Toolstone constraints on knapping skill: Levallois reduction with two different raw materials

Lithic raw material constraints are widely assumed to be a determining factor of flaked stone tool morphology, but this assumption remains largely untested. We conducted a controlled experiment to determine whether a knapper’s growing replication skills would be hindered if the toolstone used was switched from large flakes of an easily worked chert to nodules of less tractable one. Two batches of Preferential Levallois cores were knapped, an earlier series made from standardised large flakes of sediments dominated by chalcedonic quartz followed by a more challenging one using variably-shaped, cortical nodules of microcrystaline quartz that varies in the completeness of quartz replacement of calcite and dolomite. Skill level markers were designed to measure the knapper’s ability to achieve a series of set goals. These were quantified and subjected to statistical testing. In all but one test, significant increases in skill could be detected from the earlier to the later batch of reductions, despite the drop in toolstone quality. Significant improvements in the consistency of the knapper’s output could also be detected. However, the switch to a more challenging, nodular chert did require extra shaping, which resulted in more waste. This masked visible progress towards producing a less costly core. Overall, our results do not support the assumed primacy of toolstone constraints over other factors in influencing the morphology of flaked stone tools.     

西江中游文化区的生业经济及其发展阶段

西江中游地区是岭南历史文化区内一个相对独立的考古学文化区,新石器时代大致经历了三种生业经济形态,早期是一种广谱的渔猎采集经济,中期是一种利用贝类为主的渔猎采集经济,晚期是较发达的稻作农业经济。演进过程在整个文化区内具有一致性。贝类利用自新石器时代早期开始呈现出一种显著强化的趋势,但一直未在食物结构中占据主要地位。     

Prediction Models for Age‐at‐Death Estimates for Calves,Using Unfused Epiphyses and Diaphyses

For cattle (Bos taurus), age estimations using dental criteria before the eruption of the first molar (3–8 months) have large error margins. This hampers archaeozoological investigation into perinatal mortality or the putative slaughtering of very young calves for milk exploitation. Previous ageing methods for subjuveniles have focused on the length of unfused bones, but it is rarely possible to use them because they are restricted to foetuses and because of the fragmentation of bones. This paper presents new age prediction models based on length, breadth and depth of post cranial bones produced from a dataset of modern calves (n = 27). This reference collection was compiled from material of known age at death, sex and breed from collections in Britain, France, Germany and Switzerland. Linear regression models were constructed using the modern data for age prediction, and these models were then successfully tested and assessed using a Middle Neolithic assemblage of complete calves' skeletons from Bourguignon‐Lès‐Morey, France. From the assessment, the astragalus and metapodials were determined to be the most reliable bones, and the femur was the worst. Measurements of the epiphyseal and distal elements and depth measurements were the most reliable. For ages before 12 months, these models can provide ±1 month age estimates. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

论中世纪和近代早期英国中央财政管理机构的沿革

中世纪时,国库、财政署和私室是英国最主要的中央财政管理机构,三个机构的命运漂浮不定,主要原因是国王及其王室才是财政管理的中心所在。都铎时期,国王们为加强对财政的个人控制,建立了私室财政体制。斯图亚特王朝建立初期,中央财政管理一仍旧惯,但1612年的管理革新实践却奠定了后来国库复兴的基础。综观这一时期的财政管理机构的沿革可知,连续性、渐进性、经验性和灵活性是它的主要特点。     

Images of buried graves in Bayat,Afyon (Turkey) from high-resolution magnetic data and their comparison with preliminary excavations

Dedemezari necropolis, the site of our study, is located in the west of Turkey near Afyon. Archaeologists think that it belongs to the Middle Bronze age. A high-resolution magnetic survey identified buried material highly accurately. In particular, anomalies, which are transformed by the analytic signal method, clarify the observed magnetic anomalies. Magnetic surveying was applied in three different areas in this study. The map of analytic signal-transformed anomalies presented good results on preliminary excavation in trenches A and B. Two types of graves are found in the study area. One is made of clay and the second is carved in the rocks. Shapes of the buried graves are mainly cylindrical and elliptical. Most of the magnetic anomalies are elliptical and reflect the shape of the buried materials. Future excavations in Dedemezari necropolis will be able to be carried out more easily due to the known locations of the buried graves.     

