Still Bay and serrated points from Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter,Kwazulu-Natal,South Africa

Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter is a long-sequence Middle and Later Stone Age site in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Jonathan Kaplan excavated the site and analysed the material in the 1980s as a rescue project. For many years thereafter the collection remained untouched, partly because of doubts raised about the stratigraphic integrity of the site. Using single-grain OSL dating we show that post-depositional mixing of sediment was restricted to time-specific, small-scale events. The OSL ages obtained for the Howiesons Poort and pre-Howiesons Poort are comparable to those of other southern African sites with unambiguous Howiesons Poort and Still Bay Industries. Based on morphological and other characteristics, we reason that the Still Bay is represented at Umhlatuzana, and announce the presence of a serrated point assemblage closely associated in time with the Still Bay points.     

An overview of bitumen trade in the Near East from the Neolithic (c.8000 BC) to the early Islamic period

The aim of the paper is to summarise the present state of knowledge concerning bitumen trade in the Near East from the Palaeolithic (70,000 BP) to the Early Islamic period. During the Palaeolithic and Early Neolithic period, bitumen utilisation was mostly concentrated in settlements close to oil seeps. From the Ubaid 3 period, bitumen from the Mosul area became more important and was traded as far as the southern Persian Gulf. The Uruk period is a turning point for Mesopotamian history as settlements evolved into city‐states. These cities had a great need for raw materials, and this marks the beginning of large‐scale exploitation of Hit bitumen. This bitumen was traded at settlements along the Euphrates, where a large trade network was established. Hit bitumen entered the Persian Gulf at the turn of the second millennium (Dilmun period). Bitumen from Iraq (Mosul and Hit) became predominantly used in most settlements along the southern coast of the Gulf. During this period Iranian bitumen was also exported and this supply tended to increase, especially during the Partho‐Sasanian period. Dead Sea bitumen had its own exchange network, which was concentrated across present‐day Israel and Egypt where it was extensively used for mummification.     

从海上交通看中国与百济的关系

2～7世纪的东亚世界,正处于国家整合和社会变革的非常时期。其时位于朝鲜半岛西海岸的国家——百济与中国大陆各朝代的交往最为密切和频繁,成为中国大陆、朝鲜半岛和日本列岛诸国之间沟通联系的重要使者和促进东亚汉字和儒学文化圈形成的重要媒介。透过古代史籍文献中的有关记载和考古的发现研究,以连接中国大陆东部和朝鲜半岛西部的海上交通为切入点,可以从航海史的角度揭示中国与百济之间来往和交流的历史面貌。     

Neandertals,early modern humans,and rodeo riders

In 1995 Berger and Trinkaus (J. Archaeol. Sci. 22, 841–852) proposed that the anatomical distribution of Neandertal trauma, with a predominance of upper body lesions, reflected close-quarter ambush hunting as dictated by the available Middle Paleolithic weaponry (the “Rodeo rider” hypothesis). The necessity for mobility among these Late Pleistocene foragers, as a factor possibly reducing the number of preserved lower limb injuries, was considered as an alternative explanation. The accumulating data on Upper Paleolithic injuries and Middle Paleolithic weaponry, considerations of differential skeletal susceptibility of minor trauma, and evidence of interhuman violence, plus the importance of mobility for Late Pleistocene human existence, suggest that hunting injuries may explain only part of the pattern. The purpose of this note is not to resolve to ultimate factors behind the anatomical distribution of traumatic lesions among the Neandertals (or early modern humans). It is 1) to emphasize that there are multiple probable contributing factors other than close-quarter ambush hunting due to the limitations of Middle Paleolithic weaponry, and 2) to open the discussion to alternative interpretations.     

An Exploratory Geophysical Survey at the Pyramid Complex of Senwosret III at Dahshur, Egypt, in Search of Boats

A geophysical survey at the pyramid complex of Senwosret III at Dahshur sought to determine the suitability of magnetometry and electromagnetic induction (EMI, or conductivity) for mapping the area where several ancient boat-burials were found in the 1890s. At least one boat reported at the time of excavation remains unaccounted for. Tests demonstrated that magnetometry does detect subsurface structures of stone, fired brick, and unfired brick under current site conditions. Data indicated areas of geological activity as well as unexcavated archaeological remains, though no definitive traces of boat burials. No excavation was undertaken but another survey season is planned.
© 2009 The Authors     

The Neolithic Macro-(R)evolution: Macroevolutionary Theory and the Study of Culture Change

