The Palaeolithic of the Middle Son valley, north-central India: Changes in hominin lithic technology and behaviour during the Upper Pleistocene

The Middle Son valley in north-central India preserves extensive Quaternary alluvial deposits. A long history of archaeological and geological research in the valley has resulted in the discovery of lithic assemblages ranging from Lower Palaeolithic to microlithic, a rich corpus of fossilised faunal remains, and ash deposits from the 74,000 year-old Toba supereruption. This paper reviews the chronology and stratigraphy of the valley’s Quaternary sediments, and presents a model that hypothesizes the temporal sequence of important lithic assemblages from excavated and surface contexts. Artefacts in these assemblages are analysed and changes in lithic technology through time are described; this evidence is used to propose shifts in hominin behaviour and demographic structure in this region during the Upper Pleistocene. Recognising gaps in our understanding of the Middle Son record, future avenues of research are recommended that will build upon previous research and address questions of palaeoanthropological significance. The Middle Son valley preserves a long and rich record of hominin occupation from all periods of the Palaeolithic that is rarely paralleled by other sites in India.     

Middle Palaeolithic raw material gathering territories and human mobility in the southern Massif Central,France: first results from a petro-archaeological study on flint

During the Middle Palaeolithic in the south-eastern Massif Central and the bordering Rhone Valley, humans collected almost all their raw materials from various secondary outcrop which can be distinguished by the inherent characteristics of the materials. Similar lithic facies are unlikely to be encountered on two or more different natural outcrops and every artefact shows a surface that is well enough preserved to be studied according to a morphoscopic analysis at various magnifications. For all sites, some more remote sources were also exploited. However, most of the supposed exogenous materials, such as some Cretaceous flints identified in the Velay assemblages of Sainte-Anne I and Baume-Vallée for example, come from the heart of the massif where they occur in secondary alluvial deposits. Nevertheless, the extent of the foraging territories as revealed by raw materials sourcing covers a large band of various relief between the western and southern Causses, the Rhône corridor and the northern Limagne and Forez plains and animal species hunted by these groups express an environmental mosaic which fits with the image of landscape given by the raw materials.     

Archaeological Publications

Abstract

A number of lithic studies over the past several years have indicated that average flake weight (size) appears to be a direct reflection of the ease of lithic procurement, with the greater the distance to the lithic source, the smaller the respective general flake size. Similar high-quality lithic materials from Pot Creek Pueblo and the Cerrita pithouse site of the Taos area of the northern Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico provide an excellent basis for the study of the effects of source distance on the metrical attributes of lithic material due to the wide array of local and nonlocal lithic resources available at varying distances from the two settlements and utilized within them. The analysis indicates that flake thickness and volume (flake length × width × thickness) provide statistically significant linear trends and patterns in relation to respective source material distance. The general flake dimensional-decremental trend with increasing source distance probably reflects smaller lithic parent material sizes with increasing material source distance as well as a lithic technology oriented toward greater material conservation and less technological variability as the distance to the respective lithic material source increases.     

A Late Pleistocene Occupation on the Southern Coast of Oregon

Abstract

Geoarchaeological research on the southern coast of Oregon brought to light archaeological evidence of early human occupation in the late Pleistocene. Indian Sands (35CU67) lies on a highly eroded deflated headland on the Oregon coast where previous surveys had found and dated surficial cultural materials as early as 8250 b.p. (uncalibrated radiocarbon years). Prior to excavation of Indian Sands, sediment and stratigraphic analysis, along with radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dates, established the existence of late Pleistocene deposits. The excavations confirmed the presence of buried cultural deposits containing lithic artifacts, charcoal, and fire-cracked rock. Dispersed charcoal from the floor of an artifactbearing level was dated to 10,430 b.p., more than 2000 ^l4C years older than any other Oregon coastal site.     

