Stone Tool Assemblages Research Articles

The effects of climate and population on human land use patterns in Europe from 22ka to 9ka ago

Between 22ka and 9ka ago, after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and during the transition to the Holocene, mobile hunter-gatherer populations, differentiated by their stone tool assemblages, periodically dispersed and contracted across Europe. It is well understood that climate played an important role in human distributions and population sizes during the post-LGM Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, but the question remains as to whether increasing population sizes drove early human dispersal. Here, using a spatiotemporal species distribution model to infer the fundamental and potential human climatic niche space of Late Upper Paleolithic, Final Paleolithic and Early Mesolithic Europe, and hypotheses derived from the Ideal Distribution Model, we test i) how changes in climate affected the size and extent of the projected potential human niche space, ii) for effects of changes in size of projected potential niche on regional human population sizes, iii) whether increasing human population sizes drove human dispersal into less climatically suitable habitats, and iv) whether populations associated with different high-order material culture groupings (macro-level technocomplexes) occupied different climatic spaces. We find that changes in climate correlate strongly with the size and extent of the projected potential human niche space, that increases in the projected human niche space correlate with increases in human population, that human population size is just beginning to become large enough to influence land use and dispersal patterns at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, and that archaeological technocultural entities overlap in their fundamental climatic niche space. This overlap implies that changing tools forms cannot readily been seen as reflecting adaptations to changing climates.

Reconstructing Neolithic obsidian procurement in Western Georgia through an obsidian characterization study

The Caucasus, situated strategically in terms of natural geography and abundant raw materials, has been attractive to the interest of prehistoric hunter-gatherers throughout ancient times. Recent discoveries at the Neolithic site of Makhvilauri in the Ajara region, affirm this historical focus. The Makhvilauri flaked stone tool assemblage encompasses various lithic resources, of which ∼11 % (n = 59) comprise obsidian, a raw material whose closest sources are 170 km away. Using the XRF method at the Archaeometry Laboratory at the University of Missouri Reactor Research (MURR) to elementally characterise 23 of the obsidian artifacts (∼39 % of the total) we can demonstrate that the Makhvilauri assemblage was made from at least five geochemically distinct sources. This analysis not only sheds light on the mobility patterns of ancient communities but also underscores the extensive contacts established during the Neolithic period (6th millennium BC).

Increasing obsidian diversity during the Chalcolithic Period at Yeghegis-1 Rockshelter (Armenia) reveals shifts in land use and social networks

The newly excavated rockshelter of Yeghegis-1 in Armenia reflects an occupation of five centuries, as attested by radiocarbon dates from ∼ 4100 to 4000 cal BCE in the lowest layer to ∼ 3600–3500 cal BCE at the top. It is a partially collapsed cave in which pastoralists, we hypothesize, wintered with their herds. The stone tool assemblage is predominantly obsidian (92.1%), despite the shelter being > 60 km on foot from the nearest sources. We use obsidian sourcing to investigate two purported trends in the Southern Caucasus during the Chalcolithic Period: (1) occupation of more varied high-altitude environments and (2) more expansive social networks. Our data show both trends were dynamic phenomena. There was a greater balance in use of the nearest pasturelands over time, perhaps linked to risk management and/or resource sustainability. During later occupations, artifacts from distant sources reveal more extensive connections. This increase in connectivity likely played a central role in the shifts in societal complexity that gave rise to widely shared material culture throughout the Armenian Highlands around the start of the Early Bronze Age. In such a model, greater social connectivity becomes a key mechanism for, rather than a product of, the spread of cultural and/or technological innovations.

