Lithic Resources Research Articles

Non‐destructively characterizing sandstones, orthoquartzites, agates, and petrified wood for provenance research: Perspectives from the Southeastern Coastal Plain, United States

AbstractSiliceous sandstone (including quartzites), petrified wood, and agates located in Alabama and Mississippi were utilized as a toolstone resource during every recognized cultural period in the Lower Mississippi Valley region of the Southeastern United States. Regrettably, these materials have not been the focus of many provenance‐related investigations. Recent analyses of quartzite and sandstone from other regions in North America and from the Pyrenees were successful in discriminating sources using petrographic techniques. The current study examines the application of visible/near‐infrared reflectance and Fourier transform infrared reflectance (FTIR) spectroscopy on sourcing siliceous materials besides chert, particularly sandstones, orthoquartzites (quartz sandstone), petrified woods, and agates. This source characterization investigation focuses on a case study involving materials gathered from eight distinct collection sites, encompassing nine different siliceous resources collected in Alabama and Mississippi. These materials were sourced from two distinct geological formations: the Hattiesburg and Tallahatta. Results demonstrate the ability of non‐destructive reflectance spectroscopy and introduces a new outlier modeling method that detects, clusters, and separately models outliers with their own set of basis vectors. Principal component analyses, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression, linear discriminant function analysis (LDA), and random forest classification are used in this paper to better identify outlier elements as well as discriminate for stone materials accurately (between 67% and 100%). Although this is the first reflectance spectroscopy investigation used to characterize these materials for provenance applications, the preliminary results compare favorably with other provenance techniques whose aim is to quantify between‐formation (inter) and within‐formation (intra) outcrop variation. The quantified and differentiated sources, based on the hyperspectral signatures of the material, will provide a better understanding of prehistoric reliance on these lithic resources and produces a proxy to determine mobility, social interaction, and other past behavior.

Raw Materials and Lithic Production During the Early Magdalenian in Cantabrian Spain: Cova Rosa (Ribadesella, Asturias)

The lithic assemblage studied here comes from Cova Rosa, one of the main Upper Palaeolithic sites in Asturias (northern Spain). The remains were found in Layer B5, which was excavated by F. Jordá Cerdá and A. Gómez Fuentes in 1978 and are associated with an osseous assemblage and archaeozoological remains. This occupation has been dated by radiocarbon to about 16,400 BP (ca. 19.8–19.6 ka cal BP), corresponding to Archaic/Lower Magdalenian. The present study combines the determination of the raw materials and the identification of the production systems to achieve an understanding of the management of lithic resources by hunter-gatherer groups in the Late Pleistocene. The sourcing of mostly local materials (mainly Piloña flint), the wide variety of rock types of diverse provenances (up to 10 types), and the presence of well-represented lithological tracers (Flysch, Chalosse) turn Cova Rosa into an important case for studying different lithic raw material procurement models. The predominance of microlaminar production and the variability in the exploitation strategies used to obtain backed tools, as well as the poor standardisation of flake production, follow the dynamics observed in other occupations of similar chronology in a wide geographical area that includes Cantabrian Spain and south-west France.

Reconstructing Neolithic obsidian procurement in Western Georgia through an obsidian characterization study

The Caucasus, situated strategically in terms of natural geography and abundant raw materials, has been attractive to the interest of prehistoric hunter-gatherers throughout ancient times. Recent discoveries at the Neolithic site of Makhvilauri in the Ajara region, affirm this historical focus. The Makhvilauri flaked stone tool assemblage encompasses various lithic resources, of which ∼11 % (n = 59) comprise obsidian, a raw material whose closest sources are 170 km away. Using the XRF method at the Archaeometry Laboratory at the University of Missouri Reactor Research (MURR) to elementally characterise 23 of the obsidian artifacts (∼39 % of the total) we can demonstrate that the Makhvilauri assemblage was made from at least five geochemically distinct sources. This analysis not only sheds light on the mobility patterns of ancient communities but also underscores the extensive contacts established during the Neolithic period (6th millennium BC).

