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The three main types of tanged flint arrowheads (A, B, and C) characteristic of the Neolithic Pitted Ware hunter, fisher and gatherers of southwestern Scandinavia are traditionally viewed as chronological conditioned. However, recent studies have shown their simultaneity during the early 3rd millennium BC. Based on a study of more than 1500 arrowheads from Denmark and western Sweden, this paper explains the stylistic variation of the Pitted Ware arrowheads as functional determined representing two main categories: relatively short and wide hunting arrowheads (type A) and long and slender war arrowheads (type C). Type B represents a multifunctional group of arrowheads that mixes features from type A and C. Furthermore, diverging production schemes ( schema opératoire ) used for the shaping of hunting arrowheads has helped to identify social groupings within the larger southwestern Scandinavian Pitted Ware complex and contact across the Kattegat during the Middle Neolithic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transitional moments in prehistory are of broad interest in archaeology. Immediately following the Last Glacial Maximum, two technological shifts occurred in SW Europe: in France, at ∼18,000 uncal. BP, an industry characterized by large Solutrean projectiles was replaced by the well-defined Badegoulian industry; a thousand years later in Vasco-Cantabrian Spain, Solutrean technologies were gradually replaced by Magdalenian antler point ( sagaie ) and lithic inset composite weapons. The Solutrean–Magdalenian transition remains ill-defined in Vasco-Cantabria, where very few “transitional” assemblages dating to the c. 17–16,000 uncal. BP interval have been identified, leaving questions as to how the changes occurred and what kinds of relationships existed between French and Spanish groups during this period. Urtiaga cave (Guipúzcoa) Level F (17,050 ± 140 uncal. BP) contributes a new Initial Magdalenian archaeological sample to the discussion of Last Glacial behavioral change during a technological transition. This paper synthesizes the results of a detailed lithic analysis with findings from previous studies of fauna and osseous industry from Urtiaga Level F. Then, the analysis explores Initial Magdalenian organizational behaviors through a series of lithic procurement/mobility models that show dynamic land use in eastern Vasco-Cantabria. Finally, Urtiaga Level F was compared to four other Initial Magdalenian occupations in the region, demonstrating that lithic maintenance—in manufacture, use, and rejuvenation—was a significant factor in how Initial Magdalenian groups organized their landscape-level behavioral strategies. The archaeological assemblages from Urtiaga cave are important contributions to archaeological questions surrounding the Solutrean–Magdalenian transition, providing further evidence for in situ technological change in Vasco-Cantabria. Additionally, the economic analyses discussed in this paper provide new attributes that archaeologists can use to identify Initial Magdalenian sites on the landscape. This study develops a methodological procedure that is broadly applicable to archaeological studies related to prehistoric cultural transitions and to those studies that apply data from collections recovered during the early 20th century to modern interpretive frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic growth is rarely examined for ancient states and empires despite its prominence as a topic in modern economies. The concept is debated, and many measures of growth are inaccessible for most of the ancient world, such as gross domestic product (GDP). Scholars generally have been pessimistic about ancient economic growth, but expectations derived from dramatic growth in modern economies can lead to overlooking important evidence about economic change in the past. The measure of economic growth that we adopt focuses on the economic well-being of ordinary households. We evaluate one domain of evidence: imported obsidian implement consumption in the coastal lowlands of Mesoamerica. We situate the obsidian study against a backdrop of ideas concerning economic growth in ancient societies because such topics have received only modest attention for Mesoamerica. For the major Mesoamerican ceramic periods, we (1) display the already-known early technological shift in predominant techniques of obsidian implement production—from percussion and bipolar flakes to prismatic pressure blades—that led to more efficient tool production for long-distance trade, (2) note other lithic technological improvements, and (3) evaluate increased obsidian access with a growing market system in the last centuries of the prehispanic record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this work is to illustrate the interpretative potential of regionally oriented tool-use-life approaches to infer patterns of mobility, occupational intensity, and assemblage formation processes. We apply a wide reduction analysis to 15 Late Upper Paleolithic lithic assemblages. We perform an exploratory data analysis to observe reduction intensity tendencies among the different assemblages, and we characterize reduction distribution patterns using Weibull probability distribution functions. To avoid sampling effects, resampling and bootstrapping were performed. The Weibull profiles of the analyzed data show different degrees of occupational intensity and/or length that are not observable through the classical techno-typological approaches. A referential reduction space is also simulated to create a frame to interpret our results in a more absolute scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lithic assemblage of the Pont-de-Lavaud site (Indre, France) shows a technical choice within the Lower Pleistocene European Mode 1 sites, which is defined by the widespread use of the bipolar-on-anvil knapping technique. Although it is traditionally considered an expedient percussion method, in this lithic assemblage a selective technical behavior regarding the reduction methods and raw material is