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This paper focuses on new findings from Middle Paleolithic Geula Cave, Israel, located in the northern part of Mt. Carmel. The cave, consists of several small chambers that are remnants of a larger cave system, initially excavated between 1958 and 1964. The occupation at the cave was ascribed to Middle Paleolithic modern humans. In 2016, a salvage excavation was conducted in areas of the cave that were not previously explored. Analyses of the new excavation revealed a consistency in lithic technology throughout the new excavation areas, with an emphasis on Levallois production using mainly bidirectional and centripetal core preparation modes. The faunal study identified intensive hyena and porcupine activities in small chambers, probably at the back part of the cave, while fractured bones in association with flint artifacts were found at what appears as the living area in the cave. Luminescence ages indicated that Geula Cave was occupied as early as 175 ka, but that the major occupation was from 120 to 100 ka. The major occupation at Geula chronologically overlaps with the Skhul and Qafzeh Caves thus reinforcing the notion that Homo sapiens dominated the southern Levant during early MIS 5. This study demonstrates the importance of reinvestigating and reevaluating past excavated prehistoric sites and their contents to enhance our understanding of the regional, cultural and biological history.

The site of Goa Topogaro (Topogaro Caves) on Sulawesi Island in Eastern Indonesia yields numerous osseous and lithic artefacts in association with anatomically modern humans (AMH) from the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Sulawesi is the largest island in Wallacea and could have been located along the early AMH migration routes to Sahul that required sea crossings between the past Sunda and Sahul-continents. AMH utilized both osseous and lithic technologies use during the early stage of their migration to South Asia, Island Southeast Asia (ISEA), and Sahul, a more intensive use and wider expansion of bone-based technologies occurred after the end of the Pleistocene in ISEA and Sulawesi. Our study confirms the emergence and wide use of an variety of osseus technologies, specifically bone points that may have been used as drills, engravers, and projectiles, during the early Holocene in Sulawesi. This is in tandem with a significant shift of lithic technologies and the dramatic increase of retouched tools. Use-wear analysis of bone and lithic materials shows that some specific retouched stone tools were likely used for the production of bone implements. We suggest such a combination in the use of bone and lithic technologies for Sulawesi, and widely across ISEA, may indicate early AMH subsistence strategies and adaptations to the changing island and rainforest environments during the transition from the late Pleistocene to the Holocene.

Recently, several studies have presented quantitative data of lithic assemblages from Islands Southeast Asia (ISEA), based on technological and morphological analyses. While this has led to a better overall understanding of the nature of these assemblages, there is still lack of clarity about the relationship between manufacturing technology and usage. Accordingly, this study collected detailed data of lithic assemblages from Callao Cave in northern Luzon, Philippines. Multifaceted analyses including technological and morphological analysis and use-wear analysis were conducted to clarify the actual nature of lithic technology and tool use in relation to human behavior. Results of the technological and morphological analysis show that several core tools share same types of secondary reduction (retouch) with flake tools, while there are several retouched tools (flake tools and core tools) with several types of secondary reduction (retouch). In addition, there are no major differences between the sizes of the core tools and flake tools. Result of the use-wear analysis indicates that several retouched areas on both the core tools and flake tools were actually used. These stone-tool manufacturing and usage characteristics suggest that the hunter-gatherers who left the assemblages did not clearly distinguish between cores and flakes (or between core tools and flake tools), and did not treat lithic tools as single-function items. That is, it appears that secondary reduction was completed depending on the shapes, thicknesses, and angles of the edges of these lithic artifacts. The users/manufacturers thus placed emphasis on functional edges. It also seems that the core tools were used as both tools and objects for flake production. The characteristics of the assemblages in manufacturing and their usage suggest that lithic artifacts and lithic raw materials were used in Callao Cave efficiently and economically. Furthermore, in terms of their primary and secondary reduction processes, the assemblages from Callao Cave are considerably different from Upper Paleolithic assemblages found in the northern regions of Eurasia. This indicates that the characteristics of stone tool manufacturing and usage in Callao Cave reflect another strategy of early modern humans for using lithic raw material. However, these characteristics of the assemblages may most closely reflect the characteristics of the occupations and activities in the site. Accordingly, similar analyses, including technological and morphological analysis and use-wear analysis, need to be conducted on other lithic assemblages which are composed of many lithic artifacts in ISEA.

Kammern-Grubgraben is among the few stratified Upper Palaeolithic sites in Central Europe dating to the Last Glacial Maximum which provided not only substantial amounts of archaeological materials but also extensive preserved occupational structures. Although the site has been known since the last quarter of the 19th century, systematic excavations didn’t start until the 1980’s. These were carried out subsequently by two different teams providing partly incongruent observations and interpretations. Renewed field investigations commenced in 2015 and aim at reassessing stratigraphy and chronology, settlement structures and occupational sequence, as well as mobility and economy. First results provide a robust multimethod chrono-stratigraphic bracket for occupation between Greenland Stadials GS-3 and GS-2.1. Artefact technology and typology point at supra-regional contacts to both the west and east on a more general scale while a high degree of mobility is specifically demonstrated for the hunter-gatherer groups occupying the site by displaying procurement patterns for various raw materials targeting not only local, but also regional and far-distance sources. Furthermore, the new investigations have been able to almost double the previously established site extent, and targeted excavations show that the diversity and complexity of stone constructions considerably exceeds what has previously been observed.

Traditionally, fossil directors have been key elements for the characterization of chrono-cultural series over time. Current research on lithic technology demonstrate extensive and growing variability within technocomplexes, particularly in the Upper Paleolithic, making more complex the previously established chrono-cultural organization. In this article we analyze the lithic technology of level 497C from Cova Gran de Santa Linya, dated to 26.220 ± 220 BP (31260–30580 cal BP). Chronometric data indicates the assemblage is located between MIS 3 and MIS 2, likely placing it within the Gravettian tradition. The level 497C constitutes one of the few archaeological sites in NE Iberia for this period and allows identifying technical traits in core reduction methods, stone tools manufacture and site composition. Reduction strategies through prismatic cores were used to obtain distinct sequences of blades and bladelets. The assemblage of retouched artifacts is mainly composed by “fond commun”, pieces with abrupt retouch, and burins (mostly on oblique truncation). Backed tools, which were common during this period, are notably rare, as are Gravette points and Noailles burins, classic indicators that are not represented here. Nevertheless, a group of partially retouched macro-flakes forms a little-known category of instruments that can provide remarkable information regarding the technical behaviors of human groups. The technological features seen in level 497C may be consistent with the Gravettian technocomplex. However, we suggest the integration of technical-organizational indicators to assist the contextualization of the diversity of responses and technological decisions identified in technocomplexes. In this sense, the characteristics of this assemblage offer keys for evaluating archaeological sequences without fossil directors, thereby expanding our understanding of technological variability in this period in Iberia.

