Lithic Raw Materials Research Articles

Investigating changes in lithic raw material use from the Middle Paleolithic to the Upper Paleolithic in Jebel Qalkha, southern Jordan

Although the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition in the Levant is known for changes in multiple aspects of archaeological records such as lithic technology, subsistence practices, and the use of ornaments, little is known about whether any change occurred in lithic raw material use over this period. To examine this underexplored issue, this paper presents an analysis of raw material (chert) variations in four lithic assemblages that represent the Late Middle Paleolithic (LMP), the Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) and the Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) in the Jebel Qalkha area, southern Jordan. To characterize chert variation, we used a novel method for the quantification of surface roughness in addition to more conventional macroscopic attributes, such as color and translucency. To evaluate the validity of the new measurement of surface roughness, we conducted petrographic and geochemical examinations to show their correlations with ratio-scale data (Ra values) of the surface roughness. As a result, we established three major chert types (Types M, FL and FH) based on two macroscopic criteria (texture and translucency) that correlate with microfossil contents and major chemical compositions. The relative frequencies of the three chert types in the four lithic assemblages showed an increase in Type FH in the EUP assemblage. This indicates that a clear change in lithic raw material was observed not at the classical boundary between the MP and UP, but between the IUP and EUP. This result is discussed in relation to the development of bladelet technology in the EUP and its possible relevance to the selection of raw materials.

Human Resilience in the Face of Mid-Holocene Climate Change on the Central West Coast of South Africa

Abstract After the Last Glacial Maximum, important yet milder climatic trends continued to characterise the Holocene. None of them was more challenging to forager groups in the central west coast of South Africa than the mid-Holocene Altithermal (8200–4200 cal BP). Hot and dry weather and 1–3 m higher sea levels were thought once to have barred local foragers from this region because of a lack of sites dating to this period. Instead, this initial scenario reflected largely a sampling problem. Steenbokfontein Cave is one of a few sites with some of the largest mid-Holocene deposits, allowing insights into forager adaptations during this period. Results show high mobility over large distances and a terrestrial diet mostly dependant on small bovids, complemented with fewer coastal resources. Stone tool kits and lithic raw materials among various sites suggest that much evidence for mid-Holocene occupation is actually found near the local riparian systems.

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.

How Neanderthals gripped retouchers: experimental reconstruction of the manipulation of bone retouchers by Neanderthal stone knappers

When studying bone retouchers, researchers pay close attention to the morphological characteristics of the tool’s active zone, and the lithic raw material processed. In our research, we found that the orientation of the bone retoucher in the hand and the grip employed to retain and manipulate it are crucial factors that affect the morphological characteristics of the retoucher’s active zone. By examining two alternative grips for manipulating bone retouchers ((1) Using all the fingers of one hand in a power grip; (2) Using only the first three digits of one hand in a pinch grip), we found that when the retoucher is held in the first manner, the active area is larger, as is the amount of bone removed by the retoucher. When the retoucher was pinched with only three fingers in a precision grip, retouch damage was more densely concentrated and less bone was removed. The orientation of the retoucher in the hand and the grip employed have a greater influence on the active area than the extent of retoucher use, which we assessed by measuring the number of stone tool edges processed. By gripping the retoucher with all the fingers of one hand, the knapper automatically applies greater force, which results in the removal of more bone. Comparison of experimental bone retouchers with those recovered from Middle Paleolithic archaeological contexts in Chagyrskaya Cave (Altai, Russia) revealed that Altai Neanderthals practiced two methods of grasping bone retouchers, with a three-finger pinch grip being dominant.

Early human dispersal at the western edge of the Eastern European plain: Data from Ukraine

The current state of research on Lower Palaeolithic sites in Ukraine within its 1991 borders is the focus of this paper. Over the last 10–15 years, many new sites have been discovered in different parts of the eastern European area of the country, reassessed some old materials. In the central European region of the country, in the Ukrainian Transcarpathia, important new stratified Lower Palaeolithic sites have also been found. The current Ukrainian Lower Palaeolithic records demonstrate hominin presence in mountainous areas (Carpathians, Crimea) and the valleys of all major rivers, namely the Dniester, Southern Buh, Dnieper and Severskiy Donets. The article presents a brief review of the main currently known Lower Palaeolithic assemblages. Available geological, geomorphological, biostratigraphical data and ESR dates allow defining their age between 1.2 and 0.4 Myг; sites correlate with few warm phases between MIS 35 and MIS 11. Earlier sites, very tentatively dated at around 2 Myг, gravitate towards the seashore and mountainous areas. Later sites witness steady, though not continuous, colonisation of East European plain fringe areas. The main regularities of geographical setting, chronology, morphological and technological characteristics of assemblages of the Lower Palaeolithic sites of the Western segment of the East European plain are characterised. Typologically, industries are mainly characterised as belonging to Mode I. Core-and-flake industries survives to the Holsteinian. Essential difficulties in lithic raw materials supply could probably be a reason for the rise of a peculiar pattern of technological behaviour that involved mainly bipolar knapping and widely applied trimming technique of shaping the working edges of tools. Some signals of probable population movements penetrated the territory of Ukraine by the Asia Minor “western” trajectory and by Caucasian “eastern” way are revealed.