identified. In this respect, different knapping methods are applied in accordance with a combination of the percussion axis and the recurrence of the reduction series. These features are also observed in the archaeological record from other Lower and Middle Pleistocene sites, which are discussed in the text. The role of this knapping technique in the hominin technology is, in our opinion, greater than previously believed. Its implementation cannot be considered as proof of opportunistic or expedient activities. The bipolar-on-anvil technique is applied in different contexts, on different raw materials and as a technical choice or gesture in the reduction sequences. Because of its low technical requirements, it can be considered as a successful technological strategy for overcoming raw material constraints for producing some specific types of pieces. Its ubiquitous presence, both from a diachronic and geographical point of view, is proof of its considerable technical versatility and, hence, of Mode 1 hominin technological flexibility and capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper emphasises sub-regional variation in the timing and nature of subsistence changes in the New Guinea Highlands at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. An analysis of the Kiowa lithic assemblage was used to examine the interplay between tool technology, mobility levels, and subsistence strategies by investigating changes in the procurement, manufacture, and use of different raw stone materials in an overall lithic technology. Throughout Kiowa’s occupation local stone was used extensively, and over time people increased their knowledge of the local lithic landscape, using more diverse local raw materials. Since the terminal Pleistocene, people carried reliable polished axes for a variety of activities and made expedient use of locally abundant river pebbles, while smaller nodules were located and carried as mobile toolkits to facilitate longer distance hunting and collecting excursions. In the mid Holocene exotic raw materials were also traded from more distant zones. The abandonment of Kiowa in the late Holocene shows that hunting became less economically important as cultivation developed in the area. Technological changes, in combination with changes in faunal remains are suggestive of increasing activity at Kiowa through the Holocene as the site became specialised for bat hunting, perhaps driven by restricted land use and reduced mobility, reciprocally affected by increasing populations and the intensification of plant food production in the Highlands generally. Despite this, evidence for changes to horticulture around Kiowa itself, in the Chimbu area, is limited to the mid-late Holocene, indicating that the early development of agriculture in the Wahgi may have been relatively localised, and did not necessarily displace existing subsistence strategies elsewhere in the Highlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of the technological analysis of assemblages from the sites of Alto Alegre 3, Linha Policial 1 and Linha Policial 3 in the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), dated to the Early Holocene. Alongside other reduction sequences, these sites also present sequences for exclusive blade production, described for the first time for Brazilian prehistory. Despite the lack of cores, analysis of the blades has established that: (1) blade production took place using a single method, with centripetal core initialization and unidirectional production; (2) knapping techniques by direct hard and soft percussion were both used to produce blades; and (3) the blades obtained were destined for different functions, the active part mainly lateral and sometimes used without retouch. This study presents an example of obvious technological convergence, since blade production is known in other prehistoric contexts throughout the world without historical links with that observed at the three sites analyzed here. It also shows the necessity of developing detailed technological analyses to understand the settling of South America in all its complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overlooked in larger European syntheses for some time, northwestern France now plays an important role in a dynamic research program investigating the very end of the Lateglacial in Western Europe. The discovery of the well-preserved open-air site of La Fosse has allowed for significant advances in our understanding of different aspects of the Younger Dryas-Holocene transition in this region. This homogenous lithic assemblage adds further precision to the Lateglacial chrono-cultural sequence and provides essential new information for investigating techno-economic changes that appeared during this period. A techno-functional study of the lithic material combined with a spatial analysis of artifact distribution provides insights concerning the site's function. Several lines of evidence also shed light on occupation duration, activities carried out on-site, and the likely composition of the groups who occupied the site. The combination of the above lead us to interpret La Fosse as a large residential site. Following this, we propose a new mobility and land-use model for hunter-gatherer groups from the Younger Dryas-Preboreal transition in which La Fosse functioned as an aggregation site. This model confirms several previous hypotheses emphasizing the logistical character of mobility strategies of these societies. Finally, this scenario adds further details and precision concerning both the status and connections between different groups of sites within a complex socio-economic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We examine the link between hunter–gatherer mobility and lithic raw material use. [•] A case with high mobility and low availability of good workability stone is studied. [•] Increased mobility correlates with technological informalisation in the studied case. [•] The availability of high-quality stone is low but low-workability stone is abundant. [•] The low degree of formalization is explained by lithic raw material diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Here we examine patterns in stone tool technology among Mesolithic, Neolithic and Iron Age localities in the Sanganakallu–Kupgal site complex, Bellary District, Karnataka, South India. Statistical tests are used to compare proportions of raw materials and artefact types, and to compare central tendencies in metric variables taken on flakes and tools. Lithic-related findings support the inference of at least two distinct technological and economic groups at Sanganakallu–Kupgal, a microlith-focused foraging society on the one hand, and on the other, an agricultural society whose lithic technologies centred upon the production of pressure bladelets and dolerite edge-ground axes. Evidence for continuity in lithic technological processes through time may reflect indigenous processes of development, and a degree of continuity from the Mesolithic through to the Neolithic period. Lithic production appears to have become a specialised and spatially segregated activity by the terminal Neolithic and early Iron Age, supporting suggestions for the emergence of an increasingly complex economy and political hierarchy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study discusses the existence of a variability recorded in lateralization indexes of proximal microburins, a by-product of the individual manufacture of microliths, in a sample of Sauveterrian sites from the Italian Eastern Alps. At first glance, such variability may appear to support the existence of customary handling, pertaining perhaps to an ensemble of normalized technical procedures accomplished by the members of the human group regardless of site type, context and economic activities. However, plotting the patterns in lateralization index against the regional Sauveterrian chrono-cultural sequence reveals a diverse correlation emerges and indicates how the early settlement phase involved greater functional differentiation among sites used by selected human groups compared with the successive phases, when this pattern vanishes. This trend may correspond to the decrease in lateralization observed on skeletal markers from the Upper Paleolithic to the Mesolithic, linked to the change in technological models and techniques employed in food gathering. The implications of this research at different levels are also discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The raw materials from which stone tools are made can provide considerable information relevant to behavioral variation within a prehistoric population. By examining the stone used for tools from two different types of Late Pithouse period (A.D. 550–1000) residential sites from the Mimbres Mogollon area of Southwestern New Mexico, this paper illustrates how understanding the lithic landscape of a region provides a means to assess behavioral variation in stone procurement practices. The analysis indicates that the differences in mobility and economic pursuits between longer-term residential sites containing pit structures and a shorter-term seasonal residential site with ephemeral architecture structured the raw material procurement practices of site’s occupants. Pit structure sites were focused on agricultural pursuits and used a technology that centered on the production of informal tools fashioned from locally available raw materials. The seasonal residential site focused on wild resources and evidenced greater reliance on formal tool production using raw materials acquired from beyond the immediate vicinity of the site. Despite increasing sedentism and agricultural dependence of the region’s population, some portion of the population exercised seasonal mobility strategies and associated technological and behavioral practices more typical of hunting and gathering populations, suggesting a diverse socio-economic system within the region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Middle Son valley in north-central India preserves extensive Quaternary alluvial deposits. A long history of archaeological and geological research in the valley has resulted in the discovery of lithic assemblages ranging from Lower Palaeolithic to microlithic, a rich corpus of fossilised faunal remains, and ash deposits from the ∼74,000year-old Toba supereruption. This paper reviews the chronology and stratigraphy of the valley’s Quaternary sediments, and presents a model that hypothesizes the temporal sequence of important lithic assemblages from excavated and surface contexts. Artefacts in these assemblages are analysed and changes in lithic technology through time are described; this evidence is used to propose shifts in hominin behaviour and demographic structure in this region during the Upper Pleistocene. Recognising gaps in our understanding of the Middle Son record, future avenues of research are recommended that will build upon previous research and address questions of palaeoanthropological significance. The Middle Son valley preserves a long and rich record of hominin occupation from all periods of the Palaeolithic that is rarely paralleled by other sites in India. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The archaeological record is the empirical record of human cultural evolution. By measuring rates of change in archaeological data through time and space it is possible to estimate both the various evolutionary mechanisms that contribute to the generation of archaeological variation, and the social learning rules involved in the transmission of cultural information. Here we show that the recently proposed accumulated copying error model [Eerkens, J.W., Lipo, C.P., 2005. Cultural transmission, copying errors, and the generation of variation in material culture and the archaeological record. Journal of Anthropology archaeology 24, 316–334.] provides a rich, quantitative framework with which to model the cultural transmission of quantitative data. Using analytical arguments, we find that the accumulated copying error model predicts negative drift in quantitative data due to the proportional nature of compounded copying errors (i.e., neutral mutations), and the multiplicative process of cultural transmission. Further, we find that the theoretically predicted rate of drift in long-lived technologies is remarkably close to the observed reduction of Clovis projectile point size through time and space across North America. