scholarly journals An Early Stone Age in Western Africa? Spheroids and polyhedrons at Ounjougou, Mali

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis De Weyer
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequence ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
Shaping Process ◽  
The Future ◽  
Lithic Industry ◽  
Early Stone Age

Ounjougou stratigraphic sequence (Bandiagara, Dogon Country, Mali) is the most complete record in Western Africa for the Middle Pleistocene. This paper focuses on the lithic industry unearthed in the lowest levels of the sequence. Despite the impossibility to fix the dating of those layers, the assemblage clearly presents Oldowan features. A strong erosive process, combined to the absence of Acheulean industry, strengthens the idea of a probable ancient age for the lithic industry. Morphometric, Technological and techno-functional approaches were performed to study sandstone polyhedrons, spheroids and bolas, abundant in the collection, along with a flake production on quartz and quartzite pebbles. This study demonstrates that polyhedrons, spheroids and bolas were shaped from independent chaînes opératoires to realize specific tasks. The hypothesis of opportunistic knapping does not fit with these materials at Ounjougou. The evidence of shaping is highlighted by diacritic schemes showing that the flakes detached are not controlled for their usability, but for shaping the morphology of the spheroid. Apart from those polyhedrons and spheroids, flake production is also identified. While the shaping process is made on sandstone cobbles, sharp flakes are produced from quartz pebbles. This clear choice of different raw materials to produce shaped heavy tools in one hand and light flake tools in another hand strengthens the idea of a deliberate shaping of spheroid tools. The discussion compares this assemblage with other known assemblages like Ain Hanech and Olducai Gorge. Our point focus on the methodology used to study these specific artefacts, very different from one author to another. We stress out the fact that using the term ‘polyhedron’ is not accurate to define artefacts that can refer to shape tools or multifacial cores. We suggest to avoid using it and to focus on a technical identification to name the artefacts as cores or tools. The technological and techno-functional approaches are relevant to make this distinction. Then we propose some hypothesis about the use of spheroid and bolas and suggest experiments and traceological analyses in the future to confirm their functionality. Ounjougou lithic tool kit, composed of flake débitage, retouched flakes and shaped tools on pebbles, along with the spheroids and bolas component, gives an evidence of a diversified tool kit corresponding to the Oldowan Industrial Complex, and then represents the first Early Stone Age site in stratigraphy in Western Africa.

scholarly journals Raw material optimization and stone tool engineering in the Early Stone Age of Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (162) ◽  
pp. 20190377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alastair Key ◽  
Tomos Proffitt ◽  
Ignacio de la Torre
Keyword(s):  
Functional Performance ◽  
Material Selection ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Cutting Tools ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Olduvai Gorge ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Material Optimization ◽  
Early Stone Age

For more than 1.8 million years hominins at Olduvai Gorge were faced with a choice: whether to use lavas, quartzite or chert to produce stone tools. All are available locally and all are suitable for stone tool production. Using controlled cutting tests and fracture mechanics theory we examine raw material selection decisions throughout Olduvai's Early Stone Age. We quantify the force, work and material deformation required by each stone type when cutting, before using these data to compare edge sharpness and durability. Significant differences are identified, confirming performance to depend on raw material choice. When combined with artefact data, we demonstrate that Early Stone Age hominins optimized raw material choices based on functional performance characteristics. Doing so flexibly: choosing raw materials dependent on their sharpness and durability, alongside a tool's loading potential and anticipated use-life. In this way, we demonstrate that early lithic artefacts at Olduvai Gorge were engineered to be functionally optimized cutting tools.

scholarly journals Excavations in the Acheulean Levels at the Earlier Stone Age Site of Canteen Koppie, Northern Province, South Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 78 ◽  
pp. 51-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
John McNabb ◽  
Peter Beaumont
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Considerable Time ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequence ◽  
Open Cast Mining ◽  
Core Technology ◽  
Open Cast

The fluvial gravels of the river Vaal in South Africa have long been known as a source for Earlier Stone Age (ESA) artefacts. Most were discovered through the open cast mining for diamonds that has left very littlein situfluvial sediment remaining today. The site of Canteen Koppie is an internationally famous location with a reputation for prolific Acheulean artefacts, especially handaxes and the enigmatic prepared core and Levallois-like technology known as Victoria West. Our understanding of this site, and most other Vaal locations, is almost solely based on highly selected artefact collections. Here, we report on the first controlled excavations ever to be conducted at Canteen Koppie. The deposits are likely to date to the Early and Middle Pleistocene, and our excavations sample the full depth of the stratigraphic sequence. The lower units, first identified in these excavations, add a considerable time depth to the Acheulean occupation of the site, making this the longest chrono-stratigraphic sequence in South Africa to our knowledge. Given the current international interest in the origins of Levallois/prepared core technology (PCT), its occurrence in Unit 2b Upper, and its presence alongside Victoria West technology in Unit 2a has significant implications for debates on the role of Victoria West in the origins of PCT. From the Canteen Koppie evidence, Levallois and Victoria West are clearly rooted in the Acheulean.

