radu iovita | New York University (original) (raw)
Papers by radu iovita
While lithic objects can potentially inform us about past adaptations and behaviors, it is import... more While lithic objects can potentially inform us about past adaptations and
behaviors, it is important to develop a comprehensive understanding of all of the various processes that influence what we recover from the archaeological record. We argue here that many assumptions used by archaeologists to derive behavioral inferences through the definition, conceptualization, and interpretation of both individual stone artifact forms and groups of artifacts identified as assemblages do not fit squarely with what we have learned from both ethnographic sources and analyses of archaeological materials.We discuss this in terms of two fallacies. The first is the fallacy of the "desired end product" in stone artifact manufacture, which also includes our ability to recognize such end products. The second fallacy has to do with the notions that lithic assemblages represent simple accumulations of contemporary behaviors and the degree to which the composition of the depositional units we study reliably match the kinds of activities that took place. Although it is beyond the scope of this paper to offer a comprehensive set of new methodologies and theoretical perspectives to solve these
problems, our goal here is to stress the importance of rethinking some of our most basic assumptions regarding the nature of lithic objects and how they become part of the archaeological record. Such a revision is needed if we want to be able to develop research questions that can be addressed with the data we have available to us.
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In the last few decades, zooarchaeological studies have demonstrated beyond doubt that the huntin... more In the last few decades, zooarchaeological studies have demonstrated beyond doubt that the hunting abilities of hominins were quite formidable from quite early on. Unfortunately, direct evidence for the use of weapons in hunting is quite rare and depends heavily on the preservation of organic elements. In particular, in the absence of such evidence, it is notoriously difficult to pinpoint the first appearance of complex, mechanically-assisted projectiles (such as darts and arrows) in the archaeological record. In this chapter, we present data from a controlled ballistic experiment with the aim of establishing patterns in the formation of impact fractures that would allow for the discrimination of thrusting spears, (hand-thrown) javelins, and spearthrower darts and arrows. By controlling for the weapon tip shape, weight, and raw material, impact angle (IA), as well as target composition, we are able to focus on the key elements that separate the different launching systems: velocity and kinetic energy output. The results show that fracture scar length is proportional to kinetic energy at impact, but only if the impact is perpendicular, as acute IAs reduce the energy requirements for the production of large, typical impact fractures. We also confirm previous results of Hutchings (JAS 38:1737–1746, 2011) regarding the relationship between precursory loading rate and fracture propagation speed, documenting a weak linear relationship between the two in our sample. We conclude by discussing the implications of this study for identifying different weapon armatures in the archaeological record.
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PLoS ONE, Aug 18, 2015
Reconstructing ancient technical gestures associated with simple tool actions is crucial for unde... more Reconstructing ancient technical gestures associated with simple tool actions is crucial for understanding the co-evolution of the human forelimb and its associated control-related cognitive functions on the one hand, and of the human technological arsenal on the other hand. Although the topic of gesture is an old one in Paleolithic archaeology and in anthropology in general, very few studies have taken advantage of the new technologies from the science of kinematics in order to improve replicative experimental protocols. Recent work in paleoanthropology has shown the potential of monitored replicative experiments to reconstruct tool-use-related motions through the study of fossil bones, but so far comparatively little has been done to examine the dynamics of the tool itself. In this paper, we demonstrate that we can statistically differentiate gestures used in a simple scraping task through dynamic monitoring. Dynamics combines kinematics (position, orientation, and speed) with contact mechanical parameters (force and torque). Taken together, these parameters are important because they play a role in the formation of a visible archaeological signature, use-wear. We present our new affordable, yet precise methodology for measuring the dynamics of a simple hide-scraping task, carried out using a pull-to (PT) and a push-away (PA) gesture. A strain gage force sensor combined with a visual tag tracking system records force, torque, as well as position and orientation of hafted flint stone tools. The set-up allows switching between two tool configurations, one with distal and the other one with perpendicular hafting of the scrapers, to allow for ethnographically plausible reconstructions. The data show statistically significant differences between the two gestures: scraping away from the body (PA) generates higher shearing forces, but requires greater hand torque. Moreover, most benchmarks associated with the PA gesture are more highly variable than in the PT gesture. These results demonstrate that different gestures used in ‘common’ prehistoric tasks can be distinguished quantitatively based on their dynamic parameters. Future research needs to assess our ability to reconstruct these parameters from observed use-wear patterns.