Knapping before and after polishing: Technological evidence in the Neolithic polished stone tools from Hungary

The authors present the evidence gathered during the interdisciplinary study of several polished stone tools from some Neolithic sites in Hungary. In particular, the cutting-edged tool production (axes, adzes, chisels) involves knapping at several stages of the operational-chain within an artefact’s ‘life cycle’ - from raw material procurement, its manufacture, use, and discard. Some specific fine-grained and non-siliceous raw materials, among which are mainly hornfels, “white stones” and a few greenstones, show evidence of being worked by knapping as shown by the recovery of rough-outs, flaked similarly to biface artefacts, reworked pieces during retooling attempts, and several flakes detached before and after polishing the artefact surfaces. These latter demonstrate that re-sharpening and re-working polished cutting-edged tools was a common practice within the settlements during the whole Neolithic period. These small flakes, that sometimes look like true bladelets, have been often confused with, and published as, chipped stone tools. Therefore, it is important to get a holistic view of the whole stone industry during the study of the lithic assemblages. As in the case for chert and flint in N Europe, which have been intensively exploited for the production of polished axes and adzes, some other lithic raw materials could be easily worked by knapping for the production of polished tools, especially micro-crystalline rocks that have technical response and physical properties very similar to true flint and chert. Moreover, there are indeed implications regarding social organization among Neolithic communities, not only from the point of view of raw material procurement. Notably, the technical capability of producing and maintaining in efficiency the polished stone tools had to be acquired by individuals belonging to each household within the community, since stone axe-adzes were polyfunctional tools for mundane and multiple tasks. Therefore, as an important means for survival, the production of stone tools, both chipped and polished, was a knowledge certainly transmitted from generation to generation, although we still have to understand the modes and social implications of the transfer in details.

Allometry of unifacial flake tools from Mojave Desert terminal pleistocene/early holocene sites: Implications for landscape knowledge, tool design, and land use

This study evaluates the allometry of terminal Pleistocene-early Holocene age unifacial flake tools in the northcentral Mojave Desert of California to reveal linkages between landscape knowledge, tool design, and land use. Analyses of 438 unifacial flake tools (all types) show at the population scale that Mojave Desert Paleoindians, like other post-Clovis Paleoindians across North America, possessed good knowledge of the landscape and designed flake tools for short-term purposes. This design strategy repeats in three study areas but to varying degrees: flake tools in the Fort Irwin study area were designed for shorter-term use than those from the pluvial China Lake and Lake Mojave study areas. Chert flake tools were designed for somewhat shorter-term use than those made from fine-grained volcanic stones, with obsidian flake tools designed for longevity. The regional ubiquity of knappable lithic raw materials, especially cherts, partially explains the short-term design strategy given Paleoindians’ knowledge of the landscape, including where to find knappable stones. Given that the design strategy of unifacial flake tools varies by raw material type, it provides a reminder that Great Basin Paleoindian land use models derived solely or largely from obsidian projectile points and bifacial tools may result in biased interpretations.

Acheulean variability in Western Europe: The case of Menez-Dregan I (Plouhinec, Finistère, France)

