Hard Hammer Research Articles

Lithic technological strategies of Late Pleistocene hominins in the Daoshui River valley, Hunan province, central South China

The Late Pleistocene is a crucial period of dramatic changes in lithic technologies as well as interactions between modern humans and other archaic human groups. In this paper, we describe the technological analysis of lithic assemblages collected from 28 newly discovered Paleolithic sites along the Daoshui River, a tributary of the Lishui River (itself a tributary of Yangtze River) in northern Hunan Province, central South China. Luminescence dating of several sites in this region has provided a general Late Pleistocene age range for lithic assemblages. Technologically, high quality raw materials are predominantly exploited (e.g., chert and siliceous slate) and direct hard hammer percussion predominates which lacks the classic Levallois technology though conceptually, some specimens do exhibit a certain degree of volumetric control and share other common features with prepared cores, here we tentatively define them as “simply prepared cores.” Small flakes and flake tool production plays a primary role in the overall technological strategy, accompanying a small proportion of large flakes and Large Cutting Tools production. Our examination of lithic technologies in the region clearly contrasts with the traditional view of South China being characterized by a simple cobble tool industry over the course of the Pleistocene period. We further discuss the issue of the Middle Paleolithic in China, as well as the ecological adaptations of hominins in the Daoshui River valley within a Late Pleistocene climatic context.

Skill and Core Uniformity: An Experiment with Oldowan-like Flaking Systems

ABSTRACT The Oldowan is the archaeological record’s oldest consistent evidence of hominin technical behavior. First appearing ∼2.6 Ma in East Africa, the Oldowan is characterized by simple core and flake technology using direct hard hammer percussion. Archaeologists debate whether Oldowan assemblages are uniform and what role hominin cultural abilities played in generating these assemblages. To improve existing methods for studying Oldowan technical uniformity, we conducted experiments involving 23 novices and one expert knapper. Subjects made simple stone tools under two different instructional conditions (observation-only and direct active instruction) over two hours. We used the resulting cores to track flaking efficiency, reduction intensity, and knapping errors. We find significant differences in the expert and novice core uniformity. Direct active teaching increased core flaking efficiency and reduced knapping errors. Comparisons between our experimental results and an Oldowan sample from Gona, Ethiopia, show core variability patterns that match our expert and actively taught novices.

THE INDUSTRY OF COMPLEX II MALYI RAKOVETS IV SITE IN TRANSCARPATHIA

The site is located on an isolated hill of the Vyrhorlat-Hutyn volcanic mountain massif of the right bank of the Tysa River, near the village Maly Rakovets, 7 km north of the Korolevo site. At the site, due to the highest location level, there is a reduction in the capacity of Pleistocene deposits. This caused variability in the chronological interpretation of the materials. In the initial description of the stratigraphic context, the layer is fixed in the lower part of the loam soil and at the border with the Pryluky horizon.
 During the complex study, 2899 artifacts from the collection were processed. The main raw material is local Carpathian III obsidian (94.69 %), which occurs near the site in erosion washes on the slopes of the hill.
 In the technological sense, the industry can be described as non-Levallois, non-blades, non-facetted, the indices of which are: IF large = 17.5; IF strict = 3.8; ILam = 3. There is in the collection various cores: radial, convergent, parallel, Kombewa. Technology is based on the two methods: centripetal, as well as a fairly simple technique for obtaining blanks, which is presented by parallel and unidirectional cores, with a clear predominance of transverse proportions of products. The process of core reduction was quite intensive, a hard hammer was used. Production mostly aimed at receiving massive flakes of lateral proportions with naturally back, often crusted (43 %). Such blanks were prioritized for the manufacture of tools — 60 %.
 There are few tools, but among them a group of single-edged scrapers, the most prominent of which are transverse ones, is highlighted. They show specific design features, namely the retouching of the longest edge of the blank with a stepped retouch of the half-Quina type and the presence of accommodation elements. The technical and typological characteristics of the II complex are quite similar to the industry of the Korolevo site layer II, and allow to attribute it to the circle of industries of the Charentian / Quina type.

