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The Upper Palaeolithic Solutrean culture that coincided with the last glacial maximum has become famous for documenting an increasing investment of time and effort in the production of tools. However, Solutrean lithic assemblages predominantly document local procurement of flint and only in rare cases, stones were transported over distances above 100 km. The perhaps most remarkable Solutrean artefacts are the large bifacial laurel-leaf points of Volgu. Some studies on the points suggested long-distance transport, proposing multiple raw material locations in the > 170 km distant Paris Basin. These findings were not based on physical or chemical measurements but rather on evaluations of macro- and microscopically visible features at the surface of the flint. In this study, we aim to verify previously made propositions on the Volgu points’ origin with an archaeometric technique. For this, we apply reflectance infrared spectroscopy, a method that relies on identifying differences in the crystallographic properties of flint. We compare eight of the Volgu laurel-leaf points with five regions of Upper Cretaceous flint deposits in France and Belgium. We found that the Volgu points’ flint is most similar to flint from the south-eastern Paris Basin in terms of its crystallography (identifying a region between 170 and 250 km from Volgu). Our findings provide a reproducible line of evidence for the long-distance procurement of flint to produce exceptional artefacts in the Solutrean. Our study is the first application of this method to flint sourcing in a European context. It has therefore also implications for future provenance studies on other archaeological sites in France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 multi-method 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilises geochemical provenancing of silcrete raw materials, in combination with chaîne opératoire analyses, to explore lithic procurement and behavioural patterns in the northern Kalahari Desert during the Middle Stone Age (MSA). New data from the sites of Rhino Cave, Corner Cave, and ≠Gi in northwest Botswana, combined with earlier results from White Paintings Shelter, reveal that the long distance transport of silcrete for stone tool manufacture was a repeated and extensively used behaviour in this region. Silcrete was imported over distances of up to 295 km to all four sites, from locations along the Boteti River and around Lake Ngami. Significantly, closer known sources of silcrete of equivalent quality were largely bypassed. Silcrete artefacts were transported at various stages of production (as partially and fully prepared cores, blanks, and finished tools) and, with the exception of ≠Gi, in large volumes. The import occurred despite the abundance of locally available raw materials, which were also used to manufacture the same tool types. On the basis of regional palaeoenvironmental data, the timing of the majority of silcrete import from the Boteti River and Lake Ngami is constrained to regionally drier periods of the MSA. The results of our investigation challenge key assumptions underlying predictive models of human mobility that use distance-decay curves and drop-off rates. Middle Stone Age peoples in the Kalahari appear to have been more mobile than anticipated, and repeatedly made costly choices with regard to both raw material selection and items to be transported. We conclude that (i) base transport cost has been overemphasised as a restrictive factor in predictive models, and (ii) factors such as source availability and preference, raw material quality, and potential sociocultural influences significantly shaped prehistoric landscape use choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyses of the distance over which lithic raw materials were transported for use in stone tool production provide important insights into early human mobility through prehistoric landscapes. This study combines the use of geochemical provenancing, chaîne opératoire analysis and geochronology to examine patterns of lithic raw material procurement at five single-use open-air Middle Stone Age (MSA) archaeological sites in Ntwetwe Pan, part of the Makgadikgadi Pans complex in north-central Botswana. Maximum ages of the five sites ranged from 106 ± 3 to 69 ± 7 ka, with site formation thought to have occurred before and after a lake high stand dated to c. 72-57 ka. Tool manufacture at all sites was largely confined to the production of MSA points, with silcrete used exclusively as the raw material. Geochemical provenancing investigations aimed to identify the specific silcrete outcrops used as lithic raw material sources. Analysis of contemporary pan floor deposits show that sediment (and hence silcrete) geochemistry in Ntwetwe is determined by the proportional sediment input into the pan from fluvial systems with different catchment geologies. Immobile trace element signatures for 46 waste manufacturing flakes were compared against equivalent data for 321 silcrete samples collected at outcrops within and beyond Ntwetwe Pan. Waste flakes were chosen to be representative of the main silcrete raw material types present within the artefact assemblage at each site. Fifteen waste flakes were shown to match specific outcrops on the basis of their geochemical signatures and petrographic properties; all matching outcrops were within Ntwetwe Pan, at distances ranging from 7 to 55 km from individual sites. Multi-site analysis of procurement patterns identifies common silcrete source areas, revealing a preference for silcrete from particular locations within Ntwetwe Pan. Given that the five archaeological sites were likely occupied at different times, this resource preference may have been a longer-term behavioural feature of MSA populations in the Ntwetwe region. The distances over which silcrete was transported in Ntwetwe Pan are smaller than identified in investigations at similar-aged MSA sites in northwest Botswana. The reasons for the different silcrete procurement ranges in the two regions are likely related to silcrete availability and/or raw material preference, but this requires further investigation. • Silcrete artefacts from 5 open-air MSA sites in Ntwetwe Pan are matched against potential source outcrops using immobile trace element signatures. • Procurement sites are identified at distances ranging from 7–55 km from individual MSA sites, suggesting local raw material acquisition. • Common silcrete source areas are identified, suggesting a preference for silcrete from particular locations by MSA populations. • Combined geochemical and chaîne opératoire analyses confirm that silcrete transport from specific outcrops was an inherent feature of MSA tool production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the evidence of a recently excavated, sealed site, situated at Ruien “Rosalinde” in the Belgian Scheldt valley, the response of hunter-gatherers to changing climate at the transition from the temperate Allerød to the cold Younger Dryas is discussed. Radiocarbon dated to the end of the Allerød or the very beginning of the Younger Dryas, the site of Ruien provides the earliest evidence of a refined lithic technology characterized by the use of a soft stone hammer and the production of straight and regular blade(let)s from intensively prepared cores with two opposite platforms and sharp striking angles. In the course of the Younger Dryas and Early Pre-boreal this knapping method will become standard all over Europe, from the Tanged Point Technocomplex in the North to the (Epi)Laborian in the South. It contrasts sharply with the knapping style of previous lithic traditions, such as the late Federmesser/Azilian and Bromme Technocomplexes, which was much less elaborated and mainly oriented towards the knapping of short irregular blades with a hard stone hammer. This apparently abrupt technological change was also accompanied by increased raw material procurement networks, extending over up to 250 km, and a marked microlithisation of the hunting equipment. Finally, the site of Ruien is also important as it demonstrates the limited archaeological visibility of Younger Dryas sites, explaining the scarcity of such sites within western Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]