和龙市柳洞旧石器地点发现的石制品研究

2002年5月,吉林大学边疆考古研究中心在图们江流域进行考古调查时发现和龙市柳市洞旧石器地点。石制品分布在高出河水面20米的二级阶地上,共获得石制品89件,有石核、石片、石叶、细石叶、刮削器、雕刻器等。该地点的石制品特征可代表该流域的一种工业类型,与周边地区的旧石器有着密切的联系。该地点的地质年代应相当于晚更新世的晚期,旧石器时代的晚期。     

A palaeoenvironmental context for Terminal Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic activity in the Colne Valley: Offsite records contemporary with occupation at Three Ways Wharf,Uxbridge

Abstract

Multi-proxy analyses from floodplain deposits in the Colne Valley, southern England, have provided a palaeoenvironmental context for the immediately adjacent Terminal Upper Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic site of Three Ways Wharf. These deposits show the transition from an open cool environment to fully developed heterogeneous floodplain vegetation during the Early Mesolithic. Several distinct phases of burning are shown to have occurred that are chronologically contemporary with the local archaeological record. The floodplain itself is shown to have supported a number of rare Urwaldrelikt insect species implying human manipulation of the floodplain at this time must have been limited or episodic. By the Late Mesolithic a reed-sedge swamp had developed across much of the floodplain, within which repeated burning of the in situ vegetation took place. This indicates deliberate land management practices utilising fire, comparable with findings from other floodplain sequences in southern Britain. With similar sedimentary sequences known to exist across the Colne Valley, often closely associated with contemporary archaeology, the potential for placing the archaeological record within a spatially explicit palaeoenvironmental context is great.     

The Elmenteitan Obsidian Quarry (GsJj50): New Perspectives on Obsidian Access and Exchange During the Pastoral Neolithic in Southern Kenya

Early pastoralists in southern Kenya exploited obsidian sources to supply large regional exchange networks that persisted from c. 3200 to 1400 years ago. Obsidian exchange networks have been a source for speculation on the social and political nature of early pastoralism in eastern Africa. Herders who produced a discrete set of material culture called “Elmenteitan” mainly relied on a particular obsidian quarry site on the upper slopes of Ol Doinyo Opuru (Mt. Eburru), in the Central Rift Valley. These implications of the Elmenteitan pattern for herder social organization have not been systematically investigated. This paper reports on recent surveys and initial excavations at the Elmenteitan Obsidian Quarry (GsJj50) on Mt. Eburru as the central node of a prehistoric herder exchange network. Research revealed a series of stratified extraction and workshopping loci concentrated across a roughly 200-m² extent. Spatial, faunal, ceramic, and lithic datasets support communal resource access by small groups, rather than centralized control. This research has implications for interpreting the role of centralized quarries and resource nodes in the formation of mobile herder exchange and alliance. Networks were an important risk-reduction strategy in unpredictable environments and helped facilitate the spread of African pastoralism.     

The paleolithic site of Longwangchan in the middle Yellow River,China: chronology,paleoenvironment and implications

The Longwangchan Paleolithic site, situated on the Yellow River terraces in the Hukou area, Shaanxi province, China, was found in 2003–2004, and two areas (Localities 1 and 2) of the site were excavated in 2005–2008. Abundant stone artifacts including microliths, a grinding stone fragment and a shovel, with some animal bones and shells, were recovered from Locality 1. In this study, the cultural deposits from Locality 1 were dated using radiocarbon and optical dating techniques, and the sediment properties of the deposits were analyzed. The results show that the age of the deposits ranges from 29 to 21 ka and most of them were deposited between 25 ka and 29 ka. This indicates that corresponds to late Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 and early MIS 2. During the human occupation period, the climate in this area became colder and drier. Sediments from beds where the grinding slab and the shovel were found were dated to ∼25 ka, which is the oldest among the grinding stones found in China. The microliths and the grinding stone are important evidence for an incipient socio-economic process that eventually led to the regional transition from hunting-foraging to farming.     

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.     

