Identification of Bifacial Components in Middle Paleolithic Techno-Complexes (Based on the Chagyrskaya Cave Assemblages)

Previously, occasional bifacial tools found in different industrial variants of the Altai Middle Paleolithic were not considered as cultural markers that could be used to differentiate the technological/cultural variants. They rather were a bright but situational manifestation of the typological variability, especially in the case of the Sibiryachikha assemblages. Purpose. The article discusses various research approaches used to determine and evaluate the bifacial component in the Middle Paleolithic lithic assemblages, namely attributive analysis with a set of specific attributes, scar-pattern analysis and experimental modelling. Results. As a result of recent studies at the site Chagyrskaya Cave, the key-site of Sibiryachikha, we found out that all the bifaces were made using plano-convex technology. In the Chagyrskaya Cave assemblage all stages of bifacial production have been noticed? including pre-forms, bifacial tools and tools made on bifacial thinning flakes, accompanied by numerous bifacial thinning flakes and bifacial thinning chips. Re-investigation of the Okladnikov assemblage should bring a new, previously unknown series of technical spalls related to the bifacial plano-convex technology. A similar situation is with Karabom complexes, where all bifacial tools are made using bi-convex bifacial technology. Thus, criteria for technological distinction of bifacial production are of special importance. Conclusion. Our experiments have shown that the proportion of chips associated with bifacial production is much higher than it can be determined while analyzing archaeological assemblages. Taking in account the new data on bifacial technologies in the region, we conclude that variability of Middle Paleolithic complexes has become more complex. To evaluate the bifacial component in Paleolithic assemblages, all stages of bifacial flaking should be documented, including bifacial pre-forms, technical spalls related to bifacial reduction sequence, chips, blanks which demonstrate bifacial flaking errors and tools made on bifacial thinning flakes and bifacial tools. A complete set of bifacial production is present at the Chagyrskaya Cave assemblage due to the fact that the cave was constantly visited and had a sufficiently long habitation cycle as a source of raw materials. In the assemblage, a complete sequence of lithic raw material exploitation was processed. Taking into account the fact that Chagyrskaya Cave and Okladnikov Cave are associated only with Neanderthal remains, it can be assumed that bifacial plano-convex technology in the Middle Paleolithic of Altai is linked to Neanderthal population in the region.

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Primary reduction technology in the Sukhaya Mechetka site assemblage

Camera praehistorica ◽

10.31250/2658-3828-2020-2-67-99 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 67-99

Author(s):

Aleksandr Kolesnik ◽

◽

Aleksandr Otcherednoy ◽

Kseniia Stepanova ◽

Aleksei Danilchenko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Complete Sequence ◽

Raw Material ◽

Middle Paleolithic ◽

Lower Volga Region ◽

Small Series ◽

Use Wear ◽

Primary Reduction ◽

Almost All ◽

Geological Position

The Sukhaya Mechetka site in the Lower Volga region being widely known due to the unique preservation of cultural remains, their clear geological position and a rich set of tools has long become a kind of icon of the Middle Paleolithic of Eastern Europe. Improtantly the site was excavated over a wide area (about 650 square meters). During the excavation an assemblage of stone items including more than 350 tools, cores and about 10,000 flint and quartzite flakes of various types was collected. The neogene flint and the paleogene quartzite were used as raw materials approximately equally. According to our observations almost all available and suitable for processing stone rocks that were carried to the site as nodules, blocks, fragments and flakes were intensively used. Raw materials were collected in the immediate vicinity of the site. The signals of raw materials shortage and significant depth of its processing were detected. The distribution of the products of flint and quartzite raw materials on the site is irregular. Primary knapping was carried out according to typical Middle Paleolithic technologies. A small series of stone hammers display specific patterns of their use-wear. The cores and the flakes produced with these hammers were found. The complete sequence of preparation and flaking from the pre-cores to the residual forms has been documented. The shortage of high-quality raw material resulted in extremely complete usage of the most cores. Additionally many residual forms have been used for making tools. The cores can be divided into radial, cuboid and Levallois samples.

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For our world without sound. The opportunistic debitage in the Italian context: a methodological evaluation of the lithic assemblages of Pirro Nord, Cà Belvedere di Montepoggiolo, Ciota Ciara cave and Riparo Tagliente.

