Raw materials procurement strategies at the Ciota Ciara cave: New insight on land mobility in north-western Italy during Middle Palaeolithic

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 101882
Author(s):  
Sara Daffara ◽  
Gabriele L.F. Berruti ◽  
Giulia Berruto ◽  
Negar Eftekhari ◽  
Carmela Vaccaro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Procurement Strategies ◽  
North Western

scholarly journals Expedient behaviour and predetermination at the Ciota Ciara cave (north-western Italy) during Middle Palaeolithic.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Daffara ◽  
Gabriele L.F. Berruti ◽  
Marta Arzarello
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Functional Study ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
General Behaviour ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequence ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Functional Studies ◽  
North Western

The Ciota Ciara cave is a Middle Palaeolithic site located in Piedmont (north-western Italy) and it is the only one systematically investigated in the region. It opens at 670 m a.s.l. on the west side of Monte Fenera and its archaeological deposit has a stratigraphic sequence documenting several and repeated human frequentations. Four archaeological layers have been identified (13, 14, 15 and 103) and are characterized by lithic assemblages where vein quartz is the main exploited raw material. The upper level (13), was already subject to technological and functional studies but the enlargement of the excavated area made necessary a completion of the technological data. The aim of this work is to deal with a complete technological and functional study of the lithic assemblage of the four archaeological layers of the Ciota Ciara cave to face the issues of predetermination and adaptation of the reduction sequences to the raw materials features. The technological analysis is based on the concept of chaîne opératoire and refers to the classical definitions of the S.S.D.A., discoid and Levallois methods for the identification of the different exploitation strategies. The concepts of curated and expedient technology are also applied to the present study. We finally refer to the huge debate concerning the concept of predetermination related to cores that show reduced or none phases of core configuration for the analysis and interpretation of the considered lithic assemblage.The results obtained show that the general behaviour can be interpreted as expedient, both from a technological and a functional point of view. The Middle Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers of the Ciota Ciara cave adapted their “technological background” to the resources available and put into action flexible adaptation strategies. Even in the shortness or absence of phases of core configuration, predetermination can be observed in the adaptation of Levallois and discoid concepts to the natural constraints of the pebbles chosen as cores. The natural convexities are exploited to obtain Levallois and discoid flakes after an intentional choice made by the knappers. In order to deeply investigate the characteristics of the technological behaviour of the hunter-gatherers that inhabited the site, the use-wear analysis is a fundamental additional source of information and it is here aimed to understand if there is or not a differential use of the lithic artefacts according to their typology and/or to the knapping method.

scholarly journals Techno-morphological features of items made of antler from the site near the village of Michnievičy (north-western Belarus)

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 116-122
Author(s):  
Anna Andreevna Malyutina ◽  
Aleksandr Nikolaevich Vashanov ◽  
Mariya Ivanovna Tkacheva ◽  
Evgenia Sergeevna Tkach
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Analysis ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Morphological Features ◽  
National Academy Of Sciences ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
The Village ◽  
North Western ◽  
Selection Of

The paper presents the results of a techno-morphological analysis of items made of antler obtained as a result of the collections from the 1960s-1990s from the site near the village of Michnievičy Smorgon District of the Grodno Region (north-western Belarus). Currently, more than 100 artifacts are known from this site, as well as a large number of fauna residues with no visible traces of processing. Radiocarbon dating was obtained for some categories of products, which link them to 9-2 thousand BC. The largest part of the collection refers to the period of the Mesolithic - Neolithic. At the first stage of work, the most expressive and numerous group of artifacts made of horn (24 exemplars), stored in the fonds of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, was selected for a techno-morphological analysis. The degree of preservation of the external surface of objects is relatively good, which made it possible to analyze macro-traces related to the technology of manufacturing various categories of products, on the basis of which a process flow was proposed - from the selection of raw materials to the finished product. The analysis of the technological traces recorded on the products allowed us to highlight the differences in the manufacturing processes of the oldest tools. In addition, on the basis of the macro signs of utilitarian wear, preliminary observations on the functional using of objects were obtained. According to technological and morphological features, the whole of the analyzed material was divided into conditional categories of instruments with a selected heel and without it. The presence or absence of this element, apparently, influenced the method of using objects in various household situations.