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Quaternary International, in press
The Danube has long been considered a "highway" for the prehistoric hominin colonization of Europ... more The Danube has long been considered a "highway" for the prehistoric hominin colonization of Europe. However, its role in the two most significant episodes of colonization - the first peopling of Europe in the Lower-Middle Pleistocene, and Late Pleistocene colonization by anatomically modern humans - is presently a matter of hypothesis based on the locations of only a few key archaeological sites. Much of Eastern Europe has a particularly low density of known sites, in part due to the thick loess deposits blanketing the region which provide a challenging environment for archaeological survey. Our project, the Lower Danube Survey (LoDanS), aims to discover new Paleolithic sites and to reassess previously identified sites in the southeastern Romanian loess steppe between the Danube River and the Black Sea. Here we present the preliminary results of our first three seasons (2010-2012) of geoarchaeological survey and excavation in the lower Danube basin. We revisit and reexamine the lithostratigraphic and lithic data available from previously known sites in the region. We also provide new luminescence ages from one of these sites, Cuza Vodă, and confirm its previously proposed Middle Paleolithic antiquity. We describe three newly discovered stratified Paleolithic sites, which together with existing sites confirm occupation of the Romanian loess steppe during the Lower, Middle and Paleolithic. Additional preliminary work at a nearby geological loess profile provides valuable paleoenvironmental context for hominin occupation of the region throughout the Pleistocene. Our investigations elucidate strategies and prospects for new site discoveries in open loess steppe landscapes such as those of Eastern Europe.
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Quaternary International, 2013
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Quaternary International
The Danube has long been considered a "highway" for the prehistoric hominin colonization of Europ... more The Danube has long been considered a "highway" for the prehistoric hominin colonization of Europe. However, its role in the two most significant episodes of colonization - the first peopling of Europe in the Lower-Middle Pleistocene, and Late Pleistocene colonization by anatomically modern humans - is presently a matter of hypothesis based on the locations of only a few key archaeological sites. Much of Eastern Europe has a particularly low density of known sites, in part due to the thick loess deposits blanketing the region which provide a challenging environment for archaeological survey. Our project, the Lower Danube Survey (LoDanS), aims to discover new Paleolithic sites and to reassess previously identified sites in the southeastern Romanian loess steppe between the Danube River and the Black Sea. Here we present the preliminary results of our first three seasons (2010-2012) of geoarchaeological survey and excavation in the lower Danube basin. We revisit and reexamine the lithostratigraphic and lithic data available from previously known sites in the region. We also provide new luminescence ages from one of these sites, Cuza Vodă, and confirm its previously proposed Middle Paleolithic antiquity. We describe three newly discovered stratified Paleolithic sites, which together with existing sites confirm occupation of the Romanian loess steppe during the Lower, Middle and Paleolithic. Additional preliminary work at a nearby geological loess profile provides valuable paleoenvironmental context for hominin occupation of the region throughout the Pleistocene. Our investigations elucidate strategies and prospects for new site discoveries in open loess steppe landscapes such as those of Eastern Europe.
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Journal of Archaeological Science, 2015
The use of adze sourcing to study interaction spheres opens new perspectives on ancient Polynesia... more The use of adze sourcing to study interaction spheres opens new perspectives on ancient Polynesian voyaging. Our work contributes to this effort by documenting the discovery and geochemical signature of the Vitaria Adze Quarry, a major adze quarry complex in the central East Polynesia core area. We present WD-XRF geochemical data for the Vitaria raw material and ethnographically collected adzes from Raivavae and Tubuai Islands, also part of the Australs. Comparison of our results with previously published artifact and source data shows that initial tool production at the Vitaria Adze Quarry coincides with the human colonization of East Polynesia. Artifacts from Rurutu were exchanged within the Australs, as well as to neighboring archipelagoes, indicating the importance of Rurutu as a node in voyaging networks spanning the East Polynesian homeland area. Large-scale tool production at the Vitaria Adze Quarry may have contributed to the rise of Vitaria District as the seat of the paramount chief and the center of power on Rurutu.
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The Late Middle Paleolithic of Europe contains a multitude of assemblages that can be characteriz... more The Late Middle Paleolithic of Europe contains a multitude of assemblages that can be characterized by the presence of bifacially-shaped tools. The cultural meaning of these tools, especially with respect to their geographic and chronological patterning has been debated for a long time, with unifacial and bifacial tools treated as fundamentally different technical systems. This paper builds upon previous work that showed that unifacial and bifacial blanks often follow similar reduction trajectories, and compares the management of edge angles in both of these tool classes using a large sample representing the Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition (MTA), the Quina Mousterian, the Keilmessergruppen, and the Crimean Micoquian technocomplexes. The results show that a) unifacial reduction results in the unequivocal increase in edge angles and b) that plano-convex bifacial reduction in the Central and Eastern European Micoquian, as well as similar techniques in the Quina Mousterian serve the same purpose of reducing and maintaining edge angles within certain limits; finally, c) MTA biconvex reduction results in a slow increase in edge angles. The process of edge angle reduction can be used to explain morphology and technology of the different pieces. Given that all these reduction techniques were part of the Neandertal technical repertoire for long periods of time, disappearing and reappearing at various points in history, the implication is that any geographical patterning may be due not to culture-historical developments, but rather to medium-to long-term adaptations to local environments.
