Maria Bofill, D. Chondrou, A. Palomo, H. Procopiou, Soultana Maria Valamotti
PlantCult Project aims to explore the role of culinary traditions and innovations through their impact on shaping the social landscape in ancient Europe over long time periods (from the Neolithic period to the Iron Age) and large territories. The experimental program is part of an integrated study of food products and associated equipment focusing on whether the introduction of new species or changes in social and economic organisation brought about changes in the food grinding technologies of the area. The experiments include tools operated by back and forth reciprocal motion and circular motion, and manufactured from different raw materials, with different morphologies and sizes. The tools design and the list of plant ingredients (cereals, legumes, acorns and oil-seeds) ground in the experiments are all based on the archaeological record of the studied area. In this paper we present the experimental protocol, the multi-scale methodology applied to the use-wear analysis of grinding stone tools, and the results of the experimental processing of the main plant ingredients detected in prehistoric European cuisine.
{"title":"Processing plants for food: Experimental grinding within the ERC-project PLANTCULT","authors":"Maria Bofill, D. Chondrou, A. Palomo, H. Procopiou, Soultana Maria Valamotti","doi":"10.2218/jls.3079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.3079","url":null,"abstract":"PlantCult Project aims to explore the role of culinary traditions and innovations through their impact on shaping the social landscape in ancient Europe over long time periods (from the Neolithic period to the Iron Age) and large territories. The experimental program is part of an integrated study of food products and associated equipment focusing on whether the introduction of new species or changes in social and economic organisation brought about changes in the food grinding technologies of the area. \u0000The experiments include tools operated by back and forth reciprocal motion and circular motion, and manufactured from different raw materials, with different morphologies and sizes. The tools design and the list of plant ingredients (cereals, legumes, acorns and oil-seeds) ground in the experiments are all based on the archaeological record of the studied area. In this paper we present the experimental protocol, the multi-scale methodology applied to the use-wear analysis of grinding stone tools, and the results of the experimental processing of the main plant ingredients detected in prehistoric European cuisine.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41648038","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}
It is necessary to access the oral forms of local histories often held in traditional African communities to help us understand the African past and avoid framing interpretations solely in terms of Western epistemologies. Ethnoarchaeological fieldwork was carried out in villages in the Gulo Makeda region of northeastern Tigrai, northern Ethiopia, where access to mechanical mills has only been available in the last few decades. Individuals in this area still have knowledge and memory of manufacturing, using and discarding grinding stones. Interviews were held with male advisors who shared their knowledge and expertise about the entire process of manufacturing grinding stones. To move beyond understanding just the technical aspects of grinding stone manufacturing (what and how), the theory and methods associated with the chaîne opératoire and design theory were incorporated into the research to allow discovery of intricate socio-economic interrelationships (how and why) that exist through grinding manufacture within this culture. Manufacturing offers opportunities for socialization, cooperation and community engagement. Through ethnoarchaeology it became clear that the manufacturing of grinding stones in northeastern Tigrai is a complex process requiring design decisions, skills, knowledge, and social interaction that builds interpersonal relationships. By arranging two separate manufacturing sessions, one with experts and one with non-experts, comparisons were made of technological and social differences between experts and non-experts. The individuals who are experts in manufacturing grinding stones made higher quality grinding stones than the non-experts. The experts are also afforded a special respect by others, as they are the creators of the technology “necessary for life” in a culture traditionally dependent on cereal flours for sustenance. Potentially this respect for experts could be true for the past as well. Since the grinding stone artifacts from Mezber are large stones, likely meant to produce significant amounts of flour, they would have been important to daily life. Those who manufactured these tools important for subsistence would likely have been considered important individuals in the community.
