Journal of Lithic Studies
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Book review: From the Yenisei to the Yukon: Interpreting Lithic Assemblage Variability in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Beringia
Get PDFFrom the Yenisei to the Yukon: Interpreting Lithic Assemblage Variability in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene BeringiaEdited by Ted Goebel and Ian BuvitTexas A&M University Press, 2011, pp. 394. ISBN 978-1-60344-321-0 http://www.tamupress.com/product/From-the-Yenisei-to-the-Yukon,6578.asp
Second year and running strong
Get PDFWelcome to another issue of the Journal of Lithic Studies. This issue in fact marks our second year of publishing. We are definitely pleased with the progress that we have made so far and some of the new ideas that we have tried out
Book review: Seeing Lithics: A Middle-range Theory for Testing for Cultural Transmission in the Pleistocene
Get PDFSeeing Lithics represents a doctoral thesis submitted to Harvard University by Gilbert Tostevin in 2000. Tostevin is currently a professor of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota and has written extensively on human evolution, lithic technology, Old World archaeology, and Palaeolithic archaeology. These interests can be clearly seen in this book which develops a new theoretical and analytical approach to the study of cultural transmission in the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition.
Indexing flakes according to their mode of creation
No full textThe major dimensions of a flake are shown to accurately capture how a knapper\u27s actions manage the impact dynamics responsible for flake formation. When weight and density are also known, those same dimensions convey essential information about the volumetric geometry of a flake, including basic flake shapes typically valued for tools or to control core morphology. Combining the complementary modes of information allows the culturally imbedded heritage of a removed flake to be sufficiently represented that lithic analysts can reliably evaluate the mechanisms of flake formation without needing to be skilled flintknappers themselves. Presuming that habits of making flakes are culturally determined, it should be feasible to distinguish signature traits between lithic traditions
Twelve Month Download and View Report (Vol 1, Nr. 1)
No full textThe following report summarises the number of views and downloads of each of the articles in Volume 1, Number 1 of the Journal of Lithic Studies for the first twelve months after publication of this issue
A note on handaxe knapping products and their breakage taphonomy: an experimental view
Get PDFThe notion that broken artifacts provide a good indication of the taphonomic history of lithic assemblages is commonly accepted in prehistoric archaeology. High frequencies of broken artifacts are frequently viewed as an indication of the possible role of post-depositional processes such as high-energy fluvial transportation, trampling or plowing. Yet another alternative is that the breakage resulted from the knapping process itself.In this study, the knapping byproducts of biface shaping and thinning (the final stages of handaxe production) originating in several experiments were systematically studied and their breakage frequencies and patterns were determined. The breakage patterns observed for the experimental assemblages were then used in a model designed to simulate the effect of breakage resulting from post-depositional processes, providing the breakage patterns expected for such an assemblage.The breakage pattern and frequencies observed in the experimental assemblages and those provided by the model were then compared to an archaeological assemblage representing the production of Acheulian assemblages that include bifaces from the site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov (GBY), Israel. The results indicate that high breakage rates are inherent to the final stages of the Acheulian bifacial knapping process. Furthermore, they demonstrate that taphonomic (post-depositional) breakage changes the breakage pattern of the production stages in a systematic trend. Finally, the results show that the lithic assemblage of GBY presents breakage frequencies and patterns that are more similar to those of the experimental assemblages than those generated by the model. In the light of these results, it is suggested that this assemblage was not subjected to any breakage caused by post-depositional processes
Primer volumen en castellano de JLS: Una realidad y una reivindicación necesaria
