Journal of Lithic Studies
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Editorial: Os estudos líticos em países lusófonos
Get PDFOrganizing a collection of articles on lithic studies in Portuguese does not seem, at first, a challenging task. After all, Portugal already has a tradition of decades of research on the subject, which has also increased in Brazil in recent years. Therefore, it was expected that most of the articles published in this edition would come from these two countries. The challenge was to include articles on research carried out in other Portuguese-speaking countries, as they have few or no archaeological research institutions. And of the studies on the lithic industries in these countries, most are carried out by researchers from North America or Europe, especially Portuguese archaeologists.Organizar uma coletânea de artigos sobre estudos líticos em língua portuguesa não parece, a princípio, uma tarefa desafiadora. Afinal, Portugal já tem uma tradição de décadas de pesquisas no tema, as quais também têm aumentado no Brasil nos últimos anos. Logo, era de se esperar que a maioria dos artigos publicados nesta edição fossem provenientes destes dois países. O desafio está em incluir artigos sobre pesquisas realizadas em outros países lusófonos, pois estes possuem poucas ou nenhuma instituição de pesquisas arqueológicas. E dos estudos realizados sobre as indústrias líticas nestes países, a maioria é realizada por pesquisadores vindos da América do Norte ou da Europa, em especial os próprios arqueólogos portugueses
Variabilité des débitages laminaires au Second Mésolithique et au Néolithique ancien dans le nord de la France (VIIe et VIe millénaire BCE)
Get PDFThis paper presents an overview of the knapping techniques of the Second Mesolithic and Early Neolithic during the 7th and 6th millennium in Northern France. This period is characterised by the emergence of new armatures - the trapezes - and of new techniques of prismatic blade production that show discontinuation from the preceding technical traditions. Basically, if we admit that the success of these new technical practices is linked to their intrinsic qualities (higher regularity and parallelism of the blanks, control of the gesture and of the impact point as well as higher productivity), this can explain that the investment into the production focuses on the blanks rather than on the processes of retouch.
This paper presents the current state of the data regarding the knapping techniques and their distribution. This analysis is based on the technological approach aiming at characterizing the types of production and the techniques of percussion.
At the current state of analysis, only indirect percussion (punch) knapping technique is observed in the northern and western part of the area. Nonetheless, a more detailed study is still required in order to better describe distinct, very regular bladelet productions made from small-sized cores (eastern part of France). With respect to the geographical extension of the considered area, it can be stated that technological studies are still indigent. The debitage of L’Essart A seems to correspond to the common thread of the Late Mesolithic types of production by indirect percussion. However, some well-documented areas allow the perception of different types of indirect percussion which involves variants independent from the raw material which become apparent in the knapping procedures. This is the case of the the Retzian which is clearly opposed to the Teviecian through the procedures of systematic core preparation by microfacetting but also through the outstanding stylistic unity of the trapeze types. Debitage on the edge of a flake for the creation of blade surfaces seems for instant restricted to the Tardenoisian in a wider sense which means an area extending from the Paris Basin to Belgium.
The chronological dimension is a crucial factor that has to be incorporated into the analysis. With regard to indirect percussion, an expanded chronological framework of the lithic assemblages would permit to understand whether the different variants are synchronous or diachronic. New discoveries gave us a better idea of the beginning of indirect percussion in Paris basin (around 6200 cal BC according to the dating of the grave of Cuiry-lès-Chaudardes).