Blade technology and tool forms in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa: the Howiesons Poort and post-Howiesons Poort at Rose Cottage Cave

It has been suggested that between 80 and 35 ka the Middle Stone Age record of South Africa reveals episodes of inventiveness and innovation, punctuated by apparent returns to more conventional technologies. One such episode is the Howiesons Poort (HP). The appearance of a range of small geometric forms, apparently used as insets in multi-component tools, has been considered as evidence of improved hunting weapons, with possible social and symbolic connotations. On the basis of evidence such as backed tool production, small blade technology, the occurrence of typical end-scrapers and burins similar to those encountered in the European Upper Paleolithic, long-distance transport of fine-grained raw materials, and non-lithic novelties, the HP is associated with increased levels of technological efficiency and with behavioral innovations that could have allowed the expansion of African populations to other regions. Yet our knowledge of HP technology and tool production is limited to the analysis of Klasies River Main site by Singer and Wymer and Sarah Wurz, and a few preliminary reports from other sites. This is why we present here a detailed technological and typological analysis of several HP and post-HP assemblages from the well-excavated, well-dated and well-stratified site of Rose Cottage. Our analysis shows: (a) that the HP blade production was a real technical innovation, but was not based on indirect percussion, as often suggested; (b) that blade production was based on the use of marginal percussion which does not occur in the blade production of the Eurasian Middle Paleolithic; (c) that the tool kit was dominated by backed pieces, but not all can be considered as hunting weapons; (d) that neither end-scrapers nor burins are typical of this industry and are no more an antecedent to the European Upper Paleolithic than the end-scrapers and burins of the Middle Paleolithic; (e) that patterns of raw material procurement do not conform to models based on evidence from Klasies; (f) that diachronic changes within the Rose Cottage sequence indicate slow, gradual abandonment of the technological style of the HP; (g) that the post-HP assemblages are of MSA character and are typologically and technologically quite similar to the European Middle Paleolithic; (h) that the lack of persistence of the HP innovations is in need of an explanation. The HP is not a monolithic entity. Implications for the symbolic interpretations of the HP phenomenon are discussed.     

Tending and drive hunting: A density-mediated attrition model can explain age profiles of white-tailed deer at Iroquoian village sites

In a 1993 paper, Noble and Crerar suggested, based on the age and sex distribution of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) longbones from four Attawandaron Iroquoian sites around the western end of Lake Ontario, that the contact-period Attawandaron were managing local deer populations, in response to the aboriginal trade in hides. Having observed similar patterns of differential preservation of elements and epiphyseal fusion at nearby Iroquoian sites that are not ascribed to the Attawandaron, and which pre-date the hypothesised trading period, we argue that these patterns may instead relate to bone density and/or vulnerability to taphonomic effects of late-fusing epiphyses. We further support our argument through age profiles based on dental eruption and wear.     

四川会理县李家坪遗址新石器时代遗存发掘简报

2018年3月至6月,为配合金沙江下游河段的乌东德水电站建设,四川省文物考古研究院等对位于四川会理县新安傣族乡新开田村的李家坪遗址进行了考古发掘,发掘面积1000平方米。发现新石器时代晚期的房址、灰坑等数十座遗迹,出土百余件遗物及大量陶片标本,为研究城河流域乃至金沙江中下游地区新石器时代晚期考古学文化谱系提供了重要实物资料。     

Beyond the beyond(s): On the (many) third way(s) beyond primordialism and instrumentalism in the study of sectarianism

This meta‐study examines the nature of past and current theoretically informed debates on sectarian politics in the Middle East and identifies the biggest challenges and possible directions for the future study of sectarianism. Contrary to the conventional narrative about a “sectarian journey” torn between a flawed primordialist and instrumentalist approach in between which a new superior “third way” is needed, the article shows that both primordialism and instrumentalism are rare in the academic debate on sectarianism, quite similar to the broader ethnicity/nationalism debate. However, this has not resulted in a “new conventional wisdom” about how to proceed. Thus, the article identifies a cacophony of suggestions for how the much aspired‐to third way should look like. Against this background, the article suggests that it is time to go beyond the ritual calls to “get beyond primordialism and instrumentalism.” Instead, it is time to devote more attention to examining the multiple already existing suggestions for “third ways”. Rather than highlighting a single third way as superior, the article contributes to this move in two ways: it shows how the various third ways can be grouped into three “beyond strategies” (the New Saviour, the Baby and the Bathwater, and the LEGO eclectic strategies) and outlines a number of meta‐theoretical issues to consider in order to move the debate forward.     

河南淅川金营遗址新石器时代遗存发掘简报

河南省文物考古研究院于2013年3月—6月对淅川金营遗址进行了考古发掘,遗址地层堆积简单,文化内涵较为丰富,新石器时代遗存属于四个时期,分别为仰韶文化晚期、屈家岭文化早期、石家河文化早中期和王湾三期文化晚期。