Points and convergent tools in the European Early Middle Palaeolithic site of Payre (SE,France)

The lithic assemblage from the Middle Palaeolithic site of Payre (Rhone Valley, France) contains a large number of convergent tools and pointed tools of various shapes, sizes and retouch types. These were excavated from several archaeological units, dating from marine isotopic stages 8–5, which also yielded human skeletal remains. Consideration of this large tool kit has led to an improved analysis of Middle Palaeolithic tools with two retouched convergent edges. The 350 tools were not described within the classical typological framework, but, rather, from a lithic technological perspective in relation to a discoid debitage. In addition, an initial macroscopic use-wear analysis aided in establishing whether they were used according to their technical and/or morphological features. The Middle Palaeolithic convergent tools from Payre are shown to be quite diversified, and the question of the significance of the retouch and the definition of the various types is addressed. Initial functional results indicate that a clear relationship between shape and function cannot be easily established, and that these tools were used as hand tools. This study contributes to the debate on the use of stone tip spears in the Early European Middle Palaeolithic.     

Geology and lithic procurement in Upper Palaeolithic Europe: a weights-of-evidence based GIS model of lithic resource potential

In this paper we examine ways to predict the distribution of siliceous rock in Europe, using a Bayesian technique known as ‘Weights-of-Evidence’. We use the technique to classify bedrock geological formations in terms of their likelihood of yielding tool-quality lithic raw materials, and we use the results to re-examine possible causes of a west–east cline in maximum lithic raw material transfer distances observed when comparing sites in both Middle and Upper Palaeolithic Europe. It is evident from our results that there is a decline in abundance of geological formations highly predictive of tool-quality rock along a west–east cline, predominantly reflecting a decrease in abundance of Jurassic and Cretaceous chert-bearing sedimentaries. Our results are consistent with an interpretation of the Upper Palaeolithic record of transfer distances as indicating special-purpose procurement.     

Hard core and cutting edge: experimental manufacture and use of Magdalenian composite projectile tips

The technology of the European Upper Palaeolithic yielded abundant evidence of the use of composite projectile heads, in the form of osseous points on the side of which one or several (micro)lithic elements are attached. Yet, little experimental work has been devoted to testing and assessing the parameters of use of this type of composite tips. In this paper we present a pilot experiment with replicas of Magdalenian composite spear tips, made of an antler point with one or two rows of flint backed bladelets. Two series of replicas were manufactured after the lithic and osseous record of, respectively, the Lower Magdalenian from southwest France (c. 20–18 Ky cal BP) and the Upper Magdalenian of Pincevent in the Paris Basin (c. 15–14 Ky cal BP). The 34 experimental composite heads were hafted to spears that were then shot with a spearthrower at the carcasses of two young deer. The results provide some insight into the performance characteristics of the osseous and lithic components, both in efficiency and durability. Finally, possible improvements of the experimental protocol are discussed, as well as the implications of our results for the understanding of projectile point variability in the Upper Palaeolithic.     

Hafted armatures and multi-component tool design at the Micoquian site of Inden-Altdorf,Germany

Excavation of the Micoquian site Inden-Altdorf (Weisweiler-124) near the former German capital Bonn in western Germany has revealed the first valid open-site habitation features with hut-like structures and associated hearths for the Middle Palaeolithic in Central Europe. It has been dated to the Eemian interglacial (OIS 5e), a warm interglacial between 128 and 115 ka BP. Various wear traces and especially organic residues have been detected on a large number of stone tools using microscopic use-wear analysis of lithics recovered from the site. A multi-level analysis developed through an experimental framework and archaeological study using optical light microscopes, scanning electron microscopes and energy-dispersive X-ray microprobes identified the adhering residues as birch pitch. Birch pitch is the oldest synthetically produced material and was used as an adhesive to attach lithic implements to wooden shafts. While such hafting technology is commonly associated with modern humans in the Upper Palaeolithic, the birch pitch residues found on the Micoquian tools of Inden-Altdorf suggest that hafting technologies and the frequent use of multi-component tools already existed in the Middle Palaeolithic, c. 120 ka BP in central Europe.     

