Anthropologie最新文献

The article is devoted to the problem of interpretation of Mammoth Bone Dwellings. The author considers the history of the tradition to interpret bone structures as ruins of dwellings. He concludes that this interpretation was formulated a priori. The published data on the taphonomy of faunal remains, as well as on the stratigraphy of archaeological objects belonging to the Anosovo-Mezin bone construction, are analyzed in this paper. Currently available data allow concluding that this type of archaeological structure could not be interpreted as remnants of dwellings. Anosovo-Mezin bone constructions demonstrate the final stage of the very specific tradition that existed in the Palaeolithic of Central and Eastern Europe. There is every reason to believe that these objects were determined by the religious ideas of their creators.

An excavation at Le Cassé (Cornebarrieu, Haute-Garonne) has provided new data on Late Middle Pleistocene technical production on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees. Despite the fact that the site was developed in several phases, as revealed by the analysis of the surface conditions, the archaeological remains show a certain technological homogeneity. Raw materials were obtained from alluvial deposits on the lower and middle terraces of the Garonne. Some materials, such as quartz and quartzite from the Massif Central or the Montagne Noire, and silica from Verdier, testify to the wider area covered by the site. The petrographic composition is 97% quartzite and quartzite and 3% silica. A partial economy of raw materials is expressed by the use of silicites for Levallois reduction, which is rare, and for light tools on flakes, whereas 96% of heavy-duty tools are made of quartzite. The reduction processes are often non-standard, associated with alternating surface production and Discoid, often unifacial. Heavy duty tools, often on large flake blanks, include unifaces, bifaces and cleavers. Taken together, this data, placed in the context of the techno-complexes of the northern Pyrenees, suggests that the Cassé series belongs to the Acheulean “pyrénéo-garonnais”. In the broader context of the end of the Middle Pleistocene in southern Europe, the Cassé data supports the previously proposed hypothesis of a techno-cultural unit common to the north and south of the Pyrenees.

Recent discoveries in Yunnan province have confirmed the presence of the Hoabinhian technocomplex in this southern part of China. Compared with the history of Hoabinhian research in Southeast Asia, which goes back almost a century with numerous Hoabinhian sites dating back to the late Upper Pleistocene and Holocene, southwest China is still a blank page on the Hoabinhian question until recent years. For the vast territory of Yunnan (394,000 km²), we currently have only two published ancient Hoabinhian sites (Xiaodong rockshelter and Dedan cave) with reliable dating and typo-technological studies. To test the “Chinese Hoabinhian Homeland” hypothesis and the geo-strategic importance of Yunnan in migration routes to Southeast Asia, proposed in previous studies, modern archaeological methods should enable more sites in these southern Chinese regions to be discovered, excavated and studied. Firstly, fieldwork carried out in southwestern Yunnan in recent years (investigation, prospecting, excavation, etc.), where numerous lithic artefacts with Hoabinhian affinities have been collected, is discussed. The aim of this article is to present the typo-technological composition of these unpublished lithic assemblages from nine caves and open-air localities. Although we do not yet have precise stratigraphic information, their presence could nonetheless confirm the presence of the Hoabinhian lithic tradition in this region located in the upper reaches of the Mekong and Salween rivers within the most northerly humid tropical forest environment in Southeast Asia. Finally, we will discuss the diffusion strategy of Hoabinhian settlements in East Asia in a specific environmental and geographical context, as well as their possible dispersal along the river routes that irrigate and structure the relief of Southwest China and Peninsular Asia.