Archaeological research in the Middle Cauca region of west-central Colombia over the past 20 years has produced new information regarding early preceramic archaeology and environmental changes in the Central Cordillera landscapes. Stratigraphic, sedimentological, and geomorphic studies provided important contextual information for locating and interpreting the region's earliest archaeological sites, from a geoarchaeological perspective. This article presents results on the Pereira-Armenia Fluvio-Volcanic Fan studies and surrounding areas, during the Late Pleistocene through Middle Holocene periods. Twenty-five archaeological sites with preceramic deposits were tested and some have been excavated in a region measuring 30 b y 100 km. The region contains data with occupations ranging dates from approximately 13,540 to 3600 14C years BP (Aceituno, 2019; Dickau, 2015). These sites included cultural and natural deposits, within in situ tephras and polygenic soils with buried soil sequences. Cultural materials, sediments and soils from these sites have the potential to yield important data about the processes of site formation, environmental adaptation, early subsistence, depopulation and lithic technology in the Middle Cauca region. Layers of volcanic ashes demonstrated that in areas proximal to the Cerro Bravo-Cerro Machin Volcanic Complex, humans suffered impacts. However, depopulations was not generalized. In some places in the Fluvio-Volcanic Fan, far enough form volcanic impacts, people could stay.

The high-resolution tracing of the behavior pattern and lithic technology of the last hunter-gatherers in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) has been a rarely worked area. Here we report four Late Mesolithic sites comprised of both base camp and temporary localities in the Donggi-Cona Lake Basin with the elevations exceeding 4000 m above sea level, among which DJCN 3-2-2 was well preserved with organized site structure and dated to ca. 5400-5000 cal BP. We analyze the microblade technology and site structure in the Donggi-Cona Lake Basin and discuss it in the context of the prehistory of China. The Donggi-Cona microblade sites provide significant insights into the technology, behavior, and social organization of the last Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in the TP, and into the human dispersals and interactions in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau during the Holocene.

The applicability of the three stage Paleolithic sequence (Lower, Middle, Upper) in eastern Asia that is used in the western Old World has long been a debated issue. The crux of the discussion is whether a distinct “Middle Paleolithic” (“MP”) is present in the eastern Asian record, especially north China. Recently, the artifacts from the Lingjing site (2005–2016), in northern China, have been argued to be potential representative of a “Chinese Middle Paleolithic” (“CMP”). In this paper, we introduce a thorough analysis on a newly discovered lithic assemblage from the 2017 excavation of the Lingjing site. We found that simple free-hand hard hammer percussion is the dominant core reduction strategy with only a very small frequency of atypical, bi-conical discoidal cores. When considering other contemporary sites in northern China (e.g., Xujiayao and Banjingzi), Lingjing belongs to a small tool tradition that is widespread throughout northern China. The Lingjing artifacts do display some obvious differences in core reduction and lithic retouching techniques from those typical of the Lower/Early Paleolithic (or Mode 1) assemblage pre-40 ka in the Chinese Paleolithic. The diversity of characteristics of lithic technology from Lingjing and other contemporary sites in north China show the complexity of the Chinese Early Paleolithic, rather than a simple monotonous stone tool tradition.

The Tardiglacial of Portugal has been associated with the Magdalenian culture and lithic industries characterized by tool miniaturization, a diversity of microlith types, and the absence of a intentional blade production. The technological characterization, the chronology and the phasing of the Portuguese Magdalenian have been defined based on data recovered from open-air sites of the Estremadura region (Central Portugal). This paper presents an overview of the research undertaken over the last twenty-five years, including results from research and preventive archaeology fieldwork outside this region, namely in the Côa, Sabor and Vouga Valleys (northern Portugal), as well as in the Guadiana Valley and Algarve regions (southern Portugal). Our chronological boundaries are the Greenland Stadial 2-1b and the 8.2 ka event, from Early Magdalenian to Early Mesolithic. Regarding vegetation, deciduous Quercus underwent expansion during the warm phases of the Tardiglacial and retracted during cold ones, when pines increased. After the Solutrean, the faunal assemblages show a decrease in the variability of the represented species and an increase in fish, birds, small mammals and rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Concerning the cultural sequence, the Middle Magdalenian remains uncharacterised. After the Upper Magdalenian, and thenceforward, the use of local raw materials and of cores-on-flakes (burin or carinated endscraper type) for bladelet production gradually increased. In terms of lithic armatures typology, a four-stage sequence can be discerned: 1) Upper Magdalenian with axial points rather than backed bladelets, quite common in previous phases; 2) Final Magdalenian with an increase in the diversity of armature types; 3) Azilian with geometric microliths, curved backed points (Azilian points) and Malaurie points, and 4) Early Mesolithic without retouched bladelet tools or at best a persistence of Azilian armature types. There were some changes in the Palaeolithic rock art of the Douro basin between phase 3 (Final Magdalenian) and phase 4 (Late Azilian): figurative animal representations give place to animal depictions characterized by their geometrical bodies, often filled-in, and red deer becomes the best-represented animal. FCT: PTDC/EPH-ARQ/0326/2014 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Late Pleistocene witnessed significant changes in lithic technological behaviors, mobility patterns and subsistence strategies in northeastern Eurasia, which are also correlated with paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes. Integrating artifact analysis and paleoenvironmental evidence, Taoshan, a newly excavated archaeological site, provides a crucial case study for evaluating human adaptation in Northeast China. Taoshan site was excavated in 2013–2014, uncovering three prehistoric layers and abundant remains. Here we present the results of a systematic techno-typological analysis of the Late Pleistocene assemblages of the site, and place special emphasis on diachronic cultural developments and underlying dynamics.

Predicting original flake mass is a major goal of lithic analysis. Predicting original flake mass allows for researchers to make estimations of remaining mass, lost mass, and other features. All these measures relate to the organization of lithic technology by past societies. The present work tests three different models to predict log of flake mass: multiple linear regression, random forest regression, and artificial neural networks (ANN). Estimations of flake mass were performed using the remaining features of flakes from an experimental assemblage. This assemblage was obtained by the expansion of a previous dataset through the inclusion of bigger flakes, allowing the analysis to account for the effects of sample size and value distribution. Correlation results show a large/ strong relation between predictions and real outcome (r 2 = 0.78 in the best case). Comparison of the models affords insights into variable importance for predicting flake mass. Results show that (for the present dataset) multiple linear regression still stands as the best method for predicting log of flake weight. Additionally, transformation of predicted values from the multiple linear regression and true values to the linear scale reinforces the linear correlation above the 0.8 threshold, This article is the result of the research projects “Como, Quien Y Donde?: Variabilidad De Comportamientos En La Captacion ´ Y Transformacion ´ De Los Recursos Liticos Dentro De Grupos Neandertales 2” (HAR2016-76760-C3-2-P) financed by Agencia Estatal de Investigacion ´ (AEI), Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER); and “En Los Limites De La Diversidad: Comportamiento Neandertal En El Centro Y Sur De La Penisula Iberica” (ID2019- 103987 GB-C33) financed by the Programa Estatal de Generacion ´ de Conocimiento y Fortalecimiento Científico y Tecnologico ´ del Sistema de I + D + i y de I + D + i Orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad, del Plan Estatal de Investigacion ´ Científica y T´ecnica y de Innovacion ´ (2017–2020). Development of the experimentation and analysis of the materials were undertaken at the Laboratory of Experimental Archaeology (Universidad Autonoma ´ de Madrid). This work has been carried out with the financial support of the Generalitat de Catalunya, AGAUR agency (2017SGR1040 Research Group), the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (2021PFR-URV-126), and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN/FEDER project PID2021-122355NB-C32).The Institut Catala ` de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolucio ´ Social (IPHES-CERCA) has received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the “María de Maeztu” program for Units of Excellence (CEX2019-000945-M)