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Journal of Archaeological Science, 2013
Identifying the use of stone-tipped projectile weapons in prehistory is important for understandi... more Identifying the use of stone-tipped projectile weapons in prehistory is important for understanding hominin strategic behavior and cognitive capacities. Such identifications are based on 'diagnostic impact fractures' (DIFs), assumed to form as a result of collisions between the tips and organic materials in the prey body. However, demonstrating weapon use requires documenting an impact speed and/or kinetic energy beyond those likely to occur accidentally or as a by-product of other tasks. We present a new experiment aimed at investigating the influence of speed on impact fracture formation in controlled conditions. Using an air-gun, we fired 234 nearly identical spears tipped with copies of a Levallois point cast in soda-lime glass into a composite target made of polyurethane bone-like plates, ballistic gelatin, and leather. The impact speed ranged from ≈7 to ≈30 m/s and the impact angle (IA) varied in increments of 15o, from 90o-45o. We show that realistic DIFs can be produced under these controlled conditions. The frequency of longitudinal tip macrofractures is directly proportional to the impact speed but inversely proportional to the IA. The relationship between the tip fracture type and the type of damage left on the target explains the contact conditions for the formation of different DIFs. No relationship between either initiation or termination type and speed could be established. Therefore, we conclude that 'step-terminating bending fractures' should not be considered diagnostic of weapon use without further supporting evidence. Further, although fracture length increases with speed when IA is held constant, a great deal of overlap exists between trials with different IAs. Given the expected high variance in IA in real hunting situations, large longitudinal macrofractures on the tips of archaeologically recovered lithics should not automatically be interpreted as resulting from the use of high-speed projectiles. We discuss the study's implications for the differentiation of prehistoric weapon-delivery systems, especially regarding recognizing stone- tipped weapon use by Neandertals.
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Antiquity, Nov 27, 2012
Eastern Europe holds a geographically important position as a potential crossroads for hominin mi... more Eastern Europe holds a geographically important position as a potential crossroads for hominin migration. However, the quality and quantity of data from the Balkans and the eastern European steppe has thus far been insufficient to reliably evaluate dispersal models for the Middle Pleistocene. We present here new data from the site of Dealul Guran in southeastern Romania, discovered in 2010 during a systematic survey of the steppic landscape of the Lower Danube Basin (LoDanS Project). Hominin occupation of the site, preserved at three levels, was dated using luminescence techniques (OSL, IRSL and post-IR IRSL). The lower two archaeological units of the site yield ages most likely corresponding to marine isotope stage (MIS) 11, and therefore establish Dealul Guran as one of the oldest securely-dated Lower Paleolithic sites in Eastern Europe. The upper archaeological layers date to MIS 3 and 2, providing evidence for more recent hominin presence in the region, the earlier part of which corresponds to the time window relevant to the migration of modern humans into Europe. The earliest occupation phase confirms the middle Pleistocene antiquity of hominin settlement of the eastern European loess steppe. The Middle Pleistocene was characterized by increasingly open steppic environments in the region, and experienced relatively milder climates than areas further north and west within Europe. We discuss the role of southeastern Europe in Middle Pleistocene hominin dispersals, and hypothesize that the particularly thick and widespread loess cover throughout this region may have contributed to the relative paucity of known Lower Paleolithic archaeological sites.
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"Background Recent findings suggest that the North African Middle Stone Age technocomplex known ... more "Background
Recent findings suggest that the North African Middle Stone Age technocomplex known as the Aterian is both much older than previously assumed, and certainly associated with fossils exhibiting anatomically modern human morphology and behavior. The Aterian is defined by the presence of ‘tanged’ or ‘stemmed’ tools, which have been widely assumed to be among the earliest projectile weapon tips. The present study systematically investigates morphological variation in a large sample of Aterian tools to test the hypothesis that these tools were hafted and/or used as projectile weapons.
Methodology/Principal Findings
Both classical morphometrics and Elliptical Fourier Analysis of tool outlines are used to show that the shape variation in the sample exhibits size-dependent patterns consistent with a reduction of the tools from the tip down, with the tang remaining intact. Additionally, the process of reduction led to increasing side-to-side asymmetries as the tools got smaller. Finally, a comparison of shape-change trajectories between Aterian tools and Late Paleolithic arrowheads from the North German site of Stellmoor reveal significant differences in terms of the amount and location of the variation.