The establishment of the Acheulean in Europe occurred after MIS 17, but it was after the harsh glaciation of MIS 12 and during the long interglacial of MIS 11 that human occupation of Western Europe became more sustained, with an increased number of sites. Menez-Dregan I (Brittany, France) is one of the key sites in Western Europe that dates from this threshold, with an alternating sequence of 16 occupation levels and four marine deposits, from MIS 12 to 8. The large lithic assemblages of more than 154,000 artifacts from knapping (cores, flakes) and shaping (macrotools and shaping flakes) show the varying use of raw materials and activities at the site through the sequence. This work focuses on the study of the handaxes and cleavers using technological and metrical methods with multivariate analysis, in combination with geometric morphometrics, and places these analyses within the context of other technological changes at the site. Collectively, results show the persistent use through the sequence of the same lithic raw materials and technologies, including fire use and the import of glossy sandstone from 20 km away, but with variation in activities at the site. These findings suggest that Menez-Dregan I shows the development of a specific material culture that reflects the local resources and environment. Results further indicate that the site shows the sustained hominin occupation of the area, despite varying climate and environment, with strong traditions of social learning that were maintained through flexibility of site use, deep understanding of the local territory, and the innovation of new technologies, such as the use of fire. Evidence from the site is placed within the wider context of Europe, and contrasted with areas to the north, such as Britain, where hominin occupation was more sporadic and driven by cyclical climate change.

Use of meat resources in the Early Pleistocene assemblages from Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Granada, Spain)

Over the last few decades, several types of evidence such as presence of hominin remains, lithic assemblages, and bones with anthropogenic surface modifications have demonstrated that early human communities inhabited the European subcontinent prior to the Jaramillo Subchron (1.07–0.98 Ma). While most studies have focused primarily on early European lithic technologies and raw material management, relatively little is known about food procurement strategies. While there is some evidence showing access to meat and other animal-based food resources, their mode of acquisition and associated butchery processes are still poorly understood. This paper presents a taphonomic and zooarchaeological analysis of the Fuente Nueva-3 (FN3) (Guadix-Baza, Spain) faunal assemblage, providing a more in-depth understanding of early hominin subsistence strategies in Europe. The present results show that hominins had access to the meat and marrow of a wide range of animal taxa, including elephants, hippopotami, and small- and medium-sized animals. At the same time, evidence of carnivore activity at the site suggests that these communities likely faced some degree of competition from large predators when acquiring and processing carcasses.

Em Busca do Invisível

As análises de material lítico tradicionalmente adotam uma perspectiva tecnológica, centrada nos processos de produção e de gestão da matéria-prima lítica. Ainda que a arqueologia experimental e a traceologia exijam por vezes o contato entre o material lítico e o mundo orgânico e perecível o foco dos estudos é quase sempre muito “litocentrado”, invisibilizando por vezes todo o conhecimento apreensível sobre o material perecível relacionado a essas abordagens. Propomos aqui um exercício de olhar para o material lítico, sob a perspectiva experimental e de análise tecnológica, com foco no que não se preservou, mostrando o potencial para uma apreensão mais completa da realidade arqueológica. Demonstramos assim que o material lítico pode ser um vetor importante para enxergar o mundo orgânico.

LOST IN THE QUEST FOR FLINT: A GRAVETTIAN HUNTING CAMP (USATEGI, BASQUE COUNTRY)

SummaryFive decades ago, Usategi Cave (Basque Country) yielded a small Gravettian series that included an Isturitz‐type bone point. This paper presents the first 14C dates for the assemblage and new data obtained by the study of the lithic raw materials, a high proportion of which came from north of the Pyrenees. The discussion of this new information leads to the hypothesis that the occupants of the cave were a group that travelled from the continental Basque Country across the Pyrenean mountain passes and the Ebro basin to procure flint from the nearest outcrop at Urbasa.

Artefactos de molienda en el este de Norpatagonia (provincia de Río Negro, Argentina): un estudio de colecciones arqueológicas

En este trabajo se presentan los resultados del análisis tecno-morfológico y morfológico-funcional de los artefactos líticos de molienda provenientes del área del valle medio e inferior del río Negro, y del piedemonte de la meseta de Somuncurá (provincia de Río Negro). Los materiales analizados forman parte de tres colecciones del Museo de La Plata y una colección privada depositada en la localidad de San Antonio Este. Los objetivos principales de este trabajo son caracterizar la producción, uso y descarte de conjuntos de molienda del área y generar información de base para discutir estrategias tecnológicas relativas a esta parte del registro arqueológico a nivel regional. En el conjunto analizado se identificaron diferentes grupos tipológicos vinculados a la molienda (morteros, molinos, manos de mortero y de molino y artefactos compuestos) confeccionados, en su mayoría, sobre materias primas locales (areniscas, basaltos y otras rocas ígneas). El proceso de manufactura habría involucrado cierta regularidad en cuanto la selección y modificación de las materias primas para manufacturar los artefactos. La molienda en el área estaría vinculada con estrategias de equipamientos de sitios y posiblemente con un proceso de intensificación en la explotación de recursos. El estudio sistemático de colecciones representa un medio para su puesta en valor y para la protección del patrimonio arqueológico.

