Journal of Lithic Studies
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Resenha de livro: Introdução ao Estudo da Pedra Lascada
Get PDFDe acordo com os organizadores do livro, as universidades de Portugal usufruem muito de manuais de análise de vestígios líticos escritos em língua estrangeira. Isto se justifica pela falta destes manuais em língua portuguesa, e este livro se apresenta com a pretensão de preencher esta lacuna. O livro é dividido em duas partes. A primeira parte trata de “metodologias”, e possui quatro capítulos; enquanto a segunda parte trata da “perspectiva diacrônica”, e possui três capítulos que realizam um apanhado geral das indústrias líticas Europeias.De acordo com os organizadores do livro, as universidades de Portugal usufruem muito de manuais de análise de vestígios líticos escritos em língua estrangeira. Isto se justifica pela falta destes manuais em língua portuguesa, e este livro se apresenta com a pretensão de preencher esta lacuna. O livro é dividido em duas partes. A primeira parte trata de “metodologias”, e possui quatro capítulos; enquanto a segunda parte trata da “perspectiva diacrônica”, e possui três capítulos que realizam um apanhado geral das indústrias líticas Europeias.
Introdução ao Estudo da Pedra Lascada
editado por Juan Francisco Gibaja & António Faustino Carvalho
Edições Colibri, 2012, pp. 108. ISBN 978-989-689-213-5
http://www.edi-colibri.pt/Detalhes.aspx?ItemID=162
Searching for the Scottish Late Upper Palaeolithic: A case study from Nethermills Farm, Aberdeenshire
Get PDFIn connection with the recent examination, cataloguing and discussion of approximately 30,000 mainly Mesolithic lithic artefacts from Nethermills Farm at Banchory in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, excavated by the late James Kenworthy in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a small number of finds were identified as almost certainly whole or fragmented Late Upper Palaeolithic lithic artefacts, and others as pieces likely to date to this period. The Nethermills flint objects add to a growing list of Late Upper Palaeolithic sites and implements identified across Scotland, including tanged and other points, scrapers, and truncated pieces from Howburn in South Lanarkshire and Kilmelfort Cave on the Scottish west-coast, as well as tanged and other points from the Western and Northern Isles, with eastern Scotland so far having yielded none. On the basis of this case study, the authors suggest an approach for the continued search for Late-Glacial settlers in Scotland in general, as well as for further investigation of the large Nethermills Farm assemblage. The proposed approach suggests that we focus not only on diagnostic tool forms (in particular, tanged and backed points), which have been the focus of Scottish Late Upper Palaeolithic research thus far, but also include other chronologically significant elements, such as diagnostic technological attributes and full operational schemas
Les productions lithiques de l’Archipel indonésien
Get PDFDrawing up a synthesis on the prehistory of an archipelago and its lithic assemblages is not an easy thing because of the vastness of the island space with a total surface of two millions km2, and because the notion of Palaeolithic is inapplicable, especially the “Upper Palaeolithic” or “Epipalaeolithic-Mesolithic” used for Western Eurasia. Indonesia and its myriad of islands and islets (about 18,000) are part of a 5,000 km by 2,000 km rectangle on both sides of the equator, making it the largest archipelago in the world. This immense geographical area stretching over a maritime area of about 6 million km2, does not allow us today to treat exhaustively all industrial groups, facies or prehistoric cultures. For this reason we will only discuss the main ones. Indonesia occupies a privileged place for the history of fossil men, which makes it unavoidable in the knowledge of the variability of the behavior of hominids in inter-tropical context. The aim of this is to present a critical and objective overview on the various known methods for knapping stone for the last 1 million year on the main islands and in the sites with well established and well dated stratigraphy.