Insights into early Holocene hunter-gatherer mobility on the Peruvian Southern Coast from mollusk gathering seasonality

Quebrada de los Burros (QLB) is an early Archaic coastal archaeological site in southern Peru (∼18.1°S) and the most extensively studied in the area for this period. It was occupied from 10 to 6.5 ka by fishermen also practicing hunting and mollusk gathering. Shell growth lines in 116 individuals of the surf clam Mesodesma donacium were studied to determine the month of their death (±2 months). Our results show that, for the whole occupation period, mollusk gathering was a seasonal activity mainly practiced during austral spring and summer. A change occurred between the early and the middle Holocene: the mollusk gathering season in the middle Holocene occurred ∼3 months earlier in the year than in the older levels. This behavior change could have a cultural origin, rather than dictated by the environment for it is associated with changes in the lithic industry. QLB occupants also hunted herbivores in the nearby lomas ecosystems. These plant communities only grow during the fog season from June to December, suggesting that the site was occupied during this season. A comparison of the span of the mollusk gathering season and the lomas season suggests that, at least during the early Holocene, QLB was occupied all the year round. A permanent freshwater source and the proximity of the sea, the lomas, and raw lithic materials, provided ideal conditions for a permanent occupation. This result reveals a strategy based on a seasonal alternation between marine and terrestrial resources exploitation.     

New radiometric ages for the Fauresmith industry from Kathu Pan,southern Africa: Implications for the Earlier to Middle Stone Age transition

The Fauresmith lithic industry of South Africa has been described as transitional between the Earlier and Middle Stone Age. However, radiometric ages for this industry are inadequate. Here we present a minimum OSL age of 464 ± 47 kyr and a combined U-series–ESR age of 542₋₁₀₇⁺¹⁴⁰ kyr for an in situ Fauresmith assemblage, and three OSL ages for overlying Middle and Later Stone Age strata, from the site of Kathu Pan 1 (Northern Cape Province, South Africa). These ages are discussed in relation to the available lithostratigraphy, faunal and lithic assemblages from this site. The results indicate that the Kathu Pan 1 Fauresmith assemblage predates transitional industries from other parts of Africa e.g. Sangoan, as well as the end of the Acheulean in southern Africa. The presence of blades, in the dated Fauresmith assemblages from Kathu Pan 1 generally considered a feature of modern human behaviour ( McBrearty and Brooks, 2000, The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior, J. Human Evolution 39, 453–563),-provides evidence supporting the position that blade production in southern Africa predated the Middle Stone Age and the advent of modern Homo sapiens.     

Middle Stone Age bone tools from the Howiesons Poort layers,Sibudu Cave,South Africa

Recently discovered bone implements from Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits at Sibudu Cave, South Africa, confirm the existence of a bone tool industry for the Howiesons Poort (HP) technocomplex. Previously, an isolated bone point from Klasies River provided inconclusive evidence. This paper describes three bone tools: two points and the end of a polished spatula-shaped piece, from unequivocal HP layers at Sibudu Cave (with ages greater than ∼61 ka). Comparative microscopic and morphometric analysis of the Sibudu specimens together with bone tools from southern African Middle and Later Stone Age (LSA) deposits, an Iron Age occupation, nineteenth century Bushman hunter-gatherer toolkits, and bone tools used experimentally in a variety of tasks, reveals that the Sibudu polished piece has use-wear reminiscent of that on bones experimentally used to work animal hides. A slender point is consistent with a pin or needle-like implement, while a larger point, reminiscent of the single specimen from Peers Cave, parallels large un-poisoned bone arrow points from LSA, Iron Age and historical Bushman sites. Additional support for the Sibudu point having served as an arrow tip comes from backed lithics in the HP compatible with this use, and the recovery of older, larger bone and lithic points from Blombos Cave, interpreted as spear heads. If the bone point from the HP layers at Sibudu Cave is substantiated by future discoveries, this will push back the origin of bow and bone arrow technology by at least 20,000 years, and corroborate arguments in favour of the hypothesis that crucial technological innovations took place during the MSA in Africa.     

