Juliette Guibert-Cardin, Vangelis Tourloukis, Nicholas Thompson, E. Panagopoulou, K. Harvati, É. Nicoud, S. Beyries
Small flake industries are a commonly identified component of Lower Paleolithic archaeological assemblages in Eurasia. Utilized as blanks for tools, at many sites, their functions are often poorly understood. Here we present a preliminary traceological analysis of lithics from Marathousa 1 (MAR-1; Megalopolis, Greece). MAR-1 dates to ca. 400-500 ka BP and is one of the oldest open-air sites in South-Eastern Europe. It has yielded a lithic assemblage made almost exclusively of small-sized flakes found in direct association with diverse megafauna including elephants, hippo and deer. For this preliminary study, a total of 223 artifacts were sampled for a taphonomical analysis and 13 for a functional analysis. The lithic artifacts from MAR-1 are exceptionally well-preserved and are only slightly affected by chemical alterations. They are therefore ideal for a techno-morpho-functional analysis. Use-wear traces confirm on-site butchery. Our results also confirm that plants were worked at the site, whereas technological traces, rarely observed on lithics from this age, can also be seen on a number of specimens. Whereas both retouched and unretouched tools contribute significantly to the MAR-1 toolkit, shapes are varied, and at this phase of the study do not appear morphologically or technologically standardized. However, backing (natural or retouched) opposite to a sharp edge can be observed on numerous specimens. When compared to the sparse functional data available on small tools from Lower Paleolithic Europe and the Levant, small flake tools include a wide variety of techno-functional types. To fully begin to understand this diversity, lithic toolkits must be considered in relation to the rest of the assemblage and the accompanying contextual data, including information from technological, archaeozoological, and palaeoenvironmental datasets.
{"title":"The function of small tools in Europe during the Middle Pleistocene: The case of Marathousa 1 (Megalopolis, Greece)","authors":"Juliette Guibert-Cardin, Vangelis Tourloukis, Nicholas Thompson, E. Panagopoulou, K. Harvati, É. Nicoud, S. Beyries","doi":"10.2218/jls.5553","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.5553","url":null,"abstract":"Small flake industries are a commonly identified component of Lower Paleolithic archaeological assemblages in Eurasia. Utilized as blanks for tools, at many sites, their functions are often poorly understood. Here we present a preliminary traceological analysis of lithics from Marathousa 1 (MAR-1; Megalopolis, Greece). MAR-1 dates to ca. 400-500 ka BP and is one of the oldest open-air sites in South-Eastern Europe. It has yielded a lithic assemblage made almost exclusively of small-sized flakes found in direct association with diverse megafauna including elephants, hippo and deer. \u0000For this preliminary study, a total of 223 artifacts were sampled for a taphonomical analysis and 13 for a functional analysis. The lithic artifacts from MAR-1 are exceptionally well-preserved and are only slightly affected by chemical alterations. They are therefore ideal for a techno-morpho-functional analysis. Use-wear traces confirm on-site butchery. Our results also confirm that plants were worked at the site, whereas technological traces, rarely observed on lithics from this age, can also be seen on a number of specimens. Whereas both retouched and unretouched tools contribute significantly to the MAR-1 toolkit, shapes are varied, and at this phase of the study do not appear morphologically or technologically standardized. However, backing (natural or retouched) opposite to a sharp edge can be observed on numerous specimens. When compared to the sparse functional data available on small tools from Lower Paleolithic Europe and the Levant, small flake tools include a wide variety of techno-functional types. To fully begin to understand this diversity, lithic toolkits must be considered in relation to the rest of the assemblage and the accompanying contextual data, including information from technological, archaeozoological, and palaeoenvironmental datasets.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44627030","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Although lithic raw material provenience studies in Hungarian archaeology have started in the late 1970s, little attention has been paid to the methods prehistoric people with which acquired these raw materials for tool production. With our palaeoethnological approach, we investigate the relationship between human groups and the world surrounding them, aiming to recognize which environmental factors played a role in their lithic raw material economy and tool production. Prehistoric people weighed a range of such factors against each other when deciding about the utilization of a lithic raw material source. The occurrence-source-archaeological site (OSA) model presented in our article helps to describe the interaction between siliceous rock resources and humans. Any place where stone suitable for knapping can be found is considered to be an occurrence. If the lithic raw material from an occurrence is found in the archaeological material, we call it a source, as it was utilized by humans. All places where remains of human activity are found are usually considered archaeological sites. Siliceous rock occurrences are considered raw material sources with a long history prior to human interaction, travelling from the original bedrock to alluvial deposits, due to the geologic-geomorphologic processes of formation, transformation, and transport. The characteristics, of these occurrences, including location, determine not only the distance of transportation but also the quality and condition of the blocks available. Based on these