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We report the results of a detailed analysis of ostrich eggshell (OES) beads derived mainly from Cultural Layer 2 (CL2) of Locality 2 at the Shuidonggou site (SDG2) in North China, which is dated to ca. 31 ka cal BP. The eggshells belong to the extinct ostrich Struthio anderssoni. Based on microscopic examination, morphometric analysis, and experimental replication, we identify clear differences in morphology, size, technology, and style. Results indicate that the technology of bead making is similar to that used in most Middle and Later Stone Age sites in Africa and recorded ethnographically. Both well-made and poorly-crafted OES beads were produced at SDG2. Drilling experiments conducted in the framework of this study show that hafted stone points were probably used to make the perforations. Only occasionally beads were deliberately polished on inner and outer eggshell surfaces. Beads morphology and technology suggest that distinct types of beads were made by different individual craftspeople. This supports the hypothesis that several human groups visited the Shuidonggou site and used OES beads as an information technology about 31 ka cal BP.

Here we present the results of a techno-functional analysis of 17 bone tools recovered from strata 6, 5 and 3 of the Palaeolithic site of Ma'anshan Cave, Guizhou Province, southern China. Stratum 6, dated to c. 35 cal kyr BP, has yielded three sharp awls. From Stratum 5, dated to c. 34 cal kyr BP, come six probable spear points, awls and a cutting tool. Separated from these layers by a sterile horizon, Stratum 3, dated 23 cal kyr BP to 18 cal kyr BP, has yielded barbed points of two types. Bone tools were shaped by scraping, grinding, and in strata 5 and 3, finished by polishing. Ma'anshan Cave records the oldest formal bone tools from China, and amongst the oldest known evidence of indisputable barbed point manufacture outside Africa. Change in the hunting toolkit between strata 5 and 3 may indicate a shift in prey preference from medium to small size mammals and fish, which needs to be verified by supplementary analyses. The significance of this evidence is discussed in the context of what is known about the origin of bone tool technology in Africa and Eurasia.

Evidence supporting the hypothesis that Neanderthals developed cultural adaptations comparable to those associated with the Upper Palaeolithic is controversial, and come from a handful of sites, mainly attributed to the Châtelperronian. Pigments play a growing role in this debate. We present a critical review of available information on Châtelperronian pigment use, and submit pigment lumps from three Châtelperronian sites, Roc-de-Combe (Lot), Le Baste, and Bidart (Pyrenees Atlantiques) to a microscopic, elemental and mineralogical analysis using multifocus optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, XRF, Raman, and μXRD techniques. The thirty-nine pigment lumps from Roc-de-Combe consist of a great variety of red and black iron and manganese oxide rich rocks, probably collected at close and relatively distant sources. A third of the pieces from Roc-de-Combe and one piece from Bidart and Le Baste bear percussion marks and facets produced by grinding. Our results demonstrate that a consistent use of pigments, interpreted as reflecting site function, occurs at sites located in the South-western area of the known distribution of the Châtelperronian. Considering that this area is distant from the location of the earliest Proto-Aurignacian and Early Aurignacian sites from Germany and Austria, and that available radiocarbon dating indicate a chronological anteriority of Roc-de-Combe Châtelperronian, we argue that the hypothesis that Châtelperronian pigment use results from Neanderthal ‘acculturation’ is improbable.

International audience; The frequency of mollusks, shellfish, fish, seabirds, and marine mammal remains from archaeological sites in the Vasco-Cantabrian region of Northern Spain attests to the relatively intense exploitation of marine resources during the Upper Palaeolithic, Epipalaeolithic, and Mesolithic. These coastal resources were utilised for both technical and symbolic purposes, especially two gastropods (Littorina saxatilis/complexa/arcana and Littorina obtusata) that were almost continuously used for personal ornamentation. The shell accumulation at Praileaitz I, dated to c. 10,000 and 11,500 cal BP, provides new data concerning the interplay between Epipalaeolithic prehistoric hunter–gatherers and coastal environments. We developed a method based on identifying the accumulation's taxonomic diversity combined with a taphonomic, morphometric, and microscopic analysis of the shells in order to characterise the accumulation. The shell assemblage, composed almost exclusively of L. saxatilis/complexa/arcana and L. obtusata, provided no evidence for the shells being suspended as ornaments. Comparisons with modern and archaeological reference collections suggest the shells were collected by humans from a thanatocenosis and that the accumulation is composed only of the smallest shells with a high proportion showing breakage resulting from crab predation. Given the frequent use of these shell species as personal ornaments in the Vasco-Cantabrian region during prehistory, we propose that the accumulation represents discarded raw material considered unsuitable for the manufacture of personal ornaments. Finally, the lack of other archaeological remains of any kind leads us to conclude that the cave's brief occupation was connected to the specialised activity of bead manufacture.