Conclusions/Significance
The patterns of size-dependent shape variation strongly support the functional hypothesis of Aterian tools as hafted knives or scrapers with alternating active edges, rather than as weapon tips. Nevertheless, the same morphological patterns are interpreted as one of the earliest evidences for a hafting modification, and for the successful combination of different raw materials (haft and stone tip) into one implement, in itself an important achievement in the evolution of hominin technologies.
"
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This paper examines shape and size variability in Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition (MTA) handaxe... more This paper examines shape and size variability in Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition (MTA) handaxes and compares the observed patterns to those in the Lower Paleolithic Acheulian both to better understand variability in MTA handaxes and to test whether this variability, particularly as it relates to resharpening and reduction, is struc- tured similarly to that in the Acheulian. The Acheulian data set is based on previously published data with the addition here of a study of the handaxes from the site of Boxgrove, England. The MTA data set is based on four classic sites from southwest France with large handaxe collections. Both standard caliper based morphometrics and Elliptical Fourier Analysis applied to coordinate data taken from digitized images of handaxes are used to assess shape. The result is that, contrary to expectations based on assumptions of evolving technological skill, handaxes in the MTA are as or more variable in shape than Acheulian ones. This variation is allometric in Acheulian handaxes, and is linked to resharpening from the tip down to the base, but is not related to size in the MTA samples. These results suggest that the goals and constraints of handaxe manufacture but particularly handaxe reduction as a result of reworking during use were quite different in the MTA and Acheulian, implying that conclusions about hominin cognition to be drawn from patterns in shape variability in handaxes must be understood in the context of artifact life histories.
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It has long been thought that many flake attributes, including both size and shape, are largely d... more It has long been thought that many flake attributes, including both size and shape, are largely due to the morphology of a core’s flaking surface, yet this has never been tested under strictly controlled conditions. Using molded glass cores with surface morphologies that highly resemble prehistoric ones, this experiment demonstrates that while core surface morphology does exhibit some influence on flake size and shape, a high degree of variation in flakes produced with the same core surface morphology shows that the effects of other independent variables, such as exterior platform angle and platform depth, have an even stronger effect. A major implication of these results is that current approaches to reconstruct prehistoric knapping strategies are overlooking significant sources of variation.
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Journal of Archaeological Science, Jan 1, 2009
Stone tools tend to be classified according to a mix of functional, morphological, and technologi... more Stone tools tend to be classified according to a mix of functional, morphological, and technological attributes. This practice results in confusions when large-scale assemblage comparisons are made with the aim of investigating phylogenetic relationships, as functional and cultural information is aggregated. It is argued here that functional criteria must be assessed separately, and that resharpening, as a uniform, repeated, conscious behavioral process of tool maintenance that indexes use and function, can provide a solution to this problem. The subject of this article is a quantitative method for extracting and comparing resharpening trajectories. The method is an adaptation of ontogenetic scaling methods from biology, and is based on obtaining a mathematical representation of shape and size, and finding a rela- tionship between the two. Elliptical Fourier analysis is applied to stone tool contours in order to extract shape information, and then a series of regressions of shape on size provide trajectory vectors. The angles between these are then calculated and subjected to a variety of multivariate statistical tests. A case study involving several European Middle Paleolithic bifacial and unifacial tool assemblages is presented. The results show that resharpening and maintenance can be independent of morphology and technology, suggesting that there are strong grounds for focusing on functional systematics separately.
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Resharpening has long played a confusing rote in the history ofresearch on lithic variability. In... more Resharpening has long played a confusing rote in the history ofresearch
on lithic variability. In this chapter, I argue that, far from confounding issues of variability, resharpening can be used as a classiflcatory principle because it reflects human technical choices related to repeated uses of a tool. The advantage that resharpening offers is that of a mathematically suitable study object, through the investigation of shape change along the continuum of size reduction. Building upon a rich history of research in both biology and prehistoric archaeology, I present a variant of a new method for comparing resharpening trajectories, using elliptical Fourier analysis (EFA) and principal components analysis to compare the slopes of allometric regressions. The theoretical presentation is followed by a worked example using bifacial tools from two European Middle Paleolithic sites: Pech de l‘Azé 1 (France) and Buhlen III (Germany).