Bifacial component of Mira, Layer I lithic assemblage

Bifacial component of Mira, Layer I lithic assemblage

Sourcing macrolithics: Mineralogical, geochemical and provenance investigation of stone artefacts from Neolithic Avgi, north‐west Greece

AbstractThe provenance of the lithic raw materials employed in the production of macrolithic artefacts at Neolithic Avgi (Middle–Late Neolithic, c.5700–4500 cal bce) in Kastoria, north‐western Greece, is studied. Mineralogical, petrographic and geochemical analysis was conducted on selected samples of the archaeological material, supported by geological fieldwork and outcrop sampling. The majority of the macrolithic stone artefacts was manufactured by local raw materials, originating from either the neighbouring ophiolites at Maniakoi or the alluvial sediments of the Aliakmon River and its tributaries. A minor amount of artefacts was produced from ‘exotic’ rocks, such as marble, malachite and amber. The study of two marble artefacts indicates that the raw material is from the island of Naxos in Aegean, although the neighbouring island of Paros is not excluded, suggesting the participation of the Neolithic community of Avgi in social and/or exchange networks.

Potential raw material sources for the production of lithic artefacts in western Central Europe – GIS-data for the Rhineland, Westphalia, and the Benelux countries

Since July 2013, the project D4 of the Collaborative Research Centre 806 at the University of Cologne has dealt with the Mesolithic in western Germany. During the first phase of this research, the primary tasks were to establish a regional chronology for the Middle Stone Age on the one hand, and the mapping of all known sites in the Rhineland and Westphalia regarding the different Mesolithic phases on the other. Since July 2017, the project has focused on mobility, cultural exchange, and human-environment interactions during the Final Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic in Central Europe. Due to the poor conditions of preservation, numerous Palaeolithic and Mesolithic assemblages only contain lithic artefacts. Communication networks and mobility patterns of the hunter-gatherer groups can be deduced from the raw material of these finds for a considerable number of sites. Apart from pottery, lithic artefacts and their resources also illustrate the social and economic networks during the Neolithic. The raw material of knapped artefacts and their potential geological sources offer important information relating to the project's goals.A map of the potential raw material sources for knapped artefacts in comparison with the archaeological finds is the basis for any suggestion about mobility patterns and communication networks. In general, information on geological lithic sources and the archaeological inventories in western Central Europe is far more detailed than for other regions. These data and all the information gathered on lithic raw material sources for western Germany and the Benelux countries allow us to provide a GIS-database using the software QGIS in the form of several maps and data tables with geological and archaeological information as well as detailed descriptions and references.One important result of this paper addresses the reconstruction of lithic raw material catchment areas. Three examples from younger Mesolithic sites show that the more precise petrographic method for identifying lithic raw materials results in much larger catchment areas than traditional macroscopic identification, leading to new considerations for estimating population densities during the later Middle Stone Age.

Recognizing heat‐treated chert: A comparison between infrared spectroscopy and fracture surface analysis

AbstractHeat treatment of lithic raw material is used for the first time in Europe in the Solutrean of the upper Paleolithic. The study of which heating technique was used by these groups requires analytical methods to understand and recognize the chemical and physical processes involved. Roughness measurements were tested as a tool for recognizing heat treatment and to compare them to infrared spectroscopy. We also measured the surface topography of geological samples to observe its evolution as a function of heating and then compare the results with those obtained on Solutrean artefacts. Near infrared analyses was carried out for comparing the effectiveness of surface roughness measurements. This work complements our knowledge about the heating environment used by Solutrean groups by confirming the use of controlled heating. In addition, our roughness measurements provide promising results for the recognition of heat treatment through the quantification of the surface luster.

Black chert and radiolarite: knappable lithic raw materials in the prehistory of the Cantabrian Mountains (North Spain)

Black chert and radiolarite: knappable lithic raw materials in the prehistory of the Cantabrian Mountains (North Spain)

Modelling prehistoric social interaction in the south-western Pacific: a view from the obsidian sources in northern Vanuatu. In From Field to Museum—Studies from Melanesia in Honour of Robin Torrence, ed. Jim Specht, Val Attenbrow, and Jim Allen

This paper investigates the history of social interaction within communities in the Vanuatu Archipelago and between Vanuatu and other regions in the Western Pacific as reflected by variations in lithic raw material sources and technology of stone artefacts. Past research determined an apparent contradiction between long-distance transportation of obsidian, indicating high value, and the under-utilisation of the raw material at the place of discard, indicating low value. The paper concludes that because previous hypotheses depend too much on the notion of the scarcity of resources in their evaluation of the concept of value, they are insufficient to explain the pattern of spatial and temporal distribution of lithic artefacts. Rather than focusing on the intrinsic value of obsidian raw material for individuals or communities, it is more useful to view it as a marker of group identity in a complex system connecting discrete populations in mitigating risk in unpredictable new environments. These new environments included pre-established populations, which might be hostile to new arrivals. The necessity for this complex system quickly disappeared once the colonisers arrived in regions uninhabited by prior populations.

