Identifying bipolar knapping in the Mesolithic site of Font del Ros (northeast Iberia)

Abstract

Despite recent advances in the identification of bipolar knapping, its role in many sites is not well known. We propose to assess the significance of this technique in the context of changes that occur in the Mesolithic. A lithic assemblage was recovered from unit SG at Font del Ros (Catalunya, Spain) in which pitted stones, cores and products arising from bipolar reduction (flakes, fragments and splintered pieces) were identified. This study indicates that the bipolar technique is fundamental in the settlement. These results are key to defining the organization of Holocene hunter-gatherer subsistence in northeast Iberia.

A standardised classification scheme for the Mid-Holocene Toalean artefacts of South Sulawesi, Indonesia

“…While bipolar pieces may not always be recognised and may therefore be underreported [ 97 ], the process typically creates pieces with diagnostic features including crushing at both points of impact (i.e. the anvil and the percussor), stacked compression rings, and wedging initiations [ 98 ]. Bipolar reduction employs a different set of technical gestures to the freehand percussion process, and the kinaesthetics are more similar to that of backing and truncating [ 83 ] ( Fig 3 ).…”

Pitted stones in the Acheulean from Olduvai Gorge Beds III and IV (Tanzania): A use-wear and 3D approach

“…Additionally, it has been proposed that pitted stones co-occur with outils écaillés (MacDonald, 1968) and/or bipolar cores (Hayden, 1980;Roda et al, 2015). Based on Leakey and Roe's (1994) report (Table 6), it seems that there are no significant intersite differences in the distribution of pitted stones (x 2 = 2.818, df = 7, p = 0.901) and punches/outils écaillés (x 2 = 1.273, df = 8, p = 0.996) and, indeed, there is a statistically significant correlation between both groups (Pearson's correlation r = 0.621, n = 11, p = 0.041).…”

Percussive technology in human evolution: an introduction to a comparative approach in fossil and living primates

“…Hayden [38] uses observations of stone tool making and use by Australian aborigines to reflect on the function of the earliest lithic artefacts, placing particular emphasis on bipolar technology as a potential link between chimpanzee hammerand-anvil technique and typical freehand Oldowan flaking. The paper by Roda Gilabert et al [39] specifically addresses bipolar tools through the study of this flaking technique in the Mesolithic site of Font del Ros (Iberia) and discusses technological criteria to identify bipolar artefacts in archaeological assemblages. In the earlier context of the Near Eastern Epipalaeolithic, Dubreuil & Nadel [40] conduct a use-wear analysis of percussive artefacts to assess the role of pounding tools during the development of plant food processing among the Late Pleistocene hunter -gatherer societies from Ohalo II.…”