Journal of Lithic Studies最新文献

{"title":"Hunting on the coast: An image gallery of Rompecráneos","authors":"Daniela Soledad Cañete Mastrángelo","doi":"10.2218/jls.5300","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.5300","url":null,"abstract":"The Rompecráneo is a special kind of lithic artifact which was, presumably, involved in the capture of pinnipeds carried out along the Patagonian coast of Argentina during prehistoric times. Recent papers had offered some information about their morphology but up to now they are poorly studied. In order to offset this situation in a previous work we addressed their role in hunting technics developed at the archaeological locality of Punta Entrada (Santa Cruz, Argentina). This allowed us to propose that rompecráneos were used in combination with spears when hunting on the coast. With the aim of expanding this information, here we present an image gallery of some rompecráneos recovered there. Two of these pieces share a similar morphology but were made of different lithic raw materials. The other one has the appearance of a bola stone but its weight is higher than other bola stones in Patagonia. That is why it is considered a different kind of artifact. The importance of studying these kinds of artifacts is that they have the potential of providing information about the way people interacted with the different resources (biotic and abiotic) in the past so that a better understanding of human behavior can be developed.
 
Gallery
Figure 1. Geographic location of Punta Entrada.
Figure 2. Rompecráneo made of andesite. The base can be seen in the lower part of the image. Weight: 593 g.
Figure 3. Different view of the rompecráneo shown in Figure 2
Figure 4. Rompecráneo made of coquina. The base can be seen in the lower part of the image. Weight: 421 g.
Figure 5. Different view of the rompecráneo shown in Figure 3.
Figure 6. Bola stone made of andesite. Weight:1.476 kg.
Figure 7. Detail of the groove of the bola stone shown in Figure 6
Figure 8. Context of recovery of bola stone presented in Figure 6.
 ","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138514621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hunter-gatherer mobility and territories in the dunefields of center Argentina","authors":"Pablo G. Messineo, M. P. Barros","doi":"10.2218/jls.4313","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.4313","url":null,"abstract":"The distribution of certain rocks in the landscape allows us to reconstruct diverse aspects of past hunter-gatherer behavior. In this work, we evaluate the mobility patterns employed by these groups and the presence or absence of boundaries in the Aeolian system of the center of Argentina. To accomplish this objective, we consider two types of evidence: 1) raw material frequencies and distributions in three areas of this Aeolian System and 2) presence and frequency of knapping stones from Tandilia sources. We construct a fall-off curve that is based on the relationship between the frequency of an item and the distance to the source of supply. The characteristics of each area yielded the human groups that inhabited delineate different modes of exploitation of the rocks. The fall-off curve documents a steep drop-off between 300 and 350 km from the Tandilia source and the spatial analysis indicates that within this distance the source probably represents the threshold of direct access to the quarries. Tandilia stone-tools seem to systematically supply a relatively wide area of the Central Pampean Dunefields of the Pampa grasslands, through varied processes, but they arrive at very low frequencies over great distances. The presence of Tandilia rocks in the Western Pampean Dunefields and Western Pampas Sand Mantles and Dunefields indicates social interaction between human groups that shared some common technological knowledge. The presence of stones in the Central Pampean Dunefields coming from the xerophytic woodland of the Dry Pampas can be related with contacts and exchanges among the hunter-gatherer group that occupied different territories.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46868589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Raw materials and functional designs of Fishtail projectile points from southern Brazil","authors":"Mirian Carbonera, D. Loponte","doi":"10.2218/JLS.4423","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/JLS.4423","url":null,"abstract":"This study analyses the lithic landscape and the selection of rocks used to manufacture Fishtail points (FP) in southern Brazil, their designs, and some functional aspects. In order to identify the offer of lithic resources, we carried out several surveys throughout 15 months in 47 counties in the Southern Brazil covered by the Botucatú - Serra Geral Vulcano Sedimentary Complex. The lithic composition of numerous hill slopes, fallen rocks, and accumulations of pebbles and boulders in the riversides was evaluated. The