Journal of Lithic Studies
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Grey zones of production: Discussing the technology of tools at the Lojanik quarry in west-central Serbia
Get PDFFlaked stone artefacts found on the quarry Lojanik in west-central Serbia are good examples of how the function of non-diagnostic pieces could be determined through technological and use-wear analysis. In this study, we present the examples of surface clusters and artefacts from stratigraphic layers. Our attention is focused on the prevailing category of fragmented raw materials in the initial phase of knapping, preforms, debris, shattered pieces of anthropogenic origin and an immense number of artefacts and geofacts.
The study of mines and quarries, as well as distribution of the raw materials that come from the central Balkans is an understudied phenomenon. Flaked stone artefacts found on the outcrops of the Lojanik hilltop is a good example of how we can apply technological, petrological and use-wear analysis on this type of site. Keeping in mind the loose context of the finds, as well as the lack of any datable material, this issue has to be approached with a lot of caution, since the locality itself seems to show human presence during Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic. The main focus of the study was put on the prevailing categories linked to the initial extraction of raw material on the site, as well as initial steps of shaping the raw material into cores. Samples were collected from several outcrops and so-called workshops from two localities of the hilltop: Lojanik 1 and Lojanik 2. The focal points of interest are categories that include waste, shatter, technical or shaping flakes. Worked pieces of raw material are now in the central position, and the study of these pieces have opened new grounds for this and similar occurrences - the study of so-called “grey zones” of production
First technological and provenance analysis on obsidian artifacts from Tafí Valley (Tucumán Province, Argentine Republic)
Get PDFThe aim of this paper is to report the first analyses carried out on obsidian artifacts recovered from two archaeological sites of the Tafí valley (Tucumán, Argentina), dating to the first and second millennium C.E. The study addresses the sourcing and use of this raw material in their contexts, as well as the inclusion of the study area within the obsidian distribution circuits in the Northwest of Argentina. The methodology included techno-morphological and morphological-functional analyses as well as chemical provenance studies (XRF). The results enabled us to detect, so far, the use of the Ona-Las Cuevas source, located approximately 240 km far from the sites, and to suggest the implementation of indirect procurement practices within complex distribution circuits. We have also established that the obsidian artifacts would have been used intensively in daily activities which were part of household organization, such as long-distance relationships, hunting and processing food. Based on this information, we discuss the practical uses of obsidian, as well as other possible roles of this raw material in pre-Hispanic contexts which contribute to broaden knowledge about the cultural developments of Tafí valley
Cultural transmission and correlational selection in Late Period projectile points from the Puna of Salta, Argentina (CE 900 - 1500)
Get PDFThis work proposes a methodology for documenting metric patterns of variation and trait correlation in Late Period (ca. CE 900-1500) projectile points from the Puna and pre-Puna of Salta, Argentina. In so doing, our main goal is to explain the patterns observed in terms of mechanisms of cultural evolution and selection over the design of the artefacts. We applied this methodology to assemblages of concave-based triangular projectile points from four archaeological sites whose chronologies are well established. As a result, we were able to document low degrees of variation, as well as high, positive, significant, Pearson co-variation and partial correlation coefficients between metrical traits. These results suggest a process of correlational selection that preserved an artefact design with a structure of highly integrated traits that maximised the edge-area in relation to the haft, turning these projectile points into very lethal weapons, even for potential use in interpersonal violence. This lends support to the hypothesis presented here, where replication of these projectile points occurred within a process of stabilizing cultural selection through biased transmission mechanisms that maintained the functional relations between the variables at the design scale, which in turn favoured the selection of artefacts suitable for effective weapons in a context where hunting was a strategy that optimized animal biomass acquisition, enhancing domestic herd viability
Jacques Tixier (1925-2018)
Get PDFJacques Tixier was an internationally known prehistorian and the founder of the technological “reading” of lithic industries. The first approach to this interpretation is based on experiments and the recognition of the chronological order of technical gestures
Andesite and obsidian accessibility and distribution during the Holocene in north-west Santa Cruz province (south-central Patagonia), Argentina
Get PDFThis paper discusses different aspects related to the andesite and obsidian availability and circulation routes in different moments of the occupation sequence in the Pueyrredón-Posadas-Salitroso (PPS) Lake Basin in the north, and the Burmeister-Belgrano (BB) Lake Basin to the south (north-west Santa Cruz province, Argentinian Patagonia).
The distribution of raw materials - both in space and time - allows us to assert that potential regional circulation routes would have been affected differentially by the palaeolakes present from the Pleistocene up until the mid-Holocene. We are taking into account three sites: Cueva Milodón Norte 1 (CMN1), located in the northeast coast of the Pueyrredón Lake, Cerro de los Indios 1 (CI1) (central portion of the PPS Basin), and Cerro Casa de Piedra 7 (CCP7) (near to the Burmeister Lake). This investigation considers six periods, based on the calibrated ranges from 73 radiocarbon dates: 17 from CI1, 14 from CMN1, and 42 radiocarbon dates from CCP7.
