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The Palaeolithic sequence of East Asia differs from that of western Eurasia in that it is characterised by core-and-flake tools. Blade industries only appear late in the sequence, long after the first appearance of modern humans; bone tools and personal ornaments may therefore function as a better marker of modern human presence. Longquan Cave provides vital new evidence to this effect, with dated hearths indicating an initial occupation around 40 kya cal BP, followed by a second period of activity around 35-31 kya cal BP. They are associated with a polished bone awl and a structured division of settlement space, features typically associated with modern humans. Keywords: China, Longquan Cave, Palaeolithic, lithics, quartz, bone tool, radiocarbon dating, Introduction The dispersal of modern humans from Africa into different regions of Eurasia some 50 000 years ago is generally seen to mark the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic, a [...]

It has long been believed that the earliest ceramics in the central plain of China were produced by the Neolithic cultures of Jiahu 1 and Peiligang. Excavations at Lijiagou in Henan Province, dating to the ninth millennium BC, have, however, revealed evidence for the earlier production of pottery, probably on the eve of millet and wild rice cultivation in northern and southern China respectively. It is assumed that, as in other regions such as southwest Asia and South America, sedentism preceded incipient cultivation. Here evidence is presented that sedentary communities emerged among hunter-gatherer groups who were still producing micro blades. Lijiagou demonstrates that the bearers of the microblade industry were producers of pottery, preceding the earliest Neolithic cultures in central China. Keywords: China, early Holocene, sedentary hunter-gatherers, microblades, pottery, Lijiagou culture, Introduction Current research into Chinese prehistory suffers from a dearth of information concerning the cultural and social changes that occurred during the transition from the Terminal Pleistocene to the early [...]

The report announces the important radiocarbon-dated sequence recently obtained at Dzudzuana Cave in the southern Caucasus foothills. The first occupants here were modern humans, in c. 34.5-32.2 ka cal BP, and comparison with dated sequences on the northern slope of the Caucasus suggests that their arrival was rapid and widespread. The rich, well-dated assemblages of lithics, bone tools and a few art objects, coloured fibres, pollen and animal remains deposited at Dzudzuana through 20 millennia provide an invaluable point of reference for numerous other sites previously excavated in western Georgia. Detailed information has been placed in a supplementary excavation report online. The data support the significance of these excavations for a better understanding of modern human dispersals. Keywords: Georgia, Caucasus, Middle Palaeolithic, Upper Palaeolithic, lithics, modern humans, Introduction Upper Palaeolithic occupations have been reported from caves and rockshelters in the western Caucasus foothills since the late nineteenth century (Zamiamin 1957; Berdzenishvili 1972; Tushabramashvili & Vekua 1982; Bader [...]

A well in the Jordan Valley shows that the Neolithic revolution included an understanding of underground water and how to access it. The excavation of the well in longtitudinal cross-section is also something of a revolution in fieldwork. Keywords: Neolithic, Jordan Valley, hydrology, water, well, Introduction A reliable source of drinking water is the most basic requirement for human physical survival. Hence, through the entire history of humankind all temporary encampments or sedentary settlements have [...]

Late and Epi-Paleolithic sequence are well known from field work and publications in southeast Europe and the Levant. Current research in Anatolia promises to shed new light on the vast [...]

GEOFF BAILEY (ed.). Klithi: Palaeolithic settlement and Quaternary landscapes in northwest Greece. xxxiv+699 pages, 418 figures, 193 tables. 1997. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research; 0-9519420-2-6 hardback 70 £. Everyone [...]

BILL FINLAYSON & STEVEN MITHEN (ed.). The Early Prehistory of Wadi Faynan, Southern Jordan: Archaeological survey of Wadis Faynan, Ghuwayr and al-Bustan and evaluation of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site [...]

Since 1997 an international research team has been reinvestigating Ortvale Klde, a Palaeolithic rockshelter located in the Georgian Republic (FIGURES 1 & 2). The main goals of this new collaborative [...]

Reviewed by Ofer Bar-Yosef, Harvard University. The excavations of Olduvai Gorge established one of the longest archaeological sequences of early Paleolithic assemblages. Volume 3 of the Olduvai Gorge series, published [...]

The Upper Palaeolithic Revolution, sometimes called ‘the Creative Explosion’, is seen as the period when the forefathers of modern forager societies emerged. Similarly to the Industrial and Neolithic Revolutions, it represents a short time span when numerous inventions appeared and cultural changes occurred. The inventions were in the domain of technology, that is, shaping of new stone tool forms, longdistance exchange of raw materials, the use of bone, antler and ivory as well as rare minerals for the production of domestic and ritual objects. Spatial analysis of ‘living floors’ indicates the presence of a kitchen area, sleeping grounds, storage facilities (in certain regions) and a discard zone. We can also detect a certain increase in social hierarchy and the presence of shamans. Body decorations indicate the appearance of personal individuality. Several hypotheses were offered as an explanation for the initiation of all these cultural changes often grouped under the term ‘modern behaviour’. It stands to reason that attributing the new successful technologies observed in the Eurasian Upper Palaeolithic to intrinsic social processes and economic innovations by local Middle Palaeolithic populations would need a better archaeological demonstration than that available today. For the time being, the emergence of Modern humans in sub-Saharan Africa, their socio-economic dynamism that caused their expansion through the Nile Valley into the Near East, and their migration along the ‘southern route’ of Asia as far as Australia, is the most plausible scenario though it still leaves much to be desired from future archaeological research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author comments on a study by Kim Sterelny and Trevor Watkins on neolithization in Southwest Asia in the context of niche construction theory. Topics discussed include a commendation of the study authors for producing a different view on the establishment of Neolithic farming and herding communities in southwest Asia, the origin of the term Neolithization, and the importance of the use of Niche Construction Theory (NCT).