15 ka old evidence of pressure flaking in the Congo basin, Democratic Republic of Congo

IF 2.6 1区地球科学 Q1 ANTHROPOLOGY

Journal of Archaeological Science Pub Date : 2025-04-17 DOI:10.1016/j.jas.2025.106219

Isis Mesfin , Peter R. Coutros , Igor Matonda , Jérémie Vosges , Pierre-Jean Texier , Maria-Helena Benjamim , Koen Bostoen

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

We analyze two technically sophisticated stone points dated between 15,580 and 14,319 cal. BP discovered at the open-air site of Mitshakila, Democratic Republic of Congo, combining diacritic analysis, experimentation, and traditional morphometrics. Diacritical analysis is applied following techno-functional (also called "morpho-structural") and productional approaches. An experimental corpus consisting of pieces produced by both a knapper from northeastern Angola in the 1950s and two lithic specialists aims at improving the identification of techniques. Finally, traditional morphometrics is used to compare Mitshakila points with several shaped points from the Late Pleistocene of sub-Saharan Africa including Tshitolian, Lupemban or Still Bay points among others.

At Mitshakila, we report an early occurrence of the well-mastered use of pressure technique, “scarf-shaped” retouch (also called “ripple-flake” retouch or in French “retouche en écharpe”) and proximo-lateral short shoulders. Its presence at Mitshakila marks an important technical shift during the Final Pleistocene in the Congo Basin.

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刚果民主共和国刚果盆地压力剥落的15年前证据

我们结合变分分析、实验和传统形态计量学，分析了在刚果民主共和国米沙基拉露天遗址发现的两个技术上复杂的石头点，它们的年代在15580到14319 cal. BP之间。变音符分析的应用遵循技术-功能（也称为“形态-结构”）和生产方法。一个由20世纪50年代安哥拉东北部的一名捕石器者和两名岩屑专家制作的实验语料库旨在改进鉴定技术。最后，使用传统的形态计量学将米沙基拉点与撒哈拉以南非洲晚更新世的几个形状点进行比较，包括Tshitolian、Lupemban或Still Bay点等。在Mitshakila，我们报告了早期出现的熟练使用压力技术，“围巾形”修饰（也称为“波纹片状”修饰或法语“润饰en samcharpe”）和近侧短肩。它在Mitshakila的存在标志着刚果盆地最后更新世的一个重要技术转变。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Archaeological Science 地学-地球科学综合

CiteScore

6.10

自引率

7.10%

发文量

112

审稿时长

49 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Archaeological Science is aimed at archaeologists and scientists with particular interests in advancing the development and application of scientific techniques and methodologies to all areas of archaeology. This established monthly journal publishes focus articles, original research papers and major review articles, of wide archaeological significance. The journal provides an international forum for archaeologists and scientists from widely different scientific backgrounds who share a common interest in developing and applying scientific methods to inform major debates through improving the quality and reliability of scientific information derived from archaeological research.