The Lower Palaeolithic on the northern plateau of the Iberian Peninsula (Sierra de Atapuerca,Ambrona and La Maya I): a technological analysis of the cutting edge and weight of artefacts. Developing an hypothetical model

This article analyses the relationship between the weight and cutting edge of lithic artefacts from the main Lower Palaeolithic sites on the northern plateau (Meseta) of the Iberian Peninsula. The weight and cutting edge of a tool determine its cutting ability and the amount of force it is capable of, making them extremely important aspects of study to further our understanding of the potential capacity for human intervention in the environment. However, the analysis of these features has not received much attention in the ongoing debate on the Palaeolithic era in Europe. This study argues that the quantitative and qualitative technological analysis of these two aspects is of fundamental importance in determining the potential of lithic assemblages.     

Quantifying flake scar patterning on cores using 3D recording techniques

A key feature of stone artefact morphology is the arrangement and patterning of negative flake scars left on flakes and cores. Scar patterning is often treated as a rough guide to identifying methods of core preparation and reduction and usually forms a key component of lithic typologies and other systems of analysis. However, scar patterns are often complex and difficult to capture using traditional measurement or classificatory techniques, particularly where flakes are thick and irregular, or where cores are flaked on many sides from a number of platforms. Three-dimensional analysis of flake scars is now more feasible using digital 3D surface scanning technologies, or using three-dimensional measurement tools such as the Microscribe-3DX which is now widely used in biological geometric morphometric studies more generally [D.C. Adams, F.J. Rohlf, D.E. Slice, Ital. J. Zool., 71 (2004) 5–16; F.J. Rohlf, L.F. Marcus, Trends Ecol. Evol. 8 (1993) 129–132. [1 and 34]]. This paper develops a mathematical formula for describing scar patterning using vectors calculated from the start and end points of flake scars recorded in three dimensions.     

Lithic production,site formation and Middle Palaeolithic palimpsest analysis: in search of human occupation episodes at Abric del Pastor Stratigraphic Unit IV (Alicante,Spain)

We present the results of an exercise in Middle Palaeolithic palimpsest analysis geared toward the identification of human occupation episodes. It is based on a combined reading of the archaeosedimentary deposit and the archaeological record of Stratigraphic Unit IV from Abric del Pastor (Alcoy, Alicante, Spain), chronologically framed within MIS 4–5. A study of site formation processes coupled with archaeostratigraphic analysis of the lithic record incorporating Raw Material Units (RMU) and refits, as well as with combustion features and faunal remains enabled identification a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 6 human occupation episodes within lithostratigraphic units IVa, IVb and IVc. Through our data it reaches a high resolution temporal frame close to the ethnographic time scale, which constitutes a significant contribution for the knowledge of human occupations types and landscape use in the Mediterranean rim of the Iberian Peninsula during Middle Palaeolithic.     

An Upper Palaeolithic shell scraper from Ksar Akil (Lebanon)

The vast majority of Palaeolithic tools that survive in the archaeological record are lithics. Tools made of marine shell are rarely found in Western Eurasian contexts, regardless of the time period. This paper reports the discovery of a Glycymeris valve from the Upper Palaeolithic level of Ksar Akil (Lebanon), excavated in the 1940s and stored in a museum since then. The shell comes from level IX, whose lithic industry is attributed to the Levantine Aurignacian. Careful macroscopic and microscopic analysis revealed that the shell had been worked deliberately into a scraper-type tool. The shell was directly dated, at ～37 ka BP, an age much older than expected for its context, which was anticipated to be ～30 ka BP. This illustrates the potential problems relating to the AMS radiocarbon dating of bivalve shell material from the Levantine coast.     

The Neronian and the historical structure of cultural shifts from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic in Mediterranean France

The end of the Middle Palaeolithic period can be considered a key moment in the history of humanity, characterized by profound changes in traditional Palaeolithic societies. Whatever the reasons for this historical change, it seems well established that it took place within a particularly dynamic phase of these societies, when Upper Palaeolithic technical processes were already emerging. The analysis of recent Mousterian industries in Mediterranean France highlights certain points of inflection, which presage new ways of life. The analysis of key sites demonstrates important transformations within the last Neanderthal societies, with a gradual rearticulation of Mousterian technical systems around the production of blades and points and with profound changes in the relationship of the craftsman with his tools. Even if they are typical of the late Mousterian more generally, these technically distinctive industries have such distinct chronological, territorial and cultural characteristics that they can be referred to by a specific name, the “Néronien” (Neronian). Stratigraphically speaking, this group of assemblages – at the crossroads of the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic – appears in some important regional sequences just before the appearance of the first “true” Upper Palaeolithic industries (the Protoaurignacian). However, this Neronian doesn't represent the end of the Middle Palaeolithic period in the Rhône valley. The final Moustérien of this region is actually marked by deep breakdowns of the traditional balances in the human groups. This second point of inflection could characterize a true destabilization of Mousterian societies. There is an interesting parallelism between the historical paths of the Castelperronian in the arch of the Massif Central and the Neronian in the Rhône valley. It also highlights the mosaic nature of the profound cultural changes that occurred at the end of the Middle Palaeolithic.     