assumptions our research has two aims: to locate lithic raw material occurrences available for prehistoric people and to recognize their decisions about extraction. For the first one, we mapped occurrences of several siliceous rocks in the region. To reconstruct lithic raw material utilization and preferences, we conducted a techno-economic analysis. We studied two areas and their characteristic lithic raw materials in northern Hungary: limnosilicite from the foothills of the Mátra mountain range (Mátraalja), and Buda hornstone or chert from the Buda Hills. The utilization of both materials is documented at archaeological sites of several prehistoric periods. Both rocks occur in the study areas at several locations that can be considered prehistoric extraction sites. According to Turq’s source area typology, allochthonous sources are not present, but primary and secondary autochthonous as well as sub-allochthonous types have been identified in both areas. However, the exploitation of primary autochthonous limnosilicites could not be demonstrated in the Mátraalja. At the moment, the exploitation of secondary autochthonous and sub-allochthonous sources can be hypothesized for all concerned prehistoric periods.
{"title":"From bedrock to alluvium: Considerations on human-lithic resource interaction","authors":"Zsolt Mester, Norbert Faragó","doi":"10.2218/jls.7475","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.7475","url":null,"abstract":"Although lithic raw material provenience studies in Hungarian archaeology have started in the late 1970s, little attention has been paid to the methods prehistoric people with which acquired these raw materials for tool production. With our palaeoethnological approach, we investigate the relationship between human groups and the world surrounding them, aiming to recognize which environmental factors played a role in their lithic raw material economy and tool production. Prehistoric people weighed a range of such factors against each other when deciding about the utilization of a lithic raw material source. The occurrence-source-archaeological site (OSA) model presented in our article helps to describe the interaction between siliceous rock resources and humans. Any place where stone suitable for knapping can be found is considered to be an occurrence. If the lithic raw material from an occurrence is found in the archaeological material, we call it a source, as it was utilized by humans. All places where remains of human activity are found are usually considered archaeological sites. Siliceous rock occurrences are considered raw material sources with a long history prior to human interaction, travelling from the original bedrock to alluvial deposits, due to the geologic-geomorphologic processes of formation, transformation, and transport. The characteristics, of these occurrences, including location, determine not only the distance of transportation but also the quality and condition of the blocks available. Based on these assumptions our research has two aims: to locate lithic raw material occurrences available for prehistoric people and to recognize their decisions about extraction. For the first one, we mapped occurrences of several siliceous rocks in the region. To reconstruct lithic raw material utilization and preferences, we conducted a techno-economic analysis. We studied two areas and their characteristic lithic raw materials in northern Hungary: limnosilicite from the foothills of the Mátra mountain range (Mátraalja), and Buda hornstone or chert from the Buda Hills. \u0000The utilization of both materials is documented at archaeological sites of several prehistoric periods. Both rocks occur in the study areas at several locations that can be considered prehistoric extraction sites. According to Turq’s source area typology, allochthonous sources are not present, but primary and secondary autochthonous as well as sub-allochthonous types have been identified in both areas. However, the exploitation of primary autochthonous limnosilicites could not be demonstrated in the Mátraalja. At the moment, the exploitation of secondary autochthonous and sub-allochthonous sources can be hypothesized for all concerned prehistoric periods.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48397998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
During the 2016 archaeological survey in the Sar Pol-e Zahab region, in the border zone between Mesopotamia lowland and Iranian highland, a number of rock mortars were discovered on the edges of seven ancient sites. Owing to its climate and topography and its winter pastures, this region has long been favoured by nomads, and numerous remains of nomadic activities survive. The sites in question are small settlements that have been attributed to nomadic occupation owing to their small area, thin occupational deposits and extremely limited finds. Most of these sites are located near water sources such as springs and rivers. Furthermore, the associated cultural materials are not of high quality. This is in stark contrast to the settlements of farmers and sedentary settlers in the central range and western foothills of the Zagros, the remains of which formed relatively large mounds with complex stratigraphy representing extended occupations accompanied by cultural materials showing a higher degree of workmanship and artistry. In many cases, these characteristics are enough to distinguish the settlements of sedentary farmers from those of herdsmen and nomads. It appears that the nomads of the region, particularly in the third-second millennium BCE and in the Parthian period, used these permanently located rock mortars to grind grains and cereals during their seasonal occupation of these sites. These mortars are not out of context, they are related to the ancient settlements on whose periphery they are found.
