Early Stone Research Articles

Recasting the Sangoan Stone Age Techno-Complex in the Stone Age Nomenclature at Sango Bay, Southern Uganda

This paper discusses the complex use of the term ‘Sangoan’ and its placement between the Early Stone Age (ESA) and Middle Stone Age (MSA) using data from Simba Hill in Sango Bay. The purpose is to examine whether the Sangoan is Acheulean, Middle Stone Age, or an independent lithic industry at Sango Bay. Four specific objectives guided the study: reviewing the Stone Age terminology, Sangoan lithic typology, technology, and environmental characteristics. A detailed literature review of the Stone Age nomenclature shows patterns and trends of the Sangoan terminology; while a combined lithic assemblage from the archaeological surface survey and excavation yielded heavy and light-duty lithic tools. The 13 sites identified within the 202.6km surveyed had 73 lithic artefacts, while the excavation unit yielded 1344 lithic artefacts. The results suggest that the Sangoan typology at Sango Bay has five general lithic categories of shaped tools, backed pieces, cores, and debitage. Typologically, the conventional Sangoan lithics at Sango Bay include lanceolates, picks, cleavers, discoids, becs, points and core axes. Technologically, the Levallois lithic reduction strategy characterises the Sangoan with unifacial and bifacial retouch and core technology elements. The toolmakers at Sango Bay used local raw materials, suggesting they were not highly mobile in terms of raw materials. Conclusively, therefore, the Sangoan is a transitional lithic industry.

남한지역 유경식 석검의 전개와 기능

The purpose of this paper is to eaamine the characteristics of tanged stone daggers unearthed from lifestyle features and graves throughout South Korea, thereby examining the locality and development patterns and estimating the nature and function of tanged stone daggers. As a result of dividing the South Korean region into five regions and reviewing tanged stone daggers into measuring and nominal attributes, it was confirmed that the daggers’ tang part, which was noted in the previous study, was manufactured in the range of 2~5.4cm, not the dagger’s tang part, and the maximum width of the daggers’ body. According to the results of an analysis of temporality using the values of radiocarbon dating, features, and association relics, tanged stone daggers, it was confirmed that tanged stone daggers appeared in all parts of South Korea from the early Bronze Age, and early stone swords were preferred. In the mid-term, diversity was confirmed in the size of the stone sword and the shape of the daggers’ tang part, and it began to be buried in the tomb along with the remains of life. However, Jungbu, Gangwon, Yeongnam, and East Coast regions in which the traditions of the Early Bronze Age’s material culture lasted, the Age’s tradition of using tanged stone daggers remained in lifestyle features only. On the other hand, they began to appear in the Middle Bronze age, mostly as미 burial accessories of graves, in the Honam and Yeongnam regions. The burial of tanged stone daggers was confirmed from the Middle Bronze Age and was understood as resulting from the spread of the Songgukri type. In Jungbu region, however, the emergence of nine types and a type of stone daggers related to the cultural region of Gakyung pottery were confirmed from an earlier time. Accordingly, the spread of tanged stone daggers in South Korea was understood as having originated in Jungbu region.

The first uses of colour: what do we know?

Colour strongly shapes our perception of the world and plays a main role in the emergence of language and in the transmission of information. It has been shown that systematic use of ochre, along with other cultural traits that reflect cognitive complexity, disappear and reappear from the archaeological record, suggesting that cultural transmission follows discontinuous trajectories that to this day are unknown to us. Understanding when humans started using colour and how this feature evolved may therefore be instrumental to understand the evolutionary paths followed by members of our lineage towards cultural complexity. The earliest secure evidence for ochre use is found at 300.000-year-old archaeological sites from Africa and Europe. It usually consists of iron-rich rocks characterized by a red, orange, yellow or brown colour and/or streak, modified by grinding, scraping and knapping to produce red or yellow powder, ochre residues adhering to different types of artefacts or sediment stained with ochre or rich in ochre microfragments. Around 160 ka, ochre use becomes a recurrent feature. Although analyses of ochre collections have become increasingly frequent, there is still very little information on the first instances of ochre use and on how this cultural feature evolved through time. Most cases of early evidence for colour use by different human fossil species were recovered during excavations conducted several decades ago, when ochre was not documented systematically. Excluding a few recently studied cases, there is often a lack of evidence to support the anthropogenic nature of these findings. The aim of this paper is to summarise what we know on ochre use during the Lower Palaeolithic / Early Stone Age (ESA) and Middle Palaeolithic / Middle Stone Age (MSA), review techniques currently used for the analysis of this material and highlight analytical and theoretical issues surrounding this complex cultural feature.

