Lithic Economy Research Articles

Looking for sharp edges: Modes of flint recycling at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel

Qesem Cave is a Middle Pleistocene site in Israel assigned to the Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex (AYCC). The cave reveals a suite of innovative behaviors including intensive flint recycling activities. In this paper, we present a new classification system, developed for the study of lithic recycling at Qesem Cave. Through the careful technological analysis of hundreds of recycled items we have identified several recycling modes at Qesem Cave, including a specific production trajectory of blades and knives recycled from “old” flakes. We argue that the study of lithic recycling provides a significant glance at human decision-making processes and the technological repertoire of the late Lower Paleolithic, which are particularly pronounced when practiced within a lithic economy that enjoyed abundance rather than scarcity of stone. Our observations provide a more coherent view of AYCC lithic recycling which might be applied to the study of lithic recycling in other Paleolithic contexts.

The Fifteenth-Seventeenth Century Lithic Economy at Progresso Lagoon, Belize

This article examines the fifteenth–seventeenth century lithic economy at Progresso Lagoon, Belize, as a tool for understanding indigenous Maya motivations and conditions before and after Spanish colonialism. The lithic assemblage indicates a high reliance on recycled and refurbished tools from the former tool production center of Colha, and a decrease in the utilization of obsidian obtained through long-distance trade. The increase in projectile point production and use in the fifteenth century suggests conflict between Maya communities even before the arrival of Spaniards in the region. Alongside other archaeological evidence, the lithic material suggests that the Progresso Lagoon community was experiencing an economic decline and political tensions at the point of Spanish contact.

Diffusion du silex de Spienne et du silex Bartonien du Bassin parisien dans le Nord de la France et en Belgique de la fin du 5e millénaire au début du 4e millénaiure BC : une première approche

This work is a first attempt to map the flint distribution from the specialised mining sites for Northern France and Belgium by meaning of the examples of Jablines (Seine-et-Marne, France) and Spiennes (Hainaut, Belgium). The aim is to measure their impact on the settlements’ lithic economy and to evaluate their respective influence. The study shows a long distance distribution over more than 200 km. It allows us also to sketch preferential distribution routes for the different raw materials which are connected in some cases with cultural areas and overlap them in other cases.

Mobility and Lithic Economy in the Terminal Pleistocene of Central Honshu

During the Terminal Pleistocene in central Honshu, which coincided temporally with the emergence of pottery, lithic raw material reduction sequences ceased to be rational and economical, instead becoming expedient and wasteful. Furthermore, hunter-gatherers had stopped importing lithic raw materials over long distances, and attempts made previously to attain a maximum number of usable edges on artifacts upon one nodule had ceased. Their reduction sequences might have no longer required a sparing strategy, since they now used abundant local raw materials, probably due to reduced mobility. It is suggested that the emergence of pottery allowed them to exploit more diverse plant sources and enabled them to survive within smaller territories, while the lithic reduction strategies changed as they adapted to use of available lithic raw materials.

The Economic Geography of Chert Lithic Production in the Southern Maya Lowlands: A Comparative Examination of Early-Stage Reduction Debris

AbstractIt has been known for several decades that certain regions of the Maya Lowlands were characterized by specialized production of chert tools in ancient times. The extent, intensity, organization, and net social effects of centralized lithic production in the Maya area as a whole, however, are not well understood. In order to address issues of broader relevance to social and economic processes, lithicists working in the Maya region need to develop analytical approaches suited to the study of complex economies. The research presented here attempts to establish simple baseline measures for use in comparing the production of siliceous stone tools, both formal and expedient, at different scales across the Maya area. Scholarship in this region has been chronically plagued by prolonged, unresolved debates—mostly a factor of the multitude of single-site-focused projects employing different methodologies and research emphases. The present study therefore proposes a new direction in Maya lithic studies with the goal of enhancing comparability of data on ancient economic structure through the use of standardized statistics that facilitate spatial analysis. Using the proportion of early-stage core reduction debris to the total of all debitagefrom a given context, for instance, enables the analyst to roughly assess the amount of tool manufacture taking place locally. By extension, inferences can be made about the degree of economic integration and interdependence characterizing any given geographic scale, including the architectural group, site, region, and so on. Preliminary analysis of patterns in early-stage reduction illustrates differential spatial distributions of chert tool production and consumption at several scales from across the southern Lowlands, allowing for the refinement of current models of ancient Maya lithic economy.

