ABSTRACT Microscopic artifacts help archaeologists study ancient societies and site formation processes. They have struggled to analyze them objectively, though. The traditional microscope-based approach has limited the number of samples and increased intra- and inter-observer errors. Here, we present an alternative based on experimental archaeology, Dynamic Image Analysis (DIA), and statistics. We ask whether microdebitage – the almost invisible debris from stone-knapping – has the same shape as macrodebitage or lithic artifacts wider than 4 mm. We collaborated with four modern stone-knappers to gather lithic debris. A new type of particle analyzer allowed us to measure five relevant variables for 23,694 knapping debris items. We use DIA to count, describe, and size-grade the debitage. We then analyze the resulting spreadsheet statistically. The results indicate highly significant statistical differences between microdebitage and macrodebitage as well as among microdebitage size classes. Combining experimental archaeology, DIA, and statistics enables the quantitative study of microdebitage.

ABSTRACT New information is presented on the particular design of side-scrapers and knives, referred to as long-edge artifact on biface (LEAB), and its spatial and temporal distribution in southern Patagonia is explored. The analysis considers morphological and technological characteristics, the presence of four specific attributes (overshot, platform, end thinning, and domes), and functional information at a microscopic level. A total of 101 lithics originating from academic investigations, private collections, and environmental impact assessments from different locations around the Santa Cruz province (Patagonia, Argentina) are studied. The distribution of LEAB reaches different sectors of steppe and mountain forest areas from at least 7000 years BP and into the late Holocene. In addition, LEAB manufacture among inland hunting-gathering populations and between them and maritime hunter-gatherers is recorded. These results support the transmission of information about LEAB design circulation across Southern Patagonia.

ABSTRACT The Acheulean has long been defined by its characteristic large bifacial implements (“Large Cutting Tools”), which appear from its very beginning. While experimental work attests to the usefulness of these tools in heavy-duty cutting tasks, the morphology of these experimental tools is often very different to Early Acheulean forms, with use-wear confirmation of their deployment at this time extremely patchy. This leaves open the potential for other explanations of biface innovation, including that they evolved as a specialized core form. Here, a dedicated methodology for the comparison of Oldowan-like cores and Early Acheulean-like bifaces is presented, alongside a preliminary analysis of changes to core morphology throughout the knapping process. The results highlight some key differences in the metric variables under consideration, that may have implications for later analysis of flake morphology. This paper also serves to discuss potential limitations of the method that could be addressed in future replications.

ABSTRACT Lithic artifacts from the lower layers of the Helong Dadong site (27-24 Ka cal BP) in the Changbai Mountains were examined to elucidate the technological organization of prehistoric hunter-gatherers at the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The results show: (1) there are no LGM remains due to an occupational gap between the upper and lower layers; (2) burins were maintainably designed, and burin detachments may have had multiple purposes; (3) many artifacts show evidence of recycling and/or redesign; (4) artifacts were efficiently used, none were specialized tools for a single task. This study concludes that the lithic technological organization of the Dadong site’s lower layer is associated with highly mobile foragers of the LGM. However, with the development of the LGM, the climate became colder. Foraging patterns had to change, possibly causing the chronological hiatus in habitation.

ABSTRACT This study examines knapping techniques in the production of stone tools made on dolerite to understand the knapping characteristics of this igneous tool stone. Extensive experimental research exists on the knapping of silica-rich materials like flint, yet studies on materials low in silica remain scarce. Dolerite, an igneous rock composed mainly of plagioclase, feldspar, and pyroxene, has been used during the Palaeolithic globally and the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of Africa specifically. We address two questions: (i.) Does the application of different knapping techniques to dolerite produce artifacts with distinguishable attributes? (ii.) Are these attributes similar to or different from those of flint? Using three direct percussion techniques, we created an experimental reference assemblage on dolerite and conducted a quantitative attribute analysis. Our findings indicate that knapping techniques can be distinguished at the assemblage level, with attributes significantly different from flint, highlighting the need for further studies on diverse lithic materials.