Electron spin resonance dating of quartz from archaeological sites at Victoria Falls, Zambia

When electron spin resonance (ESR) is applied to sedimentary quartz, dealing with the poor bleachability of the signals is particularly challenging. In this study, we used both the single-grain optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and the single aliquot ESR dating of quartz from deep sand deposits preserving a Stone Age archaeological sequence to combine the advantages of the two methods: good bleaching behaviour and extended age range. Using the youngest samples at each sampling site we were able to calculate the mean ESR residual age from the difference between the OSL ages and the apparent ESR ages. Focusing mainly on the single aliquot regenerative dose (SAR) protocol here, we were able to calculate the mean ESR residual age for the Ti and Al centres, including the non-bleachable signal component for the latter. For the NP site, residual ages of 209 ± 13 ka and 695 ± 23 ka were calculated for the two centres, whereas for the ZS site 268 ± 39 ka and 742 ± 118 ka were determined. These residual ages are significant and cannot be neglected. Thus, the residual age was subtracted from the apparent ESR ages. The validity of the residual subtraction method was tested through a comparison of the oldest OSL age from each site with the residual subtracted ESR age. For both NP and ZS sites, the residual subtracted Ti and Al ages were consistent with the OSL age within 2-σ uncertainty, and therefore confirm the robustness of the subtraction method. Within the NP sequence, we were able to locate the end of the Early Stone Age at 590 ± 86 ka, and this provides a maximum age for the transition to the Middle Stone Age in this part of south-central Africa.

Early knapping techniques do not necessitate cultural transmission.

Early stone tool production, or knapping, techniques are claimed to be the earliest evidence for cultural transmission in the human lineage. Previous experimental studies have trained human participants to knap in conditions involving opportunities for cultural transmission. Subsequent knapping was then interpreted as evidence for a necessity of the provided cultural transmission opportunities for these techniques. However, a valid necessity claim requires showing that individual learning alone cannot lead to early knapping techniques. Here, we tested human participants (N = 28) in cultural isolation for the individual learning of early knapping techniques by providing them with relevant raw materials and a puzzle task as motivation. Twenty-five participants were technique naïve according to posttest questionnaires, yet they individually learned early knapping techniques, therewith producing and using core and flake tools. Early knapping techniques thus do not necessitate cultural transmission of know-how and could likewise have been individually derived among premodern hominins.

The Significance of Subtlety: Contrasting Lithic Raw Materials Procurement and Use Patterns at the Oldowan Sites of Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Andalusia, Spain)

Situated in southern Spain’s Guadix-Baza basin, Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Andalusia, Spain) are two of the most important western European Oldowan archeological sites. After 30 years of quasi-uninterrupted excavations, these two occurrences have yielded exceptional lithic and faunal records in precisely dated stratigraphic situations, providing a wealth of information about the oldest presence of hominins outside of Africa (1.4 and 1.3 Ma, respectively). Recently, excavations and multidisciplinary research have allowed to discern new patterns of lithic raw material procurement and use patterns practiced by the Orce hominins that enable us to clearly distinguish different behavioral schemes between these two sites; in spite of their spatial proximity. This paper explores new data from the lithic collections in relation to hominin technical and economic behavior, highlighting subtle but significant differences in their exploitation of local limestone and flint clasts more than a million years ago. During this period of the late Early Pleistocene, these sites were situated on the shores of an ancient saline lake and fresh water sources were available. This favorable environmental situation, while attractive to the hominins, also supported life for an abundance of large mammals, including competitive large carnivores, underlining questions of expedience as an influence on techno-morphology in these early stone toolkits. This paper analyzes these themes, highlighting updated information from these and other key European late Early Pleistocene sites.

Stone tools, predictive processing and the evolution of language

Recent work by Stout and colleagues indicates that the neural correlates of language and Early Stone Age toolmaking overlap significantly. The aim of this paper is to add computational detail to their findings. I use an error minimisation model to outline where the information processing overlap between toolmaking and language lies. I argue that the Early Stone Age signals the emergence of complex structured representations. I then highlight a feature of my account: It allows us to understand the early evolution of syntax in terms of an increase in the number and complexity of models in a cognitive system, rather than the development of new types of processing.