{"title":"Rock Mortars of Sar Pol-e Zahab in their Archaeological Contexts: Evidence of third and second Millennium BCE Nomads Camp Sites in Western Foothills of Zagros Mountain, Iran","authors":"S. Alibaigi, J. MacGinnis","doi":"10.2218/jls.5201","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.5201","url":null,"abstract":"During the 2016 archaeological survey in the Sar Pol-e Zahab region, in the border zone between Mesopotamia lowland and Iranian highland, a number of rock mortars were discovered on the edges of seven ancient sites. Owing to its climate and topography and its winter pastures, this region has long been favoured by nomads, and numerous remains of nomadic activities survive. The sites in question are small settlements that have been attributed to nomadic occupation owing to their small area, thin occupational deposits and extremely limited finds. Most of these sites are located near water sources such as springs and rivers. Furthermore, the associated cultural materials are not of high quality. This is in stark contrast to the settlements of farmers and sedentary settlers in the central range and western foothills of the Zagros, the remains of which formed relatively large mounds with complex stratigraphy representing extended occupations accompanied by cultural materials showing a higher degree of workmanship and artistry. In many cases, these characteristics are enough to distinguish the settlements of sedentary farmers from those of herdsmen and nomads. It appears that the nomads of the region, particularly in the third-second millennium BCE and in the Parthian period, used these permanently located rock mortars to grind grains and cereals during their seasonal occupation of these sites. These mortars are not out of context, they are related to the ancient settlements on whose periphery they are found.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46048435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The goals and background of this study are presented. A sample of rudimentary artifacts, recovered through survey and excavation from contexts in the American Southwest and southern Mexico, were physically examined to verify or reject their assumed validity as tools and their use in agricultural activities. Macroscopic and microscopic examinations were undertaken on these often overlooked and misidentified artifacts to ascertain evidence of human manufacture and use-wear. The results of the study indicate the specimens represent three general form categories of tools that have uses related to excavation and earth moving. To augment this evidence, information was gathered regarding find contexts, historic records, and from relevant literature. The geographic find locations and contexts of the artifacts, as well as their temporal placement, and likely group affiliations, are then discussed. Evidence indicates that, although probably used for other purposes, these minimally-retouched, hand-held, digging and earth moving tools were used in the preparation and maintenance of agricultural fields and irrigation canals, and functioned to support the subsistence system from ca. 400-1450 CE. These implements evidently also held social and ceremonial values and functions. The rudimentary nature of these tools is often found not to be commensurate with the sophisticated complexity of the associated agricultural infrastructure. Initial, very tentative, hypotheses are presented for this incongruity.
