Using Radiocarbon Dates and Tool Design Principles to Assess the Role of Composite Slotted Bone Tool Technology at the Intersection of Adaptation and Culture-History

AbstractSlotted bone tools are an iconic example of composite tool technology in which change in one of the components does not require changing the design of the other parts. Commonly, slotted bone tools are seen through the lens of lithic technology, highlighting organizational aspects related to serial production of insets, reliability and maintainability. In this framework, slotted bone tool technology is associated with risk aversion in demanding environmental settings. Here, we provide the first overview of radiocarbon-dated slotted bone tools in northernmost Europe and the East European Plain, including 17 new direct dates on pitch glue, and show that the Late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene period of inset slotted bone tool use in this area shows marked variation and idiosyncrasy in associated lithic technology against a trend of continuously warming climate. We suggest that historical specificity and path-dependence, rather than convergent evolution, best explain the variability seen in slotted bone tool technology in the studied case, and that slotted bone tools in general formed an organizationally flexible, adaptable and hence likely adaptive technological solution that met a wide variety of cultural and technological demands.

Download Full-text

Eastern Europe’s “Transitional Industry”?: Deconstructing the Early Streletskian

Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology ◽

10.1007/s41982-021-00076-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

Author(s):

R. Dinnis ◽

A. Bessudnov ◽

N. Reynolds ◽

T. Devièse ◽

A. Dudin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Modern Human ◽

East European Plain ◽

Upper Palaeolithic ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

East European ◽

Archaeological Material ◽

Younger Age ◽

Layer V ◽

Precise Relationship ◽

Early Upper

AbstractThe Streletskian is central to understanding the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic on the East European Plain. Early Streletskian assemblages are frequently seen as marking the Neanderthal-anatomically modern human (AMH) anthropological transition, as well as the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic archaeological transition. The age of key Streletskian assemblages, however, remains unclear, and there are outstanding questions over how they relate to Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic facies. The three oldest Streletskian layers—Kostenki 1 Layer V, Kostenki 6 and Kostenki 12 Layer III—were excavated by A. N. Rogachev in the mid-20th century. Here, we re-examine these layers in light of problems noted during Rogachev’s campaigns and later excavations. Layer V in the northern part of Kostenki 1 is the most likely assemblage to be unmixed. A new radiocarbon date of 35,100 ± 500 BP (OxA- X-2717-21) for this assemblage agrees with Rogachev’s stratigraphic interpretation and contradicts later claims of a younger age. More ancient radiocarbon dates for Kostenki 1 Layer V are from areas lacking diagnostic Streletskian points. The Kostenki 6 assemblage’s stratigraphic context is extremely poor, but new radiocarbon dates are consistent with Rogachev’s view that the archaeological material was deposited prior to the CI tephra (i.e. >34.3 ka BP). Multiple lines of evidence indicate that Kostenki 12 Layer III contains material of different ages. Despite some uncertainty over the precise relationship between the dated sample and diagnostic lithic material, Kostenki 1 Layer V (North) therefore currently provides the best age estimate for an early Streletskian context. This age is younger than fully Upper Palaeolithic assemblages elsewhere at Kostenki. Other “Streletskian” assemblages and Streletskian points from younger contexts at Kostenki are briefly reviewed, with possible explanations for their chronostratigraphic distribution considered. We caution that the cultural taxon Streletskian should not be applied to assemblages based simply on the presence of bifacially worked artefacts.

Download Full-text

The earliest evidence for dwelling construction in the Upper Palaeolithic of Eastern Europe: a 30,000-year-old surface structure from Mira layer I

Vita Antiqua ◽

10.37098/va-2021-13-43-54 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 43-54

Author(s):

V.N. Stepanchuk ◽

Keyword(s):

Eastern Europe ◽

Surface Structure ◽

Steppe Zone ◽

East European Plain ◽

Upper Palaeolithic ◽

Interior Space ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

East European ◽

Surface Dwelling ◽

Layer I

The purpose of this article is to present data on the surface structure identified in the upper layer of the Mira site in the Dnieper valley. The occupation of layer I, based on a set of consistent data, constitutes the remains of a seasonal winter camp of Pleistocene horse hunters. Ten available radiocarbon dates place the calibrated age of layer I between 31,000 to 28,000 cal BP. The rapid albeit gentle overlapping of the settlement remains with alluvial sediments ensured that the original settlement and dwelling patterns and their elements survived well. Thanks to this, it is possible to reconstruct some significant aspects of the construction process, as well as details of the arrangement of the dwelling’s interior space. A 30,000-year-old, permanent skeleton cylindrical yaranga type surface construction from Mira layer I is currently representing the oldest dwelling known in the Upper Palaeolithic of Ukraine and a broader context of the steppe zone of the East European plain. Keywords: Upper Palaeolithic, surface dwelling, Eastern Europe