Few technocomplexes are well defined before the Holocene, a period when the insularity of this geographical area was set by rising sea level which progressively marked the beginning of the history of the insulindian archipelagos. These include the "Toalian" in Sulawesi (facies with points), the "Sampungian" (facies with points) and Song Keplek or “Keplekian” flake industries (orthogonal débitage) in the eastern part of the Java Island. Other than these three technical traditions which remain recognizable on a typo-technological level, most of the other materials encountered do not correspond to distinct facies associated with specific tools. As a general rule, the Upper Pleistocene and Indonesian Holocene lithic industries respond to a basic production of flakes and flake tools with multiple regional variants. The débitage mode is very largely made with hard stone direct percussion, non Levallois, rarely Discoid, and with no blade-bladelet productions as seen in Western Europe or in the Near and Middle East. Unlike continental South-East Asia, where it is even more difficult to discern an Early, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic due to the continuity of industries all made on pebble (Hoabinhian and others), Indonesia (which becomes insular during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition) presents an unprecedented heterogeneity of lithic assemblages. That is to say, a diversity in the lithic production methods according to different chaînes opératoires for shaping (pebble, Sampung type point, biface, etc.) or for débitage (discoid, orthogonal and laminar).
The purpose of this article is to summarize the main lithic assemblages of the Indonesian Archipelago based on a selection of islands on which lithic assemblages have been properly documented. Our focus will be on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan (Borneo), Sulawesi, and other more oriental ones, which, like Timor and Flores, have in recent years provided major discoveries in Palaeoanthropology and in Prehistory. We have been forced to make regional and chronological divisions (Early-Middle Pleistocene and Late Final Pleistocene - Early Holocene) in order to better present this review on lithic assemblages that have not all been the subject of in-depth technological studies, especially from the chaîne opératoire concept point of view.Proposer une synthèse sur la préhistoire d’un archipel et de ses assemblages lithiques n’est pas chose facile, d’une part à cause de l’immensité de l’espace concerné mesurant 2 millions de km2, d’autre part du fait que la notion de Paléolithique y est difficilement applicable et notamment celles de « Paléolithique supérieur » ou d’Epipaléolithique-Mésolithique établies en Eurasie occidentale. L’Indonésie et ses myriades d’îles et îlots (environ 18000) s’inscrivent dans un rectangle 5000 km sur 2000 km de part et d’autre de l’équateur ce qui en fait le plus grand archipel du monde. Cette aire géographique immense s’étirant sur un espace maritime d’environ 6 millions de km2, ne nous permet pas aujourd’hui de traiter exhaustivement l’ensemble des groupes industriels, des faciès ou des cultures préhistoriques, c’est pour cela que nous aborderons les principaux. L’Indonésie occupe une place privilégiée pour l’histoire des hommes fossiles qui la rend incontournable dans les connaissances de la variabilité des comportements des hominidés en contexte intertropical. Cette contribution a pour objectif de dresser un bilan critique et objectif des différentes méthodes de taille rencontrées depuis 1 million d’années sur les principales îles à partir d’une sélection de sites dont la stratigraphie est bien établie et bien datée.
Rares sont les technocomplexes bien définis avant l’Holocène, période où l’insularité de cette aire géographique s’est fixée avec la remontée marine marquant progressivement le début de l’histoire des archipels insulindiens. Parmi ceux-ci nous citerons le « Toalien » à Sulawesi (faciès à pointes), le « Sampungien » (faciès à pointes) et les industries sur éclats de Song Keplek ou « Keplekien » (débitage orthogonal) dans l’Est de l’île de Java. Hormis ces trois traditions techniques qui restent individualisables sur un plan typo-technologique, il n’y a pas dans l’ensemble du matériel rencontré, de faciès différentiables associés à une dénomination d’outils spécifiques. En règle générale, les industries lithiques du Pléistocène supérieur et de l’Holocène indonésien répondent à une production basique d’éclats et d’outils sur éclats avec de multiples variantes régionales. Le mode de débitage est très largement à la pierre dure, non Levallois, rarement Discoïde, non lamino-lamellaire tel qu’on peut le rencontrer en Europe de l’Ouest ou au Proche et Moyen-Orient. Contrairement à l’Asie du Sud-Est continentale où il est encore plus difficile de discerner un Paléolithique ancien, moyen et récent du fait de la continuité d’industries toutes réalisées sur galet (Hoabinhien et autres), l’Indonésie qui devient insulaire à la marge du Pléistocène et de l’Holocène propose une hétérogénéité des assemblages lithiques sans précédent. C’est-à-dire une diversité dans les modalités de production lithique selon différentes chaînes opératoires de façonnage (galet, pointe de type de Sampung, biface...) ou de débitage (discoïde, orthogonal et laminaire).
