Bone Tools Research Articles

An experimental investigation of changing cut mark cross-sectional size during butchery: Implications for interpreting tool-assisted carcass processing from cut mark samples

Butchery occurs at the intersection between technology, carcass processing behavior, and animal anatomy, and records traces on fragmentary specimens including cut marks. The causal factors and contexts that generate bone surface modifications have been well-studied in experimental archaeology but the ways in which cut mark size or morphology change with time during butchery in response to tool edge dulling or carcass desiccation is currently unknown. This study examines cut mark cross-sectional width and depth change during a sequence of experimental butchery trials that control for the effects of animal size, bone portion density, tool weight, and flake versus core tool type. Mark size is measured from vinyl molds under low-power magnification (40×) and compared to more precise 3d measurement techniques. Tool type and the order of carcass segment defleshing was systematically varied across the experiment, and a linear mixed effect regression model was used to explore the impact of these fixed factors and consider random variability introduced by potential differences in the four cows butchered by eight tools. Mark width and depth samples were negatively related to the density of the portion where marks occur, tool weight had a weak, but significant influence on mark size, and marks incised at different stages in the sequence of defleshing events were similar in width and depth. With current measurement techniques and the large variability in mark size produced during butchery, it is not impossible to infer the timing of mark creation during a tool's use life or its place in a sequence of butchery events, but methodological advancement may overturn this pessimistic conclusion.

Denisova et les traditions paléolithiques en Asie Centrale

In the very heart of Central Asia and far from any African influence, the Denisova cave has played the role of either a sediment gap or for numerous human successive occupations, from 280 to 20 thousands years. We can follow an autonomous regional evolution that takes part in continental cultural systems. At the lower levels, thick and short flakes are dated between 280 and 250 thousands years. A long historical follows from 180 to 40 thousands years with high quality blade Levallois technology. These assemblages belong to regional technical exchanges networks, and to exportations of cultural traits, linked to intense activities on the spot. At the end, between 40 and 20 thousands years, we found innovations both in technologies and in symbols (bone tools and pendants), apparently without external influences. We have not observed any relation between technological styles and the human biological variations (“modern”, Neanderthal or Denisoviens).

The Spatial Organization of Bone Crafting During the Middle and Late Mesolithic at Ringsjöholm and Strandvägen in Sweden

ABSTRACTThis paper focuses on the spatial distribution of bone tool production waste from two Mesolithic sites in Sweden, Ringsjöholm and Strandvägen, with well-preserved faunal remains including bone and antler artifacts. Local production on both sites has generated a variety of identifiable waste products deriving from complete chains of production, including unmodified bones, debitage and finished products. Identified categories include: blanks, removed epiphyses, bone flakes, and preforms. Identification of species shows that antler and bone from red deer were the preferred raw materials. Spatial statistical analyses confirm that different stages of bone tool production were organized within separate areas of the sites and that larger items were discarded in the water along the shorelines. Interestingly, blanks and preforms seem to have been stored under water for future use and demarcated clusters of bone flakes in association with dwellings represent “bone knapping floors” where production was more intense than in other areas.

Index to Titles and Authors/Editors of Books Reviewed

Index to Titles and Authors/Editors of Books Reviewed

Micromorphological analysis of the deposits at the early pottery Xianrendong cave site, China: formation processes and site use in the Late Pleistocene

Excavations at the cave site of Xianrendong (Jiangxi Province, China) recovered the earliest known pottery (20/19,000 cal bp) in the world from a typical South China Upper Paleolithic chopper–chopping tool assemblage together with bone, antler, and shell tools. Here, we present the results of micromorphological and preliminary FTIR analysis of the deposits looking at high-resolution evidence of site formation processes, stratigraphic integrity, and spatial use of the site. The excavations in the cave can be divided into two areas, east and west. We demonstrate that the contexts of the micromorphological samples from both areas show negligible disturbances within the deposits, thus supporting the stratigraphic integrity of the radiocarbon samples used to date the pottery and site sequence. We also find differences in the formation processes between the east and west areas, including evidence of anthropogenic activities such as usage of hearths and dumping areas and differing geogenic inputs during the depositional history of each area. This study, the first of its kind for a Chinese Upper Paleolithic cave site, demonstrates the advantages of the systematic use of geoarchaeological methods (micromorphology and FTIR) for reconstructing human activities and site use and their environmental contexts.

