Early Upper Paleolithic technocomplex (Archaeology) Research Papers (original) (raw)

During the archeological survey in Leninogorsk int.ermount.ain depression (Western Altai, East Kazakhstan) was
discovered Paleolithic localities namedBystrukha-2. During the preliminary investigation andprofile cleaning there were
discovered two artifact-bearing levels. In the lowermost cultural Level 2 (Lithological layer 5), situated 4 meters below
modern surface had been discovered small lithic assemblage containing artifacts typical for Early Upper Paleolithic and
unidirectional Levallois point. For this layer was obtained 14C determination 29140 ± 940 uncal. BP (A4-35323). This
date (unpublishedyet) is the first, radiocarbon determination for the Paleolithic of Eastern Kazakhstan. Bystrukha 2 site
which situated in the most, remote from territory of main distribution of Levallois points in Altai gave the most, recent,
evidence for using of Levallois point, technology in this region.

This study presents and discusses a methodology to study population contact scenarios among Pleistocene hunter-gatherers. It applies this methodology to the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition in the Middle Danube region by testing three models for the emergence of the transitional technocomplexes: local evolution, diffusion and stimulus diffusion. A detailed attribute analysis suggests that the local evolution model does not adequately explain the patterns in the archaeological record at the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition, while the diffusion model that implies direct contact is best supported by the data presented.

- by Philip R Nigst
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- Prehistoric Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Lithic Technology, Lithics

The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition around 35,000 years ago coincides with the replacement of Neanderthals by anatomically modern humans in Europe. Several hypotheses have been suggested to explain this replacement, one of them being the ability of anatomically modern humans to broaden their dietary spectrum beyond the large ungulate prey that Neanderthals consumed exclusively. This scenario is notably based on higher nitrogen-15 amounts in early Upper Palaeolithic anatomically modern human bone collagen compared with late Neanderthals. In this paper, we document a clear increase of nitrogen-15 in bone collagen of terrestrial herbivores during the early Aurignacian associated with anatomically modern humans compared with the stratigraphically older Châtelperronian and late Mousterian fauna associated with Neanderthals. Carnivores such as wolves also exhibit a significant increase in nitrogen-15, which is similar to that documented for early anatomically modern humans compared with Neanderthals in Europe. A shift in nitrogen-15 at the base of the terrestrial foodweb is responsible for such a pattern, with a preserved foodweb structure before and after the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in south-western France. Such an isotopic shift in the terrestrial ecosystem may be due to an increase in aridity during the time of deposition of the early Aurignacian layers. If it occurred across Europe, such a shift in nitrogen-15 in terrestrial foodwebs would be enough to explain the observed isotopic trend between late Neanderthals and early anatomically modern humans, without any significant change in the diet composition at the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition

- by Atsushi Noguchi
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- Archaeology, Morphometrics, Lithics, Stone axes (Archaeology)

It is my contention that by the Upper Paleolithic, many technologies were quite advanced. In particular, basket weaving or woven-fiber technology had reached a high point of development. A variety of basket weaving techniques had been mastered along with the manufacture of cordage and the beginnings of textiles. This knowledge and these skills were then passed on to Neolithic cultures who were able to make full use of these technologies in their sedentary and agricultural societies. Basket weaving or woven-fiber technology was a central technology all during the Pre-Pottery A & B Neolithic time period, a time period that lasted much longer than the later Pottery Neolithic. Furthermore, even after the invention of pottery, basket weaving skills continued to be crucial to both the Neolithic cultures and to the first civilizations.