Lithic assemblages immediately following the Howiesons Poort, often loosely referred to as the ‘post- Howiesons Poort’ or MSA III, have attracted relatively little attention when compared to other wellknown phases of the South African Middle Stone Age (MSA) sequence. Current evidence from sites occurring in widely-differing environments suggests that these assemblages are marked by temporal and technological variability, with few features in common other than the presence of unifacial points. Here we present a technological and geometric morphometric analysis of ‘points’ from the new excavations of Members 2 BS, 2WA and the top of 3 BS members at Border Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, one of the key sites for studying modern human cultural evolution. Our complementary methodologies demonstrate that, at this site, hominins adopted a knapping strategy that primarily produced non-standardised unretouched points. Triangular morphologies were manufactured using a variety of reduction strategies, of which the discoidal and Levallois recurrent centripetal methods produced distinctive morphologies. We find technological and morphological variability increases throughout the post-Howiesons Poort sequence, with clear differences between and within chrono-stratigraphic groups. Finally, we assess the suitability of the ‘Sibudan’ cultural-technological typology proposed for post-Howiesons Poort assemblages at Sibhudu, another KwaZulu-Natal site, and find similarities in the morphological axes characterising the samples, despite differences in the shaping strategies adopted. Overall, our work contributes to the growing body of research that is helping to address historical research biases that have slanted our understanding of cultural evolution during the MSA of southern Africa towards the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort technocomplexes., UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) NGS-54810R-19, Wenner Gren Foundation CEOOP2020-1, Poroulis grant through Cambridge University, Spanish FEDER/Ministry of Science and Innovation 262618, National Geographic Explorer grant ANR-10-LABX-52, DSI- NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences grant 191022_001, Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence funding scheme, LaScArBx research programme, Grand Programme de Recherche 'Human Past' of the Initiative d'Excellence (IdEx) of the Bordeaux University, Leakey Foundation (Movement, interaction, and structure: modelling population networks and cultural diversity in the African Middle Stone Age), Lithic Studies Society (Jacobi Bursary Awardee, 2020), SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), Talents Programme AH/R012792/1 Gr. 10157 PID2019-1049449 GB-I00

International audience; The stratigraphical complex preserved at the site of Menez–Dregan I (Brittany, France) displays an alternating sequence of 17 occupation levels and of 4 marine deposits, between ca. 450 and 150,000 years (stratigraphical units 9a and 3b). The lithic industry retrieved at the site is extremely abundant, with more than 153,000 artefacts over 3 cm in length, as well as millions of knapping debris, and corresponds to a regional facies of the Acheulean, with heavy-duty tools essentially represented by choppers, as well as a few handaxes and cleavers. This paper presents a first synthesis of the data produced for almost 30 years on the site of Menez–Dregan I. The typological study of the entire lithic collection is now complete and allows us to assess the different human occupations that occurred at this site during the Lower Palaeolithic.; Le complexe stratigraphique conservé à Menez-Dregan I (Bretagne, France) présente une alternance de 17 niveaux d’occupation et de 4 dépôts marins, entre environ 450 et 300 000 ans (US 9a et 3b). L’industrie lithique retrouvée sur le site est extrêmement riche (plus de 153 000 artefacts supérieurs à 3 cm de longueur, ainsi que des millions de débris de taille), et correspond à un faciès régional de l’Acheuléen, dont le macro-outillage est essentiellement représenté par des choppers, ainsi que par quelques bifaces et hachereaux. Cet article présente une première synthèse des données produites depuis presque 30 ans sur le site de Menez-Dregan I. L’étude typologique de l’ensemble de la collection lithique est à présent achevée, et permet de faire le point sur les différentes occupations humaines qui se sont succédé sur ce site au cours du Paléolithique inférieur.

The invention and proliferation of stone tool technology in the Early Stone Age (ESA) marks a watershed in human evolution. Patterns of lithic procurement, manufacture, use, and discard have much to tell us about ESA hominin cognition and land use. However, these issues cannot be fully explored outside the context of the physical attributes and spatio-temporal availability of the lithic raw materials themselves. The Olduvai Basin of northern Tanzania, which is home to both a wide variety of potential toolstones and a rich collection of ESA archaeological sites, provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the relationship between lithic technology and raw material characteristics. Here, we examine two attributes of the basin's igneous and metamorphic rocks: spatial location and fracture predictability. A total of 244 geological specimens were analyzed with non-destructive portable XRF (pXRF) to determine the geochemical distinctiveness of five primary and secondary sources, while 110 geological specimens were subjected to Schmidt rebound hardness tests to measure fracture predictability. Element concentrations derived via pXRF show significant differences between sources, and multivariate predictive models classify geological specimens with 75–80% accuracy. The predictive models identify Naibor Soit as the most likely source for a small sample of three lithic artifacts from Bed II, which supports the idea that this inselberg served as a source of toolstone during the early Pleistocene. Clear patterns in fracture predictability exist within and between both sources and rock types. Fine-grained volcanics show high rebound values (associated with high fracture predictability), while finer-grained metamorphics and coarse-grained gneisses show intermediate and low rebound values, respectively. Artifact data from Bed I and II suggest that fracture predictability played a role in raw material selection at some sites, but other attributes like durability, expediency, and nodule size and shape were more significant.

To understand the identity of the early Acheulean, it is necessary to discriminate between the variables that influenced the selection of technological strategies. Functionality of the archaeological sites is crucial in assessing the manufacturing strategies of lithic tools. To achieve this goal, analysis of the post-depositional processes must be evaluated. When bone remains have been preserved, anthropic animal processing can be identified through zooarchaeological and taphonomic analyses, and the spatial relationships among all the components can also be assessed, especially when bone surface is not sufficiently preserved. There are two levels present at Thiongo Korongo, ~1.3 Ma, TKLF and TKSF. These are in autochthonous position with no significant temporal diachrony but with substantial technological differences in the manufacturing of the lithic tools, which enables the analysis of the influence of human activities on technological behaviour. In order to evaluate this issue at TKSF, we present lithic, faunal, taphonomic, fabric, and spatial analyses. An assemblage of megaherbivores, among which Sivatherium is outstanding, dominate the TKSF faunal remains. Cortical preservation is poor; there is no intervention of carnivores, the rate of green fractures is low, and a few cut marks on size 5 and 3b animals were identified. Hence, apparently human intervention on the fauna was not intensive. Spatial and geostatistical analyses hints of a specific area where megaherbivores were processed by humans. Through wear use and biomarker analyses on stone tools, we are currently trying to understand the activities that were carried out in the remaining paleosurface. At paleosurface TKLF, the main anthropogenic input could be related to activities other than animal resource exploitation, in which large handaxes were necessary. Without the assessment of site functionality and chronological context, this data could have lead to the differences observed at TKLF and TKSF being attributed to different Acheulean stages.

