Levallois Technology Research Articles

Middle Pleistocene fire use: The first signal of widespread cultural diffusion in human evolution.

Control of fire is one of the most important technological innovations within the evolution of humankind. The archaeological signal of fire use becomes very visible from around 400,000 y ago onward. Interestingly, this occurs at a geologically similar time over major parts of the Old World, in Africa, as well as in western Eurasia, and in different subpopulations of the wider hominin metapopulation. We interpret this spatiotemporal pattern as the result of cultural diffusion, and as representing the earliest clear-cut case of widespread cultural change resulting from diffusion in human evolution. This fire-use pattern is followed slightly later by a similar spatiotemporal distribution of Levallois technology, at the beginning of the African Middle Stone Age and the western Eurasian Middle Paleolithic. These archaeological data, as well as studies of ancient genomes, lead us to hypothesize that at the latest by 400,000 y ago, hominin subpopulations encountered one another often enough and were sufficiently tolerant toward one another to transmit ideas and techniques over large regions within relatively short time periods. Furthermore, it is likely that the large-scale social networks necessary to transmit complicated skills were also in place. Most importantly, this suggests a form of cultural behavior significantly more similar to that of extant Homo sapiens than to our great ape relatives.

Lower and Early Middle Palaeolithic of Southern Britain: the Evidence from the River Test

Fluvial terrace sequences of Pleistocene rivers provide a chronological framework for examining broad patterns of change in the Palaeolithic record. Collections of artefacts recovered from individual terraces represent a time-averaged sample of the range of lithic technology discarded in a river valley over thousands of years. These can be compared and contrasted with other terraces to identify the timing of the appearance of key technological innovations and chronological variation in lithic technology. In Britain, the punctuated nature of human presence during the Pleistocene means that archaeological variation across a river terrace sequence is likely to relate in part to successive phases of occupation by human groups derived from populations in mainland Europe. This paper presents an analysis of the Lower and early Middle Palaeolithic record of the River Test, Hampshire, which was a tributary river of the former River Solent. The timing of the first appearance of handaxes and Levallois technology is established, and chronological patterning in handaxe typology and technology is identified. The Test record is placed in its regional context, and its implications for understanding the human occupation history of northwest Europe during the Middle Pleistocene are discussed.

Complexity and sophistication of Early Middle Paleolithic flint tools revealed through use-wear analysis of tools from Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel

The Early Middle Paleolithic (EMP) is a less-studied phase of the Levantine Middle Paleolithic, attributable to the small number of sites discovered. Drawing on the dense archaeological accumulations at Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel, the present study seeks to trace EMP daily activities and behavioral patterns through the prism of use-wear analysis. The emergence of the laminar and Levallois technologies that form the EMP toolkit is investigated to reveal other dimensions of tool novelties. Through microscopic analyses, integrated with experimentation, the most outstanding aspect revealed in this study is the extensive evidence of hafting, which included the use of binding together with various techniques for tool design. A unique treatment was identified, never reported before, entailing the abrasion of cortical surfaces and protruding dorsal ridges. Other aspects include the clear preference for pointed tools as a leading morphological trend and the use of retouch as a mean to create durable working edges and facilitate grip arrangements. The analysis demonstrates the venue of use-wear to trace a wide variety of practices, including consumption-related (processing hunted game and edible plants) and craft-related (hide processing, woodworking, and perhaps stone working) activities that otherwise hardly leave a trace in the archaeological record. By exploring these features, the research provides important insights into early hominin behavior and way of life during the EMP, emphasizing the novelties brought by the earliest Homo sapiens out of Africa.

Techno-Functional Implication on the Production of Discoid and Levallois Backed Implements

ABSTRACT The technological dichotomy between Discoid and Levallois methods, which accompanies the Mousterian assemblages for most of the Middle Paleolithic, is a debated topic because of the implications for Neanderthals’ behavioral complexity. We here propose and discuss the possible reasons supporting the Levallois-Discoid shift, considering part of the late Mousterian sequence of Grotta di Fumane. Among these, we include the strategies of resource exploitation and territorial mobility, and the productivity and effectiveness rates between the two methods. Though both highlighting differences, these cannot justify a sharp change in production strategies. Looking specifically at the technological objectives, we compared a category of common products: the backed artefacts. This category includes similar tools, but morpho-functional differences suggest different degrees of efficiency. The comparison helped to better define the Discoid and Levallois technologies in their functional and potential objectives, whose variations may have influenced the alternating pattern in the technological choices here recorded.

