Journal of Lithic Studies
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Presenting LusoLit: A lithotheque of knappable raw materials from central and southern Portugal
Get PDFThe knowledge of where past human populations collected their raw materials to produce stone-tools is crucial to understand subjects such as their territoriality, mobility, decision-making, range of acquisition, networks and, eventually, to infer their cognitive abilities and the adaptations to new environments, landscapes and territories. Therefore, the creation of lithic reference collections (lithotheque) is of utmost importance.
In geological terms, Portugal is a highly complex and diversified region, with a plethora of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks dated from Proterozoic to present days. Such diversity might have influenced considerably the human decision-making on the choices of raw material and it might be one of the major reasons for the diversity seen throughout the diachrony of its archaeological record. Thus, sampling, cataloguing and mapping the raw material diversity in a territory with such variability allows to enrich the knowledge about it and, consequently to build stronger inferences about past human behaviour with more detail and less bias.
In order to help the archaeological and anthropological research to better understand such archaeological record and past human behaviour in this territory, we started a reference collection for this region host in the University of Algarve: the LusoLit. Though in its early stages, this collection has already several hundred chert samples from Central and Southern Portugal. In this early stage, the raw material that we start collecting was chert because it is the least ubiquitous through the landscape and, consequently, that can provide better information.
 
Book review: Across Atlantic Ice: The Origin of America\u27s Clovis Culture
Get PDFNorth American Clovis culture is one of the most popular and well known archaeological cultures (known even by many laymen), however, our knowledge as to its origins is still quite scarce. The idea of this book is to challenge the long standing model that the ancestors of the Clovis people originated from an Asian tradition that came out of north-eastern Asia at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)
Clovis intentional bifacial overshot flaking: Two replica examples
Get PDFUnderstanding flaking technologies has become an important aspect for flaked stone analyses and interpretations. Experiments are increasingly being used to investigate aspects of technology. One of these aspects is the existence of a technique known as overshot flaking. While most researchers recognize that it happened some assert that it was an intentional technique unique to Solutrean and Clovis archaeological cultures. Others have disputed this assertion and have concluded that it was not a useful technique and therefore unintentional. This small study experimentally examines two reduction sequences that employed intentional overshot flaking and evaluates its usefulness. The conclusion is that it is a useful technique, for a number of reasons, and that it was intentionally employed in some past biface production strategies
Querns and mills during Roman times at the northern frontier of the Roman Empire (Belgium, Northern France, Southern Netherlands, Western Germany): Unraveling geological and geographical provenances, a multidisciplinary research project
Get PDFThis paper presents the results of a multi-disciplinary provenance study of querns and millstones during the Roman period (1st-4th century CE) in the northern part of the Roman Empire (provinces of Gallia Belgica and Germania Inferior). Comparative petrographical, mineralogical and geochemical analysis allowed an international team of archaeologists and geologists to identify the different raw materials used for the manufacturing of querns and millstones. As a result, (litho-) stratigraphic assignments as well as geological-geographical provenances are suggested or corroborated for the broad spectrum of these natural geo-materials. We give evidence for the exploitation of at least seven different rock types. They include sedimentary rocks (fine- to coarse-grained quartzitic and arkosic sandstones, conglomerates, limestones) and volcanic rocks (vesicular lavas) derived from different geological strata in the following geological-geographical settings: the volcanic Eifel area (Pleistocene lava), the Ardennes Massif (Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks) and the Paris and Northern Sea Basin (Cenozoic sedimentary rocks). Furthermore we show that a large diversity existed within different productions (different types of hand-mills and mechanical powered mills) and distribution patterns. This paper provides new data which will lead to new insights into the socio-economics of the local “Gallo-Roman” communities and into their networks within the northern Roman Empire
Preliminary analysis of the Late Natufian ground stone from Shubayqa 1, Jordan