Riddles wrapped inside an enigma. Lupemban MSA technology as a rainforest adaptation: revisiting the lanceolate point.

The Central African Stone Age is very poorly known when compared to the higher-resolution records of East and Southern Africa. Early Stone Age (ESA) archaeology is effectively absent from the rainforest zone, with the early Middle Stone Age (MSA) Lupemban industry representing the earliest sustained archaeological signature. Uranium-series dates of approximately 265 ka BP for the Lupemban at Twin Rivers (Zambia), although queried, suggest a precocious late Middle Pleistocene dispersal of early Homo sapiens into the equatorial rainforest belt. Lupemban palaeohabitat interactions and attendant behavioural and technological repertoires are key to its evolutionary significance, but investigation is hampered by the widespread vertical disturbance of stratigraphic profiles and the formation of 'stone-lines'. The Lupemban takes in a range of implement types and technologies, including core-axes, prepared core technology (PCT) points, blades and backed blades. But it is the elongated bifacial lanceolate point-some exquisitely made and many exceeding 30 cm in length-that defines the industry. Remarkably, unequivocal examples of these iconic artefacts have never been the focus of detailed techno-typological scrutiny. In this paper, I advance understanding of the Lupemban by initiating a re-consideration of lanceolate points at Kalambo Falls, Zambia, and discuss their implications for the Lupemban's evolutionary significance. This article is part of the theme issue 'Tropical forests in the deep human past'.

Age and formation processes of an Acheulean site with extensive accumulation of large cutting tools: Garba I (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia)

The paper provides new data on the age and formation processes of Garba I (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia). The site, one of the largest handaxe accumulations of the African Acheulean, was extensively excavated in the 1960s of the last century by J. Chavaillon but left largely unpublished. The chronology was also poorly constricted. Quartz grains dated through electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrometry now provide a minimum age of 538 ka for the archaeological layer. In addition, we make available new data allowing an updated interpretation of the stratigraphic sequence and spatial distribution, as well as a detailed taphonomic study of the lithic assemblage. Additional information on the archaeozoological and palaeobotanical record are integrated in the discussion. We conclude that the extensive accumulation of large cuttings tools (LCTs) is not the result of major sedimentary disturbance processes but rather the outcome of a distinct hominin behaviour, which possibly was not focused on the processing and consumption of large mammals. New research at Garba I allows new insights on the Acheulean sites with similar large accumulations of handaxes. Additionally, it contributes to a better understanding of the early Middle Pleistocene in Africa, an under-researched period of the Early Stone Age.

Experimental investigation of orangutans' lithic percussive and sharp stone tool behaviours.

Early stone tools, and in particular sharp stone tools, arguably represent one of the most important technological milestones in human evolution. The production and use of sharp stone tools significantly widened the ecological niche of our ancestors, allowing them to exploit novel food resources. However, despite their importance, it is still unclear how these early lithic technologies emerged and which behaviours served as stepping-stones for the development of systematic lithic production in our lineage. One approach to answer this question is to collect comparative data on the stone tool making and using abilities of our closest living relatives, the great apes, to reconstruct the potential stone-related behaviours of early hominins. To this end, we tested both the individual and the social learning abilities of five orangutans to make and use stone tools. Although the orangutans did not make sharp stone tools initially, three individuals spontaneously engaged in lithic percussion, and sharp stone pieces were produced under later experimental conditions. Furthermore, when provided with a human-made sharp stone, one orangutan spontaneously used it as a cutting tool. Contrary to previous experiments, social demonstrations did not considerably improve the stone tool making and using abilities of orangutans. Our study is the first to systematically investigate the stone tool making and using abilities of untrained, unenculturated orangutans showing that two proposed pre-requisites for the emergence of early lithic technologies-lithic percussion and the recognition of sharp-edged stones as cutting tools-are present in this species. We discuss the implications that ours and previous great ape stone tool experiments have for understanding the initial stages of lithic technologies in our lineage.

