scholarly journals Mesolithic and later activity at North Barr River, Morvern

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Gavin MacGregor ◽  
Alistair Beckett ◽  
Ann Clarke ◽  
Nyree Finlay ◽  
David Sneddon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Regional Networks ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Forestry Commission

At North Barr River, Morvern, inspection of forestry planting mounds on a raised beach terrace identified a chipped stone assemblage associated with upcast deposits containing charcoal. An archaeological evaluation of the site, funded by Forestry Commission Scotland, sought to better understand the extent and character of this Mesolithic and later prehistoric lithic scatter. The lithic assemblage is predominantly debitage with some microliths and scrapers. The range of raw materials including flint, Rùm bloodstone and baked mudstone highlights wider regional networks. Other elements, including a barbed and tanged arrowhead, belong to later depositional episodes. Two mid-second millennium bc radiocarbon dates were obtained from soil associated with some lithics recovered from a mixed soil beneath colluvial deposits. The chronology of a putative stone bank or revetment is uncertain but the arrangement of stone may also date to the second millennium bc.

scholarly journals New Data on the Mesolithic of the Southern Angara Region (Based on Materials of the Priyut Sukacheva 2 Site)

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 3-24
Author(s):  
I. M. Berdnikov ◽  
◽  
N. E. Berdnikova ◽  
I. V. Ulanov ◽  
K. A. Krutikova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Detailed Comparison ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Stratigraphic Position ◽  
Stone Industry

The results of archaeological works carried out in 2017 at the Priyut Sukacheva 2 site (Irkutsk) and analysis of the Mesolithic stone industry are presented. During the excavation, we uncovered the Pleistocene and Holocene deposits and identified two cultural layers. Mixed and poorly informative materials were found in the 1th layer, which is dated, in accordance with the ceramics, to a wide period from Neolithic to the Middle Ages. The most interesting finds of this layer are a flint zoomorphic figurine and a sandstone bait fish. The most representative is the collection of the 2nd layer. Three fireplaces made of pebbles were found here, which were severely destroyed because of cryogenic processes at the end of the Early – beginning of the Middle Holocene. The collection includes almost 6 thousand finds, among which were noted: debitage, cores and precors, end-scrapers (the most numerous category), incisors, borers, points, combined and notched tools, abrasive tools, preforms of tools, a knife, a side-scraper, pebbles and pieces of rock. The collection also consist of a few faunal remains (Equus ferus, Cervidae and ungulates). According to the specificity of lithic assemblage and the presence of large fireplaces, we can assume that there was a short-term settlement of hunter-gatherers. Here, the primary stone knapping was carried out, that indicated by the finds of cores, precors, flakes, and pieces of rock. Along with this, intensive economic activities were carried out, which was probably associated with various works on skin dressing, processing bone and wood. Despite of the lack of radiocarbon dates, the lithic assemblage of the 2nd layer is sufficiently expressive for a detailed comparison with materials from other sites. As a result of the collection analysis, the greatest similarity with the Late Mesolithic complexes of the Lisikha site, located on the opposite bank of Angara river, was found. Both sites have a similarity in the preferences of the inhabitants in the choice of raw materials (mudstone), the shape of cores and tools, and the stratigraphic position of the archaeological materials. Taking into account all the data, the age of complexes from the 2nd layer at the Priyut Sukacheva 2 site should be determined by the Final Mesolithic (~9.5–8.5 ka cal BP). The results of stratigraphic analysis do not contradict these conclusions.

Percussive-Abrasive Stone Tools from Chagyrskaya Cave: Results of Functional Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-31
Author(s):  
M. V. Seletsky ◽  
A. Y. Fedorchenko ◽  
P. V. Chistyakov ◽  
S. V. Markin ◽  
K. A. Kolobova
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Experimental Use ◽  
Abrasive Stone ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Reference Samples ◽  
Comprehensive Study

This article presents a comprehensive study of percussive-abrasive active stone tools from Chagyrskaya Cave, using experimental use-wear and statistical methods, supplemented by 3D-modeling. Experiments combined with use- wear analysis allowed us to determine the functions of these tools by comparing the working surfaces and use-wear traces in the Chagyrskaya samples with those in the reference samples. As a result, we identified 19 retouchers, four hammerstones for processing mineral raw materials, and one hammer for splitting bone, which indicates the dominance of secondary processing over primary knapping in the Chagyrskaya lithic assemblage. Using statistical analysis, we traced the differences in the dimensions of the manuports and lithics under study. These artifacts are a promising and underestimated source of information for identifying working operations associated with stone- and bone-processing; moreover, they can provide new data on the functional attribution of sites and the mobility of early hominins.

