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The central Meseta is a high plateau located in the heart of the Iberian Peninsula. Abundant evidence of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic occupations of the region contrasts with scarce evidence of a ...

In this paper we assess the evidence for on-site manufacture and re-sharpening of handaxes in the Lower Paleolithic layers of Tabun Cave by examining the ratio of thinning flakes, the typical waste of bifacial manufacture, to handaxes. Our study of twenty nine assemblages ranging from the Acheulean to the Acheulo-Yabrudian complex, combining results from Jelinek's and Ronen's excavations, shows that thinning flakes are scarce throughout the entire sequence. Results indicate that handaxes were commonly not manufactured or re-sharpened in the excavated area and that these activities were most likely conducted outside the site. The late Lower Paleolithic in various parts of Eurasia and Africa is characterized by high variability in lithic technology, which in the case of the Levant is best reflected in the Acheulo-Yabrudian complex. This study aids our understanding of variability in the Levantine late Lower Paleolithic by adding the concept of segmentation of reduction as an integral part of late Lower Paleolithic lithic technology. Significantly, in Tabun Cave the segmentation of reduction that characterizes handaxe manufacture differs from the patterns observed in Amudian blade production and Yabrudian scraper manufacture, which were both regularly conducted on site. The extent of variability and flexibility is thus reflected not only in the technologies employed, but also in how different reduction sequences were segmented and executed across the landscape, suggesting a link between technical knowledge, mobility patterns and landscape exploitation.

Large open-air archaeological sites provide a unique contribution to our understanding of the range of environments exploited by hominins and how their mobility patterns were affected by local, regional, and global environmental fluctuations. The challenge, however, is that in open-air contexts the distribution of buried and surface archaeological remains is greatly affected by geomorphic processes that acted on the landscape throughout the Pleistocene and Holocene. Deciphering the behavioural patterns of large open-air sites necessitates an approach that incorporates landscape evolution as a critical component contributing to the spatial distribution and variability in the archaeological record. We suggest that it is more appropriate to speak of open-air archaeological landscapes rather than sites in the traditional sense. Within this framework, we present our ongoing research at Druze Marsh, a Paleolithic locale in the northwest corner of the Azraq Basin (Jordan), and an oasis that may have functioned as a desert refugium at different points during the Pleistocene. Surveys and excavations in the Azraq Basin have recovered material from the Lower Paleolithic to historical periods. Recent research by our team has identified a stratified sequence of artifacts that typologically correspond to the Late Lower, Middle, Upper, and Epipaleolithic industries. Both the surface and stratified material are the remains of prehistoric behaviour, and a full understanding of the prehistoric settlement system and land-use surrounding the Druze Marsh requires amalgamating these different contexts with the environmental history of the area, particularly accounting for the contribution of geomorphic processes on the spatial distribution of the archaeological record.

WZM-2, a flint-source on the edge of the Madaba Plateau, Jordan, exemplifies many of the problems archaeologists confront in investigating open-air sites. This site has a complex history of alternating episodes of deposition, erosion and colluvial movement of sediments, as well as bioturbation and recent plowing, that has altered the spatial relationships of artifacts, creating a cumulative palimpsest on the surface, but with limited stratigraphic integrity below surface. Techniques for investigating these types of sites are discussed, including transect surface collections with finds recorded by hand-held GPS units, systematic total collection of grids, and the use of geological and archaeological test trenches. The assemblages obtained by these methods were subject to statistical analysis of technological attributes combined with the identification of typological specimens and techniques of manufacture known to have chronological significance in order to identify the parts of the Paleolithic sequence present. Potentially time-sensitive types were also subject to spatial analysis. With the exception of a spatially limited and un-diagnostic Holocene chipping area at the northeastern end of the site, WZM-2 is primarily a Middle Paleolithic lithic acquisition and processing site, probably dating to MIS-5, with limited evidence of exploitation during the preceding Late Lower Paleolithic Acheulo–Yabrudian and also possibly the Early Middle Paleolithic. This site also extends the known geographical distribution of the Acheulo–Yabrudian to the south and east. Although the disturbed nature of open-air sites such as this limits the types of behavioral information that can be obtained by archaeologists, their location on the paleo-landscape as well as the aggregate characteristics of their assemblages can provide important clues to early hominin land-use, economies including provisioning strategies, and settlement patterns.

This paper examines recurrent spatial patterns of prehistoric sites in relation to landforms, alluvial fills, and soil development in the uplands and valleys of the Madaba and Dhiban Plateaus of Jordan. Mousterian lithics (Middle Paleolithic) are largely found on high strath terraces plateaus, where they are associated with red Mediterranean soils. In valleys, Upper Paleolithic sites are often associated with reworked loess deposits of the Dalala allostratigraphic unit. Epipaleolithic occupations are found stratified in deposits of the Thamad Terrace, and Pre-Pottery Neolithic and Pottery Neolithic occupations are associated with colluvium mantling the Thamad Terrace. The Tur al-Abyad Terrace and the Iskanderite alluvial inset are the remnants of middle Holocene floodplains, which were attractive areas for Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age settlements. Sometime around 4000 B.C., stream incision and further lateral erosion destroyed these floodplains. These historic terraces are underlain by alluvial deposits ranging in age from Roman to Early Islamic periods. The sequence of allostratigraphic units, paleosols, and terraces are the basis for reconstructing phases of fluvial aggradation and stream incision during the past 20,000 years. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This article investigates the degree and nature of ‘imposed form’ in Middle Palaeolithic scrapers, the most common category of stone tool produced by Neanderthals. Novice flintknappers unfamiliar with Middle Palaeolithic tool forms were found to consistently employ two rules in manufacturing scrapers: the striking platform and any adjacent blunt edges were left intact to facilitate prehension, and the longest edge with the most acute spine-plane angle was retouched. Scrapers from three major Middle Palaeolithic sites adhered to these rules in over 90 per cent of cases, but significant divergence from these rules was found in a sample from Skhul cave (Israel) level B1, associated with early anatomically modern Homo sapiens. It is concluded that Middle Palaeolithic scraper manufacture was structured by the need to create a suitable working edge, and to locate that edge to maximize ease and comfort during manufacture and use. The overall shape of the resulting tools was thus not an expression of ‘imposed form’ in the conventional sense. The discovery of violations of these rules in the Skhul B1 collection provides evidence of increased use of imposed form, as well as potentially significant behavioural differences between early anatomically modern Homo sapiens and contemporary Neanderthals.