Get PDFDebido al importante número de visitas y descargas a través de la red que recibe la revista electrónica de acceso abierto Journal of Lithic Studies (JLS) a través de su plataforma alojada por la School of History, Classics and Archaeology de la Universidad de Edimburgo, los responsables de la misma se pusieron en contacto conmigo para trabajar conjuntamente en su idea de editar números de JLS en idiomas distintos al inglés. El castellano había sido la lengua elegida para iniciar la serie, teniendo en cuenta el elevado número de hispanohablantes y la tradición científica de la lengua castellana en el ámbito de los estudios sobre las industrias líticas prehistóricas.Debido al importante número de visitas y descargas a través de la red que recibe la revista electrónica de acceso abierto Journal of Lithic Studies (JLS) a través de su plataforma alojada por la School of History, Classics and Archaeology de la Universidad de Edimburgo, los responsables de la misma se pusieron en contacto conmigo para trabajar conjuntamente en su idea de editar números de JLS en idiomas distintos al inglés. El castellano había sido la lengua elegida para iniciar la serie, teniendo en cuenta el elevado número de hispanohablantes y la tradición científica de la lengua castellana en el ámbito de los estudios sobre las industrias líticas prehistóricas
Métodos de talla y estrategias de reducción en la fabricación de foliáceos en el III milenio A.N.E.: El caso del yacimiento de El Tossal de la Munda (Vistabella del Maestrat, Castelló)
Get PDFIn this paper we present a technological study of leaf-like arrow points recovered in an open-air site from the 3th millennium B.C., named El Tossal de La Munda (Vistabella del Maestrazgo, Castellón). It is located at the central east of Spain, in the southern part of Iberian range in a mountainous area about 100 km far from the coast. The site is on a small flat-topped hill of about 5000 m² and it is 820 m.a.s.l. The upper surface has been strongly eroded and the lithic material has been found directly on the bedrock or over the dissolution clays. We recovered close to 5000 lithic remains, offering an assemblage mainly produced in the 3rd millennia BC: retouched blades and flakes as main groups, leaf-like arrow points, in addition to some other retouched tools as segments (one triangle, one bifacial circle and a trapezoid), scrapers, end-scrapers, denticulate and notches, one raclette and one drill. We also found two small adzes. The cores were intensively exhausted. Just some of them show bladelet scars but most of them are small discoid and irregular shaped cores for the production of small flakes. Few of them show marks of bipolar flaking on anvil. Within the lithic assemblage there is a sample of 73 bifacial rough-outs and projectile points at different reduction stages, from initial blanks to finished and used ones. In addition, we found one refit and one conjoint. All of them are leaf-like arrow points except a fragment showing shoulders as an exception. We have identified some typical accidents in bifacial reduction: fractured rough-outs, overshot flakes, overshot negatives and another accident that we named “bending notches”, linked principally to the pressure technique (two positives and two negatives). We analysed both preforms and finished leaf-like arrow points from a technological point of view, first trying to identify the blank type and shape, and secondly trying to distinguish knapping methods and techniques. We have divided the methods in three main types: parallels (adjacent and contiguous), alternating, and independent method. We have identified the strategies according to edges and blank faces management. In our case, only simple combinations has been detected, mainly alternate (first one face, after the other side on the same edge). We have divided leaf-like production in five technical stages, and we described the identified knapping methods and strategies used at the site according to the reduction stage. In order to show this, we describe in the paper the most significant cases of the site. The identification of blanks has been possible in most of the rough-outs, verifying that the blanks used at the site were irregular and cortical flakes, chunks, fissure slabs and small cores. Despite this, leaf-like production at the site was really homogeneous, applying the same methods and also managing the blank faces similarly. Alternate strategy is completely dominant, firstly removing the ventral face, secondly the dorsal part. The main knapping method used at the site is the independent method, removing consecutively the most highlighted ridges. When the sketch is advanced and reaches a regular shape, the application of parallel method series is common. Technically we have observed two phases: first direct percussion (mainly with stone hammer); second, pressure technique. Heat modifications have been detected in 20 rough-outs and projectiles but most of them seem to be non-intentional, exhibiting cupules and cracks. Most of the finished ones do not show double shine (heat patina).According to this, we state that leaf-like production at the site was not a specialized process but it recovers to use as blanks previously discarded flakes, chunks and exhausted cores, part of them recycled before burning. The elaboration of leaf-like arrow points was embedded in the laminar production, and it played a marginal role within a lithic reduction system that is focused on blade and bladelet production. They used mainly cortical and non-cortical flakes, that seem to be by-products of blade core preparation, or exhausted cores that were reused for this purpose. Despite most of the arrow points result in crude and thick foliated shapes, we argue that in this technological