Download Full-text

Impact of climate and humans on the range dynamics of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) in Europe during MIS 2

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1017/qua.2018.54 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 90 (3) ◽

pp. 439-456 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Adam Nadachowski ◽

Grzegorz Lipecki ◽

Mateusz Baca ◽

Michał Żmihorski ◽

Jarosław Wilczyński

Keyword(s):

East European Plain ◽

Population Fluctuations ◽

Mammuthus Primigenius ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

Oxygen Isotope Stage ◽

Maximum Expansion ◽

East European ◽

The North ◽

Almost All ◽

Woolly Mammoth

AbstractThe woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was widespread in almost all of Europe during the late Pleistocene. However, its distribution changed because of population fluctuations and range expansions and reductions. During Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 2 (MIS 2), these processes were highly dynamic. Our analyses of 318 radiocarbon dates from 162 localities, obtained directly from mammoth material, confirmed important changes in mammoth range between ~28.6 and ~14.1 ka. The Greenland stadial 3 interval (27.5–23.3 ka) was the time of maximum expansion of the mammoth in Europe during MIS 2. The continuous range was soon fragmented and reduced, resulting in the disappearance of Mammuthus during the last glacial maximum from ~21.4 to ~19.2 ka in all parts of the North European Plain. It is not clear whether mammoths survived in the East European Plain. The mammoth returned to Europe soon after ~19.0 ka, and for the next 3–4 millennia played an important role in the lifeways of Epigravettian societies in eastern Europe. Mammoths became extinct in most of Europe by ~14.0 ka, except for core areas such as the far northeast of Europe, where they survived until the beginning of the Holocene. No significant correlation was found between the distribution of the mammoth in Europe and human activity.

Download Full-text

The Spread of the Neolithic in the South East European Plain: Radiocarbon Chronology, Subsistence, and Environment

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200056095 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 51 (2) ◽

pp. 783-793 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Pavel M Dolukhanov ◽

Anvar Shukurov ◽

Kate Davison ◽

Graeme Sarson ◽

Natalia P Gerasimenko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

East European Plain ◽

Forest Steppe ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

East European ◽

The North ◽

Lower Volga ◽

Archaeological Materials ◽

Caspian Lowland ◽

Early Farming ◽

Radiocarbon Chronology

Newly available radiocarbon dates show the early signs of pottery-making in the North Caspian area, the Middle-Lower Volga, and the Lower Don at 8–7 kyr cal BC. Stable settlements, as indicated by “coeval subsamples,” are recognized in the Middle-Lower Volga (Yelshanian) at 6.8 kyr cal BC and the Caspian Lowland at about 6 kyr cal BC. The ages of the Strumel-Gostyatin, Surskian, and Bug-Dniesterian sites are in the range of 6.6–4.5 kyr BC, overlapping with early farming entities (Starčevo-Körös-Criş and Linear Pottery), whose influence is perceptible in archaeological materials. Likewise, the 14C-dated pollen data show that the spread of early pottery-making coincided with increased precipitation throughout the forest-steppe area.

Download Full-text

Modelling the Neolithic dispersal in northern Eurasia

Documenta Praehistorica ◽

10.4312/dp.31.3 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 31 ◽

pp. 35-47 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Pavel Dolukhanov ◽

Anvar Shrukov

Keyword(s):

Probability Distribution ◽

Central Europe ◽

East European Plain ◽

Northern Eurasia ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

North West ◽

East European ◽

The North ◽

Rate Of Spread ◽

Spatio Temporal

Comprehensieve lists of radiocarbon dates from key Early Neolithic sites in Central Europe belonging to the Linear pottery Ceramic Culture (LBK) and early pottery-bearing cultures in the East European Plain were analysed with the use of the x2 test. The dates from the LBK sites form a statistically homogeneous set, with a probability distribution similar to a single-date Gaussian curve. This implies the rate of expansion of the LBK in Central Europe being in excess of 4 km/yr. Early potter-bearing sites on the East European Plain exhibit a much broader probability distribution of dates, with a spatio-temporal trend directed from the south-east to the north-west. The rate of spread of pottery-making is in the order of 1 km/yr, i.e., comparable to the average expansion rate of the Neolithic in Western and Central Europe.