As an intermediate region between the Central Iranian Plateau and Central Asia, the northeast of Iran was at the heart of Pleistocene populations’ movements between both regions. The Paleolithic survey conducted in the Jovin-Joghatai plain permitted to identify six sites. In this paper, these newfound sites are introduced and the raw material sources used at them are analyzed through petrographic tests before putting their surface assemblages into the context of the Paleolithic eastern Iran. The paper results in the identification of two sites characterized by the so-called pebble-tools. Notwithstanding some slight differences, the assemblages seem to be closed to those from the Paleolithic sites of northeast Iran, such as Abarvan in Kashafrud and Mushan Tepeh in Neyshabur as well as Kuldara in Tajikistan. On the other hand, they display disparities with the lithic industries of western Turkmenistan, Yangadja site as well as Dagh Jazireh in eastern Iran. The remaining four sites are attributable to the Middle Paleolithic on account of their affinities with centers in Central Asia such as Teshik-Tash in Uzbekistan, and Jahan Abad, Damghani, and Kalat-eShur in eastern Iran as well as the Mirak complex in the central plateau. Yet, no significant correlations seem to exist between the Middle Paleolithic industries of the Jovin-Joghatai plain and those of Kiaram and Khunik caves in eastern Iran.

The Apidima A cave, near Areópoli in the Peloponnese in Greece, has revealed two skulls of advanced Homo erectus or Anteneandertals, dated to around 170,000 years ago (isotope stage 6). They were deposited side by side, at the bottom of the cave that was accessible at the time, close to the ceiling, in a narrow diaclase less than 50 cm wide. Both have the same anatomical characteristics and belong to the same phyletic group. One, more robust than the other, was male and rested on the back of the skull, while the other, slightly more graceful, was female and rested on the face. No other human remains, or piece of lithic industry were associated with these skulls. Only three round pebbles, probably of marine origin, were found next to the skulls. They were intentionally deposited for ritual purposes.

New datings have been carried out on bones of the Geum-Gul cave in the city of Daniang in the Republic of Korea. The dating obtained by U-Th LA-ICPMS-MC give an age that is too recent in view of the handaxes, picks and chopper industries found in this cave. It is likely that the bones analyzed were enriched in uranium by infiltration water during regular flooding of the Nam Han River.

In Northern China, an old excavated site has been re-studied in Paris (Institut de Paléontologie Humaine), formerly excavated by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. It consists of blanks and heavy flakes obtained from multi-facetted cores. The implements contain scrapers, denticulates, robust points (“Tayac”). It has been compared with Caune de l’Arago site, Tautavel in Southern France.

The Hoabinhian phenomenon was long considered a late Paleolithic technocomplex in Southeast Asia. Recently, the discovery of several Hoabinhian sites in southwest China largely expanded its tempo-spatial distributions and enriched the toolkit of Hoabinhian hunter-gatherers. The Hoabinbian stone tools are often made with river cobbles of large to medium size and rarely reach over 150 mm and 1 kg. However, this perspective towards Hoabinhian cutting tools can be updated with recurring tools made on massive and even giant boulders discovered at Chinese Hoabinhian sites. Here we present the mega lithic tools (> 150 mm, 2 kg) from the first and also the currently known earliest Hoabinhian site – Xiaodong rockshelter in southwest China. These tools’ productional and techno-functional characteristics were described and illustrated, and whether they have utilitarian purposes was discussed. Although these massive, giant, heavy-duty Hoabinhian tools are morpho-typologically similar to those large-medium ones found at the site, their original size may endow new aspects (cognitive, technical, symbolic, social, etc.) to these tools that are still poorly understood.

The Nanposhan site Nanposhan is an open-air prehistoric site, located on the fourth terrace (T4, Bose Basin) of the left bank of the Youjiang tributary of the Bose River, in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Province (China). This site yielded an abundant lithic industry (516 pieces). This lithic assemblage is mainly formed by abundant pebble tools, including choppers, rare picks and bifaces. The other flake tools, of small dimensions, which we call “small tools”, are rare and little retouched. According to the various typo-technological analyzes carried out on the Nanposhan industry, it belongs to the Lower Paleolithic.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge on the first human occupations predating MIS 21 in the Atapuerca karst system. These occupations are described in terms of their ecological, cultural and technological context based on the Sima del Elefante and Gran Dolina sites. This paper focuses on the lower units of these sedimentary infills, specifically Unit TE9 of Sima del Elefante and Unit TD4 of Gran Dolina. In addition, evidence of the earliest human settlements in Europe is reviewed and hypotheses about the dynamics and intensity of that settlement are proposed.