{"title":"Evaluating rudimentary prehistoric stone artifacts from the American southwest and Mexico","authors":"J. Neely, S. Tomka","doi":"10.2218/jls.4332","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.4332","url":null,"abstract":"The goals and background of this study are presented. A sample of rudimentary artifacts, recovered through survey and excavation from contexts in the American Southwest and southern Mexico, were physically examined to verify or reject their assumed validity as tools and their use in agricultural activities. Macroscopic and microscopic examinations were undertaken on these often overlooked and misidentified artifacts to ascertain evidence of human manufacture and use-wear. The results of the study indicate the specimens represent three general form categories of tools that have uses related to excavation and earth moving. To augment this evidence, information was gathered regarding find contexts, historic records, and from relevant literature. The geographic find locations and contexts of the artifacts, as well as their temporal placement, and likely group affiliations, are then discussed. Evidence indicates that, although probably used for other purposes, these minimally-retouched, hand-held, digging and earth moving tools were used in the preparation and maintenance of agricultural fields and irrigation canals, and functioned to support the subsistence system from ca. 400-1450 CE. These implements evidently also held social and ceremonial values and functions. The rudimentary nature of these tools is often found not to be commensurate with the sophisticated complexity of the associated agricultural infrastructure. Initial, very tentative, hypotheses are presented for this incongruity.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43814471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Situated on the extreme point of South America, southern Patagonia has yielded the southernmost evidence of Levallois lithic technology. There, enough evidence of the use of a method of core preparation for production of predefined flakes similarly structured to the known Levallois technology (LT) in the Old World is present. An overview of the currently available information (distribution, chronology, frequency, artifact classes, raw materials and techno-morphological attributes) on Levallois technology in southern continental Patagonia and on the Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina and Chile) is presented here in order to discuss its place in the shared technological background of local hunter-gatherers during the Holocene. The analysis of the information shows that the LT occurs at very low frequency, mainly involving cores, knives and sidescrapers on local raw materials but encompassing a high diversity in terms of ecological contexts and human subsistence. These findings are an indicator that several populations were simultaneously familiar with this technology, possibly through long-distance movements of individuals or social networks to share ideas and information on how to make and use these artifacts. In this regard, the middle Holocene was an important period when the LT became a shared technological phenomenon on a macro-regional scale. However, the evidence on LT is still scarce in Patagonian contexts and emphasizes possible linkages with other reduction strategies, especially the Discoid flaking method, the search for maximize lithic raw material exploitation and even the need to produce versatile tools to deal with a diversity of tasks. It is still unclear therefore whether the LT reflects a truly method to get predetermined flakes with specific morphological features or it mainly attended to other circumstances due to the influence of environment, the spatial organization of human groups or the lithic reduction systems. This issue probably requires an exhaustive study of Levallois cores, specially their own particular sequential development of reduction, frequency and relationship with other knapping techniques recorded in the Patagonian lithic assemblages.
{"title":"Levallois technology in southern Patagonia (Argentina and Chile): current knowledge and future perspectives","authors":"María Cecilia Pallo","doi":"10.2218/jls.6449","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.6449","url":null,"abstract":"Situated on the extreme point of South America, southern Patagonia has yielded the southernmost evidence of Levallois lithic technology. There, enough evidence of the use of a method of core preparation for production of predefined flakes similarly structured to the known Levallois technology (LT) in the Old World is present. An overview of the currently available information (distribution, chronology, frequency, artifact classes, raw materials and techno-morphological attributes) on Levallois technology in southern continental Patagonia and on the Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina and Chile) is presented here in order to discuss its place in the shared technological background of local hunter-gatherers during the Holocene. \u0000The analysis of the information shows that the LT occurs at very low frequency, mainly involving cores, knives and sidescrapers on local raw materials but encompassing a high diversity in terms of ecological contexts and human subsistence. These findings are an indicator that several populations