Archaic semisedentary foragers and analytical nodule analysis: The Aught-Six site of Northwestern Colorado

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 171-197
Author(s):  
Matthew J Landt ◽  
Justin P Williams
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Method ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Piceance Basin ◽  
Technological Systems ◽  
Projectile Point ◽  
Lithic Assemblage

Nodule analysis is designed to highlight the ways in which different lithic sources were utilized and incorporated into the stone tool industries of past societies. In 2008 and 2009, excavations in the Piceance Basin of Northwestern Colorado, an area with local chert and quartzite quarries, provided an opportunity to use a nodule analyses for a Section 106-driven project. The Aught-Six site lithic assemblage suggests that Archaic tool kits in Northwestern Colorado are likely to be heavily reliant on a variety of raw materials found across the region, though Bridger chert nodules were the primary objective pieces for the new tools during the basin house occupation. The results of the analyses not only highlight specific areas of projectile point production, but they also indicate that nodule analysis remains a powerful analytical method for understanding how raw materials are incorporated into the technological systems of semisedentary Archaic foragers.

The Folsom (Paleoindian) Type Site: Past Investigations, Current Studies

2002 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Meltzer ◽  
Lawrence C. Todd ◽  
Vance T. Holliday
Keyword(s):  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Wild Horse ◽  
Field Investigations ◽  
Type Site ◽  
High Utility ◽  
Cultural Origins

Research on the Folsom Paleoindian type site, involving renewed field investigations and an analysis of extant collections from the 1920s excavations, was undertaken between 1997 and 2000. The preliminary results of that research show that all excavations to date have been in the kill area, which took place in a small and relatively shallow tributary to the Pleistocene paleovalley of Wild Horse Arroyo as well as in the paleovalley itself. Preliminary butchering of ∼32 Bison antiquus took place near where the animals were dropped. The kill area is dominated by low-utility bone elements and broken projectile points; high-utility bones and tools for processing meat and hides are rare or absent, and either occur in another, as-yet undiscovered area of the site, or altogether off-site. Faunal remains are generally in excellent condition. Those in the tributary are mostly in primary context, and underwent rapid burial beneath fine-grained (dominantly aeolian) sediments, which in turn were subsequently armored by a shingle shale; those in the paleovalley experienced postdepositional transport and redeposition. The small lithic assemblage is dominated by projectile points and comprised of material mostly from two sources in the Texas panhandle, several hundred kilometers southeast of the site. It also includes stone obtained from sources at comparable distances north and northwest of the site. A series of radiocarbon ages is available for the stratigraphic units, nearly all from charcoal of non-cultural origins; radiocarbon dates on bison bone put the age of the kill at 10,500 B.P.

The Earliest Cultures in the Western United States

1962 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex D. Krieger
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Projectile Point ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Point Types ◽  
Geological Position

AbstractNearly all writers on the antiquity of man in America assume that the oldest archaeological sites contain chipped-stone projectile points and therefore cannot exceed an age of some 12,000 to 15,000 years, the estimates usually given to such projectile-point types as Sandia and Clovis. Suggestions of older sites, with radiocarbon dates ranging from some 21,000 years to as much as “greater than 37,000 years,” with simpler artifacts and an absence of stone projectile points, are generally viewed with suspicion if not abhorrence.A recent paper by E. H. Sellards considers seven localities in the western United States and Baja California which, because of geological position and radiocarbon dates, are probably too old to contain stone projectile points. The writer agrees with Sellards that these localities are archaeological (except for that at Texas Street in San Diego, California), but disagrees that those in coastal locations are different from those in inland locations for “ecological” reasons such as food supply and availability of stone. The differences may be explained in that those sites on the shores of extinct lakes were never covered by overburden, whereas those which were covered by alluvium or sand are known to us now only by varying amounts of exposure by erosion or excavation (or both).