Get PDFShubayqa 1 is a newly identified early and late Natufian site in the harra desert of northeastern Jordan. In addition to buildings, and rich chipped stone, faunal, and botanical assemblages, the site has produced a large collection of ground stone tools. This paper presents the result of a preliminary study of the ground stone artefacts associated with the late Natufian phase. Results indicate that while the assemblage is overall very similar to other Natufian sites in the Mediterranean zone, there are also some notable differences. Although grinding rather than pounding tools appear to be more important at the site, many tools were seemingly involved in both grinding and pounding activities. We hypothesize that this dual function could be explained by the processing of rhizome tubers, which were found in abundance at the site, and which may have represented an important food source for the inhabitants. In addition, we argue that the relationship between ground stone tools and cereal processing has been overemphasized and the processing of other plant food resources, in this case tubers could have been equally significant. While the processing of plant foods was one function, many tools are also associated with pigment stains, suggesting that they were involved in the processing of non-vegetal matter
The ground stone industry of the Mursi of Maki, Ethiopia: Ethnoarchaeological research on milling and crushing equipment (technique and function)
Get PDFNew ethnoarchaeological evidence is currently contributing to a better understanding of the techniques and functions related to the use of stone tools for grinding and milling. This paper explores how the Mursi people in Maki, Ethiopia use handstones in different ways and how they also use different types of handstones for preparation of a variety of foods. Rather than a pestle and mortar, the Mursi have technically adjusted their tools (querns and handstones) and use them for milling as well as crushing. For example, by using querns for the preparation of grain Mursi women have adapted their techniques and may also use a different handstone (depending on the type of grain they have selected or the final product they wish to prepare). Somehandstones are reserved only for crushing grain, others are only for milling, and some have a double function (i.e. they are used for both milling and grinding). (The term “grinding” is used here in terms of the transformation of flour products, while the term “crushing” is used in terms of the transformation of material into pieces.) Is there a connection between the dimensions and the functions of each tool? Can the morphometric characteristics of handstones be related to different types of use? This paper presents new and unpublished ethnographic information showing such a correlation in terms of the Mursi people
New data concerning “large blades” in Catalonia: Apt-Forcalquier chert in the Penedès (south of Barcelona) during the Late Neolithic - Chalcolithic
Get PDFThe study of large chert blades documented in funerary contexts from the Late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in the north-eastern part of Iberia has been addressed in recent works by the authors, in which 49 burial sites have been registered with more than 200 large chert blades. In this paper the recent data obtained from the study of seven archaeological sites located in the region of the Penedès (southwest of Barcelona) is presented.The macroscopic characterization of the knapped stone industries shows their great variety regarding the origin of the siliceous raw material, often coming from outside the analysed region. In some cases their macroscopic features link them to Apt-Forcalquier chert (Haut Provence, France), which was widely distributed in the form of large blades during these phases of Late Catalan prehistory.The absence of evidence of the chaîne opératoire production of this type of foreign chert in the lithic assemblages in Catalonia lead to the supposition that the dispersion of the blades was done as trade items, and only in a few cases were highly complex technological tools of this kind of raw material distributed (e.g., daggers). Use-wear analysis reveals that these blades were not merely luxury items in grave goods. Far from this idea, they have to be considered as functional, even multifunctional, items. All the same, it is thought that they must have had an important value because they moved from the domestic sphere to the graves. In fact, the pieces that usually remain are not small fragments, but whole or almost whole, large blades that normally remain effective.
The silica road: Field trip notes [La ruta del sílex: Guía de la excursión]
No full textDuring the 10th International Symposium on Knappable Materials (ISKM) held at Barcelona (Spain) in 2015, a field trip along “The Silica Road” was organized. It included the visit to different chert outcrops located along the Montsant Massif (Tarragona, NE Iberian Peninsula), and to the Middle Palaeolithic site of the Abric Romaní (Capellades, Barcelona), as important locations for the Prehistory of the North East of the Iberian Peninsula.This paper present some keynotes distributed to the symposium attendants. It consists on: 1) a brief geological framework of the Montsant Massif, located at the southern margin of the Catalan Central Depression. It includes the definition of their Palaeozoic to Cenozoic depositional sequence and the localization of some points of interests with panoramic views and source areas where Tertiary chert nodules were available. They represent a significant focus for the raw materials procurement of several Paleolithic occupations since Lower Pleistocene. 