The Contribution of 2D and 3D Geometric Morphometrics to Lithic Taxonomies: Testing Discrete Categories of Backed Flakes from Recurrent Centripetal Core Reduction

AbstractPaleolithic lithic assemblages are usually dominated by flakes and display a high degree of morphological variability. When analyzing Paleolithic lithic assemblages, it is common to classify flakes into categories based on their morphological and technological features, which are linked to the position of the flake in the reduction sequence and how removals are organized in a given production method. For the analysis of Middle Paleolithic lithic assemblages, two categories of flakes are commonly identified: core–edge flakes and pseudo-Levallois points. A third type, core–edge flakes with a limited back, is also commonly found in the archaeological literature, providing an alternative category whose definition does not match the two previous types but shares many of their morphological and technological features. The present study addresses whether these three flakes constitute discrete categories based on their morphological and technological attributes. 2D and 3D geometric morphometrics are employed on an experimental set composed of the three categories of flakes to quantify morphological variation. Machine learning models and principal components biplots are used to test the discreteness of the categories. The results indicate that geometric morphometrics succeed in capturing the morphological and technological features that characterize each type of product. Pseudo-Levallois points have the highest discreteness of the three technological products, and while some degree of mixture exists between core edge flakes and core edge flakes with a limited back, they are also highly distinguishable. We conclude that the three categories are discrete and can be employed in technological lists of products for the analysis of lithic assemblages and that geometric morphometrics is useful for testing for the validity of categories. When testing these technological categories, we stress the need for well-defined and shared lithic analytical units to correctly identify and interpret the technical steps and decisions made by prehistoric knappers and to properly compare similarities and differences between stone tool assemblages. These are key aspects for current research in which open datasets are becoming more and more common and used to build interpretative techno-cultural models on large geographical scales. Now more than ever, lithic specialists are aware of the need to overcome differences in taxonomies between different school traditions.

Initial Upper Palaeolithic material culture by 45,000 years ago at Shiyu in northern China.

The geographic expansion of Homo sapiens populations into southeastern Europe occurred by ∼47,000 years ago (∼47 ka), marked by Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) technology. H. sapiens was present in western Siberia by ∼45 ka, and IUP industries indicate early entries by ∼50 ka in the Russian Altai and 46-45 ka in northern Mongolia. H. sapiens was in northeastern Asia by ∼40 ka, with a single IUP site in China dating to 43-41 ka. Here we describe an IUP assemblage from Shiyu in northern China, dating to ∼45 ka. Shiyu contains a stone tool assemblage produced by Levallois and Volumetric Blade Reduction methods, the long-distance transfer of obsidian from sources in China and the Russian Far East (800-1,000 km away), increased hunting skills denoted by the selective culling of adult equids and the recovery of tanged and hafted projectile points with evidence of impact fractures, and the presence of a worked bone tool and a shaped graphite disc. Shiyu exhibits a set of advanced cultural behaviours, and together with the recovery of a now-lost human cranial bone, the record supports an expansion of H. sapiens into eastern Asia by about 45 ka.

Ecological drivers of hunter-gatherer lithic technology from the Middle and Later Stone Age in Central Africa

Central Africa is a key region for examining patterns of hunter-gatherer inhabitation and engagement with ecological diversity and environmental change. In contrast to adjacent regions, however, the archaeological record of prehistoric hunter-gatherer populations in Central Africa is underrepresented in studies of recent human evolution. This limited engagement with Central African archaeological records in part stems from the complexities of identifying, excavating, and dating hunter-gatherer sites in what are today often heavily forested environments, a focus on named stone tool industries from undated sites to structure the record, and highly limited means to associate dated hunter-gatherer occupations with proxy records of environmental conditions. Here, we present a novel synthesis of prehistoric hunter-gatherer stone tool assemblages from dated Central African sites and use climate model datasets to illuminate the environmental and ecological landscapes in which they were deployed. Our results suggest a significant ecological shift occurred from 14,000 years ago onwards, associated with a greater engagement with broadleaf forests. We examine the extent to which a range of geographic and paleoclimatic drivers can explain patterns of gross assemblage composition and the appearance of individual lithic technologies highlighting the significant role of changes in altitude, precipitation, seasonality, and ecology. Notably, considerable continuity can be observed between the habitat ranges of contemporary hunter-gatherer populations in Central Africa and prehistoric occupations that significantly precede the appearance of farming lifeways in the region.