- by Rick Doble
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- Ethnoarchaeology, Neolithic Archaeology, Basketry (Archaeology), Weaving Technology
- by Paloma de la Peña and +1
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- Experimental Archaeology, Ethnoarchaeology, Lithic Technology, Aurignacian

12 original articles concerning the Paleolithic development of woven-fiber technology and its use in early civilizations. This 300+ page eBook is illustrated with over 250 photographs and pictures. More than 100 years ago Gustave Chauvet wrote that he believed basketry and simple weaving were present in the Upper Paleolithic sites he had studied. Yet it took almost that long to convince experts that this was the case. The discovery of irrefutable evidence in the form of impressions of weaving in clay provided the proof. Now it is also clear that basket-weaving and textile-weaving were not incompatible with the hunter-gatherer Paleolithic lifestyle and did not require the sedentary settled Neolithic way of life as had been assumed. This opens up the idea that basket-weaving or woven-fiber technology as I have called it, could have begun even in the Lower Paleolithic, millions of years ago. In these 8 articles, I outline how basketry could have begun perhaps two million years ago and then how it could have developed until the rise of the great civilizations of Sumer and Egypt which depended on this technology. I include ideas about how to find indirect evidence of basket-weaving in the Paleolithic era.

- by Rick Doble
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- Paleoanthropology, Sumerian, Basketry (Archaeology), Weaving Technology

Excavations resumed in August 2016 at the multi-layer site of Nepryakhino let to unite the excavations all previous years into one rectangular excavation Pro-it is a map of the cardinal directions, explored at the moment to the full depth. The area of the excavation in 2016 – about 10 sq m, the total area of the excavations in all the years exceeded 30 sq. m. the Collection of the monument was added 11 210 artifacts, mostly from the lower layers, belonging to the early upper Paleolithic. During the excavations, unique objects were investigated: a fire pit in the K-II layer and lenses Microdevices in the layer K-III. Already the first results obtained remontazh products the splits are certainly interesting; in the future it is planned to-lime individual work remontazh. Paleobotanical and paleozoological studies of materials are continuing excavations have already identified large fauna from the excavation. AMS-date 40.620 ± 270 BP was obtained from a soil sample from a fire pit in Japan, which suggests that lower packet cultural layers Nepryakhino is one of the the earliest manifestations of the upper Paleolithic in Eastern Europe.

Defining varying spatial and temporal analytical scales is essential before evaluating the responses of late Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens to Abrupt Environmental Transitions (AETs) and environmental disasters for the period 130-25 ka. Recent advances in addressing the population histories and interactions (using both genetic and archaeological evidence) of Neanderthals and H. sapiens have encouraged consideration of more subtle dynamics of archaeological change. Descriptions of change based on methodologies pioneered some 160 years ago are no longer adequate to explain the patterning we now see in the record. New chronological results, using multiple dating methods, allow us to begin to unpick the spatial and temporal scales of change. Isochronic markers (such as specific volcanic eruptions) can be used to create temporal frameworks (lattices), and results from other dating techniques compared against them. A combination of chronological lattices and direct dating of diagnostic artefacts and human fossils permits us, for the first time, to have greater confidence in connecting human (recent hominin) species and their behavioural responses to environmental conditions, and in quantifying scales of change
over time and space (time-transgression). The timing of innovations, particularly those in bone, antler and ivory, can be directly quantified and tested, and used to re-evaluate longstanding models of cultural change. This paper also uses these new chronologies to explore the ecologies of late Neanderthals and early H. sapiens: their population densities, mobilities, resources exploited and possible interactions.
Environmental productivity estimates are used to generate new questions of potential population densities and mobilities, and thus the sensitivity of these groups to environmental perturbations. Scales and intensities of effect on environments from natural disasters and AETs (notably Heinrich Events and the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption) are defined as a scale from “proximal” to “distal,” with local conditions (topographic shelter or exposure) serving to intensify or mitigate those effects.

The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic shift is one of the major issues connected to the dispersal of Homo sapiens from Africa into Eurasia around 50 ka BP. The Levant is consistent with the theoriy of a northern dispersal route and forms the regional reference for this study. The study focuses on technological and typological changes of a number of Midddle and Initial Upper Palaeolithic lithic assemblages in Lebanon that is part of the Levant. The study shows that technological changes across that chronological boundary are more apparent than typological once, speaking for novelties (technology) on the one hand, while sustaining similar tool kits (typology) on the other. The new findings are put in context with the wider Levantine record, also evaluating possible connections to Africa an the Arabian Peninsula. Wether such techno-typological changes speak for a population shift in the Near East after 50 ka BP, or rather for the transmission of new ideas, or a mixture of both, must remain open for now.