Lithic economies and self-sufficiency: Stone tool production and consumption in a late prehistoric community of Moloka'i, Hawaii

This study examines the inter- and intra-site assemblage variability of lithics excavated from six late prehistoric sites in leeward West Moloka'i, Hawaii. Both religious and domestic sites are represented including fishing shrines ( ko'a ) and a high-status house site. A comprehensive technological approach was employed integrating use-wear, typology and individual flake attribute analysis to identify production and consumption behaviours. Expedient tool manufacture and use was identified at most sites including the use of amorphous cores for flake tool production.

Early evidence of complexity in lithic economy: core-axe production, hafting and use at Late Middle Pleistocene site 8-B-11, Sai Island (Sudan)

Wear analysis indicates that Sangoan core-axes from site 8-B-11 at Sai Island, Sudan, were used while hafted. The middle Sangoan occupation level at 8-B-11 served as a locale where specialized activities were performed, including core-axe manufacture and hafting. Newly manufactured quartz core-axes served as replacements for exhausted items that were mostly fabricated out of raw materials other than quartz, which were carried back to the site in their hafts for re-tooling. The hafted core-axes appear as highly mobile, curated tools, being transported across a large territory. The evidence indicates that the Sangoan is the archaeological reflection of a complex behavioural system involving economic specialization, which appeared in this part of Africa for the first time around 200 ka ago.

The Aker Site (23PL43): Lithic Economy and Ritual Aggregation among the Kansas City Hopewell

The Aker site (23PLA3) is a Kansas City Hopewell village site situated on the floodplain at the confluence of the Platte and Missouri Rivers. This unusual placement and evidence for periodic flooding raise questions about site use. Traditional models for Hopewell settlement in the East suggest that regional exchange centers were placed in such precarious locations to facilitate the movement of trade goods along major waterways. More recent models focus on “sacred landscapes” and the necessity of periodic aggregation among middle range societies. The present study examines the possibility that the Aker site played a role in one of these systems, with particular reference to the site’s lithic assemblage.

Aurignacian Lithic Economy: Ecological Perspectives from Southwestern France. Brooke S. Blades

<i>Aurignacian Lithic Economy: Ecological Perspectives from Southwestern France</i>. Brooke S. Blades

Aurignacian Lithic Economy: Ecological Perspectives from Southwestern France

Preface. 1:Environment, Technology and Mobility. 1.1. Introduction. 1.2. Theoretical Considerations. 1.3. Ethnographic and Archaeological Models. 1.4. Further Theoretical Perspectives. 1.5. The Approach. 1.6. Summary. 2: The Aurignacian: Systematics, Geochronology and Paleoenvironment. 2.1. Introduction. 2.2. The Study Area: The Lower Vezere Valley. 2.3. The Study Sites. 2.4. Geochronology. 2.5. The Aurignacian as a Systematic Concept. 2.6. Paleoenvironment: Sedimentology. 2.7. Large Mammal Fauna. 2.8. Conclusion. 3: Lithic Raw Material Studies in the Perigord. 3.1. Introduction. 3.2. Lithic Raw Material Sources. 3.3. Raw Material Studies: Perigord and Vicinity. 3.4. Raw Materials and Group Mobility. 3.5. Aurignacian Lithic Economy: Expectations. 4: A Study of Lithic Economy. 4.1. Introduction. 4.2. Typology. 4.3. Technology. 4.4. Reduction Intensity. 4.5. Conclusion. 5: Aurignacian Lithic Raw Material Economy. 5.1. Introduction. 5.2. The Study Assemblages. 5.3. Raw Material Economy: General Observations. 5.4. Technology. 5.5. Retouch: Extent and Intensity. 5.6. Summary. 6: Lithic Economy and Aurignacian Mobility Strategies. 6.1. Introduction. 6.2. Materials, Faunal Diversity and Mobility. 6.3. Discussion. 6.4. Lithic Reduction. 6.5. Future Directions.6.6. Conclusion. Index. References.