Obsidian in the Caribbean islands? Mysterious Ceramic Age glass artefacts in the Lesser Antilles

AbstractThe Caribbean islands witnessed a population expansion of ceramic‐using horticulturalists during the Early Ceramic Age (ca. 500 BC to 750 AD) from the Orinoco Valley to Puerto Rico. We examined 18 lithic artefacts from Guadeloupe and Dominica initially thought to be obsidian, a material believed to be absent from those islands. We investigated the volcanic or meteoritic origin of this unique and yet unknown material through observation (binocular, SEM, microtomography) and geochemical analyses (PIXE, SEM‐EDS, ED‐XRF, EPMA, LA‐ICP‐MS). Elemental analyses rule out the hypothesis of an origin from a meteoritic impact (i.e. identification as tektites). Most of the artefacts have an andesitic composition (<63% SiO2), which appears to be unique among ‘massive’ glasses. The only artefact with a rhyolitic composition has been traced back to the Guadeloupe's Volcan du Tuf, where glassy fragments have been collected and analysed. The geological source of the other vitreous artefacts that exhibit an andesitic composition could be from a sublocal subduction‐arc volcanism (maybe from Martinique), although no volcanic vitreous material of this kind has ever been reported worldwide. These results once again highlight the regional mobility of Early Ceramic populations and the production of standard lithic products using a highly original, albeit low‐quality, local lithic resource, and provide valuable references for future identification of similar materials.

Environmental conditions in the Massif Central during the Upper Palaeolithic using stable isotope tracking (13C, 15N) of bone collagen from large herbivores

ABSTRACTThe environmental conditions experienced by hunter‐gatherers during the second part of the Upper Palaeolithic (ca. 28 000–15 000 cal bp) are poorly known in the mid‐elevation volcanic mountains of the Massif Central in southern France. The stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen (13C/12C and 15N/14N expressed as δ13C and δ15N values) in bone collagen of large herbivores can track their diet and habitat, reflecting local abiotic conditions (temperature, aridity, altitude). Due to poor preservation of skeletal organic matter in the region, new radiocarbon dating was conducted on a limited number of quality‐controlled collagen samples, based on a minimum carbon content of 30%. They document three main phases of occupation corresponding to the Final Gravettian, the Badegoulian and the Magdalenian, each of which is represented in different regions of the Allier and Loire valleys. Over time, a decrease in horse δ15N values, the best documented species of large herbivores, is found between the Final Gravettian (ca. 26 700–25 600 cal bp), around the Last Glacial Maximum and the Badegoulian (ca. 21 900–19 200 cal bp), followed by an increase in δ15N and δ13C values during the Magdalenian (ca. 19 100–16 600 cal bp). During the Badegoulian, the δ15N values of the horses were lower than those of their counterparts in southwestern France, testifying to harsh climatic conditions favourable to a tundra‐like landscape, also reflected in the higher horse and reindeer δ13C values in the Allier valley compared to those in southwestern France. The relatively high δ13C and low δ15N values of a Final Gravettian wolf from the Allier valley suggests reindeer as a preferred prey, in line with their high abundance in the archaeological sites. Game access, rather than climatic conditions or lithic resources, seems to have motivated human groups to occupy the Massif Central during the Upper Palaeolithic.

Mapping nut-cracking in a new population of wild capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) at Ubajara National Park, Brazil.

Populations of bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) vary in their tool use behaviors, with some of this divergence regarded as culturally determined. The use of stone tools, primarily to crack open encased foods, is widespread among bearded capuchins living in dry habitats (Caatinga and Cerrado). Significant diversity in targets, processed foods, material, and size of tools is observed across populations. However, so far, only a few sites have been systematically studied, and we are still distant from a representative picture of the range of variation in capuchins' culture. In this study, we did a systematic assessment of stone tool use sites in the Ubajara National Park (UNP), in the Caatinga region of Ceará, Brazil, recording and measuring stone tools, processed foods, and available lithic resources as part of an extensive comparative research, the CapCult project. We found indirect and direct evidence that capuchin monkeys at UNP customarily use hammerstones and anvils to process at least two species of palm nuts, macauba (Acrocomia aculeata) and the harder babaçu (Attalea speciosa). Most of the anvils were rock surfaces and had leftovers of only one palm nut species. The hammerstones used to process both palm nuts were not significantly different in weight, although the ones used for Ac. aculeata were longer. We found a higher frequency of nut-cracking sites in the drier lowland area of the park, reflecting differences in the density of the most common palm species, Ac. aculeata, and availability of raw stone material. The stone tool use observed in UNP is within the scope of previously reported in savannah capuchin populations. Our study widens the knowledge of stone tool-use diversity in wild capuchin monkeys, which could contribute to shaping conservation policy, including cultural traits.