Le but de cet article est donc de présenter de façon synthétique les principaux ensembles lithiques de l’Archipel indonésien à partir d’une sélection d’îles sur lesquelles des assemblages lithiques ont pu être correctement documentés. Nous nous intéresserons ainsi aux îles de Sumatra, de Java, de Kalimantan (Bornéo), de Sulawesi, et à quelques autres plus orientales qui, comme Timor et Flores, ont, ces dernières années, livré des découvertes de premier plan en paléoanthropologie et en préhistoire. Par commodité, nous avons été obligés de procéder à des coupures régionales et chronologiques (Pléistocène ancien-moyen et Pléistocène supérieur final-Holocène ancien) qui permettent d’exposer au mieux cette synthèse sur des assemblages lithiques qui n’ont pas tous fait l’objet d’études technologiques approfondies au sens où nous pouvons l’entendre en Europe avec l’utilisation du concept de chaîne opératoire
Jazidas de matérias-primas líticas brasileiras: Uma visão geológica
Get PDFThe main purpose of the current study is to help researchers and students studying lithics in Brazilian archaeology to understand, through a macro-regional scale, the potential sources of the main occurrences of lithic raw materials in Brazil. This potential is presented from a qualitative point of view and has been divided along two perspectives. The first approach recalls the geological areas known as shields. These are the Guianas, Central Brazil, and Atlantic, and together, they account for 57.3% of the national territory. The sedimentary basins, more significant in size, are the Amazonas, Foz do Amazonas, Parnaíba, Sanfranciscana, Pantanal and Paraná, and account for the remaining 42.7% of the terrain. The second approach presents the lithic potential according to the major geomorphologic domains called the Amazonian, Cerrado, Mares de Morros, Caatinga, Mata de Araucárias, Prairies and Transition Zones, although this paper focuses only on the first four mentioned. Properly defining the nature of the lithic raw materials has been an issue for archaeologists, particularly those materials whose macroscopic features are similar and very fine grained, such as flint, chert, chalcedony, silcrete, silicified sandstone and fine sandstone. The lack of field activities in Brazilian archaeology courses results in not providing a minimum basis in mineralogy, geology and geomorphology for archaeology works to be carried out properly. In cases where the archaeological lithic studies are the main subject of the work or research, the scenario may be even worse due to the lack of availability of public domain geological maps at appropriate scale, in such a way that the small rock bodies, often classified as potential lithic occurrences, are not represented. To be used both in reference work, field research and laboratory stages, this paper provides simplified schemes of classification and identification for the most common rocks and minerals found at archaeological sites in Brazil, also mentioning the basic processes of rocks formation. Aging more than 541 million years, the shields are formed mainly by igneous intrusive and metamorphic rocks and their height ranges from 300 to 3000 meters. Their main raw materials, potentially useful for the lithic industries, are the granites, granodiorites, gabbros, diabases, amphibolites, quartzites, gneisses, iron formations, metamorphosed limestones, soapstones, jaspilites, laterites, quartz, hematite, manganese oxides and, more rarely, sillimanite and amazonite. Constituted by sedimentary and extrusive rocks as well as sediments, and located in regions whose altitude is below 300 meters high, the sedimentary basins age less than 541 million years. The most frequent sedimentary rocks, which are useful for the lithic industry, are sandstones, siltstones, arkoses, limestones and less commonly silexites and cherts; the main volcanic rocks are basalts, less frequently rhyolites and rhyodacites and very rare obsidians; among the minerals, can be mentioned agate, chalcedony and quartz; and gravel pebbles, laterites and silcretes as Tertiary-Quaternary sediments. The pebbles of fluvial and coastal gravels can contain certain rocks and minerals from practically all examples mentioned in the shields and sedimentary basins. The Brazilian river system, constituted by abundant water bodies, most of them draining shield areas and rugged terrains in