- by Dirk Leder
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- Palaeolithic Archaeology, Levant Prehistory, Lithics, Upper Palaeolithic boundary

Hohle Fels Cave near Schelklingen in the Ach Valley (Swabian Jura) has yielded a rich archaeological sequence with Magdalenian, Gravettian, Aurignacian and Middle Palaeolithic horizons. One meter of deposits preserve the Aurignacian archaeological horizons AH IIIa to Vb (Conard et al. 2015; Miller 2015). Bladelet production from AH IIIa (GH 6a) and AH IV (GH 7) document the importance of formal burins as bladelet cores (Bataille & Conard 2016 & 2018). These cores deliver small and narrow blanks, often with straight as well as on- and off-axis twisted profiles. Lamellar burin spalls with intentional modifi-cations and use wear traces are characteristic for AHs IIIa and IV (Bataille & Conard 2018). Here we examine technological and typological features of these archaeological horizons. Specific lihic tools seem to have played an important role in the production of the large number of ornamental and symbolic organic artefacts produced on site (e.g. Conard 2009; Conard & Malina 2006 & 2009; Wolf 2015). In this context, the presence of lamellar burin spalls with distal use traces in the Hohle Fels assemblages was interpreted as tools for the incision of tiny holes into perforated beads (Bataille & Conard 2018). While characteristic Aurignacian types constitute one part of burin-cores, such as carinated and busked burins, another part is comprised by burin-cores with multiple lamellar scars on the small and lateral edges preferentially produced on straight blades, such as dihedral burins and burins on truncation. The potential core-character of different burin types is discussed. Among them are carinated, busked, dihedral, simple burins and burins on truncation. Carinated and nosed endscraper-cores with small reduction faces are also present in AH IIIa with only three pieces. In contrast, burin-cores dominate the bladelet core category. We discuss the technological and morphological variability of burin-cores as well as burins with less than three lamellar negatives from AHs IIIa and IV. The potential function of burin-core reduction in the context of activities in Hohle Fels Cave is discussed. The application of specific concepts of bladelet production in the Aurignacian assemblages is likely the result of functional demands. The paper highlights the importance of regional studies to understand the choice of specific reduction processes in the context of varying economical and socio-cultural settings.

Le Châtelperronien est l’un des technocomplexes marquant le passage du Paléolithique moyen au Paléolithique supérieur, du nord de l’Espagne au Centre-Est de la France.
Ce n’est certes pas le seul faciès de cette dite “transition” du Paléolithique moyen au Paléolithique supérieur en Europe (autres contributions dans ce volume), mais il est depuis quelques décennies mis au-devant de la scène. Les hypothèses et les scénarios envisagés sur l’origine, la nature et le développement du Châtelperronien font âprement débat parmi la communauté scientifique. La présence de fossiles néandertaliens, d’industrie osseuse, de parures et de colorants dans de rares gisements châtelperroniens, tout comme les données sur la technologie lithique ou les datations radiométriques sont utilisées pour défendre ou évacuer les possibilités d’acculturation, d’évolution indépendante ou d’une évolution progressive du Paléolithique moyen vers le Paléolithique supérieur. L’objectif de cette contribution est de présenter des données actualisées sur le Châtelperronien et de discuter d’une possible rencontre entre deux groupes humains anatomiquement différents.

This paper will explore various manifestations of the heavenly ladder, an image found in the art, ritual and folklore of many peoples around the world. The heavenly ladder is part of an ancient cosmology and provides a means for spirits to ascend to and descend from Heaven. The American art historian, Carl Schuster (1904-1969), provided solid evidence for the paleolithic origin of this symbol and showed how it had its roots in genealogical as well as cosmological and eschatological ideas.

