The Analysis of Stone Tool Procurement, Production, and Maintenance

Researchers who analyze stone tools and their production debris have made significant progress in understanding the relationship between stone tools and human organizational strategies. Stone tools are understood to be morphologically dynamic throughout their use-lives; the ever-changing morphology of stone tools is intimately associated with the needs of tool users. It also has become apparent to researchers that interpretations of lithic analysis are more productive when the unique contexts and situations for which lithic artifacts were made, used, modified, and ultimately discarded are considered. This article reviews the recent literature on stone tool production with an emphasis on raw material procurement, manufacturing techniques, and tool maintenance processes as they relate to adaptive strategies of toolmakers and users.     

Raw material quality and Oldowan hominin toolstone preferences: evidence from Kanjera South,Kenya

The role of raw material quality in Oldowan technology has not been fully explored. There are numerous studies suggesting Oldowan hominins preferred certain types of stone for artifact manufacture. Previous studies of the artifact assemblage from the early Pliocene Oldowan locality of Kanjera South (South Rachuonyo District, Kenya) show that raw material selection and transport was an important aspect of Late Pliocene hominin adaptations. Yet the exact properties of stones that hominins were selecting remain enigmatic. Two potentially important features of artifact raw material are durability and fracture predictability. We investigate fracture predictability through mechanical tests of stone and investigations of the affect of stone properties on fracture patterns in archaeological collections. We investigate stone durability with actualistic studies of edge attrition combined with further mechanical tests of various lithologies. Oldowan hominins at Kanjera appear to have selected raw materials based on their durability. The ability for a stone to fracture consistently does not appear to be as important in hominin toolstone preference as previously assumed. Hominins that produced the assemblages at Kanjera South appear to have incorporated an extensive understanding of various attributes of raw material in the transport and production of stone artifacts. When combined with previous research on the transport patterns at Kanjera, the results of this study provide evidence for a more complex raw material acquisition strategy than has previously been suggested for Late Pliocene Oldowan hominins.     

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.     

On stone-boiling technology in the Upper Paleolithic: behavioral implications from an Early Magdalenian hearth in El Mirón Cave,Cantabria, Spain

Stone boiling is one of the principal cooking methods used by hunter-gatherer societies. The present paper proposes behavioral and organizational inferences as to how stone boiling was incorporated into hunter-gatherer subsistence practices through an examination of a shallow-basin hearth in an Early Magdalenian level (c. 15,500 ¹⁴C B.P.) of El Mirón Cave, Cantabria (northern Spain). Exploratory analysis of spatial patterns of archaeological remains (bones, lithic artifacts, and fire-cracked rocks) and use-life analysis of fire-cracked rocks demonstrate that the hearth was used and maintained during visits of humans who preyed mainly on ibex and red deer near the site. The relative accessibility of these ungulates and cost-induced technology of stone boiling suggest the implication that stone boiling was employed to maximize the energy and nutrition obtained from carcasses of these game taxa under the circumstance of resource intensification.     

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.     

现代技术与文博工作者的主体性——试论数字博物馆建设中“人”的作用

在人类各个技术发展阶段,技术与人的主体性之间互相消长,在数字博物馆建设中,文博工作容易出现傻瓜化倾向。为此,数字博物馆的建设应是文化创意的过程,在使用现代设备、系统、工作流程的同时,文博工作者要发挥自身的主体作用。     

数字技术辅助博物馆展陈的若干思考

数字展览与互动技术是博物馆展陈的重要辅助手段,提高了用户参观趣味性,增强了用户体验,达到了参观个性化的目的。     

湖北郧县刘湾旧石器时代遗址发掘简报

刘湾旧石器时代遗址位于湖北省十堰市郧县杨溪铺镇刘湾村4组,埋藏于汉水左岸第Ⅲ级阶地上。其文化面貌有以下一些特点:石制品的岩性大类中以火成岩为多,种类以沉积岩为多;岩性多样,以脉石英为主;素材以河床中磨圆度较高的河卵石为主,石器的素材以砾石(石核)为主,以石片为素材的石器处于可忽略的地位;石制品的剥片和加工方式均为硬锤锤击法,没有发现砸击法等其它方法的产品;剥片时对石核的台面不进行预先修理;石器类型以砍砸器为主,其次为手斧、手镐,刮削器最少;石器的加工方式以单向加工的为多,但双向加工的石器也有相当的比例。刘湾旧石器时代遗址的发掘证明在汉水流域不仅有距今100万年的旧石器时代早期的"郧县人"文化,也有距今10～5万年的文化,汉水流域的远古文化是土生土长的文化。     

Small shifts in handedness bias during the Early Mesolithic? A reconstruction inferred from Microburin technology in the eastern Italian Alps

This study discusses the existence of a variability recorded in lateralization indexes of proximal microburins, a by-product of the individual manufacture of microliths, in a sample of Sauveterrian sites from the Italian Eastern Alps. At first glance, such variability may appear to support the existence of customary handling, pertaining perhaps to an ensemble of normalized technical procedures accomplished by the members of the human group regardless of site type, context and economic activities. However, plotting the patterns in lateralization index against the regional Sauveterrian chrono-cultural sequence reveals a diverse correlation emerges and indicates how the early settlement phase involved greater functional differentiation among sites used by selected human groups compared with the successive phases, when this pattern vanishes. This trend may correspond to the decrease in lateralization observed on skeletal markers from the Upper Paleolithic to the Mesolithic, linked to the change in technological models and techniques employed in food gathering. The implications of this research at different levels are also discussed.     

A preliminary study on the role and implication of plate-type iron artifacts in the ancient iron technology of Korea

Special iron objects in the form of a narrow plate with a fan-shaped blade on one or both ends, but with a substantial variation in shape and size, have continually been excavated from ancient historical sites located in the southern part of the Korean peninsula. The frequency and abundance of their excavation imply that they must have played a crucial role in the initial shaping of the Korean iron industry. Little is known, however, of their intended purposes or the exact engineering processes applied in their production. Speculation suggests that they might have been used as currencies or intermediate materials for the making of finished products. This study examined the microstructures of three such iron objects from the Korean Three Kingdoms Period (ca. 300–600 AD). It was determined that they were made of low carbon iron generally containing a number of non-metallic inclusions, with hints of surface carburization particularly at the ends of the plates. These results reveal the likely presence of an iron technology based primarily on the bloomery technique as opposed to the Chinese style of iron-making based on cast iron technology, which was also in use in ancient Korea.