Through the High Rock and beyond: placing the Last Supper Cave and Parman Paleoindian lithic assemblages into a regional context

Based on source provenance data derived from Paleoindian artifacts in the Great Basin, most researchers agree that early groups were mobile and far-ranging; however, current explanations of the behavior reflected by those data differ. Some models portray Paleoindians as residentially-mobile foragers while others portray them as wetland-tethered collectors reliant upon logistical forays. We consider the types of hunter-gatherer behavior that could produce trends in the X-ray fluorescence data from three Paleoindian assemblages in northwest Nevada, where abundant high quality obsidian essentially allows us to hold the effects of raw material availability constant between sites. We conclude that while it is difficult to differentiate between residential and logistical mobility using technological and sourcing data alone, we can nevertheless begin to understand the relative time-averaged importance of particular locations on the landscape and why such places attracted Paleoindians.     

The Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene archaeology of the Great Basin

The archaeological record of the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene in the Great Basin consists largely of surface lithic artifacts, and consequently research has concentrated on typological and technological studies. The small suite of radiocarbon dates available suggests human presence in the Great Basin by at least 11,500 B.P., but evidence of subsistence is scanty. Technological analyses as well as artifact distributions suggest that the earliest occupants of this region subsisted primarily by hunting, possibly large terrestrial game. As elsewhere in North America, the earliest occupants of the Great Basin faced a rapidly changing environment, with the drying of shallow pluvial lake remnants and the creation of new habitats. Paralleling these changes, significant subsistence resource diversification coupled with expansion into new environments is evident by the close of the Pleistocene.     

Terminal Pleistocene–Early Holocene lithic technological organization around Lake Mojave,California

Abstract

The surface lithic scatters at two areas around Soda Lake were intensively surveyed and 3133 artifacts were analyzed in the field using four main variables to infer how Terminal Pleistocene–Early Holocene foragers organized lithic technology around pluvial Lake Mojave, California. Results indicate that early stage bifaces and flake tool blanks were created at a fine-grained volcanic (felsite) quarry/workshop complex in the Soda Mountains survey area and transported elsewhere. In addition, fine-grained volcanic bifaces were reduced and bifaces and flake tools of cryptocrystalline silicates and obsidian were finished, used, and/or discarded at a habitation area on the ancient shorelines near Little Cowhole Mountain. Comparisons with nearby sites of similar ages (at Ft. Irwin and China Lake) reveal many similarities in lithic technological organization. Lake Mojave—an important locus of prior research—can now be integrated into recent Mojave Desert and Great Basin technological organization studies.     

Oldowan reduction sequences: methodological considerations

Transport of resources is a major feature of Oldowan hominin technological adaptations. Comparisons between different Oldowan localities often employ measures of transport that are based on artefact attributes as proxies for the intensity of raw material utilization. The Technological Flake Category system [Toth, N., 1985. Oldowan reassessed: a close look at early stone artifacts, Journal of Archaeological Science 12, pp. 101–120] has been used extensively to infer the relative intensity of lithic reduction within Oldowan assemblages. Here we use a large experimental sample to test the relationship between a flake's stage in a reduction sequence and various quantitative attributes. We demonstrate how many previously described attributes are affected by initial core size. We then develop a multiple linear regression model that incorporates several variables to predict the placement of a flake within a generalized reduction sequence. The model is then applied to Oldowan assemblages in the Koobi Fora Formation which explores the strengths and weaknesses of different methods of investigating reduction intensity on an assemblage level.     

Plants and Technology: Current and Future Directions

Abstract

Located within the driftless area of southwestern Wisconsin, the Withington site provides a unique opportunity to examine the adaptive responses of Early Paleoindians exploiting this region. With a lithic assemblage dominated by Hixton Silicified Sandstone from sources over 170km to the north, chipped stone technological attributes and raw material diversity suggest that the occupants of the site were highly mobile, employed a mixed organizational strategy of toolstone transport, and possessed a wide knowledge of the lithic and social landscape. While our recent understanding of the early archaeological record of this region has progressed, a lack of published reports continues to hinder the incorporation of data from this area into larger models of Early Paleoindian subsistence and settlement. As part of an on-going research effort to address this, I present here a report and analysis of lithic material recovered from the site.     

Upper Paleolithic raw material economies at Üçağızlı cave, Turkey

This paper addresses variation in lithic raw material economy within the early Upper Paleolithic at Üçağızlı cave (south-central Turkey). The stratigraphic sequence documents some 12,000 years of the early Upper Paleolithic, entailing changes in lithic technology, raw material exploitation, and game use. Although the same lithic raw materials were exploited throughout the sequence to make quite similar ranges of products, there are marked changes in the ways raw materials from different source areas were treated, including patterns of transport and raw material consumption. The concept of technological provisioning is used to understand changing strategies for procuring and managing supplies of flint from different source locations. Shifts in raw material economy are argued to represent responses to changes in residential mobility and the scale/duration of occupations at the cave itself: data on cultural features and foraging strategies provide independent evidence for these shifts in land use. Results have implications for more nuanced approaches to investigating of lithic raw material economies and the significance of “raw material transfers.”     