Nubian Levallois technology associated with southernmost Neanderthals

Neanderthals occurred widely across north Eurasian landscapes, but between ~ 70 and 50 thousand years ago (ka) they expanded southwards into the Levant, which had previously been inhabited by Homo sapiens. Palaeoanthropological research in the first half of the twentieth century demonstrated alternate occupations of the Levant by Neanderthal and Homo sapiens populations, yet key early findings have largely been overlooked in later studies. Here, we present the results of new examinations of both the fossil and archaeological collections from Shukbah Cave, located in the Palestinian West Bank, presenting new quantitative analyses of a hominin lower first molar and associated stone tool assemblage. The hominin tooth shows clear Neanderthal affinities, making it the southernmost known fossil specimen of this population/species. The associated Middle Palaeolithic stone tool assemblage is dominated by Levallois reduction methods, including the presence of Nubian Levallois points and cores. This is the first direct association between Neanderthals and Nubian Levallois technology, demonstrating that this stone tool technology should not be considered an exclusive marker of Homo sapiens.

Леваллуазская технология в Китае

Levallois technology dispersal is associated with several events of human habitation of the Asian region. Emergence of the Levallois technology in China precedes or coincides in time with the penetration of Initial Upper Paleolithic laminar industries into this region. All known Paleolithic localities, the assemblages of which include the Levallois component, are located in the border or adjacent zones in the modern China. The authors examine all these complexes and make an assumption about the nature of the Levallois technology introduced from the territories of the Russian Altai, Mongolia and India. Such complexes are dated to the terminal Middle Paleolithic and the initial Upper Paleolithic. In general, this period in China is characterized by a flake industry, often made on poor quality stone raw materials. In this region, three Levallois techniques are distinguished: preferential centripetal and parallel for the production of flakes and convergent unidirectional for the production of points. The convergent bidirectional reduction aimed at point production is not recorded in assemblages originating from the territory of China. In Mongolia, this technique is recorded along with the bidirectional parallel laminar technology in the Initial Upper Paleolithic industries, while in China both Levallois point and blade production techniques were unidirectional. The authors conclude that for most of the Paleolithic sites in China, the Levallois technology is an intrusive element that emerged along with the large blade industry. The exception is the Middle Paleolithic flake industry originating from the Jinsitai Cave, which is similar in its characteristics to the materials from the Denisova Cave. The composition of Xinjiang industries indicates that this territory was a kind of region where cultural complexes spread together with the bearers of these traditions along the Altai Mountains.

Новые стратифицированные палеолитические местонахождения в долине р. Ахангаран (Узбекистан)

The paper deals with survey data recorded in 2021 in Uzbekistan by joint team of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS, Warsaw University, and National Center of Archaeology Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Based on 2018-2019 data, we carried out local excavations, and the Paleolithic artifacts were recorded in the cross-sections of two sites—Ertashsai-12 and Kuksarai-2 located on the right side of the Akhangaran valley in its midstream. The stratified archaeological material of Ertashsai-12 occurs in three lithological positions (layers 2b, 3, and 4) and is represented mainly by fragments of flakes and wastes of lithic production. Together with the surface complex, these materials can be attributed to the Middle to Upper Paleolithic. Materials from the Kuksarai-2 site are more representative; they occur in four layers (layers 2, 3, 5, and 6). In total, the lithic collection includes 43 artifacts. The technical and typological characteristics of the stratified part of the Kuksarai-2 collection are consistent with the appearance of the exposed materials and contain features of the Levallois technology with an admixture of features transitional from the Middle to Upper Paleolithic. The material complexes of Ertashsai-12 and Kuksarai-2 discovered in the buried state are probably correlated with periodic and long-term visits to these territories by human paleopopulations, and the ancient population was a carrier of the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic process skills. In future, the presence of stratified complexes in the landscape situation of low mountains with the process features of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic can provide a new array of data on the problems of correlating features of the material culture with specific species of ancient hominins, as well as in the context of their relationship with the environment.