{"title":"Men at work: Grinding stone production by the experts and others in northern Ethiopia","authors":"L. Nixon-Darcus, Yemane Meresa","doi":"10.2218/jls.3091","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.3091","url":null,"abstract":"It is necessary to access the oral forms of local histories often held in traditional African communities to help us understand the African past and avoid framing interpretations solely in terms of Western epistemologies. Ethnoarchaeological fieldwork was carried out in villages in the Gulo Makeda region of northeastern Tigrai, northern Ethiopia, where access to mechanical mills has only been available in the last few decades. Individuals in this area still have knowledge and memory of manufacturing, using and discarding grinding stones. Interviews were held with male advisors who shared their knowledge and expertise about the entire process of manufacturing grinding stones. To move beyond understanding just the technical aspects of grinding stone manufacturing (what and how), the theory and methods associated with the chaîne opératoire and design theory were incorporated into the research to allow discovery of intricate socio-economic interrelationships (how and why) that exist through grinding manufacture within this culture. Manufacturing offers opportunities for socialization, cooperation and community engagement. \u0000Through ethnoarchaeology it became clear that the manufacturing of grinding stones in northeastern Tigrai is a complex process requiring design decisions, skills, knowledge, and social interaction that builds interpersonal relationships. By arranging two separate manufacturing sessions, one with experts and one with non-experts, comparisons were made of technological and social differences between experts and non-experts. The individuals who are experts in manufacturing grinding stones made higher quality grinding stones than the non-experts. The experts are also afforded a special respect by others, as they are the creators of the technology “necessary for life” in a culture traditionally dependent on cereal flours for sustenance. Potentially this respect for experts could be true for the past as well. Since the grinding stone artifacts from Mezber are large stones, likely meant to produce significant amounts of flour, they would have been important to daily life. Those who manufactured these tools important for subsistence would likely have been considered important individuals in the community.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45253441","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. Hayes, C. Spry, R. Fullagar, Anna Tuechler, Petra Schell, M. Goulding
Ground stone implements are found across most Australian landscapes and are often regarded as Aboriginal tools that were used for processing or modifying other items such as plant foods, plant fibres, resins, bone points, pigments and ground-stone axes and knives. Less common are ground stones modified for non-utilitarian, symbolic purposes; for example, polished and carved stone ornaments; ritual implements such as cylcons and tjuringa sacred stones; and unused, well-crafted ground-stone axes. In this paper, we report on the function and potential significance of an unusual ground stone artefact from a site near Bannockburn, southwestern Australia. A set of regularly spaced, shallow grooves has been cut into the surface of each side of the stone. Use-wear, residues and experimental replica tools indicate that the grooves were probably made with a stone flake and then used to shape or sharpen wooden implements such as spear points or the edges of boomerangs or other weapons. The microscopic wear outside the grooves indicates contact with soft wood or other plant material, possibly a soft plant fibre bag. We suggest that the Bannockburn artefact primarily functioned as a woodworking tool, but the even spacing of the incisions suggests that they were intentionally placed, perhaps to convey a special meaning, perhaps as a tally system or other form of communication.
{"title":"Tool-use experiments to determine the function of an incised ground stone artefact with potential symbolic significance","authors":"E. Hayes, C. Spry, R. Fullagar, Anna Tuechler, Petra Schell, M. Goulding","doi":"10.2218/jls.3088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.3088","url":null,"abstract":"Ground stone implements are found across most Australian landscapes and are often regarded as Aboriginal tools that were used for processing or modifying other items such as plant foods, plant fibres, resins, bone points, pigments and ground-stone axes and knives. Less common are ground stones modified for non-utilitarian, symbolic purposes; for example, polished and carved stone ornaments; ritual implements such as cylcons and tjuringa sacred stones; and unused, well-crafted ground-stone axes. In this paper, we report on the function and potential significance of an unusual ground stone artefact from a site near Bannockburn, southwestern Australia. A set of regularly spaced, shallow grooves has been cut into the surface of each side of the stone. Use-wear, residues and experimental replica tools indicate that the grooves were probably made with a stone flake and then used to shape or sharpen wooden implements such as spear points or the edges of boomerangs or other weapons. The microscopic wear outside the grooves indicates contact with soft wood or other plant material, possibly a soft plant fibre bag. We suggest that the Bannockburn artefact primarily functioned as a woodworking tool, but the even spacing of the incisions suggests that they were intentionally placed, perhaps to convey a special meaning, perhaps as a tally system or other form of communication.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44320972","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}
N. Alonso, G. Prats, T. Roustanis, Panos Tokmakides, S. Valamoti
This study advances research carried out during the creation of a bibliographic database of ethnological information regarding hand milling systems in the framework of the ERC-Project PLANTCULT Identifying the Food Cultures of Ancient Europe: an interdisciplinary investigation of plant ingredients, culinary transformation and evolution through time led by S.M. Valamoti. The main aims of the database are to collect information linked to the processes of plant grinding with handmills, basically driven with a back and forth motion, in different parts of the world and to connect this information to specific archaeological, textual and experimental data, in particular that associated with food preparation. The database is structured in various sections (basically publications, plants and other foodstuffs, milling processes, products, querns and use and social context), in order to facilitate systematic extraction of all relevant information from a wide range of publications that discuss or report on grinding tools in regions and societies of the recent past. The base records a wide range of activities ranging from tool manufacture to end products that include procurement of raw materials, the preparation sequence of tools (including tool-kits), spatial associations, gender issues, plant ingredients and end products. All aspects recorded in the database are interconnected as are the numerous economic and social relationships of the milling process.
