Human Technical Behavior in the African Middle Stone Age: The Lithic Assemblage of Porc-Epic Cave (Dire Dawa, Ethiopia)

Abstract

The African origin of modern humans is the center of a large debate. Discoveries of anatomically modern human fossils in Sub-Saharan Africa correlated to lithic and faunal artifacts show that a "modern Behavior" is associated with the emergence of Homo sapiens. Even though the traits to define this modernity are sometimes difficult to apprehend, the study of the Middle Stone Age cultural phase is important for understanding the origin and evolution of the cognitive capacity of modern humans. Porc-Epic Cave in Ethiopia has a long sequence of Upper Pleistocene occupation. Several thousand bone and lithic artifacts were excavated during three major field excavations (1933, 1974,). The lithic assemblage reveals that the relationship between humans and their environment is well organized and that the African terminology is sometimes difficult to apply. This paper proposes a synthesis of all the data, studies and conclusions I have made from the analysis of lithic materials from the 1933 and 1975-76 excavations in order to integrate Porc-Epic into the current debate of MSA and modern human Behavior. L'origine de l'Homme moderne en Afrique fait l'objet actuellement d'un large débat. Les décourvertes de fossiles d'Homo sapiens en Afrique sub-saharienne associésà des industries lithiques montrent que, en parallèleà l'émergence de cette nouvelle espèce humaine, un comportement dit moderne s'est développé. Le Middle Stone Age est donc une période culturelle charnière dans l'évolution comportementale de l'homme. La grotte du Porc-Épic, enÉthiopie, est un témoignage de cetteère avec un remplissage pléistocène supérieur contenant des dizaines de milliers de restes fauniques et lithiques. L'étude de son important assemblage lithique révèle que le rapport de l'hommeà la matière età son environnement 178 Pleurdeau est très organisé et que le terminologie culturelle africaine est parfois difficileà utiliser.

The relative effects of core surface morphology on flake shape and other attributes

“…As part of this approach (e.g., Boëda, 1988aBoëda, , 1988bBoëda, , 1993Boëda, , 1995Boëda et al, 1990), a distinction is often made between "predetermining" flakes (éclats prédéterminants) -those that are produced prior to the detachment of the final blank and which serve to configure the core surface morphology e and "predetermined" flakes (éclats prédéterminés), which are the intended end products that are shaped in particular ways due to the earlier preparation of the core surface. Thus, the sequential removal of predetermining flakes reflects the flintknapper's mental plan and control over the preparation for producing the desired end product (see, for example, Boëda, 1995;Demidenko and Usik, 1995;Pleurdeau, 2006;Texier and Francisco-Ortega, 1995). Moreover, the preparation and utilization of the convex volumetric configuration of the core surface is considered to be a critical characteristic that separates Mode 3 technologies (sensu Clark, 1977), such as Levallois and true blade technology, from informal and non-predetermining reduction techniques, such as discoidal technology (Boëda, 1993;Delagnes, 1995;Demidenko and Usik, 1995;Lenior and Turq, 1995).…”

The accumulation of Stone Age lithic artifacts in rock fragment mulches in northern Ethiopia

“…The lithic artifact assemblage at Mai Ba'ati mainly comprises retouched flakes, scrapers on flakes, and blades of Middle and Late Stone Age types. Considering that severe rill and gully erosion may be a threat to the archaeological heritage (Wainwright, 1994) and that well-dated and -described African Middle Stone Age sites are rare (Pleurdeau, 2005), we conclude that the region, in particular the Tembien district with its many rock shelters and caves (Negash, 1997), deserves more attention for archaeological research.…”

“…At the Porc-Epic cave in Dire Dawa, where the same extension of Antalo limestone outcrops below the Adigrat sandstone, local raw materials (flint and sandstone) and allochthonous materials (obsidian and basalt) were used to produce flakes, blades, bladelets, and points for retouched points, scrapers, notched tools, backed tools, and end scrapers (Pleurdeau, 2005). A similar operational scheme, thought to be representative for the Middle Stone Age artifacts, may have been used in Central Tigray.…”

Prepared core reduction at the site of Kudu Koppie in northern South Africa: temporal patterns across the Earlier and Middle Stone Age boundary

“…For example, an analysis of the MSA levels from Porc-Epic Cave, Ethiopia emphasizes the contemporaneity of four main schéma opératoires suggesting that the MSA toolmakers at the site were flexible to the demands of flake production and capable of employing various and novel behaviours within a wellestablished technological repertoire (Pleurdeau, 2006). If the reduction sequences represented at Kudu Koppie were deployed concurrently, then the site might also document the co-occurrence of multiple reduction strategies, and, as Pleurdeau (2006) suggests, this may be one of many characteristics that distinguishes modern human behaviour from archaic behaviour. As such, it may represent greater complexity of thought and technical planning.…”