Lithic Resources Research Articles

Modeling landscape mobility and lithic resource procurement areas in Calerizo de Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain

Provenance studies and characterization of materials are significant for understanding the geological origin and geographical location of materials, which in turn allows us to have an insight into the way different sources of lithic materials were exploited and the procurement strategies adopted by human groups who utilized them. Through the study of the lithic landscape of Calerizo de Caceres which would have provided raw materials for human groups, we explored the procurement radius of exploitation to understand the extent of the landscape that human groups possibly traversed to acquire needed resources. Least Cost Path Analysis was employed to estimate the distances of raw materials outcrop from the Santa Ana cave which served as the origin point for the analysis. The result of the characterization of the archaeological assemblage in relation to geological samples from source outcrops revealed that distance played a major role in the choice of lithic materials selection as nearby outcrops to the cave site were exploited better compared to sources far from the cave. The analysis also revealed that activities are conditioned to different loci on the landscape as resources are spatially distributed at different parts of the landscape which would have made exploitation of resources accessible as and when due. The study revealed that because needed lithic resources are available, scale of movement was conditioned within the local environment and this explained why human occupation of Calerizo de Cáceres has been from the Lower Pleistocene until the beginning of Agricultural societies.

Biogeography and adaptation in the Kuril Islands, Northeast Asia

ABSTRACTThe Circumpolar North is generally recognized as a challenging environment to inhabit and yet, we know relatively little about how people managed their welfare in these places. Here, we add to the understanding of maritime hunter-gatherers in the subarctic North Pacific through a comparative approach that synthesizes biogeographic and archaeological data from the Kuril Islands. We conclude that our faunal, ceramic and lithic evidence support expectations from biogeography as assemblages from low biodiversity and insular regions show limited diet breadth, more locally produced pottery and a conservation of lithic resources. However, we highlight that these ecological factors did not strictly determine the occupation history of the archipelago as radiocarbon data suggests all regions experienced similar demographic fluctuations regardless of their biogeography. These results imply additional pressures influenced the strategic use and settlement of the Kuril Islands and the need for increased chronological resolution to disentangle these complex historical factors.

Obsidiana Varvarco: una nueva fuente en el noroeste de Patagonia (Neuquén, Argentina)

En el norte neuquino existen depósitos piroclásticos que contienen nódulos de obsidianas. Las investigaciones en la región dieron a conocer las principales fuentes utilizadas por las poblaciones que allí habitaron. Para profundizar el conocimiento de cada fuente de obsidiana se adoptó un programa de estudio geoarqueológico y geoquímico. Así, se han descubierto nuevas ocurrencias de obsidianas, la más destacable de las cuales es la obsidiana Varvarco que aquí se presenta. Se dan a conocer los muestreos realizados en el valle del río Varvarco, su contexto geológico y geomorfológico, la presencia de obsidiana, el tipo de yacimiento, forma de presentación, distribución y abundancia. Luego, se describen las principales características observadas bajo microscopio petrográfico. Por último, se presentan los resultados de análisis geoquímicos de fluorescencia de rayos X y activación neutrónica. A partir de los primeros la obsidiana Varvarco se diferencia de la de Cerro Huenul, pero no de la obsidiana Maule 1 y 2. Los segundos análisis discriminan bien esta nueva obsidiana de las ya conocidas para Neuquén. Los resultados obtenidos permiten reinterpretar la disponibilidad de recursos líticos de buena calidad para la talla y revisar las interpretaciones de movilidad e interacción de poblaciones en esta región.

High resolution AMS 14C dates for late Pleistocene Fishtail technology from the Tigre site, Uruguay river basin, South America

The basin of the Uruguay middle river has contributed important advances related to knowledge of the early settlement of southeastern South America. This paper presents recent progress of the research on the Paleoamerican period that is being carried out in the Tigre site (Uruguay), where a cultural component with Fishtail points, bifaces, preforms and other artifacts dated at ∼ 12,800 and 12,200 cal BP was found. The presence of silicified limestone (silcrete) in the Tigre site indicates mobility ranges of 190–350 km to obtain this lithic resource. The data presented here allow to have an accurate discussion of the chronological period occupied by Fishtail groups on the plains of Uruguay; and to recognize the late stages of the Fishtail point manufacturing process used by these human groups, one of the most successful adaptations during the end of the Pleistocene in South America.

