Lithic Raw Material Procurement Research Articles

Exploring aspects of Neanderthal mobility in the Mani Peninsula: Evidence from Lithic Raw Material procurement and management at Kalamakia Cave, Greece

The Kalamakia cave located on the western Mani Peninsula, southern Greece is a Middle Palaeolithic site dated between ∼100,000 and >39,000 years BP. The aim of this paper is to provide insights into the Neanderthal groups’ mobility by addressing the lithic raw material procurement and management, with reference to the Kalamakia cave assemblage. The methodology included field survey and laboratory analyses, encompassing macroscopic, petrographic, and geochemical ones, for the location and identification of the sources of used lithic raw materials. Local, semi-local and allochthonous lithic raw materials were used by the Neanderthals at the Kalamakia cave to manufacture tools. The presence of various lithic raw materials used at the cave suggests diverse mobility strategies. The semi-local black/grey chert, followed by the allochthonous andesite was mostly used. Andesite transported across an east–west axis presents a long-term stability, both in terms of percentages and the different artefact types transported in both Unit III and IV of the cave. The significant quantities of andesite in the cave’s assemblage suggest non-random mobility, possibly linked to the exploitation of different ecological environments available in the region. The north-western part of the peninsula saw additional exploitation by groups moving along the coastal north–south corridor. However, cherts transported along this axis occurred occasionally, and their quantities were notably smaller in comparison to andesite. The strategic location of the cave close to the intersection of two natural movement routes, may have played a key role in the circulation of Palaeolithic inhabitants, facilitating movements along east–west and north–south axes.

Early or Middle Stone Age? The lithic assemblage of Capangombe – Santo António, Namibe Province (Angola)

Capangombe – Santo António is an open-air site located 596m a.s.l. at the foothill of Morro Santo António, Namibe Province (southwest Angola). The inselberg of Santo António is associated to the Chela escarpment developing from the Marginal Mountain range parallel to the Atlantic Ocean, separating the Angolan inland plateau from the coastal semi-arid to arid plain. A dissected valley formed by the Leba-Capangombe stream exposed a conglomerate with abundant stone tools assigned to the Early Stone Age (ESA). The site was discovered in 1966 by Miguel Ramos, who collected a total of 1776 lithic artifacts, and further published a small report about the assemblage in 1971. In this preliminary analysis, Ramos focused on cleavers using the “French school” typology for the “hachereaux” in Northern Africa and concluded that there are several morphotypes identified in Capangombe-Santo António with specific features, suggesting the occurrence of a local tradition for the Late ESA/Middle Stone Age (MSA). The study presented here is a new analysis of the lithic assemblage curated at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. A sample of 1017 artefacts was analyzed for this project applying an extended descriptive methodology to characterize lithic raw material procurement, reduction sequences and typological classes. The chrono-cultural model initially proposed for the site is revised thanks to recent advances in Stone Age studies.

Mapping Middle Stone Age human mobility in the Makgadikgadi Pans (Botswana) through multi-site geochemical provenancing of silcrete artefacts

Analyses of the distance over which lithic raw materials were transported for use in stone tool production provide important insights into early human mobility through prehistoric landscapes. This study combines the use of geochemical provenancing, chaîne opératoire analysis and geochronology to examine patterns of lithic raw material procurement at five single-use open-air Middle Stone Age (MSA) archaeological sites in Ntwetwe Pan, part of the Makgadikgadi Pans complex in north-central Botswana. Maximum ages of the five sites ranged from 106 ± 3 to 69 ± 7 ka, with site formation thought to have occurred before and after a lake high stand dated to c. 72-57 ka. Tool manufacture at all sites was largely confined to the production of MSA points, with silcrete used exclusively as the raw material. Geochemical provenancing investigations aimed to identify the specific silcrete outcrops used as lithic raw material sources. Analysis of contemporary pan floor deposits show that sediment (and hence silcrete) geochemistry in Ntwetwe is determined by the proportional sediment input into the pan from fluvial systems with different catchment geologies. Immobile trace element signatures for 46 waste manufacturing flakes were compared against equivalent data for 321 silcrete samples collected at outcrops within and beyond Ntwetwe Pan. Waste flakes were chosen to be representative of the main silcrete raw material types present within the artefact assemblage at each site. Fifteen waste flakes were shown to match specific outcrops on the basis of their geochemical signatures and petrographic properties; all matching outcrops were within Ntwetwe Pan, at distances ranging from 7 to 55 km from individual sites. Multi-site analysis of procurement patterns identifies common silcrete source areas, revealing a preference for silcrete from particular locations within Ntwetwe Pan. Given that the five archaeological sites were likely occupied at different times, this resource preference may have been a longer-term behavioural feature of MSA populations in the Ntwetwe region. The distances over which silcrete was transported in Ntwetwe Pan are smaller than identified in investigations at similar-aged MSA sites in northwest Botswana. The reasons for the different silcrete procurement ranges in the two regions are likely related to silcrete availability and/or raw material preference, but this requires further investigation.