2) A general presentation of the Middle Palaeolithic site of the Abric Romaní site, including a brief reference of the three research phases initiated at the beginning of 20th Century, the description of its 50 meters stratigraphic sequence, where 27 archaeological levels have been identified dating since 110 to 39 ka BP, and some of the main traits of the archaeological assemblages recovered.Durante el 10th International Symposium on Knappable Materials (ISKM) celebrado en Barcelona (España) en septiembre de 2015, se programó una excursión denominada “La Ruta del sílex”. Esta salida incluyó la visita a distintos afloramientos con sílex próximos al Macizo del Montsant (Tarragona, NE Península Ibérica), y al yacimiento de Paleolítico Medio del Abric Romaní (Capellades, Barcelona), como localizaciones importantes para la Prehistoria del NE de la Península Ibérica.Este trabajo presenta las notas facilitadas a los asistentes durante la excursión. La guía se estructura en: 1) una breve introducción al marco geológico del Macizo del Montsant, localizado en el margen meridional de la Depresión Central Catalana. Ésta incluye la definición de su secuencia deposicional, desde el Paleozoico al Cenozoico, y la referencia a algunos puntos de interés con vistas panorámicas de la zona y silicificaciones disponibles, que supusieron un importante foco de aprovisionamiento de materias primas para distintas ocupaciones paleolíticas desde el Pleistoceno inferior.2) LA presentación general del yacimiento de Paleolítico medio del Abric Romaní, incluyendo una breve introducción a sus tres fases de investigación, iniciadas a principios del S.XX, la descripción de su secuencia estratigráfica con 50 metros de potencia y en la que se han identificado 27 niveles arqueológicos por el momento, y los rasgos principales de los conjuntos arqueológicos recuperados en él
An overview of the knapped stone economy at the Tărtăria site (Romania)
No full textThis study focused on sourcing the lithic artefacts from the Tărtăria site in the Transylvanian Basin. The objective was to establish a model of the procurement patterns of the population at the settlement. This site is located along the middle region of the Mureș River and has several habitation levels belonging to the Vinča A, Vinča B, Vinča-Turdaș (or Vinča C), Petrești and Coțofeni cultures (Middle Neolithic to Chalcolithic). Most of the results of this study are based on analysis of the artefacts from Iuliu Paul’s excavation in 1989. This knapped artefacts from the Tărtăria site were categorised by tool type, signs of usage and retouch, and probably geographic origin. The sources of the artefact materials were predicted based on macroscopic and petrographic analyses (polarized light optical microscopy).
The lithics appear to be made from the same types of materials found at other contemporary sites in the area. As with other sites, the most common imported material is obsidian, followed by Moldavian flint. Balkan flints represent only a small part of the assemblage. Of the local material, the vast majority is chert, likely local Trascău Mts. chert, which represents over half of the pieces in the assemblage. Although the site is closer to sources of jasper in the Metaliferi Mts. than some other Neotlihic and Chalcolithic sites down river, very few of the artefacts were made from jasper. (This may be due to an economic connection with nearby and contemporary, quarrying activity at the Piatra Tomii site.)
Obsidian is used almost exclusively for blades and flakes. The same is true for Moldavian flint, although scrapers were not uncommon. Cores and scrapers are more common among local material than among imported material. The percentages of each artefact type seem to remain relatively similar for each culture (i.e. with the progress of time). This shows that people were still using the same general types of tools.
The percentages of the different materials varies over time though. During the Vinča A and Vinča B phrases, local materials represent approximately 30% of the assemblage and imported materials represent c. 70%. After the Vinča B phase (i.e. entering into the Chalcolithic), the emphasis switches to local sources (representing c. 87%) while imported drop to c. 13%.
Two important observations can be made from this study. Firstly, with the possible exception of Balkan flint, the imported materials came from outside of the territories of the cultures at this site. This indicates that areas of similar artistic style (the main characteristic used to define culture areas) do not in fact match areas of economic interaction. This further supports the need for a redefining of cultures and cultural territories. Secondly, although the inhabitants during the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic used imported materials (especially obsidian), local materials became more and more predominant over time, possibly due to the introduction and continually increasing value of copper or increased self-sufficiency. The fact that this shift in material usage occurs most drastically during the transition to the Chalcolithic supports this idea
Book review: Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes: Sociopolitical, Economic and Symbolic Dimensions
Get PDFThe high Andes is one of the world’s great metallogenic provinces having produced and still providing very significant amounts of copper, silver, tin and historically, of course, gold. The Andean pre-Colombian metal mining tradition, clearly isolated from that of Eurasia, provides independent alternative examples of early, non-mechanised mining and its less tangible ‘sociopolitical, economic and symbolic dimensions’.