Para usar en la cocina. Adquisición, producción y uso de artefactos líticos en la Estructura 1 de Cardonal (Valle del Cajón, Catamarca)

This paper presents the reconstruction of lithic knapping activities carried out within Structure 1 of Compound 1 in the Cardonal archaeological site (Cajon Valley, Catamarca) at the beginning of the Christian Era. The study of this structure, interpreted as the house kitchen, allowed us to analyze microscale technological processes, and so address the sum of technical actions that constituted daily life within the house. We evaluated the selection of lithic resources chosen by the inhabitants of the house and studied artifact variability within the lithic assemblage recovered, thereby identifying the lithic technological activities that occurred in the room. The methodology employed and the results obtained allowed us to determine the diversity of rocks used, as well as to reconstruct a wide range of lithic production activities. We focused on lithic technology embedded in everyday practices within network frameworks that included not only other Cardonal residents, but also more distant people and landscapes.

Beyond Site Detection: The Role of Satellite Remote Sensing in Analysing Archaeological Problems. A Case Study in Lithic Resource Procurement in the Atacama Desert, Northern Chile

Remote sensing archaeology in recent years has emphasized the use of high-precision and high-accuracy tools to achieve the detailed documentation of archaeological elements (drones, LIDAR, etc.). Satellite remote sensing has also benefited from an increase in the spatial and spectral resolution of the sensors, which is enabling the discovery and documentation of new archaeological features and sites worldwide. While there can be no doubt that a great deal is being gained via such “site detection” approaches, there still remains the possibility of further exploring remote sensing methods to analyse archaeological problems. In this paper, this issue is discussed by focusing on one common archaeological topic: the mapping of environmental resources used in the past and, in particular, the procurement of lithic raw material by hunter-gatherer groups. This is illustrated by showing how the combined use of Landsat 8 images and “ground-truthing” via focused field studies has allowed the identification of a number of potential chert sources, the major lithic resource used by coastal groups between 11,500–1,500 cal. BP, in a vast area of the Atacama Desert covering 22,500 km2. Besides discussing the case study, the strength of remote sensing techniques in addressing archaeological questions comprising large spatial scales is highlighted, stressing the key role they can play in the detection and study of specific environmental resources within challenging physical settings.

Conditioning of the raw materials on discoid exploitation strategies during the Early Middle Palaeolithic: the example of Payre level D (South-East France)

In the last decades, a growing attention was paid toward the exploitation of other lithic raw materials than flint. In this context, the lithic assemblage of Payre level D, dated to the end of the MIS 6, offers the opportunity to make some considerations about the modalities of a discoid technology on various lithic raw materials. Payre is a very well-known Middle Palaeolithic site located on the right edge of the Middle Rhone valley. Three main archaeological levels attest an intense human frequentation of the site between the end of MIS 8 and the beginning of MIS 5. The rich faunal and lithic assemblages, recovered during systematic excavations from 1990 to 2002, have been deeply analysed for a precise understanding of the site formation processes and the modalities of the human occupation of the area. The exploitation of different local and semi-local raw materials made Payre an interesting case to observe how lithic resources with different petrographic characteristics were exploited by the Neanderthal groups. The present work aims to observe how the lithic raw materials have affected the discoid reduction sequences. This knapping method is widely attested in archaeological level D, the last large phase of human occupation at Payre. Among the different raw materials exploited (flint, vein quartz, quartzite, basalt and limestone), the discoid method is just applied on flint and vein quartz. The new technological analysis carried out focuses for the first time on the characteristics of the discoid technology present in level D and on the differences in discoid reduction sequences depending on the raw materials. The results indicate some expedients used to apply discoid reduction strategies on vein quartz and adapt this technology to the features of a coarse-grained stone. The use of such expedients testifies a large capability to manage not only the raw materials but also of the discoid method itself. Results allow to make considerations on some of the criteria proper to the technological definition of the method.

Population convergence in the Strobel Plateau: A discussion based on the study of lithic raw materials variability

Rock art research carried out in the Strobel Plateau (Santa Cruz province, Patagonia, Argentina - 700 to 1200 masl) has shown that during Late Holocene population convergence took place in this area, where information was concentrated and distributed on a supra-regional scale (Belardi & Goñi 2006; Goñi 2010; Re 2010; Goñi et al. 2007, 2014). The central position of this plateau in the province's steppe would also be a crucial factor regarding this process (Belardi & Goñi 2006). In this context, the aim of this work is to study this idea of population dynamics given the evidence from lithic technology. In order to do this, we first consider the analysis of variability and provenance of lithic raw materials used for the manufacture of artefacts. It is important to highlight that after 15 years of research carried out in the Strobel Plateau we have not found any lithic source. However, previous works suggest that lithic resources used in the Strobel Plateau are located in nearby areas. Therefore, when analysing the variability, provenance and distance of sources, this work seeks to discuss the access to the plateau and the regional circulation axes. The obtained results support the idea of population convergence occurring in Late Holocene.