Molluscan Shell Knives and Experimental Cut-Marks on Bones

Abstract

Experimentation demonstrates that the retouched edges of molluscan shells can be used effectively as butchery knives in the absence of lithic raw materials and leave striations on bone surfaces that may be indistinguishable from cut-marks made by stone knives. The potential of such non-lithic cutting tools suggests one new possible category of early artifact, and may explain the presence of cut-marks on fossil bones in paleoenvironments where stone artifacts were absent or rare.     

Oldowan behavior and raw material transport: perspectives from the Kanjera Formation

The archaeological record of Oldowan hominins represents a diverse behavioral system. It has been suggested that exploitation of lithic resources by Oldowan hominins was simplistic and represented mostly use of local sources of stone. Here we investigate the raw material selection and transport behaviors of Oldowan hominins reflected in the stone artifact assemblages from the Kanjera South Formation, South Rachuonyo District, Kenya. Using geochemical methods (ED-XRF) artifacts are linked to primary and secondary source outcrops throughout southwestern Kenya. These data show that hominins selected raw materials for transport at frequencies that are significantly different from their availability on ancient landscapes. Furthermore, a substantial proportion of the assemblage represents transport over relatively long distances (>10 km). Our study further suggests that in the early stages of stone tool use hominins used a wide variety of raw materials and selected these materials at some distance from their eventual discard locations. Early hominin behavior may have incorporated an understanding of raw material source distributions across a more extensive landscape than has been previously documented. This supports the growing perspective that Oldowan technology represents a more complex behavioral pattern than is usually associated with the beginnings of hominin tool use.     

The Middle Stone Age of West Turkana,Kenya

Abstract

Research on the origins of Homo sapiens and the development of our species’ unique behavior is focused on the Middle Stone Age (MSA) period in Africa (in comparison with the European Upper Palaeolithic). Although archaeological and paleontological fieldwork in the Turkana Basin in northwestern Kenya has contributed greatly to our understanding of human evolution in Africa, the Basin's MSA archaeological record remains poorly known. We report on a reconnaissance of MSA sites in West Turkana, Kenya, which included known archaeological/paleoanthropological localities at Eliye Springs and Kabua Waterhole (Kadokorinyang). A newly-discovered site, Nakechichok 1 (GdJh 5), preserves MSA tools stratified beneath Late Stone Age assemblages. The MSA lithic artifacts from Nakechichok 1 differ from those known from other MSA localities in nearby regions, and, they expand the known scope of MSA variability in the Turkana Basin, demonstrating that the MSA is not “missing” in this region, but just hard to find.     

Raw material availability,flaking quality,and hunter–gatherer technological decision making in northern Tierra del Fuego Island (southern South America)

The technological organization and lithic raw material procurement of Holocene hunter–gatherers have been topics of considerable interest in northern Tierra del Fuego Island. Ongoing archaeological investigations indicate that most of the rocks employed by native human populations came from secondary deposits of fluvio-glacial and marine origin. However, a primary geological source for two distinctive lithologies has been recently discovered near the Chorrillo Miraflores Valley (Tierra del Fuego, Chile). These raw materials became the focus of further research since one of them (a silicified tuff) has been identified in several archaeological sites of Tierra del Fuego. Some of these sites are located more than a hundred kilometers away from the source. A regional survey of potential lithic sources along with petrographic and geochemical analyses confirmed that the silicified tuff is only available at Chorrillo Miraflores. Here we present the technological analysis of artifacts manufactured on Miraflores silicified tuff that were recovered from the Argentine portion of northern Tierra del Fuego composed of Espíritu Santo and San Sebastian Capes. The role of utilitarian currencies in the prehistoric use of this lithology is assessed through the application of the Metcalfe and Barlow (1992) field processing model. The results show that this raw material may not have been exclusively selected for its flaking quality, although an alternative functional efficiency hypothesis is also introduced. Finally, its spatially restricted availability as well as unique macroscopic aspect suggests its selection and use may have been mainly influenced by social factors.     