Bone tools of Late Holocene hunter‐gatherer‐fishers of North‐Central Chile: Case study of the Punta Teatinos assemblage

AbstractDuring the Late Holocene, important changes can be identified in the social dynamics of hunter‐gatherer populations in different regions of the Southern Andes. These transformations are associated with processes of demographic growth, territoriality, increased social complexity, technological innovations, and intensified exploitation of the environment. One of the technological transformations associated with these processes is the popularization of bone instruments. In this study, we discuss the functions of bone tools made by Late Holocene coastal hunters‐gatherers of North‐Central Chile, by carrying out a morphological characterization and identifying use‐wear patterns on their surfaces. Our results show that bone technology was used for hunting, fishing, and gathering activities, from flint working to processing vegetal fibres and hide. A reduce number of artefacts had an ornamental use as well. These results suggest a varied and intensive exploitation of the surrounding space by coastal groups, where bones of land animals constituted an important part of the raw materials used in bone industry. Also, we argue that some bone artefacts were elements structuring social relations, as they participated in flows of information and social networks. We conclude by arguing that the popularization of bone industry reflects the dynamics of social complexity, as well as how bone was integrated as a productive, economic, and social resource in the process of coastal hunters and gatherers who inhabited the area.

The Uluzzian in the north of Italy: insights around the new evidence at Riparo Broion

In attempt to enlighten the debate on the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, this work contributes new data from a yet unpublished site, Riparo Broion in the north-east of Italy. Studies confirm the presence of the Uluzzian technocomplex embedded in an archaeological sequence which includes Mousterian, Gravettian and Epigravettian. These layers have yielded finds of bone and lithic technology, shell beads, engraved portable art and the use of red mineral pigments, which make this archive a unique case for evaluating the implications of cultural dynamics in Northern Italy 44.0–42.4 ky BP. The diversity of the faunal assemblage recovered in layers 1f and 1g is representative of the different environments surrounding the site, with ungulates being targeted for hunting and consumption. The lithic assemblage records a high fragmentation rate due to the extensive use of the bipolar knapping technique, responsible for a large variety of splintered pieces and associated chips which also affected the backed pieces, lunates and end-scrapers. The features of the bone tools, as well as those of the marine and freshwater beads, echo the technique used in the Uluzzian in the south of Italy, confirming the geographic spread of this technocomplex in the North Adriatic region, as previously envisaged at Grotta Fumane. However, comparisons between these two sites stimulate a discussion around the possible driving forces responsible for the differences observed in technological, typological and structural lithic assemblages. A definitive scenario for the Middle Palaeolithic–Upper Palaeolithic transition in this region of Southern Europe is ongoing and Riparo Broion is adding key contributions.

Костяные орудия и персональные украшения начала верхнего палеолита из южной галереи Денисовой пещеры (коллекция 2019 года)

Костяные орудия и персональные украшения начала верхнего палеолита из южной галереи Денисовой пещеры (коллекция 2019 года)

Discussions on a bone tool from Ipoteşti, Olt County

Lucrarea tratează un obiect din corn de cerb, pentru care se propune apartenența la grupa de artefacte cunoscute drept Knotenlösern. Ineditul apariției acestei piese specifică unui anumit mediu cultural, respectiv cel avar, la Dunărea de Jos într-una dintre așezările eponime ale culturii Ipotești-Cândești, este discutat pe mai multe planuri. Lucrarea propune interpretarea piesei ca reprezentând un import din mediul cultural al Dunării Mijlocii. Autorul păstrează rezerve în ceea ce privește posibilitatea ca acele caracteristici și expresivități ale piesei observate în mediul „ avar” să se fi conservat și să fie exprimate de piesa analizată și în alt mediu cultural, cel al Dunării de Jos.