The study of this « complex » of trapeze industries encompasses several levels of observation that have to be refined. The phenomenon is considered here globally. But as we have seen, some well defined entities seem to emerge within this complex. These are preliminary results for the moment and an interpretation that makes sense has yet to be made for these different practices. The typological evolution of trapezes and derived triangles has to be incorporated into the results obtained from the technological approach in order to determine whether the stylistic and technological entities can be correlated. The precise intersection between the stylistic entities and the technological variants assumed here has to be demonstrated. It will probably be possible to subdivide this complex in order to better understand its evolution.Cet article présente un bilan des techniques de taille du Second Mésolithique et du Néolithique ancien du 7e au 6e millénaire dans le nord de la France. Cette période est caractérisée par l\u27apparition d\u27une nouvelle pratique technique qui se manifeste par la production de lames régulières associées à de nouvelles armatures de flèche de forme trapézoïdale. D’après les études menées, il semble que seuls les débitages à la percussion indirecte sont documentés dans l’ouest et le nord de l’aire considérée. Néanmoins, des analyses plus fines devront être menées pour les débitages soignés des productions de lamelles régulières et des petits nucléus présents dans les contextes de l’est de la France. Il semble désormais qu’une méthode de débitage assez commune puisse se percevoir. Elle a été parfaitement décrite sur le site des Essart à Poitiers (méthode de l’Essart A, Marchand 2009). Cette méthode d’exploitation des blocs avec des flancs orthogonaux, un plan de frappe lisse peu incliné et une surface lamellaire quadrangulaire peu cintrée apparaît comme plutôt fréquente dans les assemblages à trapèzes du Mésolithique. Malgré un concept commun, l’étude de ce « complexe » des industries à trapèzes montre une certaine variabilité du point de vue des méthodes de taille. Il semble se dégager des entités parfois bien circonscrites au sein de cet ensemble. C’est le cas du Retzien qui s’oppose nettement au Téviécien de par les procédés de préparation systématique par micro-facettage mais également par une excellente unité stylistique des types de trapèzes. Le débitage sur tranche d’éclat pour l’installation des surfaces laminaires semble pour le moment cantonné d’une zone allant du Bassin parisien à la Belgique. L’est de la France se démarque par des productions avec des talons facettés et des plans très inclinés. Il faudra donc donner du sens à ces différentes pratiques qui pour le moment sont des résultats bruts.
La dimension chronologique est un élément crucial qui devra être mieux précisé. En rapport avec les résultats obtenus sur les modalités de la percussion indirecte, un meilleur cadre chronologique permettra de comprendre la synchronie ou la diachronie des variantes observées des débitages. De nouvelles découvertes et de nouvelles datations permettent de mieux préciser l’introduction de la percussion indirecte vers 6200 cal. BCE dans le Bassin parisien.
Enfin, il reste encore à mieux préciser les assemblages typologiques. Nous ne disposons pas encore suffisamment de séries qui permettent de bien comprendre l’évolution des différents types de trapèzes et triangles dérivés et si certaines méthodes de débitages sont particulières à certains types d’armatures. Malgré les imprécisions des datations et la difficulté de démêler les assemblages d’armatures, on peut retenir qu’il existe probablement des moments où certains types dominent. Ce travail reste totalement à faire et il est tributaire d’une meilleure résolution chronologique et des contextes des séries du Second Mésolithiqu
La chaîne opératoire a 70 ans : qu’en ont fait les préhistoriens français
Get PDFThis paper is about the origin and development of the French school of Prehistoric Technology. Going back to the sources, the authors show how the concept of « chaîne opératoire », a concept proposed by André Leroi-Gourhan, who was both an anthropologist and a prehistorian, was first developed by social anthropologists, and then applied to the analysis of prehistoric lithics in strong connection with their anthropologist colleagues. The discovery of the open-air site of Pincevent (Seine-et-Marne, France) allowed Leroi-Gourhan to develop his ideas about an ethnographic approach to a prehistoric settlement. With this in mind, the refitting of flint artefacts, used to restore the débitage sequences, was systematically used for the first time. Interpreting these refits forced him to develop the chaîne opératoire concept. At the same time, Jacques Tixier adopted this tool relying on the interpretation of experimental débitage practiced by his team. Pooling concepts developed by Tixier’s team and Leroi-Gourhan’s laboratory, practicing flint knapping, experimentation and flint core refitting led to developments that were at first about knapping techniques and methods. This cooperation helped refine the recognition of skill levels, from apprenticeship to high performance, and, beyond that, to identify individual knappers inferred from idiosyncratic knapping characteristics of refitted flint blocks. This work opened the way to the economic realm and social organization inferred from spatial analysis of Upper Palaeolithic living floors. Later use of this concept and of all lines of inquiry it opened, extended to every prehistoric period (from Early Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age), to other countries and to other areas than lithics: bone, organic materials, ceramics, metal, archaeozoology and archaeology of mortuary practices. It lead to the development of adapted concepts and criteria, and new methods and techniques of observation and experimentation adapted to these materials or practices. While based on previous advances, two recent approaches focusing on the middle and long term open new directions of research. Thus, beyond these two interconnecting currents that developed around Leroi-Gourhan and Tixier, multiple interactions led to a reciprocal appropriation of these heritages giving the "French" chaîne opératoire its characteristics:
the interaction of ethnologists of "cultural technology" and prehistorians on this approach;
an anthropological background implicit in the approach of prehistorians, becoming more explicit with the introduction of ethnoarchaeological data;
rigorous and detailed empirical research at the base of the analytical process;
backed up by reproducible experimental research;
creation of original concepts for the production of lithic tools;
taking into account psychomotor factors in the analysis of technical behavior;
a posteriori models rather than a priori theoretical models;
a diversification of applications by extension to neighboring domains.
