a precursor of the Protoaurignacian (the early Upper Palaeolithic in Europe) in arguments for the occurrence of a cultural spread in association with the dispersal of Homo sapiens from the Levant to Europe. Using quantitative data on several lithic techno-typological attributes, we demonstrate that there is a significant degree of variability in the Early Ahmarian between the northern and southern Levant, as previously pointed out by several researchers. In addition, we suggest that the technology similar to the southern Early Ahmarian also existed in the northern Levant, i.e., the Ksar Akil Phase 4 group (the KA 4 group), by introducing new Upper Palaeolithic assemblages from Wadi Kharar 16R, inland Syria. We then review currently available stratigraphic records and radiocarbon dates (including a new date from Wadi Kharar 16R), with special attention to their methodological background. As a result, we propose alternative chronological scenarios, including one that postulates that the southern Early Ahmarian and the KA 4 group appeared later than the northern Early Ahmarian with little or no overlap. On the basis of the alternative scenarios of chronological/geographical patterns of the Early Ahmarian variability, we propose four possible relationships between the Protoaurignacian and the Early Ahmarian, including a new scenario that the appearance of the Protoaurignacian preceded those of similar technological entities in the Levant, i.e., the southern Early Ahmarian and the KA 4 group. If the last hypothesis is substantiated, it requires us to reconsider the model of a Levantine origin of the Protoaurignacian and its palaeoanthropological implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seiji Kadowaki
- Nagoya University Museum, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan.
| | - Takayuki Omori
- The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
| | - Yoshihiro Nishiaki
- The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
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23
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Ruebens K, McPherron SJP, Hublin JJ. On the local Mousterian origin of the Châtelperronian: Integrating typo-technological, chronostratigraphic and contextual data. J Hum Evol 2015; 86:55-91. [PMID: 26277304 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2014] [Revised: 06/18/2015] [Accepted: 06/19/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Across Europe the period 45-40 ka (thousands of years ago) is associated with several technological changes, including the emergence of the Châtelperronian technocomplex in France and northern Spain. The Châtelperronian, stratigraphically located between the Mousterian and Aurignacian, is characterized by Upper Palaeolithic features, such as volumetric blade reduction, curved backed blades, end-scrapers, bladelets, bone tools and ornaments. Concurrently, repeated, though debated, associations with Neanderthal remains and Mousterian elements suggest a local technological development. Following recent critiques and cumulating technological studies, this paper provides data-driven contextualisations of the Châtelperronian and late Mousterian archaeological records and a primary comparative assessment of a major linking element, backed knives, to re-assess the origin of the Châtelperronian. The results demonstrate the challenging nature of the 50-35 ka record, with many interpretive problems caused by poorly recorded excavations, resulting in only 25 well-contextualised assemblages from the claimed 143 Châtelperronian find spots. These 25 assemblages facilitate more detailed chronostratigraphic and typo-technological assessments and show that the Châtelperronian has a homogenous set of technologies and tools. A similar evaluation of the late Mousterian indicates a wide-ranging late Neanderthal skill set, commonly including laminar blank production and backing. Further, conceptual similarities were noted both in blank selection and edge modification between Mousterian and Châtelperronian backed knives, alongside their near-absence in other, contemporaneous technocomplexes. A Europe-wide contextualisation shows that while the current coarse-grained record still allows for several potential scenarios, the data throughout this paper point towards a most parsimonious model of a Châtelperronian made by Neanderthals, with roots in the late Middle Palaeolithic technological skill set. However, this change seems triggered by early arrivals of modern humans either indirectly, through stimulus diffusion, or directly, after ca. 42 ka. Fully testing this model requires an ongoing focus on site formation and assemblage integrity, alongside in-depth analyses of recently excavated assemblages and existing collections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen Ruebens
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany; MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution, RGZM, Schloss Monrepos, D-56567 Neuwied, Germany.