Evolution of Silcrete Heat Treatment in Australia—a Regional Pattern on the South-East Coast and Its Evolution over the Last 25 ka

We document long-term evolution in the rate of heat treatment in Eastern Australia and explore them as a technological response to dynamic industrial and social contexts that developed in the last 25 millennia. We employed methods previously used in Africa but novel in Australia to infer long-term directional changes in the relative frequency of silcrete artefacts that were heat-treated. Our methods involved independent and cross-verifying tests of the presence or absence of heat treatment, employing visual classifications and surface roughness measures. These methods revealed a coherent series of increases over time in the landscapes around Sydney, so that Late Holocene assemblages displayed higher rates of heat treatment than terminal Pleistocene or Early Holocene ones. We hypothesise that the directional trend towards greater frequencies of heat-treated artefacts on Australia’s eastern seaboard is explicable in terms of the context of technological shifts towards microlith production superimposed onto an even longer term process of lithic resource depletion, perhaps compounded with the development of political barriers to the redistribution of knappable stone.

Age of Obsidian Butte in Imperial County, California, Through Infrared Stimulated Luminescence Dating of Potassium Feldspar from Tuffaceous Sediment

ABSTRACTObsidian Butte is an important lithic source for obsidian and artifacts from this location are distributed across archaeological sites in southern California and adjacent parts of northern Mexico. For this study, we used drill core material for infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating of potassium feldspar extracted from tuffaceous sediment directly underlying obsidian-bearing lava from Obsidian Butte. In addition, a core sample from lacustrine sediment below the tuffaceous sedimentary unit was dated by the same method. Stratigraphically consistent ages between 2.51 ± 0.32 kilo-annum (ka) (1 sigma uncertainty; average of two tuffaceous sediment samples) and 4.39 ± 0.49 ka (lacustrine sediment sample) were obtained. This constrains the eruption and earliest availability of the lithic resource of Obsidian Butte to 490 BCE (with uncertainty limits of ±320 years at ∼68 percent confidence, and ±640 years at ∼95 percent confidence). Since then, it would have been accessible during intermittent desiccation of Lake Cahuilla. This new date redefines obsidian from Obsidian Butte as a marker for the late prehistoric period.

Raw-material Procurement and Landscape Use during the Pleistocene/Holocene Transition in the Eastern Tandilia Range (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

ABSTRACTThis paper analyzes the use of lithic resources by hunter-gatherer groups during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition (c. 10,000 14C yr BP) in the eastern Tandilia Mountain Range (Pampas region, Argentina). The lithic assemblages of nine archaeological sites were recovered in sedimentary sequences from caves and rockshelters. The results show that the first human groups who inhabited the micro-region had a wide knowledge of the landscape and sources, and developed a highly selective acquisition of rocks, transporting them from different sources. Among these rocks, two different sedimentary rocks (orthoquartzites) were the most used: the first locally available and the second located 100 km away from the study area. Additional raw-material sources are located 400 and 500 km away from the archaeological study area and were used with different intensities in the studied sites.

La tecnología lítica neandertal de Valdegoba en el contexto del Paleolítico medio de la Meseta norte

En este artículo se presenta el primer análisis completo de la tecnología lítica en estratigrafía de Valdegoba, uno de los lugares clave del Paleolítico medio en la Cuenca del Duero. Valdegoba es un yacimiento del Estadio Isotópico Marino (MIS) 3 que ha aportado los únicos restos óseos neandertales en este entorno, así como evidencias muy relevantes sobre el poblamiento de los últimos neandertales. En particular, destacan sus respuestas técnicas en relación con actividades domésticas ligadas al aprovechamiento de recursos cárnicos (especializado en el rebeco) como el trabajo de pieles y forros. Su tecnología está caracterizada por rasgos propios del Paleolítico medio sensu stricto (alto porcentaje de métodos levallois y discoide) y otros relevantes y particulares como la gestión de las materias primas, el incremento de productos alargados o la presencia de una gran diversidad de núcleos.