Given its flexibility, dynamic vision of processes and structural connection from the technical sphere to all human dimensions, the chaîne opératoire is an effective mechanism for thinking about production processes and their place in society. In this article, we have tried to trace a path, to show the different development stages of this concept in France and to briefly report on the multiple avenues of research in which it became a stakeholder or centerpiece.L’article porte sur l’origine et le développement de l’école française de technologie préhistorique. En remontant aux sources, les auteurs montrent comment la chaîne opératoire, concept proposé par A. Leroi-Gourhan, ethnologue et préhistorien, a d’abord été développé par les ethnologues puis appliqué à l’étude du lithique préhistorique en liaison avec eux.
La découverte du site de plein air de Pincevent a permis à Leroi-Gourhan de développer ses idées quant à une approche ethnographique d’une occupation préhistorique et les remontages de silex qui restituent les séquences de débitages ont été pour la première fois utilisées de façon systématique. La lecture de ces remontages a conduit à développer le concept de chaîne opératoire. Parallèlement J. Tixier concevait une méthode d’étude spécifiquement adaptée à l’analyse des productions taillées lithiques en s’appuyant sur la lecture de débitages expérimentaux pratiqués par son équipe. La mise en commun des idées développées par Tixier et son équipe et par le laboratoire d’Ethnologie préhistorique de Leroi-Gourhan, la pratique de l’expérimentation, de la taille du silex et des remontages de nucléus a conduit à des développements qui ont porté d’abord sur les techniques et méthodes de taille. Puis cette coopération a permis d’affiner une identification des niveaux de compétence, de l’apprentissage à la haute performance, puis, au delà, une reconnaissance des individus tailleurs à partir de caractéristiques idiosyncratiques de débitage. S’ouvrait ainsi le chemin vers l’analyse du domaine économique et enfin des domaines cognitif et social à partir de l’organisation spatiale d’habitats du Paléolithique supérieur.
Le concept et tous les champs de recherche qu’ouvrait son application ont ensuite été adoptés dans d’autres domaines que le lithique : l’os, la céramique, le métal, l’archéozoologie et le funéraire, impliquant le développement de critères appropriés et de techniques d’observation et d’expérimentation adaptées au matériau ou aux pratiques. Tout en s’appuyant sur les acquis, deux démarches récentes portant sur le moyen et long terme ouvrent de nouvelles pistes.
