Middle Palaeolithic Percussive Tools from the Last Interglacial Site Neumark-Nord 2/2 (Germany) and the Visibility of Such Tools in the Archaeological Record

Abstract

Despite a strong increase in the research on hominin percussive tool use, the primary focus in the study of technological behaviour still lies on flaked stone artefacts, especially for the Middle Palaeolithic. This paper aims to contribute to a more thorough understanding of the full spectrum of homi;nin technological behaviour, by presenting a systematic analysis of ground stone tools from the Last Interglacial Middle Palaeolithic site Neumark-Nord 2/2 (NN2/2) (Germany). At NN2/2, coarse gravel-and cobblesized pieces (n = 351) were sourced from local outcrops of glacial deposits, with a preferential selection for quartzite and sandstone. Low-power use wear analysis and the archaeological context of these finds provide evidence for the possible use of at least 58 pieces for active (hammerstones) and 5 for passive (anvils) percussive tasks, specifically lithic production and potentially bone processing. These grounds stone tools are larger and heavier than the manuports. The hammerstones were preferentially made of quartz and quartzite, while the anvils are mostly of limestone. The limited build-up of use wear on the tools is interpreted as expedient use. The presence of post-depositional J Paleo Arch (2018)

Identifying Heated Rocks Through Feldspar Luminescence Analysis (pIRIR290) and a Critical Evaluation of Macroscopic Assessment

“…120.000 faunal remains and 18.689 lithics (Kindler et al, 2014;Pop, 2014), including 504 gravel to cobble-sized stones, that were sourced by hominins from local exposures of Saalian glacial till deposits. Apart from being transported, 63 of the gravel to cobble-sized stones show traces of hominin involvement in the form of use as percussive tools (Pop et al, 2018). Other pieces show modifications that are frequently connected to thermal alteration (e.g.…”

“…For the description of the NN2/2 stones, the study of Pop et al (2018) has been used as a basis, providing data on archaeological provenance, rock type, size, and weight. To this, macroscopic features potentially related to thermal alteration have been added, as outlined in Table 1 ( Based on the recorded variables, the likelihood of potential heating was assessed (Table 1).…”

“…Buylaert et al, 2012;Kars et al, 2012) and was also successfully tailored to dating rock surfaces (Sohbati, 2013). The archaeological stones featured in this study were excavated from fine-grained silty deposits of the Last Interglacial, Middle Palaeolithic basin site Neumark-Nord 2/2 (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) (Gaudzinski-Windheuser & and interpreted as manuports (Pop et al, 2018). Of these, particularly the granites showed clear visual characteristics that were potentially related to heating and provided the impetus for further systematic research of all stones excavated from this site.…”

Using mechanical experiments to study ground stone tool use: Exploring the formation of percussive and grinding wear traces on limestone tools

“…GST are of specific interest for studying the evolution of human technologies as they can provide direct evidence for a wide range of daily percussive, pounding or grinding activities. These tools appear in the archaeological record from very early periods to the present day, across a wide geographic distribution (Adams, 2002;Cristiani et al, 2012;de Beaune, 2004;Dubreuil, 2014;Goren-Inbar et al, 2002;Hayes, 2015;Liu et al, 2010;Pop et al, 2018;Rosenberg & Nadel, 2017;Torre & Mora, 2010;Valamoti et al, 2013;Wright, 1994). GST use is shared with primates who crack nuts (Boesch and Boesch, 1984;Whiten et al, 2005;Arroyo et al, 2021).…”

“…Testing a range of distinct activities is also important in order to be better able to define differences and potential overlap between usewear patterns. The question of bone breakage is especially relevant here because of 1) evidence of bone fragmentation documented at the site (Zaidner et al, 2018;Crater Gershtein et al, 2020) and 2) suggestions of potentially poor development and visibility of wear and/or overlap with use-wear patterns associated with flint knapping (de la Torre et al, 2013;Pop et al, 2018;Benito-Calvo et al, 2018). Probably the most original part of our program is the focus on mechanical experiments specially designed to understand and quantify major characteristics of macro and micro use-wear traces.…”