Techno-economy of lithic raw materials in Piedmont (north-western Italy): A first life-like scenario

Data about Palaeolithic peopling, settlement dynamics and techno-economy of the south-western margin of the Alpine region are sketchy. In this area, the lack of systematic research and the scarcity of lithic raw materials, spread the idea that Piedmont was not inhabited during Palaeolithic. In 2009, the re-starting of the excavations at the Ciota Ciara cave, gave rise to new questions and to the development of research projects at a regional scale.
 The Ciota Ciara cave is the only Middle Palaeolithic site object of multidisciplinary and systematic investigations. Its lithic assemblage, analysed through a techno-economic approach, allows to understand in detail the technological choices and the land mobility of the Neanderthal groups on a local and sub-regional scale. Other Middle Palaeolithic assemblages are known in the region and are all issued from surface collections. They come from the northern part of the region, from Vaude Canavesane, Trino, Baragge biellesi and Colline Novaresi. The technological study of these assemblages led to the identification of strong similarities in the technological choices of the Middle Palaeolithic human groups: they based their technology on the exploitation of vein quartz, a rock diffused all over the regional territory, from time to time accompanied by other local (spongolite, rhyolite, metamorphic rocks, jasper) and allochthonous (radiolarite and flint) lithic resources, with technological adaptation to their quality and mechanical properties both when it comes to predetermined methods (Levallois and discoid) and when expedient reduction sequences are used. Concerning Upper Palaeolithic, the only lithic assemblage issued from an archaeological excavation (and therefore with a clear stratigraphic context) is that from the Epigravettian site of Castelletto Ticino. Other lithic artefacts referable on a techno-typological basis to Upper Palaeolithic are from Trino and Colline Novaresi. As for Middle Palaeolithic, the techno-economic approach used in the analysis of these lithic assemblages, allow to have, for the first time, reliable data at a regional scale.
 In this work we present the data obtained after about ten years of research in Piedmont: they outline a scenario where, even in the limits of analysis mostly based on materials issued from surface collections, we can see both clear differences between the Middle and the Upper Palaeolithic technological behaviours and hypothesise the land mobility of the hunter-gatherers’ groups that inhabited the region.

Chert exploitation and production in Sardinia during the Neolithic

This research deals with the modes of chert exploitation in Sardinia during the Neolithic, combining information on major chert sources identified across the island with the technological analysis on several stratigraphic reliable series. It focuses on the changes in raw material selection and on the evolution of technological behaviours between the 6th and the 4th millennium BCE. The data collected in this work allowed us either to shed a light on the role this lithic resource played in the production systems of Neolithic communities in Sardinia, and to catch differences in the modes of procurement, depending on the chronology and location of the sites. During the Early Neolithic, lithic raw material circulation in Sardinia did not occur through organized networks, but it seems to have relied on the high mobility of the local groups. It is only at the end of the 5th millennium BCE that well-organized exchange circuits started operating. These involved mainly obsidian and this raw material apparently consolidated in time, due to the role carried out by San Ciriaco and Ozieri Middle to Late Neolithic cultures in the control and development of the Monte Arci obsidian supply. Chert was never involved in these networks and was mainly exploited locally and opportunistically. However, from the end of the Neolithic, some outcrop in the Oligo-Miocene basin of Perfugas was exploited on a supra-local scale and for a relatively short period.