The Levantine sites of Skhul and Qafzeh have been interpreted as indicating an early, short and unsuccessful expansion of Homo sapiens out of Africa. Chronometric age estimates, however, indicate a history of prolonged occupation, and suggest that Skhul (∼130–100 thousand years ago [ka]) may have been occupied earlier than Qafzeh (beginning ∼110–90 ka). Morphologically, the Skhul individuals can be described as somewhat more primitive in comparison to the Qafzeh fossils. Though the lithic assemblages of sites such as Skhul and Qafzeh are often described as being technologically similar, as part of the ‘Tabun C’ phase/industry, limited detailed information on the Skhul lithic assemblage has been published, and little comparative work has been conducted. Here, we present an analysis of the Skhul stone tool assemblage to describe its characteristics, to evaluate the lithic results against the fossil and chronological data, and for inter-site regional comparison. Our findings indicate that the Skhul lithic assemblage differs from other Levantine Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 sites, such as Qafzeh. For example, there was more of an emphasis on diverse methods of point production at Skhul, and the available samples indicate a greater emphasis on preferential rather than recurrent Levallois reduction at Skhul. The current findings suggest that neither the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic in general, nor MIS 5 assemblages in particular, were technologically homogeneous. These data are consistent with either a long occupation of the Levant by Homo sapiens in MIS 5, or at least two phases of occupation (early MIS 5 and mid to late MIS). Whatever the fate of the Skhul and Qafzeh population(s), their occupation of the Levant was neither short nor culturally uniform. Our findings add to the growing pool of evidence that the dispersal of our species ‘Out of Africa’ was more complex than hitherto thought. Further work on MIS 5e contexts in the Levant and elsewhere in Southwest Asia should be a research priority.

This paper examines the archaeological case study of Miraflores rocks (tuff and silicified tuff) to explore several alternative causes of lithic transport in Fuego-Patagonia during the Late Holocene. Although these rocks are naturally available within a restricted area of northern Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego, they were both transported several hundred kilometers away from the source in the Miraflores Valley, across and outside the island. Macroscopic, petrographic, and geochemical analyses showed that the identification of both raw materials isreliable, while an extensive sampling of Fuegian artifact collections has assessed the contribution of these rocks to the overall Fuegian lithic assemblages. The integration of technological data from extant Miraflores artifacts and the archaeological and ethnographic information available for Tierra del Fuego suggests that different factors conditioned the transport of Miraflores rocks.The initial goal of our studies was the silicified tuff; however, after ten years of work it appears that the major driving factor for exploitation at the Miraflores source area was the acquisition of tuff. Tuff would have offeredthe most adequate physical properties for the manufacture and use of large polishers with a variety of potential functions. Spatial analyses indicated that the cumulative distance of 200 km to the source (nearly 125 km in linear distance) probably represent the threshold of direct access to Miraflores. The distribution of Miraflores rocks beyond this radius involved other provisioning strategies. We conclude that most of the silicified tuff remains recovered at Fuegian sites represent incidental by-products of mobility, while tuff was an explicitly pursued material. Fil: Borrazzo, Karen Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Historia y Ciencias Humanas; Argentina Fil: Borrero, Luis Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Historia y Ciencias Humanas; Argentina Fil: Pallo, Maria Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas; Argentina

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

7 fig., 3 tab.; International audience; The Mousterian locus at Pradayrol (Caniac-du-Causse, Lot, France) produced an important lithic assemblage, composed primarily of quartz, alongside a varied flint component. Our technological analysis reveals the presence of several chaînes opératoires adapted to the morphology and mechanical properties of different raw materials. This is especially evident in the use of the bipolar on-anvil technique on quartz cobbles and discoidal flaking methods on both quartz and relatively local flints. Flint from the Périgord region provides evidence for a fragmented and ramified Levallois chaîne opératoire, different from that observed with local raw materials. These techno-economic features are similar to those documented formany late Middle Palaeolithic assemblages in the Quercy. The Neanderthal occupation of Pradayrol seems to reflect a balance between technical know-how and adaptations to the raw material constraints.; Le locus moustérien de Pradayrol (Caniac-du-Causse, Lot, France) a livré une importante série lithique essentiellement composée de quartz et de matériaux apparentés, associés à une composante de silex constituée d’une large gamme de types différents. L’étude technologique de ce matériel met en évidence la présence de plusieurs chaînes opératoires. Des schémas de débitage de conception discoïde sont mis en œuvre sur quartz comme sur silex, d’origine locale ou proche. On remarque cependant une adaptation des méthodes de production aux morphologies et aux propriétés mécaniques des matériaux locaux, notamment avec l’utilisation du débitage bipolaire sur enclume aux dépens de galets de quartz. Un échantillon de silex importé du Périgord atteste une chaîne opératoire de conception Levallois, fractionnée et ramifiée, différente de celle mise en évidence sur les silex locaux. Ces données techno-économiques rapprochent cette série des assemblages quercynois datés du Paléolithique moyen récent. Comme plusieurs autres assemblages moustériens régionaux, Pradayrol livre donc une série où la diversité des choix opérés relève, dans le cadre des modalités d’occupation du site, d’une composition entre savoir-faire techniques et adaptations de l’Homme à son environnement.

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

Recent research provides new perspectives on large-scale Early Holocene human interaction within Eurasia, based on ancient DNA or lithic technology. But the extent of regional human mobility is not well known. In this study, we combined two different approaches to investigate regional mobility and social networks in southern Scandinavia. We analyzed strontium isotopes in human teeth and regional lithic raw material use and technology from a Mesolithic site, Norje Sunnansund in southern Sweden (7000 BCE). The lithic raw material composition at the site, and previous archaeological studies, indicated that the inhabitants mainly had utilized an area stretching 30 km southward. The isotopic analysis indicated that at least half of the analyzed individuals had a non-local origin, based on the local isotope signature, but that possibly only a few individuals originated outside the area defined by lithic acquisition. Those few isotopic values and the presence of lithic material as non-local flint and East Swedish microblade-cores in quartz, suggested that people also traveled far, but probably more sporadically. The combined analyzes revealed the complexity of late Boreal hunter-gatherers in South Scandinavia – although some groups appear to have had a limited geographical mobility, contact networks seem to have stretched over long distances.

The African Middle Pleistocene (781–126 ka) is a key period for human evolution, witnessing both the origin of the modern human lineage and the lithic turnover from Earlier Stone Age (ESA) Acheulean bifacial tools to Middle Stone Age (MSA) prepared core and point technologies. This ESA/MSA transition is interpreted as representing changing landscape use with greater foraging distances and more active hunting strategies. So far, these behavioral inferences are mainly based on the extensive stone tool record, with only a minor role for site-based and regional faunal studies. To provide additional insights into these behavioral changes, this paper details a pan-African metastudy of 63 Middle Pleistocene faunal assemblages from 40 sites. A hierarchical classification system identified 26 well-contextualized assemblages with quantitative paleontological and/or zooarcheological data available for detailed comparative analyses and generalized linear mixed modeling. Modeling of ungulate body size classes structured around three dimensions (context, antiquity and technology) illustrates no one-to-one correlation between changes in lithic technology (Acheulean vs. MSA) and changes in prey representation. All assessed faunal assemblages are dominated by medium-sized bovids, and variations between smaller and larger body size classes are linked to site context (cave vs. open-air), with an increase in cave sites during the Middle Pleistocene. Current data do not signal a broadening of the hominin dietary niche during the Middle Pleistocene; no meaningful variation was visible in the exploitation of smaller-sized bovids or dangerous game, with coastal resources exploited when available. Proportions of anthropogenic bone surface modifications, and hence carcass processing intensity, do increase over time although more zooarcheological data is crucial before making behavioral inferences. Overall, this paper illustrates the potential of broad scale comparative faunal analyses to provide additional insights into processes of human behavioral evolution and the mechanisms underlying patterns of technological, chronological and contextual change.

