1,720,998 research outputs found
The origins of recycling. A Paleolithic perspective
No full textThe study of lithic recycling in Paleolithic cultures throughout the Old World is increasingly becoming atopic of interest for many scholars. Technological analyses, refitting, and spatial analyses are disclosingthe“recycling behavior”of many contexts, especially those of Lower and Middle Paleolithic sites. Stilllacking, however, is a functional approach to the subject, which would certainly add new pieces to thisintriguing jigsaw puzzle.Use-wear analysis, one of the most powerful methods to reach functional interpretations in lithicfinds,can greatly improve our understanding of Paleolithic recycling behavior. Even in those cases where post-depositional alterations affected lithic items, use-wear analyses may produce important data despite thedecrease in detail or less than optimal conditions of preservation.At the late Lower Paleolithic site of Qesem Cave, the high degree of conservation and preservation ofthe lithic tools maximizes the inference potential of this method. In this article, functional data aresummarized following a study of a large sample of Amudian parentflakes (flakes from which wereproduced cores onflakes, termed COF-FFs) as well as recycled products (blanks produced from COF-FFs).Confirming the inference potential of use-wear analyses, this data allows for the delineation of functionalpeculiarities of the studied items, which, despitefirst impression, are anything but expedient. Moreover,the current use-wear analysis expands the scenario outlined by the technological study of the lithicrecycling phenomenon at Qesem Cave, confirming its own role in the complex techno-functional systempracticed by the hominins of Qesem Cave
ANTIQUITY - Palaeolithic cutlery 400 000–200 000 years ago: tiny meat-cutting tools from Qesem Cave, Israel
No full textL'articolo riguarda lo studio di una particolare categoria di manufatti litici provenienti da un sito del Paleolitico Inferiore del Vicino Oriente (Qesem Cave, Israele). Si tratta di manufatti creati riciclando dei prodotti litici scartati; sono caratterizzati da dimensioni molto piccole, sono molto taglienti e probabilmente erano utilizzati per attività di taglio
Techno-functional analysis of small recycled flakes from Late Acheulian Revadim (Israel) demonstrates a link between morphology and function
No full textRevadim is a multi-layered Late Acheulian site in the Levant which has yielded rich lithic assemblages comprising dozens of handaxes, as well as many thousands of other items, mostly flakes. The techno-functional study presented here focuses on Layer C3, the densest layer at the site in terms of flint artefacts and animal bones. The lithic assemblage is characterized by an intense production of flakes, including a specific lithic recycling trajectory oriented towards the production of small flakes from existing flakes (Cores-On-Flakes). In this study, two categories of artefacts are sampled: the flakes used as cores for the production of new blanks (termed here COF-FFs) and the small flakes produced from them (termed BPFCs or products of recycling). Use-wear analysis conducted mainly at a low magnification, combined with residue analysis and a typo-technological characterization of the artefacts demonstrated that the small flakes produced from these COF-FFs were the desired end-products of this lithic trajectory, with a rather high percentage of used items while the COFs were rarely used, confirming their role as cores. The characterization of the used edges suggests a correlation between the activities performed and the different types of small flakes produced. Our results demonstrate the existence of a well-defined link between small flakes form and functionality, highlighting the capability of the Revadim Lower Paleolithic hominins to produce artifacts with pre-determined size, morphology, and specific utilizable edge features, suitable for the execution of anticipated targeted tasks
Are there marrow cavities in Pleistocene elephant limb bones, and was marrow available to early humans? New CT scan results from the site of Castel di Guido (Italy)
Full text linkCT-scan analyses were carried out on limb bones of straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus)from the Middle Pleistocene site of Castel di Guido (Italy), where bifaces made of elephant bone were found in association with lithics and a large number of intentionally modified bone remains of elephants and other taxa. CT-scans show that marrow cavities are present within the limb bones of this taxon. Though rather small compared to the size of the bones, these cavities suggest that bone raw material procurement may not have been the unique goal of intentional elephant bone fracturing, and the marrow may also have been extracted for consumption
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Bulb retouchers half a million years ago. New evidence from late Acheulean Jaljulia, Israel
No full textBulb retouchers (or flint retouchers) are a specific tool category applied in stone knapping activities, commonly
associated with Middle Palaeolithic assemblages and late Pleistocene hominins in north Africa, the Levant and
Europe. A few flint flakes with pits on the ventral surface were identified in the lithic assemblage of Area D at late
Acheulean Jaljulia, dated to ca. 500 ka. Here we present a techno-typological analysis of these items as well as
the percussive marks. Like many Middle Palaeolithic bulb retouchers, those used at Jaljulia consist mainly of
retouched items or combined matrices (a tool and/or a core). Here we present the earliest evidence for the use of
bulb retouchers during late Acheulean times in the Levant, thus demonstrating their roots in the Lower Palae olithic lithic repertoire. Further analyses will allow us to more accurately interpret their use as a percussor. This
study constitutes the first step in understanding the role and significance of bulb retouchers in early human tool kits during the late Lower Palaeolithic in the Levant and demonstrates that such items were envisioned and
employed hundreds of thousands of years earlier than previously known
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