Mobility and raw material procurement by Fishtail people in Uruguay: Evaluation of silcrete long distance transport between campsites and outcrops during the late Pleistocene (ca. 12,900–12,250 cal BP)

Lithic artifacts from late Pleistocene manufactured in silcrete are used to understand Fishtail behaviors linked to mobility, land use and raw material acquisition during early prehistory in Uruguay. The data analyzed here include three categories of silcrete evidence: (1) a database of Fishtail points, (2) regional outcrops of these lithic resource, (3) debitage and unifacial tools from campsites. We calculated the cumulative cost of movement between campsites and the nearest lithic resources in space, located within the silcrete area, the distances involved in such movements, and the possible connection routes between campsites and silcrete resources. We analyzed the raw materials, density and spatial distribution of Fishtail points, and generated a Predictive Model of Transit Pathways. The results obtained indicate that silcretes were transported over long distances in mobility networks by an extensive Paleoamerican social landscape from outcrops located in the western and southwestern to campsites in northwestern Uruguay at distances ranging between ∼ 179 and 482 km. This new data confirms long distance displacements, the high social value, and the preference of this lithic resource for the production of tool assemblages by the Fishtail peoples of Uruguay.

MobiLithics: Fingerprinting the exploitation of lithic resources during the Upper Pleistocene

MobiLithics is a multiscalar project aimed at characterizing the lithic resources exploitation and territorial adaptive responses among the last Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens to different climatic, cultural, and biological dynamics. The project focuses on the Middle-to-Later Stone Age, in North Africa, and the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition in the Mediterranean basin of the Iberian Peninsula, as key scenarios for the origin and expansion of our species. Results on geospatial modelling, petrographic and geochemical analyses, and multivariate statistics and predictive models determine the variability on resource procurement and territorial structure. These will contribute to the international debate on the adaptability of our species to different palaeoenvironments, sociocultural realities, and changing climatic conditions.

Technological and Social Strategies for the Acquisition and Exploitation of Long-Distance Lithic Raw Materials in the Central Pampean Dunefields of Argentina

ABSTRACT The lithic raw material sources in the Pampas of Argentina present a very restricted distribution. This has generated various scenarios linked with the acquisition and conveyance of stones carried out by human groups in the past. We explore the mechanisms performed in the procurement, transport and exploitation of rocks by those hunter-gatherer societies that inhabited the Central Pampean Dunefields, an area where lithic resources are absent. The results obtained from five lithic assemblages from the Middle and Late Holocene points to a preference in the exploitation of Tandilia Hills stones through both periods, with an increase in rock diversity in the Late Holocene. Our data indicate a direct procurement of orthoquartzite and chert from Tandilia Hills, although the acquisition of the rest of the raw materials could have involved both direct and indirect procurement. These results may be related to the existence of more fluent exchange networks among Pampas hunter-gatherer groups.

Technological organization and initial production stages of a maritime slate tradition: insights from the first investigated Stone Age slate source in Arctic Europe (the Djupvik slate formation, Norway)

ABSTRACT While ground slate technology is a trademark of maritime hunter-gatherers across the circumpolar region, we lack robust understanding of 1) the organization of slate tool production and 2) its initial production stages – maintained by the absence of formally investigated slate sourcing sites and the loss of diagnostic production features inherent to grinding techniques. This paper contributes along both dimensions, presenting the first investigated prehistoric slate raw material source in Arctic Europe (Djupvik, Norway). Technological analyses of the assemblage rich in initial production stages are related to the material properties of the geological slate formation, supplemented by experimental research. The paper discusses the role of slate technological organization within the broader context of mid-Holocene adaptations in Arctic Norway. The results from Djupvik help establish the production stages and techniques distinct to slate tool technologies and demonstrate organizational principles diverging from cryptocrystalline lithic resources of the contemporary lithic technocomplex. Finally, potential secondary (non-tool) uses of Djupvik materials are discussed, referencing the intriguing possibility of ochre and red pigment production both at Djupvik and a nearby site, suggesting a relation to rock art paintings.

Tardenoisian concept in Polish Mesolithic studies

The evolution of the concept of the Tardenoisian in Polish Mesolithic studies visibly falls into three phases, dating approximately to 1900-1970, 1971-1990, 1991-2016. In the first half of the twentieth century the geographical range of the Tardenoisian, known originally from French sites, was extended to areas in Central Europe, Poland included. Although criticised by Polish researchers of the Mesolithic already in the 1960s, this concept continued to appear in the literature until 1970. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s the local cultural taxonomy of the Polish Mesolithic was developed, based on meticulous analyses of the archaeological record. Using these sources, some researchers have recognized influences in southwestern Poland of the Western complex of Mesolithic cultures which includes e.g., the Tardenoisian and Beuronian. New material discovered after 1990 confirmed the presence ofBeuronian sites in the Polish zone of the Sudeten. The upland and mountainous zone of Central Europe with its great diversity of lithic resources was heavily exploited bycommunities of this cultural tradition.