Preference for Porphyry: Petrographic Insights into Lithic Raw Material Procurement from Palaeolithic Kazakhstan

ABSTRACT Only a handful of stratified sites are known in loess, spring, and river contexts in the northern piedmonts of the Tian Shan, and the majority are dated to the Upper Palaeolithic. These sites have been studied from a geoarchaeological perspective; however, lithic procurement activities remain unknown. To address this deficiency, we present the results of the extensive field surveys aimed at locating prehistoric raw material sources in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor of Kazakhstan. We also provide a detailed petrographic description of the lithologies exploited during the Palaeolithic of Kazakhstan. Based on the field survey results, combined with petrographic data, we conclude that the direct procurement strategy was the most common at the stratified sites. However, evidence of both direct and embedded procurement is found in the northern piedmonts of the Ili Alatau range at the site of Maibulaq. Additionally, we highlight the variation of chert lithologies within the larger Qaratau region, laying a foundation for future provenance studies.

An instance of Neanderthal mobility dynamics: a lithological approach to the flint assemblage from stratigraphic unit viii of El Salt rockshelter (Alcoi, eastern Iberia)

The relationship between hunter-gatherer group mobility and lithic raw material procurement strategies is central to the study of Neanderthal productive behaviours. In this framework, determination of flint procurement sources through lithological analysis is key to infer Neanderthal group mobility patterns. El Salt rockshelter (Alcoi, Alacant, eastern Iberia) features different nearby flint sources, including primary outcrops and secondary deposits containing flint. In this study, we sourced the stratigraphic unit viii archaeological flint assemblage based on identification of geogenic and postgenetic lithological traits. Our results indicate that flint procurement at El Salt during the stratigraphic unit viii Neanderthal occupations was mainly linked to Pleistocene secondary deposits along the upper and middle courses of Serpis river. The artefacts were made predominantly on alluvially reworked nodules of different flint types. Connecting these procurement areas with their corresponding knapping products reveals a direct relationship between flint-source distance and degree of technical intervention, and defines a hypothetically unidirectional series of rivershore itineraries of procurement.

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.

Archaic Period Lithic Technology, Sedentism, and Subsistence in Northern Belize: What Can Debitage at Caye Coco and Fred Smith Tell Us?

Despite the abundance of lithic debitage at preceramic sites in the Maya Lowlands, these data have rarely been studied in detail. We analyzed the chipped chert debitage from Caye Coco and Fred Smith, two Archaic period sites in the Freshwater Creek drainage of northern Belize, to evaluate strategies of lithic raw material procurement, stone tool production, and tool use. The technological and use-wear analyses of the debitage demonstrate that the sites’ inhabitants procured most of their tool stone from the Northern Belize Chert-bearing Zone (NBCZ) and relied on hard-hammer percussion to produce flakes for use as expedient tools and some crude bifaces and unifaces. Although similar patterns of raw material procurement and tool production are demonstrated at both sites, some differences exist, including bipolar reduction at Caye Coco. Based on use-wear analysis, the debitage at the island site of Caye Coco was primarily used for working wood, shell, and hard contact materials and for digging soil. On the shore at Fred Smith, most use-wear is consistent with working wood, plants, and hard contact materials, as well as digging soil. For both sites, analyses suggest the increasing importance of a horticultural subsistence strategy with reduced mobility and reliance on some cultigens that were locally produced.