The artifact typology of Francois Bordes has been universally applied to European Middle Paleolithic assemblages for the past half-century. Although its utility as a common descriptive language is acknowledged, it is argued that Bordes' type definitions are inadequate for use in modern quantitatively and technologically oriented studies of lithics because they are overly subjective and are an uncontrolled mixture of technological and functional variables acted on by raw material constraints. They also incorporate untested assumptions about the cognitive abilities of Middle Paleolithic hominids. This paper proposes to replace the Bordes typology with a method based on attribute combinations in which artifact descriptions will contain more behaviorally significant information than is afforded by the current system.

Trois datations radiocarbones, comprises entre 19280 ± 220 BP et 14110 ± 110 BP ont recemment ete obtenues grâce a la spectrometrie de masse d'os de mammiferes mis au jour dans la grotte de Barma Grande (Grottes de Grimaldi, nord-ouest de l'Italie) en 1883-1884. L'analyse des 379 objets lithiques collectes lors de ces fouilles indiquent que la sequence archeologique du Paleolithique superieur a Barma Grande s'etend de l'Epigravettien ancien a l'Epigravettien recent. Ces dates et leurs associations archeologiques demontrent que les figurines feminines provenant de ce site sont bien plus recentes qu'on ne le pensait, ce qui remet en question la chronologie communement acceptee des Venus d'Europe de l'Ouest, et leur interpretation en tant que phenomene unitaire

Sept objets detenus a Montreal se revelent etre des figurines. Elles proviennent de la Grotte Grimaldi, en Ligurie, un des sites les plus important du Paleolithique europeen. Le parcours fantaisiste qui aboutit a l'etude actuelle ne permet pas de connaitre leur contexte, neanmoins l'A. pense reconnaitre des particularites stylistiques qu'il attribue au Gravettien-Epigravettien

The Sado River Drainage Survey project (2004-2008) was designed to fill a significant gap in our knowledge of the prehistory of Portugal. Southern Alentejo constitutes nearly one third of the total land mass of continental Portugal, but has received comparatively little attention from Palaeolithic archaeologists. Practically nothing was known about the prehistory of the Sado River basin, which includes the southern Alentejo plain, before now. The results of the Sado River Drainage Survey (SRDS) indicate that the Sado River basin was likely occupied at low population densities during the Middle Palaeolithic. There is some evidence for a Lower Palaeolithic presence but little or no evidence of an Upper Palaeolithic occupation. The emerging pattern suggests either an occupational hiatus or a major shift in settlement pattern towards the end of the Middle Palaeolithic. Possible explanations for this pattern, including aridification driven by climate change, are explored here.El proyecto de prospección de la cuenca del río Sado (SRDS), llevado a cabo entre el 2004 y el 2008, se diseñó para suplir la carencia de información concerniente al conocimiento actual de la Prehistoria de Portugal. Aunque la cuenca del río Sado conforma casi un tercio de la superficie continental de Portugal, aún no había recibido la debida atención para el Paleolítico. Antes de este proyecto, prácticamente nada se conocía acerca de la Prehistoria de dicha cuenca, incluyendo la llanura de Alentejo. Nuestros resultados indican una baja densidad de población durante el Paleolítico Medio, rastro de ocupaciones del Paleolítico Inferior y casi ninguna evidencia de ocupaciones asociadas al Paleolítico Reciente. A partir de los datos obtenidos, se desprende un modelo en el que se evidencia que, hacia finales del Paleolítico Medio, hubo una discontinuidad en la ocupación, probablemente asociada a cambios climáticos o del uso del territorio.

This paper describes an intensive survey of the Luano stream drainage located near Chingola, Zambia. Deforestation combined with cultivation of this area allowed a complete picture of settlement sizes and distributions from the Middle Stone Age through the Iron Age to be discovered. Models of Stone and Iron Age site location strategies are developed and compared to the settlement pattern observed at Luano. Site location decisions were found to be identical in the Late Stone Age and Early and Middle Iron Ages, suggesting a possible source of conflict between early agriculturalists and hunter‐gatherers. Iron Age communities became larger over time but split into smaller hamlets after AD 1500. Possible economic and social causes of this fission are discussed.

This paper describes Late Stone Age assemblages of quartz tools and debitage from sites near Luano Hot Spring, Chingola, Zambia. Formal tools at the Luano rock shelter site suggest a ‘Nachikufan II’ to ‘Nachikufan III’ sequence according to the traditional terminology. However, analysis of the debitage demonstrates that all levels of the site represent a single Late Stone Age technological tradition. Differences in formal tool frequencies at this site are better explained as activity facies. The implications of these results for our understanding of local Late Stone Age-Iron Age contacts are discussed.