Сырьевые стратегии в среднепалеолитических индустриях стоянки Кульбулак

The paper addresses analyses of the raw material of the Middle Paleolithic lithic complexes of the Kulbulak site (layers 12.1, 12.3, 14, 16, and 17.1). The lithic industries described in the paper are characterized by the nearest provenance of raw materials (within 1.5 km) including flint outcrops and alluvial effusive pebbles. Flint predominated; it was used for both Levallois and bladelet production, the bladelet share increases up the profile. Effusive rocks were used for large flake and point production through the Levallois and radial techniques. Other Middle Paleolithic raw material selection strategies were noted in the neighbor valleys (within 30 km from the Kulbulak site). Kattasai-1 and -2 and Ertashsai-9 show the preference of effusive or metamorphic rocks despite availability of flint in relative proximity. These industries do not have any Upper Paleolithic features in their technological repertoire and show practicing the Levallois technology in several versions. Such raw material choice could indicate the absence of the Upper Paleolithic skills in stone working or their uselessness. Thus, the Kulbulakian version of raw material procurement demonstrates the greatest variability in terms of technological necessity among mentioned Middle Paleolithic complexes.

A new look at the Middle Paleolithic lithic industry of the Teshik-Tash Cave, Uzbekistan, West Central Asia

Teshik-Tash Cave, excavated in 1938 and 1939, is a key archaeological site for our understanding of the Middle Paleolithic population dynamics of Central Asia. Its privileged status is due to the discovery of well-preserved Neanderthal skeletal remains in association with rich lithic artifacts. However, despite repeated studies of the skeletal remains, the lithic industry has not received sufficient re-analysis with up-to-date information since its first publication more than a half century ago. The present paper reports our first results based on the collection stored at the State Museum of History of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. We show that a combination of hierarchical and nonhierarchical core reduction strategies, the former of which includes a particular type of Levallois technology, characterizes the Teshik-Tash industry. Typologically, the common manufacturing of side scrapers, associated with a small number of heavy-duty tools, are diagnostic. It is also notable that triangular points often common in the Middle Paleolithic of Southwest Asia are rare. This industry is regarded as an important Neanderthal cultural tradition of West Central Asia, whose precise spatio-temporal placement needs to be determined through comparisons with other assemblages from controlled excavations. In the meantime, its disparity from the Sibiryachikha Mousterian industry left by the Neanderthals of East Central Asia is incontestable. This finding helps us understand the complicated origin and development of Neanderthal groups in Central Asia.

Nubian Levallois reduction strategies in the Tankwa Karoo, South Africa.

The Middle Stone Age record in southern Africa is recognising increasing diversity in lithic technologies as research expands beyond the coastal-montane zone. New research in the arid Tankwa Karoo region of the South African interior has revealed a rich surface artefact record including a novel method of point production, recognised as Nubian Levallois technology in Late Pleistocene North Africa, Arabia and the Levant. We analyse 121 Nubian cores and associated points from the surface site Tweefontein against the strict criteria which are used to define Nubian technology elsewhere. The co-occurrence of typically post-Howiesons Poort unifacial points suggests an MIS 3 age. We propose that the occurrence of this distinctive technology at numerous localities in the Tankwa Karoo region reflects an environment-specific adaptation in line with technological regionalisation seen more widely in MIS 3. The arid setting of these assemblages in the Tankwa Karoo compares with the desert context of Nubian technology globally, consistent with convergent evolution in our case. The South African evidence contributes an alternative perspective on Nubian technology removed from the ‘dispersal’ or ‘diffusion’ scenarios of the debate surrounding its origin and spread within and out of Africa.

Between new and inherited technical behaviours: a case study from the Early Middle Palaeolithic of Southern France