basins, provided in the archaeological past a significant lithologic variety for those human populations, and such condition must be considered in the lithic studies in Brazil.O trabalho tem como propósito auxiliar estudantes, pesquisadores e profissionais de Arqueologia a compreenderem a potencialidade de ocorrência de jazidas das principais matérias-primas líticas no Brasil em uma escala macrorregional. Essa potencialidade é apresentada de forma qualitativa e geologicamente setorizada: áreas que ocupam 42,7% do país e geologicamente conhecidas como Escudos Cristalinos, designados das Guianas, do Brasil Central e Atlântico; e áreas distribuídas no restante do território, as Bacias Sedimentares, sendo as maiores denominadas do Amazonas, da Foz do Amazonas, do Parnaíba, Sanfranciscana, do Pantanal e do Paraná. Em seguida, a potencialidade é mostrada com relação ao seu posicionamento nos maiores domínios paisagísticos brasileiros, denominados Amazônico, Cerrado, Mares de Morros, Caatingas, Matas de Araucária, Pradarias e Faixas de Transição. A escassez de atividades de campo da maioria dos cursos brasileiros de Arqueologia e Antropologia em geral não proporciona um embasamento em Mineralogia, Geologia e Geomorfologia para o desenvolvimento de pesquisas ou trabalhos arqueológicos. Nos casos específicos que envolvem investigações voltadas aos estudos líticos, esta realidade é agravada pela carência de mapas geológicos em escala apropriada. Para auxiliar a identificação das rochas e minerais mais frequentemente encontrados nos sítios arqueológicos brasileiros com material lítico são apresentados esquemas simplificados de classificação e identificação dos mesmos. Estes esquemas são particularmente úteis para identificar a natureza de matérias-primas líticas silicosas macroscopicamente similares e de grão muito fino como sílex, cherte, calcedônia, silcrete, arenito silicificado e quartzito fino, e as formas mais frequentes de quartzo. Embora não constitua propósito da pesquisa abarcar as matérias-primas pétreas da maioria dos sítios arqueológicos do Brasil, são feitas referências às naturezas líticas das indústrias de alguns deles
Stonehenge and Avebury: Megalithic shadow casting at the solstices at sunrise
Get PDFThe paper examines how specific megaliths at Stonehenge and Avebury were positioned relative to others and to particular sunrises such as to produce watchable effects arising from solar movement and resulting lithic shadows. At Stonehenge and environs numerous research expeditions (exceeding 120 that started in 1981) combined with accurate compass analysis, photography and studies of the best plans of the sarsen-stone and bluestone phases have led to explanations for apparent anomalies of stone positioning that have not been clarified before.
Firstly, at the summer solstice in the Late Neolithic the Altar Stone was illuminated by sunshine for the first three or four minutes of the day, following which the shadow of the round-topped Heel Stone was cast into the middle of Stonehenge to reach the Altar Stone. This circumstance continues to be witnessed today. It is a consequence of the Heel Stone being deliberately offset from the Stonehenge axis of symmetry. Again, there is the offset positioning of the anomalous half-height, half-width, Stone 11 that disrupts the otherwise regular arc of the lintelled sarsen circle. It is also a fact that the Altar Stone, although on the midsummer sunrise axis and bisected by it, does not lie perpendicular to the monument’s axis but is instead angled lengthways in the direction of the winter solstice sunrise. The same is true of the orientation of the Great Trilithon (as recently discussed by T. Daw). This suggests that the Altar Stone and the Great Trilithon were deliberately positioned this way in order to respect and emphasise an older arrangement in which a midwinter sunrise megalithic setting had been important. Such an arrangement involving the winter solstice sunrise still exists because the shadow of the short round-topped Stone 11 at sunrise appears aimed at the rhyolite ignimbrite Bluestones 40 and 38 - both of which are damaged, fallen and possibly parts of a single original. In similar manner the site of Hole G could indicate the former position of an ancestral stone with regard to equinoctial sunrises. Thus, these shadow-casting experiences for sunrise at Stonehenge may have affinities with the proven stone-to-stone casting of shadows for the same significant calendar dates at the carefully examined Drombeg Stone Circle. At Avebury the stones of the Cove in the northern circle together with Avebury’s Stone F harmonize likewise at the summer solstice sunrise. Two surviving megaliths in Avebury’s southern circle behave similarly. It is discussed whether an explanation in terms of the ancient worldview of the hieros gamos between Sky and Earth may be appropriate for Stonehenge and Avebury as it could also be at Drombeg