scholarly journals Synergetic Approach to Agro-industrial Technologies of the Future

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 642-649
Author(s):  
Viktor Panfilov
Keyword(s):  
Food Industry ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Economic Effect ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Animal Origin ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Industrial Processing ◽  
The Future ◽  
New Research

Introduction. The present research featured some aspects of developing advanced technologies for the future agro-industrial sector of Russia. The paper focuses on a synergistic approach to new complex self-organizing technological systems in food industry. The research objective was to set up scientific foundations for the agro-industrial complex, industrial production of agricultural raw materials of plant and animal origin, and their industrial processing into food. Results and its discussion. The research touched upon the following issues: the conditions for an innovative technological breakthrough into the future of the agro-industrial complex; a dialectic model of technological development; a new industrialization of the agro-industrial complex; the possible economic effect of end-to-end agrifood technologies; the shift from the 4th to the 5th, and eventually to the 6th, techno-economic paradigm in the Russian agro-industrial complex. The article gives a detailed description of the dialectical method, which complicates each technology while simplifying the functioning processes as a whole. Conclusion. Hi-tech development in all branches of Russian agro-industrial complex will make it possible to enter the 6th technoeconomic paradigm and secure domestic food industry in terms of quantity and quality. The article describes prospects of the advanced development of agro-industrial technologies. In addition, it introduces a roadmap for agroscience development: new research should be based on scientific forecasts for the latter half of the XXI century.

The Early Paleolithic Go Da Site and the Bifacial Lithic Industries of Southeast Asia

2022 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
A. V. Kandyba ◽  
A. M. Chekha ◽  
Gia Doi Nguyen ◽  
Khac Su Nguyen ◽  
S. A. Gladyshev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequence ◽  
Common Features ◽  
Central Vietnam ◽  
Lithic Industry ◽  
Early Paleolithic ◽  
East And Southeast Asia ◽  
Primary Reduction

The lithic industry of the stratified site Go Da in Central Vietnam is described, and its place among the contemporaneous Early Paleolithic sites of East and Southeast Asia is determined. Results of a morphological technotypological analysis of the Go Da assemblage are provided. Go Da is attributed to the An Khe-type sites situated in the eponymous area of Vietnam. Cores and tools were made from pebbles, less often from fl akes. Primary reduction focused on simple pebble cores with natural striking-platforms, whereas radial cores were less common. Predom inant among the tools are picks, scrapers of various modifi cations, choppers, and chopping tools, as well as denticulate and notched tools; also, bifaces occur. These tools belong to a single homogeneous industry, showing common features in primary reduction, preparation, and design of key artifacts. On the basis of analysis of the stratigraphic sequence of Go Da and the absolute date of 806 ± 22 ka BP, generated by the potassium-argon analysis of tektites, it is proposed that the site is older than other dated locations with the An Khe industry. Apparently, it resulted from a convergent evolution of the pebble-fl ake industry introduced by the fi rst wave of Homo erectus from Africa. Go Da and other An Khe sites likely belong to a vast habitation zone of Southeast Asian hominins with technologically and typologically similar industries dating to the boundary between the Lower and the Middle Pleistocene.

scholarly journals New data on settlement and environment at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary in Sudano-Sahelian West Africa: Interdisciplinary investigation at Fatandi V, Eastern Senegal

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0243129
Author(s):  
Benoît Chevrier ◽  
Laurent Lespez ◽  
Brice Lebrun ◽  
Aline Garnier ◽  
Chantal Tribolo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Initial Phase ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Cultural Group ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
Late Stone Age ◽  
Depositional Processes ◽  
Cultural Pattern ◽  
History Of