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study presents a behavioral analysis of Middle and Upper Paleolithic lithic assemblages from 14 sites located in the southern Carpathian Mountains. Using a whole assemblage behavioral indicator, we show that the hominins that manufactured those stone tools do not appear to have differed in terms of the flexibility of the mobility strategies they employed to exploit their landscapes. Rather than biological change, we argue that large-scale climate changes are likely more important drivers of behavioral changes during the Late Pleistocene of the region, including during the Middle–Upper Paleolithic transition. These results agree well with the results of studies having employed this methodology in other regions, suggesting that this is a generalized feature of the transition across Eurasia. Recasting the transition as a mainly ecological rather than purely biocultural process allows us to generate new perspectives from which to approach the question of behavioral change during the Late Pleistocene, and ultimately suggests that the process referred to as the ‘Middle–Upper Paleolithic transition’ is essentially a brief segment of a much more extensive process driven by prehistoric human–environment interactions that would culminate in the highly logistical mobility strategies documented throughout the continent at the Last Glacial Maximum. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a comparative study of two colonizing populations in the Americas: the Fluted Point tradition (FPt) and the early Arctic Small Tool tradition (ASTt) with the aim of understanding the role of lithic technologies in the colonization process. The FPt and ASTt are seen as residentially mobile groups with comparatively little reliance on food storage and minimal transportation aids. At the same time they also produced very similar flaked stone technologies that differed greatly from all later groups, being characterized by standardized core reduction, excellence in manufacture, production of a wide range of often hafted tools, use of the highest quality toolstones and a reliance on flaked stone, as opposed to ground stone, tools. The main advantage of these technologies is that they are not only flexible but can be rapidly produced. It is suggested that the key variable accounting for these choices is the lack of efficient transportation aids. In colonizing situations, the limited transport capabilities force populations to: (a) rely more on less predictable search and encounter methods of resource procurement and in turn, residential mobility to position people with regard to resources and (b) place a high premium on efficient time allocation to meet the excessive demands needed to maintain social contacts and mating networks amongst very low density populations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aim of this study is to reassess the early Acheulean at Peninj, on the western shore of Lake Natron (Tanzania). This paper describes the archaeological contexts and technological strategies of two assemblages, RHS-Mugulud and MHS-Bayasi, dated to 1.5–1.1 myr ago. The study of lithic artefacts from Glynn Isaac’s excavations in 1960s–1980s, curated at the National Museum of Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania), the review of Isaac’s unpublished field notes and manuscripts held at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and new data from recent excavations in RHS-Mugulud, have made it possible to characterize these emblematic assemblages of the early African Acheulean, and to reflect on the technological meaning of the first large cutting tools (LCTs). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Nadung’a 4 is one of the single carcass pachyderm sites recorded in East Africa during the Lower and Early Middle Pleistocene. The site has yielded an abundant lithic assemblage in close association with the partial carcass of an elephant. Conjoined pedological, geoarchaeological, spatial, technological, and taphonomical analyses have been carried out to address the relationship between hominids and elephant. The resulting data are consistent with a non-fortuitous association between both categories of remains. The lithic artefacts do not match a classical Acheulean tool-kit, as would be expected for the time period ascribed to the site, and the functional patterns inferred from their analysis make this site radically different from other purported butchery sites. The implications of these original features are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• A sample of projectile points from colonial missions in central California is analyzed. • Results show persistence of Indigenous lithic traditions in colonial contexts. • Native artisans eschewed local cherts for imported obsidian as well as colonial glass and porcelain. • Regional trends in colonial-era projectile point manufacture and use are examined. • Native resistance to the Spanish mission system occurred across various scales. Archaeological excavations at California mission sites have revealed diverse projectile points manufactured and used by Indigenous people. Through the examination of assemblages from four central California missions—San José, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and San Carlos—this paper considers the potential of lithic technologies to illuminate the interrelated issues of tradition and resistance. Based on our case study, and a comparative discussion of similar projectile points from other missions in Alta and Baja California, we argue that these artifacts offer an opportunity to move beyond the idea that the persistence of cultural traditions equals passive resistance in colonial settings. In addition to strong continuities of arrow point types from precontact times into the colonial period, the data from California also