{"title":"Ethnogrinding Database: A tool to collect and connect worldwide information on ethnological and ethnoarchaeological hand-milling systems","authors":"N. Alonso, G. Prats, T. Roustanis, Panos Tokmakides, S. Valamoti","doi":"10.2218/jls.5008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.5008","url":null,"abstract":"This study advances research carried out during the creation of a bibliographic database of ethnological information regarding hand milling systems in the framework of the ERC-Project PLANTCULT Identifying the Food Cultures of Ancient Europe: an interdisciplinary investigation of plant ingredients, culinary transformation and evolution through time led by S.M. Valamoti. The main aims of the database are to collect information linked to the processes of plant grinding with handmills, basically driven with a back and forth motion, in different parts of the world and to connect this information to specific archaeological, textual and experimental data, in particular that associated with food preparation. The database is structured in various sections (basically publications, plants and other foodstuffs, milling processes, products, querns and use and social context), in order to facilitate systematic extraction of all relevant information from a wide range of publications that discuss or report on grinding tools in regions and societies of the recent past. The base records a wide range of activities ranging from tool manufacture to end products that include procurement of raw materials, the preparation sequence of tools (including tool-kits), spatial associations, gender issues, plant ingredients and end products. All aspects recorded in the database are interconnected as are the numerous economic and social relationships of the milling process.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41694494","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}
C. Schwall, M. Brandl, T. Gluhak, B. Milić, Lisa Betina, L. Sørensen, Danilo Wolf, B. Horejs
The focus of this paper are the stone tools of Cukurici Hoyuk, a prehistoric site situated at the central Aegean coast of Anatolia. The settlement was inhabited from the Neolithic, through the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age 1 periods, a period lasting from the early 7th to the early 3rd millennium BCE. A long-term interdisciplinary study of the excavated lithics with different scientific methods on various stone materials (thin section analysis, pXRF, NAA, LA-ICP-MS) offer new primary data about the procurement strategies of prehistoric societies from a diachronic perspective. The results will be presented for the first time with an overview of all source materials and their distinct use through time. The lithic assemblages from Cukurici Hoyuk consist of a considerable variety of small finds, grinding stones and chipped stone tools. The high variability of raw materials within the different categories of tools is remarkable. In addition to stone tools manufactured from sources in the immediate vicinity of the settlement (i.e., mica-schist, limestone, marble, amphibolite, serpentinite), others are of rock types such as chert, which indicate an origin within the broader region. Moreover, volcanic rocks, notably the exceptionally high amount of Melian obsidian found at Cukurici Hoyuk, attest to the supra-regional procurement of distinct rock types. Small stone axes made of jadeite presumably from the Greek island of Syros, also indicate these far-reaching procurement strategies. The systematic and diachronic analyses of the stone tools found at Cukurici Hoyuk has demonstrated that as early as the Neolithic period extensive efforts were made to supply the settlement with carefully selected raw materials or finished goods procured from distinct rock sources.