Aurignacian lithic economy and early modern human mobility: new perspectives from classic sites in the Vézère valley of France

During the past decade the chronology and hominin attributions of the Aurignacian have been revised or called into question. These controversies have coincided with an increased appreciation for the social complexity of Aurignacian culture in the realms of organic technologies and mobiliary and parietal manifestations of symbolic behavior. Lithic raw material procurement and reduction intensity evidence from Aurignacian occupations at the Vézère Valley sites of Abri Pataud, Le Facteur, and La Ferrassie may reflect complex group mobility strategies. The lithic components under consideration were always dominated by cherts available within a few kilometers radius. Assemblages associated with the early Aurignacian have elevated proportions of cherts from distant sources. Lithic retouch data indicate that some early Aurignacian assemblages reflect greater extent and/or intensity of marginal retouch compared with the later Aurignacian. Lithic reduction data, however, reveal evidence of greater core reduction intensity during the later Aurignacian. Flexible strategies of residential mobility, possibly in response to changes in the subsistence environment, may account for some of the variability between early and later Aurignacian assemblages. Similar shifts in raw material procurement were evidently associated with the Middle Paleolithic in southwestern France. However, Aurignacian populations may have acquired most lithic materials by movement directly to sources, while certain non-utilitarian materials were probably obtained via some form of indirect social exchange. This suggested coexistence of direct and indirect procurement mechanisms serves to distinguish Aurignacian assemblages from earlier Middle Paleolithic deposits and emphasizes that socially-directed intensification was one of the fundamental elements of the suite of cultural changes referred to as the Middle–Upper Paleolithic transition.

Stone tools: theoretical insights into human prehistory

Recent Trends in Lithic Analysis. Theoreticians Enter Orbit. A Call to Merge Theory and Practice. Part I.: Research Design. Evaluating Lithic Strategies and Design Criteria B. Hayden, et al.Part II: Curation. Economizing Behavior and the Concept of 'Curation' G.H. Odell. Is Curation a Useful Heuristic? S.E. Nash. Hunter-Gatherer Lithic Economy and Settlement Systems: Understanding Regional Assemblage Variability in the Upper Paleolithic of Portuguese Estremadura P.T. Thacker. Part III.: Stone Tools and Complex Societies. The Decline and Fall of Flint S.A. Rosen. Lithic Analysis and Questions of Cultural Complexity: The Maya J.K. Johnson. The Role of Chipped Stone in the Political Economy of Social Ranking M.S. Nassaney.Part IV.: Innovation and Style in Projectile Points. When Is an Elko? M.R. Rondeau. Projectile Points, Style and Social Process in the Preceramic of Central Peru J.W. Rick. Innovation and Selection in Prehistory: A Case Study from the American Bottom M.J. Shott.Part V: Technique and Methodology. Microwear Analysis of Some Clovis and Experimental Chipped Stone Tools M. Kay. Lithic Refitting and Archaeological Site Formation Processes: A Case Study from the Twin Ditch Site, Greene County, Illinois T.A. Morrow.Part VI: Conclusion. A Discussion of Seemingly Important Issues G.H. Odell, et al. Index.

Lithic Economy, Style and Use: A Comparison of Three Late Magdalenian Sites

AbstractTechnological, typological and tool use data from three Late Magdalenian sites–Verberie in the Paris Basin, Rascano and El Juyo in Cantabria–are compared, with the aim of isolating patterns that reflect stylistic differences from those that relate to site functions. Non-lithic data from Verberie and Rascano imply they were specialized hunting stations while El Juyo was a more generalized base camp. It is argued that most of the ‘stylistic’ differences between the Spanish sites and the French ones are attributable to differences in the availability and size oflithic raw materials in the two regions. Differences in tool use patterns between the hunting stations and the base camp are disguised by a ubiquitous Magdalenian pattern of emphasis on the manufacture and repair of bone I antler items and composite projectile heads. But some differences were discerned: the base camp (El Juyo) shows a greater emphasis on the later stages of hide preparation and the retooling of composite projectile heads.