Detecting patterns of local raw material utilization among informal lithic assemblages at the late Paleolithic site of Shuidonggou Locality 2 (China)

The apparent simplicity and the lack of changes in stone tool production during the Paleolithic in China is often explained by environmental, subsistence and demographic processes that either promoted a casual approach to lithic technological organization or impeded cultural innovation among East Asian hominin groups. This perspective stems from an assumption that complexity in lithic management is solely reflected in formalized core reduction methods, tool typology and/or the transport of non-local raw material types. In this study, by using survey to establish the baseline expectation of local raw material proportions, we demonstrate the differential treatments of locally abundant stone types at the Late Paleolithic site of Shuidonggou Locality 2. In spite of the apparent technological stasis, we observe shifting patterns of local raw material selection and transport during late Marine Isotope Stage 3. Hence our results suggest that, in basic core-and-flake assemblages, technological complexity is expressed in the selection, use and transport of lithic resources, including informal artifacts made on locally available raw material.

Late Pleistocene to early Holocene high-quality quartz crystal procurement from the Valiente quarry workshop site (32°S, Chile, South America).

The procurement of high-quality lithic resources is amongst the most indicative processes of decision-making in the archaeology of early human groups peopling the Americas. Directly dated deposits from quarry workshops have been absent of the late Pleistocene record of South America. We present the results of the excavations of a high-quality translucent quartz crystal workshop that yielded radiocarbon-dated coherently layered stratigraphic deposits that shed light into the behavior of the initial stages of lithic procurement. Based on a detailed analysis of the context of the Valiente site (32° S, Chile, South America), we discuss the stages of bifacial production of point technology. The deposit produced evidence of cumulative occupations over the period between 12,630 and 11,320 calibrated years before present. This ~1,300-year span is coincidental with a major environmental step-wise drying trend as indicated by the local and regional pollen records. Furthermore, it is synchronous to the process in which natural landscapes became the earliest taskscapes in the region, thereby encompassing major cultural changes related to the organization of the land use. These results are discussed in the frame of contemporaneous archaeological data to discuss specific aspects of technology and decision-making of the earliest settlers of South America.

The evidence from Vindija Cave (Croatia) reveals diversity of Neandertal behaviour in Europe

Vindija cave is one of the most important Paleolithic sites in Europe, containing a large sample of Neandertal skeletal remains associated with both a distinctive lithic industry and a rich faunal assemblage. Results of detailed faunal analyses from layers G3 and G1 are presented in this paper together with a taphonomic analysis of the hominin remains from these layers. Various agents of modification on the hominin and faunal samples were identified based on the presence of different marks on the bones. The data obtained from these analyses are used, together with assessment of the associated lithic industry, for a reconstruction of Neandertal behaviour in layers G3 and G1. The results of these analyses are critical for understanding the subsistence strategies of the Vindija Neandertals and for a comparison of their behaviour between different occupational levels. The picture of Neandertals as highly effective predators who occasionally defleshed human bones, possibly with the purpose of cannibalism, is reinforced by the results of this study. The Vindija Neandertals practiced broad exploitation of local lithic resources and modified their raw material acquisition strategy at the end of the Middle Paleolithic. Taken together, these results provide further support for the diversity of Neandertal behaviour in Europe.

Kisar and the Archaeology of Small Islands in the Wallacean Archipelago

ABSTRACTThe occupation of small islands presents particular challenges for people largely related to limited terrestrial resources and susceptibility to natural disasters. Nevertheless, the challenges and risks inherent in maintaining stable populations on small islands can be offset or overcome through the use of maritime technologies and exchange networks. The archaeology of Here Sorot Entapa rockshelter (HSE) on Kisar Island in the Wallacean Archipelago provides an unparalleled record for examining these issues in Southeast Asia. Kisar is the smallest of the Wallacean islands known to have a Pleistocene occupation record, and one of the smallest permanently inhabited today. Our results indicate that Here Sorot Entapa was first occupied in the terminal Pleistocene by people with advanced maritime technology who made extensive use of local marine resources and engaged in social connections with other islands through an obsidian exchange network. As a result, populations appear to have been maintained on the island for approximately 6,000 years. In the early Holocene occupation at HSE ceased for unknown reasons, and the site was not reoccupied until the mid-Holocene, during which time a major change in the lithic resources can be observed and the exchange network appears to have ceased.