scholarly journals Probable evidence of a Middle Palaeolithic site in the northern parts of the Susiana Plain, Khuzestan, Iran

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 424-433
Author(s):  
Saeid Bahramiyan
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Zagros Mountains ◽  
Significant Progress ◽  
Khuzestan Province ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Northern Regions ◽  
Considerable Body ◽  
The Karkheh River

There is a considerable body of studies regarding the activities of the Pleistocene human population in the Zagros and Alborz regions of Iran, as well as significant progress in the Palaeolithic studies in other regions, such as the foothills, plains and deserts’ margins. However, some of these peripheral regions and foothills are still neglected, and the information about the Palaeolithic period in these areas is limited. Khuzestan province, especially its northern regions, is one of these unstudied regions, yet the limited information about this region seems very interesting. Khervali, located on the western foothills of the Zagros Mountains and on the northern heights of Susa, nearby the western bank of the Karkheh River, is one of the few Palaeolithic sites identified in recent years. The site was identified in 2012 and was systemically surveyed. Due to the extension of the site and the distribution of the artefacts, sampling all the site was not feasible, therefore, four sections of the site were chosen for taking the samples and a total of 330 stone artefacts were collected. The results of the techno-typology analyses, as well as the frequency of the flakes, the Levallois samples and different types of scrapers, revealed that the artefacts date to the middle Palaeolithic period, with considerable access to the local raw materials.

The use of “second rate” raw materials during Middle Palaeolithic. Technological and functional analysis of two sites in north-eastern Iberia

2018 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 626-653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Daffara ◽  
Gabriele-L.F. Berruti ◽  
Sandro Caracausi ◽  
Xosé-Pedro Rodríguez-Álvarez ◽  
Robert Sala-Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Functional Analysis ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
North Eastern

The Balkans in the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic: The Gate to Europe or a Cul-de-sac?

1992 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. K. KozŁowski
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Danube Basin ◽  
The Balkans

During the Last Interglacial Middle Palaeolithic industries of Crvena Stijena-type rich in side-scrapers with Levallois technique of recurrent type are specific to the Balkans. These industries have analogies in Anatolia and the northern part of the Middle East (Zagros-Group), but are different from industries typical of the middle Danube basin (Taubachian) and northern Central Europe (Moustero-Levalloisian). In the period preceding and immediately following the Lower Pleniglacial the Balkans were dominated by typical Mousterian and Moustero-Levalloisian, frequently with leaf points, similar to the industries of the lower Danube and Dniester basins, but unknown in western Anatolia. During the same period Eastern Micoquian developed in the middle Danube basin and northern Central Europe. Moustero-Levalloisian with leaf points persisted until the Early Interpleniglacial, but only in exceptional cases developed some Upper Palaeolithic features, and always without typical Aurignacian forms. The Aurignacian, unless it appears as a first Upper Palaeolithic culture in the Balkans with earliest dates in Europe (>40,000 years BP), seems to be an intrusive unit without any roots in the local Middle Palaeolithic. After 30,000 years BP, parallel to the Late Aurignacian, the first industries with backed blades appear. In the early stage these developed independently from those of Central Europe. Only after 26,000/24,000 BP were they followed in the eastern Balkans by assemblages strongly linked both morphologically and by raw materials to the Gravettian of the middle Danube basin. In the western Balkans, after 20,000 years BP, assemblages with shouldered points appeared, also probably of middle Danube origin. During the Last Interglacial and Interpleniglacial the territory of Balkans played an important transitional role between Anatolia and Central Europe; in the two Pleniglacials of the Würm this territory became some kind of cul-de-sac as the refugium for population groups from the middle Danube and northern Central Europe.

scholarly journals The silica road: Field trip notes

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
María Soto ◽  
Bruno Gómez de Soler
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Field Trip ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequence ◽  
Depositional Sequence ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
10Th International Symposium ◽  
Abric Romaní ◽  
Definition Of