Urbanizing food: New perspectives on food processing tools in the Early Bronze Age villages and early urban centers of the southern Levant

The Early Bronze Age in the southern Levant is associated with the onset of urbanization processes, expressed through the emergence of walled, densely populated settlements. The local agro-pastoral economy faced new challenges regarding subsistence of the aggregated communities. We compare ground stone tool assemblages involved in food processing from rural, fortified non-urban, and urban settlements in an attempt to understand the impact of the urbanization process on foodways during that period. Additionally, we explore food processing technologies and preferences as indicators of social complexity and urban development. The results point to specialized production and wide distribution of high-quality, standardized grinding implements and, consequently, an intensification of staple food provision. We propose that this phenomenon is associated with a change of socio-economic priorities that comes with the onset of urbanism, causing a decline of the basalt bowl industry and reorganization of the food processing habitus within growing settlements. We also propose that the enhanced organization of food production concerned mainly the early urban centers, whereas villages display higher variability in modes of food processing and tendencies to utilize easily accessible materials. This indicates an opportunistic approach regarding food processing technologies and/or higher variability of local staple food resources in the rural peripheries.

An Early Bronze Age stone tool assemblage from al-Badʿ Oasis in northern Arabia: a technological and functional analysis

Archaeological research on the 4th millennium BCE throughout the Levant has shown how craft specialization, extended trade and supply routes, as well as increased social stratification, established the foundation for the urban Early Bronze Age formation process in the third quarter of the 4th millennium BCE. The specific context of northern Arabia, along the fringes of the fertile crescent, remains, on the contrary, largely unexplored. In this paper lithic finds from an Early Bronze I village, named al-Rudaydah in al-Badʿ Oasis, situated in north-western Saudi Arabia, near the Red Sea, are presented. All the stone tool artefacts, over 100 lithics, found in a rectangular drystone masonry dwelling, were subjected to technological and traceological analyses. Most of the artefacts are small chips and flakes resulting from tool maintenance and recycling. Formal tools include so-called tabular scrapers and trapezoidal blade segments with gloss. The results show that the scrapers were likely imported as blanks or ready-made tools, the glossy artefacts were likely sickle insets.

Stone-tool assemblage of the Eneolithic settlement of Tolum-1 in the Konda River Basin

In 2020, the expedition of Poengurr and the Institute of History and Archaeology of the Ural Branch of RAS investigated the settlement of Tolum-1, which functioned during the Neolithic, Eneolithic, Bronze and Early Iron Ages. The site is located in the north of Western Siberia, in Kondinsky District of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Ok-rug — Yugra. Structure (dwelling) No. 3 containing a complex of stone tools and pottery of the Enyi type, as well as the adjoint area, were investigated by an excavation trench of an area of 499 m2. On the settlement, 108 stone items were found, the large part of which concentrates within the boundaries of dwelling No. 3. The research is based upon the method of technical and typological analysis of stone-tool assemblage, implying the development of a typology of stone tools and the study of their production technology taking into account the quality of the or-namental raw materials used by the ancient population. According to the raw-material composition of the stone-tool assemblage, mainly represented by soft rocks (grey-green slate, burgundy schist, etc.) and, to a lesser ex-tent, by flint of various colors, quartz and quartzite, the ancient population of this region did not have continuous sources of high-quality ornamental raw materials. Prevailing on the settlement are the tools for woodworking (drillbit-shaped tools, adzes, chisels), and also found were knives and a representative collection of arrowheads. Items for stone processing are few: a hammer-stone, a retoucher, and two cores. There is a higher presence of unprocessed pebbles and tiles, and chips and fragments of polished products. The main technological chain on the site was production of polished tools from local gray-green slate by chipping off and subsequent grinding. The production of flint tools by splitting and retouching was insignificant. The stone assemblage of the Tolum-1 settle-ment finds analogies in the complexes of the Enyi type of the north of Western Siberia. Certain categories and types of products are more widespread — double-sided retouched fish-shaped arrowheads are found in quantity in the Trans-Urals, polished leaf-shaped arrowheads with a groove — in the Eneolithic sites of the north of Wes-tern Siberia, while polished arrowheads with a tapered truncated base were found among the Eneolithic materials of the Surgut Ob Basin and on the sites with the Ushya ceramics of the Neolithic Period of the Konda lowland. Polished rounded and teardrop-shaped pendants are found in the funerary and, to a lesser extent, settlement complexes of the Trans-Urals and Western Siberia in the Late Neolithic — Eneolithic. A series of radiocarbon dates obtained for the settlement of Tolum-1 and other sites of the Enyi type in the north of Western Siberia, as well as the technical and technological characteristics and morphology of the stone inventory of the settlement under consideration, and a wide range of analogies leave open the possibility of attributing the structure No. 3 to the Eneolithic Period, within the span of the calibrated dates in the interval of 3600–2600 BC.