A few pieces of worked bone were previously reported from Sibudu, a site from KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa featuring a stratigraphic sequence with pre-Still Bay, Still Bay, Howiesons Poort, post-Howiesons Poort, late and final MSA cultural horizons. Here we describe an expanded collection of worked bones, including twenty-three pieces. Technological and use-wear analysis of these objects, and their comparison with experimental and ethnographic data, reveals that a number of specialised bone tool types (wedges, pieces esquillees, pressure flakers, smoothers, sequentially notched pieces), previously known only from the Upper Palaeolithic and more recent periods, were manufactured and used at least 30,000 years earlier at Sibudu Cave. These tools appear to be part of a local tradition because they are absent at contemporaneous or more recent southern African sites. Variability in Middle Stone Age material culture supports a scenario in which, beyond broad similarities in lithic technology, significant differences between regions, and trends of continuity at a local scale emerge in other aspects of the technical system, and in the symbolic domain. The archaeological record is revealing a complexity that prevents evaluation of the modern character of Middle Stone Age cultures in antinomic terms. We argue here that it is the detailed analysis of cultural variation that will inform us of the non-linear processes at work during this period, and contribute in the long run to explaining how and when crucial cultural innovations became established in human history.

It is generally accepted that abstract and iconographic representations are reflections of symbolic material culture. Here we describe a fragmented ocherous pebble bearing a sequence of sub-parallel linear incisions. These were produced by a lithic point and may represent one of the oldest instances of a deliberate engraving. The object was recovered from Middle Stone Age II levels of Klasies River Cave 1, South Africa, and is dated to between 100,000 and 85,000 years ago. Microscopic analysis reveals that the surface of the object was ground until smooth before being engraved with a sequence of sub-parallel lines made by single and multiple strokes. X-ray fluorescence and colorimetric analysis of the object and a sample of twelve additional ochre pieces from the same level reveals that the brown colour and Manganese-rich composition renders the engraved piece distinct. This suggests that a particular type of raw material may have been selected for engraving purposes. Although the purpose of marking this object remains uncertain, its detailed analysis adds relevant information to previously published occurrences of Middle Stone Age engraved objects and contributes to clarify their distribution through time and space.

One Gravettian feminine representation – the schematic Venus of Předmosti – is so different from all the others that it has always been regarded as unique. The engraving, which was closely examined for the purpose of comparison in this study, represents a woman composed of geometric shapes, including a triangular head with interior lattice-work, concentric ellipses for the breasts, belly and pelvis, a double ladder for the remaining arm, hatch marks, and a thigh made up of parallel vertical lines. This article presents the discovery and discusses the authenticity of a second, feminine anthropomorph engraved on a bone shaft fragment, which is labelled as coming from the same site and is highly similar to the one described at the end of the nineteenth century. The modern history of Předmosti reveals that the site was used as a quarry for the extraction of loess and limestone, and that tons of mammoth bones were extracted to produce spodium. Remarkable objects that were found both during early archaeological excavations and the site’s commercial exploitation went towards private collections. The history of the piece under study traces it back through a succession of owners to the collection of Rene de Poilloue de Saint-Perier (b.1877–d.1950) and Raymonde-Suzanne de Saint-Perier (b.1890–d.1978). The engraving is on the periosteal surface of a limb bone from a very large mammal, probably a proboscidian. Microscopic analysis of the bone surface and engravings identify the chronology of the grooves and their relations to the stages of the bone’s alteration and fracturing, starting with: 1) heavy weathering of the bone surface that produced longitudinal cracks, which probably led to its breakage, 2) engraving of the feminine representation, 3) intense mechanical and chemical attacks that smoothed all of the bone’s surfaces and wore down the engravings, 4) covering with a consolidation agent, and, most recently, 5) some abrasion, which resulted in the creation of a few straight lines. Since no evidence is found to suggest that the highly worn appearance of the engravings composing the feminine representation resulted from modifications that were meant to artificially age the periosteal surface of the bone, we conclude that the engraving can be plausibly attributed to the Gravettian and that further analyses are warranted.