Effects of Impact Hammer Parameters on Mechanical Impedance Measurement

Base impedance has a direct effect on mechanical equipment’s properties, and thus its accurate measurement constitutes an important foundation for the evaluation of these properties. Through theoretical deduction and base impedance measurement, we investigated the influences of impact hammer parameters on mechanical impedance measurement using an impact excitation method. By comparing the effects of hammer head softness and hammer size on base’s mechanical impedance measurements, we know that soft and hard hammer heads were suitable for the impedance measurement in low and high frequency regions, respectively, and that hammer size had a little influence on impedance measurements.

Some remarks on a German chipped stone lithic assemblage of uncertain origin in the collection of the Institue of Archaeological Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University

András Marton has recently come into the possession of a small, chipped stone assemblage from the legacy of a German amateur mineral collector from Hamburg. Unfortunately, very little is known about the deceased and his collection. A part of the finds, including tools, was donated to the Institute of Archaeology of the Eötvös Loránd University. The lithic assemblage contains a total of 27 chipped stone artefacts made exclusively of Baltic flint. Concerning the raw material used, these flint varieties with the banded structure are rather unusual in Schleswig-Holstein. They are much more likely to originate from Lower Saxony or perhaps Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Apart from the general technological description of the assemblage, some pieces from these non-formal tools have been selected for a detailed description. The application of the “direct percussion with a hard hammer” technique and the presence of the thick artefacts contradict the Palaeolithic or Mesolithic origin of the assemblage, except for the flint axe (“Kernbeil”), which has a possible Mesolithic association. Alternatively, if the edges of the artefacts are not worn out or rolled, then along the edges of all artefacts traces of some kind of “cryoturbation retouch” are observable. In this case, the Palaeolithic dating of the finds is more plausible.

Kinetics of stone tool production among novice and expert tool makers.

As is the case among many complex motor tasks that require prolonged practice before achieving expertise, aspects of the biomechanics of knapping vary according to the relative experience/skill level of the practitioner. In archaeological experiments focused on the production of Plio-Pleistocene stone tools, these skill-mediated biomechanical differences have bearings on experimental design, the interpretation of results, and lithic assemblage analysis. A robust body of work exists on variation in kinematic patterns across skill levels but less is known about potential kinetic differences. The current study was undertaken to better understand kinetic patterns observed across skill levels during "Oldowan," freehand stone tool production. Manual pressure data were collected from 23 novice and 9 expert stone tool makers during the production of simple stone flakes using direct hard hammer percussion. Results show that expert tool makers experienced significantly lower cumulative pressure magnitudes and pressure-time integral magnitudes compared with novices. In expert knappers, digits I and II experienced similarly high pressures (both peak pressure and pressure-time integrals) and low variability in pressure relative to digits III-V. Novices, in contrast, tended to hold hammerstones such that pressure patterns were similar across digits II-V, and they showed low variability on digit I only. The similar and consistent emphasis of the thumb by both skill groups indicates the importance of this digit in stabilizing the hammerstone. The emphasis placed on digit II is exclusive to expert knappers, and so this digit may offer osteological signals diagnostic of habitual expert tool production.

New discoveries from the early Late Pleistocene Lingjing site (Xuchang)