As a result of this analysis we can conclude that, in sites with a higher density of occupation such as CI1 and CCP7, the use of obsidian (non-local rock) and andesite or basalt did not vary over time. In the case of CMN1, access to the sources of these raw materials varied according to the presence of large bodies of water, although it does not seem to have influenced the procurement of these rocks
Terminal Pleistocene lithic variability in the Western Negev (Israel): Is there any evidence for contacts with the Nile Valley?
Get PDFAt the end of the Pleistocene (25,000-15,000 BP), there is a shift to more arid conditions in the Negev and the Sinai corresponding to the Last Glacial Maximum. For the Nile Valley and the Levant, the lowering of the Mediterranean sea level, the expansion of the Sahara and the desiccation of some major eastern African lakes had important consequences on: (1) the general behaviour of the River Nile; (2) the landscape around the Nile Delta; and (3) sand dune mobilisation. Despite this shift to more arid conditions, there is abundant evidence for human occupation in the Egyptian Nile Valley and in the arid zone of the Southern Levant at this time. In addition, contacts between these two regions have sometimes been suggested, mainly by genetic studies, including early ‘Back-to-Africa’ dispersals.
This paper focuses on the analysis of six terminal Pleistocene (ca. 25,000-15,000 BP) lithic assemblages from the western Negev Desert dunes in Israel, attributed to the Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic. The analysis relies on the chaîne opératoire approach combined with attribute analysis that enables quantification of typo-technological differences. Results of this analysis allows comparisons with assemblages from the Egyptian Nile Valley analysed in the same way previously. This comparative analysis is then used to discuss hypotheses of potential technical diffusions between these two regions. Current archaeological evidence therefore does not support any contacts between populations between the Levant and the Nile Valley at the end of the Pleistocene
Phylogenetic analysis of stemmed points from Patagonia: Shape change and morphospace evolution
Get PDFThis work is focused in the study of Patagonian lithic projectile points shape variation from a phylogenetic perspective pursuing three main aims: first, generate a model of projectile point shape diversification and morphospace evolution; second, estimate shape variation through time, and finally, assess the robustness of previous results using the same methods but in a larger sample with better spatial coverage. A previous work using geometric morphometric and cladistic methods suggested a pattern of general morphological diversification across Patagonia related, at least in part, to the spatial distance between cases, distinguishing two main clades in northern (43-45° S) and southern (50-52° S) Patagonia. In the present work to study this pattern in a more detailed level, a sample of ca. 1200 projectile points was used to obtain statistically different morphological classes performing unsupervised K-means searching. Shape characters were used to describe the different taxonomic units and to perform the phylogenetic analysis (through the Neighbor Joining and Maximun Parsimony methods) using as an ancestor the earliest point type known to the region (Fishtail point). The new results suggest that projectile points with longer and narrow blades and smaller stems evolved later in Patagonia and occupy a different sector of morphospace that could be related to the emergence of different technical systems, like the bow and arrow. However, these results do not support the previous ones of a projectile point diversification pattern mediated by spatial distance, maybe due to the reduction of contrast between the extreme north and south of Patagonia by the larger spatial coverage used in the present analysis.En un trabajo previo se estudió la variación morfológica de las puntas de projectil líticas de Patagonia desde una perspectiva filogenética. A través de los métodos de morfometría geométrica se obtuvieron clases en base a la forma media (forma consenso) de las puntas pedunculadas según franjas latitudinales. Los resultados mostraron un patrón general de diversificación morfológica a lo largo de Patagonia que se encuentra en parte relacionado a la distanica espacial entre casos. Para estudiar el patrón de diversificación morfológica en mayor detalle, en el presente trabajo se usó una muestra de puntas de proyectil más grande para obtener clases morfológicas diferentes estadísticamente mediante los procedimientos de búsqueda automáticos (machine learning). Los caracteres morfológicos fueron usados para describir las diferentes unidades taxonómicas y para realizar el análisis filogenérico (mediante el método de Neighbor-Joining) usando como ancestro el tipo de punta de proyectil más antiguo conocido para la región (Cola de Pescado). Nuestro objetivo principal es evaluar la robustez de la hipótesis cladística sobre la existencia de una señal filogenética en el diseño de las puntas de proyectil. Para ello se evalúa el ajuste entre el patrón de diversificación y el espacio morfológico generado por el método Generalizado de Procrustes. Los resultados obtenidos sirven para discutir el tempo y modo de la evolución de las diferentes clases morfológicas, como así también la incidencia de la morfología y la historia de vida en la convergencia o divergencia de las puntas de proyectil patagónicas a través del tiemp
Paleolithic aesthetics: Collecting colorful flint pebbles at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel
