Levallois Lithic Technology from the Kapthurin Formation,Kenya: Acheulian Origin and Middle Stone Age Diversity

The earliest fossils of Homo sapiens are reported from in Africa in association with both late Acheulian and Middle Stone Age (MSA) artifacts. The relation between the origin of our species during the later Middle Pleistocene in Africa and the major archaeological shift marked by the Acheulian-MSA transition is therefore a key issue in human evolution, but it has thus far suffered from a lack of detailed comparison. Here we initiate an exploration of differences and similarities among Middle Pleistocene lithic traditions through examination of Levallois flake production from a sequence of Acheulian and MSA sites from the Kapthurin Formation of Kenya dated to ∼200–500 ka. Results suggest that MSA Levallois technology developed from local Acheulian antecedents, and support a mosaic pattern of lithic technological change across the Acheulian-MSA transition.Les premiers restes fossiles d’Homo sapiens sont rapportés d’Afrique aussi bien à des avec des outillages de l’Acheuléen final que du Middle Stone Age (MSA). La relation entre l’origine de notre espèce au Pléistocène moyen final d’Afrique et le changement majeur marquée par la transition Acheuléen-MSA est par conséquent un moment clé de l’évolution humaine qui a manqué jusqu’ici d’analyses comparatives détaillées. Nous nous proposons ici de commencer à explorer les différences et les similarités qui peuvent se faire jour au Pléistocène moyen dans les traditions techniques à l’examen des productions à éclats Levallois, dans une séquence de sites acheuléens et MSA de la formation de Kapthurin (Kenya), datée de 200–500 ka. Les resultants obtenus suggèrent que la technologie Levallois MSA s’est développée sur ce substrat acheuléen et renforce cette perception que l’on peut avoir d’une mosa?que de changements technologiques jalonnant la transition Acheuléen-MSA.     

Ethnoarchaeology and the Organization of Lithic Technology

Although the modern production and use of stone tools is rare, ethnoarchaeological research on this subject has provided important perspectives on methodological approaches to archaeological lithic analysis. Recent ethnoarchaeological research on lithics frequently takes the form of “cautionary tales,” warning against the primacy of functional variables most commonly invoked by lithic analysts. I argue that lithic ethnoarchaeology would benefit from a comparative organizational framework for explaining variation in patterns of stone tool use that takes into account the predictability and redundancy of the location and timing of technological activities. Understanding the underlying causes of modern patterns of stone tool use, in turn, offers a framework for exploring sources of lithic technological variation in the archaeological record. I also argue that technological analytical perspectives, such as the cha?ne opératoire and sequence of reduction approaches, can benefit from the insights gained through lithic ethnoarchaeological research, helping us define important analytical concepts and identify appropriate units of analysis.     

Property Rights for Biodiversity Conservation and Development: Extractive Reserves in the Brazilian Amazon

Many of the world's most valuable biodiverse areas are successfully managed by indigenous communities, often under peculiar property rights structures. In many cases, these communities are economically disadvantaged, even by local standards. But can particular local property rights regimes which are ecologically successful also allow communities to compete productively in market economies? The extractive reserves of the Brazilian Amazon offer an opportunity for investigating the connections between property rights, conservation and development in the context of tropical forests. This article aims to analyse whether the existing property rights in these reserves — an idiosyncratic mixture of public, collective and private property rights — can support the explicit development aim of a competitive, yet sustainable, exploitation of the area's natural resources. The analysis identifies three promising development paths open to extractive reserves, but points to a fundamental contradiction between the static structure of the property rights system and the dynamic nature of two of these paths. The current design of internal property rights fails to take into account the broader economic context in which reserves must generate a viable revenue stream. If extractive reserves are expected to develop without reliance on external aid, then changes to the property rights structure both inside and outside the extractive reserves have to be explicitly considered.     

National Factor Markets and the Macroeconomic Context for Environmental Destruction in the Brazilian Amazon

This paper discusses Amazonian agricultural development with emphasis on the interrelations between regional conditions and the economic context represented by the national economy. The extreme abundance of land relative to complementary factors, together with the position of the region as a price taker in both factor and output markets, create the conditions for environmentally destructive expansion of cultivation at the extensive margin. It is argued that policies to promote a more ecologically sensitive pattern of development must take into account these links with the larger Brazilian economy and society as well as conditions within the region itself.     