Discovery of pigments at Middle Palaeolithic sites is of interest in the context of the ongoing debate about the tempo and mode of the emergence of modern human behaviour. Here we analyse four previously undescribed fragments of pigmental material from Es-Skhul shelter, layer B, Israel, McCown excavations, identified at the Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, London. One of them is still partially embedded in the hard breccia characteristic of this layer. Inspection of breccia fragments from layer B has led to the identification of small pieces of red and orange pigmental material still enclosed in large clasts, further corroborating the attribution of the larger pieces analysed in this study to layer B. The four objects are studied using optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray micro-diffraction (μ-XRD), Particle-Induced X-Ray Emission Spectrometry (PIXE), and Proton-Induced Gamma-ray Emission (PIGE). The specimens display various hues of yellow, orange, red, and one of them presents a gradual variation of shade from yellow to dark orange. SEM/EDX analysis identifies two specimens (Skhul 1 and 2) as being composed of iron-rich calcium phosphate, the third (Skhul 3) of potassium-rich clay with titanium-rich iron oxide inclusions, and the fourth (Skhul 4) of pure iron oxide crystals. TEM/EDX and μ-XRD analysis demonstrate that three pieces (Skhul 1, 2 and 4) were heated to at least 300 °C, a process that has partially or completely dehydrated goethite into haematite and changed their pristine yellow colour into orange or red. Skhul 3 shows no sign of heating, suggesting that its haematite content has a geological origin. The different mineral composition of the pieces suggests that they must come from a variety of sources. This implies that the associated collection strategies included the selection of materials that differed not only with respect to colour but also with respect to other physical and chemical properties. Although no formal proof exists that these lumps of pigmental material were deliberately heated, results obtained are consistent with this explanation.

Bone tools from early hominin sites in southern Africa continue to intrigue researchers interested in the development of early human technology and cognition. Sterkfontein, Swartkrans and Drimolen have all yielded bone tools dated to between 1 and 2 Mya associated with numerous Paranthropus robustus and few early Homo remains. The bone tools are described by different authors as implements used to excavate tubers from the ground and termites from their nests, work hides and strip bark from trees. The purpose of this research was to develop a more powerful analytical tool for the study and interpretation of bone surface modifications in general, and early hominin bone tool function(s) in particular. We used an optical interferometer to scan the worn areas of a sample of bone tools from Swartkrans and Drimolen, an ethnographic collection of implements used for defleshing marula fruits, and a set used experimentally to excavate in the ground and in termite mounds. The 3D rendering of archaeological and experimental wear patterns better highlights previously described differences between these patterns, and demonstrates the pertinence of this analytical tool to visually discriminating between different bone modifications. Analysis of selected 2D and 3D roughness variables indicates that the wear pattern on the early hominin bone tools from Drimolen is significantly different from that of tuber digging, very similar to termite foraging, and not unlike marula fruit processing. Marked differences are detected between the Swartkrans and Drimolen wear patterns, which suggests that the tools from these sites may have been used with different motions, in contact with abrasive particles of different size, or in different tasks. Principal component analyses conducted on 2D and 3D variables suggest that early hominin bone tools from southern Africa may have been used to forage for termites, extract tubers in a motion parallel to the tool main axis, process fruits and conduct other, as yet unidentified, tasks.

The earliest use of bone tools is a topic of ongoing debate that concerns the criteria used to identify utilised or minimally modified bone tools, and if verified, the implications for hominid adaptation and cognition. Here we present the first description of 22 possible bone tools from the early hominid site of Drimolen (Gauteng Province, South Africa), dated ∼1.5–2 Mya. We compare the results of a taphonomic, morphometric and microscopic analysis of these pieces with those obtained from the study of faunal assemblages modified by a variety of non-human agents, and experimentally modified bones. None of the naturally modified assemblages contained pieces bearing the wear pattern observed on specimens from Drimolen and on bones experimentally used in digging activities. Fourteen pieces from Drimolen bear a pattern comparable to one previously described on early hominid bone tools from Sterkfontein and Swartkrans. This suggests that Drimolen bone tools were involved in a similar, if not exactly the same, task. Other common features include favoured bone types, fracture patterns, and the length and position of the worn area. Larger bone tools known from Swartkrans are absent at Drimolen, perhaps due to less availability of large mammal bones. The association of a high number of Paranthropus remains with bone tools at Drimolen, and the exceedingly low number of stone tools at the site supports the hypothesis that Paranthropus robustus used these bone tools. Based on implement-assisted termite foraging strategies amongst chimpanzees, we have inferred similar social and cultural behaviours for early hominids. Gorillas were recently proposed as a model for P. robustus social structure due to the high degree of sexual dimorphism observed. According to female aggregation practices present in both models, one can speculate that if P. robustus was the user of the bone tools, the foraging activity in which they were used may have been conducted mainly by females.

