Late Middle Pleistocene Levallois stone-tool technology in southwest China

AbstractWe develop a framework to differentiate the technological niches of co-existing hominin species by reviewing some theoretical biases influential in thinking about techno-behaviours of extinct hominins, such as a teleological bias in discussing technological evolution. We suggest that some stone-tool classification systems underestimate technological variability, while overestimating the complexity of the behaviours most commonly represented. To model the likely technological niches of extinct populations, we combine ecological principles (i.e. competitive exclusion) with physical anthropology and the archaeological record. We test the framework by applying it to the co-existence of Homo naledi and Homo sapiens during the late Middle Pleistocene in southern Africa. Based on our analysis, we suggest that tool use was probably not an essential part of H. naledi’s niche, but that technology occasionally provided caloric benefits. In contrast, tool use was a structural part of the H. sapiens way of life. We provide reasoning for our interpretation that the latter population is associated with more sophisticated reduction strategies and the development of prepared core technology. The method also has applicability to cases such as the co-existence of different toolmakers during the Earlier Stone Age (ESA) in East Africa and the co-existence of Neanderthals and H. sapiens in Eurasia.

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Why invent the handle? Electromyography (EMG) and efficiency of use data investigating the prehistoric origin and selection of hafted stone knives

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences ◽

10.1007/s12520-021-01421-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (10) ◽

Author(s):

Alastair Key ◽

Ian Farr ◽

Robert Hunter ◽

Anna Mika ◽

Metin I. Eren ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Performance ◽

Cutting Tools ◽

Cutting Edge ◽

Cutting Performance ◽

Stone Tool ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Human Populations ◽

Tool Types ◽

Late Middle Pleistocene ◽

Selection Of

AbstractFor over 3 million years hominins held stone-cutting tools in the hand, gripping the portion of tool displaying a sharp cutting edge directly. During the late Middle Pleistocene human populations started to produce hafted composite knives, where the stone element displaying a sharp cutting edge was secured in a handle. Prevailing archaeological literature suggests that handles convey benefits to tool users by increasing cutting performance and reducing musculoskeletal stresses, yet to date these hypotheses remain largely untested. Here, we compare the cutting performance of hafted knives, ‘basic’ flake tools, and large bifacial tools during two standardized cutting tasks. Going further, we examine the comparative ergonomics of each tool type through electromyographic (EMG) analysis of nine upper limb muscles. Results suggest that knives (1) recruit muscles responsible for digit flexion (i.e. gripping) and in-hand manipulation relatively less than alternative stone tool types and (2) may convey functional performance benefits relative to unhafted stone tool alternatives when considered as a generalised cutting tool. Furthermore, our data indicate that knives facilitate greater muscle activity in the upper arm and forearm, potentially resulting in the application of greater cutting forces during tool use. Compared to unhafted prehistoric alternatives, hafted stone knives demonstrate increased ergonomic properties and some functional performance benefits. These factors would likely have contributed to the invention and widespread adoption of hafted stone knives during the late Middle Pleistocene.

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Review for "A decrease in temperature during the late Middle Pleistocene interglacial stage (MIS 7.3) altered montane zone floral diversity: Plant macrofossil evidence from central Japan"

10.1002/gj.3833/v2/review1 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Central Japan ◽

Plant Macrofossil ◽

Floral Diversity ◽

Montane Zone ◽

Late Middle Pleistocene

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Changes in Paleovegetation and Paleoclimate in China Since the Late Middle Pleistocene: A Case Study of the Dajiuhu Basin

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13094848 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 4848

Author(s):

Liwei Wu ◽

Xinling Li ◽

Qinghai Xu ◽

Manyue Li ◽

Qiufeng Zheng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Grain Size ◽

Asian Monsoon ◽

East Asian Monsoon ◽

Asian Summer Monsoon ◽

East Asian ◽

Central China ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Pollen Record ◽

The Difference ◽

Late Middle Pleistocene

The East Asian monsoon system is an important part of global atmospheric circulation; however, records of the East Asian monsoon from different regions exhibit different evolutionary rhythms. Here, we show a high-resolution record of grain size and pollen data from a lacustrine sediment core of Dajiuhu Lake in Shennongjia, Hubei Province, China, in order to reconstruct the paleovegetation and paleoeclimate evolution of the Dajiuhu Basin since the late Middle Pleistocene (~237.9 ka to the present). The results show that grain size and pollen record of the core DJH-2 are consistent with the δ18O record of stalagmites from Sanbao Cave in the same area, which is closely related to the changes of insolation at the precessional (~20-kyr) scale in the Northern Hemisphere. This is different from the records of the Asian summer monsoon recorded in the Loess Plateau of North China, which exhibited dominant 100-kyr change cyclicities. We suggest that the difference between paleoclimatic records from North and South China is closely related to the east–west-oriented mountain ranges of the Qinling Mountains in central China that blocked weakened East Asia summer monsoons across the mountains during glacial periods.