10.21203/rs.3.rs-176361/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mark Carpentieri ◽

Marta Arzarello

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Raw Material ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Lithic Assemblages ◽

Core Technology ◽

Starting Point ◽

Lower Pleistocene ◽

Great Heterogeneity ◽

Italian Context ◽

Methodological Evaluation

Abstract The opportunistic debitage, originally adapted from Forestier’s S.S.D.A. definition, is characterized by a strong adaptability to local raw material morphology and its physical characteristics and it is oriented towards flake production. Its most ancient evidence is related to the first European peopling by Homo sp. during Lower Pleistocene starting from 1.6 Ma and gradually increasing around 1 Ma. In these sites a great heterogeneity of the reduction sequences and raw materials employed is highlighted, bringing to the identification of multiple technical behaviours. However, the scientific community does not always agree on associating the concepts of opportunism and method to describe these lithic complexes. The same methodological issues remain for the Middle Pleistocene where, simultaneously to an increase of the archaeological evidence and the persistence of the opportunistic debitage, the first bifacial complexes are attested. Further implications concerning the increasing complexity highlighted in core technology management are now at the centre of an important debate regarding the genesis of more specialized method (Levallois and Discoid) especially during MIS 12 and MIS 9. We suggest that the opportunistic debitage could be the starting point for this process, carrying within itself a great methodological and cultural potential.

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Differential Raw Material Use in the Middle Pleistocene of Spain: Evidence from Sierra de Atapuerca, Torralba, Ambrona and Aridos

Cambridge Archaeological Journal ◽

10.1017/s0959774300001281 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 15-28 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Marina Mosquera Martinez

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Ability ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Raw Material ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Economic Perspective ◽

Lithic Assemblages ◽

Material Procurement ◽

Surrounding Landscape ◽

The Way

This article reviews the evidence for planning behaviour in Middle Pleistocene hominids. It documents the way in which raw material procurement and tool production were structured during the Middle Pleistocene occupations of the Spanish sites of Sierra de Atapuerca, Torralba, Ambrona and Aridos. Differences in the use of raw materials for different kinds of tool or end-product allow inferences to be drawn about pre-Neanderthal intentionality and cognitive ability. The overall pattern of technological behaviour demonstrated by this study is far removed from the purely ‘opportunistic’ and can reasonably be described as involving both forethought and planning. The work is presented from a techno-economic perspective based on the differential use of raw material types present in the lithic assemblages of these sites, and the proximity of sources of these raw materials in the surrounding landscape.

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Uma perspetiva diacrónica da ocupação do concheiro do Cabeço da Amoreira (Muge, Portugal) a partir da tecnologia lítica

Arqueologia em Portugal 2020 - Estado da Questão - Textos ◽

10.21747/978-989-8970-25-1/arqa54 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 733-744

Author(s):

Joana Belmiro ◽

João Cascalheira ◽

Célia Gonçalves

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Raw Material ◽

Clear Distinction ◽

Preliminary Results ◽

Lithic Assemblages ◽

Raw Material Variability ◽

Technological Analysis

This study presents preliminary results from a technological analysis of lithic artefacts from the Mesolithic shellmidden of Cabeço da Amoreira (Muge, Portugal). The main goal was to understand the technological and raw material variability within the two main excavation areas of the site, in order to characterize the different occupation moments. A typological and attribute approach was used in the analysis. The results suggest a clear distinction of the lithic assemblages, associated with the sedimentary differences identified in the composition of the several layers. This separation can be found mostly in the frequencies of raw materials, cores and retouched tools.

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Preliminary results of the first lithic raw material survey in the piedmont zones of Kazakhstan

10.31235/osf.io/uztq6 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Abay Namen ◽

Patrick Cuthbertson ◽

Aristeidis Varis ◽

Patrick Schmidt ◽

Zhaken Taimagambetov ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Raw Material ◽