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Transitions in Prehistory: Essays in Honor of …, Jan 1, 2009
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While lithic objects can potentially inform us about past adaptations and behaviors, it is import... more While lithic objects can potentially inform us about past adaptations and
behaviors, it is important to develop a comprehensive understanding of all of the various processes that influence what we recover from the archaeological record. We argue here that many assumptions used by archaeologists to derive behavioral inferences through the definition, conceptualization, and interpretation of both individual stone artifact forms and groups of artifacts identified as assemblages do not fit squarely with what we have learned from both ethnographic sources and analyses of archaeological materials.We discuss this in terms of two fallacies. The first is the fallacy of the "desired end product" in stone artifact manufacture, which also includes our ability to recognize such end products. The second fallacy has to do with the notions that lithic assemblages represent simple accumulations of contemporary behaviors and the degree to which the composition of the depositional units we study reliably match the kinds of activities that took place. Although it is beyond the scope of this paper to offer a comprehensive set of new methodologies and theoretical perspectives to solve these
problems, our goal here is to stress the importance of rethinking some of our most basic assumptions regarding the nature of lithic objects and how they become part of the archaeological record. Such a revision is needed if we want to be able to develop research questions that can be addressed with the data we have available to us.
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In the last few decades, zooarchaeological studies have demonstrated beyond doubt that the huntin... more In the last few decades, zooarchaeological studies have demonstrated beyond doubt that the hunting abilities of hominins were quite formidable from quite early on. Unfortunately, direct evidence for the use of weapons in hunting is quite rare and depends heavily on the preservation of organic elements. In particular, in the absence of such evidence, it is notoriously difficult to pinpoint the first appearance of complex, mechanically-assisted projectiles (such as darts and arrows) in the archaeological record. In this chapter, we present data from a controlled ballistic experiment with the aim of establishing patterns in the formation of impact fractures that would allow for the discrimination of thrusting spears, (hand-thrown) javelins, and spearthrower darts and arrows. By controlling for the weapon tip shape, weight, and raw material, impact angle (IA), as well as target composition, we are able to focus on the key elements that separate the different launching systems: velocity and kinetic energy output. The results show that fracture scar length is proportional to kinetic energy at impact, but only if the impact is perpendicular, as acute IAs reduce the energy requirements for the production of large, typical impact fractures. We also confirm previous results of Hutchings (JAS 38:1737–1746, 2011) regarding the relationship between precursory loading rate and fracture propagation speed, documenting a weak linear relationship between the two in our sample. We conclude by discussing the implications of this study for identifying different weapon armatures in the archaeological record.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
PLoS ONE, Aug 18, 2015
Reconstructing ancient technical gestures associated with simple tool actions is crucial for unde... more Reconstructing ancient technical gestures associated with simple tool actions is crucial for understanding the co-evolution of the human forelimb and its associated control-related cognitive functions on the one hand, and of the human technological arsenal on the other hand. Although the topic of gesture is an old one in Paleolithic archaeology and in anthropology in general, very few studies have taken advantage of the new technologies from the science of kinematics in order to improve replicative experimental protocols. Recent work in paleoanthropology has shown the potential of monitored replicative experiments to reconstruct tool-use-related motions through the study of fossil bones, but so far comparatively little has been done to examine the dynamics of the tool itself. In this paper, we demonstrate that we can statistically differentiate gestures used in a simple scraping task through dynamic monitoring. Dynamics combines kinematics (position, orientation, and speed) with contact mechanical parameters (force and torque). Taken together, these parameters are important because they play a role in the formation of a visible archaeological signature, use-wear. We present our new affordable, yet precise methodology for measuring the dynamics of a simple hide-scraping task, carried out using a pull-to (PT) and a push-away (PA) gesture. A strain gage force sensor combined with a visual tag tracking system records force, torque, as well as position and orientation of hafted flint stone tools. The set-up allows switching between two tool configurations, one with distal and the other one with perpendicular hafting of the scrapers, to allow for ethnographically plausible reconstructions. The data show statistically significant differences between the two gestures: scraping away from the body (PA) generates higher shearing forces, but requires greater hand torque. Moreover, most benchmarks associated with the PA gesture are more highly variable than in the PT gesture. These results demonstrate that different gestures used in ‘common’ prehistoric tasks can be distinguished quantitatively based on their dynamic parameters. Future research needs to assess our ability to reconstruct these parameters from observed use-wear patterns.