Download Full-text

Ancient DNA from chewing gums connects material culture and genetics of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Scandinavia

10.1101/485045 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Natalia Kashuba ◽

Emrah Kirdök ◽

Hege Damlien ◽

Mikael A. Manninen ◽

Bengt Nordqvist ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Material Culture ◽

Lithic Technology ◽

Oral Microbiome ◽

East European Plain ◽

Birch Bark ◽

Hunter Gatherers ◽

East European ◽

Human Dna ◽

Chewing Gums ◽

Genome Wide Data

The discussion of an early postglacial dual-route colonization of the Scandinavian Peninsula is largely based on associating genomic data to an early dispersal of lithic technology from the East European Plain. However, a direct link between the two has been lacking. We tackle this problem by analysing human DNA from birch bark pitch mastics, “chewing gums”, from Huseby Klev, a site in western Sweden with eastern lithic technology. We generate genome- wide data for three individuals, and show their affinity to the Scandinavian hunter-gatherers, or more precisely, to individuals from postglacial Sweden. Our samples date to 9880-9540 calBP, expanding the temporal range of this genetic group as well as its distribution. Human DNA from mastics provides a clear connection between material culture and genetic data. We also propose that DNA from different types of mastics can be used to study environment, ecology, and oral microbiome of prehistoric populations.

Download Full-text

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CHANGING SEDIMENTATION CONDITIONS DURING THE LAST INTERGLACIAL-GLACIAL MACROCYCLE IN THE LOESS AREAS OF THE SOUTHERN EAST EUROPEAN PLAIN (THE AZOV SEA REGION) AND CENTRAL CHINA (LOESS PLATEAU)

Geomorphology RAS ◽

10.15356/0435-4281-2017-1-3-18 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 3-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

A. A. VELICHKO ◽

T. YANG ◽

A. O. ALEKSEEV ◽

O. K. BORISOVA ◽

P. I. KALININ ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Comparative Analysis ◽

Loess Plateau ◽

Central China ◽

East European Plain ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

East European ◽

Azov Sea ◽

Sedimentation Conditions

Download Full-text

Geographical features of forest vegetation reflected at the level of the lower-rank syntaxa (evidence from the Russian part of the Upper Dnieper basin)

Vegetation of Russia ◽

10.31111/vegrus/2017.30.94 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 94-108 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Yu. A. Semenishchenkov

Keyword(s):

Forest Vegetation ◽

East European Plain ◽

Early 20Th Century ◽

Suggested Approach ◽

Central European ◽

Classification Schemes ◽

East European ◽

Lower Rank ◽

Geographical Variations ◽

European Part Of Russia

Phytogeographical features of forest vegetation at the level of lower-rank syntaxa were being discussed in literature since the early 20th century (Cajander, 1903; Sukachev, 1926; Braun-Blanquet, 1964; Kral et al., 1975; Kleopov, 1990; Bulokhov, 2003; Ellenberg, 2009), however, phytocoenologists still have no uniform interpretation and geographical maintenance of lower classification units. Forest vegetation of the European part of Russia is well studied according to Braun-Blanquet approach with association as a system of geographical subassociations. The paper offers the approaches to the reflection of geographical variations of the natural forest vegetation in the basin of the Upper Dnieper (central part of the East European Plain) at the level of lower-rank syntaxa The xeromesophytic oak woods in the basin of the Upper Dnieper belong to the East European ass. Lathyro nigri–Quercetum roboris Bulokhov et Solomeshch 2003. Floristic differentiation of this association from the similar Central European ass. Potentillo-Quercetum is given. These two associations have large blocks of geographically significant differential species that does not allow to consider them as a part of one association. The suggested approach allows to define the chorological content of units of lower syntaxonomical ranks and make regional classification schemes comparable to each other.

Download Full-text

ON THE TIMING OF THE OLD COPPER COMPLEX IN NORTH AMERICA: A COMPARISON OF RADIOCARBON DATES FROM DIFFERENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/rdc.2021.7 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-19

Author(s):

David P Pompeani ◽

Byron A Steinman ◽

Mark B Abbott ◽

Katherine M Pompeani ◽

William Reardon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Native American ◽

Lake Sediment ◽

Copper Complex ◽

Lake Superior ◽

Copper Mining ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

Copper Mines ◽

Tool Technology ◽

High Lead ◽

Old Copper Complex

ABSTRACT The Old Copper Complex (OCC) refers to the production of heavy copper-tool technology by Archaic Native American societies in the Lake Superior region. To better define the timing of the OCC, we evaluated 53 (eight new and 45 published) radiocarbon (14C) dates associated with copper artifacts and mines. We compared these dates to six lake sediment-based chronologies of copper mining and annealing in the Michigan Copper District. 14C dates grouped by archaeological context show that cremation remains, and wood and cordage embedded in copper artifacts have ages that overlap with the timing of high lead (Pb) concentrations in lake sediment. In contrast, dates in stratigraphic association and from mines are younger than those from embedded and cremation materials, suggesting that the former groups reflect the timing of processes that occurred post-abandonment. The comparatively young dates obtained from copper mines therefore likely reflect abandonment and infill of the mines rather than active use. Excluding three anomalously young samples, the ages of embedded organic material associated with 15 OCC copper artifacts range from 8500 to 3580 cal BP, confirming that the OCC is among the oldest known metalworking societies in the world.

Download Full-text