The beginning of the Middle Palaeolithic in Western Europe is traditionally associated with the emergence of new, more complex and standardised debitage technologies, such as Levallois technology. These changes occurred in the archaeological record between MIS 9 and MIS 6. This paper aims to evaluate the processes of technical change at work in Southern France, tracking innovations and persistent behaviours and potential shifts, to describe the process of transition and compare the Southeast and Southwest of France. We revised several major sites from Ardèche and Dordogne through the technological analysis of seven lithic assemblages in areas rich in good-quality raw materials, mostly flint. Technological analysis shows common features in lithic strategies and industries that can all be attributed to the Early Middle Palaeolithic. The features are a diversity of debitage methods and spatiotemporal management of the chaînes opératoires (ramification and artefact mobility). At the same time, algorithmic methods (Système par Surface de Débitage Alternées: SSDA) continue to be used, in the same way as large cutting tools (LCTs), although they are rare (pebble tools, bifaces and ‘mixed matrices’). These LCTs are persistent technologies from the Acheulean technocomplex. Gradual mosaic-type changes in the lithic record are particularly well demonstrated through the sequence of Orgnac 3, where a local onset of Levallois technologies appears to occur. Both in the Southeast and Southwest of France, the Lower to Middle Palaeolithic transition records gradual and asynchronous behavioural changes as early as MIS 9 to MIS 6. These shifts are not only due to increased hominin cognition. Abilities of human groups to adapt to diversified environments and regional cultural processes may also have played a key role. Several lithic technocomplexes coexisted between MIS 9 and 6 in these two areas and although differences in local strategies are obvious, similar trajectories towards MP behaviour can be detected.

The emergence of the Levallois technology in the Levant: A view from the Early Middle Paleolithic site of Misliya Cave, Israel

The Early Middle Paleolithic (EMP) lithic assemblage of Misliya Cave, dated to 240–150 ka, is associated with one of the earliest occurrences of Homo sapiens outside Africa. Our research provides a detailed technological study of the lithic assemblage of stratigraphic unit 5–6c of the site, using the chaîne opératoire approach, to characterize the technological behavior of the early H. sapiens. Our results indicate that both Levallois and laminar volumetric concepts were used. The Levallois reduction strategy involved preparing subtriangular cores with steep distal edges that allowed producing a series of triangular/subtriangular Levallois blanks using a unidirectional convergent method. Laminar débitage constitutes a semirotating/rotating method. The results of our study and comparisons with other Levantine sites indicate that the EMP represents a distinct entity within the Levantine Middle Pleistocene record that can be distinguished by the earliest occurrence of a full-fledged Levallois technology in the region, laminar technology, and a distinct tool kit dominated by elongated retouched points. The level of core management involved in producing convergent Levallois products and in preparing laminar cores points to a major conceptual change from the preceding Acheulian and Acheulo-Yabrudian. This suggests a break in knapping strategies between the Lower and the Middle Paleolithic. The finding of a H. sapiens maxilla at Misliya Cave in association with the EMP industry supports the hypothesis that the introduction of the Levallois technology in the Near East was associated with an early dispersal of H. sapiens from Africa. A comparison between the Levantine EMP and other regional records indicates that different Levallois methods were routinely used by hominins from the beginning of the Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age.

Early Levallois core technology between Marine Isotope Stage 12 and 9 in Western Europe

Early Levallois core technology is usually dated in Europe to the end of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 9 and particularly from the beginning of MIS 8 to MIS 6. This technology is considered as one of the markers of the transition from lower to Middle Paleolithic or from Mode 2 to Mode 3. Recent discoveries show that some lithic innovations actually appeared earlier in western Europe, from MIS 12 to MIS 9, contemporaneous with changes in subsistence strategies and the first appearance of early Neanderthal anatomical features. Among these discoveries, there is the iconic Levallois core technology. A selection of well-dated assemblages in the United Kingdom, France, and Italy dated from MIS 12 to 9, which include both cores and flakes with Levallois features, has been described and compared with the aim of characterizing this technology. The conclusion supports the interpretation that several technical features may be attributed to a Levallois technology similar to those observed in younger Middle Paleolithic sites, distinct from the main associated core technologies in each level. Some features in the sample of sites suggest a gradual transformation of existing core technologies. The small evidence of Levallois could indicate occasional local innovations from different technological backgrounds and would explain the diversity of Levallois methods that is observed from MIS 12. The technological roots of Levallois technology in the Middle Pleistocene would suggest a multiregional origin and diffusion in Europe and early evidence of regionalization of local traditions through Europe from MIS 12 to 9. The relationships of Levallois technology with new needs and behaviors are discussed, such as flake preference, functional reasons related to hunting and hafting, an increase in the use of mental templates in European populations, and changes in the structure of hominin groups adapting to climatic and environmental changes.