Determination of lithic raw materials in Cantabrian Spain during Greenland Stadial 2: The Magdalenian of Tito Bustillo Cave (Ribadesella, Asturias)

The lithic assemblage studied here comes from the space known as the Área de Estancia in Tito Bustillo Cave (Ribadesella, Asturias, Spain), a representative Magdalenian site. The remains were found in Sub-level 1c2 in the Lower Complex (1LC), which was excavated by J.A. Moure Romanillo from 1981 to 1983 and is associated with abundant evidence of osseous industry, fauna, portable art, etc. The present study is especially innovative because it introduces a holistic approach to the understanding of the management of lithic resources by hunter-gatherer groups in the late Pleistocene. It establishes the two main groups of raw materials in the assemblage (flint and quartzite) and the different types through a petrographic description, and the different procurement strategies that were employed. Some preliminary results about the functionality of these tools are also offered. The occupants of this cave during the Greenland Stadial 2 traced a diversified and complex dynamic of exploitation of lithic resources that combined both the most immediate, easily available and in greater volume (for example, quartzite and Piloña flint), and the most distant, of good knapping quality (Flysch flint, fundamentally). This circulation of raw materials is parallel to the patterns detected in other deposits in the region with a similar chronology. Significant differences are observed in the knapping schemes between raw materials based on the production of blanks for the manufacture of tools, whose typological classification and analysis of use-wear makes us propose a specialized and little diversified functionality, which is usually related to that of temporary occupations.

Stone tools differences across three capuchin monkey populations: food’s physical properties, ecology, and culture

Robust capuchin monkeys (Sapajus) are known for processing mechanically challenging foods, having morphological adaptations to do so. However, several populations go beyond body limitations by using stone tools to expand their food range. Those populations use stones in a variety of ways, goals, and with different frequencies. Stone tool size correlates with the food’s resistance within some populations. However, we have no detailed comparisons to identify if this correlation is the same across populations. This study described and compared stone raw material availability, food’s physical properties (hardness and elasticity), and stone tool weight in three populations of bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus), including a newly described site (Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, CVNP). The differences we observed regarding stone tool weight selection among sites were not correlated to the food’s physical properties we analyzed. Lithic resource availability could partly explain some differences in the stone tools used. However, the tool weight differences are larger than the raw material variance across sites, meaning some distinctions are possible behavioral traditions, such as the same fruit (Hymenaea) being processed with bigger than needed tools in CVNP than in the other two sites. Capuchin monkey behavioral variability in stone tool use can be caused by several interacting factors, from ecological to cultural.

Beyond Shapes: Core Reduction Strategies in the Magdalenian of Cova Gran de Santa Linya (NE Iberia)

Core reduction provides insight into the technical actions involved in knapping sequences, one of the central elements in technological analysis. By examining reduction phases, cognitive and operational aspects of the management of lithic resources can be explored, and the technical behaviours of human groups reconstructed.This paper presents a technological and morphometric analysis of cores from the Magdalenian sequence of the Cova Gran de Santa Linya (SE Pyrenees), which ranges from 23 to 16 k cal BP. The knapping strategies suggest two types of lithic exploitation: one on nodules using semi-circumferential methods and the other on thick flakes using burin-core methods. Five knapping modalities were identified through the study of reduction sequences and the analysis of technical attributes, which highlights the technical diversity of lithic production systems.The data collected are supported by statistical analysis and reveal significant differences at the diachronic level and among the lithic assemblages. This study aims to suggest a reference model with which to characterise Magdalenian cores in technological terms. This model can broaden our understanding of the diversity of technical behaviours that appear from the beginning of LGM-b to the end of MIS 2 in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula.