The applicability of the three stage Paleolithic sequence (Lower, Middle, Upper) in eastern Asia that is used in the western Old World has long been a debated issue. The crux of the discussion is whether a distinct “Middle Paleolithic” (“MP”) is present in the eastern Asian record, especially north China. Recently, the artifacts from the Lingjing site (2005–2016), in northern China, have been argued to be potential representative of a “Chinese Middle Paleolithic” (“CMP”). In this paper, we introduce a thorough analysis on a newly discovered lithic assemblage from the 2017 excavation of the Lingjing site. We found that simple free-hand hard hammer percussion is the dominant core reduction strategy with only a very small frequency of atypical, bi-conical discoidal cores. When considering other contemporary sites in northern China (e.g., Xujiayao and Banjingzi), Lingjing belongs to a small tool tradition that is widespread throughout northern China. The Lingjing artifacts do display some obvious differences in core reduction and lithic retouching techniques from those typical of the Lower/Early Paleolithic (or Mode 1) assemblage pre-40 ka in the Chinese Paleolithic. The diversity of characteristics of lithic technology from Lingjing and other contemporary sites in north China show the complexity of the Chinese Early Paleolithic, rather than a simple monotonous stone tool tradition.

Comb Ware culture in Lithuania: new evidence from Šventoji 43

Šventoji 43 is one of eight Comb Ware culture sites known in Lithuania at present. The site was excavated in 2013 and 2014 and revealed a homogeneous pottery assemblage, which was classified as Comb Ware and was radiocarbon dated to 3900–3650 cal BC. As a result of this dating, it has been found that Comb Ware is the oldest pottery type to have been produced in coastal Lithuania. In fact, the pottery assemblage of Šventoji 43 also suggests that Comb Ware originates from a distinct phase in the pottery sequence of coastal Lithuania that both predates all other phases from Šventoji pottery bearing sites and has not been previously recognised in other assemblages. Zooarchaeological analysis has revealed that the site was occupied during the early spring and mostly used for fishing zander and pike in the lagoonal lake and for hunting seals and forest game. The unique character of the flint industry, which combined hard hammer percussion and bipolar knapping that resulted in the production of microliths on irregular blades, suggests that the local Šventoji 43 community had Mesolithic roots. Furthermore, this evidence supports the hypothesis that Comb Ware had reached Lithuania through intense contact between East Baltic hunter-gatherers rather than due to a mass migration of the population from the Northeastern Baltic. The much wider distribution of Finno-Ugric hydronyms, compared to that of Comb Ware sites gives an impression that some other Subneolithic pottery types in addition to Comb Ware might have been produced by Finno-Ugric speaking people.

The shift from typical Western European Late Acheulian to microproduction in unit ‘D’ of the late Middle Pleistocene deposits of the Caune de l’Arago (Pyrénées-Orientales, France)

Stratigraphic Unit D levels of the Caune de l’Arago (Pyrénées-Orientales, France), situated in the upper part of the depositional sequence of Ensemble Stratigraphique III (ES III), has yielded a rich Acheulian archeopaleontological record dated to the Middle Pleistocene. The site's infill, dated from 690 to 90 ka, encloses a thick cultural sequence comprising some of the oldest evidence of Acheulian documented so far in Western Europe (Unit P levels). The deposits contain successive occupation layers with abundant faunal remains, stone artifacts, and sometimes hominin remains attributed to Homo erectus tautavelensis. The Unit D levels are chronostratigraphically positioned at the top of the ES III sequence, accumulated at the end of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 12. The Unit D lithic assemblage shows no evidence of Levallois knapping strategies. Rather, its features indicate a trend towards microproduction that continues into subsequent occupational phases, apparently marking a local expression of the transition from the Lower to the Middle Paleolithic. Remarkably, tiny discoid and multidirectional type cores, predominantly knapped from small-sized quartz pebbles, characterize the Unit D lithic assemblage. Experimental work presented here demonstrates the likelihood that, despite the small size of the cores and the recalcitrant crystalline materials from which they were knapped, flake production can be carried out with free-hand hard hammer techniques. We explore behavioral aspects gleaned from Unit D cultural material, contrasting them with microlithic praxis observed elsewhere in Europe and the Near East in a similar timeframe.

Perspectives sur l’étude des productions lithiques simples au Néolithique : le cas de la culture Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain par le prisme du site de Vasseny (Aisne)..

Perspectives sur l’étude des productions lithiques simples au Néolithique : le cas de la culture Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain par le prisme du site de Vasseny (Aisne)..