A diachronic perspective on lithic raw material procurement strategies and mobility: case studies from the Final Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic in Central Europe

ABSTRACT Analysis of prehistoric lithic artefacts helps to answer a wide array of questions concerning archaeological contexts and prehistoric human behaviour. During three projects, we studied the origin of the raw materials of 32 inventories from the Late Glacial and Early Holocene in northwest and southern Germany. The basal petrographic analysis was conducted by the geologist and petro-archaeologist Jehanne Affolter. In addition, data of more than 60 published assemblages from Switzerland as well as western and southern Germany were recorded. The origin of lithic raw materials from most of these inventories was determined using the microfacial method. GIS-based maps of the raw material sources from the aforementioned regions are compiled and raw material catchment areas of the Stone Age sites are mapped. The area calculations of the raw material catchments revealed a diachronic alternation of larger and smaller areas, which above all suggest culturally determined cycles in the range of mobility and communication networks.

A Great Step Forward. Lithic Raw Material Procurement and Management among Palaeolithic Hunter-Gatherers in the Basque Crossroads

This paper is divided into three sections. The first section describes the historiographic evolution of the study of prehistoric lithic raw materials in the Basque Crossroads (in the north of the Iberian Peninsula) during the last three decades. The second section explains the currently available information about geological outcrops of flint in the eastern end of the Cantabrian Mountain range (the Basque-Cantabrian Basin), the upper Ebro valley and both sides of the western Pyrenees, in the central part of the northern Iberian Peninsula, as that was the main raw material used by hunter-gatherer groups in the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. Finally, the last section describes the way in which progress in both aspects of research have enabled the introduction of new concepts and perspectives in the reconstruction of the social and economic dynamics of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers. This has given rise to an innovative methodology that is able to address and solve important issues, particularly regarding mobility and territoriality patterns of those human groups, allowing the proposal of mobility and territoriality models that, while they will not match exactly the systems used by Upper Palaeolithic communities, represent significant progress in understanding the social and economic dynamics of hunter-gatherer groups.

Characterizing the lithic raw materials from Fuente del Trucho (Asque‐Colungo, Huesca): New data about Palaeolithic human mobility in north‐east Iberia

Fuente del Trucho cave (Asque‐Colungo, Huesca, Spain) is located in the central Pre‐Pyrenean range in north‐east Iberia, in the Arpán ravine, a tributary of the Vero River. The mouth of the cave is 22 m wide and it is oriented to the south‐east. The entrance gives access to a 24 m‐deep hall. Palaeolithic paintings were discovered in the cave in 1978. The Fuente del Trucho art comprises two sectors: the external with some engraved motifs and the internal featuring more than 100 painted motifs distributed in 21 panels. Archaeological works have been undertaken since 1979, identifying several human occupations from the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. This paper presents results obtained after the analysis of lithic raw materials. The analyses were performed using the classical archaeopetrological approach, which comprises textural, micropalaeontological and petrographical analyses, combined with the application of geochemical methods, using energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (ED‐XRF) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS). The results show that chert and quartzites were the most commonly used rocks. Different types and origins of chert were identified, demonstrating the existence of a wide mobility for lithic raw material procurement during all the Palaeolithic occupations.