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Quaternary International, in press
The Danube has long been considered a "highway" for the prehistoric hominin colonization of Europ... more The Danube has long been considered a "highway" for the prehistoric hominin colonization of Europe. However, its role in the two most significant episodes of colonization - the first peopling of Europe in the Lower-Middle Pleistocene, and Late Pleistocene colonization by anatomically modern humans - is presently a matter of hypothesis based on the locations of only a few key archaeological sites. Much of Eastern Europe has a particularly low density of known sites, in part due to the thick loess deposits blanketing the region which provide a challenging environment for archaeological survey. Our project, the Lower Danube Survey (LoDanS), aims to discover new Paleolithic sites and to reassess previously identified sites in the southeastern Romanian loess steppe between the Danube River and the Black Sea. Here we present the preliminary results of our first three seasons (2010-2012) of geoarchaeological survey and excavation in the lower Danube basin. We revisit and reexamine the lithostratigraphic and lithic data available from previously known sites in the region. We also provide new luminescence ages from one of these sites, Cuza Vodă, and confirm its previously proposed Middle Paleolithic antiquity. We describe three newly discovered stratified Paleolithic sites, which together with existing sites confirm occupation of the Romanian loess steppe during the Lower, Middle and Paleolithic. Additional preliminary work at a nearby geological loess profile provides valuable paleoenvironmental context for hominin occupation of the region throughout the Pleistocene. Our investigations elucidate strategies and prospects for new site discoveries in open loess steppe landscapes such as those of Eastern Europe.
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Quaternary International, 2013
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Quaternary International
The Danube has long been considered a "highway" for the prehistoric hominin colonization of Europ... more The Danube has long been considered a "highway" for the prehistoric hominin colonization of Europe. However, its role in the two most significant episodes of colonization - the first peopling of Europe in the Lower-Middle Pleistocene, and Late Pleistocene colonization by anatomically modern humans - is presently a matter of hypothesis based on the locations of only a few key archaeological sites. Much of Eastern Europe has a particularly low density of known sites, in part due to the thick loess deposits blanketing the region which provide a challenging environment for archaeological survey. Our project, the Lower Danube Survey (LoDanS), aims to discover new Paleolithic sites and to reassess previously identified sites in the southeastern Romanian loess steppe between the Danube River and the Black Sea. Here we present the preliminary results of our first three seasons (2010-2012) of geoarchaeological survey and excavation in the lower Danube basin. We revisit and reexamine the lithostratigraphic and lithic data available from previously known sites in the region. We also provide new luminescence ages from one of these sites, Cuza Vodă, and confirm its previously proposed Middle Paleolithic antiquity. We describe three newly discovered stratified Paleolithic sites, which together with existing sites confirm occupation of the Romanian loess steppe during the Lower, Middle and Paleolithic. Additional preliminary work at a nearby geological loess profile provides valuable paleoenvironmental context for hominin occupation of the region throughout the Pleistocene. Our investigations elucidate strategies and prospects for new site discoveries in open loess steppe landscapes such as those of Eastern Europe.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2015
The use of adze sourcing to study interaction spheres opens new perspectives on ancient Polynesia... more The use of adze sourcing to study interaction spheres opens new perspectives on ancient Polynesian voyaging. Our work contributes to this effort by documenting the discovery and geochemical signature of the Vitaria Adze Quarry, a major adze quarry complex in the central East Polynesia core area. We present WD-XRF geochemical data for the Vitaria raw material and ethnographically collected adzes from Raivavae and Tubuai Islands, also part of the Australs. Comparison of our results with previously published artifact and source data shows that initial tool production at the Vitaria Adze Quarry coincides with the human colonization of East Polynesia. Artifacts from Rurutu were exchanged within the Australs, as well as to neighboring archipelagoes, indicating the importance of Rurutu as a node in voyaging networks spanning the East Polynesian homeland area. Large-scale tool production at the Vitaria Adze Quarry may have contributed to the rise of Vitaria District as the seat of the paramount chief and the center of power on Rurutu.
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The Late Middle Paleolithic of Europe contains a multitude of assemblages that can be characteriz... more The Late Middle Paleolithic of Europe contains a multitude of assemblages that can be characterized by the presence of bifacially-shaped tools. The cultural meaning of these tools, especially with respect to their geographic and chronological patterning has been debated for a long time, with unifacial and bifacial tools treated as fundamentally different technical systems. This paper builds upon previous work that showed that unifacial and bifacial blanks often follow similar reduction trajectories, and compares the management of edge angles in both of these tool classes using a large sample representing the Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition (MTA), the Quina Mousterian, the Keilmessergruppen, and the Crimean Micoquian technocomplexes. The results show that a) unifacial reduction results in the unequivocal increase in edge angles and b) that plano-convex bifacial reduction in the Central and Eastern European Micoquian, as well as similar techniques in the Quina Mousterian serve the same purpose of reducing and maintaining edge angles within certain limits; finally, c) MTA biconvex reduction results in a slow increase in edge angles. The process of edge angle reduction can be used to explain morphology and technology of the different pieces. Given that all these reduction techniques were part of the Neandertal technical repertoire for long periods of time, disappearing and reappearing at various points in history, the implication is that any geographical patterning may be due not to culture-historical developments, but rather to medium-to long-term adaptations to local environments.