results show that basalts (including a small proportion of andesites and rhyodacites-rhyolites), and silicified sandstones, are ubiquitous in the landscape. Conversely, non-translucent cherts are scarce, so their acquisition would have been time-consuming. However, these local cherts were the rocks mostly used to manufacture these points, being another example of the selectivity for high quality rocks by Paleoamerican hunter-gatherers. The same cherts selected in southern Brazil to produce the FP were used to manufacture other point-types by local hunter-gatherers of the early and middle Holocene grouped in the so-called “Umbú Tradition”. Not a single FP of the entire collection analyzed here was made from silicified limestones, which is one of the most common raw materials among the Uruguayan FPs, nor were they made from quartzites as were most of the FPs of the Pampean plains. \u0000Regarding to the designs of these projectiles, some morphotypes appear to have been designed to produce multiple injuries through successive thrusts and withdrawals in the bodies of the prey, while in others, the design seems to have favoured penetration and fixation on the prey, suggesting in this case, a single shot technique for each projectile. As the maintenance process unfolded, especially for points below ~ 80 mm in length, they show features that negatively impacted their efficiency, including distinct asymmetries, somewhat open front angles, a decrease in the cutting perimeter and cross-sectional area, an increase in the bevel angle of the blade edges, and a tendency to a conical cross-section. Behaviours intended to counteract these problems were maximizing the length of the leading edge, maintaining the symmetry and the triangular blade resting on straight shoulders, and maintaining the aerodynamic properties as much as it were possible, in order to improve their lethality and the fixation capacity. \u0000Beyond these rejuvenation processes, three different morphotypes of points appear to be included within the sample. The first includes points over 120 mm and ~ 80 g in weight, with triangular or slightly lanceolate limbs, which mostly present straight shoulders, but there are also examples of rounded shoulders. The second design corresponds to projectiles between 110 and 87 mm and ~30 g in weight, with triangular or slightly lanceolate blades and straight shoulders. The third design presents the classic shape of these projectiles, with a fish silhouet","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48096919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Event review: Using multivariate analyses to interpret lithic variability: Contributions and limitations","authors":"A. Leplongeon, E. Garcea","doi":"10.2218/jls.6666","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.6666","url":null,"abstract":"A selection of papers presented at the Special Session 8 ‘Using multivariate analyses to interpret lithic variability: Contributions and limitations’ held during the 2018 MetroArchaeo conference (22-24 October 2018, Cassino, Italy) is published in the Journal of Lithic Studies. Multivariate statistical analyses are increasingly used to discern patterns of variability in archaeological materials and help with their interpretation. Commonly used ones include Principal Component Analysis, Multiple Correspondence Analysis, Discriminant Analysis, Multiple Regression, General Linear Model, or Cluster Analysis, applied in various contexts of study: geometric morphometrics, spatial analysis or inter-assemblage comparisons.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44050950","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A prehistoric jade axe from Galicia (Northwestern Iberia): Researching its origin","authors":"Óscar Lantes-Suárez, Carlos Rodríguez-Rellán, R. F. Valcarce, A. D. L. Hermida, Aida González Pazos, P. Pétrequin, M. Errera","doi":"10.2218/JLS.4336","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/JLS.4336","url":null,"abstract":"The Vilapedre axe (Lugo, Northwest Iberia) has been traditionally considered by archaeologists as evidence of prehistoric long-distance contacts along the Atlantic Coast of France and Spain. This artefact - as other “Tumiac type” axes (long polished blades, generally butt-perforated) - would have been produced in Brittany during the Neolithic (5th millennium BCE) using jadeitite as raw material, a green-coloured rock for which there are sources in the western Italian Alps. In this paper, we have traced the possible archaeological origin of this artefact back by examining the personal files of one of its first owners, Santiago de la Iglesia. Furthermore, we have conducted a mineralogical (X-Ray Diffraction, XRD) and an elemental analysis (Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray Detection, SEM-EDX) of both the Vilapedre axe and geological samples from several places at the Alps where prehistoric quarrying of greenstones has been reported. The aims were physicochemically characterizing the axe to provide information about its possible geological source. During our analyses, we have found significant compositional similarities between the Vilapedre axe and one of the geological samples coming from the Alps (Alp06). The results are therefore consistent with the alleged Alpine origin of this artefact. The presence of this axe in Northwest Spain, together with other evidence, such as the presence of objects of Iberian origin in Breton monuments, strongly suggests the existence of contacts between both regions of the Atlantic facade during the Neolithic onwards in which seafaring would undoubtedly have played an important role.