Humans have evolved a distinctive relationship with “objects” (tools and technology), which has strongly influenced their anatomical and cognitive capacities. The human hand is functionally specialized for manipulation and, in terms of cognition, tools are generally integrated into the body scheme when handled. Stone tools can supply information on the evolution of this cognitive reciprocal relationship. Despite the many studies on stone tool morphology, information on hand-tool system is scanty. In this preliminary survey, we measure hand-tool distances in three lithic instruments of different size (cleaver, handaxe, convergent sidescraper), in order to investigate basic patterns associated with their handling patterns. Tool size does influence the distance from the wrist and the aperture of the hand. The associated grasping differences depend more on the tool length than on the hand morphology or dimension. Nonetheless, hand-tool metrics covariation patterns are different according to the different tool types, suggesting specific factors associated with their respective haptic experience. Females display, on average, more variability than males when handling the sidescraper, but not for the power-gripped cleaver and handaxe. We propose a new method to analyze hand-tool metrics according to the haptic interaction. These kinds of studies provide basic mandatory information which can be used to develop proper ergonomic and cognitive perspectives in tool extension and cognitive archaeology.

Stone artifacts assemblages have long been used for the identification of social entities and the tracing of cultural relationships through space and time. To do this, archaeologists have focused primarily on variations in lithic morphology. The period approximating 50 kya. Relates to Mesolithic Age technological behaviors that are generally characterized by prepared microlithic technology, an expanding range of Geometric tools, retouched tools, and the novel exploitation and sourcing of raw materials.Late Pleistocene geometric microliths tradition in Sri Lanka dated to 48000 years ago. Research into lowland natural rock shelter has revealed a large number of chronological records as well as a large number of cultural materials. The main objective of this research paper is to provide lithic technology on stone artifact found during excavations carried out at Rajagala in Ampara District, Eastern Province. Accordingly, from 2016 to 2019, selected cave called Maha Lena was excavated for further investigation. This cave was excavated jointly by Deccan College and University of Sri Jayawardanepura. Stone tools found in Rajagala are part of the tradition of microlithc tools used in the Mesolithic man. However, the evidence from Rajagala is valuable because the information found in the Eastern Province is very little of the country's prehistoric information. In addition to that, we have very little knowledge and information about technology and mankind in the Eastern Province.

Hunter-gatherer societies mobility has been interpreted as a dialectical interplay of social and environmental factors. Demography and social network restriction have been pointed out as potential factors for the demise of Neanderthal and to differ them from anatomically modern human. To reconstruct land use and social network we investigate Middle and Upper Palaeolithic lithic remains from an open-air site located in Iberian hinterland, spanning from MIS 5 to 3. In a geological environment with a variety of quartz veins but no available flint or silcrete sources, data reveal common patterns through Neanderthal occupations, and substantial differences interpreted as distinct subsistence strategies and social networks of the two populations.

Excavation in Tron Bon Lei shelter on the Indonesian Island of Alor has uncovered a rich Pleistocene lithic assemblage, which includes obsidian artefacts representing a specialised industry previously undetected in any early stone tool assemblage of Island South East Asia (ISEA). Portable X-ray florescence of the obsidian assemblage has revealed three discrete sources, and that at least one of the sources is likely off-island. This indicates that inter-island exchange networks were active from the terminal Pleistocene onwards. Obsidian from all sources was reduced exclusively using bipolar anvil-resting techniques, resulting in the production of exceptionally small bipolar cores and flakes. The assemblage reveals extraordinary effort to reduce the obsidian, with cores being typically smaller than ten millimetres, and many around six millimetres at discard. Using reduction sequence analyses and technological observations, we document this specialised industry and discuss the role these artefacts may have played in the lifeways of the people of Alor Island.

Lithics are the most persistent archaeological material in many parts of the world. Accordingly, the study of lithics on a landscape scale is important for making interpretations of various traits of past human behaviour and cognizance. In this paper, we present an overview of the lithic finds located in the Khanuy Valley, north-central Mongolia. A lithic assemblage collected in the systematic surveys since 2004 presents material dating from the Palaeolithic to the Late Bronze Age. Based on the spatial distribution and landscape characteristics of the lithic find locations, interpretations of broad-scale diachronic changes in the land use and landscape cognizance are suggested. These form working hypotheses as a baseline for future inquiries into lithic technology, land use, and ways the prehistoric inhabitants comprehended and utilized their landscape in the Khanuy Valley and in the wider region.

At the sites of Monruz and Champreveyres highly diverse allochtonous siliceous raw materials were introduced sometimes from very distant regions (up to 200 km). Analysis of the composition of the lithic assemblages enables us to identify the form in which these materials arrived and to observe that some cores and tools were exported from the site. Other materials, such as jet, fossil shells and amber, are geolocatable and also demonstrate circulations over very long distances (over 200 km). While the flints suggest regions that were directly frequented by Magdalenian people and/or exchanges between human groups, the other materials were most likely obtained through exchanges of objects and/or persons. They attest to contacts beyond the territory directly occupied by the groups living at Monruz and Champreveyres.

Estimating the extent of reduction intensity on lithic artefacts has become a key goal of lithic analyses in recent decades. An understanding of a core or tool's reduction intensity can lead to intra- and inter-site interpretations regarding patterns of human behaviour. Decades of research on this topic have led to a diverse suite of quantifiable measures of reduction encompassing almost all artefact types. We present and test the efficacy of a new method for measuring reduction intensity for backed blades, one of the few remaining artefact types lacking a reliable measure of reduction. As instances of successive retouching of backed blades are rarely documented, we use this reduction intensity metric to estimate original blank size, rather than model multiple stages of reduction. Allometric relationships of blade thickness to length and width were used to estimate original microlith blank size, thereby offering a quantification of reduction intensity. This method was then applied to the microliths, a specific type of small backed blade, from the early Neolithic site of Boncuklu, Turkey. Reconstructing the original mass and dimensions of microlith blanks allows inferences to be made regarding the regularity, efficiency and decision making involved in microlith production. These microliths were produced using similarly sized blanks that were selectively and nearly completely consumed in this reduction sequence. This aspect of lithic technology at Boncuklu involved little waste and therefore enabled the inhabitants to cope with the constraints of raw material access and negotiate the changes to subsistence and social organisation occurring at the beginning of the Neolithic. While we test the efficacy of this new method on the Neolithic of Turkey, it could equally be applied to any blade- or bladelet-based backed artefact industry. These industries existed at various times in Europe, the Near East, Africa, South Asia, and parts of Australia, together spanning the Middle Stone Age, Later Stone Age/Upper Palaeolithic, Epipalaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic.

The terminology used to describe Palaeolithic industries has an important impact upon our interpretation of past behaviour. In South Asia, the term Late Palaeolithic is employed to refer to Late Pleistocene microlithic industries, distinguishing them chronologically from Holocene Mesolithic industries, and technologically from preceding Middle Palaeolithic technologies. Historically, however, an intermediate technological stage between Middle Palaeolithic and microlithic industries has been recognised and called ‘Upper’ Palaeolithic. Examining whether these ‘Upper’ Palaeolithic industries fit contemporary definitions of Middle or Late Palaeolithic technologies, distinct diversity within one of these technologies or a transitional phase between the two is therefore necessary to reintegrate these ‘Upper’ Palaeolithic sites into current debate. This is a particularly timely issue as the connection between some Late Palaeolithic artefact types, particularly backed microliths, and the earliest modern human populations in South Asia no longer appears tenable, and thus a rush to identify the earliest appearance of microliths must give way to more detailed examinations of behavioural variability. This paper re-examines lithic assemblages from Buddha Pushkar, western India, originally reported as an ‘Upper’ Palaeolithic industry. An attribute study of metric and categorical variables recorded on stone tools is used to examine how flaking technology, raw material use and reduction intensity vary within and between these assemblages. The results indicate raw material choices had a marked impact on stone tool technologies, nested within a pattern of technological diversity in western India during the terminal Pleistocene that complement models of regional trajectories in the evolution of Late Palaeolithic technologies.