{"title":"From near and far: Stone procurement and exchange at Çukuriçi Höyük in Western Anatolia","authors":"C. Schwall, M. Brandl, T. Gluhak, B. Milić, Lisa Betina, L. Sørensen, Danilo Wolf, B. Horejs","doi":"10.2218/jls.3093","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.3093","url":null,"abstract":"The focus of this paper are the stone tools of Cukurici Hoyuk, a prehistoric site situated at the central Aegean coast of Anatolia. The settlement was inhabited from the Neolithic, through the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age 1 periods, a period lasting from the early 7th to the early 3rd millennium BCE. A long-term interdisciplinary study of the excavated lithics with different scientific methods on various stone materials (thin section analysis, pXRF, NAA, LA-ICP-MS) offer new primary data about the procurement strategies of prehistoric societies from a diachronic perspective. The results will be presented for the first time with an overview of all source materials and their distinct use through time. \u0000The lithic assemblages from Cukurici Hoyuk consist of a considerable variety of small finds, grinding stones and chipped stone tools. The high variability of raw materials within the different categories of tools is remarkable. In addition to stone tools manufactured from sources in the immediate vicinity of the settlement (i.e., mica-schist, limestone, marble, amphibolite, serpentinite), others are of rock types such as chert, which indicate an origin within the broader region. Moreover, volcanic rocks, notably the exceptionally high amount of Melian obsidian found at Cukurici Hoyuk, attest to the supra-regional procurement of distinct rock types. Small stone axes made of jadeite presumably from the Greek island of Syros, also indicate these far-reaching procurement strategies. \u0000The systematic and diachronic analyses of the stone tools found at Cukurici Hoyuk has demonstrated that as early as the Neolithic period extensive efforts were made to supply the settlement with carefully selected raw materials or finished goods procured from distinct rock sources.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":"1-25"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42121339","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}
Balatonőszod - Temetői dűlő is one of the largest excavated and longest-lived sites of the Late Copper Age Baden Culture in Hungary, where 500 lithic finds were registered. In the site finds belonging to the late Middle Copper Age Balaton-Lasinja Culture and the Late Copper Age Boleraz Culture were found too. This paper presents petrographic and geochemical analyses of stone utensils, mostly of grinding stones, made of red, or discoloured white sandstones. Almost all sandstone artefacts are upper and lower stones of grinding equipment and polishers, as well as objects whose function is not known, worked and non-worked fragments; boulders of raw material are also in the studied set. The detailed petrographic and geochemical methods applied here are polarized light microscopy and a distribution study of the framework grains in thin section, and ICP-OES and ICP-MS as bulk rock chemical methods. The results were compared to published petrographic and geochemical data. Most of the studied artefacts were made of the rocks of the Red Sandstone and Siltstone Member of the Balaton Highland Sandstone Formation, especially from the mature type sandstone in which quartz is predominant, and which is almost free of feldspar. This type is characteristic of the confines of the Southern Balaton Highland and the lower part of the formation in the Northern Balaton Highland. A minor part of the studied artefacts - red or purple, purplish grey sandstones - originates from the sandstones of the Jakabhegy Sandstone Formation (Western Mecsek mountains).
{"title":"Red sandstone as raw material of Baden culture (Late Copper Age) grinding stones (Balatonőszöd - Temetői dűlő site, Hungary), with a review of the red sandstone formations of SW Hungary","authors":"B. Péterdi","doi":"10.2218/jls.3092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.3092","url":null,"abstract":"Balatonőszod - Temetői dűlő is one of the largest excavated and longest-lived sites of the Late Copper Age Baden Culture in Hungary, where 500 lithic finds were registered. In the site finds belonging to the late Middle Copper Age Balaton-Lasinja Culture and the Late Copper Age Boleraz Culture were found too. \u0000This paper presents petrographic and geochemical analyses of stone utensils, mostly of grinding stones, made of red, or discoloured white sandstones. \u0000Almost all sandstone artefacts are upper and lower stones of grinding equipment and polishers, as well as objects whose function is not known, worked and non-worked fragments; boulders of raw material are also in the studied set. \u0000The detailed petrographic and geochemical methods applied here are polarized light microscopy and a distribution study of the framework grains in thin section, and ICP-OES and ICP-MS as bulk rock chemical methods. The results were compared to published petrographic and geochemical data. \u0000Most of the studied artefacts were made of the rocks of the Red Sandstone and Siltstone Member of the Balaton Highland Sandstone Formation, especially from the mature type sandstone in which quartz is predominant, and which is almost free of feldspar. This type is characteristic of the confines of the Southern Balaton Highland and the lower part of the formation in the Northern Balaton Highland. \u0000A minor part of the studied artefacts - red or purple, purplish grey sandstones - originates from the sandstones of the Jakabhegy Sandstone Formation (Western Mecsek mountains).","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43424889","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}
Luis Eduardo Cornejo Bustamante, Patricio Galarce Cornejos, Miguel Villanueva, L. Riquelme
This paper presents the results of a study of the composition of lithic raw materials from the contexts of archaeological sites of hunter-gatherers of Central Chile (latitudes 33° to 34.5° S) between 5000 to 1000 years BP. This territory is characterized by a wide distribution of certain coarse and medium-grained lithic raw materials (andesite, basalt and granite), preferably used in low formatted tools, and the specific location of those of fine grain (obsidian and siliceous rocks), suitable for bifacial reduction, only in some localities. In this analysis, 22 sites have been included, each of which presents different proportions of these raw materials in their context, a set that, when analysed in terms of the diversity of each case, generated clear spatial groupings which were ratified by means of a principle component analysis. These groupings of sites are located in direct association with the lithic landscape of different localities within the region, although we propose that the simple cost-benefit explanation would not account for their formation. According to the authors, these groups would be marked by behaviours that can only result from social restrictions on access to certain sources of these raw materials, especially considering that the distances between their location and the position of the different sources in several cases is not too large to be considered a factor in itself. These restrictions could be interpreted as the existence of socially different groups within the study area, a question that is compared with ethnographic data currently available on the size of the territories of different groups of hunter-gatherers and their annual mobility ranges.