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Elephant bones for the Middle Pleistocene toolmaker

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0256090 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (8) ◽

pp. e0256090

Author(s):

Paola Villa ◽

Giovanni Boschian ◽

Luca Pollarolo ◽

Daniela Saccà ◽

Fabrizio Marra ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Upper Paleolithic ◽

Raw Material ◽

General Idea ◽

Early Pleistocene ◽

Stone Tool ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Medium Size ◽

Bone Tools ◽

Lithic Industry ◽

Taphonomic Analysis

The use of bone as raw material for implements is documented since the Early Pleistocene. Throughout the Early and Middle Pleistocene bone tool shaping was done by percussion flaking, the same technique used for knapping stone artifacts, although bone shaping was rare compared to stone tool flaking. Until recently the generally accepted idea was that early bone technology was essentially immediate and expedient, based on single-stage operations, using available bone fragments of large to medium size animals. Only Upper Paleolithic bone tools would involve several stages of manufacture with clear evidence of primary flaking or breaking of bone to produce the kind of fragments required for different kinds of tools. Our technological and taphonomic analysis of the bone assemblage of Castel di Guido, a Middle Pleistocene site in Italy, now dated by 40Ar/39Ar to about 400 ka, shows that this general idea is inexact. In spite of the fact that the number of bone bifaces at the site had been largely overestimated in previous publications, the number of verified, human-made bone tools is 98. This is the highest number of flaked bone tools made by pre-modern hominids published so far. Moreover the Castel di Guido bone assemblage is characterized by systematic production of standardized blanks (elephant diaphysis fragments) and clear diversity of tool types. Bone smoothers and intermediate pieces prove that some features of Aurignacian technology have roots that go beyond the late Mousterian, back to the Middle Pleistocene. Clearly the Castel di Guido hominids had done the first step in the process of increasing complexity of bone technology. We discuss the reasons why this innovation was not developed. The analysis of the lithic industry is done for comparison with the bone industry.

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Luminescence dating of a late Middle Pleistocene glacial advance in eastern England

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences – Geologie en Mijnbouw ◽

10.1017/njg.2021.13 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 100 ◽

Author(s):

Philip L. Gibbard ◽

Mark D. Bateman ◽

Jane Leathard ◽

R.G. West

Keyword(s):

Previous Investigation ◽

Alluvial Fan ◽

Luminescence Dating ◽

Marine Isotope Stage ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Eastern Margin ◽

First Time ◽

Late Middle Pleistocene ◽

Glacial Advance

Abstract Previous investigation of isolated landforms, on the eastern margin of the East Anglian Fenland, England, has demonstrated that they represent an ice-marginal delta and alluvial fan complex deposited at the margin of an ice lobe that entered the Fenland during the ‘Tottenhill glaciation’ (termed the ‘Skertchly Line’). They have been attributed, based on regional correlations, to a glaciation during the Late Wolstonian (i.e. Late Saalian) Substage (Drenthe Stadial, early Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6). This paper aimed to test this correlation by directly optically luminescence dating, for the first time, sediments found within the Skertchly Line at Shouldham Thorpe, Norfolk, and Maidscross Hill, Suffolk, together with those in associated kame terrace deposits at Watlington, Norfolk. Ages ranged from 244 ± 10 ka to 12.8 ± 0.46 ka, all the results being younger than MIS 8 with some clearly showing the landforms have been subsequently subjected to periglacial processes, particularly during the Late Devensian Substage (∼MIS 2). Most of the remainder fall within the range 169–212 ka and could be assigned to MIS 6, thus confirming the previously proposed age of the glaciation. The local and regional implications of these conclusions are discussed, the maximum ice limit being linked to that of the Amersfoort–Nijmegen glaciotectonic ridge limit in the central Netherlands.

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Mode 3 Technologies and the Evolution of Modern Humans

Cambridge Archaeological Journal ◽

10.1017/s0959774300001451 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 3-36 ◽

Cited By ~ 233

Author(s):

Robert Foley ◽

Marta Mirazón Lahr

Keyword(s):

Strong Association ◽

Middle Stone Age ◽

Stone Tool ◽

Archaeological Record ◽

African Origin ◽

Biological Models ◽

Modern Humans ◽

Archaeological Interpretation ◽

Mode 3 ◽

Tool Technology

The origins and evolution of modern humans has been the dominant interest in palaeoanthropology for the last decade, and much archaeological interpretation has been structured around the various issues associated with whether humans have a recent African origin or a more ancient one. While the archaeological record has been used to support or refute various aspects of the theories, and to provide a behavioural framework for different biological models, there has been little attempt to employ the evidence of stone tool technology to unravel phylogenetic relationships. Here we examine the evidence that the evolution of modern humans is integrally related to the development of the Upper Palaeolithic and similar technologies, and conclude that there is only a weak relationship. In contrast there is a strong association between the evolution and spread of modern humans and Grahame Clark's Mode 3 technologies (the Middle Stone Age/Palaeolithic). The implications of this for the evolution of Neanderthals, the multiple pattern of human dispersals, and the nature of cognitive evolution, are considered.

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Evolution of Cognitive Archaeology through Evolving Cognitive Systems

Squeezing Minds From Stones ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190854614.003.0005 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 79-101 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Iain Davidson

Keyword(s):

Original Work ◽

Stone Tools ◽

Human Cognition ◽

Stone Tool ◽

Cognitive Systems ◽

Cognitive Evolution ◽

Subsequent Work ◽

Productive Research ◽

Tool Technology

Tom Wynn’s original work that looked at the evolution of stone tool technology using Piaget’s developmental sequence was the beginning of productive research into the evolution of hominin and human cognition. In this chapter, I evaluate those beginnings and discusses recent attempts to provide a more satisfactory understanding of changes in stone tool technologies, including work by Philip Barnard and William McGrew, subsequent work by Tom Wynn, and my own work with various collaborators. It suggests that some of the previous understandings of cognitive evolution were shaped by the fact that approaches to stone tools were largely determined in the nineteenth century. I propose some new ways of looking at stone tools and the sort of story that allows for more productive models of the evolution of human cognition.

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