A B S T R A C T Situated on the eastern periphery of Central Asia, Mongolia was a potentially important pathway for the migration of paleopopulations from the west to the east (and/or vice versa). Possible scenarios for the dispersal of ancient human populations in Mongolia are much more complicated than we initially supposed, due to the limited number of corridors penetrating natural barriers like the mountains of southern Siberia in the north and the arid mountain systems of the Mongolian and Gobi Altai ranges in the south. Nevertheless, we can detect several episodes during which those barriers were crossed by human migrants in the Upper Pleistocene based upon the geographic distribution of various species of Homo. These migration events can be detected by analyzing variability in lithic knapping technology and stone tool assemblages in Mongolia. The earliest two dispersal events we can identify – the Terminal Middle Paleolithic (TMP) and Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) are associated with an extremely complex and enigmatic question: who were the bearers of those cultural traits and did they successively replace one another, or did they co-exist, overlapping culturally? Both the TMP and IUP are associated with the Levallois reduction technology. Here, we attempt to analyze and interpret the entire spectrum of Levallois methods from chronological and technological perspectives, identified in Terminal Middle Paleolithic and Initial Upper Paleolithic assemblages from Mongolia. We identify four principal Levallois methods. The reduction strategies associated with them share features in common with lithic industries from the Russian Altai district in southern Siberia as well as northwestern and north-central China.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS. The Protoaurignacian culture is pivotal to the debate about the timing of the arrival of modern humans in Western Europe and the demise of Neandertals. However, which group is responsible for this culture remains uncertain. We investigated dental remains associated with the Protoaurignacian. The lower deciduous incisor from Riparo Bombrini is modern human, based on its morphology. The upper deciduous incisor from Grotta di Fumane contains ancient mitochondrial DNA of a modern human type. These teeth are the oldest human remains in an Aurignacian-related archeological context, confirming that by 41,000 calendar years before the present, modern humans bearing Protoaurignacian culture spread into Southern Europe. Because the last Neandertals date to 41,030 to 39,260 calendar years before the present, we suggest that the Protoaurignacian triggered the demise of Neandertals in this area.

- by Fabio Negrino and +1
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- Neanderthals (Palaeolithic Archaeology), Mousterian, Aurignacian, Early Upper Paleolithic technocomplex (Archaeology)

The Grotte de la Verpillière I in Germolles (Saône-et-Loire, France) has yielded an archaeological sequence from the Middle Palaeolithic
to the Gravettian period. This contribution focusses on the Châtelperronian lithic industry, covering 150 years of research.
From a techno-typological point of view, all known lithic objects presumably dating to this period are subject of this
investigation. This study includes in-situ observations of Châtelperronian layers, as part of our own recent excavations.
The lithic assemblage is put into context with other Châtelperronian samples in Southern Burgundy and Eastern France.

- by Harald Floss and +2
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- Lithic Technology, Lithics, Early Upper Paleolithic technocomplex (Archaeology), Lithic Technology (Archaeology)

PIM Publishing House, in Bibliotheca Archaeologica Moldaviae series, vol.VI, ISBN (10): 973-716-495-4, ISBN (13): 978-973-716-495-7, format A4, 440 pages, text and figures.

Les Cottés was discovered at the end of the nineteenth century and was popularized by L. Pradel during the fifties and the sixties. This site is known for its well preserved Aurignacian industries and for “Les Cottés point”, type fossil of the “evolved” Châtelperronian (Pradel, 1963). In 2006, we started a new excavation program which already shed new light on the succession of industries at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic at the southwestern margins of the Parisian Basin. Inventories of retouched tools, cores, and blades/bladelets of each assemblage show that Châtelperronian, Protoaurignacian and Early Aurignacian are preserved in sequence at Les Cottés. The last assemblage preserved at the top of the sequence is for now attributed to a “final” Early Aurignacian. Our analyses confirm that Châtelperronian is north of the Seuil du Poitou and that Protoaurignacian do exist in the Parisian Basin, away from its up to-now known core geographical distribution (the Pyrenees and the periphery of the Mediterranean sea). We also show that this septentrional Protoaurignacian is more ancient than the early Aurignacian, as well as in the meridional sequences.