{"title":"Lithic resources as a proxy for the social use of territory among hunter-gatherers of Central Chile","authors":"Luis Eduardo Cornejo Bustamante, Patricio Galarce Cornejos, Miguel Villanueva, L. Riquelme","doi":"10.2218/JLS.4288","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/JLS.4288","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents the results of a study of the composition of lithic raw materials from the contexts of archaeological sites of hunter-gatherers of Central Chile (latitudes 33° to 34.5° S) between 5000 to 1000 years BP. This territory is characterized by a wide distribution of certain coarse and medium-grained lithic raw materials (andesite, basalt and granite), preferably used in low formatted tools, and the specific location of those of fine grain (obsidian and siliceous rocks), suitable for bifacial reduction, only in some localities. In this analysis, 22 sites have been included, each of which presents different proportions of these raw materials in their context, a set that, when analysed in terms of the diversity of each case, generated clear spatial groupings which were ratified by means of a principle component analysis. These groupings of sites are located in direct association with the lithic landscape of different localities within the region, although we propose that the simple cost-benefit explanation would not account for their formation. According to the authors, these groups would be marked by behaviours that can only result from social restrictions on access to certain sources of these raw materials, especially considering that the distances between their location and the position of the different sources in several cases is not too large to be considered a factor in itself. These restrictions could be interpreted as the existence of socially different groups within the study area, a question that is compared with ethnographic data currently available on the size of the territories of different groups of hunter-gatherers and their annual mobility ranges.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44554036","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 crystalline geological substratum of the Armorican Massif, in the West of France, is devoid of flint nodules in primary position. As a result, during Prehistory, humans developed different strategies for making their toolkits, either by adapting production methods to local rocks from diverse sources, or by importing materials from the sedimentary margins. This article proposes to analyse the distribution of lithic materials during the Mesolithic as the consequence of a succession of collective choices. Many sedimentary, metamorphic or plutonic rocks of local origin were used, and considerably increased in quantity from the Early Mesolithic to the Late Mesolithic. After the identification of the geological origin of the rocks, a series of mechanical analyses were carried out to define their properties. Then, the social integration process of these rocks was addressed. The lithic assemblages of Beg-er-Vil (Quiberon) and la Presqu’ile (Brennilis) were then described to tangibly explain the intentions of productions in coastal and continental economies respectively during the Late Mesolithic (end of the seventh and sixth millennia BCE). The toolkits in both economies are strictly identical, but two different lithic management systems were clearly in place. The first, on the coast, consisted exclusively of production on pebbles, whereas, the other, inland, used a wide range of materials of mediocre quality. During the Mesolithic (and unlike Neolithic practices), and in this context of geological paucity, sacrificing technical standards always seemed preferable to long-distance acquisitions by means of imports or exchanges.
