News and Commentary on the Illicit Traffic in Antiquities

Abstract

The results of a high-power microwear analysis of stone artifacts from the Magdalenian site at Verberie, France, are reported in this study. Both retouched and unretouched implements were examined, and the various use-wear traces that were found are briefly discussed. The relationship between tool morphology and function, the use of unmodified lithic artifacts, and microwear traces indicative of hafting are described. In addition, some hypotheses are advanced regarding specific activity areas at the site. It is concluded that the unretouched component of the lithic industry comprised a large part of the Magdalenian toolkit at Verberie.     

What is the use of shaping a tang? Tool use and hafting of tanged tools in the Aterian of Northern Africa

We present the results of detailed microscopic examination of tanged tools from the site of Ifri n'Ammar. The rock shelter has a particularly rich and well-preserved stratigraphy that has yielded a large variety of tanged tools, thus offering a possibility to test hypotheses on the possible links between tangs and hafting. Earlier methodological work has demonstrated that patterned wear forms on the non-active part of the tool as the result of hafted tool use, and that the characteristics of the wear traces depend on the exact hafting arrangement used. In the present study, wear analyses were combined with further experiments that involved the hafting of tanged tools with various materials and arrangements and aimed at understanding the development of this important morphological innovation. We suggest that functional data are needed to understand the relevance of the "Aterian tang" for hafting (or use), and whether this innovation was triggered by functional, cultural or environmental factors.     

Insights into early Middle Palaeolithic tool use and hafting in Western Europe. The functional analysis of level IIa of the early Middle Palaeolithic site of Biache-Saint-Vaast (France)

Results are presented from the functional analysis of a large selection of tools from level IIa of the early Middle Palaeolithic site of Biache-St-Vaast (France). Results indicate that the site represents a hunting stand with a strong focus on hunting and animal processing activities, next to a maintenance component that appears to concern retooling and repair activities in preparation of the hunting episode(s). In spite of the site's age, a large part of the tool assemblage proves to have been used while hafted. Expertise in hafting was even quite elaborate in the sense that it includes tools for which hafting is not essential. It confirms the importance of hafting studies for improving insights into assemblage variability and past human behaviour.     

The red-stained flint crescent from Gesher: new insights into PPNA hafting technology

A red-stained flint crescent found in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (ca. 9000 BC) site of Gesher, Israel, provides us with a unique opportunity to study the hafting technology of a particular tool type in the Levant. We present here a reconstruction, based on chemical and mineralogical analyses, of the hafting technologies and materials employed in the process. Use will also be made of relevant studies of the archaeological record. Local material was used for the production of an elastic adhesive paste, mud plaster, which was then hardened to hold the crescent securely in the haft. The study contributes insight into the hafting technology that was most probably implemented in the production and maintenance of composite tools during the Early Neolithic period.     

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.     

An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Hafting and Stone Tool Diversity among the Gamo of Ethiopia

The significance of flaked stone tool variation has been a source of great archaeological debate for over 100 years. Even though evidence for stone tool hafting exists as far back as the Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age, there is a dearth of information concerning how hafting affects stone tool technology. This ethnoarchaeological study of hafted stone scrapers among the Gamo of southern Ethiopia examines why a single cultural group utilizes two different hafts, which generate different lithic morphologies, technologies, and spatial distributions. The relationships between history, environment, and social group membership are explored to demonstrate how these associations create variation in technological practices.

The Role of Fire in the Life of an Adhesive

The use of fire is essential for the preparation of hafting adhesives; both are suggested to be a proxy for distinguishing the technological expertise and complex cognition among Palaeolithic populations. While use of fire has been argued to exist from about 1.0 Ma onwards, evidence for adhesives in the Palaeolithic record is rare and fragmented. In spite of the close link between fire places and adhesives, no study has ever focussed on examining the impact of heat on adhesive deposition and preservation. This paper discusses the results of a combustion experiment that was undertaken to understand the impact of heat exposure on hafting adhesives. The results have significant implications for archaeological interpretations. Deposition in or near a fire proves to severely impact the types of residues that preserve on a stone tool. The vertically transferred heat is responsible for the loss of adhesives but also for the incidental production of adhesives and their deposition on stone tools. It can be hypothesised that the rare survival of adhesives on archaeological stone tools might not only be the result of direct contact with the fire but also the result of degradation due to heat from overlying fireplaces. If we are to improve our understanding of the preservation of adhesives, it is important to unstand the taphonomic processes that affect these adhesives, in particular heat alteration.     