Long-term behavioral adaptation of Oldowan toolmakers to resource-constrained environments at 2.3 Ma in the Lower Omo Valley (Ethiopia)

The long stratigraphic sequence of the Shungura Formation in the Lower Omo Valley documents 3 million years (Ma) of hominin evolution, which, when combined with detailed paleo-depositional environmental data, opens new perspectives for understanding the complex interactions between hominin landscape use and the development of stone tool-mediated activities. Stone tool assemblages produced by Paranthropus aethiopicus and/or a species of early Homo from ~ 2.3 Ma, reflect their ability to deal with the raw material scarce environment of the Lower Omo Valley. It remains to be seen whether this activity can be related to a single, brief occupation event or the expression of an emergent new adaptation. Here we report on the newly investigated site complex of OMO 79, which produced the first evidence for multiple phases of hominin tool-making and use in the Shungura Formation. The development of this long-lasting techno-economic behavior marks a cognitive tipping point around 2.3 Ma in the Lower Omo Valley, evidenced by the adaptability of the early hominins to resource-constrained environments.

Specialized lithic technology from Gua Arca, Kangean Island, Indonesia

Stone artifacts are a common finding at prehistoric occupation cave sites in Indonesia. Flake tools with various key functions are one of the cultural markers of the pre-Neolithic period, frequently recovered in the context of assemblages of animal bones, bone tools, and shell artifacts. Recently, excavation at a new cave site on the small island of Kangean, unearthed an extensive set of stone tools. Our analysis of this assemblage of stone tools from Arca Cave site, Kangean Island, identified specific characteristics in typology, technology, and environmental context. Dating to at least 6,000years ago, the Kangean lithic assemblage is associated with the mid-Holocene period and possibly even earlier.

Human-bird interaction in last Interglacial Iberia: A combined approach using skeletal part analysis, bone surface modification, bird ethology and ethnography

The procurement of small prey by Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers has been much discussed over the past decades, particularly with regards to birds. Birds provide information about the different ecological niches available to exploitation and contribute to the clarification of basic aspects of human behaviour and subsistence. Here, we report on the Middle Palaeolithic bird bone assemblages from reliably dated (by U-series and OSL) MIS-5 deposits of two cave sites in central Portugal with abundant stone tool assemblages and Neanderthal skeletal remains: Gruta da Figueira Brava and Gruta da Oliveira. The associated vertebrate bone assemblages document human processing of both large and small animals, including tortoises; carnivore activity is scant. Avifaunal remains can be naturally deposited in caves, or accumulated by hominin and/or carnivore/raptor activity. The collection from Gruta da Oliveira is almost exclusively composed of terrestrial species, with a predominance of corvids that are known to nest in caves and may have integrated the archaeological deposit due to natural deaths; a few, however, bear anthropogenic modification marks that, in light of the evidence from skeletal part analysis and other archaeological and ethnographic examples, suggest that they may have been targeted by Neanderthals. The assemblage from Gruta da Figueira Brava comprises marine and terrestrial taxa, including edible species, as well as diurnal and nocturnal raptors. The marine assemblage is anthropogenic and reflects the exploitation of rocky cliff and marshy/estuarine environments ∼2000 m away.

Bronze Age Platform Round-houses, Lee Burn Head, Cardrona, Scottish Borders

An archaeological excavation was undertaken in 2020 to assess the condition and impact of accidental tree planting on two poorly recorded unenclosed platforms on the hills south of Cardrona, Scottish Borders. The work recorded two round-houses in the centre of the platforms, and excavation focused on Platform 2, revealing evidence of multi-phased occupation. An artefact assemblage of coarse stone tools, stone objects and pottery sherds was recovered. Radiocarbon dating and artefactual evidence suggest a Middle Bronze Age date.

A surge in obsidian exploitation more than 1.2 million years ago at Simbiro III (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia).