Lithic raw material procurement at the Chaves cave (Huesca, Spain): A geochemical approach to defining Palaeolithic human mobility

AbstractThe Chaves cave (Huesca, Spain) is located in the central Pre‐Pyrenean range in NE Iberia. It is a huge cave opening to the east, which was systematically excavated between 1975 and 2007. Several human occupations from the Upper Palaeolithic and the Neolithic periods were documented. Archaeological investigations had barely covered a tenth of the total area when they were abruptly interrupted by the destruction in 2007 of most of the archaeological sediments and all the preserved Neolithic levels that had not yet been excavated. While the most intensive prehistoric occupations of the cave were Neolithic, several components from the Upper Palaeolithic were also detected and excavated before 2007. The recovered lithic tools, as well as the radiocarbon dates, revealed that the Chaves cave was frequented by hunter–gatherer groups during the Upper Solutrean and the Upper Magdalenian. Lithic raw materials from the Palaeolithic levels are diverse, with several chert types identified. The recovered lithic set was subjected to micropaleontological, petrographic and geochemical analyses (energy‐dispersive X‐ray Fluorescence and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry). The results revealed several origins for the chert, not only from the southern Pyrenees but also from the northern versant, demonstrating that this mountain range was regularly crossed during the Upper Palaeolithic.

Lithic raw material economy at the Huayang site in Northeast China: localization and diversification as adaptive strategies in the Late Glacial

The study of lithic raw material plays an important role in developing archeologists’ understanding of the different adaptive strategies and behaviors of prehistoric people. In this paper, we present new evidence from the Huayang site that reveals lithic raw material procurement and exploitation strategies dating to around 14 ka cal. BP. The Huayang site is located in the southern portion of the Lesser Khingan Mountains in Northeast China, a key region for examining migration, diffusion, and interaction among hunter-gatherers in East and Northeast Asia. Our results indicate that diversified lithic raw materials were found and procured from local riverbeds and reduced at the site. Each raw material was reduced with distinctive knapping strategies and, as a result, there is a strong discrete spatial pattern for each of the different raw material types. Intra- and inter-site comparative analyses suggest a uniform trend towards localization and diversification of lithic raw materials in the southern Lesser Khingan Mountains, Northeast China during the Late Glacial, which seems to be associated with the paleoclimatic amelioration and the demographic expansion during this period.

Karain Mağarası Alt Paleolitik Dönem Yontmataş Endüstrisinin Hammadde Analizleri: Preliminer Sonuçlar

Bu çalışma, Türkiye'de bir Alt Paleolitik buluntu topluluğu üzerinde yapılan ilk hammadde analizlerinin sonuçlarını sunmaktadır. Bu çalışma için, Anadolu'nun en önemli Paleolitik yerleşimlerinden bir tanesi olan Karain Mağarası'nın Alt Paleolitik seviyelerinden elde edilen 53 adet arkeolojik buluntuya ait karakteristik örnek ile Karain çevresindeki hammadde kaynaklarından toplanmış olan 26 adet radyolarit blok kullanılmıştır. Çalışmanın amacı, Karain Mağarası'nda iskan etmiş olan Alt Paleolitik avcı-toplayıcı grupların yontmataş endüstrinin üretimi için kullanmış oldukları hammadde türlerini belirlemek ve potansiyel hammadde kaynakları ile ilgili ilk fikirleri elde etmekti. Hammadde karakterizasyonu ve köken çalışmaları için stereo-mikroskop analizlerini içeren petrografik yöntemler kullanılmıştır. İlk sonuçlar, Karain Mağarası Alt Paleolitik sakinlerinin yontmataş hammadde temini için çeşitli kaynaklardan faydalandığını göstermektedir. Beklenmeyen bir sonuç olarak, yerleşime yaklaşık 10 km uzaklıkta yer alan Burhan Nehri'nin ana hammadde kaynağı olarak kullanılmış olabileceği görülmüştür. Başlangıçta mantıksız gibi görünen bu tercih, erişilebilirlik ve hammadde bolluğu gibi diğer kaynaklara nazaran daha uygun olan şartların varlığıyla açıklanabilir.