Debates regarding the validity of the Developed Oldowan as separate cultural facies within the Oldowan techno-complex have primarily concentrated on the Developed Oldowan B/Acheulean transition, with little attention paid to the validity of the Developed Oldowan A (DOA) as a valid technological differentiation. This study presents a diachronic technological analysis and comparison of Oldowan and DOA lithic assemblages from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, dated between 1.84 and 1.6 Ma, to test the validity of Leakey's original distinction between these two cultural facies. The results from this comparative analysis show very few technological differences between the lithic assemblages previously assigned to the DOA and Classic Oldowan. Significant diachronic variation in raw material availability and use is, however, identified between Bed I and Lower/Middle Bed II of Olduvai Gorge, which may go some way to explaining the originally perceived techno-cultural differences. The results suggest an increase in hominin knapping and percussive activities, as well as a clear ability to preferentially select high quality raw materials stratigraphically above Tuff IF. Technological innovation and complexity, however, does not seem to vary significantly between the Classic Oldowan and DOA assemblages. The results of this analysis along with similar studies from the wider eastern African region lead to the conclusion that the term Developed Oldowan A should no longer be used.

Ambrona is located in a karst landscape, and occupies a key geographic position, a transit area with natural routes connecting the three main drainage basins in the interior of the Iberian Peninsula. The site dates from the middle of MIS 11 and consists of fluvial-lacustrine deposits. Investigation of Ambrona, traditionally linked to that of Torralba (both sites are in the province of Soria, in Spain), has played a significant role in increasing our knowledge of the Acheulean in Europe, especially in the debate on hunting versus scavenging. Over the course of a century, more than 3400 m 2 have been excavated at Ambrona by four teams, led respectively by the Marquis of Cerralbo (1914–1916), C. Howell (1961–1963), C. Howell and L.G. Freeman (1980–1983), and M. Santonja and A. Perez-Gonzalez (1993–2000). In this paper we present, in their stratigraphic context, the results of our technological analysis of complete lithic series found during the excavations of the Lower Stratigraphic Member at Ambrona carried out from 1993 to 2000. During this period we excavated 685 m 2 . Only in Level AS3 was a large part of the lithic industry found in primary position, whereas the assemblages in the other levels had been greatly influenced by sedimentary processes. The whole lithic assemblage comprises 728 items. We shall analyze the chaines operatoires evidenced in each of the five identified levels, according to the raw materials used. Tools made on flake include very specialized types, but retouching is usually not intense; tool-maintenance processes are barely documented. The knapping methods used were mainly discoidal, bifacial and multipolar. Except for a few local limestone items, the knapped stones found at Ambrona (quartz, quartzite and limestone) were brought to the site, sometimes from dozens of kilometers away. The study of this collection confirms its attribution to the Acheulean techno-complex, with its characteristic handaxes and cleavers.

Paleolithic archaeologists have a longstanding interest in temporal change in prehistoric human behavior, and have often identified changes between archaeological periods based on sampling limitations. This analysis focuses on the Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian period in El Miron cave, where archaeologists have been able to subdivide the ~ 33 cm thick Level 17 palimpsest into 13 comparable units that provide insight into human behavioral change within an archaeological period. The authors focus on lithic raw material provisioning as a window into changing human-landscape relationships. The Level 17 sublevel lithic assemblages testify that hunter-gatherers decreased their use of presumably local (based on El Miron project surveys) mudstones and quartzites in favor of regional flint resources. Additionally, portions of exotic flints from southern France and the Ebro Basin increase over the course of the Lower Magdalenian, possibly indicating gradually intensifying social contacts. Microstratigraphic units provide insight into dynamic “Magdalenian” landscapes and how lithic provisioning related to hunter-gatherers' territories, site catchments, regional mobility, and social relationships.

Bifaces, primarily handaxes and cleavers, are the hallmark of the Acheulian techno-complex lithic industry. They spread across Africa and Eurasia during the Early to Middle Pleistocene. While many attempts have been made to define and describe the typology and technology of these tools, most focus on a single stage in their manufacture and usage, from quarry to discard. These attempts are fragmented, primarily due to the fact that at no single site are all stages of biface manufacture and use represented. An additional factor that appears to impede attempts to present the full “life cycle” of bifaces is the view of all Acheulian assemblages as belonging to a single cultural entity. While all assemblages belong to the same techno-complex, distinct stages and phases should be recognized, each different in typology, technology, and probably also in chronology. This research focuses on the large flake stage of the Acheulian. Data accumulated over many years of research from different regions are analyzed together in an attempt to present a holistic view of the life cycle of a biface. The study of particular Acheulian sites from the Levant and Western Europe enables us to reconstruct all stages of the biface, from raw material exploitation to final discard. The result is a model more comprehensive and precise than those suggested previously for understanding the Large Flake Acheulian.

In this work, we use taphonomic and technological analyses as a basis for study of the spatial and temporal variability of six lithic assemblages from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (12,600–11,000 cal BP), recovered in the Imilac and Punta Negra basins (3000 m. a.s.l.), Atacama Desert (24.5°S). During the initial peopling of this area, the lithic sub-system was based on local raw material procurement and highly interconnected, complementary operative chains. This non-centralized structure resulted in even distribution of technical investment in the different stages of the reduction process, achieving great flexibility and responsiveness. We propose that this strategy allowed high mobility to co-exist with a generalized subsistence economy. Finally, we discuss the results and how they relate at the regional scale.

The Altiplano constitutes the most extensive, high-elevation terrain in South America. Most archaeological research on the earliest human occupation of this region in the Bolivian Andes derives from sites such as Viscachani where the emphasis has been on typological comparisons of projectile points, rather than on complete and radiometrically dated assemblages. In this paper, we present survey and excavation data from the Iroco region in the Central Altiplano of Bolivia to address questions related to the adaptive strategies engaged by Archaic Period highland foragers. Specifically, we focus on the nature of mobility, subsistence, and technological strategies, stemmed from principles in human behavioral ecology. Based on data from radiocarbon dates, lithic, and faunal analyses, we suggest that, similar to other mobile foraging societies in arid environments, highland foragers in Iroco engaged in seasonal residential mobility, consumed a broad range of faunal resources, and developed a curated technological toolkit within the context of ameliorated environmental conditions that prevailed during the early Holocene (11,500–8000 cal BP).

Actualistic studies have contributed greatly to our understanding of the past. In this paper, we analyze six stone bifaces used to butcher a 23 year-old African Elephant. Detailed records from this study allow us to illustrate how stone tool reduction is not necessarily a linear process, especially when attempting to use metrics to quantify the amount of reduction over time. Through long-term use of stone tools in butchery, we show that overall reduction was minimal even with successive resharpening events. The utility of these tools raise questions about the role of large bifaces in both Paleoindian and other hunter-gatherer contexts where bifaces may have been used as butchery or long-life tools. Our results suggest that bifaces are superior tools for maintaining an effective cutting edge during prolonged use. These findings may further explain the use of large bifaces among Paleoindian and other foraging populations.