法国西部Armorican地块的结晶地质底层，其主要位置没有燧石结核。因此，在史前时期，人类制定了不同的工具包制作策略，要么根据不同来源的当地岩石调整生产方法，要么从沉积边缘进口材料。本文建议分析中石器时代石器材料的分布，这是一系列集体选择的结果。使用了许多当地来源的沉积岩、变质岩或深成岩，从中石器时代早期到中石器时代晚期，数量显著增加。在确定岩石的地质成因后，进行了一系列力学分析，以确定其性质。然后，讨论了这些岩石的社会融合过程。然后描述了Beg er Vil（Quiberon）和la Presqu’ile（Brennilis）的石器时代组合，以明确解释中石器时代晚期（公元前七千年和公元前六千年末）沿海和大陆经济体的生产意图。两个经济体的工具包完全相同，但两个不同的石器时代管理系统显然已经到位。第一种是在海岸，只生产鹅卵石，而另一种是在内陆，使用了各种质量平平的材料。在中石器时代（与新石器时代不同），在地质匮乏的背景下，牺牲技术标准似乎总是比通过进口或交换的方式进行远距离收购更可取。
{"title":"Interpreting transfers of rocks during the Mesolithic in the West of France","authors":"G. Marchand","doi":"10.2218/JLS.5169","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/JLS.5169","url":null,"abstract":"The crystalline geological substratum of the Armorican Massif, in the West of France, is devoid of flint nodules in primary position. As a result, during Prehistory, humans developed different strategies for making their toolkits, either by adapting production methods to local rocks from diverse sources, or by importing materials from the sedimentary margins. This article proposes to analyse the distribution of lithic materials during the Mesolithic as the consequence of a succession of collective choices. Many sedimentary, metamorphic or plutonic rocks of local origin were used, and considerably increased in quantity from the Early Mesolithic to the Late Mesolithic. After the identification of the geological origin of the rocks, a series of mechanical analyses were carried out to define their properties. Then, the social integration process of these rocks was addressed. The lithic assemblages of Beg-er-Vil (Quiberon) and la Presqu’ile (Brennilis) were then described to tangibly explain the intentions of productions in coastal and continental economies respectively during the Late Mesolithic (end of the seventh and sixth millennia BCE). The toolkits in both economies are strictly identical, but two different lithic management systems were clearly in place. The first, on the coast, consisted exclusively of production on pebbles, whereas, the other, inland, used a wide range of materials of mediocre quality. During the Mesolithic (and unlike Neolithic practices), and in this context of geological paucity, sacrificing technical standards always seemed preferable to long-distance acquisitions by means of imports or exchanges.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44230762","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}
In this article, we examine the strategies behind the acquisition and reduction of black obsidian found in rock shelters and shell middens from the north coast of the Santa Cruz Province, in Argentine Patagonia. Geochemical analyses performed on black obsidian artifacts from this area posit the long-distance circulation of this raw material given its source at Pampa del Asador, located approximately 400 km to the west. In a previous article, we suggested that evidence for the initial knapping of obsidian pebbles, added to the identification of artifacts with high cortex percentage, implied that obtaining pieces of said raw material would have been based on pebble morphologies. Here we expand on this proposal, contending that this was the case at least for Late Holocene occupational contexts. During the Middle Holocene an exceptionally low representation of very small-sized debris without cortical reserve was observed; cores and tools were not registered. Knapping activities related to intermediate technical steps in the framework of core reduction and blank production were evidenced, including small and very small flakes as well as bifacial preforms. We inferred that obsidian pieces probably entered into these Middle Holocene sites as part of personal toolkits, cores and bifacial artifacts without cortex, within the framework of exploratory incursions into the area. For the Late Holocene occupations, taking into consideration the presence of obsidian pebbles, of similar dimensions to those registered at the source itself, we suggest that their procurement would have occurred through various mechanisms, such as the establishment and strengthening of social relations within the context of mobility circuits that would have linked the coast to the interior, among other factors.