context, the use of waste as blanks constrains the knapping reduction, and lead to rude shapes. Derived from this, we discuss on the leaf-like arrow point morphology and its profitability, the resistance of thick-elliptical tips and their role in the technological framework of the site and its landscape. We also discuss about the visibility of the skilled knapping in this context, when small, irregular and cortical flakes, burned chunks and exhausted cores were used as a blank to make leaf-like projectiles.Este trabajo presenta el estudio de las cadenas operativas de producción de foliáceos encontrados en El Tossal de La Munda (Vistabella del Maestrazgo, Castellón). Se trata de un yacimiento en superficie situado en una pequeña muela caliza destacada, con una superficie superior muy erosionada en la que se recuperaron todos los elementos líticos visibles. Su repertorio tipológico presenta un periodo cronológico principal que podemos enmarcar en el IV y el III milenio A.N.E. Entre otros materiales, se recuperaron más de setenta reducciones bifaciales en diferentes fases, desde preformas iniciales a foliáceos finalizados y puntas con fracturas de impacto, además de restos de talla y lascas derivadas de todo el proceso. Presentamos el estudio tecnológico de esta muestra de fabricación de foliáceos, que expresa la adaptación a diferentes soportes iniciales: lascas corticales y no corticales, fracturas Siret, plaquetas, núcleos, entre otros; y que constata también una reutilización de materiales quemados.Así pues, en un contexto tecnológico de aprovechamiento intensivo de la materia prima y de adaptación a morfologías iniciales muy diversas, se documentan métodos de talla bastante sistemáticos: levantamientos aleatorios en las preformas, uso principal de la estrategia alterna en preformas avanzadas, e identificación de cortas series paralelas en puntas casi acabadas y completas. También se observa una tendencia clara a comenzar la reducción por la cara ventral en casi todas la preformas sobre lasca, y una cadena técnica bastante clara: preformas de medidas mayores al foliáceo se reducen primero con percusión directa, después por presión; mientras que las preformas de medidas semejante, se confeccionan directamente mediante presión.Los foliáceos completos y los que muestran evidencias de impacto, son mayoritariamente proyectiles espesos, la mayoría de ellos toscos y asimétricos. Es por tanto un escenario donde, aparentemente, las puntas cumplen su función perfectamente sin expresar atributos morfológicos ideales, destinando para su fabricación, lo que parecen ser lascas de limpieza de núcleos, morfologías iniciales muy exigentes en algunos casos, incluso reciclando materiales muy quemados.Por tanto, la cadena operativa de la fabricación de foliáceos en El Tossal de La Munda tiene un papel marginal en el contexto lítico, más centrado en la producción laminar. Además, creemos que en este contexto, la valoración de maestría o aprendizaje a partir de preformas y resultados finales, es muy subjetiva, puesto que se aprovechan soportes muy difíciles de reducir
Prefaci: 10th International Symposium on Knappable Materials
Get PDFLa Universitat de Barcelona (UB) va acollir del 7 al 11 de setembre de 2015 l’International Symposium on Knappable Materials a la Facultat de Geografia i Història del campus Raval. En un ambient agradable i distès de recerca i intercanvi de coneixements i experiències per al qual fou fonamental la bona feina organitzativa i de gestió de tots els organismes i agents participants
The chert quarrying and processing industry at the Piatra Tomii site, Romania
Get PDFFieldwalking surveys in 2007 and 2008 revealed a moderate sized settlement on Piatra Tomii Hill (Alba County, Romania) which was considered of interest because of its location on top of a natural source of chert, and the large amount of chert artefacts found on the surface. In 2009 the site was excavated during which one of the objectives was to learn more about the chert mining and processing at the site. The ratio of artefact types and lack of use-wear suggests that not only was raw material being extracted at the site, but tools were also being produced locally before being exported. The 2009 excavations also revealed what appear to be the remains of pit quarrying and possibly fire cracked limestone and debris. These finds provide technical insight into potential chert extraction techniques utilised in the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age. As well, this is as yet the only reported settlement in the Transylvanian basin involved in chert extraction (either quarrying or mining). Given the settlement’s affluence, especially considering its relative isolation, it is likely that the chert industry here was important to communities in the vicinity. Indeed artefacts found at contemporary sites in the Mureș Valley appear to have been made from the same or a similar chert. This paper gives an introductions to the site, describes the artefacts and features found there and provides possible interpretations regarding the processing and export industry, as well as the methods of extracting the raw material during this period