Flexibilité, vision dynamique des processus et connexion structurelle de la sphère technique à toutes les dimensions humaines font de la chaîne opératoire une efficace machine à penser les processus de production et leur place dans la société
« La réussite d’une production repose sur l’attention prêtée aux détails »: l’exemple des débitages lamellaires par méthode du Raysse (Gravettien moyen, France)
Get PDFThis paper aims to present the last developments about Raysse-burin cores, Picardie bladelets and Raysse bladelets, three typical artefacts of the second stage of French Middle Gravettian a.k.a the “Rayssian” phase (who just follows the classical Noaillian). Through a brief state of the art, reminding how Raysse burins have been discovered by L. Pradel in the 50’s and later described by H.L. Movius and N. David in the 80’s, we will set out how these artefacts have finally been interpreted as burin core. Indeed, technological studies of the beginning of the XXIth century have demonstrated that these so-called “burins” are real bladelet cores for the production of lithic implements now called “Picardie bladelets”. These bladelets are sharp, pointed, elongated and show a dissymmetric section. They are sometimes slightly twisted. All specimens exhibit a simple marginal direct retouch (not necessarily continuous) lateralised on the right side of the microlith. Thanks to the presence of impact fractures, they are interpreted as weapon implements. These artefacts usually replace microgravettes and abrupt backed bladelets in several sites studied (e.g., La Picardie or Reindeer cave). In order to underline the role of the technological approach in this study about the Rayssian phase, we will remind the main technological principles that rule the production on a Raysse burin core. We will also give details about the technical features that allow their recognition in new lithic assemblages, providing relevant examples lately identified in different sites freshly excavated (Bouyssonie cave) or recently re-excavated (Maldidier cave, Les Fieux) and in old collections reassessed (Laussel). Afterwards, based on some archaeological examples (La Picardie, Reindeer cave, Solvieux), we will focus on the morphological, dimensionnal and technical variability of the Picardie bladelets and the Raysse-burin cores. From on site to another, these artefacts tend to exhibit clear dimensional and sometimes technical variability. For example, the comparison of la Picardie and the Reeinder cave bladelets reveals a great variation of dimension. Several hypothesis will be proposed to bring up leads that could explain such a variability. Finally we will detail briefly the main original features and differences we have noticed during our previous investigations conducted these last ten years. In addition, experimental reconstitutions and technological studies of Raysse-burin cores also lead to a better understanding of discreet technical key-details of this original method of débitage. We will focus on the question of the preparation of the patform on Raysse burin core as well as on the type of hammer used for the removal of the bladelets and the kinetic of the gesture required to perform a successful removal. In the conclusion we will examine the consequences of this better understanding of Raysse burin cores technology. We will discuss the reasons that could explain the emergence and the short life-time of this peculiar type of débitage. The major advantage of this method of production lies in the high degree of predetermination of the products obtained asthey finally do not require a high degree of retouch to achieve a functional implement. On the other hand, a disadvantage lies on the lack of flexibility of the chaine opératoire. In term of transmission it is very likely that this method is not so easy to transmit, learn properly. The high number of parameters to master in order to reproduce successfully this method may have been a problem for its spreading. In other words, this peculiar method may have evolved quickly into other forms of more flexible débitage because of it was too much constraining.Après un bref rappel historiographique sur le Gravettien moyen français (Noaillien et Rayssien), cet article se propose de faire le point sur les derniers développements concernant les burins-nucléus du Raysse et les lamelles de la Picardie (deux « fossiles directeurs » caractéristiques du Rayssien, c’est-à-dire la seconde phase du Gravettien moyen). Il s’agira de rappeler les objectifs de ces débitages lamellaires et les grands principes techniques qui les régissent tout en détaillant l’ensemble des pièces caractéristiques (burin-nucléus, lamelles de la Picardie, lamelles du Raysse) qui permettent de les reconnaitre. Ensuite, certains aspects morpho-dimensionnels et qualitatifs de la variabilité des lamelles de la Picardie et des burin-nucléus du Raysse seront détaillés à partir de quelques exemples (La Picardie, la Grotte-du-Renne et Solvieux). Pour finir, à partir de l’étude technologique des burins-nucléus du Raysse et de reconstitutions expérimentales, plusieurs détails techniques discrets inédits seront présentés. Ainsi, outre la préparation très particulière des talons à facettage latéralisé oblique, l’incidence du geste de percussion ainsi que le maintien du nucléus apparaissent aussi comme des éléments indispensables à la bonne mise en œuvre de la méthode du Raysse. La compréhension intime de ces éléments de détails relève d’une meilleure lecture technologique des assemblages tout autant qu’elle constitue un élément clef pour l’étude de l’évolution et de la transmission des systèmes techniques