史前石制品的热处理研究

民族学和考古学研究显示,人类对石制品有意识的热处理现象自史前时代开始就普遍存在于世界各地,主要被用来改善石料的破裂性能,改变石料的外观,并且附加一定的文化价值与社会意义。有关热处理原理、方法和表现特征的实验研究,为辨别考古材料提供了对比依据。目前为止,中国关于热处理的考古学发现和研究很少,希望本文能够引起国内史前考古学界对这一主题的兴趣和关注。     

Lithic Evidence for the Peopling of Northern Ethiopia

A comparative study of lithic assemblages from the Gash Delta lowlands of eastern Sudan and from Seglamen in the highlands of northern Ethiopia is used to investigate the origins of the pre-Aksumite people and their anonymous predecessors. Multiple similarities in knapping strategies and in lithic tool types support the hypothesis of a south-eastward movement of agro-pastoralists into the highlands of the Tigray Plateau, probably starting in the fifth millennium BC.     

A New Artefact Typology for the Study of Medieval Arrowheads

ARCHAEOLOGICALLY recovered arrowheads from the British Isles. dated to between the roth and 16th centuries are examined. Hie exisiting arrowhead typology in the London Museum Medieval Catalogue is assessed and a new typology consisting of 28 generic forms, and subdivided into functional groups, is suggested.     

Indian Lands,Environmental Policy and Military Geopolitics in the Development of the Brazilian Amazon: The Case of the Yanomami

This article examines the realignments of the developmentalist discourse and strategy of the Brazilian military for the Amazon during the civilian government of the ‘New Republic’ (1985–90). It focuses on a case study, i.e. the official expropriation of the lands of the Yanomami Indians in the states of Roraima and Amazonas along the Brazil/Venezueta border. The analysis brings to light how, during this period, the military aimed at neutralizing both the pressure of environmental NGOs on Brazil's international creditors and the emergent democratization of decisions on land use in Amazônia. It shows how such attempts involved manipulating environmental legislation and ecological rhetoric in order to perpetuate military hegemony over the development of Amazônia to the benefit of mining interests. Finally, the paper traces the roots of these man?uvres to a geopolitical and economical model for Amazonian integration still inspired by the national security doctrine drawn up in the 1950s and 1960s by the Escola Superior de Guerra.     

Model Evaluation and Causality Testing in Short Panels: The Case of Infrastructure Provision and Population Growth in the Brazilian Amazon

In this paper we examine the relationship between infrastructure growth and population growth in the Amazon using a panel of 293 municipalities over the period from 1975 to 1985. Contemporaneous cross-section analysis confirms a strong positive correlation between infrastructure and urban population but does not indicate direction of causality. Thus, we employ a modified form of the traditional Granger causality tests to suit the short time series that we have available. Based on out-of-sample forecasting tests we conclude that the empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that growing urban populations lead to more infrastructure development, rather than vice versa.     

石器研究的新视角:技术-功能分析法——以观音洞遗址为例

技术-功能分析法通过综合考察支配石制工具生产的技术机制、分析工具刃口上所整合的技术特征,理解工具预设性的功能和使用方式,并复原打制者的意图。对观音洞遗址石器材料的分析表明,此方法在揭示打制者意图及工具预设性的功能和使用方式的多样性方面具有重要作用。     

The Organization of Later Stone Age Lithic Technology in the Caledon Valley, Southern Africa