Pleistocene archaeology records the changing behaviour and capacities of early hominins. These behavioural changes, for example, to stone tools, are commonly linked to environmental constraints. It has been argued that, in earlier times, multiple activities of everyday life were all uniformly conducted at the same spot. The separation of focused activities across different localities, which indicates a degree of planning, according to this mindset characterizes later hominins since only 500,000 years ago. Simbiro III level C, in the upper Awash valley of Ethiopia, allows us to test this assumption in its assemblage of stone tools made only with obsidian, dated to more than 1.2 million years (Myr) old. Here we first reconstruct the palaeoenvironment, showing that the landscape was seasonally flooded. Following the deposition of an accumulation of obsidian cobbles by a meandering river, hominins began to exploit these in new ways, producing large tools with sharp cutting edges. We show through statistical analysis that this was a focused activity, that very standardized handaxes were produced and that this was a stone-tool workshop. We argue that at Simbiro III, hominins were doing much more than simply reacting to environmental changes; they were taking advantage of new opportunities, and developing new techniques and new skills according to them.

The Technological Multiplicity of the Acheulean of the Southern Iberian Peninsula

The Acheulean of the southern Iberian Peninsula is markedly similar to the north African Acheulean. However, the characteristics of the stone tool assemblages are heterogeneous and represent complex cultural phenomena. From MIS 15, the lithic assemblages in fluvial (Guadiana, Guadalquivir and Guadalete rivers), fluvio-lacustrine (Solana del Zamborino) and karstic (Cueva del Ángel, Bolomor, Cueva Negra del río Quípar, Cueva Horá and Santa Ana) contexts exhibit analogies and technical differences representative of a phenomenon of multiplicity. Contributing to this phenomenon is the perception of technological stasis or conservatism of the Acheulean technocomplex and the different technical responses articulated by hominins to achieve equivalent results. These equivalences generate the uniformity that allows us to recognise typologies of large cutting tools (LCTs) regardless of the lithic materials used or the organisational structures of the operational sequences. These diversified typologies include handaxes, picks, and cleavers, which maintain a consistent presence despite innovations such as the Levallois flaking method. In some cases, the presence of cleavers and spheroids affects the range of represented typologies. Beneath the uniformity of the handaxes, lie organisational differences in the operational sequences. The changes and differences in the use of flakes to shape handaxes, the representation of cleavers and diversification of shaped-tool typologies all suggest differential cultural behaviours linked in part to divergent contexts. These aspects indicate that this multiplicity is related to diffusion, adaptation and cultural changes produced at the margins of the conservatism of this technocomplex. Observed changes could indicate inter-group cultural replacements, most of which retained a similar techno-typological diversity to that seen in the north African Acheulean until MIS 5. Cyclical climate change during the Middle Pleistocene affected the Strait of Gibraltar, regulating its function and conditioning the circulation of hominins and affecting cultural interactions between southern Iberian groups.

70 years later – New research at Holley Shelter, a Middle and Later Stone Age site in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

In 1952, Gordon Cramb published the first report on his excavations at Holley Shelter, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Although Cramb’s work implied organic preservation associated with a unique stone tool assemblage from a Middle Stone Age (MSA) context, Holley Shelter disappeared from the archaeological landscape until 2015, when we provided a reinvestigation of the lithic assemblages from the 1950s. Our study indicated a tentative chronological framework around Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3) for the human occupation of the site. However, Cramb’s excavations did not produce reliable chronometric ages and the botanical and zoological finds from Holley Shelter remain for the most part unstudied. This is problematic as the site constitutes one of the few inland MSA rock shelters of KwaZulu-Natal featuring organic preservation. In 2022, 70 years after Cramb’s first report, we started a new research project focusing on renewed excavations to obtain archaeological remains from a controlled stratigraphy, absolute chronometric ages and reliable data on the palaeoenvironment at the border between the coastal belt and the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal. Here, we provide initial results from the first field campaign in 2022 on the stratigraphic sequence and archaeological finds and discuss their implications for future multidisciplinary research. Significance: Environmental change can have a strong impact on hunter-gatherer behaviour, migration and technological choices. It is thus crucial to contextualise archaeological material with a strong palaeoenvironmental record. The inland of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, represents an understudied region in terms of Stone Age archaeological sites and palaeoenvironmental record. Holley Shelter is one of the few sites in South Africa with excellent organic preservation and a deep stratigraphic record, which provide a great opportunity to investigate human-landscape interaction and technological change throughout the Middle and Later Stone Age.

