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Middle Stone Age (MSA) site distributions in eastern Africa and their relationship to Quaternary environmental change, refugia and the evolution of Homo sapiens
No full textThis paper considers the evolution of Homo sapiens in eastern Africa in relation to refugia and bottlenecks around 200 ka BP, at a macro scale. Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithics, site distributions and locations are analysed in relation to palaeovegetation maps of the last glacial/interglacial cycle, which are used as a proxy for earlier climate cycles. A “push and pull” model is then postulated for the spread of Homo sapiens out of refugia in eastern Africa, involving both volcanism (push) and habitat availability (pull). A date within OIS 5 is suggested for this expansion to other parts of the continent, and potentially further afield, contrary to a frequently proposed expansion within OIS 3.<br/
New lower Palaeolithic finds from the Axe valley Dorset
No full textThe Axe Valley has long been known for its Palaeolithic finds, particularly from the site at Broom. While research has continued at Broom, other sites have also been investigated in the valley as part of the English Heritage-managed and ALSF funded project “Palaeolithic Rivers of South West Britain” (PRoSWeB). This project was completed in March 2007. Since then, research focussing on the Quaternary geology and Palaeolithic archaeology of the southwest region has been continued at selected locations by Prof. Tony Brown (University of Southampton), Dr Laura Basell (University of Oxford) and Dr Phil Toms (University of Gloucestershire), with assistance from Dr Ramues Gallois and Dr Richard Scrivener (formerly British Geological Survey)
Time, the Middle Stone Age and lithic analyses following the Third Science Revolution
No full textThis paper is a response to the conference session ‘Generic MSA: fact or fiction?’ held as part of the PanAfrican Association Conference in 2022 in Unguja, Tanzania. It questions the validity of the concept of a ‘generic Middle Stone Age’ and goes beyond the simple debate of terminology that has persisted for nearly 75 years. Instead, it uses this as a starting point to discuss the past, present and future of lithic analyses, including the history of terminology in the African Stone Age, the current topics of lithic enquiry and the role of lithic analysis following the Third Science Revolution. It highlights the effect of tensions between science versus humanities approaches and provides suggestions for future lithic analysts. Lithic studies remain of great importance but are only one source of evidence in modern interdisciplinary human origins research. The paper contends that there is not a single approach suitable for all sites or regions since analyses are contingent upon the questions being asked. Instead, it emphasises opportunities for multivocality and suggests that despite the focus here on the Middle Stone Age the conclusions reached are more widely applicable to other times and places
Site distribution at the edge of the palaeolithic world: a nutritional niche approach
No full textThis paper presents data from the English Channel area of Britain and Northern France on the spatial distribution of Lower to early Middle Palaeolithic pre-MIS5 interglacial sites which are used to test the contention that the pattern of the richest sites is a real archaeological distribution and not of taphonomic origin. These sites show a marked concentration in the middle-lower reaches of river valleys with most being upstream of, but close to, estimated interglacial tidal limits. A plant and animal database derived from Middle-Late Pleistocene sites in the region is used to estimate the potentially edible foods and their distribution in the typically undulating landscape of the region. This is then converted into the potential availability of macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, fats) and selected micronutrients. The floodplain is shown to be the optimum location in the nutritional landscape (nutriscape). In addition to both absolute and seasonal macronutrient advantages the floodplains could have provided foods rich in key micronutrients, which are linked to better health, the maintenance of fertility and minimization of infant mortality. Such places may have been seen as ‘good (or healthy) places’ explaining the high number of artefacts accumulated by repeated visitation over long periods of time and possible occupation. The distribution of these sites reflects the richest aquatic and wetland successional habitats along valley floors. Such locations would have provided foods rich in a wide range of nutrients, importantly including those in short supply at these latitudes. When combined with other benefits, the high nutrient diversity made these locations the optimal niche in northwest European mixed temperate woodland environments. It is argued here that the use of these nutritionally advantageous locations as nodal or central points facilitated a healthy variant of the Palaeolithic diet which permitted habitation at the edge of these hominins’ rang
Eels, beavers and horses: Human niche construction in the European Late Upper Palaeolithic.
Full text linkIn this paper we explore interactions between co-occupants of riverine niches in north-west Europe during the Late Upper Palaeolithic using both ecological and archaeological data. It is argued that consideration of both the Lateglacial record and autecology of eel, beaver and horse supports a reinterpretation of some famous but enigmatic panels of Magdalenian mobiliary art as representations of eel fishing, along with horse and beaver exploitation in disturbed riverine habitats.The key contributions are:1) A new interpretation of key Palaeolithic art objects that highlights the importance of studying Palaeolithic art in its broader ecological and archaeological context, rather than continuing to focus on the iconographic features and interpret them in isolation.2) The application of a novel theoretical approach combining archaeology, ecology and palaeoecology which allowed us to suggest that a humanly co-constructed niche in ecological, nutritional, and symbolic terms, was also advantageous for human well-being and social development during the Late Upper Palaeolithic.<br/
Optically stimulated luminescence dating of the Palaeolithic ‘Super site’ Woodgreen, in the Avon Valley, Hampshire (UK)
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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
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