| | - Shannon J P McPherron
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jean-Jacques Hublin
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
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24
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Moreau L, Odar B, Higham T, Horvat A, Pirkmajer D, Turk P. Reassessing the Aurignacian of Slovenia: techno-economic behaviour and direct dating of osseous projectile points. J Hum Evol 2014; 78:158-80. [PMID: 25498105 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2014] [Revised: 09/29/2014] [Accepted: 09/29/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The Palaeolithic of southern Central Europe has a long history of archaeological research. Particularly, the presence of numerous osseous projectile points in many early Upper Palaeolithic (EUP) assemblages in this region has attracted the attention of the international research community. However, the scarcity of properly identified and well-dated Aurignacian contexts represents an obstacle for investigation of the nature and timing of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition. In this context, the question of whether Neandertals made Aurignacian osseous projectile points, either on their own or as a consequence of cultural interaction with anatomically modern humans (AMH), still remains an open issue. Here we reassess the EUP record of Slovenia by evaluating the Aurignacian character of the assemblages from Potočka zijalka, Mokriška jama and Divje babe I in the light of their suggested roots in the local Mousterian. We provide a comprehensive description of the lithic industry from Potočka zijalka, which represents one of the rare EUP assemblages of southern Central Europe with a representative number of lithic artefacts to be analysed from the perspective of lithic technology and raw material economy. Our re-analysis of the Slovenian assemblages is backed by a series of 11 new ultrafiltered collagen 14C dates obtained directly on associated osseous projectile points from the studied assemblages. The Aurignacian of Potočka zijalka underlines the remarkable consistency of the Early Aurignacian with low typo-technological variability across Europe, resulting from a marked dependence on transported toolkits and raw material conservation. The new radiocarbon determinations for the Aurignacian of Slovenia appear to post-date the 34-32 ka BP (thousands of years before present) threshold for the last Neandertals in the region. Although not falsified, the hypothesis of Aurignacian bone tools in southern Central Europe as a product of late Neandertals is not supported by our re-examination of the EUP record of Slovenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luc Moreau
- MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution, Schloss Monrepos, 56567 Neuwied, Germany.
| | | | - Tom Higham
- Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
| | - Aleksander Horvat
- Ivan Rakovec Institute of Palaeontology, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Darja Pirkmajer
- Pokrajinskij muzej Celje, Trg Celjskih knezov 8, 3000 Celje, Slovenia
| | - Peter Turk
- Narodni muzej Slovenije, Prešernova cesta 20, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
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25
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Scerri EM, Groucutt HS, Jennings RP, Petraglia MD. Unexpected technological heterogeneity in northern Arabia indicates complex Late Pleistocene demography at the gateway to Asia. J Hum Evol 2014; 75:125-42. [PMID: 25110207 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2013] [Revised: 07/04/2014] [Accepted: 07/04/2014] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
The role and significance of the Arabian Peninsula in modern human dispersals out of Africa is currently contentious. While qualitative observations of similarities between Arabian Middle Palaeolithic and African Middle Stone Age (MSA) assemblages have been made, these inferences remain untested and often situated within overly broad dichotomies (e.g., 'Africa' versus the 'Levant'), which distort concepts of geographic scale and subsume local variability. Here, we quantitatively test the hypothesis that assemblages from Jubbah, in the Nefud Desert of northern Saudi Arabia are similar to MSA industries from northeast Africa. Based on the quantitative analysis of a suite of metric and morphological data describing lithic reduction sequences, our results show that early and late core reduction at Jubbah is distinct from equivalent northeast African strategies, perhaps as a result of raw material factors. However, specific techniques of core shaping, preparation and preferential flake production at Jubbah draw from a number of methods also present in the northeast African MSA. While two Jubbah lithic assemblages (JKF-1 and JKF-12) display both similarities and differences with the northeast African assemblages, a third locality (JSM-1) was significantly different to both the other Arabian and African assemblages, indicating an unexpected diversity of assemblages in the Jubbah basin during Marine Isotope Stage 5 (MIS 5, ∼125-70,000 years ago, or ka). Along with evidence from southern Arabia and the Levant, our results add quantitative support to arguments that MIS 5 hominin demography at the interface between Africa and Asia was complex.
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