Yokomichi : Une collection du Paléolithique supérieur du Japon abordée selon un œil technologique français
Get PDFSince the 1970’s, the study of lithic prehistoric collections in France has improved through a profound modernisation. André Leroi-Gourhan, first interested in traditional and ethnological techniques, decided to consider all remains and traces left by a human group within a prehistoric site as evidence of its activity, thus opening the “palethnological perspective”. He also promoted the principle of “chaîne opératoire” (that is, to consider the successive actions and gestures engaged in the transformation of diverse raw materials) a notion which had been formerly introduced by Marcel Mauss. But, it is the experimentalists of stone knapping, François Bordes and Jacques Tixier, who made it possible to enrich this notion with its concrete applications. Above all, Tixier, armed with his clear practical understanding of knapped pieces and his pedagogic skills, enriched and stabilized the lithic terminology, and systematized the “technological reading” of lithics, in other words, the reading of the direction and order of the different scars (negatives of previous removals) visible upon the surface of a flake, a core, or a shaped tool, thus allowing one to mentally reconstruct the fabrication of a tool or the reduction of a core. He also introduced the capital distinction between the “method of knapping” (the arrangement and succession of the removals to reach the goal of the chaîne opératoire, i.e., a type or a class of blanks or tools), and the “knapping techniques” (that is, the practical mode of detachment, e.g., direct percussion with a hard stone or a wooden billet, pressure with an antler or copper point, etc.).
On this basis, in 1980, Tixier together with a few close colleagues from France and Belgium introduced the concepts of economy of raw materials, debitage, and tools, all three concepts being corollaries of the concept of management rules. The notion of intention - which articulates the blank production modalities and the morphology of the blanks obtained and that of the final tools - also appears, which is the basis of the postulate according to which the knapping modalities (effective decisions and actions) are coherent with the morphology of the expected or priority products. It is this postulate, parallel to that of “design theory” taken up by Brian Hayden, which founded, through the consideration of all the lithic remains, the French approach in lithic technology: to perceive - to understand - the intentions of lithic production within a site or collection before classifying and measuring.
This principle is then applied to the small (324 pieces, including 30 to 40 tools) lithic collection from the site of Yokomichi (Yamagata Dept., Northeastern Honshu), with blade production but without (i.e., anterior to) bladelet or microblade production; thus datable to approximately 18,000 BP C14 non-calibrated, from regional chronostratigraphical comparisons).
At first it appears that two different blade productions co-exist: one of light and straight blades with a small platform remnant detached from slender cores, and the other of larger blades with a thick platform remnant detached from wider cores. Among the retouched tools, it is the few “Sugikubo knives” (straight and pointed backed points) whose blanks correspond to the priority intention of the slender core reduction, a few other tools being retouched on “second choice” blanks (irregular, too thick, etc.). Such a Sugibuko knife, in a similar collection, shows a fracture with a ventral elongated tongue [“languette” in French] that strongly indicates that this type of tools is actually, at least in part, a projectile point.
Various observations then suggest that the priority intention of the wide core reduction was to obtain one or a few large pointed blades, which are very difficult to achieve, while its many second choice products and by-products (being too short, having cortex, etc.) could have been used as unretouched knives or resharpened as “Kamiyama burins” (these are indeed blades or flakes modified by a “pseudo” upper plane burin blow from an inverse truncation, very similar to Kostienki knives).
A further experiment shows that both blade productions were made by direct percussion with a soft stone, but in different ways: by tangential percussion for the light blades with a small platform, and by direct percussion inside the striking platform for the stronger blades with a thick platform.Depuis les années 1970, l’étude des collections lithiques préhistoriques a vécu en France une profonde modernisation. André Leroi-Gourhan, d’abord intéressé par les techniques traditionnelles, prit pour objectif d’appréhender les activités techniques menées dans un site par un groupe préhistorique, dans une perspective ainsi dénommée « palethnologique ». Il a aussi promu la notion de chaîne opératoire introduite auparavant par Marcel Mauss. Mais ce sont les expérimentateurs de la taille des roches dures, F. Bordes et J. Tixier, qui vont permettre d’enrichir cette notion de ses applications concrètes. J. Tixier, surtout, stabilise la terminologie de la pierre taillée, et systématise la « lecture technologique » qui permet de reconstituer mentalement le déroulement du façonnage d’un outil ou du débitage d’un nucléus. Il introduit aussi une distinction fondamentale entre « méthode » (la démarche -l’agencement des enlèvements successifs- suivie pour atteindre le but de la chaîne opératoire : un type ou une classe de produits) et « technique(s) » (qui réfère aux modalités pratiques d’exécution des enlèvements).