Introduction: Beyond the reduction sequence and new insights in lithic technology
Get PDFThe proceedings of the B23 Session held during the XVII UISPP/IUPPS conference (1-7 September 2014, Burgos, Spain) are published in this issue of the Journal of Lithic Studies. The title of the session, "Beyond the reduction sequence: new insights in lithic technology", aimed to increase awareness about current methods in studies on stone assemblages
As indústrias do Paleolítico Inferior e Médio associadas ao Terraço T4 do Baixo Tejo (Portugal central); Arquivos da mais antiga ocupação humana no oeste da Ibéria, com ca. 340 ka a 155 ka
Get PDFBecause of their geomorphological and sedimentary records, rivers provide relevant archives of palaeoenvironmental change, namely palaeoclimatic and palaeogeographic. Well-dated long-term sedimentary successions sequences are of the most value, with the ages of sedimentary events, included fossils and archaeological materials provided by a range of numerical dating techniques. The Quaternary fluvial archives of the Tejo River in Portugal (the Lower Tejo) can provide important data for studies of landscape and sedimentary evolution, but also of the early human occupation. The present state of art achieved by using methods of geomorphology, lithostratigraphy, sedimentology, archaeology and absolute dating in the study of the Lower Tejo River T4 terrace is here summarized.
The Lower Tejo has staircases that comprise a culminant sedimentary unit (the ancestral Tejo River, before the beginning of the fluvial incision stage) and six terraces (T1 to T6) located above the modern alluvial plain, with details as follows: T6 at +7-10 m (above river level), 64-32 ka, with Late Middle Palaeolithic (late Mousterian); T5 at +18-26 m, 136-75 ka, with Middle Palaeolithic industries and Mousterian knapping (Levallois); T4 at +34-48 m, ∼340-155 ka, with Lower Palaeolithic (Early to Late Acheulian) to early Middle Palaeolithic; T3, T2 and T1 do not contain archaeological materials and only from the T3 (+43-78 m) and T1 (+84-164 m) finite absolute ages were obtained. The prehistoric human occupation of this area is of renewed interest because it contains evidence for an extensive Palaeolithic occupation. Related archaeological sites are present on both sides of the river, from the vicinity of the Spanish border (Vila Velha de Ródão; upstream) to the Lisboa area (near the river mouth).
This work focuses on the Palaeolithic sites that were found on the T4 terrace, which is made of a basal Lower Gravels unit and an overlying Upper Sands unit.
The oldest artefacts previously found in the Lower Gravels unit of the T4 terrace, display crude bifacial forms that can be attributed to the Acheulian, with a probable age of ca. 340 to 325 ka.
In contrast, the lower and middle stratigraphic levels of the T4 Upper Sands unit has archaeological sites stratigraphically documenting successive phases of an evolved Acheulian, that were dated as ca. 325 to 200 ka. Notably, these Lower Paleolithic artisans were able to produce tools with different levels of sophistication, simply by applying different strategies. More elaborated reduction sequences were used in case of bifaces, and simpler reduction sequences to obtain cleavers. The differences observed in the lithic assemblages documented at each of these sites can be attributed to a certain degree to particular economic functionalities. But, simultaneously, taking into account the stratigraphic position of these sites and the global technological and typological characteristics of the most relevant tools types (bifaces, cleavers, side-scrapers) we are also impelled to consider the occurrence of local evolutionary chronological trends.
In stratigraphic levels at the top deposits of T4, Middle Paleolithic industries have been found and probably date as ca. 165 to 155 ka.
