A Reappraisal of the Clacton Spearpoint

Oakley, Kenneth P.; Andrews, Peter; Keeley, Lawrence H.; Clark, Junebug

doi:10.1017/s0079497x00010343

Cited by 173 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(8 reference statements)

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“…There are several notable exceptions that demonstrate that plant remains can survive in a wide variety of contexts. For example, preserved wooden spears are known from the Lower Paleolithic site of Schö ningen, Germany (c. 400 kya, Thieme, 1997), the Middle Paleolithic site of Lehringen in Germany (c. 110-130 kya, Movius, 1950) and the Middle Pleistocene site of Clacton-on-Sea, England (c. 350 kya, Oakley et al, 1977). A variety of wooden artefacts were preserved in a water-logged context at the Middle Pleistocene Acheulean site of Kalambo Falls, Zambia (Clark, 1974).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of Woodworking on Stone Tools through Residue and Use-Wear Analyses: Experimental Results

Hardy

Garufi

1998

Journal of Archaeological Science

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confidence: 99%

Identification of Woodworking on Stone Tools through Residue and Use-Wear Analyses: Experimental Results

Hardy

Garufi

1998

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…While it could not be confirmed that it had been hardened in a fire, microscopic analyses showed that it had been carefully shaped (Oakley et al 1977). The artefact was broken, and at 33 cm in length, had many interpretations.…”

Section: The Early Human Occupation Of Britain Early Hominin Occupatimentioning

confidence: 99%

Russia–UK Collaboration in Paleontology: Past, Present, and Future

et al. 2017

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“…In fact, of all of the uses of fire seen among modern huntergatherers, the only one that can be ruled out, at least on the basis of data presently available, is its use for heat-treating flint, though it is also most likely that grease rendering and hide smoking were not practiced as well. While fire may have been used as a source of light, Neandertal cave occupations are almost universally situated at or very near the cave mouth (as is the case with Pech de l'Azé IV and enough wooden implements have been discovered that their use is reasonably demonstrated (Carbonell and Castro-Curel 1992;Freeman et al 1981;Howell 1966;Movius 1950;Oakley et al 1977;Rolland 1999;Thieme 1999;Villa and Lenoir 2006). However, the use of fire to shape or harden such items has not as yet been conclusively demonstrated for any of these finds.…”

Section: How Important Was Fire To Western European Neandertals?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They may also be ringed with cobbles to contain the fire and its heat, although this appears to be a rare practice in the Middle Paleolithic. Such hearths are associated with a number of common applications, including modifying raw materials such as wood (Fessler 2006;Gould 1971;Hayden 1981;Mallol et al 2007;Marlowe 2005;Oakley et al 1977;O'Connell 1987) or in heat treatment of lithic raw materials to enhance their flaking qualities (Brown et al 2009;Domanski and Webb 1992). Small hearths also are used to ward off predators (Fessler 2006;Marlowe 2005;Worthman and Melby 2002), to keep irritating (or dangerous) insects at bay (Fessler 2006;Hayden 1981), to fumigate against small rodents (Worthman and Melby 2002), or simply as a means of eliminating site refuse (see Galanidou 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sandgathe¹,

Dibble

Goldberg³

et al. 2011

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Though the earliest evidence for the use of fire is a subject of debate, it is clear that by the late Middle Paleolithic, Neandertals in southwest France were able to use fire. The archaeological record of fire use in this place and time is, however, quite patchy. While there are a growing number of sites with impressive evidence for fire use, there are also a much larger number of sites without such evidence. Based primarily on evidence from two recently excavated well-stratified Middle Paleolithic sites, we argue here that taphonomic issues, sampling bias, or site use are not sufficient explanations to account for the relative lack of evidence for fire. Given that modern huntergatherers use fire daily and in a wide variety of circumstances, the prolonged periods of Mousterian occupation without fires, even during some of the harshest conditions of the late Pleistocene, raises significant issues regarding the role of fire during these times. In our view, the evidence suggests that Western European Neandertals were not habitual fire users. One explanation advanced here is that at least some Neandertals, even in the late Middle Paleolithic, lacked the technological skill to make fire on demand, and thus relied on access to natural sources of fire. (Sandgathe et al. 2011a). So while the results provided by them make it clear that there is increasing evidence for fire through the Middle Paleolithic, it seems likely that this pattern is driven by the number of dated Middle Paleolithic contexts, which also increases through time. We therefore suggest that this taphonomic explanation for the pattern should be the null hypothesis. This would help reconcile the authors' observation that the evidence for fire use increases over time with the work of others who have demonstrated an apparent scarcity of fire evidence overall, which appears in only a very small percentage of occupation layers (Cohen-Ofri et al. 2006;Davies and Underdown 2006;Dibble et al. 2009;Gowlett 2006;James 1989;Perlès 1981;Roebroeks and Tuffreau 1999).Here we present evidence, based on recent excavations by the authors at two Mousterian sites in southwest France, Pech de l'Azé IV and Roc de Marsal, for the persistent scarcity of fire well after its first occurrence in the European Middle Paleolithic record. What these data strongly suggest is that while Neandertals occasionally used fire, there were also major periods of time when fires were either not present at these sites or were present only sporadically, even during periods of relatively cold conditions. As will be argued below, the near absence of fire evidence in some levels at these sites cannot be explained by taphonomic processes, excavation bias, or changes in site function, and furthermore, the length of time these sites were occupied without using fire to any significant degree is totally inconsistent with modern hunter-gatherer use of fire. This evidence challenges the assumption of immediate and widespread use of fire, and at least in the case of western European Neandertals, i...

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A Reappraisal of the Clacton Spearpoint

Cited by 173 publications

References 10 publications

Identification of Woodworking on Stone Tools through Residue and Use-Wear Analyses: Experimental Results

Identification of Woodworking on Stone Tools through Residue and Use-Wear Analyses: Experimental Results

Russia–UK Collaboration in Paleontology: Past, Present, and Future

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