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Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2013
Identifying the use of stone-tipped projectile weapons in prehistory is important for understandi... more Identifying the use of stone-tipped projectile weapons in prehistory is important for understanding hominin strategic behavior and cognitive capacities. Such identifications are based on 'diagnostic impact fractures' (DIFs), assumed to form as a result of collisions between the tips and organic materials in the prey body. However, demonstrating weapon use requires documenting an impact speed and/or kinetic energy beyond those likely to occur accidentally or as a by-product of other tasks. We present a new experiment aimed at investigating the influence of speed on impact fracture formation in controlled conditions. Using an air-gun, we fired 234 nearly identical spears tipped with copies of a Levallois point cast in soda-lime glass into a composite target made of polyurethane bone-like plates, ballistic gelatin, and leather. The impact speed ranged from ≈7 to ≈30 m/s and the impact angle (IA) varied in increments of 15o, from 90o-45o. We show that realistic DIFs can be produced under these controlled conditions. The frequency of longitudinal tip macrofractures is directly proportional to the impact speed but inversely proportional to the IA. The relationship between the tip fracture type and the type of damage left on the target explains the contact conditions for the formation of different DIFs. No relationship between either initiation or termination type and speed could be established. Therefore, we conclude that 'step-terminating bending fractures' should not be considered diagnostic of weapon use without further supporting evidence. Further, although fracture length increases with speed when IA is held constant, a great deal of overlap exists between trials with different IAs. Given the expected high variance in IA in real hunting situations, large longitudinal macrofractures on the tips of archaeologically recovered lithics should not automatically be interpreted as resulting from the use of high-speed projectiles. We discuss the study's implications for the differentiation of prehistoric weapon-delivery systems, especially regarding recognizing stone- tipped weapon use by Neandertals.
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Antiquity, Nov 27, 2012
Eastern Europe holds a geographically important position as a potential crossroads for hominin mi... more Eastern Europe holds a geographically important position as a potential crossroads for hominin migration. However, the quality and quantity of data from the Balkans and the eastern European steppe has thus far been insufficient to reliably evaluate dispersal models for the Middle Pleistocene. We present here new data from the site of Dealul Guran in southeastern Romania, discovered in 2010 during a systematic survey of the steppic landscape of the Lower Danube Basin (LoDanS Project). Hominin occupation of the site, preserved at three levels, was dated using luminescence techniques (OSL, IRSL and post-IR IRSL). The lower two archaeological units of the site yield ages most likely corresponding to marine isotope stage (MIS) 11, and therefore establish Dealul Guran as one of the oldest securely-dated Lower Paleolithic sites in Eastern Europe. The upper archaeological layers date to MIS 3 and 2, providing evidence for more recent hominin presence in the region, the earlier part of which corresponds to the time window relevant to the migration of modern humans into Europe. The earliest occupation phase confirms the middle Pleistocene antiquity of hominin settlement of the eastern European loess steppe. The Middle Pleistocene was characterized by increasingly open steppic environments in the region, and experienced relatively milder climates than areas further north and west within Europe. We discuss the role of southeastern Europe in Middle Pleistocene hominin dispersals, and hypothesize that the particularly thick and widespread loess cover throughout this region may have contributed to the relative paucity of known Lower Paleolithic archaeological sites.
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"Background Recent findings suggest that the North African Middle Stone Age technocomplex known ... more "Background
Recent findings suggest that the North African Middle Stone Age technocomplex known as the Aterian is both much older than previously assumed, and certainly associated with fossils exhibiting anatomically modern human morphology and behavior. The Aterian is defined by the presence of ‘tanged’ or ‘stemmed’ tools, which have been widely assumed to be among the earliest projectile weapon tips. The present study systematically investigates morphological variation in a large sample of Aterian tools to test the hypothesis that these tools were hafted and/or used as projectile weapons.
Methodology/Principal Findings
Both classical morphometrics and Elliptical Fourier Analysis of tool outlines are used to show that the shape variation in the sample exhibits size-dependent patterns consistent with a reduction of the tools from the tip down, with the tang remaining intact. Additionally, the process of reduction led to increasing side-to-side asymmetries as the tools got smaller. Finally, a comparison of shape-change trajectories between Aterian tools and Late Paleolithic arrowheads from the North German site of Stellmoor reveal significant differences in terms of the amount and location of the variation.