Functional analysis of prehistoric flint tools by high-power microscopy: A review of West European research

The present paper is a review of the functional analysis of prehistoric flint tool edges by means of high-power microscopy. The article, which focuses exclusively on West European research, discusses a series of methodological issues and problems related to the development and distinctiveness of the so-called wear polishes, produced by the various materials with which prehistoric stone tools came in contact. A selection of functional observations on tool use from the Upper Paleolithic, the Mesolithic, and the Neolithic periods is presented. The archaeological part of the review is concerned with two trends in functional analysis, namely, (1) controlled site-specific studies with different levels of foci and (2) thematic studies of particular tool types, e.g., endscrapers, burins, and unmodified débitage. Finally, problems concerning the interpretation of hafting and of multiple tool use are discussed.     

Wear Analysis on Early Mesolithic Microliths from the Verrebroek Site,East Flanders,Belgium

Abstract

This paper discusses the results of recent wear analysis on a series of 467 microliths excavated at the early Mesolithic (8410–7930 cal B.C.) site of Verrebroek in Belgium. Based on both macro-fractures (bending fractures and spin-offs) and traces of microscopic linear impact a distinction could be made between non-geometric microliths used as tips and geometric microliths mainly used as barbs. During the Pre-boreal the latter occur in large numbers and in various forms (triangles, crescents) that are used in mutually exclusive ways. At the transition from the Pre-boreal to the Boreal, almost simultaneously with the disappearance of bone and antler points from the Mesolithic tool kit there is a considerable increase in microlith tips. In this paper several possible explanations for this change are discussed.     

Blind tests shed light on possibilities and limitations for identifying stone tool prehension and hafting

Prehensile wear has never formed the focus of a blind test in microwear studies and doubts remain about the formation, identification and interpretation of diagnostic prehension and hafting wear. The results of the presented blind tests demonstrate that prehension and hafting traces do form and that their formation is sufficiently systematic and patterned to allow valid and reliable interpretations. A combined approach, involving macroscopic, low power and high power analyses, is suggested as the most meaningful approach for consistent inferences.     

Molecular evidence of bitumen in the Mousterian lithic assemblage of Hummal (Central Syria)

Evidence for bitumen use in Middle Palaeolithic sites is an exception in Pleistocene archaeology. This paper presents the discovery of three tar-bearing Levallois artefacts found in the Mousterian sequence in Hummal (Central Syria). The organic residues were submitted to geochemical study. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons and isotopic data show the presence of bitumen. The most likely location of natural asphalt provisioning is the Shaaf outcrop in the Bichri desert. The bitumen-bearing stone tools add further important data to the growing knowledge about bitumen processing in the Middle Palaeolithic spring sites of El Kowm. Identification of the provisioning place for natural asphalt enables a more precise assumption about the site's catchment area. From a technological point of view, the tar-bearing specimens provide information on the range of tool forms selected for hafting. Ballistic features arguably indicate that the pointed Levallois blanks seem to be spear points that were fitted to a wooden handle. In at least one case, this technical procedure was seemingly executed during a brief episode of occupation and replacement of worn out implements. This small, bracketed window of detailed insight into Mousterian technology is linked with the more general relationship between Levallois technology and stone tool hafting.     

A Segment is not a Monolith: evidence from the Howiesons Poort of Sibudu,South Africa

Segments from the Howiesons Poort of Sibudu, South Africa, can be separated into at least three populations based on quartz, hornfels and dolerite rocks used for their production. Length, breadth, thickness and tip cross-sectional areas are significantly different between segments made on the three rock types. Segments are not monoliths, and they were not intended as a single tool type, they were flexible enough to be mounted to shafts in a variety of ways. Several hafting strategies are evident, including the use of different adhesive recipes. Most segments were probably parts of hunting weapons, based on use trace analysis, but weapon types varied. Quartz segments have standardized shapes (short and deep), perhaps because they were hafted as transverse arrowheads. While hornfels and dolerite segments may on occasion also have been parts of projectiles, the large dolerite segments could sometimes have served as parts of spearheads, with two segments hafted back-to-back. Howiesons Poort segment technology is sophisticated; its makers appreciated distinct properties of rocks, their flaking, wear and impact possibilities. Further, they recognized the best sizes and shapes for use with each kind of weapon, they understood the qualities and applications of various adhesive recipes, and they knew how to make a variety of hafts from materials that included bone and wood.     

Venise après Venise: official languages in the Ionian Islands, 1797–1864

Abstract

Even though the Ionian Islands (Heptanese) were removed from Venetian control in 1797, it was not until 1852 that Italian ceased to be used as an official language there. My article examines the official use of the three relevant languages (Italian, Greek and English), as laid down by statute and carried out in practice, and traces the stages leading to the final replacement of Italian with Greek for all official purposes. My study is based on the minutes of Ionian parliamentary debates and on despatches between the High Commissioner and the Colonial Office as well as constitutional documents and published Acts of Parliament.     