Karain Mağarası Tayacian Alet Endüstrisi Tekno-Tipolojisi

Çalışmamız kapsamında Karain Mağarası'nın Alt Paleolitik seviyelerinden bulunmuş olan toplam 261 adet yontmataş aletin tekno-tipolojik analizleri gerçekleştirilmiştir. Yapılmış olan çalışmalara göre yontmataş alet topluluğunun Alt Paleolitik Dönem'in Tayacian kültür özelliklerini gösterdiği tespit edilmiştir. Karain çevresindeki radyolarit kaynakları Tayacian endüstrisinin yapımında yoğunlukla tercih edilmiştir. Ayrıca daha az oranlarda çakmaktaşının da kullanıldığı görülmüştür. Yontmataş aletler üzerinde tespit edilen teknolojik veriler sert vurgaçla doğrudan yongalama tekniğinin tercih edilmiş olduğunu göstermiştir. Levallois teknolojiyi yansıtan herhangi bir kanıt yoktur. Tipolojik gözlemlere göre birçok farklı yontmataş alet tipi tespit edilmiştir. Ayrıca aletler üzerinde yapılan çalışmalara göre baskın düzelti tipinin pulcuklu tip düzelti olduğu görülmüştür. Çalışma kapsamında elde edilen sonuçlar Karain Alt Paleolitik yontmataş alet endüstrisinin daha iyi anlaşılmasını sağlayan bir veri tabanı niteliğindedir.

Unfolding the technological production strategies of the large toolkits across Philippine Paleolithic sites with specific reference to northern Mindanao

For more than a half-century of research, the Philippine Paleolithic toolmaking has shown the persistence of the small-based flake tools. The bulk of the evidence comes from the excavation in caves and rock shelters. This paper presents the discovered open-sites in northern Mindanao that have large stone artifacts such as choppers and picks. These tools were produced with direct percussion on hard hammer initiated by wedge-flaking. Locally available cobble-sized materials were reduced with very low intensity led to the provisioning of the various tool forms. They are equipped with multiple functional edges trimmed as convex pointed and straight, intended for the heavy-duty tasks. The assemblage bears a striking resemblance to the core tools found in the Cagayan Valley Open Sites and to the well-known Paleolithic sites throughout Island Southeast Asia. This paper examines and describes the production sequences of the large stone tools as well as behavioral patterns in the reduction process.

Refitting Bifacial Production Waste – The Case of the Pottery Neolithic Wadi Rabah Refuse Pit from Ein Zippori, Israel

ABSTRACTA refitting project was performed on a lithic assemblage from the Late Pottery Neolithic Wadi Rabah refuse pit (Locus 8071) found at Ein Zippori, Israel. The assemblage includes mainly waste products from bifacial tool manufacture and maintenance processes. The refitted sequences reflect initial reduction stages as well as advanced re-sharpening and recycling activities. The reconstructed reduction processes include decortication by removal of large flakes, and further shaping by removal of different types of thinning-flakes, probably using a hard hammer. Additional processes reflected by refitting, include post-polish re-sharpening, which in some cases was presumably performed using a soft hammer. Finally, evidence of recycling of bifacial tools into cores is also apparent. The presence of refitted waste, attesting to a range of different reduction stages, performed in the same unknown workshop, perhaps by the same knapper, sheds light on the extent of involvement that the knapper/s had in the life-histories of bifacial tools.

Manual restrictions on Palaeolithic technological behaviours.