Shifting stones and changing homes: using toolstone ratios to consider relative occupation span in the northwestern Great Basin

Like Paleoindian populations elsewhere in North America, Pre-Archaic groups in the Great Basin are assumed to have been highly mobile and far ranging. This view is commonly based on analyses of lithic technology and source provenance studies. While these approaches have added to our knowledge of Pre-Archaic lifeways, they have rarely focused on occupation span – an aspect of hunter–gatherer behavior directly related to mobility. Here, I use the proportions of local and nonlocal toolstone in Pre-Archaic and later Archaic assemblages to consider occupation span with the assumption that assemblages should become increasingly dominated by local materials as occupation span increases. The results suggest that residential mobility was high and occupations short before 7500 radiocarbon years ago. Conversely, between 7500 and 1300 radiocarbon years ago, residential mobility decreased and many locations were occupied for extended periods. Occupation span once again decreased as residential mobility increased after 1300 radiocarbon years ago. These trends were likely influenced by changes in the environmental and demographic climate of the Holocene.     

Flake selection and scraper retouch probability: an alternative model for explaining Middle Paleolithic assemblage retouch variability

It has been proposed that the relative abundance of retouched objects in Paleolithic assemblages can serve as a measure for artifact transport and by extension a proxy for site occupation duration. This approach is based on the assumption that retouch represents curatory effort for extending the service time of transported artifacts when raw material access is uncertain or limited, a condition that could arise when groups move frequently over long distances across the landscape. This paper proposes an alternative model that explains retouch as a probabilistic outcome of an expedient, on-site flake selection process. A simulation illustrates that the model is capable of producing assemblage retouch configurations akin to those commonly observed in Paleolithic settings. The simulation also indicates that the threshold applied by past individuals for selecting particular artifacts is an important parameter for explaining assemblage retouch variability. Using artifact weight as a proxy for flake selection criteria, several Middle Paleolithic assemblages exhibit patterns that support predictions made from the model simulation. Findings suggest that variation in scraper frequency among the studied assemblages can be accounted for by an interaction between the abundance of artifact production events and shifting artifact selection criteria, without appealing to higher-level behaviors of technological and mobility strategies.     

Recent developments in the analysis of lithic artifacts

A review of recent research on lithic technology and functional analysis is presented. Our perception of the state of the art is based on a review of the literature published during the past three years and on the topics that were covered at conferences and workshops on lithic analysis. While the goals have essentially remained the same since the turn of the century, concerns with chronology and the classification of lithic artifacts have given way to studies that treat stone implements as products of a dynamic system of human behavior. In order to understand stone artifacts and the people that made and used them, archaeologists must understand theprocesses involved in the acquisition, production, exchange, and consumption of lithic artifacts. In the past ten years, experimental studies involving the manufacturing and use of stone tools have been integrated with studies of refitted or conjoined lithic artifacts and microwear analysis. The result is a much more dynamic view of the variability in assemblages of lithic artifacts. In this review, we focus on replication and technological analysis of chipped stone artifacts and microwear analysis, and consider the implications of this research.     

Lithic technology and social transformations in the South Indian Neolithic: The evidence from Sanganakallu–Kupgal

Here we examine patterns in stone tool technology among Mesolithic, Neolithic and Iron Age localities in the Sanganakallu–Kupgal site complex, Bellary District, Karnataka, South India. Statistical tests are used to compare proportions of raw materials and artefact types, and to compare central tendencies in metric variables taken on flakes and tools. Lithic-related findings support the inference of at least two distinct technological and economic groups at Sanganakallu–Kupgal, a microlith-focused foraging society on the one hand, and on the other, an agricultural society whose lithic technologies centred upon the production of pressure bladelets and dolerite edge-ground axes. Evidence for continuity in lithic technological processes through time may reflect indigenous processes of development, and a degree of continuity from the Mesolithic through to the Neolithic period. Lithic production appears to have become a specialised and spatially segregated activity by the terminal Neolithic and early Iron Age, supporting suggestions for the emergence of an increasingly complex economy and political hierarchy.     

Evaluating morphological variability in lithic assemblages using 3D models of stone artifacts

Technological and morphological variability in lithic artifacts is commonly used to identify taxonomic entities in Paleolithic research contexts. Assemblages are mainly studied using either linear distance measurements or qualitative assessments of morphologies. Here, we present a method to quantify morphological variability in lithic artifacts using 3D models of stone artifacts. Our study on the sequence of the Upper Paleolithic layers V–I from the site Yabroud II in western Syria, demonstrates that utilizing 3D models provides a new insight into the variability of lithic technologies. We use quantitative data on convexities, twist and scar patterns on cores and blades, attributes previously not readily quantifiable, to trace technological change through the archaeological sequence. We are able to identify differences and translate these findings into a grouping of the layers. While layers VI–II are characterized by technological continuity and were grouped together, layers V and I can be separated from this group and represent technologically different groups chronologically before and after. Our results demonstrate the potential of 3D models for studying morphological variability in lithic assemblages.     