Late Pleistocene Lithic Procurement and Geochemical Characterization of the Cerro Kaskio Obsidian Source in South‐western Bolivia

Primary questions regarding the foraging behaviour of the first hunter–gatherers who colonized the New World are how they found, procured and utilized high‐quality raw materials for manufacturing stone tools. In this paper, we present evidence from the late Pleistocene site of Cueva Bautista in the highlands of south‐western Bolivia, which demonstrates that a substantial portion of the recovered stone tool assemblage originated in Cerro Kaskio, a recently discovered obsidian source located 15 km south‐west of the site. In addition to describing the geological and geochronological setting, we provide the first geochemical characterization of the Cerro Kaskio source by means of instrumental neutron activation analysis and energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence. Supported on the technological analysis and archaeometric sourcing of the obsidian lithics found in Cueva Bautista, we discuss the nature of the procurement strategies practised by the earliest mobile hunter–gatherers who explored and colonized the Andean highlands. We conclude that opportunistic lithic resource procurement was probably an important component of the first foraging societies that explored the highland Andes.

Siliceous raw material consumption during the late Upper Palaeolithic in “El Pirulejo”, South of Iberia (Priego, Córdoba)

This work presents the first results about the use of siliceous raw materials by the hunter-gatherer societies during the Late Glacial in the level 5 of El Pirulejo. El Pirulejo is located within the municipality of Priego de Córdoba (Córdoba, Spain).The archaeological level P/5 is classified as a Solutrean, according to the technological analysis of the lithic assemblage. The methodology used about the raw material is divided into four phases. During this first phase, we carried out a sampling analysis of local primary and secondary outcrops in the proximity of the site, over an area of 20 km from the site. We also performed a macroscopic and petrographic analysis of selected samples. In these phase, we describe the Veleta Formation, wich represents the main siliceous outcrop closest to the site. Once the local flint was characterized, it was compared to the lithic industry assemblage of level P/5, with the intention of observing the management and exploitation of local flint associated to knapping activities. As a result of the assemblage analysed so far, we have ruled out local operations on these chert samples and propose an area of exploitation of lithic resources that will exceed 20 kilometres around the site. We ruled out that the Veleta Formation provided a source of lithic supply for the hunter-gatherer societies.

Characterizing “Chocolate” Flint Using Reflectance Spectroscopy

The study details a pilot experiment in which samples of “chocolate’”flint from four procurement sites in Poland and chert from the United States were characterized spectrally and distinguished using reflectance spectroscopy and multivariate statistics. The characterization of ‘chocolate’ flint and the successful differentiation of sources has been, and continues to be, a major research focus for understanding prehistoric consumption, use, and distribution of this favored lithic resource. Reflectance spectroscopy potentially provides an analytical methodology for identifying artefact source by successfully distinguishing spatially and compositionally unique deposits. Initial results from the study show that “chocolate” flint can be distinguished from other silicite tool stone resources, regional lookalike materials, and by individual deposit. Future studies will test a more robust sample size of ‘chocolate’ flints and conduct experiments on surface weathering

Provenance of obsidian artifacts from the Natural Protected Area Laguna del Diamante (Mendoza, Province Argentina) and upper Maipo valley (Chile) by LA-ICP-MS method

By means of inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry associated with Laser Ablation (LA-ICP-MS) we analyzed several obsidian artifacts from the Natural Protected Area Laguna del Diamante (Mendoza, Argentina) and upper Maipo valley (Chile). This analytical method, almost non-destructive, is a powerful tool for the determination of trace elements and is very useful in characterizing and determining the provenance of obsidian fragments of archeological interest, although care must be taken to avoid or account for heterogeneities within obsidian such as microcrysts.In the macro-region of study, two types of sources can be differentiated on the basis of their primary location: high-altitude sources emplaced in the Andes range (≥2500 m a.s.l.) including Laguna del Diamante, Laguna del Maule, and Las Cargas sources; and low-altitude (≤1500 m a.s.l.) extra-Andean sources situated on the eastern plains: Cerro Huenul and El Peceño. In addition, while the primary location of Arroyo Paramillos source is currently unknown, we consider it as a sub source of Laguna del Diamante, since its wide archaeological distribution has a main core within Laguna del Diamante area and in the upper Maipo River basin. Considering this pattern, the assignation of provenances presented here improves the basis for assessing the use of high Andean environments from both sides of the mountain range. In addition, we will also improve the geochemical discrimination between the two sources Arroyo Paramillos and Las Cargas that based on only previous XRF analysis are chemically overlapping, leading to an incorrect interpretation of their pattern of archaeological distribution. The better characterization of the obsidian sources of the Laguna del Diamante and neighboring regions allows discussions of mobility, exchange, and human use of this lithic resource in the highland of central western Argentina - central Chile.