were simultaneously familiar with this technology, possibly through long-distance movements of individuals or social networks to share ideas and information on how to make and use these artifacts. In this regard, the middle Holocene was an important period when the LT became a shared technological phenomenon on a macro-regional scale. However, the evidence on LT is still scarce in Patagonian contexts and emphasizes possible linkages with other reduction strategies, especially the Discoid flaking method, the search for maximize lithic raw material exploitation and even the need to produce versatile tools to deal with a diversity of tasks. It is still unclear therefore whether the LT reflects a truly method to get predetermined flakes with specific morphological features or it mainly attended to other circumstances due to the influence of environment, the spatial organization of human groups or the lithic reduction systems. This issue probably requires an exhaustive study of Levallois cores, specially their own particular sequential development of reduction, frequency and relationship with other knapping techniques recorded in the Patagonian lithic assemblages.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43491788","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A. Prieto, I. Yusta, Maite García‐Rojas, A. Arrizabalaga, J. Baena Preysler
The consideration of quartzite as a secondary raw material has relegated in-depth research of this raw material in favour of such other rocks as flint or obsidian. The latter two are the most researched raw materials because of the information derived from their study: long-distance transport of rocks and mobility of people. In contrast, information obtained from research into quartzite generally supported near-site procurement areas mainly related to secondary river deposits. Together with the wide range of rocks called quartzite by archaeologists, this has influenced the poverty of research on the second most-often used raw material during the Palaeolithic. To overcome this narrow perspective, it is necessary to put quartzite in the centre of the debate as a raw material, using an inductive proposal based on geoarchaeological methodologies. This issue is approached by the application of a geoarchaeological methodology that combines thin section analysis, stereomicroscope observation, and X-ray Fluorescence compositional analysis of the quartzite from Level-XXII-R at El Esquilleu. Potential areas where quartzite could be procured, especially river beaches, are also characterised here. The results show complex mechanisms of quartzite acquisition based on intensive and selective searching, not only in proximate river deposits, but also in more distant fluvial deposits and conglomerate formations. Finally, in combination with techno-typological criteria, complex mechanisms of exploitation are proposed. These depended on each quartzite type, which promoted not only lithological but also technological variability. All these data open new perspectives for the characterisation of the second best represented raw material in Europe, as well as for understanding acquisition mechanisms in fluvial deposits and conglomerate formations.
{"title":"Quartzite procurement, not only in fluvial deposits: raw material characterisation of the lithic assemblage from Level XXII-R at El Esquilleu, Cantabrian Region, Spain.","authors":"A. Prieto, I. Yusta, Maite García‐Rojas, A. Arrizabalaga, J. Baena Preysler","doi":"10.2218/jls.4492","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.4492","url":null,"abstract":"The consideration of quartzite as a secondary raw material has relegated in-depth research of this raw material in favour of such other rocks as flint or obsidian. The latter two are the most researched raw materials because of the information derived from their study: long-distance transport of rocks and mobility of people. In contrast, information obtained from research into quartzite generally supported near-site procurement areas mainly related to secondary river deposits. Together with the wide range of rocks called quartzite by archaeologists, this has influenced the poverty of research on the second most-often used raw material during the Palaeolithic. To overcome this narrow perspective, it is necessary to put quartzite in the centre of the debate as a raw material, using an inductive proposal based on geoarchaeological methodologies. \u0000This issue is approached by the application of a geoarchaeological methodology that combines thin section analysis, stereomicroscope observation, and X-ray Fluorescence compositional analysis of the quartzite from Level-XXII-R at El Esquilleu. Potential areas where quartzite could be procured, especially river beaches, are also characterised here. The results show complex mechanisms of quartzite acquisition based on intensive and selective searching, not only in proximate river deposits, but also in more distant fluvial deposits and conglomerate formations. Finally, in combination with techno-typological criteria, complex mechanisms of exploitation are proposed. These depended on each quartzite type, which promoted not only lithological but also technological variability. All these data open new perspectives for the characterisation of the second best represented raw material in Europe, as well as for understanding acquisition mechanisms in fluvial deposits and conglomerate formations.