An investigation of the flake-based lithic tool morphology using 3D geometric morphometrics: A case study from the Mirak Paleolithic Site, Iran

Today archaeologists are increasingly seeking more objective methods for analyzing archaeological remains to obtain the most reliable results possible. To achieve this goal, methods developed in other disciplines are being introduced gradually into archaeology and their effectiveness is being tested; this is particularly the case for archaeological analysis of lithic artifacts. One such method, borrowed from evolutionary biology that has become increasingly widespread in stone tool archaeology is geometric morphometrics. This method can be used to generate information regarding inter- and intra-assemblage morphological variability in lithic artifacts and to inspect the mechanisms and causes driving this variation. In this paper, 3D landmark-based geometric morphometrics is used to study diachronic changes in the morphology of lithic tools. This study concerns an assemblage of flaked lithic tools from the open-air Paleolithic site of Mirak, located along the northern fringe of the Iranian Central Desert. These lithics belong to two archaeological layers. Layer 2, which features a combination of Middle and Upper Paleolithic lithic materials (ca. 33–26 kya), and Layer 3, which consists mainly of late Middle Paleolithic materials (ca. 55–43 kya). These layers belong to Marine Isotope Stage 3, a time of rapid fluctuation in climatic and environmental conditions at the global and regional scales. The aim here is to investigate whether there are any significant morphological differences between the two sets of aforementioned lithic assemblages, and subsequently, to suggest possible causes of the stability or variability in this morphology. The results of the analysis indicate that the general morphology of the flake-based lithic tools is not significantly different between the two layers. To inspect the rationale for such diachronic stability, the morphology of the original lithic raw materials and population dynamics are studied. It seems that at least part of the answer lies in the flow of information and cultural transmission related to the presence of metapopulations in the Iranian Central Plateau during Marine Isotope Stage 3.

Lithic raw material in the Cantabrian region: Dialectical relationship between flint and quartzite in the Palaeolithic record

The increase, in quantitative and qualitative terms, of research attending to the geological nature of rocks found in archaeological contexts is changing our perspectives about social and economic territories articulated by Palaeolithic societies in the Cantabrian Region. Practically the only raw material researched in a solid geoarchaeological approach in this area is flint. This paper addresses how the near absence of in-depth geoarchaeological research into raw materials other than flint is modifying our perception of the procurement and management mechanism of raw material in the Cantabrian Region during the Palaeolithic.
 To consider this matter in depth, we present the bibliographic and quantitative analysis of 30 representative archaeological sites from the Cantabrian Region whose assemblages were described lithologically using basic and primary categories. The state of play depicts a geographic distribution of raw material in the Cantabrian Region where quartzite is associated with the western sector and flint with the east. Interconnected with this axis, there is a chronological tendency that promotes standardisation in the use of flint by Palaeolithic societies following a chronological order, from the older to the more recent periods. This information, and its contextualisation with the new perspectives resulting from the application of the geoarchaeological proposal used to understand flint procurement, allows us to understand the general tendencies of raw material distribution of the region. Especially, we can detect how the absence of geoarchaeological methodologies of other raw materials than flint has modified the perception of the economic and social dynamics articulated around raw material by Palaeolithic people. This bias does not only affect the geographical and chronological axes, emphasising information from the regions and periods where flint is represented, but also promotes the over-interpretation of long-distance procurement, therefore, building up narratives exclusively based on human mobility.
 This situation has generated an incomplete and unbalanced picture of the procurement and management strategies followed by Palaeolithic societies because quartzite, the second most-often used lithic raw material, and other raw materials have only been studied using geoarchaeological methods within the last few years. This research finally points to the continuation of in-depth research of quartzite and other raw materials as the next steps to re-interpret the current paradigms about procurement and management of raw material by Palaeolithic societies, and, therefore, modify our perspectives of social and economic territories.