scholarly journals Correction to: Aggregates, Formational Emergence, and the Focus on Practice in Stone Artifact Archaeology

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 929-929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeljko Rezek ◽  
Simon J. Holdaway ◽  
Deborah I. Olszewski ◽  
Sam C. Lin ◽  
Matthew Douglass ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stone Artifact

Changing Patterns in the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Prehistory of Southern Africa as Seen from the Nelson Bay Cave Stone Artifact Sequence

1978 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janette Deacon
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Sensu Stricto ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Later Stone Age ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Stone Artifact

The dating of the Stone Age sequence in southern Africa has been considerably revised over the last decade, and one of the anomalies which has resulted is that the Middle Stone Age, now dated to beyond 30,000 B.P., does not immediately precede the Later Stone Agesensu stricto. The excavation and analysis of occupation horizons dating between the most recent Middle Stone Age assemblages and the Holocene is therefore of particular interest. Nelson Bay Cave, situated on the southern coast of South Africa, contains deposits which partly fill the “gap” between the Middle and Later Stone Ages, and the occupation horizons dating between about 18,000 and 5000 years ago are described in this paper. Changes in the habitat in the vicinity of the site caused by sea-level and vegetation changes coincident with the amelioration of temperatures at the end of the Pleistocene are clearly marked in the faunal remains at the site. Largely correlated with the faunal changes (which includes the introduction of marine resources to the cave at about 12,000 B.P.) are changes in the stone artifact assemblages. Three industries are recognized in the sequence: the Robberg, characterized by microbladelets produced from bladelet cores and a few small scrapers and backed tools; the Albany, characterized by large scrapers and an absence of backed tools; and the Wilton, characterized by a variety of Formal Tools including relatively large numbers of small scrapers and backed tools. These changes in artifact-manufacturing traditions are interpreted as signaling adjustments to changing environmental conditions. An explanation for these adjustments is not sought in a simple cause-and-effect relationship between the environment and the cultural response; artifact changes are seen instead as the result of a twofold process, with the environment acting as an external stimulus to change, and the direction of the artifact change governed by the selection of a range of possibilities offered by the technology of the Later Stone Agesensu latothat was widespread in subequatorial Africa during the last 20,000 years.

High resolution magnetostratigraphy and deposition cycles in the Nihewan Basin (North China) and their significance for stone artifact dating

2008 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Huamei ◽  
Yang Xiaoqiang ◽  
Friedrich Heller ◽  
Li Haitao
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Age Determination ◽  
Size Fraction ◽  
Close Relation ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Chinese Loess Plateau ◽  
Chinese Loess ◽  
Susceptibility Data ◽  
Nihewan Basin ◽  
Stone Artifact

Three lacustrine sections in the Nihewan Basin, Xiaodukou, Donggutuo and Xiaochangliang (40.1–40.4°N; 114.6–114.7°E), were closely sampled for magnetostratigraphic and deposition cycle analysis. Rock magnetic investigations show that the characteristic remanent magnetization of the sediments is mainly carried by magnetite and hematite. The Xiaodukou sequence is one of the most complete sections in the basin and has recorded substantial parts of the Brunhes and Matuyama chrons back to the termination of the Olduvai subchron. Several subchrons within the Matuyama period have been documented such as the Jaramillo, the Cobb Mt. and others. The Matuyama/Brunhes boundary, the Jaramillo, as well as the Cobb Mountain events were observed also at Donggutuo. On the basis of grain size and susceptibility data and of field investigations, the sections are divided into two longer lasting lacustrine episodes with a fluvio-lacustrine deposit in between. They are structured by 15 high-frequency deposition sub-cycles. In each cycle, the grain size fines upwards, while magnetic susceptibility decreases. This behavior is due to cyclic water level change of the ancient lake Nihewan. At Xiaodukou, the variations of the 0.2 to 7.5 μm grain size fraction can be correlated with the marine oxygen isotope stages OIS 64–OIS 11. The grey-green clayey to silty Paleolithic stone artifact layers at Xiaochangliang and Donggutuo are located at depths of 55.4 m and 43–38.7 m, respectively. They were buried when the lake-level was rising. The artifact layers have been deposited around the Cobb Mountain event during the sedimentary sub-cycle 6 of the older lacustrine phase corresponding to OIS 35, 36. Thus in contrast to the results of other studies, the estimated age of the Xiaochangliang stone artifact layer does not exceed 1.26 Ma, while the Donggutuo stone artifact layers date back to 1.21–1.15 Ma. This age determination brings the Nihewan hominids in close relation to the findings of Homo Erectus at Lantian on the Chinese Loess Plateau.