Material Transfer ◽

Land Use Patterns ◽

Heterogeneous Distribution ◽

Preliminary Results ◽

Lithic Assemblages ◽

Survey Results ◽

Lithic Raw Material

The study of raw materials focuses on different aspects of hominin behaviour such as mobility strategies, land-use patterns and raw material transfer. They were comprehensively studied in the Palaeolithic of Europe and Africa. However, systematic studies of raw material sourcing have not been undertaken for the Palaeolithic of Kazakhstan, such surveys being embedded in reconnaissance works aimed at discovering new Palaeolithic sites. Our study presents preliminary results of the first lithic raw material survey in Kazakhstan. The study is based on outcrop surveying, collecting and sampling of potential sources of raw materials, and on a substantial literature review. The current study distinguishes the geographic patterns of land-use and their correlation with the lithic assemblages from stratified sites. Here, we describe primary and secondary sources of raw materials, and compare them macroscopically with the assemblages of stone tools. The survey results show a heterogeneous distribution of raw materials throughout the study regions. Macroscopic observations of lithic assemblages, and data extracted from literature suggest that hominins primarily selected locally occurring raw materials. Additionally, regional difference in the utilisation of a particular type of raw material which can be observed through the macroscopic examination of the lithic collections are confirmed by survey results.

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New Perspectives on the Problems of the Exploitation Area and the Prehistoric Use of the Buda Hornstone in Hungary

Archaeologia Polona ◽

10.23858/apa56.2018.011 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 56 ◽

pp. 167-189

Author(s):

Norbert Faragó ◽

Réka Katalin Péter ◽

Ferenc Cserpák ◽

Dávid Kraus ◽

Zsolt Mester

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Wide Spectrum ◽

Geophysical Methods ◽

Raw Material ◽

Early Bronze Age ◽

Copper Age ◽

Lithic Assemblages ◽

Siliceous Rocks ◽

Middle Bronze Age

The mountainous areas of the Carpathian basin have provided a wide spectrum of siliceous rocks for prehistoric people. Although the presence of outcrops of a kind of chert, named Buda hornstone was already known by geological and petrographic investigations, the developing Hungarian petroarchaeological research did not pay much attention to this raw material. Its archaeological perspectives have been opened by a discovery made at the Denevér street in western part of Budapest in the 1980s. During the excavations of the flint mine, not much was known about the distribution of this raw material in the archaeological record. Since then the growing amount of archaeological evidences showed that its first significant occurrence in assemblages can be dated to the Late Copper Age Baden culture, and it became more abundant through the Early Bronze age Bell-Beaker culture until the Middle Bronze Age tell cultures. Until now, 15 outcrops of the Buda hornstone have been localised on the surface. Based on thin section examinations taken from two different outcrops, we have made a clear distinction between three variants. In the last few years, archaeological supervision has been conducted during house constructions, suggesting the Buda hornstone occurrence takes the form of a secondary autochthonous type of source. In the framework of our research program, a systematic check of the raw materials is planned in the lithic assemblages of the nearby prehistoric sites, as well as to look for extraction pits or other mining features with the application of geophysical methods and a thorough analysis of the surface morphology

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

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/2694775 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 63 (1) ◽

pp. 47-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 61

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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For our world without sound. The opportunistic debitage in the Italian context: a methodological evaluation of the lithic assemblages of Pirro Nord, Cà Belvedere di Montepoggiolo, Ciota Ciara cave and Riparo Tagliente.

10.31219/osf.io/2ptjb ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marco Carpentieri ◽

Marta Arzarello

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Raw Material ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Lithic Assemblages ◽

Core Technology ◽

Starting Point ◽

Lower Pleistocene ◽

Great Heterogeneity ◽

Italian Context ◽

Methodological Evaluation

The opportunistic debitage, originally adapted from Forestier’s S.S.D.A. definition, is characterized by a strong adaptability to local raw material morphology and its physical characteristics and it is oriented towards flake production. Its most ancient evidences are related to the first European peopling by Homo sp. during Lower Pleistocene starting from 1.6 Ma and gradually increasing around 1 Ma. In these sites a great heterogeneity of the reduction sequences and raw materials employed is highlighted, bringing to the identification of multiple technical behaviours. However, the scientific community does not always agree on associating the concepts of opportunism and method to describe these lithic complexes. The same methodological issues remain for the Middle Pleistocene where, simultaneously to an increase of the archaeological evidences and the persistence of the opportunistic debitage, the first bifacial complexes are attested. Further implications concerning the increasing complexity highlighted in core technology management are now at the centre of an important debate regarding the genesis of more specialized method (Levallois and Discoid) especially during MIS 12 and MIS 9. We suggest that the opportunistic debitage could be the starting point for this process, carrying within itself a great methodological and cultural potential.