New advances in the study of prehistoric human activity on the Tibetan Plateau

The origin, nature and timing of prehistoric human activity on the Tibetan Plateau has become a major research topic in recent years, and great progress has been made in the study of the earliest human activity on the plateau and in the origin of modern Tibetans. The earliest human presence on the plateau has been updated by two important new studies. Rich blade assemblages found in the excavation of the Nwya Devu site shows that modern humans occupied the interior region of the Tibetan Plateau, above 4600 m a.s. l., some 30−40 thousand years ago. Recently, a study of a human mandible fossil found in Xiahe County, Gansu Province, in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, indicated that Denisovans occupied the Tibetan Plateau at least 160000 years ago, much earlier than the arrival of modern humans to the region. The latter study also implies that the high-altitude adaptation gene, which occurs widely among modern Tibetans and Sherpa, was probably contributed by local archaic humans, like the Xiahe Denisovans. These two studies not only point to the long and complex human history in the Tibetan Plateau, but they also indicate the complexity of human evolution in the Middle and Late Pleistocene in East Asia. Whether early Holocene hunter-gatherers had already permanently settled on the Tibetan Plateau before the arrival of millet and barley agriculture after the middle Holocene, has become another major research topic in the study of the prehistoric human history of the Tibetan Plateau. However, due to the current lack of reliable evidence for the seasonality of Paleolithic site occupations in the Tibetan Plateau, the issue remains difficult to resolve. The origin of modern Tibetans has been debated for decades. A new linguistic study of the phylogeny and the time depth of the original divergence of the Sino-Tibetan language, based on Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of 109 languages, indicates that Sino-Tibetan languages diverged during some 4200 to 7800 years ago, which points to Neolithic population dispersals to the Tibetan Plateau and their close relationship with modern Tibetans. In addition, a new genetic study, based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analyses of 8277 Tibetans and 58514 individuals from the surrounding populations, has traced the genetic legacy of modern Tibetans to the historical or even Neolithic periods. Calculation of the time depth of the two common haplogroups in modern Tibetans found in this study, implies that these two groups of populations originated in northern China between 6000 and 10000 years ago and differentiated between 4000 and 5200 years ago. Both of these studies are consistent with previous archaeological studies which propose that Neolithic and Bronze Age populations moved to the Tibetan Plateau from a substantial considerable of areas in North China. More importantly, the two studies further confirm the close relationships between Neolithic millet farmers and modern Tibetans, clarifying the origin of modern Tibetans. There have also been several new Paleolithic archaeological studies of the regions surrounding the Tibetan Plateau. A deeper understanding of the Initial Upper Paleolithic in North China, Mongolia and Siberia, and new findings of the Levallois technology in the Jinsitai and Tongtian cave sites in North China, indicate a dispersal route of Paleolithic populations from the north to the Tibetan Plateau. Other studies also propose possible population migration routes in the southeastern and southwestern plateau, although archaeological evidence is currently lacking. Together with the new Paleolithic archaeological findings for the Tibetan Plateau, it appears that different human groups, including Denisovans, Neanderthals and modern humans, were living in or around the Tibetan Plateau during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. Although recent studies provide new clues for understanding their inter-relationships, additional questions have arisen, and more multidisciplinary studies are needed in the future to address them. Above all, these new studies are crucial for understanding the mechanisms by which prehistoric humans spread to and in the Tibetan Plateau, and their adaptation to the high elevation environments. In addition, they shed new light on the origin of modern humans, as well as on human evolution in East Asia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene.

U-Th dating of a Paleolithic site in Guanyindong Cave, Guizhou Province, southwestern China

