Cave Art in Context: Methods for the Analysis of the Spatial Organization of Cave Sites

Investigations of prehistoric cave art have long neglected the surrounding context: space, archaeological objects, and imprints. As a result, an integrative structural approach that analyzes cave art as part of an anthropomorphized landscape has not been available. This article draws on urban planning and the physiology of the human eye to provide an innovative archaeospatial analysis of cave sites. A set of relevant features from the caves of Bédeilhac, Fontanet, and Le Portel was selected and defined (light zone, chamber type, path network, mode of movement, and available space). An analysis of the prehistoric remains in the caves allows the reconstruction of different concentrations of human activities (cave art, archaeological objects, and imprints). The projection of these concentrations onto the structured map of the caves results in four types of locations: drawing location, supply location, drawing location with substantial activities, and drawing location with consumption activities. This approach opens new avenues for the archaeological perception of caves and their inhabitants: Upper Paleolithic humans were very familiar with caves and probably followed a master plan during their stay in the dark.     

Philosophie de la machine

Sans résumé Ses recherches portent sur les liens entre métaphysique et technique à la Renaissance et, de manière plus récente, sur la philosophie de la machine. Il travaille acutellement à une anthropologie philosophique du recours aux automatismes. Il a notamment publi’e ?Mathématiques, création et humanisme chez Nicolas de Cues ? (Revue d’histoire des sciences, t. 59, n^o 2, 2006); ? L’homme à l’image de Dieu, Ma?tre Eckart, Nicolas de Cues, Descartes ? (dans L’Image, Paris, Vrin, 2007).     

Historical and Dialectical Perspectives on the Archaeology of Complexity in the Siin-Saalum (Senegal): Back to the Future?

Drawing on recent critiques of evolutionism, this article reviews the history of Iron Age studies in Siin-Saalum (Senegal) to examine the construction of African archaeological knowledge. From the 19th century to the 1980’s, analyses of complexity in Senegal have been animated by developmentalist views that have portrayed the regional past as a stagnant backwater. In the past 25 years, however, archaeological research has sought to redress these inaccuracies by exploring the diversity and idiosyncracy of African histories, and the processes behind sociopolitical change. These critical agendas can help us exploit the analytic potential of material culture to reincorporate African societies into the stream of world history, and to use the African past to reevaluate current scenarios of complexity and their applicability to various regions of the globe. To achieve these goals, however, and develop a fully self-reflexive archaeology in Senegal, researchers must eschew moral celebrations of African distinctness and strive instead to document how local pasts owe their particular qualities to complex political-economic articulations with other world societies. Concurrently, we must also attend to the dynamics of historical production in and out of guild circles, and consider our entanglement in the making of contemporary ‘culture wars.’ Because it is ideally suited to probe the historical and material depth of cultural differences and inequalities, archaeology must take a leading role in dispelling essentialist readings of Africa and promoting democratic knowledges about the continent.     

Lithic Artefacts as a Source of Cultural,Social and Economic Information: the evidence from Aksum,Ethiopia

Extended research covering an area of approximately 300 sq km centered on the ancient metropolis of Aksum has revealed a coherent sequence of development in stone tool production and use spanning most of the last millennium BC and the first millennium AD. It has provided new evidence of the presence of multiple independent lithic traditions in the Pre-Aksumite period, and of Aksumite social and economic organization. This paper summarizes the results of the detailed study of a large corpus of excavated and surface-collected lithics, emphasizing their functional characteristics.

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Résumé  De vastes recherches couvrant sur une superficie d’environ 300 kilomètres carrés et concentrées sur l’ancienne métropole d’Aksoum ont mis à jour une série cohérente de développements dans la production et l’utilisation d’outils de pierre au cours du dernier millénaire avant J.C. et du premier millénaire après J.C. Ces recherches ont fourni de nouvelles informations sur la présence de multiples traditions lithiques indépendantes durant la période pré-aksoumite, et sur l’organisation sociale et économique des Aksoumites. Cet article présente les résultats d’une étude détailée portant sur un large répertoire de vestiges lithiques recueillis au cours de fouilles et collectes de surface, et met en exergue leurs caractéristiques fonctionnelles.