Gravettian weaponry: 23,500-year-old evidence of a composite barbed point from Les Prés de Laure (France)

Tomasso, Antonin; Rots, Veerle; Purdue, Louise; Beyriès, Sylvie; Buckley, Michael; Cheval, Carole; Cnuts, Dries; Coppe, Justin; Julien, Marie-Anne; Grenet, Mathieu; Lepers, Christian; M'hamdi, Mondher; Simon, Patrick; Sorin, Sabine; Porraz, Guillaume

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2018.05.003

Cited by 37 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Palaeoproteomics, including ZooMS, is a recent addition to the molecular toolkit available to explore past faunal communities 21,29 , the phylogenetic relationships between those species 20,22,76,77 , and hominin interactions with their immediate environment 78 . ZooMS in particular has been adopted to survey the unidentifiable bone component of Palaeolithic sites in order to identify additional hominin remains 30–33 and to explore the qualitative aspects of faunal assemblages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining ZooMS and zooarchaeology to study Late Pleistocene hominin behaviour at Fumane (Italy)

Sinet‐Mathiot

Smith

Romandini

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Collagen type I fingerprinting (ZooMS) has recently been used to provide either palaeoenvironmental data or to identify additional hominin specimens in Pleistocene contexts, where faunal assemblages are normally highly fragmented. However, its potential to elucidate hominin subsistence behaviour has been unexplored. Here, ZooMS and zooarchaeology have been employed in a complementary approach to investigate bone assemblages from Final Mousterian and Uluzzian contexts at Fumane cave (Italy). Both approaches produced analogous species composition, but differ significantly in species abundance, particularly highlighted by a six fold-increase in the quantity of Bos/Bison remains in the molecularly identified component. Traditional zooarchaeological methods would therefore underestimate the proportion of Bos / Bison in these levels to a considerable extent. We suggest that this difference is potentially due to percussion-based carcass fragmentation of large Bos/Bison bone diaphyses. Finally, our data demonstrates high variability in species assignment to body size classes based on bone cortical thickness and fragment size. Thus, combining biomolecular and traditional zooarchaeological methods allows us to refine our understanding of bone assemblage composition associated with hominin occupation at Fumane.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining ZooMS and zooarchaeology to study Late Pleistocene hominin behaviour at Fumane (Italy)

Sinet‐Mathiot

Smith

Romandini

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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“…Accepting this, its occurrence in diverse temporal and spatial settings (e.g. Abramova et al, 1991;Buvit & Terry, 2011;Fedje et al, 2008;Helvig et al 2008;Langlais et al, 2015;Okladniukov, 1950;Pétillon et al, 2011;Savchenko & Zhilin, 2018;Tomasso et al, 2018;Tsvetkova, 2017;Zhilin, 2019) does not imply similarity in the associated lithic technology or environmental drivers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Radiocarbon Dates and Tool Design Principles to Assess the Role of Composite Slotted Bone Tool Technology at the Intersection of Adaptation and Culture-History

Manninen

Asheichyk²,

Jonuks

et al. 2021

J Archaeol Method Theory

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Slotted bone tools are an iconic example of composite tool technology in which change in one of the components does not require changing the design of the other parts. Commonly, slotted bone tools are seen through the lens of lithic technology, highlighting organizational aspects related to serial production of insets, reliability and maintainability. In this framework, slotted bone tool technology is associated with risk aversion in demanding environmental settings. Here, we provide the first overview of radiocarbon-dated slotted bone tools in northernmost Europe and the East European Plain, including 17 new direct dates on pitch glue, and show that the Late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene period of inset slotted bone tool use in this area shows marked variation and idiosyncrasy in associated lithic technology against a trend of continuously warming climate. We suggest that historical specificity and path-dependence, rather than convergent evolution, best explain the variability seen in slotted bone tool technology in the studied case, and that slotted bone tools in general formed an organizationally flexible, adaptable and hence likely adaptive technological solution that met a wide variety of cultural and technological demands.

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“…The development of proteomic techniques has led to a new approach for animal-bone species identification, including one called Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry, or ZooMS [ 98 ], using collagen peptide mass fingerprinting [ 99 ]. Over the past decade ZooMS has been applied to a wide range of taxa [ 100 ], and has been applied to the analysis of bone tools dating back to the Palaeolithic [ 101 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selection preferences for animal species used in bone-tool-manufacturing strategies in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

2021

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Animal symbolism is a prominent feature of many human societies globally. In some cases, these symbolic attributes manifest in the technological domain, influencing the decision to use the bones of certain animals and not others for tool manufacture. In southern Africa, animals feature prominently in the cosmogenic narratives of both hunter-gatherer and Bantu-speaking farmer groups. Whenever these two culturally distinct groups came into contact with each other there would be an assimilation of cosmogenic concepts of power and the adoption of certain symbolically important animals. In this paper, we report on which animals were selected to make bone tools during the first millennium AD contact period in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, and explore the extent to which this selection may have been influenced by the symbolic associations of specific animals. Our results show selective targeting of specific animals for tool manufacture at some sites, with a narrowing of the range of selected species during the first millennium AD contact period. Certain antelope tribes, such as Aepycerotini, Cephalophini and Antilopini, appear to have been deliberately avoided, thus arguing against opportunistic selection. Nor does the range of selected animals appear to show any obvious mechanical considerations, as has been noted in similar studies. We highlight the potential of ZooMS for understanding the dynamics of animal symbolism in the past.

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Gravettian weaponry: 23,500-year-old evidence of a composite barbed point from Les Prés de Laure (France)

Cited by 37 publications

References 36 publications

Combining ZooMS and zooarchaeology to study Late Pleistocene hominin behaviour at Fumane (Italy)

Combining ZooMS and zooarchaeology to study Late Pleistocene hominin behaviour at Fumane (Italy)

Using Radiocarbon Dates and Tool Design Principles to Assess the Role of Composite Slotted Bone Tool Technology at the Intersection of Adaptation and Culture-History

Selection preferences for animal species used in bone-tool-manufacturing strategies in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

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