The causes of technological innovation in the Palaeolithic archaeological record are central to understanding Plio-Pleistocene hominin behaviour and temporal trends in artefact variation. Palaeolithic archaeologists frequently investigate the Oldowan-Acheulean transition and technological developments during the subsequent million years of the Acheulean technocomplex. Here, we approach the question of why innovative stone tool production techniques occur in the Lower Palaeolithic archaeological record from an experimental biomechanical and evolutionary perspective. Nine experienced flintknappers reproduced Oldowan flake tools, ‘early Acheulean’ handaxes, and ‘late Acheulean’ handaxes while pressure data were collected from their non-dominant (core-holding) hands. For each flake removal or platform preparation event performed, the percussor used, the stage of reduction, the core securing technique utilised, and the relative success of flake removals were recorded. Results indicate that more heavily reduced, intensively shaped handaxes with greater volumetric controls do not necessarily require significantly greater manual pressure than Oldowan flake tools or earlier ‘rougher’ handaxe forms. Platform preparation events do, however, require significantly greater pressure relative to either soft or hard hammer flake detachments. No significant relationships were identified between flaking success and pressure variation. Our results suggest that the preparation of flake platforms, a technological behaviour associated with the production of late Acheulean handaxes, could plausibly have been restricted prior to the emergence of more forceful precision-manipulative capabilities than those required for earlier lithic technologies.

Discovery of circa 115,000-year-old bone retouchers at Lingjing, Henan, China.

Most Chinese lithic industries dated between 300,000 and 40,000 are characterized by the absence of Levallois debitage, the persistence of core-and-flake knapping, the rarity of prepared cores, their reduction with direct hard hammer percussion, and the rarity of retouched flakes. Here we report the discovery of seven bone soft hammers at the early hominin Lingjing site (Xuchang County, Henan) dated to 125,000–105,000. These artefacts represent the first instance of the use of bone as raw material to modify stone tools found at an East Asian early Late Pleistocene site. Three types of soft hammers are identified. The first consists of large bone flakes resulting from butchery of large herbivores that were utilized as such for expedient stone tools retouching or resharpening. The second involved the fracture of weathered bone from medium size herbivores to obtain elongated splinters shaped by percussion into sub-rectangular artefacts. Traces observed on these objects indicate intensive and possibly recurrent utilization, which implies their curation over time. The last consists of antler, occasionally used. Lingjing bone tools complement what we know about archaic hominin cultural adaptations in East Asia and highlight behavioural consistencies that could not be inferred from other cultural proxies. This discovery provides a new dimension to the debate surrounding the existence of the Middle Palaeolithic in the region. The attribution of East Asian sites to the Middle Palaeolithic assumes that cultural traits such as the Levallois method represent evolutionary hallmarks applicable to regions of the world different from those in which they were originally found. Here, we promote an approach that consists in identifying, possibly from different categories of material culture, the original features of each regional cultural trajectory and understanding the behavioural and cognitive implications they may have had for past hominin populations.

The lithic assemblages of Donggutuo, Nihewan basin: Knapping skills of early pleistocene hominins in North China.

Donggutuo (DGT) is one of the richest archaeological localities in the Nihewan Basin of North China, thereby providing key information about the technological behaviours of early hominins in eastern Asia. Although DGT has been subject of multiple excavations and technological studies over the past several decades, few detailed studies on the lithic assemblages have been published. Here we summarize and describe the DGT lithic assemblages, examining stone tool reduction methods and technological skills. DGT dates to ca. 1.1 Ma, close to the onset of the mid-Pleistocene climate transition (MPT), indicating that occupations at DGT coincided with increased environmental instability. During this time interval, the DGT knappers began to apply innovative flaking methods, using free hand hard hammer percussion (FHHP) to manufacture pre-determined core shapes, small flakes and finely retouched tools, while occasionally using the bipolar technique, in contrast to the earlier and nearby Nihewan site of Xiaochangliang (XCL). Evidence for some degree of planning and predetermination in lithic reduction at DGT parallels technological developments in African Oldowan sites, suggesting that innovations in early industries may be situational, sometimes corresponding with adaptations to changes in environments and local conditions.

