Using multivariate techniques to assess the effects of raw material, flaking behavior and tool manufacture on assemblage variability: An example from the late Middle Paleolithic of the European Plain

Weiß, Marcel; Otcherednoy, A.K.; Wiśniewski, Andrzej

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2017.09.014

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…All the 29 artifacts in this study were separately measured using a conventional attribute analysis (Ertmer 2012;Schäfer 1993;Weber 1986;Weiss 2015;Weiss et al 2017). We used this method as independent approaches to analyze the same tools (Table 1) with regard to different variables like conventionally measured minimum and maximum edge angles and intensity of retouch.…”

Section: Attribute Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A principal component analysis was performed on five attributes of each artifact, using the R package "vegan" (Oksanen et al 2016): (1) the length-width-index (LWI) or elongation, calculated from the maximum length divided by the maximum width, (2) the width of each tool relative to its thickness, expressing the flatness of the artifact (Bordes 1961; Debénath and Dibble 1994), (3 and 4) the minimum and maximum edge angle of the cutting edge measured with a goniometer up to a distance of 5 mm from the edge, and (5) the ratio of the retouched to non-retouched edge length to get a measure for the intensity and quantity of edge modifications for each piece. For the application of PCA on stone artifacts, see e.g., Weiss et al (2017), among others (e.g., Golovanova et al 2016;Scerri et al 2016).…”

Section: Attribute Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Keilmesser is the type fossil of the central and eastern European late Middle Paleolithic Keilmessergruppen. A recent quantitative study has shown that assemblage variability and classification within the central European Micoquian cannot be made with type fossils alone (Weiss et al 2017) and that groups established by the presence or absence of type fossils can share aspects of variability and similarities on an assemblage level. These findings are in accordance with the earlier proposition of a "Mousterian with Micoquian Option" by Richter (Richter 1997(Richter , 2000(Richter , 2002(Richter , 2012(Richter , 2016.…”

Section: The Keilmesser-concept As Type Fossilmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Variability of the Keilmesser-Concept: a Case Study from Central Germany

et al. 2018

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The bifacial Keilmesser is the type fossil of the late Middle Paleolithic Keilmessergruppen or Micoquian of central and eastern Europe. The tool is variable in shape but standardized regarding shaping sequences and morphological components. In this study we examine whether these components, a base and back opposite a sharp edge, are related only to bifacial tools or if they form a functional tool concept that was applied as well to simple edge retouched and to unifacially shaped flake tools. This study is based on a dataset of 29 3D-scanned artifacts from central Germany, for which the geographic origin, paleoenvironment, and chronological context are known in order to reduce variability introduced by these factors. With new luminescence dates, we can provide a chronological time frame for the collected and excavated artifacts to between 55 and 40 ka. We analyze variability caused by function, blank type, shaping, intensity of retouch, and typology, using 3D geometric morphometrics, Thickness Mapping, edge angle analysis, and multivariate principal component analysis based on conventional technological attributes and indices. We show that the unifacially shaped scrapers with a Keilmesser-like morphology can be classified as a unifacial variant of the bifacial Keilmesser. We interpret simple scrapers with a Keilmesser-like morphology as a special, simplistic variant of Keilmesser where the blank already fulfills the functional requirements of prehensile and active parts. With some caution related to sample size, an additional sample of Micoquian handaxes appears to be a related, but more symmetric tool concept in our data set.

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Section: Attribute Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Attribute Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Keilmesser-concept As Type Fossilmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Variability of the Keilmesser-Concept: a Case Study from Central Germany

et al. 2018

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“…The second part of the assemblage Goitzsche, as well as the collection from Löbnitz are stored in the Landesamt für Archäologie Sachsen, Zur Wetterwarte 7, 01109 Dresden, Germany. The datasets from Pouch, Löbnitz and Goitzsche have been already published by the author within four articles and his dissertation [1,19,51,61,62] and required no additional permits, which complied with all relevant regulations. The numbers of the individual specimens are provided within the text, the .RData file within the Supplementary Information to recreate the article with rMarkdown, as well as in the S1 Table. I incorporated 35 bifacial Keilmesser and 7 unifacially shaped Keilmesser (Table 1) from the sites Lichtenberg, Pouch, Löbnitz and Goitzsche (Fig 1) in my dataset.…”

Section: Artifactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The site of Pouch [1,19,51,61,65], Saxony-Anhalt (Germany) was situated in the former open-cast brown coal mine Tagebau Goitzsche, quarry field Rösa-Sausedlitz, east of Bitterfeld. Volunteer archaeologists discovered the site in 2002 [19] and the find layers were excavated thereafter by the Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt-Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte.…”

Section: Assemblagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Lichtenberg Keilmesser - it’s all about the angle

Weiß

2020

PLoS ONE

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The presence of the 'Keilmesser-concept' in late Middle Paleolithic assemblages of Central and Eastern Europe defines the eponymous 'Keilmessergruppen'. The site of Lichtenberg (Lower Saxony, Germany) was discovered in 1987 and yielded one of the most important Keilmessergruppen assemblages of the northwestern European Plain. At that time, researchers used the bifacial backed knives to define a new type, the 'Lichtenberger Keilmesser', which they characterized by an aesthetic form-function concept with a specific range of morphological variability on the one hand, and a standardized convex cutting edge one the other hand. Thereby, a shape continuum was observed between different formfunction concepts in the Lichtenberg assemblage, from Keilmesser through to Faustkeilblä tter and handaxes. In a contrasting view, it was recently suggested that the morphology of Keilmesser, including what is defined here as type Lichtenberg, is the result of solutions to establish and maintain edge angles during resharpening. With the intention to evaluate these contrasting hypotheses, I conducted a re-analysis of the Keilmesser from Lichtenberg and their relationship to central German late Middle Paleolithic knives, using 3D geometric morphometric analyses and an automatized approach to measure edge angles on 3D models. Despite a morphological overlap of the tools from both regions, I could show that the Lichtenberg Keilmesser concept refers to one solution to create a tool with specific functionalities, like potentially cutting, prehension, and reusability. To establish and maintain its functionality, certain angles where created by the knappers along the active edges. This behavior resulted in specific shapes and positions of the active parts and created what looks like a standardized or template morphology of this Keilmesser type.

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Explaining links from the past: material distribution in Charco Hondo 2 Acheulian archeological site (Madrid, Spain)

Preysler

Navas

2019

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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Using multivariate techniques to assess the effects of raw material, flaking behavior and tool manufacture on assemblage variability: An example from the late Middle Paleolithic of the European Plain

Cited by 13 publications

References 46 publications

The Variability of the Keilmesser-Concept: a Case Study from Central Germany

The Variability of the Keilmesser-Concept: a Case Study from Central Germany

The Lichtenberg Keilmesser - it’s all about the angle

Explaining links from the past: material distribution in Charco Hondo 2 Acheulian archeological site (Madrid, Spain)

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