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41853702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Great Step Forward. Lithic Raw Material Procurement and Management among Palaeolithic Hunter-Gatherers in the Basque Crossroads","authors":"Maite García‐Rojas, Eder Dominguez-Ballesteros, A. Prieto, A. Calvo, Aitor Sánchez, Andoni Tarriño, A. Arrizabalaga","doi":"10.2218/JLS.5434","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/JLS.5434","url":null,"abstract":"This paper is divided into three sections. The first section describes the historiographic evolution of the study of prehistoric lithic raw materials in the Basque Crossroads (in the north of the Iberian Peninsula) during the last three decades. The second section explains the currently available information about geological outcrops of flint in the eastern end of the Cantabrian Mountain range (the BasqueCantabrian Basin), the upper Ebro valley and both sides of the western Pyrenees, in the central part of the northern Iberian Peninsula, as that was the main raw material used by hunter-gatherer groups in the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. Finally, the last section describes the way in which progress in both aspects of research have enabled the introduction of new concepts and perspectives in the reconstruction of the social and economic dynamics of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers. This has given rise to an innovative methodology that is able to address and solve important issues, particularly regarding mobility and territoriality patterns of those human groups, allowing the proposal of mobility and territoriality models that, while they will not match exactly the systems used by Upper Palaeolithic communities, represent significant progress in understanding the social and economic dynamics of hunter-gatherer groups.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48946001","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The New evidence for the Palaeolithic on the island of Gökçeada (Imbros), North Eastern Aegean","authors":"Burçin Erdoğu, Nejat Yücel, K. Demir","doi":"10.2218/JLS.5121","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/JLS.5121","url":null,"abstract":"Eksino, on the island of Gokceada (Imbros) in the Northeast Aegean, is a new open-air site with evidence of Palaeolithic cultural remains. Stone tools collected by an initial survey have clarified an assessment of the site from the Lower Palaeolithic, and brought to light new evidence from the Middle Palaeolithic as well as transition to the Upper Palaeolithic. Eksino is probably one of the most significant Lower Palaeolithic tool collections in the North Aegean, and finds such as chopper or chopping tools and Acheulean bifacial handaxes from the site show that the North Aegean may be another possible dispersal route from hominids to Europe via the East and Northeast Mediterranean during the Lower Palaeolithic. Middle Palaeolithic finds are frequent in the site and finds resemble the typical Mousterian type which is characterized by discoidal cores, Levallois cores and flakes, scrapers, denticulates, notches and points. Upper Palaeolithic finds are rare in the site, and a bifacial leaf point and large crescent-shaped backed pieces made on blades may reveal the presence of the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition on the island. This new data from Palaeolithic Gokceada is likely to fill key geographic gaps associated with the initial dispersal of hominins through the northeast Aegean islands.