More than blades. Early Middle Palaeolithic of the Levant

The Early Middle Palaeolithic (EMP) in the Levant dated between 250 and 150 ka is a unique period characterised by the systematic production of elongated blanks using different reduction strategies: Levallois, Laminar and core on flake are involved. The hallmark of the EMP blade industries is different types of retouched points but the production of other blanks categories as bladelets, small flakes and triangular flakes is also evident. Such a broad-based approach to lithic resources of foragers relocating through the Levant during the EMP could reflect the behavioural adaptations of hominins and adjustments in their subsistence strategies as well as management of time and division of special activities, consequently leading to a marked anticipation of needs. The techno-typological diversity is visible in the mode of production but at the same time, it reflects the narrow variation that is shared among all known EMP sites. This seems to indicate that at this time the demographic organisation in the region may be closely linked within a cohesive geographical and chronological framework.

Clovis Stone Tools from El Fin del Mundo, Sonora, Mexico: Site Use and Associations between Localities

El Fin del Mundo is an archaeological site in Sonora, northwest Mexico, that contains a buried Clovis megafauna kill in a lowland area and concentrations of Clovis and later lithic materials scattered on the deflated surface of the surrounding uplands. The Clovis lithic assemblage from the site, identified by its technological and typological features, has been classified into three modes: bifaces, unifaces, and blades. The kill locality only contains Clovis points, whereas the assemblage from the uplands includes multiple bifaces reflecting diverse stages of the manufacture process from blank production to finished, highly reduced, and discarded broken Clovis points, numerous end scrapers, and blades and blade manufacture byproducts. This assemblage is indicative of a campsite where stone tool production and possibly other domestic tasks took place. In addition, a rhyolite outcrop near both the campsite and the kill was intensively exploited, as reflected in the high proportion of this raw material in the Clovis assemblage. Unequivocal association of the kill locality and the campsite is not confirmed; however, the configuration of the site indicates that the campsite was established in uplands near locations with water, game, and lithic resources.

Evaluating landscape knowledge and lithic resource selection at the French Middle Paleolithic site of the Bau de l'Aubesier

We report on the application of a novel approach to exploring the degree of landscape knowledge, wayfinding abilities, and the nature of decision-making processes reflected in the utilization of stone resources in the French Middle Paleolithic. Specifically, we use data from the site of the Bau de l’Aubesier to explore the reasons why a majority of the 350 raw material sources cataloged in the surrounding region appear not to have been utilized, including several located near the site and yielding high-quality lithic materials. To this end, we focus on the spatial relationships between sources as an explanatory variable, operationalized in terms of minimum travel times. Using geographic information system software and a generalized linear model of resource selection derived from the Bau assemblages, we compute source utilization probabilities from the perspective of hominins located off-site. We do so under three optimization scenarios, factoring in the intrinsic characteristics (e.g., quality) and time required to reach each source on the way to the Bau. More generally, we find that in slightly more than 50% of cases, seemingly viable sources may have been ignored simply because the minimum cost path leading back to the Bau passes through or requires only minimal deviations to reach, higher quality options. More generally, we found that throughout the entire region, a cost/benefit analysis of competing sources favors those from source areas known to have been utilized. Virtually all the available information on lithic procurement at the Bau is consistent with a model of landscape utilization premised on detailed knowledge of a very large area, an ability to accurately estimate travel times between locations, and a pragmatic strategy of stone resource exploitation based on minimizing costs (travel and search times) and maximizing utility.

Characteristics of Lithic Sound to Assess a Rock’s Predictability of Flaking

ABSTRACT It has been suggested that a lithic resource’s candidacy for predictability of fracture when knapped, and whether or not a stone has been heat treated, can be assessed by the duration, pitch, and loudness of sound made when a stone is struck. A hammer stone machine held and struck specimens of 16 lithic types. Acoustic information was processed with a Kay Computer Speech Laboratory. Differences exist in sound duration, pitch and loudness between lithic types, un-heat-treated and heat-treated stone, and stone of the same type but of high and of low quality. Heat treated samples conduct sound waves of longer duration than unheated samples, and heat-treated samples’ sounds were louder than un-heat-treated samples. An ancient knapper could use perceptible differences in sound produced by a nodule when tapped with a hammerstone to select or discard nodules or flakes of one lithic type over another based on anticipated predictability of flaking.