Vein quartz in lithic traditions: an analysis based on experimental archaeology

Worldwide, vein quartz was a commonly used raw material for stone tools but this material has proved difficult for archaeologists to analyse because many quartz assemblages appear to be comprised of amorphous pieces, not easily recognised as humanly modified or forming ‘tools’. This paper discusses the analysis of the debitage – focusing on the debitage fragmentation rate, the debitage, break, and fragment types, and the quantitative analysis of the complete flakes – resulting from experimental knapping of quartz, which formed part of a project which investigated the use of quartz in Irish prehistoric lithic traditions. The results have highlighted the complexity involved in analysing quartz assemblages, and the significant differences between the debitage products of quartz and chert knapping assemblages. While bipolar knapping is generally easy to differentiate from direct percussion, it is harder to differentiate between soft and hard hammer percussion.     

Using lithic assemblage formation to approach Middle Palaeolithic settlement dynamics: El Salt Stratigraphic Unit X (Alicante,Spain)

The superposition of anthropogenic remains usually results in archaeological palimpsests, hindering an accurate characterization of the behavior underlying such remains. Aimed at facing this methodological constraint in the study of Palaeolithic contexts, we present a contextual approach to Neanderthal settlement dynamics based on an understanding of lithic assemblage formation processes. We focused on a set of lithic artifacts from the Middle Palaeolithic site of El Salt. With the goal of isolating temporally constrained units of behavioral analysis, we analyzed the spatial distribution of lithic, faunal and combustion remains. Then, the lithic records from each of the resulting units were analyzed from a genetic and technical perspective. This goal was achieved by identifying lithic Raw Material Units (RMU) through observations on reduction processes, refits and their spatial distribution. Our results suggest that El Salt SU X lithic remains represent several diachronic human occupation episodes and different site functions. This study illustrates the benefit of investigating lithic assemblage formation processes to alleviate the palimpsest problem in Palaeolithic contexts.     

Is the Soanian techno-complex a Mode 1 or Mode 3 phenomenon? A morphometric assessment

The Soanian is traditionally seen as one of the major (non-Acheulean) Palaeolithic techno-complexes of the Indian subcontinent. Over several decades comparisons of Soanian assemblages have been made with the non-bifacial industries of East Asia and north-west Europe. The chronological status and typo-technological relationship(s) of the Soanian to other Palaeolithic industries have been the subject of much debate. When first named and described the Soanian was considered to contain evidence of Mode 3 Levallois-style core reduction. However, in recent years, the potential Mode 3 component of the Soanian has largely been ignored, and the techno-complex is described under various guises as a core/flake or ‘Mode 1’ techno-complex. Here, a comparative morphometric assessment of selected Soanian cores and other Palaeolithic nuclei is undertaken, to test the hypothesis that this industry contains a definite Mode 3 Levallois element. Discriminant Function Analyses (DFA) of morphometric variables provide robust evidence that at least part of the Soanian techno-complex contains Mode 3 Levallois cores. The implications of these analyses for the relationship between the Soanian and the Acheulean, and the relevance of the Soanian in considerations of the Movius Line are also discussed.     

Particle size distribution of lithic assemblages and taphonomy of Palaeolithic sites

Lithic debris derived from knapping and used tools can be assimilated to simple sedimentary particles that may undergo size sorting when exposed to geomorphic processes such as streamflow or overland flow. Sorting can be identified by comparing the size distribution of archaeological assemblages to that of experimental core reduction sequences. A new database including different types of raw material (mainly flint and quartzite) and Palaeolithic debitage (blade, Levallois, discoid, on anvil, and shaping) has been built for this purpose. Palaeoeskimo data have also been added to illustrate microlithic industries. For all the debitages and raw materials, the particle size of knapping products >2 mm in width fits with a power-law distribution and shows only minor fluctuations, the range of which is always <15% between experiments (all steps of the chaîne opératoire included up to the final tool). A lithic assemblage derived from block/core knapping or blank/preform production will display a particle size distribution close to the experimental distributions if not subsequently modified. Modifications may originate either from sedimentary processes or from anthropogenic factors. To help distinguishing amongst these, data on the impact of both water flows on sedimentary particles or experimental assemblages, and anthropogenic processes such as importation-exportation (of core, preforms or finished tools) or uneven spatial distribution of the different steps in core reduction and tool production within a site, are reviewed. By contrast to anthropogenic modifications, sedimentary processes are generally typified by strong impoverishment in or selective accumulation of fine-grained (<10 mm) artefacts together with a low intra-site variability (spatial homogenization) or a downslope size trend. Archaeological case studies taken from French Palaeolithic site are then detailed. Evidence for lithic redistribution implies that care should be taken in archaeological site analysis since sorting may impact significantly the initial techno-typological balance of the assemblage.     