Meat on the menu: GIS spatial distribution analysis of bone surface damage indicates that Oldowan hominins at Kanjera South, Kenya had early access to carcasses

The shift to increased meat consumption is one of the major adaptive changes in hominin dietary evolution. Although meat eating by Oldowan hominins is well evidenced at Pleistocene archaeological sites in eastern Africa by butchery marks on bones, the methods through which carcasses were acquired (i.e., hunting vs. scavenging) and extent of their completeness (fleshed vs. defleshed) is less certain. This study addresses these issues through a geographic information systems (GIS) comparative analysis of bone modification patterns created by hominins and carnivores observed in the ca. 2.0 Ma assemblage from Kanjera South, Kenya and those of several modern, experimentally modified bone assemblages. Comparison of GIS-generated models shows that the pattern of bone preservation at Kanjera South is similar to that found in experimental bone assemblages that were first butchered and hammerstone fractured by humans, and subsequently scavenged by carnivores. The distribution of bone modifications on the Kanjera fauna also suggests hominins had early access to small bovids. Butchery marks appear almost exclusively in ‘hot zones’—areas where flesh does not typically survive lion consumption—further suggesting Kanjera hominins were not scavenging carnivore kills. Our findings support previous claims that the Kanjera assemblage offers the earliest clear evidence of repeated butchery of antelope carcasses by Early Stone Age (Oldowan) hominins and perhaps the earliest evidence for hunting. Kanjera carnivore damage frequencies are lower than those reported for the slightly younger site of FLK Zinj (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania), suggesting differing competitive regimes at the two sites.

Experimental production of lithic artefacts: Developing understanding; developing engagement

This paper is reflective and discusses the results of a process experiment designed to develop understanding of a particular British Early Upper Palaeolithic stone tool technology. The technology in question is the Lincombian, and the discussion breaks down into three main parts. The first part argues that raw material availability and practitioner performance can be influential factors within the modern experimental reproduction process. When these issues were factored in for this experiment it became clear that early phase debitage materials reflected a process of interpretation, not replication. The second substantive part of this discussion focuses upon the final phase of the experimental process. Selection criterion for assessing finished artefacts was tightly constrained by archaeologically derived data. It is argued therefore that when finished artefacts fell within these assessment criteria the final phase of the process was akin to replication. Consequently, debitage associated with the final phase can provide useful analogue material to fill gaps in our understanding of this Lincombian technology. The final section is summative and returns to the issue of performance. It argues that practitioner performance facilitates audience engagement. Engagement is valuable for communicating understanding to both specialist and non-specialist audiences. The paper concludes by arguing that a rigorously evaluated experimental process can be used twice: firstly, as a tool for generating materials to develop our understanding; secondly, as an engaging performance to communicate understanding to specialist and non-specialist audiences.

Site Organization and Mobility Strategies: The Early and Middle Holocene Stone Structures from Takarkori Rock Shelter (Southwestern Libya)

ABSTRACT The identification of mobility patterns in prehistoric communities is crucial for the understanding of their social and economic strategies. Though factors such as economics, environment, and cultural choices are strictly related to mobility, it has been demonstrated how anticipated mobility is pivotal in generating different aspects of site structure and spatial organization. Considering the stone structures uncovered at Takarkori rock shelter (southwestern Libya, central Sahara), we performed morphometrical and spatial analysis to provide appropriate indicators of mobility patterns, site structure, and activity areas among hunter-gatherers and pastoral groups that inhabited the shelter during the Early and Middle Holocene. We recognized year-round semisedentary patterns and shorter seasonal occupations, based on the number, size, typology, and topography of stone structures. The paper discusses how, through the analysis of stone structures, it is possible to recognize mobility patterns in the archaeological record.

Three-dimensional surface morphometry differentiates behaviour on primate percussive stone tools.

The Early Stone Age record preserves a rich behavioural signature of hominin stone tool making and use. The role of percussive technology in the daily subsistence strategies of our earliest ancestors has seen renewed focus recently. Studies of modern primate tool use highlight the diverse range of behaviours potentially associated with percussive technology. This has prompted significant methodological developments to characterize the associated damage marks (use-wear) on hammerstones and anvils. Little focus has, however, been paid to identifying whether these techniques can successfully differentiate between the damage patterns produced by specific and differing percussive behaviours. Here, we present a novel workflow drawing on the strengths of visual identification and three-dimensional (3D) surface quantification of use-wear. We apply this methodology firstly to characterize macaque percussive use-wear and test the efficacy of 3D surface quantification techniques in differentiating between percussive damage and natural surface topography. Secondly, we use this method to differentiate between use-wear associated with various wild macaque percussive behaviours. By combining analyst-directed, 3D surface analysis and use-wear dimensional analysis, we show that macaque percussive behaviours create specific diagnostic signatures and highlight a means of quantifiably recording such behavioural signatures in both primate and hominin contexts.