Sur cette base, dès 1980, Tixier et collègues introduisent les notions d’économie des matières premières, du débitage et de l’outillage, corollaires de la notion de règles de gestion. La notion d’intention -entre débitage, supports et (certains) outils- apparaît également, fondant le postulat selon lequel les modalités de la taille sont cohérentes avec la morphologie des produits recherchés. C’est ce postulat que suit la démarche française en technologie lithique : percevoir -comprendre- les intentions de la production lithique, avant de classer et de mesurer.
Cette démarche est ensuite appliquée à la collection lithique de Yokomichi (Dept de Yamagata, NE de Honshu), à débitage laminaire mais antérieure à la production de lamelles, ainsi datable d’environ 18 000 BP. On perçoit d’abord qu’y coexistent deux débitages laminaires : l’un de lames légères et rectilignes à petit talon, tirées de nucléus étroits, et l’autre de fortes lames à talons épais débitées de nucléus plus larges. Parmi les outils retouchés, ce sont les quelques « couteaux de Sugikubo » (des pointes à dos élancées de profil rectiligne) dont les supports correspondent à l’intention première du débitage étroit, quelques autres outils étant réalisés sur des supports de second choix. Un tel couteau de Sugikubo, dans une collection similaire, présente une fracture à longue languette inverse qui suggère fortement qu’il s’agit en fait, au moins pour partie, de pointes de projectile. Le débitage large, lui, avait pour intention première l’obtention de grandes lames pointues, très difficiles à réaliser, tandis que ses nombreux produits de second choix et d’aménagement restent bruts (utilisables comme couteaux) ou se retrouvent dans les « burins de Kamiyama » (en fait, de très probables couteaux ravivés comme les couteaux de Kostienki).
Une expérimentation montre que les deux débitages sont réalisés par percussion directe à la pierre tendre, mais selon des modalités distinctes : par percussion tangentielle pour les lames légères à petit talon, par percussion en retrait pour les lames plus fortes à gros talon
Prospectando rochas fluviais e artefatos do Paleolítico Médio Africano descobertos ao longo do Rio Cunene, fronteira entre Angola e Namíbia
Get PDFAlthough many important prehistoric sites are known from South Africa, few comparable contexts have been discovered and documented in the northern Namibia and southern Angola borderlands. During a geomorphic assessment of riparian corridors in Namibia’s Kaokoveld region, Middle Stone Age (MSA in Africa; broadly correlative with European Paleolithic) lithic artifacts were found preserved in unstratified plein air sites located atop a terrace adjacent to the perennial Cunene River. These remains attest to hominin activities along the northern edge of the modern hyperarid Namib Desert, which receives less than 100 mm of rainfall in a year. The location of the archaeological site is quite remote, and is along the eastern perimeter of the hyperarid Cunene erg (sandsea), and downstream of the Marienfluss–Hartmann Valley near Serra Cafema, At the Cafema site (as it is known), more than 30 lithic artifacts are preserved in the Cunene River valley, in context of a former river terrace. The artifacts discovered by a walking survey include quartzite flakes, cores, and points with some edge abrasion and varnish, including the first Levallois-Mousterian points found in this region of Africa. Since the archaeology of this area is poorly known, these cultural assemblages enable initial correlations across the continent, and provide a basis for reconstructing provenience, procurement and tool manufacture during the Middle Pleistocene, the time frame marked by the first appearance and the dispersal of the modern human species Homo sapiens.
To assess the potential source areas for lithic raw materials in this region, pebble counting methods and compositional assessment were conducted on the artifacts and Quaternary alluvium (Qal) of the relict river terrace at Cafema. Based on the composition of the artifacts found on the surface, siliceous rock was an important resource for lithic manufacture during the MSA; this is reflected in the observation that quartzite was overwhelmingly the dominant material used in the stone tool manufacture. Quartzite is generally known to be a preferred material for making tools of consistent size, ease of knapping, quality of form-shape, and persistence of edge retention.