Flake morphology as a record of manual pressure during stone tool production

Relative to the hominin fossil record there is an abundance of lithic artefacts within Pleistocene sequences. Therefore, stone tools offer an important source of information regarding hominin behaviour and evolution. Here we report on the potential of Oldowan and Acheulean flake artefacts to provide a record of the biomechanical demands placed on the hominin hand during Lower Palaeolithic stone tool production sequences. Specifically, we examine whether the morphometric attributes of stone flakes, removed via hard hammer percussion, preserve correlates of the pressures experienced across the dominant hand of knappers. Results show that although significant and positive relationships exist between flake metrics and manual pressure, these relationships vary significantly between subjects. Indeed, we identify two biomechanically distinct strategies employed by knappers; those that alter their hammerstone grip pressure in relation to flake size and mass and those who consistently exert relatively high manual pressures. All individuals experience relatively high gripping pressure when detaching particularly large flakes. Amongst other results, our data indicate that the distinctive large flake technology associated with the Acheulean techno-complex may be demonstrative of an ability to withstand, and by extension, to exert higher manual pressures. However inferences from smaller flake artefacts, especially, must be treated with caution due to the variable biomechanical strategies employed.

Quelques observations d’ordre technologique et typologique sur les industries lithiques découvertes à Atmageaua Tătărască (Sokol, Bulgarie)

The site of Atmageaua Tătărască in Southern Dobrudja has a long occupation sequence, spanning from Boian A, Gumelnita A1, Gumelnița A2, to Gumelnița B. With a few exceptions, the archaeological patterns were not recorded during the excavations. The lithic industry includes 976 pieces, for most of them (72.84%) issued from the level III – Gumelnița A1. After analysing the material from level III, several conclusions arise. At least part of the knapping process was carried out locally, viz. for large and medium-sized blades. This paper puts forward the hypothesis of the presence of a workshop involving specialized knappers for level III. Blade production is predominant, and at least two reduction sequences were identified. Two types of percussion are observed : direct percussion with hard hammer (predominant) and indirect percussion ; conversely, pressure flaking technique is lacking. Tools amount to 36.56% of the assemblage and, supplemented by axes, up to 39.09%. Among the tools, the most numerous are burins (33.46%) and endscrapers (27.69%), followed by retouched blades (19.23%) and truncations (9.23%). Less represented tool groups are notches, sidescrapers, scaled pieces, retouched flakes, becs, as well as an arrow point. It is also worth mentioning composite tools (3.65%) and the reuse of old tools, which were re-shaped into new ones. The raw material is of high quality ; it is also fairly homogenous, giving preference to the local Ravno (93.54%) and Kriva Reka type of Ludogorie chert, yellow-brown and grey Upper Cretaceous flint (Moesian flint), but also a dark blue chert possibly issued fromthe middle Prut valley.

The study of Archaeological Evidence and Technical Change of Hard and Soft Hammer Techniques in the Blade Tool Industry in Korea

The study of Archaeological Evidence and Technical Change of Hard and Soft Hammer Techniques in the Blade Tool Industry in Korea

Chronology of newly-discovered Paleolithic artifact assemblages in Lantian (Shaanxi province), central China

The Homo erectus cranium, mandible and hundreds of associated lithic artifacts found in Lantian (central China) in the 1960s demonstrate that the area was important for hominin habitation during the early to middle Pleistocene. However, the region, which was not adequately researched until the early 2000s, still poses several questions regarding hominin behavior and lithic technology development. In this study, three loess-paleosol sequences (the Jijiawan, Ganyu and Diaozhai sites), from which in situ stone artifacts were recovered, are investigated and dated by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), magnetostratigraphy and stratigraphic correlation. The results demonstrate that the artifacts are located within paleosol layers S4 (correlative with marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 11), S3 (MIS 9), S2 (MIS 7), and S1 (MIS 5); and within loess layer L1 (MIS 2–4). The main stone-knapping technique used was direct hard hammer percussion. In addition, the technological features of the stone tools found at these sites exhibit little variation, indicating the presence of a long-established, stable technology in the Lantian area. Our observations show that the ancient humans lived episodically on the terraces of the Bahe River from the early Pleistocene, indicating a long history of hominin occupation of the region.