For a cultural anthropology of the last Neanderthals

The chronological and territorial expansion of neandertalian societies, their capacities of adaptation and expansion, show that their brutal extinction, which not only affects their ways of life but also their biological reality, cannot be rationally imputed to a natural process. As a result, we here propose that theories addressing these extinctions through these prisms cannot account for the adaptive ubiquity of these societies, or for the vast territories on which these groups settled. It appears more than ever essential to look for the processes in question in relation with thei cultural anthropology of the concerned societies. Neandertal extinction remains a purely speculative scientific field, but considering the remarkable adaptative abilities revealed by these populations, we assume on our own that climatic change, modification to environments, disappearance of traditionally hunted fauna or a subtle combination of all of these causes would thus be considered as extremely secondary in that extinction process. These factors, whose only limits are the imagination of researchers, who are distant spectators of this replacement, cannot account for the primary processes of this hominin disappearance.The approach angle is considered here as a presupposition, yet research as a discipline does not require the alignment of concepts developed by researchers but rather the demonstration of their logical constructs. Should this process be above all, not to say exclusively, approached from the point of view of the history and the sociology of these past societies? How can we understand that, after 150 years of archaeology, one of the most recent and most important hominin extinction remains focused in the Natural Sciences sphere, with no fundamental construction of a Cultural Anthropology of the last Neanderthals?More deeply, we must investigate the ethological and anthropological structures of these populations. Does a Neanderthalian ethology ever existed? The question of the identification of an ethology of biologically fossil societies cannot be evaluated on the notions of presence/absence of archaeological realities to which we subjectively confer a discriminating function (a bone tool, an ornament, a grave, - … -), but by exploring the logical identification of all the technical and cultural products of these societies. These heuristic paths are promising and still have to be scientifically explored.

Making Silent Bones Speak: The Analysis of Orphaned Osseous Tools Illustrated with Mesolithic Stray Finds

Orphaned osseous tools are very often perceived as having a high aesthetic value, but are usually under-examined. This article illustrates the research potential of these artefacts, with a case study of Mesolithic stray finds from Lithuania. Four bone points from the River Sventoji, Vaikantonys, Obsrūtai and Kamsai were subjected to AMS dating, tandem mass spectrometry for animal species identification, and technological and use-wear analysis. The results revealed that all four bone points could be dated to the Boreal period, and imply an Early to Middle Mesolithic date. Harpoons from the River Sventoji and Kamsai were most likely made of aurochs bones. All of the bone points were produced from long sections of tubular long bones, and three of the points show signs of reuse. Overall, the analysis revealed similarities with contemporaneous material in northern Europe. Within the context of the present research, the paper briefly describes other scientific methods which could be applied to orphaned bone and antler tools, including biomolecular and stable isotope analysis. Digital recording methods can be useful for bone artefact recording. This is relevant today, as the demand for good-quality digital representations is increasing, in order to apply software for further analysis, such as geometric morphometrics. As a result, more widespread and systematic applications of these new methods to orphaned osseous finds would lead to a significant activation of these finds in a scientific and outreach context. Key words: Mesolithic, osseous tools, AMS dates, protein-based analysis, use-wear. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.15181/ab.v25i0.1830

Archaeological recontextualization and first direct 14C dating of a “pseudo-excise” decorated antler point from France (Pégourié Cave, Lot). Implications on the cultural geography of southwestern Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum

During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), very specific but rare osseous decorated artifacts were produced using the “pseudo-excise” technique. These artifacts present a large geographical distribution, extending at least from the Aquitaine basin to Asturias. While in France a Badegoulian age is traditionally accepted for the “pseudo-excise” technique, this is mostly based on arguable data from old excavations and/or problematic archaeostratigraphic contexts. Since it is a key-site for this matter we have focused our attention on Pégourié Cave (Lot, France) in order to establish the chronocultural attribution of pseudo-excised pieces in southwest France. The interdisciplinary reassessment of the lithic and osseous industries from Layer 8 and 9, including inter-layer refittings, has shown (1) the irrelevance of previous stratigraphic subdivisions and (2) the strong cultural heterogeneity of this assemblage, which combines Azilian, Magdalenian, Badegoulian, Solutrean and Gravettian components. At the same time, a broad 14C program based on the direct dating of specific bone and antler technical wastes and tools—including a pseudo-excised point—was implemented after 3D recording using photogrammetry. The results obtained have allowed us to establish a new, firm confirmation of the Badegoulian age of pseudo-excised decoration and, in doing so, to more precisely define the time-range of this specific feature's trans-regional dissemination. Finally, by comparing the results with recent data notably obtained at Llonín cave (Asturias, Spain), new light has been shed on the cultural geography of southwestern Europe during the LGM, allowing us to discuss and fuel the still-controversial “Iberian Badegoulian” hypothesis.

Identifying animal taxa used to manufacture bone tools during the Middle Stone Age at Sibudu, South Africa: Results of a CT-rendered histological analysis

This paper presents the histological characterisation of a selection of worked bone artefacts from Middle Stone Age layers at Sibudu cave, South Africa. Histographic rendering is achieved using high-resolution Computed Tomography, which is non-destructive and facilitates three-dimensional histologic analysis. Excellent congruency in image quality was achieved with previous studies using this method. The results show that most of the artefact fragments contain mostly primary lamellar tissue, which is the bone tissue best adapted to withstand impact stresses. This indicates that bone with greater elastic properties was chosen. Histological characterisation allows the identification of animal taxa. Based on the sample analysed in this paper, Perissodactyla bone was used predominantly in the older layers at the site. Artiodactyla are represented throughout but appear far more frequently in the later (post-Howiesons Poort onwards) layers. Some of the Artiodactyla specimens have high proportions of Haversian tissue, reducing elasticity. The higher percentages of Haversian tissue in the post-Howiesons Poort artefacts relative to Holocene examples from southern Africa suggests that people may have started experimenting with bone from different animal taxa at this time and had not yet learned to eliminate the mechanically weaker secondary tissue. Apart from mechanical considerations, possible cultural constraints governing raw material selection is also explored.

The Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition in Northwest Italy: new evidence from Riparo Bombrini (Balzi Rossi, Liguria, Italy)

We report here preliminary results from four seasons of excavation at the rockshelter of Riparo Bombrini (2002–2005). Three markedly separate horizons were uncovered: the deepest, comprising Levels M1-7, yielded abundant Mousterian lithics and faunal remains. A second macro-unit, corresponding to Levels MS1-2, is only a few decimeters thick and is characterized by the presence of large limestone blocks from partial collapse of the shelter's vault. The scarcity of material and presence of carnivore coprolites suggest sporadic human occupation. The third macro-unit, constituted by Levels A1-3 and following immediately above Levels MS1-2, contains a rich Proto-Aurignacian industry, including Dufour bladelets, bone tools, abundant ochre, numerous decorative objects (mainly perforated shells) and widespread use of exotic raw material. New AMS dates and stratigraphic and sedimentological evidence indicate that the appearance of the Proto-Aurignacian at Bombrini dates to around 41 ky cal BP, in a phase of climatic degradation, paralleling the conditions observed for the transition at other northern Italian sites. While preliminary faunal analysis suggests little change in site use over time, the composition of the lithic assemblages point to a marked technological discontinuity between the two time periods. Riparo Bombrini's stratigraphic sequence affords important details about the environmental and cultural dynamics that marked the expansion of modern humans into Europe and the disappearance of Neandertals in that region during OIS 3. The association of a rich Proto-Aurignacian complex with an anatomically modern deciduous human tooth enhances further its importance for understanding early Upper Paleolithic in Italy.