In the context of the human settlements of the Middle Pleistocene recognized on the terraces of the Tagus River in Portugal, most of the sites mentioned here in detail, contained in sedimentary deposits of the T4 Terrace and with a chronology of ca. 340 ka to ca. 180 ka, belong to the Lower Paleolithic. The data currently available seem to suggest the possibility of some variability in the lithic industries, if we consider sites with bifaces and hand axes, such as those of Monte Famaco and Vale do Forno (VF1 and VF8), with bifaces, but without axes as in Castelo Velho, to the sites of Fonte da Moita and Ribeira da Ponte da Pedra, where there are industries rich in fine pebbles and rare bifacial pieces. However, it should be pointed out that the specific reality of each of these sites is not comparable with the rest. In fact, this variability is further accentuated when the cave sites of the Almonda spring are introduced into the equation.
The correlation of the already known results and the ones to be obtained in the future with the reality of other regions and with other contexts also already identified in the region, as is the case of the recent findings in karst cavities will not fail to enrich the discussion about the variability of the data known.Através dos registos geomorfológicos e sedimentares, os rios fornecem relevantes arquivos de mudanças paleoambientais, nomeadamente paleoclimáticas e paleogeográficas. As sucessões sedimentares melhor datadas são as mais importantes, com as idades numéricas dos respetivos dos eventos sedimentares, de fósseis e de materiais arqueológicos, obtidas por uma variedade de técnicas. Os arquivos fluviais do Quaternário fornecidos pelo rio Tejo em Portugal (Baixo Tejo) constituem um importante repositório de dados para estudos da evolução da dinâmica sedimentar e da paisagem, bem como da ocupação humana pré-histórica. O atual estado de conhecimentos resultantes das sucessivas abordagens usando métodos da geomorfologia, litostratigrafia, arqueologia e datação numérica no estudo do Terraço T4 do Baixo Tejo é aqui sintetizado. Este trabalho tem enfoque nos sítios com indústrias do Paleolítico que foram encontradas no Terraço T4, o qual é constituído por uma unidade basal de cascalheiras e uma unidade superior dominada por areias. Os mais antigos artefactos são de rara ocorrência e foram encontrados na unidade de Cascalheiras Inferiores, apresentando formas bifaciais pouco elaboradas que podem ser atribuídas ao Acheulense, com uma idade provável de ca. 340 a 325 ka. Em contraste, os níveis estratigráficos inferiores e médios da unidade de Areias Superiores do T4 apresenta vários sítios arqueológicos que documentam fases sucessivas de um Acheulense evoluído, que foram datados de ca. 325 a 200 ka. Nos níveis estratigráficos dos depósitos do topo do T4 foram encontradas indústrias do Paleolítico Médio e datam, provavelmente, de ca. 165 a 155 ka
La technologie de débitage laminaire bipolaire au Proche-Orient durant le Néolithique précéramique B (PPNB)
Get PDFCet article présente un état des lieux actualisé des origines, de la diffusion et de la variabilité de la technologie laminaire bipolaire durant le Néolithique précéramique B dans l’aile occidentale du Croissant fertile. Les recherches confirment que son apparition aux alentours de 8900-8800 cal. BCE dans la moyenne vallée de l’Euphrate marque un changement décisif dans les traditions lithiques locales et la technologie des projectiles. Sa large diffusion dans des contextes socio-économiques variés, utilisant des matières premières différentes, et sa variabilité régionale et spatiale croissante observée dans le Levant suggèrent que la technologie bipolaire n’a, à priori, pas exigée l’existence d’une infrastructure économique soutenant une forme de spécialisation artisanale. Il apparaît alors essentiel d’évaluer si, et dans quelles circonstances, la technologie bipolaire peut être considérée comme une production spécialisée. Le débat sur les conditions de diffusion de cette technologie laminaire (transfert de connaissances ou « colonisation » démographique) est loin d’être clos. Son expansion rapide à travers différents écosystèmes ainsi que son adoption tout aussi rapide par des communautés fondées sur différents modes de subsistance suggère que la diffusion de la technologie laminaire bipolaire ne constitue qu’un élément d’une diffusion culturelle majeure plutôt que la simple expansion d’une méthode de débitage efficace. Enfin, l’abandon de cette technologie s’est produit dans des circonstances et des chronologies différentes au sein du Levant, ce qui révèle un processus de « déconnexion » entre le nord et le sud du Levant, entre les différents écosystèmes du Proche-Orient et des divergences croissantes dans les développements culturels du Néolithique dans la région commençant entre 7200 et 6900 cal. BCE