The late persistence in Southern Iberia of a Neandertal-associated Middle Paleolithic is supported by the archeological stratigraphy and the radiocarbon and luminescence dating of three newly excavated localities in the Mula basin of Murcia (Spain). At Cueva Antón, Mousterian layer I-k can be no more than 37,100 years-old. At La Boja, the basal Aurignacian can be no less than 36,500 years-old. The regional Middle-to-Upper aleolithic transition process is thereby bounded to the first half of the 37th millennium Before Present, in agreement with evidence from Andalusia, Gibraltar and Portugal. This chronology represents a lag of minimally 3000 years with the rest of Europe, where that transition and the associated process of Neandertal/modern human admixture took place between 40,000 and 42,000 years ago. The lag implies the presence of an effective barrier to migration and diffusion across the Ebro river depression, which, based on available paleoenvironmental indicators, would at that time have represented a major biogeographical divide. In addition, (a) the Phlegraean Fields caldera explosion, which occurred 39,850 years ago, would have stalled the Neandertal/modern human admixture front because of the population sink it generated in Central and Eastern Europe, and (b) the long period of ameliorated climate that came soon after (Greenland Interstadial 8, during which forests underwent a marked expansion in Iberian regions south of 40°N) would have enhanced the “Ebro Frontier” effect. These findings have two broader paleoanthropological implications: firstly, that, below the Ebro, the archeological record made prior to 37,000 years ago must be attributed, in all its aspects and components, to the Neandertals (or their ancestors); secondly, that modern human emergence is best seen as an uneven, punctuated process during which long-lasting barriers to gene flow and cultural diffusion could have existed across rather short distances, with attendant consequences for ancient genetics and models of human population history.

This paper explores the modes of dispersal, variability, and chronology of the Initial Upper Paleolithic
(IUP) of Southern Siberia and the northern Central Asia. Several types of tool-markers, a peculiar type of
reduction technology and two types of adornments, specific to the area under study, are distinguished.
Based on current data, the author concludes that about 45,000 years ago, there was a rapid eastern
movement of populations from a core region in part of the mountains of the Russian Altai towards
central Mongolia and southwestern Transbaikal. In these regions, about 43,000e40,000 years ago, a
second center of a blade-based IUP appeared. It was characterized by specific forms of tools, reduction
technologies and personal adornments similar to those in the core region. Thus, the transfer of a whole
set of a unified cultural tradition occurred. Therefore, based on the geographic and temporal distribution
of tool-markers, ancient populations moved along the most southern of the possible routes, i.e. over the
territory of present-day Mongolia and northwest China.

East European Aurignacian sensu lato order using standards of Aurignacian in Western & Central Europe

Fragestellungen wie die Verwendung lokaler oder ortsfremder lithischer Rohma-terialien zur Werkzeugproduktion oder die Nutzung natürlicher Ressourcen wie Flüsse als Quelle von Rohmaterialien und zugleich als Ressource Wasser und/oder Nahrung stehen im Teilprojekt B01 " Variabilität der Ressourcennutzung. Raumerschließung durch späte Neandertaler und frühe anatomisch moderne Menschen in Europa " des SFB 1070 " RessourcenKulturen " im Vordergrund. Hierbei werden in zwei Fallstudien – die Schwäbische Alb und das südliche Burgund – der Zeitraum des Übergangs vom Neandertaler zum anatomisch modernen Menschen in Europa zwischen 50 und 30 ka BP und damit einhergehend eine Veränderung in der techno-typologischen Ausprägung der Inventare bekannter Fundstellen untersucht. Das Fallbeispiel der Schwäbischen Alb legt den Fokus auf die lithischen Aurignacieninventare der Vogelherd-Höhle. Die techno-typologische Analyse unter Berücksichtigung der Rohmaterialökonomie zielt sowohl darauf ab, spezifische Charakteristika des Schwäbischen Aurignacien herauszuarbeiten, als auch Unterschiede in den Inventaren zu identifizieren. Das Fallbeispiel im Südburgund (Côte Chalonnaise) beschäftigt sich in komplementärer Weise mit lithischen Inventaren von Freiland-wie auch Höhlenfundstellen wie Saint-Martin-sous-Montaigu, Rully oder Germolles, für die eine Besiedlung im späten Mittelpaläolithikum, im frühen Jungpaläolithikum sowie während des Châtelperronien nachgewiesen ist. Als Referenz dienen vor allem die modern ergrabenen Inventare der Grottes de la Verpillière I und II in Germolles. Eingerahmt und ergänzt werden die Arbeiten von überregionalen Rohmaterialstudien, die sowohl durch ausgedehnte Prospektionen und Kartierungen als auch durch einheitliche mikro- und makroskopische Analysen darauf abzielen, die vorhandenen lithischen Rohmaterialien beider Regionen zu beschreiben und in ihrem archäologischen Niederschlag greifen zu können. Daraus ergeben sich Rückschlüsse auf Versorgungsstrategien oder Wanderbewegungen später Neandertaler und früher moderner Menschen entlang natürlicher Flusssysteme wie der Donau oder dem Rhein-Saône-Rhône-Graben.

