Adaptive capacity and flexibility of the Neanderthals at Heidenschmiede (Swabian Jura) with regard to core reduction strategies

The branched reduction system at the Heidenschmiede described here is hitherto exceptional for the Middle Paleolithic of the Swabian Jura. By means of refits and supporting objects, we are able to describe a superordinate reduction system that combines several individual reduction concepts, such as Levallois and blade production, within one volume. In the Middle Paleolithic of the Swabian Jura, blade technology has thus far played a rather minor role. On the one hand, it is possible to split a selected volume (nodule) into three parts, which are reduced separately according to individual concepts. On the other hand, it is also possible to reduce parts of a volume with one concept first and then with another. The hypothetical reduction system can be branched or linear, thus emphasizing the technological flexibility in core reduction, which requires a high degree of cognitive skills of three-dimensional imagination.

SMALL BLADE TECHNOLOGY IN THE EARLY UPPER PALEOLITHIC INDUSTRIES FROM DENISOVA CAVE: DATA FROM ANALYSIS OF A LITHIC REDUCTION SEQUENCE

The paper discusses the results from an analysis of five cores associated with Layer 11 in the Southern Chamber of Denisova Cave, intended to obtain small elongated blanks such as bladelets and small blades. Analysis of a lithic reduction sequence employed in the research has made it possible to clearly recognize the phases in producing flake scars on lithic artifacts through the preparation of core blanks, and in core reduction, as well as to determine stages at which some of these pieces were used as tools. The analysis provided insights into a general flaking pattern for the cores under study. Such artifacts were predominantly made on large massive flake blanks, had a plain striking platform, and the working edge showing traces of reduction associated with detaching the target flakes. These technological characteristics are fully consistent with the technological repertoire of a hominin group, based on cores from the same assemblage, intended to obtain larger target removals such as flakes and blades. A cross section of the flaking surface shows no evidence for a deliberately created and maintained convex relief, while typologically four of the five artifacts were defined as sub-prismatic. The analysis of a lithic reduction sequence shows that artifacts from the examined collection related to the production of blanks in the form of small flake-blades, without using new techniques and the controlled reduction of a flaking surface.

A 1.4-million-year-old bone handaxe from Konso, Ethiopia, shows advanced tool technology in the early Acheulean

In the past decade, the early Acheulean before 1 Mya has been a focus of active research. Acheulean lithic assemblages have been shown to extend back to ∼1.75 Mya, and considerable advances in core reduction technologies are seen by 1.5 to 1.4 Mya. Here we report a bifacially flaked bone fragment (maximum dimension ∼13 cm) of a hippopotamus femur from the ∼1.4 Mya sediments of the Konso Formation in southern Ethiopia. The large number of flake scars and their distribution pattern, together with the high frequency of cone fractures, indicate anthropogenic flaking into handaxe-like form. Use-wear analyses show quasi-continuous alternate microflake scars, wear polish, edge rounding, and striae patches along an ∼5-cm-long edge toward the handaxe tip. The striae run predominantly oblique to the edge, with some perpendicular, on both the cortical and inner faces. The combined evidence is consistent with the use of this bone artifact in longitudinal motions, such as in cutting and/or sawing. This bone handaxe is the oldest known extensively flaked example from the Early Pleistocene. Despite scarcity of well-shaped bone tools, its presence at Konso shows that sophisticated flaking was practiced by ∼1.4 Mya, not only on a range of lithic materials, but also occasionally on bone, thus expanding the documented technological repertoire of African Early PleistoceneHomo.

Newly discovered Upper Paleolithic sites from the Tsagaan Turuut river valley, Mongolia

In this article, we report artefacts found at the valley of Tsagaan Turuut River in the Khangai Mountain ranges in Central Mongolia. The artefacts were identified based upon core morphology, tool types and retouch. Regarding the core reduction techniques, single striking platform and single reduction platform cores are dominant. Although the tools on flake blanks predominant, tools such as points and knives with massive blades also occur. Side scraper, point, borer, combination tool, and borers are types that are less represented within the collection. This tool collection is highly similar to several IUP and EUP sites (Chikhen-2; Tolbor-4, 15 and 16) in Mongolia in terms of its reduction techniques and tool morphology. On a larger scale, it is similar to those of Early Upper Paleolithic sites in Trans-Baikal and Altai Mountains in Russia and North China.

Changes in Core Reduction Models on Upper Paleolithic Sites in the Northwest Caucasus

The article presents an analysis of the changes in core reduction models at different stages of the Upper Paleolithic in the Northwest Caucasus. The broad chronological framework of this study (40 thousand - 12 thousand years ago) makes it possible to trace the changes in the preferred models for the use of cores. The correlation of the change dynamics in the main core reduction models along with a change in the metric and morphological features of the chips allowed the author to trace the development of stone knepping technology throughout the entire Upper Paleolithic era in the Northwest Caucasus. Methods. The work is based on an analysis of core morphology. All the cores from the collections were divided into several categories: core-shaped pieces, prismatic cores, edge-faceted cores, karenoid cores, and residual core fragments. Upon analyzing the morphology, the author takes into account the number of cleavage systems and their relative position. Based on the analysis of core morphology, the author determined the main reduction models. The identification of core reduction models is correlated with a change in the metric features of preformed chips. The author's analysis of core morphology revealed a number of trends. 1. There was a shift from the knepping technology, which includes two reduction models (knepping from prismatic and edge-faceted cores in the Early Upper Paleolithic (layer 1C of the Mezmay Cave), and in the first stage of the Late Upper Paleolithic) to primary splitting of prismatic cores in the late period of the Late Upper Paleolithic and in the Epipaleolithic. 2. The change in core reduction models was accompanied by a change in the metric features of the plate chips (an increase in the average value of the chip width and a decrease in the average value of the relative chip thickness).

Sibudan

The Sibudan is a technocomplex within the cultural stratigraphy of the southern African Middle Stone Age (MSA), first formulated in 2012. The term was introduced as a working concept to organize the spatio-temporal variability in material culture among the archaeological record following the Howiesons Poort during Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3; ~59–24 ka). In contrast to the more widely used name “post-Howiesons Poort” (“post-HP”)—an umbrella term resting primarily upon temporal aspects—the Sibudan possesses a formal definition based on characteristic elements of its lithic technology. The site of Sibudu, located in the eastern part of southern Africa (KwaZulu-Natal), serves as type locality since it has yielded a rich and high-resolution record of modern human occupations during MIS 3. The Sibudan type sequence at Sibudu, dated to ~58 ka and encompassing twenty-three layers, features both characteristic traits and diachronic variability. The consistent techno-typological elements include predominantly local raw material procurement, concomitant use of multiple core reduction methods (Levallois, discoid, platform, and bipolar), manufacture of flake and blade assemblages, as well as soft stone hammer percussion for blades. Temporal variability exists in the proportions and morphologies of tools and unifacial points in particular—including Tongati, Ndwedwe, and asymmetric convergent tools—the presence of bifacial points, as well as the frequency of blank types and different core reduction methods. Comparative studies since 2014 suggest a spatio-temporal extension of the Sibudan in the eastern part of southern Africa during early MIS 3 (~58–50 ka), with marked differences to assemblages of similar ages along the southern coast and Western Cape. The concept is thus not a direct substitute or congruent with the “post-HP” and “Sibudu technocomplex.” On a more interpretive level, the Sibudan has featured in discussions on the trajectory of cultural evolution among early modern humans, the scale and mechanisms of behavioral change during the MSA, and theoretical debate on the relevance of technocomplexes.