To define regional procurement areas where hominin may have acquired quartzite raw materials at local (0-5 km), regional (6-20 km) and supra-regional (21-100 km) scales, we examined the geological outcrops in the region to identify potential sources. Due to its remoteness, the geology of this region of southern Africa is not well known, and the available maps are only available at coarse scales of resolution. Geologic outcrops along the Cunene River include some of the world’s oldest rocks dating to the Vaalian ~1760 Ma, and comprise part of a Large Igneous Province (LIP) that stretches across the African continent. The local bedrock outcrops near Cafema include a medium-to-high grade metamorphic complex, granitoids, and surrounding country rock -- these rocks comprise the rugged mountainous terrain incised by the Cunene River.
Since quartzite is the dominant clast type occurring as raw material in the river terrace where the MSA artifacts themselves were found, we can conclude that river terrace materials (Qal) themselves were among the likely raw material sources exploited during antiquity. Rounded quartzite boulders and cobbles are present as surface lag, along with the artifacts in the Qal within the relict river terrace at the plein air site. The river terrace itself is the closest source to the observed artifacts. If the raw material source was alluvial (i.e., within the Qal unit), quartzite river cobbles may have been derived from outcrops located further upstream the Cunene system, which is a large river network that drains a diversity of geologic units. Although it is not possible to identify the precise formation and procurement area of origin, we offer some relative assessments about likely source areas within the region, based on the geology. The specific geologic units that may have contributed quartzite clasts to the Qal river terrace include the (1) Damara Sequence (Nda); and (2) lithologies within the undifferentiated Mokolian unit, which are not well mapped in detail. The closest potential primary sources of quartzite raw materials in Nda rock outcrops (i.e., not alluvium within the Qal terrace at the site) are located within 2 km of the Cafema site. However, confirmed source locales in the past could not be specifically identified in the field.
The hypothesis offered is that the Qal alluvial components within the relict terrace of the Cunene River was a preferred source for quartzite lithic raw materials used by mobile hunter-gatherers to make tools during the MSA, sometime after ~225 kya. Cafema is the first MSA site in northern Namibia that is in direct stratigraphic context with a securely dated unit. A replicate OSL-SAR date ~220 kyr has provided initial age constraints on a sandy unit preserved within the cobble-boulder Qal terrace fill, and constrains the maximum age for the overlying archaeological assemblage. These findings advance the reconstruction of this cultural landscape through a geoarchaeological lens, and form a basis for understanding the relict Pleistocene landscape and environment, its plant resources, and proximity to raw material sources within the riparian corridor of the perennial Cunene River. Vestígios líticos do Paleolítico Médio Africano (PMA) preservados em corredores ribeirinhos como o perene Rio Cunene atesta a presença de atividades pré-históricas ao longo da atual divisa entre Angola e Namíbia. Próximo à Serra Cafema, mais de 30 vestígios líticos preservados em um contexto a céu aberto (plein-air) incluem lascas de quartzito, núcleos e pontas com alguma abrasão e polimento nos gumes, incluindo as primeiras pontas Levallois encontradas nesta região da África. Uma vez que a arqueologia desta região é pobremente conhecida, estas coleções culturais permitem correlações iniciais e fornecem uma base para reconstrução da proveniência, da procura e da produção de artefatos durante o PMA. Para avaliar as potenciais áreas-fonte de matéria-prima nesta região, métodos de contagem de seixos e avaliações composicionais foram conduzidos nos vestígios e no aluvião Quaternário (Qal) do terraço do rio. A fonte primária em potencial mais próxima de quartzito está em afloramentos rochosos localizados dentro de 2 km de distância do sítio, mas áreas-fonte confirmadas não foram identificadas especificamente. Uma hipótese emergente é que o Qal no terraço do Rio Cunene era uma fonte preferida para coleta de quartzito enquanto matéria prima pelos grupos móveis de caçadores-coletores durante o PMA após 225 mil anos atrás
Knowth passage-grave in Ireland: An instrument of precision astronomy?