- by Klaus Herkert and +3
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- Lithic Technology, Lithics, Aurignacian, Early Upper Paleolithic technocomplex (Archaeology)

The Levant occupies a particular geographic position between Africa and Europe that has made it pivotal in understanding human dispersals between Africa and Eurasia. The so-called Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition between 50–40 ka calBP is traditionally seen as related to the advent of Homo sapiens in the Levant (Out-of-Africa 2b). This time is characterised by substantial changes in material culture. Associated lithic assemblages are traditionally accommodated under the umbrella terms Transitional industries or Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP). The aim of this paper is to identify core reduction strategies carried out at the IUP sites of Ksar Akil and Abou Halka in Lebanon and their intended end products, providing new data on past human behaviour that shaped material culture. While most studies on lithic materials from IUP assemblages revolve around techno-typological data that were collected on individual artefacts (static approach), the approach chosen here partially follows the chaîne opératoire concept that permits a reconstruction of flint knapping processes and its presumed goals (dynamic approach). Chaîne opératoire analysis was carried out in concert with multivariate statistical tests. The study shows that the various reduction strategies characterising the Lebanese IUP were not pursued to obtain specific end products, consequently, alternative hypotheses such as adaptive behaviour responding to variable raw material properties are discussed.
(OPEN ACCESS)

Aurignacian assemblages in northwestern Europe, here defined as Britain, Belgium, Luxembourg and France north of c. 47°N, are relatively meagre, most often undated and, in comparison with those farther south, incompletely understood. An overview of published accounts of the region’s Aurignacian sites and material is presented here. Lacking Aurignacian assemblages found in stratigraphic association with one another, the archaeological record for the entire region is presently not conducive to the construction of a chrono-cultural framework built on local evidence. However, the typological variation evident between sites and within some of the larger assemblages clearly has chrono-cultural significance. Here, making explicit reference to the better understood framework farther south, it is suggested that much of this variation may be chronological. Based upon this consideration of lithic evidence, the earliest Aurignacian of the region probably pre-dates the small number of currently published radiocarbon dates. A few thoughts as to the relative prevalence of Recent Aurignacian lithic material are also offered.

- by Yuri Demidenko
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- Levantine Archaeology, Migration, Migration Studies, Flint (Archaeology)

Nous présentons le site châtelperronien de plein air de Canaule II, à travers l’approche taphonomique, techno-économique et spatiale de cinq remontages. Cette étude montre l’exceptionnelle conservation de ce site et explore le potentiel qu’il révèle pour la définition du Châtelperronien et la caractérisation des comportements humains au début du Paléolithique supérieur.

Grâce à sa situation géographique privilégiée et à ses vastes dimensions, la grotte d’Isturitz a très tôt attiré les populations préhistoriques qui fréquentaient les Pyrénées occidentales. De fait, les fouilles entreprises dans la première moitié du XXe siècle ont mis en évidence des stratigraphies témoignant de fréquentes occupations durant les Paléolithiques moyen et surtout supérieur. A partir de 1999, la reprise des recherches dans la salle de Saint-Martin s’est principalement concentrée sur son importante séquence aurignacienne. La base de celle-ci est constituée par de riches ensembles de l’Aurignacien archaïque avec une industrie lithique largement dominée par les supports lamellaires. Nous présenterons ici les premiers résultats des études tracéologiques qui leur attribuent des utilisations diversifiées, tout en insistant sur la nécessité de valider les hypothèses émises, notamment par l’expérimentation.