ANALISIS POTENSI PENGHEMATAN PADA PLTU UNIT 5 DENGAN AUDIT ENERGI PADA MOTOR PEMAKAIAN SENDIRI DI PT PJB MUARA KARANG

PT PJB Muara Karang power plant is an industry with a large electrical energy consumption for auxiliary power. In ISO50001 itensitas Energy Consumption (IKE) is a great need to audit energy consumption. In the contract the company's performance also set a percentage of personal use should not exceed 6% of the electricity production. Currently Posentase usage of own consumption at power plant unit 5 is greater than the power plant unit 4. It is necessary for an energy audit for the usage of its own in order to decrease the percentage of personal use in the power plant 5 0.5% of the current conditions and find energy savings opportunities in the power plant unit 5.To analyze this problem using energy audits, analyzes the performance test method using "gate cycle" and testing the quality of the voltage source by using the power quality measurement analysis. Having found the equipment with the largest energy comsumtion fish bone tools used to find the main cause of this disorder.

When and Why? The Chronology and Context of Flint Mining at Grime’s Graves, Norfolk, England

New radiocarbon dating and chronological modelling have refined understanding of the character and circumstances of flint mining at Grime’s Graves through time. The deepest, most complex galleried shafts were worked probably from the third quarter of the 27th century calbcand are amongst the earliest on the site. Their use ended in the decades around 2400 calbc, although the use of simple, shallow pits in the west of the site continued for perhaps another three centuries. The final use of galleried shafts coincides with the first evidence of Beaker pottery and copper metallurgy in Britain. After a gap of around half a millennium, flint mining at Grime’s Graves briefly resumed, probably from the middle of the 16th century calbcto the middle of the 15th. These ‘primitive’ pits, as they were termed in the inter-war period, were worked using bone tools that can be paralleled in Early Bronze Age copper mines. Finally, the scale and intensity of Middle Bronze Age middening on the site is revealed, as it occurred over a period of probably no more than a few decades in the 14th century calbc. The possibility of connections between metalworking at Grime’s Graves at this time and contemporary deposition of bronzes in the nearby Fens is discussed.

The origin and evolution of sewing technologies in Eurasia and North America

When, how, and following which paths hominins created the innovations that allowed them to colonize regions of the planet that were not suited to their thermal physiology is still a matter of inquiry. In this paper, we elaborate a theoretical framework to investigate the origin and diversification of bone needles, summarize the evidence for their emergence, create a large database of their morphometric and stylistic characters, and present results of the study of an exceptionally well-preserved collection of needles from Shuidonggou Locality 12 (SDG12), a site located in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Northern China, dated to ca. 11.2 ka BP. Bone needles are reported from 271 sites and 355 archaeological layers. Revision of the evidence shows they represent an original cultural innovation that emerged in Eurasia between 45–40 ka BP. Size differences between the earliest known specimens, found in Siberia and China, indicate needles may have been invented independently in these two regions. Needles from Eastern Europe may represent either an independent invention or a geographic extension of earlier Siberian and Caucasian sewing traditions. In Western Europe, needles appear during the Solutrean. The wider size range characteristic of Magdalenian specimens supports the idea that needles of different sizes were used in a variety of tasks. In China, the robust sub-circular needles found at sites dated between 35–25 ka BP are followed, between 26–23 ka BP, by small flat needles, which may represent an innovation associated with the microblades/microcores toolkit. At SDG12, technological, functional, and morphometric analyses of finished needles and manufacturing by-products identify two previously undetected reduction sequences for the production of needles of different size and, probably, function. The bone needles found at Paleoindian sites are the smallest and reflect a never previously achieved mastery in the production of such tools.