Get PDFKnowth is one of three large monuments at the Neolithic complex in the bend of the River Boyne in County Meath, Ireland. The others are Newgrange and Dowth. All three have obvious solar alignments but whereas the alignment to the winter solstice sunrise at Newgrange has been extensively researched and interpreted, little has been attempted regarding the way that astronomy functions at Knowth and Dowth. This paper treats the evidence for solar and lunar alignments at Knowth.
Knowth has two internal passages with entrances at the east and west. The paper draws on new surveys as well as interpretations of the evidence at Knowth that includes rock art engraved on kerbstones around the circumference. Particular engravings on kerbstone K52 are interpreted as depicting astronomical cycles. It is argued that, while Knowth’s passages function in relation to the equinoxes, they are not internally orientated to match exactly the equinoctial directions. Rather, it seems that they may have been constructed and used to facilitate the harmonisation of the solar and lunar cycles - much in the same way as does the equinoctial Judeo-Christian festival of Easter. The paper concludes by suggesting that like Newgrange, Knowth may be an astronomical instrument that enabled its builders and users to construct accurate calendars and counting systems, which in turn facilitated calculated planning and was a fundamental structuring principle for their ritual lives and cosmological beliefs
Event review: The Archaeology Centre Chert Crawl and Knap-in (Ontario, Canada)
Get PDFArchaeologists from quite a few departments in the University of Toronto and from the Greater Toronto Area archaeological community use the Archaeology Centre as a hub for collaboration and for organizing member-led group activities. In April 2017, the Lithics Interest Group hosted its annual Knap-In and Goat Roast, this year augmented by a trip to the nearby Niagara Escarpment for chert to knap. Beginning with this new chert sourcing expedition, through flintknapping, food processing, and finally cooking via delightful communal barbecue the Lithics Interest Group members were able to get a sense of a few of the stages a lithic artifact goes through as it may be used before its discard into the archaeological record
GIS-based landscape analysis of megalithic graves in the Island of Sardinia (Italy)
Get PDFOne of the most important megalithic groups in Western Europe in terms of number and characteristics is the group of over 200 monuments of various types in Sardinia. It now seems to be confirmed that the rise of the megalithic phenomenon was during the culture of San Michele of Ozieri (Late Neolithic, 4000-3300 B.C.E.). The Sardinian dolmen graves, however, had a maximum distribution during the Chalcolithic, as evidenced by most of the finds from excavations. The phenomenon also shows a close relationship beyond Sardinia and especially with the monuments of Catalonia, Pyrenees, non-coastal departments of French-midi, Corsica and Puglia.
About 90 dolmen graves of various types have been investigated, namely the simple type, “corridor” type, “allée couverte” type, and others of uncertain attribution, located in central-western Sardinia, and particularly in a significant area of ca. 3500 km2 coinciding with the historical regions of Marghine-Planargia, Middle Valley of Tirso and Montiferru. This includes some 40% of all Sardinian dolmens. Locational trends and relationships with regard to landscape elements were studied with the aid of GIS methodologies such as viewshed and cost surface analysis. This allowed an evaluation of the role of visual dominance on the surroundings in relation to waterways and natural access routes.
These dolmens enjoy an isolated positional character, being found more often in high plateaus, but also on low plateaus and hills. Although different concentrations are found in dolmenic graves, these do not seem to have any direct relationship among them, but their influence is apparently directed towards travel routes and sensitive elements of the landscape that have capabilities of territorial demarcation.
The particular location emphasizes the significance of these monuments as territorial markers for segmentary societies. It seems that a dolmen was constructed according to the territory immediately surrounding it. This reinforces the hypothesis of there being a secondary task, in addition to that of burial, to symbolize a message or landmark for those who moved towards "another" territory: a sign of belonging
Book review: Drawing Lithic Artefacts
Get PDFDrawing Lithic Artefacts
By Yannick Raczynski-Henk
Sidestone Press, 2017, pp. 50. ISBN 978-908-890-530-8
https://www.sidestone.com/books/drawing-lithic-artefact