在这篇文章中，我们研究了在阿根廷巴塔哥尼亚圣克鲁斯省北海岸的岩石庇护所和贝壳丘中发现的黑曜石的获取和减少背后的策略。对来自该地区的黑曜石文物进行的地球化学分析表明，这种原材料的长距离循环来源于位于西部约400公里的Pampa del Asador。在之前的一篇文章中，我们提出了黑曜石鹅卵石最初被切割的证据，加上对具有高皮质百分比的人工制品的识别，这意味着获得上述原材料的碎片可能是基于鹅卵石的形态。在这里，我们扩展了这一建议，认为这是至少在全新世晚期的职业背景下的情况。在中全新世期间，观察到的非常小的碎屑没有皮层储备，其代表性非常低;内核和工具未注册。与芯还原和毛坯生产框架中的中间技术步骤相关的扣扣活动得到了证明，包括小片和非常小的薄片以及双面预制体。我们推断黑曜石可能是作为个人工具包、岩心和双面人工制品的一部分进入这些中全新世遗址的，是在探索侵入该地区的框架内。对于全新世晚期的占领，考虑到黑曜石鹅卵石的存在，其尺寸与源头本身相似，我们认为它们的获取可能通过各种机制发生，例如在将海岸与内陆联系起来的流动回路背景下建立和加强社会关系，以及其他因素。
{"title":"Black obsidian procurement strategies and circulation along the northern coast of the Santa Cruz Province (Argentine Patagonia): human mobility and interaction","authors":"Pablo Ambrústolo","doi":"10.2218/JLS.5227","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/JLS.5227","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we examine the strategies behind the acquisition and reduction of black obsidian found in rock shelters and shell middens from the north coast of the Santa Cruz Province, in Argentine Patagonia. Geochemical analyses performed on black obsidian artifacts from this area posit the long-distance circulation of this raw material given its source at Pampa del Asador, located approximately 400 km to the west. In a previous article, we suggested that evidence for the initial knapping of obsidian pebbles, added to the identification of artifacts with high cortex percentage, implied that obtaining pieces of said raw material would have been based on pebble morphologies. Here we expand on this proposal, contending that this was the case at least for Late Holocene occupational contexts. \u0000During the Middle Holocene an exceptionally low representation of very small-sized debris without cortical reserve was observed; cores and tools were not registered. Knapping activities related to intermediate technical steps in the framework of core reduction and blank production were evidenced, including small and very small flakes as well as bifacial preforms. We inferred that obsidian pieces probably entered into these Middle Holocene sites as part of personal toolkits, cores and bifacial artifacts without cortex, within the framework of exploratory incursions into the area. \u0000For the Late Holocene occupations, taking into consideration the presence of obsidian pebbles, of similar dimensions to those registered at the source itself, we suggest that their procurement would have occurred through various mechanisms, such as the establishment and strengthening of social relations within the context of mobility circuits that would have linked the coast to the interior, among other factors.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48994269","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 discusses the importance of the discovery of one déjeté Levallois tool from the surface of a dark grey and black patinated gravel terrace located ca. 500 m south-west of the Neolithic site of Sheri Khan Tarakai in the Bannu Basin (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan), and provides a detailed geomorphological description of the area where it was found. The Neolithic site rests on a large gravelly fan, at present terraced and dismembered by small seasonal streams. Scatters of black varnished pebbles, at the top of a thick ochre silt of possible alluvial origin, cover its surface. Amongst the numerous siliceous gravels forming the deposit, some are of a good quality chert, whose source can be found in the Tertiary Sulaiman Formation. The typological characteristics of the tool, the chert employed for its manufacture, its location and the presence of black patina on its cortex are all important elements that contribute to the definition of the Pleistocene period during which pebble terraces formed. The tool comes from a region where Middle Palaeolithic artefacts had never been found before, though the reanalysis of old collections would suggest their presence as far as the course of the Indus in Lower Sindh. Moreover, its discovery contributes to the study of the south-eastern spread of the Middle Palaeolithic Levallois technique, an important topic that still needs to be fully understood.
{"title":"Short Report: A déjeté Levallois tool from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) and the role it plays in the chronology of the Pleistocene terraces of the Bannu Basin","authors":"P. Biagi, R. Nisbet, Romana Haider","doi":"10.2218/jls.5171","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.5171","url":null,"abstract":"This paper discusses the importance of the discovery of one déjeté Levallois tool from the surface of a dark grey and black patinated gravel terrace located ca. 500 m south-west of the Neolithic site of Sheri Khan Tarakai in the Bannu Basin (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan), and provides a detailed geomorphological description of the area where it was found. The Neolithic site rests on a large gravelly fan, at present terraced and dismembered by small seasonal streams. Scatters of black varnished pebbles, at the top of a thick ochre silt of possible alluvial origin, cover its surface. Amongst the numerous siliceous gravels forming the deposit, some are of a good quality chert, whose source can be found in the Tertiary Sulaiman Formation. The typological characteristics of the tool, the chert employed for its manufacture, its location and the presence of black patina on its cortex are all important elements that contribute to the definition of the Pleistocene period during which pebble terraces formed. The tool comes from a region where Middle Palaeolithic artefacts had never been found before, though the reanalysis of old collections would suggest their presence as far as the course of the Indus in Lower Sindh. Moreover, its discovery contributes to the study of the south-eastern spread of the Middle Palaeolithic Levallois technique, an important topic that still needs to be fully understood.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45921083","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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