Construcción, transformación y reproducción de paisajes campesinos. Aportes desde múltiples escalas

The use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and other analytical tools for the study of landscapes has been on the increase over the last years. GIS allows us to characterize the different ways by which human populations related to the environment and the characteristics therein. Concomitantly, there are certain social practices, such as herding and agriculture, which tend to determine the use of the space by human populations, relegating other social practices that also constitute long-term relations between people and landscapes, which are also important for daily social reproduction. In this article, we reflect and assess the means by which we can visualize, study and question the other multiple social practices that existed in these societies such as hunting, hardwood and lithic raw material procurement, and its interaction with the environment and the relationships thus established. In doing so, we present our research from the Antofalla Valley (Department of Antofagasta de la Sierra, Catamarca). Here we visualize these multiple practices, their historical depth, and assess the multiple scales of analysis needed for their study.

A multi-technique analytical approach to sourcing Scandinavian flint: Provenance of ballast flint from the shipwreck "Leirvigen 1", Norway.

Although Scandinavian flint is one of the most important materials used for prehistoric stone tool production in Northern and Central Europe, a conclusive method for securely differentiating between flint sources, geologically bound to northern European chalk formations, has never been achieved. The main problems with traditional approaches concern the oftentimes high similarities of SiO2 raw materials (i.e. chert and flint) on different scales due to similar genetic conditions and higher intra- than inter-source variation. Conventional chert and flint provenance studies chiefly concentrate on visual, petrographic or geochemical investigations. Hence, attempts to generate characteristic fingerprints of particular chert raw materials were in most cases unsatisfying. Here we show that the Multi Layered Chert Sourcing Approach (MLA) achieves a clear differentiation between primary sources of Scandinavian flint. The MLA combines visual comparative studies, stereo-microscopic analyses of microfossil inclusions, geochemical trace element analyses applying LA-ICP-MS (Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) and statistical analyses through CODA (Compositional Data Analysis). For archaeologists, provenance studies are the gateway to advance interpretations of economic behavior expressed in resource management strategies entailing the procurement, use and distribution of lithic raw materials. We demonstrate the relevance of our results for archaeological materials in a case study in which we were able to differentiate between Scandinavian flint sources and establish the provenance of historic ballast flint from a shipwreck found near Kristiansand close to the shore of southern Norway from a beach source in Northern Jutland, the Vigsø Bay.

Questioning the visibility of the landscape learning process during the Paleoindian colonization of northeastern North America

In this study Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) is used to confirm previous visual identifications of red Munsungun chert, in 23 fluted point sites, or loci, in New England and southern Quebec. These source designations are combined with previous visual raw material identifications to provide a proxy measure of landscape knowledge possessed by early inhabitants of the region. The results herein show these groups possessed significant landscape knowledge and patterned lithic raw material procurement strategies. These results fail to support the idea that some behavioral adaptations during the early fluted point period such as robust toolkit design, long distance lithic transport or other such behaviors are the result of landscape unfamiliarity. These patterns likely hold for other are colonized by mobile hunting and gathering groups.

Settlement behavior in the Kanto Plain during the Japanese Paleolithic based on lithic raw material procurement and consumption

This study examines settlement system changes before and during the Last Glacial Maximum in central Japan. Human mobility is estimated from raw material procurement to infer how Upper Paleolithic hunter–gatherers acquired necessary materials. Seventy-four sites are investigated with the methodological assumption that the lithic raw materials were obtained through an embedded strategy.Changes in settlement patterns through time are reconstructed in the following ways. First, around 30,000 14Cyrs BP, hunter–gatherer territories formed between high-quality lithic raw material sources approximately 200 km apart, constrained by the distribution of lithic raw material sources and the area's terrain and suggesting that their subsistence activities were also conducted in those prime areas. Second, during the Last Glacial Maximum, hunter–gatherers still acquired lithic raw materials from distant sources around 200 km apart, while the area of hunting activities using spear points decreased to an 80 km radius. As territories shrank, large manufacturing sites for making spear points appeared in the vicinity of high-quality raw material sources in this period.In sum, the embedded lithic procurement system in Japan during this period was largely changed by ecological deterioration. Patterns transitioned from general resource exploitation in the early period to seasonal movement between isolated resource-rich areas during the Last Glacial Maximum, resulting in significant change from the mobile hunter–gather society at the end of the Late Pleistocene to the sedentary society of the Holocene.