Recent excavations at Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, uncovered an Iron Age horizon below which is a complex 3 m thick Middle Stone Age sequence with post-Howiesons Poort, Howiesons Poort, Still Bay and pre-Still Bay layers. Available OSL ages indicate that the Howiesons Poort occupation is older than 60 ky and the Still Bay older than 70 ky. Here we present the archaeological context and the taphonomic analysis of six Afrolittorina africana, three of which bear perforations, from the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort layers of this site. The single specimen from the latter cultural horizon comes from the lowermost layer attributed to this technocomplex. This and the depositional context of this layer suggest that this shell derives, as do the other five, from the Still Bay occupation layers. Taphonomic analysis of the archaeological specimens based on present day Afrolittorina africana biocoenoses, microscopic examination, morphometry, experimental perforation of modern shells, and a review of the natural agents that may accumulate marine shells at inland sites, indicate probable human involvement in the collection, transport, modification, and abandonment of Afrolittorina africana in Sibudu. If confirmed by future discoveries these shells would corroborate the use of personal ornaments, already attested at Blombos Cave, Western Cape Province, by Still Bay populations. The apparent absence of ornaments at Howiesons Poort sites raises the question of the mechanisms that have led to cultural modernity since it seems to contradict the scenario according to which cultural innovations recorded at Middle Stone Age sites reflect a process of continuous accretion and elaboration interpreted as the behavioural corollary of the emergence of anatomically modern humans.

Recently discovered bone implements from Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits at Sibudu Cave, South Africa, confirm the existence of a bone tool industry for the Howiesons Poort (HP) technocomplex. Previously, an isolated bone point from Klasies River provided inconclusive evidence. This paper describes three bone tools: two points and the end of a polished spatula-shaped piece, from unequivocal HP layers at Sibudu Cave (with ages greater than ∼61 ka). Comparative microscopic and morphometric analysis of the Sibudu specimens together with bone tools from southern African Middle and Later Stone Age (LSA) deposits, an Iron Age occupation, nineteenth century Bushman hunter-gatherer toolkits, and bone tools used experimentally in a variety of tasks, reveals that the Sibudu polished piece has use-wear reminiscent of that on bones experimentally used to work animal hides. A slender point is consistent with a pin or needle-like implement, while a larger point, reminiscent of the single specimen from Peers Cave, parallels large un-poisoned bone arrow points from LSA, Iron Age and historical Bushman sites. Additional support for the Sibudu point having served as an arrow tip comes from backed lithics in the HP compatible with this use, and the recovery of older, larger bone and lithic points from Blombos Cave, interpreted as spear heads. If the bone point from the HP layers at Sibudu Cave is substantiated by future discoveries, this will push back the origin of bow and bone arrow technology by at least 20,000 years, and corroborate arguments in favour of the hypothesis that crucial technological innovations took place during the MSA in Africa.

Our knowledge of the migration routes of the first anatomically modern populations colonising the European territory at the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic, of their degree of biological, linguistic, and cultural diversity, and of the nature of their contacts with local Neanderthals, is still vague. Ethnographic studies indicate that of the different components of the material culture that survive in the archaeological record, personal ornaments are among those that best reflect the ethno-linguistic diversity of human groups. The ethnic dimension of beadwork is conveyed through the use of distinct bead types as well as by particular combinations and arrangements on the body of bead types shared with one or more neighbouring groups. One would expect these variants to leave detectable traces in the archaeological record. To explore the potential of this approach, we recorded the occurrence of 157 bead types at 98 European Aurignacian sites. Seriation, correspondence, and GIS analyses of this database identify a definite cline sweeping counter-clockwise from the Northern Plains to the Eastern Alps via Western and Southern Europe through fourteen geographically cohesive sets of sites. The sets most distant from each other include Aurignacian sites from the Rhoˆne valley, Italy, Greece and Austria on the one hand, and sites from Northern Europe, on the other. These two macro-sets do not share any bead types. Both are characterised by particular bead types and share personal ornaments with the intermediate macro-set, composed of sites from Western France, Spain, and Southern France. We argue that this pattern, which is not explained by chronological differences between sites or by differences in raw material availability, reflects the ethnolinguistic diversity of the earliest Upper Palaeolithic populations of Europe.