The macroevolutionary approach in archaeology represents the most recent example in a long tradition of applying principles of biological evolution to the study of culture change. Archaeologists working within this paradigm see macroevolutionary theory as an effective response to the shortcomings of neo-Darwinian biological evolution for studying cultural evolution. Rather than operating at the level of individual traits, macroevolutionary archaeologists emphasize the role of hierarchical processes in culture change. While neo-Darwinian archaeologists disavow any element of human intent in culture change, to macroevolutionary archaeologists human agency is a key component of cultural evolution that allows cultures to respond to pressures more quickly and with greater degree of flexibility and directedness than found in biological evolution. Major culture change, when it happens, is likely to be rapid, even revolutionary, with periods of rapid change separated by periods of relative stasis of actively maintained stability. The emergence of Neolithic cultures has long been recognized as one of two periods of major revolutionary culture change in human prehistory. Here I examine the record for the Near East, tracing the empirical record for the origin of agriculture in this region, as well as other demographic, social, and ideological components of Neolithic emergence. While the empirical record from the Near East subscribes in a general way to basic principles of macroevolutionary theory, cultural evolution cannot be understood through appeal to principles of biological evolution alone, whether based in macroevolutionary theory or neo-Darwinianism. Instead, the key role of human agency in culture change distinguishes cultural evolution from biological evolution and requires a more pluralistic and less doctrinaire appeal to multiple models of change based in both the biological and social sciences.     

Building a tephrostratigraphic framework for the Paleolithic of Central Anatolia,Turkey

The Central Anatolian Volcanic Province (CAVP) in Turkey preserves widespread deposits of Quaternary tephra, presently associated with a small but growing number of Paleolithic archaeological sites. We use multivariate analyses of the abundances of a suite of nine major and minor element oxides determined by electron probe microanalysis. From these data, we construct a classificatory model for correlating distal tephra to one of five volcanic edifices or eruptive phases within the CAVP. Application of this model to distal deposits of primary tephra-fall and reworked tuffaceous sediments from the archaeological sites of Körkuyu and Kaletepe Deresi 3 indicates Late to possibly Early Pleistocene ages for the artifact assemblages there, and provides a fundamental tephrostratigraphic framework to examine spatial and temporal variation in hominin behavior comparable to that of other regions, such as eastern Africa.     

Possible isotopic fractionation of argon in source obsidians and archeological artifacts from Kulkuletti, Ethiopia

Despite uniform geochemistry ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of 0.6, 1.25, and 1.3 Ma on obsidians from a source flow (Worja) and from archeological artifacts at the sites of Kulkuletti (near Gademotta, Ethiopia) have been interpreted to suggest that they derive from different source flows of different ages. A further suggestion is that the magmatic source of the obsidian flows was chemically homogeneous between 1.3 Ma and 0.6 Ma. Chemical analysis of these obsidians indeed suggests that they derive from a single flow. Reexamination of the argon isotopic data reveals that argon isotopes may have been fractionated within the flow, so that the assumption of an atmospheric ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar ratio of 295.5 is inappropriate to use for computing ages. Three groups of data are apparent, and internally all yield ages near 1.3 Ma if the intercept value for ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar from an isotope correlation plot is used for computation instead of using the atmospheric ratio. The Soret thermal diffusion effect provides a possible mechanism of fractionation of argon within the obsidian flow that is of approximately the right magnitude to explain the observations by in-diffusion of already fractionated atmospheric argon.     

Sedimentological and archaeological fabrics in Palaeolithic levels of the South-Eastern Pyrenees: Cova Gran and Roca dels Bous Sites (Lleida, Spain)

The comparative study of sedimentary fabrics in relation to archaeological fabrics in various levels of the sites of Cova Gran de Santa Linya (Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic) and the Roca dels Bous (Middle Palaeolithic) has made it possible to analyse the formation dynamics of the deposits and determine the extent of disturbance of the archaeological levels by natural processes. To achieve this, diagrams and two- and three-dimensional indices were calculated from the azimuth and dip angle of natural clasts and artefacts. The results indicate that the sedimentary levels were formed mainly by planar fabric shape gravitational processes (low depositional angles), which differ notably from the archaeological fabrics they contain, characterised by a greater degree of isotropy. This difference in the fabrics would reflect human activity and indicates that the archaeological levels both in Cova Gran and Roca dels Bous have not been subject to significant natural modifications, and are preserved in situ.     

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.