Fronteiras sul e sudeste: Uma análise morfométrica de pontas bifaciais de Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná e Rio Grande do Sul (Brasil)
Get PDFStyle and function in archaeological or ethnographic artifacts have been studied by a myriad of researchers through the most diverse theoretical approaches. In this context, the study of projectile points has been particularly useful in generating a greater knowledge of these artifacts as markers of identity, reflecting potential boundaries between groups. This work aims at exploring the differences in the morphology of Holocene bifacial points from Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul in light of the concepts of style and function set out by evolutionary archaeology. In this study, 248 points were analyzed by two dimensional geometric morphometrics. Although the analysis involves geometric morphometrics data of the complete point, the shape of the stem was considered to be of particular importance. According to the theoretical expectations and the heuristic models of style and function proposed by Dunnell (1978a), differences in the shape of the stem of the points can be considered a stylistic resource whose aspect and differential replication among groups was most likely due to stochastic processes. Thus, the theoretical expectation in this study is that the shape of the stem reflects the choices of the groups and, ultimately, is a reflection of potential ancient cultural boundaries. The results point to the presence of important differences in the size and general shape of the points from Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Paraná in relation to the points from Rio Grande do Sul. These differences can also be observed in the stem morphology, showing the benefit of the application of the heuristic dichotomy between style and function (sensu Dunnell 1978a) to better understand the presence of potential past cultural boundaries.Estilo e função em artefatos arqueológicos ou etnográficos têm sido estudados por uma miríade de pesquisadores através das mais diversas abordagens teóricas. Nesse contexto, o estudo de pontas de projétil tem sido particularmente útil para gerar um maior conhecimento acerca desses artefatos como marcadores de identidade, refletindo potenciais fronteiras entre grupos. Este trabalho visa explorar as diferenças na morfologia de pontas bifaciais holocênicas oriundas de Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná e Rio Grande do Sul à luz dos conceitos de estilo e função da Arqueologia Evolutiva. Foram analisadas 248 pontas através de morfometria geométrica em duas dimensões. Embora nossa análise envolva dados de morfometria geométrica da ponta completa, a forma dos pedúnculos foi considerada como sendo de particular importância. De acordo com as expectativas teóricas e os modelos heurísticos de estilo e função propostos por Dunnell (1978a), a especificidade na forma dos pedúnculos das pontas pode ser considerada um recurso estilístico cujo aspecto e replicação diferencial entre grupos se deu, muito provavelmente, por processos estocásticos. Assim, nossa expectativa teórica é que a forma dos pedúnculos reflita escolhas dos grupos e, em última instância, seja um reflexo de possíveis fronteiras culturais pré-históricas. Nossos resultados apontam para a presença de diferenças importantes no tamanho e forma geral das pontas de Minas Gerais, São Paulo e Paraná em relação às pontas do Rio Grande do Sul. Tais diferenças podem ser observadas também na morfologia dos pedúnculos, mostrando a utilidade da aplicação da dicotomia heurística entre estilo e função (sensu Dunnell 1978a) para melhor entender a presença de potenciais fronteiras culturais pretéritas
Book review: Twenty-Five Years on the Cutting Edge of Obsidian Studies: Selected Readings from the IAOS Bulletin
Get PDFEdited by Carolyn D. Dillian (Coastal Carolina University), Twenty-Five Years on the Cutting Edge of Obsidian Studies: Selected Readings from the IAOS Bulletin consists of 19 previously published articles from the International Association for Obsidian Studies (IAOS) Bulletin. Dillian selected these articles because they provide a range of methodological and theoretical approaches concerning archaeological obsidian studies from around the world like Eretria, California, and the Near East, for example.