While the identification of the source of shells used as personal ornaments is crucial for determining home range and exchange networks of prehistoric hunter-gatherers, it is often difficult to identify the coastal versus fossil origin of the shells as most genera used as beads were available both at beaches and fossil outcrops. Here we present the first application of 87Sr/86Sr isotope dating to identify the origin of Upper Palaeolithic shell beads. We analysed four out of a collection of one thousand Dentalium shells associated to the La Madeleine child burial dated to 10,190±100 BP and one Dentalium from the occupation layers of this site. 87Sr/86Sr ratios indicate that shells were collected by Late Upper Palaeolithic beadworkers on far away beaches rather than at nearer Miocene outcrops. This may be due to the narrowness of Miocene Dentalium shells, incompatible with the size of bone needles used to sew these shell beads on clothes.

Ever since Dart (J. Phys. Anthrop. 7 (1949) 1) interpreted certain bones from Makapansgat as tools, scientific consensus has fluctuated as to whether some bone objects from early hominid sites should be interpreted as artefacts, or the result of non-human taphonomic processes, which are known to produce pseudo-bone tools morphologically similar to human modified or used artefacts. Here we present possible evidence of bone tool shaping from Swartkrans (Members 1–3; ca. 1.8–1.0 Mya). Four horncores and the proximal end of an ulna used as tools in digging activities also have facets covered by parallel spindle-shaped striations characteristic of grinding. Identification of these traces as possibly resulting from deliberate shaping or re-sharpening of the bone tools is based on the characterisation of the use-wear pattern and other taphonomic modifications observed on the Swartkrans bone tools. This interpretation is also supported by the study of the remainder of the horncores from Swartkrans, horncores from other southern African Plio-Pleistocene sites (Sterkfontein, Makapansgat, Gondolin), modern horncores affected by pre- and post-mortem modification, ethnographic, LSA, African Iron Age and experimental bone tools shaped by grinding. These data suggest that early hominids had the cognitive ability to modify the functional area of bone implements to achieve optimal efficiency.

The detailed survey of surfaces, such as are found in caves, buildings or excavation sections, is an important aspect of archaeological data collection and investigation. Where subtle irregularities of the contours of the surface have a significance to the interpretation of an archaeological feature, and where contact with the surface is not recommended, standard surveying techniques may not provide the resolution or accuracy which might be hoped for. This study uses an automated laser scanner and modelling software to produce an accurate three-dimensional model of a carved rock surface from the Upper Palaeolithic site of Cap Blanc in southwest France. This non-invasive procedure provides a means of documenting and visualizing a complex carving, and therefore contributes to the interpretation and archiving of the site.

The Grotta dei Piccioni (Pescara, Italy) has yielded two cow ribs from Ripoli Culture levels (4770±110 bp ), showing on the caudal edge a large notch associated with a marked sickle gloss, developed on the lateral aspect. Scanning electron microscope analysis of sediment from the spongy bone of the notch of one rib shows different plant residues i.e. phytoliths, fragments of sclerenchyma, an epidermal fragment with two stomata. The use of experimental ribs in different harvesting activities shows that the action of theshing produces a wear pattern similar to that which is observed on archaeological specimens. This use also traps a large number of plant residues in the spongy bone near the notch. The possible use of the Piccioni ribs as threshing tools is discussed in the light of comparisons with other contemporary bone tools probably involved in harvesting techniques.

A final Magdalenian or Epipalaeolithic bone object, engraved with parallel lines, was found at Tossal de la Roca (Alicante, Spain). On both sides, four sets of short engraved incisions were superimposed on these lines. This design is the subject of a technological analysis based on experimentally established criteria. Nineteen series of incisions similar to the archaeological incisions on the Tossal bone (made using different techniques and different tools) were analysed and measured. The analytical criteria resulting from this experimentation, as well as other criteria known in the literature, were applied to the archaeological piece. It appears that each set of incisions was made by a different tool and probably, in one case, by two different tools. Changes in the techniques employed (single movement, to-and-fro, pressure) and in the direction of the movement of the tool also occurred between sets. The hypothesis that this engraving might be a system of notation is discussed.