Conclusions/Significance
The patterns of size-dependent shape variation strongly support the functional hypothesis of Aterian tools as hafted knives or scrapers with alternating active edges, rather than as weapon tips. Nevertheless, the same morphological patterns are interpreted as one of the earliest evidences for a hafting modification, and for the successful combination of different raw materials (haft and stone tip) into one implement, in itself an important achievement in the evolution of hominin technologies.
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This paper examines shape and size variability in Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition (MTA) handaxe... more This paper examines shape and size variability in Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition (MTA) handaxes and compares the observed patterns to those in the Lower Paleolithic Acheulian both to better understand variability in MTA handaxes and to test whether this variability, particularly as it relates to resharpening and reduction, is struc- tured similarly to that in the Acheulian. The Acheulian data set is based on previously published data with the addition here of a study of the handaxes from the site of Boxgrove, England. The MTA data set is based on four classic sites from southwest France with large handaxe collections. Both standard caliper based morphometrics and Elliptical Fourier Analysis applied to coordinate data taken from digitized images of handaxes are used to assess shape. The result is that, contrary to expectations based on assumptions of evolving technological skill, handaxes in the MTA are as or more variable in shape than Acheulian ones. This variation is allometric in Acheulian handaxes, and is linked to resharpening from the tip down to the base, but is not related to size in the MTA samples. These results suggest that the goals and constraints of handaxe manufacture but particularly handaxe reduction as a result of reworking during use were quite different in the MTA and Acheulian, implying that conclusions about hominin cognition to be drawn from patterns in shape variability in handaxes must be understood in the context of artifact life histories.
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It has long been thought that many flake attributes, including both size and shape, are largely d... more It has long been thought that many flake attributes, including both size and shape, are largely due to the morphology of a core’s flaking surface, yet this has never been tested under strictly controlled conditions. Using molded glass cores with surface morphologies that highly resemble prehistoric ones, this experiment demonstrates that while core surface morphology does exhibit some influence on flake size and shape, a high degree of variation in flakes produced with the same core surface morphology shows that the effects of other independent variables, such as exterior platform angle and platform depth, have an even stronger effect. A major implication of these results is that current approaches to reconstruct prehistoric knapping strategies are overlooking significant sources of variation.
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Journal of Archaeological Science, Jan 1, 2009
Stone tools tend to be classified according to a mix of functional, morphological, and technologi... more Stone tools tend to be classified according to a mix of functional, morphological, and technological attributes. This practice results in confusions when large-scale assemblage comparisons are made with the aim of investigating phylogenetic relationships, as functional and cultural information is aggregated. It is argued here that functional criteria must be assessed separately, and that resharpening, as a uniform, repeated, conscious behavioral process of tool maintenance that indexes use and function, can provide a solution to this problem. The subject of this article is a quantitative method for extracting and comparing resharpening trajectories. The method is an adaptation of ontogenetic scaling methods from biology, and is based on obtaining a mathematical representation of shape and size, and finding a rela- tionship between the two. Elliptical Fourier analysis is applied to stone tool contours in order to extract shape information, and then a series of regressions of shape on size provide trajectory vectors. The angles between these are then calculated and subjected to a variety of multivariate statistical tests. A case study involving several European Middle Paleolithic bifacial and unifacial tool assemblages is presented. The results show that resharpening and maintenance can be independent of morphology and technology, suggesting that there are strong grounds for focusing on functional systematics separately.
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Resharpening has long played a confusing rote in the history ofresearch on lithic variability. In... more Resharpening has long played a confusing rote in the history ofresearch
on lithic variability. In this chapter, I argue that, far from confounding issues of variability, resharpening can be used as a classiflcatory principle because it reflects human technical choices related to repeated uses of a tool. The advantage that resharpening offers is that of a mathematically suitable study object, through the investigation of shape change along the continuum of size reduction. Building upon a rich history of research in both biology and prehistoric archaeology, I present a variant of a new method for comparing resharpening trajectories, using elliptical Fourier analysis (EFA) and principal components analysis to compare the slopes of allometric regressions. The theoretical presentation is followed by a worked example using bifacial tools from two European Middle Paleolithic sites: Pech de l‘Azé 1 (France) and Buhlen III (Germany).
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Transitions in Prehistory: Essays in Honor of …, Jan 1, 2009
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Abstract This dissertation has two goals. The first is to provide a theoretical framework for a d... more Abstract This dissertation has two goals. The first is to provide a theoretical framework for a dynamic, morphology-independent approach to stone tool assemblage systematics and to introduce a quantitative method for evaluating relationships between assemblages based on comparisons of reduction trajectories.
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