In Japan, a body of archaeological assemblages with radiocarbon dates has been providing better understanding of relationship between lithic technology, pottery culture, settlement system, social change, and environment. This paper presented newly conducted radiocarbon dating on charred residue on potteries from Initial Jomon sites in northeastern Hokkaido. This work evidenced current pottery typological chronology and allows us to confirm diachronic lithic technological change associated with these potteries. Regarding the lithic technology, it became clear that lithic technological change into sophisticated blade technology suddenly occurred around 8400 cal BP, then lasted for very short time period until 8000 cal BP in northeastern Hokkaido, and that there was a clear technological gap between this sophisticated blade technology and the previous or subsequent simple flake technology. Since lithic raw material procurement strategy changed during this period, it is supposed that settlement system and foraging strategy might also be reorganized. According to the correspondence between duration of the sophisticated blade technology and global climatic fluctuation, it is likely that 8.2 ka climatic event (maximum duration is roughly 8300–8050 cal BP) was responsible for this sudden change of blade technology. At present, regional environmental change driven by this global climatic fluctuation is not evidenced yet, but there is enough possibility that sudden appearance of sophisticated blade technology might have been caused not only by simple population dynamics or diffusion, but by rapid change in environmental condition.

The current study provides the first zooarchaeological account of systematically excavated faunal material from Elandsfontein, South Africa (ca. 1.0 – 0.6 Ma). Archaeological assemblages of this age typically lack well-preserved faunal remains recovered in primary association with artifacts, and thus studies have primarily focused on lithic technology. The sizeable faunal sample from Elandsfontein, South Africa is a rare exception and has dramatically influenced the way that we interpret early hominin foraging behavior during this time. Surface collections, starting in the 1950s, recovered ~13,000 mammalian fossils and more than 160 Acheulean artifacts. The Elandsfontein faunal assemblage was interpreted as having accumulated through natural mortality and subsequent scavenging by carnivores and hominins, with hominins playing a very minimal role in carcass modification. Low frequencies of stone tool cutmarks were taken as evidence that Acheulean hominins had limited ability to obtain large carcasses. However, this interpretation contrasts with a growing body of evidence suggesting that many Acheulean hominins across sub-Saharan Africa not only had access to large mammal carcasses but were often the primary agents of accumulation and modification. The majority of the original Elandsfontein faunal material was collected from deflation surfaces and lacks sufficient contextual information. We conducted a detailed zooarchaeological analysis of faunal remains from four recent excavations within the Elandsfontein dune field. Our results differ from those based on surface collections and suggest multiple agents of bone accumulation with varying degrees of hominin and carnivore activity across the paleolandscape. Frequencies of hominininduced butchery are higher (up to 3.6% NISP) than reported for previously collected samples (

This paper explores environmental variations in time and space, adaptive strategies and possible cultural responses to climatic changes as manifested through archaeological data in terms of lithic tool technology, site density and settlement patterns. The objective is investigated by two case studies from Mesolithic Norway. The first case deals with the earliest settlement phase of Norway (c. 11,500–10,000 cal. BP), which climatically encompasses gradual changes from cold, arctic conditions, to a milder sub-arctic climate, as well as the rapid Preboreal Oscillation (PBO) cold event. The second case explores the 8200 cal. BP cold event and its effect on culture and settlement in Southeast Norway. The studies suggest that the coastal settlement, in terms of site density, was not affected by either the PBO or the 8200 cal. BP event. Changes in site location patterns seem to have occurred gradually and on a long-term scale. Shifts in lithic technology are detected within the Mesolithic periods, but a correlation between abrupt climatic alterations and cultural changes are yet to be proved. We argue, therefore, that in these northern, coastal environments, declining temperatures may have had less impact than on the Continental Plains, and may in fact have improved the living conditions for a range of marine species. Also, the Mesolithic populations seemed to have employed a generalized lithic toolkit and a flexible mobility system – adaptive strategies that was able to withstand environmental variations in time and space. Breivik, Heidi Mjelva, Guro Fossum, and Steinar Solheim. "Exploring human responses to climatic fluctuations and environmental diversity: Two stories from Mesolithic Norway." Quaternary International (2017). © 2017. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.

Discussions of heat treatment in the southern African Middle Stone Age often focus on the importance of this innovation to the development of complex technologies and the evolution of modern human cognition. Debates regarding the context of silcrete heat treatment typically include the amount of time and resource investment needed, and when the earliest occurrences of heat treatment appear in the archaeological record. However, silcrete is a heterogeneous material and the potential effects of this heterogeneity on the thermal transformations that occur during heat treatment are not well established. We undertook a series of controlled experiments using direct transmission near-infrared spectroscopy on South African silcretes from multiple sources heated to a range of maximum temperatures to examine the degree of heterogeneity in starting structural content and the evolution of thermal transformations. We found that material source is an important determinant of starting concentrations of H2O, SiOH, and pore space in silcrete, as well as the thermal evolution of these variables. These results shed light on the degree and sources of variation in the structural content and thermal behavior of silcrete during heat treatment and allow for a better understanding of the heterogeneity of silcrete as a raw material and the implications of this for African Middle Stone Age pyrotechnology.

We present new evidence for the emergence of biface shaping from Kokiselei 6 in the Kokiselei Site Complex (KS) in West Turkana, Kenya. This rich and well-preserved new site presents an opportunity to investigate the earliest development of biface shaping. The emergence of biface shaping in lithic technology is often used as evidence for increased and/or novel cognitive abilities that contrast prior hominins’ flaking capacities. Yet, recent research reveals a story of gradual change over time in a variety of different flaking and shaping strategies. Here, we present preliminary excavation and lithic data from Kokiselei 6 that will be critical for future investigations of biface shaping emergence at KS. Kokiselei preserves the oldest known Acheulean lithic assemblage, Kokiselei 4 (1.76 Ma), as well as several older sites. Geochronological research shows that Kokiselei 6 stratigraphically underlies Kokiselei 4 and is the oldest site in the complex at 1.8 Ma. The Kokiselei 6 excavation yielded thousands of piece-plotted lithic artifacts and faunal remains. Preliminary analysis of the lithics (n = 3856) indicates a prevalence of bifacial flaking strategies alongside minimal evidence for rough biface shaping. We argue that the flaking strategies observed from bifacial cores share similar operations and abilities as those involved in the production of the roughly shaped bifaces at the site. This preliminary evidence supports existing arguments that biface shaping emerged gradually out of variability in bifacial core reduction, ultimately leading to the systematic production of bifaces characteristic of the Acheulean. Future work teasing apart the processes of technological change at KS more broadly will be critical for understanding the emergence of biface shaping. These new data add to a growing narrative that opposes long-held assumptions about hominin cognitive evolution that suggest Acheulean technology required new, and more complex, cognitive abilities and gestures.