Living in the Mountains. Late Mesolithic/Early Neolithic Settlement in Northwest Portugal: Rock Shelter 1 of Vale de Cerdeira (Vieira do Minho)

Abstract In the 1990s, a research project was developed to identify, in the mountainous areas of the Northwest (NW) of Portugal, the existence of an occupation model associated with the last hunter–gatherer prehistoric communities in the region. Therefore, a set of consistent and detailed field surveys took place in the mountains of NW Portugal, leading to the discovery of the archaeological site named “Rock Shelter 1 of Cerdeira Valley,” a granite rock shelter situated in Cabreira mountain. The campaigns of excavations undertaken permitted the identification of two combustion structures, from which charcoal samples provided two C-14 dates, as well as a significant stone tool assemblage (around 30,000 pieces), that established the prehistoric occupation of “Rock Shelter 1 of Cerdeira Valley” between the Late Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic. This archaeological site and its body of evidences are being analysed within the context of an ongoing PhD project developed by one of the authors (P. Xavier), through two mutually related lines of research. The first one relates to the complete technological and typological study of the lithic assembly, identifying the objectives of the stone tool production, i.e. lithic production systems and related châines opératoires; and the second concerns itself with the classification and characterisation of different raw materials exploited by the prehistoric communities and, wherever possible, to make some additional considerations about raw material procurement. The goals of this article are the presentation of the methodologies adopted in the study of raw materials and the results obtained from the techno-typological study.

Jels 3, a New Late Palaeolithic Open-Air Site in Denmark, Sheds Light on the Pioneer Colonization of Northern Europe

ABSTRACT The Late Upper Palaeolithic Hamburgian tradition reflects the earliest known human presence in northern Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum. We report here on the open-air site of Jels 3 (Denmark) and its associated stone tool assemblage, which can be unambiguously attributed to this period. Along with only a handful of other sites, Jels 3 represents the northernmost limits of human expansion in Europe at this time. We conduct a technological analysis of the lithic material from Jels 3 and other relevant sites to shed new light on the behavioral processes that likely underwrote this expansion. Given that sites dating to this initial dispersal remain few, are restricted to certain geographic regions, and represent an overall lack of a well-developed settlement hierarchy, we suggest that this dispersal process is most commensurable with the earlier stages of a leap-frogging colonization targeting specific landscape elements and that it was quite possibly very short-lived.

New evidence for mountain Palaeolithic human occupation in the western Tian Shan piedmonts, eastern Uzbekistan

This article presents preliminary results from mountain survey in the Chatkal Range in the western Tian Shan piedmonts, eastern Uzbekistan. In 2021, several new Palaeolithic sites were discovered, including a single, multi-layered, open-air site—Kuksaray 2—located near a flint outcrop. The authors’ initial investigations have recovered a stone tool assemblage containing tools displaying both Middle Palaeolithic and Initial Upper Palaeolithic characteristics.

Geochemical fingerprinting of Pleistocene stone tools from the Tràng An Landscape Complex, Ninh Bình Province, Vietnam.

Raw material analyses of prehistoric stone tool assemblages can reveal insight into mobility and exchange patterns in hunter-gatherer populations by reconstructing the circulation of stone throughout ancient landscapes. In Pleistocene Southeast Asia, stone tools are generally thought to have been fashioned from easily accessible local raw materials. However, despite the consistent presence of stone tools made of igneous raw material at prehistoric sites throughout the Tràng An Landscape Complex in northern Vietnam, there are no sources of igneous raw material in the immediate vicinity. This paper presents the results of geochemical sourcing analysis of late Pleistocene igneous stone tools from Tràng An: the first analysis of its type in mainland Southeast Asia. The results shed light on mobility and raw material provisioning strategies in Pleistocene mainland Southeast Asian hunter-gatherer populations and raise questions surrounding the relationship between technological organization, raw material, and expediency in Southeast Asian stone tool assemblages.