The end of the Palaeolithic represents one of the least-known periods in the history of western Africa, both in terms of its chronology and the identification of cultural assemblages entities based on the typo-technical analyses of its industries. In this context, the site of Fatandi V offers new data to discuss the cultural pattern during the Late Stone Age in western Africa. Stratigraphic, taphonomical and sedimentological analyses show the succession of three sedimentary units. Several concentrations with rich lithic material were recognized. An in situ occupation, composed of bladelets, segments, and bladelet and flake cores, is confirmed while others concentrations of lithic materials have been more or less disturbed by erosion and pedogenic post-depositional processes. The sequence is well-dated from 12 convergent OSL dates. Thanks to the dating of the stratigraphic units and an OSL date from the layer (11,300–9,200 BCE [13.3–11.2 ka at 68%, 14.3–10.3 ka at 95%]), the artefacts are dated to the end of Pleistocene or Early Holocene. Palaeoenvironmental data suggest that the settlement took place within a mosaic environment and more precisely at the transition between the open landscape of savanna on the glacis and the plateau, and the increasingly densely-wooded alluvial corridor. These humid areas must have been particularly attractive during the dry season by virtue of their rich resources (raw materials, water, trees, and bushes). The Fatandi V site constitutes the first stratified site of the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary in Senegal with both precise geochronological and palaeoenvironmental data. It complements perfectly the data already obtained in Mali and in the rest of western Africa, and thus constitutes a reference point for this period. In any case, the assemblage of Fatandi V, with its bladelets and segments and in the absence of ceramics and grinding material, fits with a cultural group using exclusively geometric armatures which strongly differs from another group characterized by the production of bifacial armatures, accompanied in its initial phase by ceramics (or stoneware) and grinding material.

scholarly journals Pleistocene Deposits in the Southern Egyptian Sahara: Lithostratigraphic Relationships of Sediments and Landscape Dynamics at Bir Tarfawi

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-38
Author(s):  
Christopher L. Hill ◽  
Romuald Schild
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Table ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Middle Paleolithic ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequence ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Green Lake ◽  
Wet Climate ◽  
Topographic Depressions ◽  
Hydrologic Conditions ◽  
Basin Fill

Abstract The sedimentological and lithostratigraphic record from north-central Bir Tarfawi documents the presence of Pleistocene basin-fill deposits. Three topographic basins were created as a result of deflation during climate episodes associated with lowering of the local groundwater table. In each case, the three deflational basins or topographic depressions were subsequently filled with sediments; these basin aggradations coincided with changes from arid climate conditions to wetter conditions and a rise in the groundwater table. The oldest and highest sedimentary remnant is associated with Acheulian artifacts and may reflect spring-fed pond and marsh conditions during a Middle Pleistocene wet climate episode. Lithofacies for a lower stratigraphic sequence (the “White Lake”) documents deposition in a perennial lake that varied in extent and depth and is associated with Middle Paleolithic artifacts. A third episode of deflation created a topographic low that has been filled with Late Pleistocene sediments that are associated with Middle Paleolithic artifacts and fossil remains. Lateral and vertical variations in the lithofacies of this basin-fill sequence and the sediments of the “grey-green” lake phases provide a record of changing hydrologic conditions. These hydrologic conditions appear to reflect variations in water-table levels related to groundwater recharge and, at times, local rains.

Analytical support of the main trends in the development of the livestock industry

2020 ◽  
pp. 10-21
Author(s):  
Elena Kostyukova ◽  
Alexander Frolov
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Agricultural Economics ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Livestock Industry ◽  
Domestic Livestock ◽  
Livestock Products

Agriculture is the most important area of economic activity for the production of products and services in order to provide the population with quality food, industry with raw materials and promote sustainable development of rural areas. In recent years, there has been a downward trend in the rate of agricultural development, which is lagging behind the growth rate of the Russian economy as a whole. Structural changes in the agro-industrial complex have not produced significant positive results, which is caused by a number of reasons. One of the directions of agricultural policy in Russia is the accelerated development of animal husbandry and increasing the competitiveness of domestic livestock products in the domestic market. The state program for the development of agriculture and regulation of markets for agricultural products, raw materials and food provides for a set of measures for the priority development of animal husbandry. Implementation of these measures requires improved management in order to increase the efficiency of livestock production. The article considers aspects of the formation of accounting and analytical support for management of the livestock industry, economic and statistical analysis of trends and structural changes in the livestock industry. The best practices of Russian scientists in the field of accounting and agricultural Economics are summarized

scholarly journals Quantifying 3D Micro‐Surface Changes on Experimental Stones Used to Break Bones and Their Implications for the Analysis of Early Stone Age Pounding Tools

Archaeometry ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Benito‐Calvo ◽  
A. Arroyo ◽  
L. Sánchez‐Romero ◽  
M. Pante ◽  
I. Torre
Keyword(s):  
Stone Age ◽  
Early Stone Age ◽  
Surface Changes
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