Keep it or discard it? Why the Neanderthals made tools from some rocks

Abstract

The adjustability of stone processing techniques to the kind and quality of accessible stone raw materials is an important factor of Middle Palaeolithic stone tool production. Middle Palaeolithic people mostly exploited local rocks, preferably of good quality, and yet in some sites, even located in flint-rich areas (like the Obłazowa Cave site discussed in the text), Neanderthals used rocks they found elsewhere, alongside locally sourced but quite unusual raw materials. These are rocks that are likely to crack or that are very soft, unsuitable for knapping and for later use as tools. The question that arises is, to what end were these rocks even processed? In the paper, the typological character of those artefacts, prepared from a variety of raw material (high-quality foreign rocks and low-quality local ones), and their place in the chaîne opératoire will be discussed. Studying the subject of Neanderthal raw materials use has brought us a better and fuller understanding of the past land-use patterns, foundations of raw material economics and in some cases, a better understanding of the connection between the land-use and seasonal change of the subsistence strategy. Analysing the strategies for the procurement of knappable rocks, together with the techno-typological research, provides an insight into the logic of Neanderthal economy. The above holds true as long as the rock type is relevant in some way to the form and technique implemented in the production process. It is widely acknowledged that in most cases, Neanderthal communities based their raw material economy on local rocks. Local extraction of raw materials, or hauling good-quality fine-grained raw material into sites located in areas with poor supply of rocks is understandable. Similarly comprehensible is the local use of low-quality rocks in the face of no other raw material sources in close proximity of the archaeological site. However, in archaeological records, there are exceptions to this seemingly logical behavior. Examples include the processing of low-quality stones alongside (or instead of) local fine-grained rocks (e.g. Márquez et al. 2013); long-distance transport of low-quality rocks; transport of unprocessed or seemingly unprocessable (i.e. too small or extensively cracked) pieces of raw material to the site. Transporting rocks across distances that in some cases exceed 100 km, although not unique (Cieśla 2018; Féblot-Augustins 1993; 1999; Turq et al. 2017; Valde-Nowak/Cieśla 2020, etc.), must therefore be considered at least unusual. This article aims to present those unusual situations on an example of the Obłazowa Cave archaeological site. It is a case study of the site inventories. In the cave located in a flint-rich area, Neanderthals exploited some poor-quality rocks. Also, some stones from a very distant transport (like obsidian) can be found, in the form of microlithic artefacts, among them tools. When attempting an explanation of these phenomena, raw material provisioning options should be taken into account. This concerns both local raw material available for exploitation by Neanderthals and transport possibilities on a regional scale. Additionally, as shown by several studies, we should take into account the possibilities and necessity for stone artefacts recycling (Vaquero et al. 2015), or instances of ramification (branched production or cores-on-flakes as a pre-planned element of production process; Mathias/Bourguignon 2020; Romagnoli et al. 2018); these phenomena can also factor in the preand postdepositional character of an archaeological deposit.