Get PDFThis paper sheds light on the presence and significance of unusually small, colorful, unmodified, flint pebbles unearthed at Qesem Cave, a late Lower Paleolithic site in Israel. For over two million years, early humans were noticing, collecting and bringing "home" various non-utilitarian objects with aesthetic visible characteristics, in what seems to reflect a basic human trait. Archaeological findings suggest that as early as the Lower Paleolithic, prehistoric humans were also guided by considerations other than economic, cost-benefit ones. Such is the case at Qesem Cave, where seventeen pebbles that are clearly smaller than the smallest pebbles used in the lithic industry on-site were found. These objects do not show any traces of use. Based on archaeological and anthropological evidence, I suggest that the small, natural flint pebbles exhibit noticeable visual characteristics, and therefore they might have been selected and brought to the cave due to their aesthetic traits. Various materials such as animal carcasses, fire-wood and lithic materials were systematically procured and brought to the cave, indicating that the inhabitants must have been well acquainted with different sources of resources. In this light, the presence of the pebbles seems to be the result of conscious, purposeful decisions. Their presence at the cave reveals a fraction of some of the aesthetic and perceptual preferences of the early humans that inhabited Qesem Cave, and their rich cultural world
Procurement and circulation of obsidian in the province of La Pampa, Argentina
Get PDFThe goal of this study is to report the progress regarding the procurement and circulation of obsidian by hunter-gatherer populations during the Late Holocene in the province of La Pampa, Argentina. A total of 25 samples were analyzed in two stages; in the first stage neutron activation analysis (INAA) was used, while X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was employed in the second stage. This work adds nine archaeological samples from new sites and one from the Lihué Calel obsidian source. The results allow us to take into account the sourcing of the obsidian which was found in archeological sites of four areas of study located in the south and east of the province.
Both, the results generated in this new stage, and those previously obtained are integrated and discussed in relation to the information produced by other researchers from the region, which are consistent with the existing ones for La Pampa. They indicate that the obsidian recovered was procured from sources located in the Argentinian and Chilean Andes, as well as the pre-cordillera in the provinces of Neuquén and Mendoza. New data expands the spatial perspective of our interpretations to four new research areas: Curacó basin, Lihué Calel hills, Valles Transversales (Transversal Valleys) and Bajos sin Salida (Endorheic low areas)
Replicación del hacha acanalada norteamericana: Un experimento tafonómico en el centro de Connecticut [North American grooved-axe replication: A taphonomic experiment in central Connecticut]
No full textTaphonomic experiments in lithic technology have been used to understand many facets of the archaeological record including site-formation processes, artifact displacement, and wear damage. The North American grooved-axe - an artifact type of which little technological attention has been given in the literature - is examined as a case study for a taphonomic experiment conducted in Central Connecticut. The use of an actualistic taphonomic experiment is used to generate an analogous experimental signature for archaeological grooved-axe manufacturing areas in North America. More specifically, the taphonomic experiment is used here to see if the isolated technological stage of impaction is archaeologically visible before short-term formation processes affect the manufacturing area in question. Impaction is a ground stone tool manufacturing technique that is otherwise known as pecking or hammer-dressing. Hypothesized archaeological traces of impaction include the recovery of flakes with macroscopic impaction wear and a lens of impaction slurry that is both visibly and texturally distinct. In addition to generating an experimental analogue for grooved-axe impaction, the replicative dimension of the taphonomic experiment is used to informally assess the plausibility of certain technological decisions in axe manufacture. Here, the use of quartzite impaction tools and expedient anvils in the production of North American grooved-axes are scrutinized.Los experimentos tafonómicos en tecnología lítica han sido utilizados para entender muchas facetas de los registros arqueológicos incluyendo procesos de formación de sitios, desplazamiento de artefactos, y daño por desgaste. El hacha acanalada norteamericana –un artefacto al que se le ha prestado poca atención tecnológica en la literatura- es examinado como caso de estudio para un experimento tafonómico realizado en el centro de Connecticut. El uso de un experimento tafonómico realista es utilizado para generar una firma experimental análoga para las áreas de fabricación de hachas acanaladas arqueológicas en América del Norte. Más específicamente, el experimento tafonómico es utilizado aquí para ver si la etapa tecnológica aislada de impactación es arqueológicamente visible antes de que los procesos de formación de corto plazo afecten al área de fabricación en cuestión. La impactación es una técnica de fabricación de herramientas de piedra de la tierra que también es conocida como picoteo o martillo-vestidor. Las trazas arqueológicas de impactación hipotetizadas incluyen la recuperación de escamas con desgaste por impacto macroscópico y una lente de lodo de impactación que es tanto visible como texturalmente distinta. Además de generar un análogo experimental para la impactación del hacha acanalada, la dimensión replicativa del experimento tafonómico es usada para evaluar informalmente la verosimilitud de ciertas decisiones tecnológicas en la fabricación del hacha. Aquí, los usos tanto de herramientas de impactación de cuarcita como de yunques expeditivos en la producción de hachas acanaladas norteamericanas son escudriñados