We will be known by the tracks we leave behind: Exotic lithic raw materials,mobility and social networking among the Côa Valley foragers (Portugal)

The aim of this study is to establish different socio-cultural models based on lithic raw material sourcing integrated with regional rock art distributions to infer social behaviours within the context of central Iberian Upper Palaeolithic societies. Specifically, we focus on Upper Palaeolithic hunter–gatherer mobility and social interaction in the Côa Valley. This study relies on a knowledge of regional geology and field work to identify the sources of the lithic raw material found at Côa Valley Upper Palaeolithic sites. We expose the context of use and discard of flint, which is naturally absent from the region, and other local materials. From this, we present a GIS based analysis concerning space, time and least-cost paths travelled. This analysis, along with the environmental data available, forms a baseline to evaluate different anthropological models on hunter–gatherer lithic use, mobility, and social networks. We conclude with a three-level model for social interaction, in the context of aggregation activities between different social meta-groups, which involves embedded procurement, long-distance raw material exchange, and symbolic community, reflected in the largest known open-air Upper Palaeolithic rock art concentration.     

X-ray fluorescence analysis and intra-island exchange in the Society Island archipelago (Central Eastern Polynesia)

We apply X-ray fluorescence (XRF) geochemical analysis to a collection of 'Opunohu Valley lithic artifacts from Mo'orea island to investigate the local scale of raw material procurement, adze production, use, and exchange within the Society Island archipelago. We use these data to document the distribution of non-local versus local volcanic artifacts in 'Opunohu Valley house sites, ritual sites, and specialized sites, as a means for establishing intra-site production and consumption patterns, and access to exotic, possibly superior, stone resources, and how these two themes correlate with site function or household wealth and status. Overall, 30% of the artifacts analyzed via WDXRF derive from non-local sources, notably two other islands in the archipelago outside of the political boundaries of Moorean chiefdoms. Our case study thus provides the first direct material evidence of intra-archipelago trade and exchange in the Society Islands. Intra-archipelago trade in adzes was certainly in place by as early as A.D. 1350, if not earlier, and continued up until the time of European contact. In addition, our analyses have identified a local adze production locale in the Afareaitu district of Mo'orea island. The patterns of local versus non-local adze production and exchange strongly suggest that dual interaction spheres were involved. The correlation between adzes and adze-related debris produced from off-island sources and sites with specialized use, which were often reserved for the social, ritual, and political elites in Ma'ohi society suggests that some of the exotic adzes derived from gift exchange between Mo'orea and ruling elites in Tahiti and the Leeward Islands. These adzes from afar would have solidified socio-political and ideological alliances between elites in the Windward and Leeward sectors of the archipelago.     

Quebrada Tacahuay,Southern Peru: A Late Pleistocene Site Preserved by a Debris Flow

Abstract

Here we describe the properties of a debris flow apparently generated by a warm phase El Niño event that buried an intermittently occupied Late Pleistocene forager site located in the southern coastal desert of Peru. Although the event deposited roughly one meter of sediment over the initial occupation, our analyses of debris flow dynamics and data from large scale archaeological investigations indicate that the earliest anthropogenic deposits at the site of Quebrada Tacahuay were preserved intact as a result of the burial episode; there is no evidence that the debris flow scoured or disturbed the cultural deposits. The event that buried the oldest archaeological contexts at Quebrada Tacahuay differs from other flood events that are characterized by turbulent, fast-moving floodwaters. Our data on debris flow dynamics and our results from excavation have implications for identifying, investigating, and interpreting other deeply buried archaeological sites both in the central Andes and in other geographic regions.     

Refining Woodland Period Chronology and Interactions in Northeastern Missouri: Contributions from the Avenue of the Saints Project

The recently completed Avenue of Saints (AOS) highway project in the Mississippi Valley of northeastern Missouri resulted in the documentation of Woodland period sites ranging from approximately 200 cal BC to AD 1200. This article updates the existing Woodland chronology for this locality based on new information collected during the project. Data pertaining to Early, Middle, and Late Woodland sites are presented. The approximately 1,400-year occupation span provided researchers an opportunity to view diachronic trends in tool manufacture, subsistence economy, and landscape use. Based on regional comparisons of ceramic and lithic technologies and vessel decoration, the Woodland sequence in northeastern Missouri was influenced by population movements originating from east of the Mississippi River and from southern sources in the Salt River valley.     