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47368656","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Chert procurement in Corsica during the Neolithic: Inferring social territories in the Tyrrhenian islands","authors":"Céline Leandri, P. Fernandes","doi":"10.2218/JLS.5406","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/JLS.5406","url":null,"abstract":"From the Neolithic, foreign siliceous materials were imported into Corsica as the island lacks local chert and obsidian. Such a context constitutes a real opportunity to investigate the relationship of the island with surrounding areas, in perspective with cultural evolutions. For 20 years, chert sourcing studies were carried out. We took into account 26 sites, dating from the Ancient Neolithic to the Final Neolithic. The work is based on non-destructive petro-archaeological observations of the artefacts. and on the survey and characterization of Sardinian sources (320 samples collected and 60 different lithotypes characterized). The study aims to better understand the place of chert among the lithic assemblages throughout time and identify the provenance of most of the chert material introduced into Corsica. It reveals procurement evolution in terms of preferred facies and of stages of introduction, depending on the chronology and geographical situation of the sites. The results confirm connections with Sardinia, among which Perfugas basin constitutes a major source of raw material for Corsica. It also shows relations with the Italian Peninsula for some Middle Neolithic sites in Northern Corsica. Comparisons with data from Sardinia show the affinities and differences between the two islands and open further avenues for research.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48273043","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On the reconstruction of prehistoric social territories: The La Désirade lithic workshops and the distribution of La Désirade chert (French West Indies)","authors":"Maaike S. de Waal, Sebastiaan Knippenberg","doi":"10.2218/JLS.3061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/JLS.3061","url":null,"abstract":"The widespread presence of raw materials suitable for the production of stone tools on the south-eastern part of La Desirade, a small island east of Guadeloupe (French West Indies), is an interesting feature as these materials cannot be obtained on most of the neighbouring limestone islands. Small amounts of lithic off-site material have been found all over the south-eastern part of La Desirade, indicating that this area was incidentally used for the exploitation of local raw materials for the production of lithic artefacts. Concentrated and repeated activity, related to the exploitation of La Desirade chert, took place at four lithic workshops. \u0000This paper aims to reconstruct social and economic patterns, which may shed a light on prehistoric Amerindian territoriality and mobility, based on the exploitation and distribution of this local raw material. An inventory was made of sites where La Desirade chert was exploited and worked and of sites where this material showed up in the form of worked items. \u0000The La Desirade chert has been found in several prehistoric site assemblages outside La Desirade itself. However, it turns out to have a very restricted distribution, not exceeding 30 km distances from the raw material occurrences. The authors concluded that exploiting these sources may have been embedded in the general procurement strategy of the seafaring communities involved and that the observed distribution may demonstrate the extent of the territory of closely related communities that exploited a similar catchment area.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45494049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Stone Tools in the High Molise Mountains (Italy): a first Report","authors":"Vittorio Mironti, Melissa Vilmercati, Enrico Lucci, R. Modesto","doi":"10.2218/JLS.2928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2218/JLS.2928","url":null,"abstract":"In the last decades, several researches focused on the inland areas of Molise Region (Central-Southern Italy) to investigate the occupation and exploitation of this environment during Pleistocene and Holocene. \u0000The “Molise Survey Project” started in 2015 with the aim to explore, through systematic surveys, an area of 60 square kilometres, chiefly characterized by a mountainous landscape and part of the Central-Southern Italy Apennines. The project seeks to investigate the patterns of human occupation in the mountainous landscape between the provinces of Campobasso and Isernia. The surveys, carried out during the last four years, allowed the identification of 19 prehistoric sites ranging from Palaeolithic to Bronze Age: the archaeological materials belonging to the latter period are being studied by the team of “Paletnologia” of Sapienza University of Rome. This work aims to show the preliminary results of the analysis of the lithic assemblage acquired during the summer of 2016 surveys, focusing on raw material procurement and the related chaine operatoire, also considering post-depositional agents. The obtained data allowed to reassess the human presence over inland and high-altitude areas of Molise during prehistoric times, stressing a seasonal use of the territory, from Palaeolithic to Late Prehistory, with different patterns of occupation and exploitation.","PeriodicalId":44072,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Lithic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48175715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}