The Large Cutting Tools from Wonderboom, South Africa

ABSTRACT Wonderboom remains largely excluded from discussions about the Earlier Stone Age of southern Africa, despite having one of the largest Acheulean assemblages for the region. With this contribution, we revisit its large cutting tool assemblage (namely the handaxes, cleavers, picks and knives) and investigate some of the tool manufacturing preferences of the hominins who used the site during the Earlier Stone Age. We also provide an inter-site comparison of handaxes with another later and two early Acheulean sites from South Africa, wherein the Wonderboom assemblage clusters with the later Acheulean and is distinguished from the early Acheulean assemblages. This tentatively places Wonderboom within the South African Acheulean chronology and provides the first characterization of later Acheulean LCT production strategies for the region that includes the Cradle of Humankind.

A methodological protocol for the analysis of Early Stone Age lithic assemblages

A methodological protocol for the analysis of Early Stone Age lithic assemblages

The Sacred Asian Gate Tradition in Europe (Symbolic Crossings from the Mundane to the Sacred)

The Sacred Asian Gate Tradition in Europe (Symbolic Crossings from the Mundane to the Sacred)

Visual attention reveals affordances during Lower Palaeolithic stone tool exploration

Tools, which have a cognitive background rooted in our phylogenetic history, are essential for humans to interact with their environment. One of the characteristics of human beings is the coordination between the eyes and hands, which is associated with a skilled visuospatial system. Vision is the first input of an action that influences interaction with tools, and tools have affordances, known as behavioural possibilities, which indicate their possible uses and potentialities. The aim of the present study is to investigate body–tool interaction from a cognitive perspective, focusing on visual affordances during interaction with the early stone tools. We analyse visual attention, applying eye tracking technology, during a free visual exploration and during haptic manipulation of the Lower Palaeolithic stone tools. The central area of the tool is the most observed region, followed by the top and the base, while knapped areas trigger more attention than the cortex. There are differences between stone tool types, but visual exploration does not differ when aided by haptic exploration. The results suggest that visual behaviour is associated with the perception of affordances, possibly from the beginning of the brain–body–tool interaction, associated with the Lower Palaeolithic culture.

First high resolution chronostratigraphy for the early North African Acheulean at Casablanca (Morocco).

The onset of the Acheulean, marked by the emergence of large cutting tools (LCTs), is considered a major technological advance in the Early Stone Age and a key turning point in human evolution. The Acheulean originated in East Africa at ~ 1.8–1.6 Ma and is reported in South Africa between ~ 1.6 and > 1.0 Ma. The timing of its appearance and development in North Africa have been poorly known due to the near-absence of well-dated sites in reliable contexts. The ~ 1 Ma stone artefacts of Tighennif (Algeria) and Thomas Quarry I-Unit L (ThI-L) at Casablanca (Morocco) are thus far regarded as documenting the oldest Acheulean in North Africa but whatever the precision of their stratigraphical position, both deserve a better chronology. Here we provide a chronology for ThI-L, based on new magnetostratigraphic and geochemical data. Added to the existing lithostratigraphy of the Casablanca sequence, these results provide the first robust chronostratigraphic framework for the early North African Acheulean and firmly establish its emergence in this part of the continent back at least to ~ 1.3 Ma.

New evidence of bone tool use by Early Pleistocene hominins from Cooper’s D, Bloubank Valley, South Africa

Bone tool-use by Early Pleistocene hominins is at the centre of debates in human evolution. It is especially the case in South Africa, where 102 bone tools have been described from four Early Stone Age archaeological sites, which have yielded Oldowan and possibly Acheulean artefacts, as well as Paranthropus robustus and early Homo remains. Here we describe a bone tool from Cooper’s D. The deposit, dated between 1.4 and 1.0 Ma, has yielded seven P. robustus remains and 50 stone artefacts. Our results highlight similarities in morphology and use-wear patterns between the Cooper’s D bone tool and those previously identified at nearby Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and Drimolen. Our findings increase the number of Early Stone Age bone tools and provide further evidence of their association with P. robustus. They suggest P. robustus had the cognitive capacities to develop this cultural adaptation and the manipulative abilities to implement it.