A critique of the Chinese ‘Middle Palaeolithic’

Antiquity ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (292) ◽  
pp. 397-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xing Gao ◽  
Christopher J. Norton
Keyword(s):  
Lithic Technology ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Material Procurement ◽  
Core Reduction ◽  
Late Palaeolithic

The Chinese Palaeolithic has traditionally been divided into three distinct cultural periods: Lower, Middle, and Upper. Analysis of four stone tool criteria (raw material procurement, core reduction, retouch, and typology) to determine if a distinct Middle Palaeolithic stage existed in China suggests that very little change occurred in lithic technology between the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic. Accordingly, a two-stage progression is proposed: Early and Late Palaeolithic. The transition between these two cultural periods occurred with the development of more refined stone tool making techniques (e.g. introduction of blade and microblade technology) and the presence of other archaeological indicators of more modern human behaviour (e.g. presence of art and/or symbolism) (c. 30,000 years ago).

Raw material procurement as a crucial factor determining knapping technology in the Katta Sai complex of Middle Palaeolithic sites in the western Tian Shan piedmonts of Uzbekistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 559 ◽  
pp. 97-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Kot ◽  
Konstantin Pavlenok ◽  
Maciej T. Krajcarz ◽  
Galina Pavlenok ◽  
Svetlana Shnaider ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Raw Material ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Material Procurement ◽  
Tian Shan

Energetic Efficiency and Lithic Technology: An Upper Mississippian Example

1992 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 467-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Jeske
Keyword(s):  
Lithic Technology ◽  
Optimal Foraging Theory ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Energy Budgets ◽  
Energetic Efficiency ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Formal Tool

Optimal-foraging theory and the concept of energetic efficiency have been used in archaeology for over a decade, usually to explore subsistence behavior. People, however, made choices for energy expenditure in other areas of culture, including lithic technology. It is suggested that a shift in the allocation of energy as an adaptive response to changes in social organization caused the widely noted decline in formal tool types and stone-tool refinement in the late prehistoric periods in eastern North America. Data from an Upper Mississippian village are used to demonstrate the economic use of poor-quality lithic raw material. A bipolar technique was used to produce flake blanks for triangular projectile points as well as a peculiar but common Upper Mississippian tool, the humpback biface. It is suggested that bipolar reduction and other lithic efficiency and economizing strategies are indicators of stress on the energy budgets of human populations.

scholarly journals Middle Palaeolithic raw material procurement and early stage reduction at Jubbah, Saudi Arabia

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 44-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huw S. Groucutt ◽  
Eleanor M.L. Scerri ◽  
Ken Amor ◽  
Ceri Shipton ◽  
Richard P. Jennings ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Material Procurement

scholarly journals Variability of the Lithic Raw Material in the Upper and Late Palaeolithic sites in Southeastern Poland

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 11-21
Author(s):  
Dariusz Bobak ◽  
Marta Połtowicz-Bobak
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
The South ◽  
Tool Manufacture ◽  
Western Ukraine ◽  
Later Phase ◽  
Late Palaeolithic ◽  
Lithic Raw Material

In terms of supply of good quality raw materials for stone tool manufacture, the area of southeastern Poland is rather poor. Considering research conducted so far, there are only few sites that can be the basis for analysis. Nevertheless, certain phenomena seem to be characteristic on sites in southeastern Poland in the later phase of the Upper Palaeolithic and in the Late Palaeolithic. There are usually more than one kind of raw material present. Apart from local erratic flint, imported Świeciechów (grey white-spotted) and ‘chocolate’ flint dominate. The presence of both Jurassic (areas near Cracow) and Volhynian flints are poorly recorded, whereas resources from the south are almost absent. These imported raw materials indicate the existence of particularly strong relations linking the areas of southeastern Poland with the Sandomierz Upland, and much weaker relationships with the territories of Lesser Poland and Western Ukraine

Manganese coating of the Tabun faunal assemblage: Implications for modern human behaviour in the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic

2014 ◽  
Vol 330 ◽  
pp. 10-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana B. Marín-Arroyo ◽  
Mª Dolores Landete-Ruiz ◽  
Romualdo Seva-Román ◽  
Mark D. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Modern Human ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Faunal Assemblage

A Neutral Model of Stone Raw Material Procurement

2003 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 487-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Jeffrey Brantingham
Keyword(s):  
Raw Material ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Time Averaging ◽  
Neutral Model ◽  
Risk Minimization ◽  
Behavioral Adaptations ◽  
Proxy Measure ◽  
Material Procurement ◽  
Neutral Agent ◽  
Time And Energy

Stone tool assemblage variability is considered a reliable proxy measure of adaptive variability. Raw material richness, transport distances, and the character of transported technologies are thought to signal (1) variation in raw material selectivity based on material quality and abundance, (2) optimization of time and energy costs associated with procurement of stone from spatially dispersed sources, (3) planning depth that weaves raw material procurement forays into foraging activities, and (4) risk minimization that sees materials transported in quantities and forms that are energetically economical and least likely to fail. This paper dispenses with assumptions that raw material type and abundance play any role in the organization of mobility and raw material procurement strategies. Rather, a behaviorally neutral agent-based model is developed involving a forager engaged in a random walk within a uniform environment. Raw material procurement in the model is dependent only upon random encounters with stone sources and the amount of available space in the mobile toolkit. Simulated richness-sample size relationships, frequencies of raw material transfers as a function of distance from source, and both quantity-distance and reduction intensity-distance relationships are qualitatively similar to commonly observed archaeological patterns. In some archaeological cases it may be difficult to reject the neutral model. At best, failure to reject the neutral model may mean that intervening processes (e.g., depositional time-averaging) have erased high-frequency adaptive signals in the data. At worst, we may have to admit the possibility that Paleolithic behavioral adaptations were sometimes not responsive to differences between stone raw material types in the ways implied by current archaeological theory.

Social Landscapes of the Late Palaeolithic: Marking Meaning in the Magdalenian

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 380-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Sterling
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Cultural Importance ◽  
Lithic Tools ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Landscapes ◽  
Late Palaeolithic

Landscape archaeologies that pay attention to cultural importance of place have become increasingly common in recent years in many parts of the world. However, these approaches have largely failed to make inroads into Pleistocene European hunter–gatherer archaeology. This is partly due to a focus on economics, survival, and neo-liberal assumptions of ‘efficiency’ in early modern human behaviour. With evidence of lithic use drawn from cave sites, survey, and open-air excavation, I argue that Upper Paleolithic hunter–gatherers left clues to the importance of certain places in the landscape. Lithic tools in particular have been undervalued for their symbolic meaning, which goes well beyond style and ethnicity models. Raw material has been seen as evidence of mobility and trade, but possible cultural motives behind material choices have been downplayed or ignored.

Production and Transport of Blanks and Tools at the French Middle Paleolithic Site of Combe-Capelle Bas

1998 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Roth ◽  
Harold L. Dibble
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Middle Paleolithic ◽  
Paleolithic Site ◽  
Group Mobility ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Lithic Assemblages ◽  
Material Procurement ◽  
Core Reduction

Recent studies of Middle Paleolithic lithic assemblages have focused on questions of interest to lithic analysts everywhere, including the effect of raw material availability, occupation span, and tool maintenance on assemblage characteristics. In this paper, we add to the growing database on Middle Paleolithic assemblages using material recently excavated at Combe-Capelle Bas in the Dordogne region of southern France. The site provides a unique opportunity for addressing questions concerning lithic assemblage variability because it is located on a high quality flint source. We present data on core reduction, blank selection, raw material procurement, and lithic transport that provide information on lithic use pertinent for both Old World and New World archaeologists. Our data show that raw material availability and group mobility influenced blank selection, production, and transport at Combe-Capelle.

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