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47987910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper is reflective and discusses the results of a process experiment designed to develop understanding of a particular British Early Upper Palaeolithic stone tool technology. The technology in question is the Lincombian, and the discussion breaks down into three main parts. The first part argues that raw material availability and practitioner performance can be influential factors within the modern experimental reproduction process. When these issues were factored in for this experiment it became clear that early phase debitage materials reflected a process of interpretation, not replication. The second substantive part of this discussion focuses upon the final phase of the experimental process. Selection criterion for assessing finished artefacts was tightly constrained by archaeologically derived data. It is argued therefore that when finished artefacts fell within these assessment criteria the final phase of the process was akin to replication. Consequently, debitage associated with the final phase can provide useful analogue material to fill gaps in our understanding of this Lincombian technology. The final section is summative and returns to the issue of performance. It argues that practitioner performance facilitates audience engagement. Engagement is valuable for communicating understanding to both specialist and non-specialist audiences. The paper concludes by arguing that a rigorously evaluated experimental process can be used twice: firstly, as a tool for generating materials to develop our understanding; secondly, as an engaging performance to communicate understanding to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
{"title":"Experimental production of lithic artefacts: Developing understanding; developing engagement","authors":"J. Piprani","doi":"10.2218/jls.3034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.3034","url":null,"abstract":"This paper is reflective and discusses the results of a process experiment designed to develop understanding of a particular British Early Upper Palaeolithic stone tool technology. The technology in question is the Lincombian, and the discussion breaks down into three main parts. The first part argues that raw material availability and practitioner performance can be influential factors within the modern experimental reproduction process. When these issues were factored in for this experiment it became clear that early phase debitage materials reflected a process of interpretation, not replication. The second substantive part of this discussion focuses upon the final phase of the experimental process. Selection criterion for assessing finished artefacts was tightly constrained by archaeologically derived data. It is argued therefore that when finished artefacts fell within these assessment criteria the final phase of the process was akin to replication. Consequently, debitage associated with the final phase can provide useful analogue material to fill gaps in our understanding of this Lincombian technology. The final section is summative and returns to the issue of performance. It argues that practitioner performance facilitates audience engagement. Engagement is valuable for communicating understanding to both specialist and non-specialist audiences. The paper concludes by arguing that a rigorously evaluated experimental process can be used twice: firstly, as a tool for generating materials to develop our understanding; secondly, as an engaging performance to communicate understanding to specialist and non-specialist audiences.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46057908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Clovis fluted points vary considerably in technology and morphology, but also share a set of attributes, the most diagnostic of which are the flute scars, the remnants of the flake removals from the basal region that travelled up towards the tip. Fluting on Clovis and Clovis-like points generally extends no further than a third of the way up the face of the point. Finished points are usually ground smooth along the base and lower edges, suggesting facilitation of the hafting (attachment) to a wooden shaft or handle by way of an ivory or bone socket. The points may have been hafted directly to a main-shaft and used as a thrusting spear during close encounter attacks, or in the hand as knife or butchery tool. Alternatively, an intermediary shaft, or foreshaft may have been used to secure the point. The suggestion of foreshafts being used by Clovis hunters received support after the discovery of bone rods in association with mammoth remains and Clovis points at the type site at Blackwater Draw, New Mexico in 1936. Several other Clovis-aged sites across North America have yielded ivory and beveled rods that have also been associated with foreshafts and the hafting of Clovis points. Scratches that are present on a couple of Clovis points made on varieties of obsidian, have been identified as being “hafting abrasion” evidence, this roughening of the surface would have helped in securing the point into the shaft or socket. In one example from the Hoyt site in Oregon, remains of a “pitch” or hafting adhesive was discovered in the abrasions in the fluted area of the point.