The hominin presence during Lower Palaeolithic in Central Europe was sporadic and followed cold-warm climatic cycle connected with spreading of Scandinavian ice sheet. Up to now there had been discovered about 50 archaeological assemblages from 17 sites from 700 ka years, mostly from second part of it, during c. 300 ka between MIS 15 and 9. The Lower Paleolithic hominins visited Central Europe during warmer periods with deciduous or coniferous forests, even during open domination of open or partly open landscape. Incredible finds, like Bilzingsleben and Schoningen show how complex was life of early hunter-gatherers. In opposite to the previous concept, according to which Lower Palaeolithic hominins were mostly scavengers. The discovery of wooden tools, like spears in lakeshore in opencast mine Schoningen, denies this concept. Contrary to that, early hominins were smart hunters following animal herds and hunted distant way and experienced gatherers. Local lithic technology based on core-flake processing in opposite to Western and Southern Europe dominated by handaxes. Moreover, the preferred usage of “small tools”, which are difficult to use only by fingers may be explained by identification of wooden hafts on few lithic artifacts in Schoningen. However, very long duration of unchanged lithic technology is surprising. An intense accumulation of glacial, eolian and alluvial sediments covered large part of Central Europe and this way Lower Palaeolithic sites are very difficult to discover. All known sites were identified in deep travertine quarries or opencast mines. Future research must be focused on systematic prospection of such outcrops.

In contrast to the prevailing view that the Chinese Paleolithic has been dominated by the Mode 1 technology―with a slow and conservative development from the Early to the Late Pleistocene―recent discoveries indicate that the lithic technology might have developed into an ‘advanced’ phase in some parts of China, at least since the early Late Pleistocene. The Xinmiaozhuang Locality 1 (XMZ1), located on the southern edge of the Nihewan Basin in northern China, is one of the examples belonging to such an ‘advanced’ phase. Although the stone artifacts at this site still belong to the long-existing ‘small-tool’ industry (core-and-flake) in this basin, some ‘advanced’ traits, including discoidal cores, elongated flakes, and ‘Mousterian-like’ triangular points and scrapers, are present. We provide a dating of the XMZ1 using the multiple elevated temperatures (MET) post infrared (pIR) infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) procedure (MET-pIRIR) on both multigrained single aliquots and ‘individual’ grains of potassium-rich feldspars (K-feldspars). The consistency between the single-aliquot and single-grain K-feldspar equivalent dose results mutually confirmed the reliability of the obtained ages. Our chronology indicates that the cultural layer falls within the period of ca. 63–75 ka, corresponding to the early stage of the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4. Based on the correlation of the cultural age to the environmental proxies of loess and stalagmites from China, we suggest that the site might have witnessed dramatic fluctuations of paleoclimate during the site formation. Additionally, based on the discoidal cores distribution, a potential corridor along the Xuefeng-Wu-Tainhang-Great Khingan Mountains for ancient humans migrating between South and North China is suggested. However, more archaeological and chronological studies are required to figure out the origin and the dispersal patterns of the discoidal core associated with lithic assemblage and the tool-makers in East Asia.

Current scientific evidence shows that humans colonized South America at least 15,000 years ago, but there are still many unknown aspects of this process, including the major and minor migratory routes involved, and the pattern of successive occupation of a diverse continental mosaic of ecosystems. In this context, the role of the Andean highlands (≥3400 meters above sea level) has been neglected, because of the supposedly harsh conditions for humans including hypoxia and cold climate. Nevertheless, the environmental and cultural resources available in the high Andes constitutes an important “megapatch” that should be assessed in terms of human settlement patterns. We review the evidence for late Pleistocene/early Holocene hunter-gatherer occupation of one part of this megapatch, the northern Chilean Dry Puna, in its palaeoecological context. We focus on lithic technology, faunal remains, radiocarbon dates, and other archaeological materials related to different social activities, which allow us to suggest that groups of hunter-gatherers organized and adapted their way of life to highland ecosystems through logistical mobility, and curatorial strategies for lithic tool kits that included projectile points and other formalized tools. The morphology and technological processes involved are recognized over vast territories along the high Andes. We identify this material expression as the high south central Andean Archaic hunter-gatherer tradition, which also featured long distance mobile settlement systems and communication processes over this broad and distinct megapatch. More speculatively, we outline the hypothesis that these highland ecosystems constituted a suitable migratory route that may have been key for the early peopling of the continent, and contrast it with the alternative hypothesis of the initially secondary and seasonally intermittent exploitation of this habitat by hunter-gatherers dispersing along the Pacific coastal corridor.

Residue analysis is commonly applied to stone tools functional identification and is often used in conjunction with micro-wear analysis for understanding their past function and also early human behaviour. In spite of their important contribution in archaeological contexts, these studies present drawbacks in their application, since they require an exceptional state of conservation, as well as a correct identification by the observer. In this sense, actualistic studies are needed for a better residues characterization. Therefore, the following work explores the usefulness of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) as a tool to provide a better morphological and compositional identification of micro-residues on Patagonian raw materials. The residue analysis is a methodology rarely used on the studies of lithic technologies in Argentina so this paper constitutes a first approach to the main micro-structural features; distribution and elemental composition of micro-residues on stone tools using EDX spectra. The main results obtained from analytical experiments using SEM-EDX analysis improves the worked material identification and explore the possibility to apply this methodology at the Deseado massif's archaeological record. Fil: Lynch, Virginia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; Argentina Fil: Miotti, Laura Lucia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; Argentina

This paper summarizes information on the role of silcrete rocks as raw material in Uruguayan Prehistory. The spatial distribution of sources, the procurement strategies and projectile point technology are discussed. We present a lithic database for Northern, Central and Southern Uruguay, especially from the Los Indios archaeological site (Department of Rocha) in the Eastern lowlands, to illustrate the use of silcrete in lithic bifacial technology, particularly in the production of projectile points. In this paper, thin-sections of archaeological materials from the early and middle levels (between ca 3.5 ky and ca 7.0 ky BP) from Los Indios site were also examined, as well as geological samples from potential quarries in the Departments of Soriano and Flores. Finally, the paper discusses the different strategies used to obtain and transport lithic raw materials from distant quarries in Central and Northwestern Uruguay to the Atlantic coast.

Fluctuations in the frequency of silcrete in lithic assemblages have been an important focus of Stone Age research in southern Africa. Here, we review temporal and spatial variation in silcrete abundance during the LSA and MSA of southern Africa and discuss mechanisms that might drive the differential acquisition and treatment of this raw material. Previous research has proposed a variety of explanations that include non-behavioural factors (sea level changes, climatic and environmental driving forces) and various behavioural determinants that range from functional constraints and economic considerations to socio-cultural preferences. In order to test these explanations and provide a systematic spatio-temporal overview of silcrete use, we performed a meta-analysis by collecting a database on silcrete abundance from a total of 25 Stone Age sites that encompass > 200 assemblages. Quantitative statistical analyses of this database reveal significant variation in silcrete prevalence among and between sites. The main temporal trajectory conforms to a bimodal pattern that features peak frequencies in MIS 4 & 3 as well as MIS 1. The results also demonstrate a significant association between silcrete abundance and technocomplexes with particularly high values for the Howiesons Poort, “post-HP” and Wilton, but not the Still Bay. Silcrete abundance is significantly correlated with the production of tools in general, and the manufacture of microlithic or backed artefacts in particular, suggesting an influence of functional considerations and potentially cultural preferences. In contrast, we found little support for the dependence of silcrete use on purely economic grounds such as procurement costs or a strong impact of non-behavioural factors such as changes in sea level or environmental circumstances. By operating on a large spatio-temporal scale with aggregated data, the results of this study can help to embed the acquisition and treatment of silcrete by Stone Age people in a wider behavioural and evolutionary framework.