From Aterian Notch to Aterian Tang: How to Make a Technological Invention

The Aterian lithic techno-complex that characterizes the late Middle Stone Age in North Africa is well known especially for its tanged or stemmed points. Recent techno-morphological and use-wear analyses have added new data to support the identification of the tang as the hafted portion of an artifact. They have also highlighted the presence of this attribute on tools other than projectile points, in contrast with the widespread idea that the tanged point is the Aterian fossile directeur. The design of this specific device, the tang, for hafting purposes is regarded as a great technical innovation that underlines a modern behavior. Our work provides new use-wear and experimental data, aiming at discussing the cognitive preconditions of this technical innovation that could have originated from a specific functional unit: the notch. Notches are quite abundant in the Aterian techno-complex. Our systematic study of this tool category from Aterian sites of the Jebel Gharbi allowed defining the notch per se as a techno-morpho-functional unit that was “applied” to different types of blanks, including “reused blanks,” which show a heavy patina on their surface. This functional unit has been used for various types of activities and can be found either alone on a blank or with multiple other units on the same blank, creating different tool morphologies. According to this interpretation, the tang could have been considered by Aterian populations as a new resulting variant of various possible combinations of notches, for defining and/or transforming the shape of a tool.     

Mesoamerican Obsidian Blades: an Experimental Approach to Function

Abstract

The experimental replication and utilization of a sample of 165 obsidian blades is discussed in terms of research design. methodology, and results. Use-wear observed on the blades provides the basis for 1) the identification of wear-pattern “signatures” corresponding to particular modes of use and contact materials, 2) the evaluation of general propositions concerning edge damage on utilized tools, and 3) the determination of the probable function of a sample of prismatic obsidian blades recovered from Patarata 52, a Classic Period residential site located in an estuarine zone of coastal Veracruz, Mexico.

Two levels of functional analysis are discussed: the low-intensity or in-the field study, and the high-intensity analysis, which involves tool replication and use. high-power microscopy , and statistical manipulation with computers. Both approaches are advocated: the choice of one method over the other must be made on the basis of availability of time. money, special skills, and equipment.     

Palaeo-Eskimo Novice Flintknapping in the Eastern Canadian Arctic

Abstract

Data from two inland Palaeo-Eskimo sites on southern Baffin Island are evidence for novice flintknapping. The interior of the island boasts a rich and reliable supply of lithic raw material, and the two sites were occupied during the Artic warm season when access to it was unrestricted. The use of a direct procurement strategy to acquire the material at this time of year from such a localized source suggests that acquisition activities were structured as part of the seasonal resource exploitation strategies of the Palaeo-Eskimos on southern Baffin Island. The incidence of novice flintknapping appears to be directly linked to this procurement. By drawing on data from published replicative studies and archaeological remains, socially meaningful patterns of idiosyncratic assemblage variability can be identified, providing greater insights into the social components of lithic tool production and skill apprenticeship.     

The Effectiveness of Internet-based Instruction: An experiment in physical geography

Geographers increasingly use the Internet as an instructional tool in higher education. The effect of Internet-based instruction on learning, however, is essentially unknown. This research involves a matched-pairs experiment that assesses the differences in student performance between a group of students taking an Internet-based lesson in introductory physical geography, and another group learning the same material via traditional classroom methods. Both groups were subject to the same knowledge assessment post-test, and scores were statistically analysed to determine whether one instructional method led to better student performance over the other. Results show that the Internet can be a viable alternative instructional tool compared with traditional classroom methods.     

Approaching the Hatch Jasper Quarry From a Technological Perspective: A Study of Prehistoric Stone Tool Production in Central Pennsylvania

Abstract

Mitigation of the Hatch jasper quarry, a “prospect site” in Central Pennsylvania, has enabled the reconstruction of a local system of stone tool acquisition and production. Artifacts from the quarry and the nearby Houserville habitation complex were analyzed using an attribute-based stage typology. This technological approach permitted the separation of geofacts from artifacts, and revealed evidence suggesting that Houserville knappers obtained tool stone from the quarry. Attention was also given to the study of how systematic heat treatment was used to enhance the flaking characteristics of the Hatch quarry jasper. This research highlights the benefits that a technological analysis of flake artifacts, in addition to finished tools, can provide for understanding stone tool production at quarry localities.     

The Powder Mills of Argyll

Abstract

Through the use of documentary sources the author traces the development of the charcoal producing industry in Argyll and its use both for iron smelting and for the production of black powder during the Crimean War. The Melfort gunpowder works are studied in detail and the hazardous nature of black powder production is demonstrated by the explosion record. The industrial archaeology at Melfort is described in an appendix by Alan Crocker.