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the lithology and raw material provenance of stone artifacts discovered in the prehistoric cave of Kouvaras in Eastern Attica, dating back to the 10th-9th millennia B.C. The study aims to determine whether these prehistoric artifacts were made on local or non-local raw materials. The research consists of two main components: a field study to detect the geological features of the region and collect raw material samples, and a laboratory investigation using XRD, SEM and p-XRF techniques to conduct a petrological analysis. The results suggest that relying solely on chert chemistry to effectively determine the sources of chert artifacts is not a reliable method. By combining several analytical methods and taking a holistic approach, researchers can gain valuable insights into prehistoric human interactions with the local geological environment and the use of available natural resources to make artifacts in prehistoric times.

ABSTRACT The acquisition and use of stone raw materials by prehistoric groups requires many strategic decisions that affect various costs and benefits. These decisions entail consideration of a number of characteristics of the available materials themselves, including quality, nodule size, source location, spatial distribution and abundance. In addition, they must take into account the intended uses – the types and requirements of the different tools to be made. An example using assemblages of Late Paleolithic and Early Mesolithic artifacts from southwestern Germany explores the nature of such decisions. Aspects of blank production and use of different materials for different classes of artifacts are explored.

ABSTRACT The Victoria West core technology (VWCT) has long been regarded as an important and uniquely prepared core tradition in the Acheulean. This technology is currently the earliest prepared core technology (0.8–1.1 Ma) to appear during the Paleolithic. The VWCT is thought to have many conceptual and technological similarities with the Levallois technology and is sometimes considered to be a “proto-Levallois” tradition. The discovery and subsequent analyses of VWCT have led to extensive discussion among Paleolithic archaeologists about the origin and development of prepared core technologies and associated complex cognitive abilities of early hominins. Unfortunately, VWCT has only been reported from one restricted area of the world, central South Africa. This has made it difficult to determine how widespread this behavior may have been. Here, we report evidence of a similar technology to the VWCT outside South Africa, from the Bose (Baise) Basin in southern China, a basin that has long been considered a core large cutting tool-bearing region in eastern Asia. Eight stone artifacts from the Middle Pleistocene Fengshudao site in Bose appear to be quite similar to the VWCT from the Canteen Kopje site in South Africa. These findings from Fengshudao potentially expand the distribution area of this technologyto eastern Asia and for the first time demonstrate that prepared core technology, along with the required cognitive abilities, also exists in the East Asian Early Paleolithic. The Fengshudao evidence from southern China, being so far east of South Africa suggests this may be a case of convergent evolution.

ABSTRACT The northwestern Caucasus is part of the Eastern Micoquian cultural area. The Micoquian assemblages in this region include tool types that are defined as small broad handaxes, Mousterian points, convergent and angled scrapers, and rare limaces. All these types represent the group of convergent tools that are defined by two basic elements: two convergent retouched edges. The focus of this study is to investigate the significance of morphological variability among convergent tools characteristic to the Eastern Micoquian. We undertook a morphometric analysis of 188 convergent tools from Mezmaiskaya Cave. The results indicated five tool groups.

ABSTRACT Recycling was an activity carried out by ancient hunter-gatherer populations. It has been demonstrated by many studies on this matter. However, there are main issues in relation to it that are still under debate: what we call recycling, how we identify it, and what implications it has for the technoeconomic dynamics of these groups. In order to contribute to this topic, we present here the Neandertal flint materials from the stratigraphic unit viii of the El Salt rockshelter (Alcoi, Alacant, eastern Iberia). We have selected a series of artifacts exhibiting time-dependent postgenetic alterations (i.e. white patinas and thermal alteration) that affect previous technical intervention and, additionally, display subsequent anthropogenic actions that reveal an intermediate stage between the initial and the second use. The data obtained point to a principal relationship of recycling with mobility dynamics, and entail implications for Neandertal lithic technology and provisioning.