Did Modern Human Dispersal Take a Coastal Route into India? New Evidence from Palaeolithic Surveys of Kachchh,Gujarat

The Indian Ocean coastline is argued to have been a critical route of modern human dispersal from Africa, introducing Late Palaeolithic industries into South Asia, but a dearth of evidence has prevented a direct evaluation of this. Kachchh (Gujarat, India), located immediately east of the Indus Delta, is an important setting to appraise the Palaeolithic occupation of the western Indian coastline. Targeted survey of Late Pleistocene sediments there found widespread evidence for occupation of Kachchh during the Late Pleistocene: Middle Palaeolithic and possibly Late Acheulean lithic artifacts. The conspicuous absence of Late Palaeolithic industries in these Late Pleistocene deposits, with their presence only noted in Holocene contexts, does not support the model of modern human expansions into India with these industries via the coastal route. We evaluate these results in the context of current debates regarding Late Pleistocene hominin demography, adaptation, and expansions.     

Late Holocene climatic fluctuations and soil genesis in southern Patagonia: effects on the archaeological record

Geoarchaeological research conducted at five localities in southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego identified a mollisol within late Holocene aeolian and colluvial deposits associated with archaeological material. The mollisol's origin and development are related to an increase in humidity (c. 1000 BP) following an episode of severe drought during the Medieval Warm Period. Corroborating data is supplied from dendroclimatic and pollen studies. A drastic reduction in frequency of artefact distribution recorded at the sites studied corresponds to this pedologic event, suggesting a greater human presence at these sites during earlier, regional-scale arid conditions. However, the paucity of archaeological remains may also be the result of the low resolution of cultural evidence following the pedologic development due to superimposition over previous archaeological deposits.     

Investigating a child sacrifice event from the Inca heartland

Human sacrifice in the Inca Empire at times took the form of the capacocha, a sacrificial rite involving the most beautiful children in the empire. In this study, we investigate a possible capacocha at the pre-Columbian site of Choquepukio in the Cuzco Valley of Peru. During excavations at Choquepukio in 2004, seven children (aged 3–12 years) were discovered buried together; accompanying them was an elaborate assemblage of high status artifacts similar to those from other recent archaeological finds that are believed to be capacocha sacrifices. Since colonial documents indicate that capacocha children were selected from diverse regions of the empire, we initiated a radiogenic strontium isotope analysis to determine the origins of the children found at Choquepukio. Our analysis showed that, indeed, two children in the assemblage had non-local origins. When considered together, the osteological, archaeological, and isotopic evidence suggest that a capacocha event occurred at Choquepukio, representing the only lower-elevation capacocha to have been found in the Cuzco region.     

The Technology of the Early Oakhurst Lithic Techno-Complex from Klipdrift Cave,Southern Cape,South Africa

The analysis of the lithics recovered from the layers dating between cal bp 10,700 and cal bp 13,700 at Klipdrift Cave, southern Cape, South Africa, provides new information on the Oakhurst techno-complex. A comparison with contemporary sites such as Matjes River Rock Shelter indicates not only technological similarities, but also unexpected differences. The Klipdrift Cave Oakhurst shares many characteristics typical of this techno-complex from the southern Cape, for example, in the dominance of quartzite, irregular and unstandardised flakes; the occurrence of irregular cores; and typical large side and end scrapers. It differs from most coastal Oakhurst sites however, in the more intensive exploitation of quartz, and the presence of a blade component, especially in the lowermost layers. Palaeoenvironmental data, derived from stable isotope analysis of ostrich eggshell, suggest that it was dry in this region during this time period. This was partially a result of the colder conditions that prevailed during the Younger Dryas. The lithic technological production techniques are stable at Klipdrift Cave during the period that the site was occupied from cal bp 13,700 to cal bp 10,700. Our data suggest that the lithic technology did not change in response to possible climatic variability.