Archaeological Evidence for the Origin of the Plank Canoe in North America

2002 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn H. Gamble
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Southern California ◽  
New World ◽  
Sociopolitical Complexity ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Elite Group ◽  
Relative Dating ◽  
The Pacific

Advanced maritime technology associated with long-distance exchange and intensified resource acquisition has been linked to the development of stratification and greater sociopolitical complexity in the Pacific Rim region. One such example is the emergence of hereditary chiefs among the Chumash Indians of southern California. Plank boats owned by an elite group of wealthy individuals and chiefs were an integral part of an elaborate economic system that was based on maritime exchange. An artifact assemblage associated with the construction, maintenance, and use of this watercraft was identified and analyzed. It included wooden planks, asphaltum plugs, asphaltum caulking, and chipped stone drills. Radiocarbon dates and other relative-dating techniques provide strong evidence that the plank canoe originated at least 1,300 years ago in southern California. This represents the earliest use of this type of watercraft in North America and probably in the New World. The timing of this innovation provides evidence that sociopolitical complexity developed in the region at least 500 years earlier than previously proposed.

scholarly journals Late Neolithic and Late Bronze Age lithic assemblages associated with a cairn and other prehistoric features at Stoneyhill Farm, Longhaven, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, 2002-03

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torben Ballin ◽  
Ian Suddaby ◽  
M Cressey ◽  
M Hastie ◽  
A Jackson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Lithic Technology ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Lithic Assemblages

Prehistoric remains were recorded by CFA Archaeology Ltd (CFA) in 2002-03 during a programme of fieldwork at the landfill site within the boundaries of Stoneyhill Farm, which lies 7km to the southwest of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. These included a clearance cairn with a Late Bronze Age lithic assemblage and a burial cairn, with Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age lithics and Beaker ceramics. Other lithic scatters of similar date had no certain associations, although pits containing near-contemporary Impressed Wares were nearby. Additional lithic assemblages included material dated to the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic. What may be proto-Unstan Wares in an isolated pit were associated with radiocarbon dates (barley) of the first half of the fourth millennium bc. These findings represent a substantial addition to the local area's archaeological record and form an important contribution to the understanding of lithic technology and ceramics in earlier prehistoric Scotland.This paper is dedicated to the memory of Ian Shepherd, whose site visits enlightened this and other projects undertaken by one of the authors (IS).

scholarly journals The Mousterian lithic assemblage of the Ciota Ciara cave (Piedmont, Northern Italy): exploitation and conditioning of raw materials

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Daffara ◽  
Marta Arzarello ◽  
Gabriele L.F. Berruti ◽  
Giulia Berruto ◽  
Davide Bertè ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Lithic Assemblage

Socioeconomic Inequality and the Consumption of Chipped Stone at El Palmillo, Oaxaca, Mexico

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary M. Feinman ◽  
Linda M. Nicholas ◽  
Helen R. Haines
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Inequality ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Spatial Patterning ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Valley Of Oaxaca ◽  
Hilltop Settlement ◽  
Marine Shell

AbstractIn prehispanic Mesoamerica, basic utilitarian artifacts, such as non-obsidian chipped stone tools, have rarely been considered outside the realms of technology or the economics of manufacture and circulation. Yet in recent excavations of residential terraces at the Classic period hilltop settlement of El Palmillo, Oaxaca, we have noted spatial patterning in the distribution of chipped stone tools that parallels variation previously observed in a range of nonlocal goods including obsidian, marine shell, and greenstone. Compared to the inhabitants of terraces situated near the base of the site, the apparently higher-status residents of households residing closer to the hill’s apex not only were associated with a somewhat different assemblage of stone tools and debris, but their chipped stone implements tended to be made on better-quality raw materials. As a consequence, chipped stone assemblages can serve as an additional axis of variation for examining status distinctions in the Classic period Valley of Oaxaca, and potentially elsewhere in Mesoamerica.

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