Bladelet cores as weapon tips? Hafting residue identification and micro-wear analysis of three carinated burins from the late Aurignacian of Les Vachons,France

The interpretation of Upper Palaeolithic carinated lithic forms as discarded cores from the production of bladelets is now well established and the weight of evidence to support this indisputable. However, it is also clear that the relationships between lithic typology, technology and function are complex. Presented here are micro-wear analyses of three carinated burins from the late Aurignacian level of Les Vachons, France. The remains of birch pitch adhering to the artefacts are clear evidence that they were hafted; the first time this material has been identified on Aurignacian artefacts. Thus, while the techno-morphology of the artefacts is consistent with their role as bladelet cores our results indicate that they functioned as hafted tools. Unlike other Middle and Upper Palaeolithic industries the Aurignacian is not thought to include (non-bladelet) lithic weapon tips. However, due to patterns of use-wear present on two of the artefacts we suggest that this was their most plausible hafted function.     

Extensive Paleolithic Flint Extraction and Reduction Complexes in the Nahal Dishon Central Basin,Upper Galilee,Israel

Recently found open-air flint extraction and workshop sites in the Eastern Galilee, Israel, are the focus of this paper. Lithic assemblages from among a few of the thousands of tailing piles documented in a field survey, indicate mostly late Lower Palaeolithic/Middle Palaeolithic and rarely Neolithic/Chalcolithic affinities. These discoveries substantially increase our knowledge of the scope of lithic extraction and reduction in northern Israel in these periods. The new sites are located on a 25 km² outcrop of flint-bearing Eocene limestone indicating intensive extraction of large amounts of flint, possibly beyond immediate local consumption requirements. After describing the new sites, we discuss their relation to nearby Middle and Lower Palaeolithic sites; possible resource management scenarios; chronology and duration of the extraction and reduction activity; and the sites as possible landmarks. A key question is the extent of the flint distribution area, or, more precisely, whether this region was a dominant mega-quarry for northern Israel and/or Southern Lebanon in the periods discussed.     

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.     

The Experimental Study of Palaeolithic Heat‐Treatment Technology: A Case from the Shuidonggou Rock Resources,North‐West China

The application of heat‐treatment technology on lithic raw materials is an important feature of early modern human behaviour. The evidence of heat‐treated stone artefacts discovered at Localities 2 and 12 of the Shuidonggou Late Palaeolithic site, North‐West China, provides an important example for studying this technology among ancient humans in Asia during the Late Palaeolithic. The mechanism and effects of heat treatment on raw materials and the role of this technology in producing stone tools were studied by means of a simulation experiment and related analytical methods. These facilitated an in‐depth analysis of the heat‐treatment activities of the Shuidonggou occupants and their implications for cognitive ability and survival strategies of human populations at that time.     

Widespread diffusion of technical innovations around 300,000 years ago in Europe as a reflection of anthropological and social transformations? New comparative data from the western Mediterranean sites of Orgnac (France) and Cave dall’Olio (Italy)

During MIS (Marine Isotope Stage) 9 and the transition to MIS 8 – around 350–300,000 years ago – some lithic assemblages in Europe reflect marked transformations in technical behavior. These transformations involved the standardization of products and the development of diversified and elaborated débitage methods which are considered to be markers of the transition from the Lower to the Middle Palaeolithic i.e. from Mode 2 to Mode 3. Taking the analysis of the sites of Orgnac 3 (Ardèche, France) and Cave dall’Olio (Emilia Romagna, Italy) as a starting point, this paper discusses the variability of these assemblages in Southern Europe as well as the social and anthropological implications of the emergence of new technical behavior. It also aims to show that common features existed both in Northern and Southern Europe. The development of more complex technical systems on a progressively wider territory and at an increasingly earlier age argues in favor of the hypothesis of a close connection with the process of “Neanderthalisation”, possibly accompanied by the transmission of ideas through extensive social networks.