Mesolithic Hunters and Fishermen of Nadporizhzhia on the Materials of Ihren 8 Site

The famous Mesolithic settlement Ihren 8 in Central Ukraine on the bank of the Dnipro River was excavated by D. Telehin, L. Zalizniak, D. Nuzhnyi in 1973—1976, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1990. The settlement consisted of 10 large deepened into the ground dwellings located along the river bank. The remains of dwellings looked like the rounded-shaped lenses of dark sand of 6,0—9,0 m in diameter and filling of 0,5—1,0 m thick. Most of them had been partly destroyed by the river. Inside the dwellings there were a lot of microlithic flint artefacts, bone tools and bones of animals (auroch, red deer, elk, horse, boar, fox, wolf, hare), swimming birds, fish and cockleshells. Flint and bone artifacts from Ihren 8 are typical for Kukrek Mesolithic culture of South Ukraine. For microlithic flint industry of the site a perfect micro-blade technique, pencil-shaped pressure flaking cores, numerous round-shaped scrapers, flake burins and Kukrek-type insets are typical. Among bone tools there are typical spearheads with slots for microblade insets. There were also found numerous points, awls, borers, adzes and arrowheads made of cracked bird bones. Several tools have the geometric ornament on surface. The site is dated by Boreal period of Holocene due to the radiocarbon dating (8th ka BCE). The deepened dwellings of the Mesolithic settlement Ihren 8 have the analogies in dwelling structures of other Mesolithic sites (for example, Viazivok 4A site in Poltava Region in Ukraine, Jasztelek site in Hungary) and also in winter semi-dugouts of Siberian people well-known under name “ground tent” or “golomo”. Obviously Ihren 8 dwellings were round in section, deepened into the ground up to 1,0 m, with conical wooden frame covered with reed and turf. According to archaeological and ethnography parallels such large deepened dwellings used as the winter dwellings for several small families of hunters and fishermen of the Dnipro River valley. During the warm seasons small families moved to the individual light dwellings on the river bank.

90,000 year-old specialised bone technology in the Aterian Middle Stone Age of North Africa.

The question of cognitive complexity in early Homo sapiens in North Africa is intimately tied to the emergence of the Aterian culture (~145 ka). One of the diagnostic indicators of cognitive complexity is the presence of specialised bone tools, however significant uncertainty remains over the manufacture and use of these artefacts within the Aterian techno-complex. In this paper we report on a bone artefact from Aterian Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits in Dar es-Soltan 1 cave on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. It comes from a layer that can be securely dated to ~90 ka. The typological characteristics of this tool, which suggest its manufacture and use as a bone knife, are comparatively similar to other bone artefacts from dated Aterian levels at the nearby site of El Mnasra and significantly different from any other African MSA bone technology. The new find from Dar es-Soltan 1 cave combined with those from El Mnasra suggest the development of a bone technology unique to the Aterian.

The evolution of modern human brain shape

Present-day humans have globular brains and globular endocasts with steep frontal, bulging parietal, and enlarged, rounded cerebellar areas with small and retracted faces. In contrast, Neandertals and other archaic Homo individuals have anterior-posteriorly elongated flat endocasts. These differences are well-visualized in their paper: http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/1/eaao5961/tab-figures-data. Following the discovery of the most ancient H. sapiens at Jabel Irud in Morocco of 300,000 years ago, this study suggests that our round skull evolved to include our pre-frontal cortex as recently as 50,000 y.a. As the researchers study the skulls and not the brains, they cannot be sure which modern structures were missing from the ancient brains. Yet, these results suggest that our cognitive capacity, generated from the prefrontal cortex, are also as recent, and that the flat skull of our predecessors could not contain a functioning frontal cortex. They also suggest that the cerebellum and the postcentral gyrus, which is involved in sensory, attention, memory and planning functions, are among the brain regions that developed most recently. It is interesting that 50,000 y.a. is about the time when Homo Sapiens started to produce bone tools and to paint its caves.