During the 10th International Symposium on Knappable Materials (ISKM) held at Barcelona (Spain) in 2015, a field trip along “The Silica Road” was organized. It included the visit to different chert outcrops located along the Montsant Massif (Tarragona, NE Iberian Peninsula), and to the Middle Palaeolithic site of the Abric Romaní (Capellades, Barcelona), as important locations for the Prehistory of the North East of the Iberian Peninsula.This paper present some keynotes distributed to the symposium attendants. It consists on: 1) a brief geological framework of the Montsant Massif, located at the southern margin of the Catalan Central Depression. It includes the definition of their Palaeozoic to Cenozoic depositional sequence and the localization of some points of interests with panoramic views and source areas where Tertiary chert nodules were available. They represent a significant focus for the raw materials procurement of several Paleolithic occupations since Lower Pleistocene. 2) A general presentation of the Middle Palaeolithic site of the Abric Romaní site, including a brief reference of the three research phases initiated at the beginning of 20th Century, the description of its 50 meters stratigraphic sequence, where 27 archaeological levels have been identified dating since 110 to 39 ka BP, and some of the main traits of the archaeological assemblages recovered.

scholarly journals A Late Middle Palaeolithic assemblage containing Levallois and bifacial objects from Saône-et-Loire, France: GH 3 at Grotte de la Verpillière II à Germolles

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Axel Frick
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Rock Shelter ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Material Economy ◽  
High Level

The site of Grotte de la Verpillière II, a rock shelter and corresponding cave tunnel, is situated in a cliff face of an Oxfordian massive, around 10 km West of Chalon-sur-Saône in Eastern France. The excavation at this site has recovered Middle Palaeolithic assemblages in three stratified sedimentological units. The richest of these assemblages derives from Geological Horizon (GH) 3 and is discussed here. It is preliminarily attributed to a Late Middle Palaeolithic context of OIS 3 to 4 using radiometric-dating techniques.The assemblage combines Levallois reduction, bifacial objects and diverse ‘opportunistic’ reduction strategies. The Levallois reduction shows a high level of raw-material economy in the use of raw pieces and blanks whose morphology is close to the shape of desired configured cores. Other reduction strategies show a wider range of approaches to blank production. Bifacial objects include but are not limited to Keilmesser with tranchet blows. The condition of objects from GH 3 range from unused raw pieces, tested raw pieces, configured and exhausted cores, correction and central flakes, as well as some heated objects, frost shards, and debris. The majority of raw materials derive from sources nearby, but were clearly transported to the site. Only some pieces show evidence for transport of up to 100 km from source to site. The presence of specific reduction strategies on bifacial objects and the existence of tranchet-blow modification provide support for the attribution of the assemblage to the Keilmessergruppen assemblages from Central Europe.

scholarly journals Between Two Models: Exploring Exchange and Direct Procurement Strategies for Natufian Food Processing Tools of el-Wad Terrace, Israel

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danny Rosenberg ◽  
Tatjana Gluhak ◽  
Daniel Kaufman ◽  
Reuven Yeshurun ◽  
Mina Weinstein-Evron
Keyword(s):  
Food Processing ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Provenance Study ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Know How ◽  
Basaltic Rocks ◽  
Procurement Strategies ◽  
First Time

Abstract We present the results of a detailed geochemical provenance study of 54 Natufian (ca. 15,000–11,700 cal BP) basalt pestles from the site of el-Wad Terrace (EWT), Israel. It is the first time precise locations whence basalt raw materials derive are provided. The results indicate that the Natufian hunter-gatherers used multiple sources of basaltic rocks, distributed over a large area surrounding the Sea of Galilee. For EWT, this area is located at a considerable distance of ca. 60–120 km away, in a region where contemporaneous Natufian basecamps are few. We consider two possible models that suggest vehicles for the transportation of these artifacts to EWT, namely the exchange obtaining model (EOM) and the direct procurement model (DPM). We argue that these mechanisms are not mutually exclusive and may have operated together. We also suggest that at a time of increasing Natufian territoriality, a large area around the Sea of Galilee remained unclaimed. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the implications for the two models. In particular, we note that the DPM implies that technological know-how for pestle production was maintained within the EWT community.

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