Mixed occupation during the Middle Palaeolithic: Case study of a small pit-cave-site of Les Pêcheurs (Ardèche,south-eastern France)

The Pêcheurs cave is a unique example of a Middle Palaeolithic site with three kinds of accumulations: (1) ibex that died in a natural trap, (2) carnivores that died within the cavity, and, (3) a series of short-term occupations by humans who left a few artifacts and a hearth area. Biological patterns of ibex remains (skeletal parts, age) show a homogeneous structure, related to natural death inside the cave. The Chassezac valley is narrow and sinuous, bordered by steep cliffs occupied by well-adapted hoofed-species (Caprinae). Moreover, Les Pêcheurs is a shallow cave, pit-like, and in its deepest part (Sector 4) provided both man and animals with shelter. The presence of a fire place (in the middle of the sequence of Sector 4) firmly indicates the presence of an in situ occupation by a small group of hominids. According to the stratigraphical patterns and the analysis of the lithic assemblages, artifacts do not seem to have been introduced into sediments. The lithic assemblages (technically homogeneous) indicate that small mobile human groups inhabited a cave that offered, by virtue of its morphology, a natural shelter against the cold winds blowing in the Chassezac valley and the plateaus of the south-eastern borders of the Massif Central Mountains. The exploitation of biotopes such as this rocky area constitutes a specific case of human subsistence behavior and settlement strategy. The deepest layer is characterized by a lithic assemblage mostly made of local raw material (quartz) implying a low investment in lithic production. Few flakes made from non-local flints attest to the mobility of the human occupants who moved across these areas and perhaps found in the valleys, short-term refuge.     

Core Use-Life Distributions in Lithic Assemblages as a Means for Reconstructing Behavioral Patterns

Artifacts with varying use-lives have different discard rates and hence are represented unequally among archaeological assemblages. As such, the ability to gauge the use-lives of artifacts is important for understanding the formation of archaeological assemblage variability. In lithic artifacts, use-life can be expressed as the extraction of utility, or work potential, from existing stone volume. Using experimental data and generalized linear modeling, this study develops models of artifact use-life on cores in the form of reduction intensity. We then apply these models to two archaeological case studies to (a) reconstruct the reduction intensities of archaeological cores and (b) investigate the survivorship curves of these archaeological cores across the reduction continuum using the Weibull function. Results indicate variation in core reduction and maintenance with respect to raw material properties and place use history and implicate evolutionary differences between Early Stone Age hominins and Holocene modern humans.     

pXRF: a study of inter-instrument performance

Integrating portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) instrumentation into archaeological investigations has generated as much interest as skepticism because several characteristics of the technique limit analytical accuracy and precision. This paper seeks to explore inter-instrument performance in order to assess the potential pXRF instrumentation has in examining the elemental composition of lithic raw materials. Two pXRF instruments, Delta and Omega models both manufactured by Olympus Innov-X Systems, were utilized to obtain the trace element signatures of five fine-grained volcanic sources and four obsidian sources in the Great Basin. We compared the two portable instruments to a wavelength-dispersive instrument extensively calibrated with geologic standards and to a commercial benchtop energy-dispersive system. Our results suggest that the relationships between the data produced by these different instruments are complex, and as we look to the future of pXRF use in archaeological analysis we argue that that the same strict protocols applied in laboratory-based XRF analyses, involving instrument calibration, evaluation of inter-instrument performance, and comparison to accepted geologic standards, need to be applied in pXRF analysis.     

Lithic use-wear analysis of the Early Gravettian of Vale Boi (Cape St. Vicente,southern Portugal): insights into human technology and settlement in southwestern Iberia

During the Upper Paleolithic, lithic variability is one of the most important keys to recognize hunter-gatherer behavior, technology, ecology, and social dynamics. The origin and expansion of Gravettian populations in Eurasia has been seen as one of the most critical episodes in human evolution, argued to be the first clear evidence of the so-called polymorphism among modern human populations. In the case of southern Iberian Peninsula, recent data have shown a new regional and diachronic organization for the Gravettian occupation in this region. Therefore, the interpretation of such variability is one of the most important questions, and functional analysis is a fundamental proxy to recognize human technological, settlement and ecological adaptations as major factors for this polymorphism. This study focused on lithic use-wear analysis of the Early Gravettian of Vale Boi (southern Portugal), in order to understand lithic technological organization and variability within and between occupations at the site. Results show similar patterns between assemblages, showing that different materials were worked at the site, although showing reduced time of work, low variability and percentage of pieces used. Unlike other Gravettian contexts in southern Iberia, the Early Gravettian from Vale Boi is characterized by some variability of backed points, marked by the predominance of bipointed double-backed bladelets. Functional analysis of the Early Gravettian lithic industries of Vale Boi provide a new insight to interpret human technology and settlement strategy during the onset of Upper Paleolithic industries in western Eurasia.