Macrotraces of Middle Pleistocene bifaces from two Mediterranean sites: Structural and functional analysis

Viallet, Cyril

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.01.024

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Such economic activities can be diverse depending on the site 49 – 51 , as has become evident in recent excavations of the TK site in Olduvai 52 , 53 . The use-wear analysis undertaken on 13 LCTs from Porto Maior indicate that this site was likely used to process hard material, mainly wood and bones, as described elsewhere for a number of African or European sites 34 , 54 . This evidence is consistent with targeted economic exploitation of LCT resources at Porto Maior.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

First evidence of an extensive Acheulean large cutting tool accumulation in Europe from Porto Maior (Galicia, Spain)

Quintas

Santonja

Pérez‐González

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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We describe a European Acheulean site characterised by an extensive accumulation of large cutting tools (LCT). This type of Lower Paleolithic assemblage, with dense LCT accumulations, has only been found on the African continent and in the Near East until now. The identification of a site with large accumulations of LCTs favours the hypothesis of an African origin for the Acheulean of Southwest Europe. The lithic tool-bearing deposits date back to 293–205 thousand years ago. Our chronological findings confirm temporal overlap between sites with clear “African” Acheulean affinities and Early Middle Paleolithic sites found elsewhere in the region. These complex technological patterns could be consistent with the potential coexistence of different human species in south-western Europe during the Middle Pleistocene.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

First evidence of an extensive Acheulean large cutting tool accumulation in Europe from Porto Maior (Galicia, Spain)

Quintas

Santonja

Pérez‐González

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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“…Retouched and shaped blanks were studied using a techno-morphological analysis (Lepot 1993;Bourguignon 1997;Soriano 2000;Boëda 2013;Frick and Herkert 2014), based on recent approaches to flake tools (Aureli et al 2016;Rocca 2016;Rocca et al 2016) and LCTs (Boëda et al 2004;Donnart 2010;Chevrier 2012;Viallet 2016a).…”

Section: Morphological Analysis Of Retouched Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Between new and inherited technical behaviours: a case study from the Early Middle Palaeolithic of Southern France

Mathias

Bourguignon

Brenet

et al. 2020

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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The beginning of the Middle Palaeolithic in Western Europe is traditionally associated with the emergence of new, more complex and standardised core technologies, such as Levallois technology. These changes occurred in the archaeological record between MIS 9 and MIS 6. This paper aims to evaluate the processes of technical change at work in Southern France, tracking innovations and persistent behaviours, and potential shifts, to describe the process of transition and compare the Southeast and Southwest of France. We revised several major sites from Ardèche to Dordogne through the technological analysis of seven lithic assemblages in areas rich in good-quality raw materials, mostly flint. Technological analysis shows common features in lithic strategies and industries that can all be attributed to the Early Middle Palaeolithic. The features are a diversity of debitage methods and spatiotemporal management of the chaînes opératoires (ramification and artefact mobility). At the same time, algorithmic methods (Système par Surface de Débitage Alternées: SSDA) continue to be used, in the same way as Large Cutting Tools (LCTs), although they are rare (pebble tools, bifaces and "mixed matrices"). These LCTs are persistent technologies from the Acheulean technocomplex. Gradual mosaic-type changes in the lithic record are particularly well demonstrated through the sequence of Orgnac 3, where a local onset of Levallois core technologies appears to occur.Both in the Southeast and Southwest of France, the Lower to Middle Palaeolithic transition records gradual and asynchronous behavioural changes as early as MIS 9 to MIS 6. These shifts are not only due to increased hominin cognition. Abilities of human groups to adapt to diversified environments and regional cultural processes may also have played a key role. Several lithic technocomplexes coexisted between MIS 9 and 6 in these two areas and although differences in local strategies are obvious, similar trajectories towards MP behaviour can be detected.

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“…sequences [210][211][212][213][214]. This approach is also useful when analyzing complex shaped tools [215][216][217][218]. The approach includes an evaluation of technological determinism inherent in each object, meaning, what can be achieved mechanically with the object.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for Earlier Stone Age ‘coastal use’: The site of Dungo IV, Benguela Province, Angola

Mesfin

Benjamim²,

Lebatard

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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The relationship between Earlier Stone Age (ESA) hominins and the southern African coastal environment has been poorly investigated, despite the high concentration of open-air sites in marine and fluvial terraces of the coastal plain from c. 1Ma onward during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. Southern Africa provides some of the earliest evidence of coastal subsistence strategies since the end of the Middle Pleistocene, during the Middle Stone Age (MSA). These coastal MSA sites showcase the role of coastal environments in the emergence and development of modern human behaviors. Given the high prevalence of coastal ESA sites throughout the region, we seek to question the relationship between hominins and coastal landscapes much earlier in time. In this regard, the +100 m raised beaches of the Benguela Province, Angola, are key areas as they are well-preserved and contain a dense record of prehistoric occupation from the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene, including sites like Dungo, Mormolo, Sombreiro, Macaca and Punta das Vacas. Accordingly, this paper provides a critical review of the coastal ESA record of southern Africa and a detailed presentation of the Dungo IV site, through a qualitative technological analysis coupled with a quantitative inter-site comparison with contemporary southern African coastal plain sites. Through our detailed technological analyses, we highlight the influence of coastal lithological resources on the technical behaviors of hominin groups, and we propose the existence of a “regional adaptive strategy” in a coastal landscape more than 600 000 years ago. Finally, we argue for the integration of coastal landscapes into hominins’ territories, suggesting that adaptation to coastal environments is actually a slower process which begins with “territorialization” well before the emergence and development of Homo sapiens.

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Macrotraces of Middle Pleistocene bifaces from two Mediterranean sites: Structural and functional analysis

Cited by 13 publications

References 12 publications

First evidence of an extensive Acheulean large cutting tool accumulation in Europe from Porto Maior (Galicia, Spain)

First evidence of an extensive Acheulean large cutting tool accumulation in Europe from Porto Maior (Galicia, Spain)

Between new and inherited technical behaviours: a case study from the Early Middle Palaeolithic of Southern France

Evidence for Earlier Stone Age ‘coastal use’: The site of Dungo IV, Benguela Province, Angola

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