Lithic raw material procurement of the Late Epigravettian hunter-gatherers from Kopačina Cave (island of Brač, Dalmatia, Croatia)

This paper considers lithic raw material procurement of Epigravettian hunter-gatherers from Kopačina Cave on the island of Brač (Dalmatia, Croatia). The most significant group among the determined petrographic categories are different cherts, and a significantly smaller group of radiolarites. Cherts are both locally and regionally available, while radiolarites originate from more distant areas. Use of raw material that could have been procured within 20 km radius (local) and in the range of 20–50 km (regional) is predominant and very similar in all phases. Raw material that could have been procured from distances ranging from 20 to 50 km shows a gradual trend of increase in frequency from the earliest to the latest phase, while the raw material procured from distances greater than 50 km (extra-regional) has an obvious drop in frequency from the eldest to the youngest phase. Temporal trends in lithic raw material use suggest certain continuity during the whole Epigravettian sequence as well as change which shows itself in larger exploitation areas or more intensive long-distance contacts in earlier Epigravettian phases in Kopačina than in the later ones, and possibly a higher degree of hunter-gatherers’ mobility. Presence of radiolarites in Kopačina's Late Upper Paleolithic layers, as well as their potential outcrops suggest movements of hunter-gatherers deeper in east Adriatic continental hinterland where for now only a few traces of human settlements from Late Glacial have been found. Raw material of several found artifacts indicates possible contacts with the west Adriatic coast.

Geochemical Characterization of Four Quaternary Obsidian Sources and Provenance of Obsidian Artifacts from the Middle Stone Age Site of Gademotta, Main Ethiopian Rift

Twenty‐six Middle Stone Age obsidian artifacts from the Gademotta Formation were instrumentally characterized by energy dispersive X‐ray fluorescence. Analysis of artifacts from the type locality enabled sampling of a greater time depth while avoiding the uncertainties in previous results on artifacts sampled from a “disturbed” context at Kulkuletti. Moreover, the analysis here of source samples from Alutu, Worja, and the previously unstudied Bora and Ficke sources in the broader region offers a better understanding of prehistoric lithic raw material procurement. The local Worja source, an aphyric obsidian excellent for tool production, substantially dominates the assemblage. Bora, another aphyric obsidian in the wider region, is also present, but not common. The vitrophyric Ficke and Alutu obsidian sources with abundant sanidine phenocrysts were not present in the archaeological assemblage, and likely did not compete with Worja and Bora for tool production. At least one artifact appears to be from an as yet unknown source, thus confirming results of previous studies. A few artifacts share similar geochemical composition with the Worja and Bora sources, thus highlighting the complexity of obsidian source studies in this part of the rift where multiple geographically close sources may share similar crustal material.

Holocene climatic fluctuation and lithic technological change in northeastern Hokkaido (Japan)

In Japan, a body of archaeological assemblages with radiocarbon dates has been providing better understanding of relationship between lithic technology, pottery culture, settlement system, social change, and environment.This paper presented newly conducted radiocarbon dating on charred residue on potteries from Initial Jomon sites in northeastern Hokkaido. This work evidenced current pottery typological chronology and allows us to confirm diachronic lithic technological change associated with these potteries. Regarding the lithic technology, it became clear that lithic technological change into sophisticated blade technology suddenly occurred around 8400cal BP, then lasted for very short time period until 8000cal BP in northeastern Hokkaido, and that there was a clear technological gap between this sophisticated blade technology and the previous or subsequent simple flake technology. Since lithic raw material procurement strategy changed during this period, it is supposed that settlement system and foraging strategy might also be reorganized.According to the correspondence between duration of the sophisticated blade technology and global climatic fluctuation, it is likely that 8.2ka climatic event (maximum duration is roughly 8300–8050cal BP) was responsible for this sudden change of blade technology. At present, regional environmental change driven by this global climatic fluctuation is not evidenced yet, but there is enough possibility that sudden appearance of sophisticated blade technology might have been caused not only by simple population dynamics or diffusion, but by rapid change in environmental condition.