North American Cooking Pots

1944 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Linton
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
General Rule ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
American Archaeology ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Stone Artifact

It seems to be a general rule that sciences begin their development with the study of the unusual. They have to develop considerable sophistication before they interest themselves in the commonplace. American archaeology has been no exception. It began with digging in mounds and the collecting of choice objects and has now progressed to the excavation of camp sites and the delimitation of culture complexes as wholes. Nevertheless, there is still a tendency to underrate the importance of simple utilitarian artifacts of types which are widely distributed in space and time. This may be justifiable as long as the archaeologist's interest is centered on foci and aspects, but such types become of extreme importance as soon as one attempts to broaden the frame of reference. Thus the fact that certain stone artifact types seem to be present throughout most of the area east of the Rockies, from Folsom on, becomes highly significant when we contrast this area with others in the New and Old Worlds.

Stone Artifacts of Southeastern Alaska

1962 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward L. Keithahn
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Northwest Coast ◽  
Southeast Alaska ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Stone Artifacts ◽  
Indian Tradition ◽  
Experimental Use ◽  
Stone Artifact

AbstractThe fact that Northwest Coast Indians obtained iron for tool making at least 175 years ago makes it unlikely that any literate person ever saw stone edge tools in use in this area, or even talked with an Indian who had seen them in use. Thus, interpretation of the function of stone tools in southeast Alaska is based on an estimate of the type of tools needed for the known aboriginal industries, experimental use of the tools, and Indian tradition. The use of 25 stone artifact types is discussed, including adzes and similar tools, mauls and hammers, mortars and pestles, lamps and pipes, clubs and fighting tools, projectile points, and ornaments.

scholarly journals How to Use Replication Assignments for Teaching Integrity in Empirical Archaeology

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Marwick ◽  
Li-Ying Wang ◽  
Ryan Robinson ◽  
Hope Loiselle
Keyword(s):  
Reproducible Research ◽  
Artifact Analysis ◽  
Archaeological Science ◽  
Archaeological Knowledge ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Class Assignment ◽  
Undergraduate Class ◽  
Stone Artifact

ABSTRACTThe value of new archaeological knowledge is strongly determined by how credible it is, and a key measure of scientific credibility is how replicable new results are. However, few archaeologists learn the skills necessary to conduct replication as part of their training. This means there is a gap between the ideals of archaeological science and the skills we teach future researchers. Here we argue for replications as a core type of class assignment in archaeology courses to close this gap and establish a culture of replication and reproducibility. We review replication assignments in other fields and describe how to implement a replication assignment suitable for many types of archaeology programs. We describe our experience with replication in an upper-level undergraduate class on stone artifact analysis. Replication assignments can help archaeology programs give students the skills that enable transparent and reproducible research.

WHS 784 X (Yutil al-Hasa): A Late Ahmarian Site in the Wadi Hasa, West-central Jordan

1990 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 33-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah I. Olszewski ◽  
Geoffrey A. Clark ◽  
Suzanne Fish
Keyword(s):  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Southern Levant ◽  
Seasonal Movements ◽  
West Central ◽  
Central Jordan ◽  
Stone Artifact

A collapsed rockshelter site, WHS 784 X (Yutil al-Hasa), in the Wadi Hasa drainage in west-central Jordan was tested in 1984. Technological and typological analyses of the stone artifact assemblages suggest that it pertains to the latest phases of the Levantine Upper Paleolithic ‘Ahmarian Tradition’. Excellent faunal preservation allowed the identification of several ungulate species, as well as other taxa. These data and the topographic setting of the site indicated that WHS 784 X was probably a hunting camp used in part to monitor the (seasonal?) movements of herds of equids and gazelles. Dating at 19,000 uncal BP, the occupations fall at the Upper Paleolithic/Epipaleolithic transition as conventionally defined, and represent one of the first well-documented occurrences of an Ahmarian limited activity site. Work at WHS 784 X contributes to the rapidly improving state of Levantine Upper Paleolithic systematics and provides a fuller understanding of life at the end of the Upper Paleolithic in the southern Levant.

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