Guanyindong Cave in southwestern China has received considerable attention in the investigation of Paleolithic hominin origins and evolution in China, due to its rich archaeological finds composed of thousands of stone artifacts and a unique fauna with 23 species of mammalian fossils found. However, despite earlier extensive excavations and descriptive studies, debates still centre around the conflict between previous radiometric age data and evidence from biostratigraphic correlations. In this study, we carried out detailed field investigations and sampling, and obtained 35 U-Th dates on flowstone layers and other datable materials from the cave. The age results from materials in stratigraphic context provide a robust chronological framework of the cave. The data suggest that the deposition of Group B sediments and fossil assemblages widely distributed within the cave should have occurred after ~370 ka but before ~70 ka, with the bulk of the sediments and associated fossils laid down during 200–140 ka. Our new U-Th dates of in situ flowstone layers intercalated with one rhinoceros tooth and several other fossil fragments near the Hall at the centre of the cave constrain the deposition ages of these mammalian fossils to the period between 469 ± 37 and 336 ± 7 ka. Combined our U-Th data with recent OSL dates of Hu et al. (2019), we suggest that Group A sediments and associated fossils were likely deposited episodically from ca. 90 ka to <40 ka. Overall, our data indicate that the cave development started >469 ± 37 ka ago, whilst the cave system framework took shape as we see today >340 ± 10 ka ago. Subsequently, the cave might have experienced several flooding and washout events, resulting in recycling and mixing of older sediments and fossils into younger sequences, a hypothesis consistent with tight clustering of both U-Th ages of speleothems in this study and the OSL dates of clastic sediments (Hu et al., 2019). This would reconcile the contradiction between the great antiquity of mammalian fossils inferred from biostratigraphic correlation and the much younger radiometric dates of materials in stratigraphic context, and explain the lack of technological advance despite an apparently long presence of the “Guanyindong culture”, as well as the presence of the Levallois technologies. In this regard, our U/Th age data, combined with other recent studies, have resulted in an improved understanding of Paleolithic hominid evolution and stone technologies in south China.

Innovative Neanderthals: Results from an integrated analytical approach applied to backed stone tools

The production of prepared backed artifacts during the Paleolithic is recognized as an important step in the design of stone tools for manual activities and the development of human tool ergonomics. Backed artifacts are generally identified as proxies of so-called “modern” behavior, partly because they tend to be associated with systematic hafting, but mostly because they are widespread within Middle Stone Age (MSA) or Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) assemblages attributed to anatomically modern humans. However, in Europe these tools were first manufactured by Neanderthal groups associated with the Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition (MAT) techno-complex and Discoid and Levallois technologies, using a range of flake blanks. Investigating the reasons for this behavioral leap forward can help to unravel the development and diffusion of various aspects defining the behavioral complexity of Paleolithic humans. In this paper we present a detailed analysis of one of the oldest and richest collections of prepared backed items preserved in Europe. We study several dozens of what – in a broad sense – are considered backed artifacts, with both natural and predetermined knapped backs, recovered from unit A9 at Fumane Cave, which is dated to at least 47.6 cal ky, and is characterized by discoid technology. Our methodology integrates results obtained from technological, techno-functional and use-wear analyses, further supported by experimental data. Two distinctive types of anthropogenic modifications have been identified, both aimed at creating a back or at modifying and accommodating an already existing back. By cross-checking our results with use-wear data, we show that some of these modifications were aimed at adjusting the shapes of the tools (knives and/or scrapers) for manual handling, although traces consistent with hafting have been recognized on a few specimens. Contextual information allows us to infer that these adjustments involved mainly tools used in precision activities, whose design and production implies varying levels of expertise and technical skills. Although still not systematic or standardized, the kinds of complex tool-making implied by backing can be considered as typical feature in the technological repertoires of late Neanderthals.

A refutation of reported Levallois technology from Guanyindong Cave in south China.

A refutation of reported Levallois technology from Guanyindong Cave in south China.

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).

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.

Evaluating prepared core assemblages with three-dimensional methods: a case study from the Middle Paleolithic at Skhūl (Israel)

Levallois technology is a hallmark of many Middle and Late Pleistocene stone artifact assemblages, but its definition has been much debated. Here we use three-dimensional photogrammetry to investigate the geometric variation among Levallois and discoidal core technologies. We created models of experimental and archaeological stone artifact assemblages to quantitatively investigate the morphologies of Levallois and discoidal core technologies. Our results demonstrate that technological characteristics of Levallois technology can be distinguished from discoidal variants by analyzing the relative volumes and angles of the two flaking surfaces. We apply these methods to a random subset of Middle Paleolithic cores from Skhūl (Israel) and show that, overall, the Skhūl archaeological sample falls in range with the experimental Levallois sample. This study advocates the investigation of core technology on a spectrum to elucidate particular reduction trajectories while maintaining visible outliers and dispersion within an assemblage. Our quantified approach to studying centripetal core technology broadly is particularly applicable in studies related to forager mobility strategy and raw material use. Ultimately, the methods developed here can be used across temporal and geographic boundaries and facilitate attribute-based inter-site comparisons.