demonstrate that Native people incorporated new materials into their lithic technologies and perhaps even created new point types after the Spanish invasion. These patterns speak to the dynamic nature of tradition as well as the varied ways that Indigenous people sought to repudiate the values of colonialism in their daily lives. Taken together, the projectile points from California mission sites encourage archaeologists to consider how lithic technologies may reflect the capacity (realized or not) for Indigenous autonomy and active refusal of colonialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ceremonial centres of Tulan Ravine housed large social aggregations from early periods. • Compositional studies reveal the circulation of local obsidian and extra-local sources. • Projectile points made of obsidian were used in collective hunts and feasts. In the pre-Columbian Andes, ceremonial centres were places for large-scale periodic celebrations that facilitated interaction and the reproduction of social life; however, little is known about their role and emergence in early periods. In order to explore the nature and scale of social aggregations, we study the circulation of obsidian artefacts from two early ceremonial centres: Tulan-52 (5300 to 4200 cal. BP) and Tulan-54 (3200 to 2400 cal. BP). Compositional analyses indicate the exploitation of local obsidian, but with a significant contribution from several extra-local sources in the north of the Salar de Atacama (Chile), the Andes highlands (4000 masl) and the northwest of Argentina. According to technological studies and other complementary data, obsidian was employed mainly for the production of bifacial projectile points used in collective hunts and ritual feasts. Our data supports the existence of wide, decentralised inter-community networks fostered by inclusive access to these periodic congregations. We argue that early ceremonial centres were intended to maintain social cohesion and cooperative labour between trans -egalitarian groups in the face of the profound socio-economic changes introduced by the adoption of a more sedentary, pastoralist way of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Mill Brook Stream site is a small Late Maritime Woodland (ca. 1500–500 BP) site location in south-central New Brunswick, Canada. • Heat-treated lithics at the site were all made of a local material, Washademoak Multi-coloured chert. • Analysis suggests heat-treating does not improve the material mechanics of the chert. • A reduction sequence analysis indicates preference for colours which heat-treating produces (reds and whites) • Colour preferences in archaeological results correspond with those of contemporary Wabanaki groups. • Heat-treating may have served an aesthetic as much as a functional purpose for hunter-gatherer groups. Archaeological discussions of the influence of aesthetic preferences in quotidian aspects of hunter-gatherer lives, including practical procurement and preparation activities, have been limited. Lithic technological discussions of heat-treating tend to focus on a prevailing logic that heat-treating was undertaken to improve the quality or knappability of lithic material. In this paper, we discuss a small lithic site from the Lower Saint John River Valley in south-central New Brunswick, Canada where the observation of anomalies in colour patterning of a local lithic material, Washademoak Multi-coloured Chert or, Washademoak Chert, indicated heat-treating was occurring at the site. An experimental heat-treating study was conducted to test whether heat-treating improved the quality of Washademoak Chert and to understand the duration and intensity of heating; however, results suggest heat-treating does not improve the quality of Washademoak Chert. Using lithic technological data and statistical analysis, we argue that heat-treating in this context was conducted to transform the colour of Washademoak Chert to aesthetically preferable colours—ones which reflect contemporary Indigenous perceptions of colour. These results provide valuable insights into the level of influence that aesthetic and cultural decisions may have had for hunter-gatherers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Malthusian demographic models are useful for understanding village history. • Housepit 54, Bridge River site, provides a fine-grained 350-year household history. • Occupants of Housepit 54 survived two complete Malthusian cycles. • Zooarchaeological data provide insights into shifting subsistence strategies. • Lithic artifacts offer evidence for variation in technological organization. Models in demographic ecology predict that populations in agrarian villages experience cycles of growth and decline as tied to relationships between founding population sizes, birth and mortality rates, habitat constraints, landscape productivity, and socio-economic practices. Such predictions should be equally applicable to fisher-hunter-gatherers. Intensive research at the Bridger River site on the Canadian Plateau has provided significant new insight into the dynamics of population growth and decline, subsistence productivity, cooperation, and development of social inequalities in material goods. In this paper, we present new evidence drawing from the fine-grained stratigraphic record of Housepit 54 to assess details regarding change in subsistence and technology as related to population and social dynamics. Results indicate a long and complex history characterized by two complete demographic cycles. Critically, the two subsistence downturns were managed using different tactics. Reduced local resources during the first period was likely managed with shorter stays in winter residences, somewhat more extensive use of the landscape, and continuation of egalitarian social relations. The second economic downturn followed a short-lived boom in resources and population growth that created extremely competitive social conditions. The subsequent downturn was managed by entrenched winter sedentism and likely social control of access to critical resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]