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Metasomatic studies in Bulgaria – an overview

Geologica Balcanica ◽

10.52321/geolbalc.46.2.32 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 46 (2) ◽

pp. 32

Author(s):

Angel Kunov

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Rapid Development ◽

Wall Rock ◽

Raw Material ◽

Metasomatic Alteration ◽

World Science ◽

Bulgarian Academy ◽

Experimental Modelling ◽

Academy Of Sciences

This brief overview presents the study of metasomatic processes and rocks in Bulgaria. The very beginning of metasomatic studies coincides with the first steps of Bulgarian geology, with the discovery and description of minerals that are basic for altered rocks. Subsequently, the processes of spilitization and uralitization, the formation of fluorite-silicated rocks during intensive metasomatic alteration of marbles, were characterized. Around and after 1950, the increase in mapping and geological and mining activities created prerequisites for rapid development of the study of metasomatic processes, and especially of wall-rock alterations as their particular cases. Many new data filled in the pages of geological reports and the first dissertations. This was also the time of characterization of new metasomatic processes and metasomatic products for Bulgaria: potassium feldspatization and granitization, propylites and secondary quartzites, etc. Nowadays, the following metasomatic families have been established in Bulgaria: skarn, quartz-feldspar metasomatic rocks, greisen, beresite, secondary (hydrothermal) quartzite, propylite, argillisite, aceite, quartz-sericite and quartz-adularia-sericite. The products of potassium feldspatization and granitization, as well as rodingites, can also be included. The Geological Institute “Strashimir Dimitrov” (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) is the cradle of the metasomatic doctrine in Bulgaria. Taking the best of world science, the metasomatic direction in our country has created its own image. Collaboration with prominent specialists from leading countries have helped Bulgarian metasomatists grow and show their knowledge at a number of geological forums in Bulgaria and abroad, as well as in theoretical and practical aspects taking part in exploration works in other countries. Proof of growth are the monographs issued; the large number of scientific and popular articles; the defended 17 PhD and four DSc theses; the new, found in Bulgaria, minerals, rocks, deposits and occurrences of ore and non-metallic raw materials with different applications. This overview examines in a detailed way the different directions in researches on metasomatic processes in Bulgaria: geochemical, mineralogical-petrological, structural-tectonic, theoretical and experimental modelling. The most important scientific and applied contributions are noted, and the problems in the study of metasomatic processes are briefly discussed. Research on metasomatic rocks (especially wall-rock alterations) and results are widely used in the discovery of a number of ore and raw material deposits, as well as in the proper direction of geological exploration and mining in promising areas.

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Raw material sourcing in the Middle Paleolithic site of Gruta da Oliveira (Central Limestone Massif, Estremadura, Portugal)

Journal of Lithic Studies ◽

10.2218/jls.v3i2.1452 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Henrique Matias

Keyword(s):

Sedimentary Basin ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Raw Material ◽

Geological Samples ◽

Paleolithic Site ◽

Diverse Range ◽

Probability Interval ◽

Lithic Assemblage ◽

Lithic Assemblages

The cave site of Gruta da Oliveira is located in the Almonda karst system, at the interface between the Central Limestone Massif of Portuguese Estremadura (CLM) and the adjacent Sedimentary Basin of the River Tagus (TSB). The cave presents a stratification dated to ~37-107 ka containing hearth features, Neanderthal skeletal remains, as well as fauna, microfauna and wood charcoal remains. The lithic assemblages are large and feature a diverse range of raw materials.Knappable lithic raw materials in primary, sub-primary and secondary position in the CLM and the TSB were systematically surveyed and sampled. The characterization of the geological samples was carried out at both the macro- and the microscopic scales and data were systematized under the petroarcheological and “evolutionary chain of silica” approaches.The study of the lithic assemblage from layer 14 (dated to the ~61-93 ka 95.4% probability interval by TL) indicates that the Gruta da Oliveira Neanderthals used quartzite, quartz and flint from sources located less than 30 km away in both the CLM and the TSB.

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