{"title":"To haft and to hold: Evidence for the hafting of Clovis fluted points","authors":"Alan M. Slade","doi":"10.2218/jls.3033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.3033","url":null,"abstract":"Clovis fluted points vary considerably in technology and morphology, but also share a set of attributes, the most diagnostic of which are the flute scars, the remnants of the flake removals from the basal region that travelled up towards the tip. Fluting on Clovis and Clovis-like points generally extends no further than a third of the way up the face of the point. Finished points are usually ground smooth along the base and lower edges, suggesting facilitation of the hafting (attachment) to a wooden shaft or handle by way of an ivory or bone socket. The points may have been hafted directly to a main-shaft and used as a thrusting spear during close encounter attacks, or in the hand as knife or butchery tool. Alternatively, an intermediary shaft, or foreshaft may have been used to secure the point. The suggestion of foreshafts being used by Clovis hunters received support after the discovery of bone rods in association with mammoth remains and Clovis points at the type site at Blackwater Draw, New Mexico in 1936. Several other Clovis-aged sites across North America have yielded ivory and beveled rods that have also been associated with foreshafts and the hafting of Clovis points. Scratches that are present on a couple of Clovis points made on varieties of obsidian, have been identified as being “hafting abrasion” evidence, this roughening of the surface would have helped in securing the point into the shaft or socket. In one example from the Hoyt site in Oregon, remains of a “pitch” or hafting adhesive was discovered in the abrasions in the fluted area of the point.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47991829","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
E. Healey, J. Piprani, O. Maeda, Ellon Souter, Julie Birchenall
The idea of holding a conference to discuss how we can explore what affects our approaches to, and understanding of, lithic artefacts and their analysis emerged from a hands-on workshop entitled Northern Knap-in in November 2014. In that workshop we wanted to explore how prehistoric people in the north of England, which is perceived by many as being a (lithic)resource-poor region, might have adapted to the lack of good quality flint and chert for tool manufacture and so we experimented with the working of non-flint raw materials. Many things emerged from that day including how the experimental knapping of materials other than flint allowed us to think outside the conventional box, and how communal knapping and grinding demonstrated some of the different ways that people interacted and adapted to each other’s rhythm when making artefacts. We were also struck (excuse the pun) by how much non-lithic specialists contributed to the questions we raise in lithic analysis. This brought home to us the importance of finding other, sometimes non- conventional, ways in which we can engage with the past. This eventually led to the Immersed in Lithics Conference in February 2016.
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Obsidian was used widely in the Near East in prehistoric and early historic times to make tools and other objects. We know quite a lot about its use as a tool-stone, but much less about other objects made from it, although such things in other contexts would be regarded as markers of identity. This apparent duality of use raises the question of whether the object made or obsidian as a raw material was more significant; it also raises questions about whether the same crafts-people were involved in both the production of tools and other objects or whether they were separated. As research progresses, we are increasingly realising that there is much information that is scattered and that more holistic and integrated approaches are needed. This demands in-depth study of individual objects using multi-disciplinary approaches. Significant areas for further study include the use of geochemical analysis to determine the provenance of the obsidian from which the objects were made and so to evaluate choice of source. Advanced technological investigation is also needed to elucidate manufacturing methods and techniques. These include studies of manufacturing techniques and surface topography as well as an evaluation of experimental data, not only to elucidate which techniques might have been used but also to assess skill and time input. The objects also need to be examined for indications of use and their context of deposition considered in greater detail. The type of objects produced and the way they were crafted also need to be compared to similar objects made of other materials to see if obsidian had a privileged position. Research into these matters is still at an early stage and this paper can only summarise what we know in order to provide a foundation for further study.
{"title":"Not only a tool-stone: Other ways of using obsidian in the Near East","authors":"E. Healey","doi":"10.2218/jls.5739","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.5739","url":null,"abstract":"Obsidian was used widely in the Near East in prehistoric and early historic times to make tools and other objects. We know quite a lot about its use as a tool-stone, but much less about other objects made from it, although such things in other contexts would be regarded as markers of identity. This apparent duality of use raises the question of whether the object made or obsidian as a raw material was more significant; it also raises questions about whether the same crafts-people were involved in both the production of tools and other objects or whether they were separated. As research progresses, we are increasingly realising that there is much information that is scattered and that more holistic and integrated approaches are needed. This demands in-depth study of individual objects using multi-disciplinary approaches. Significant areas for further study include the use of geochemical analysis to determine the provenance of the obsidian from which the objects were made and so to evaluate choice of source. Advanced technological investigation is also needed to elucidate manufacturing methods and techniques. These include studies of manufacturing techniques and surface topography as well as an evaluation of experimental data, not only to elucidate which techniques might have been used but also to assess skill and time input. The objects also need to be examined for indications of use and their context of deposition considered in greater detail. The type of objects produced and the way they were crafted also need to be compared to similar objects made of other materials to see if obsidian had a privileged position. Research into these matters is still at an early stage and this paper can only summarise what we know in order to provide a foundation for further study.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45314421","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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