Paleoclimatic data indicate that the Pleistocene/Holocene transition was a period of considerable ecological change in the Caledon Valley of the southern African interior. Stone artefact assemblages from sites in one part of this region, the Phutiatsana ea Thaba Bosiu (PTB) Basin of western Lesotho, were analyzed in order to investigate whether changes in settlement and subsistence strategies during this period are also reflected in the organization of lithic technologies. It appears that although technological solutions to the problems of subsistence risk may have been emphasized during the late Pleistocene, social means, such as exchange, dominated at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary. Subsequent innovation or adoption of new formal tool types suggests that both strategies were important from the middle Holocene onwards.Dans la vallée de Caledon à l'intérieur sud-africain les données paléoclimatiques indiquent que la transition du pléistocène à l'holocène était une période de changement écologique considérable. Les résultats des analyses des outils lithiques découverts aux gisements dans une partie de cette région, le Bassin de la Phuthiatsana ea Thaba Bosiu (PTB) du Lesotho occidentale, sont présentées pour examiner si des changements aux stratégies de subsistance et de l'occupation des sites se réfletent à l'organisation des technologies lithiques. Il semble que on a employé les solutions technologiques pour éviter les risques de subsistance pendant le pléistocène tardif, mais que des solutions sociales, comme l'échange, prédominaient à la frontière pléistocène-holocène. L'innovation ou l'adoption plus tard des nouvelles outils lithiques suggère que tous les deux stratégies étaient importantes depuis le début du moyen Holocène.     

大冶石龙头遗址石器的新研究

大冶石龙头是中国重要的中更新世晚期遗址之一。本文运用法国史前学者开创的技术分析法对该遗址石器重新进行分析,并尝试对相关遗址和区域的旧石器进行了宏观比较,探索了诸遗址石器工业之间的共性和多样性。结果表明,一方面它与观音洞和大洞遗址具有较多的相似性,主要反映了长江以南的旧石器工业特征,另一方面它又有类似于长江以北遗址的一些因素,具有过渡性的区域特征。     

Carbon Sequestration in Community Forests: Trade‐offs,Multiple Outcomes and Institutional Diversity in the Bolivian Amazon

Carbon sequestration in community forests presents a major challenge for the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programme. This article uses a comparative analysis of the agricultural and forestry practices of indigenous peoples and settlers in the Bolivian Amazon to show how community‐level institutions regulate the trade‐offs between community livelihoods, forest species diversity, and carbon sequestration. The authors argue that REDD+ implementation in such areas runs the risk of: 1) reinforcing economic inequalities based on previous and potential land use impacts on ecosystems (baseline), depending on the socio‐cultural groups targeted; 2) increasing pressure on land used for food production, possibly reducing food security and redirecting labour towards scarce off‐farm income opportunities; 3) increasing dependence on external funding and carbon market fluctuations instead of local production strategies; and 4) further incentivising the privatization and commodification of land to avoid transaction costs associated with collective property rights. The article also advises against taking a strictly economic, market‐based approach to carbon sequestration, arguing that such an approach could endanger fragile socio‐ecological systems. REDD+ schemes should directly support existing efforts towards forest sustainability rather than simply compensating local land users for avoiding deforestation and forest degradation.     

National sovereignty vs. sustainable development lessons from the narrative on the internationalization of the Brazilian Amazon

Sustainable development changes the governance of modern states and more precisely the way in which they exercise their sovereignty. How does the governance of states strongly subjected to sustainable development undergo transformations when guided by international standards? A debate has emerged within Brazilian society surrounding the concerns about internationalization of the Amazon. Through analysis of this subject matter (considered as a meta-narrative), we show how it reveals a redeployment of national governance in the Amazon. The comparative significance and scaler politics of this merits further research.     

Food and famine: Looking for answers

White, Philip, and Nancy Selvey, eds. Current Topics in Nutrition and Disease, Volume 10: Malnutrition—Determinants and Consequences. New York: Alan R. Liss, 1984. xvi + 494 pp. including references, index. $96.00 cloth.

Robson, John R. K., ed. Famine: Its Causes, Effects, and Management. New York: Gordon and Breach, 1981. x + 170 pp. including photographs, references, index. $30.95 cloth.     

兴隆洼文化的类型、分期与聚落结构研究

1980年代初期,中国社会科学院考古研究所内蒙古工作队通过对内蒙古敖汉旗兴隆洼遗址的发掘,首次揭示出了一种比赵宝沟、红山文化更早的新石器时代遗存,这种遗存后来被正式     

The Role of Different Raw Materials in Lithic Technology and Settlement Patterns During the Middle Stone Age of Southern Africa

African Archaeological Review - The study of raw materials is an essential step in lithic analysis, regardless of the age, provenance, and technology of the assemblages. As in many other contexts...