In 2017, archaeological studies of the Pleistocene deposits in the South Chamber of Denisova Cave have been resumed. The deposits constituting the upper part of the Pleistocene strata have been examined at the mouth of the cave on the lines forming grids Е and Ж, including lithological layers 9 and 11. Layer 11, containing the deposits accumulated during the first half of MIS 3, has yielded lithic artifacts that can be attributed to the Early Upper Paleolithic. Primary flaking in this industry is characterized by radial and sub-prismatic cores. The analysis of flakes suggests that the parallel and Levallois reduction strategies were employed. The tool assemblage also reveals the combination of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic elements. Archaeological evidence from layer 9, whose deposits were accumulated during the Last Glacial Maximum, reflects the further development of blade technology.

"Through the first exhaustive and detailed analysis of personal ornaments recovered at Les Cottés cave, this contribution proposes new elements for the debate on the cultural dynamics that impacted the symbolic organization of the first Upper Palaeolithic communities in Western Europe. The complete archaeosequence identified at Les Cottés during recent excavations gives new insight into the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Western Europe. The cave is located at the south-western margin of the Paris Basin, close to the Aquitaine Basin. Various field works have successively been conducted on the site since the end of the 19th century; a new excavation programme was started in 2006. A Mousterian level (unit 08) starts the sequence. It is overlaid by a Châtelperronian level (unit 06) and a Proto-Aurignacian level (lower unit 04) and the sequence is closed by two Early Aurignacian levels (upper US 04, US 02; US 03, also attributed to the Early Aurignacian is a low density level between upper US 04 and US 02). Châtelperronian, Proto-Aurignacian and Early Aurignacian levels are separated from each other by archaeologically sterile deposits often measuring more than 10 cm in thickness. The different occupations have yielded abundant lithic and faunal material characteristic of this period. This study focuses on the 12 personal ornaments recovered during previous and new excavations including a stone pendant, ivory beads, tubular bone beads and fox canines. Microscopic analyses show
a high level of diversity in the raw material, as well as in the shaping and techniques of suspension used to make the different bead types recovered on the site. No clear evidence of use-wear was identified on the pieces. Interestingly, the stone pendant recovered during the previous excavation presents evidence of percussion on its surface, suggesting the pendant was distinctly used for domestic as well as symbolic purposes. Only one ivory bead was found in stratigraphic position within an Early Aurignacian level (upper US 04) identified during the new excavations. An interdisciplinary approach, crossing data from the analyses of the personal ornaments, in particular their state of preservation, taphonomic and archaeo-zoological results and the deposition modes of each level, has led to the proposal of a contextual
re-attribution for ten of the beads. In particular, systematic observation of red sediment on the surface of the pieces suggested that they belonged to the one geo-archaeological unit that presents the same colouring. This unit corresponds to the first Early Aurignacian level, also identified during the previous excavations. In this level, more than 20% of the faunal and lithic remains present a red colouring. In agreement with this hypothesis, cut marks were registered on one of the perforated fox canines, testifying to the acquisition of the teeth on a fresh carcass. Concomitantly, evidence of fox exploitation was exclusively identified in the Early Aurignacian occupation (upper US 04). Moreover, the marked similarities in shape between all the ivory beads, including the one found in stratigraphic position, indicates that they all belong to the Early Aurignacian occupation. A survey of European archaeological literature shows that all the bead types identified at Les Cottés were already largely documented in the Early Aurignacian context, favouring the consistency of their cultural re-attribution. At this point in the study, inferences on the cultural affinities of the Early Aurignacians that occupied the site with other groups were researched. A survey of the literature revealed that the beadtype configuration identified at Les Cottés presents stylistic affinities with the Early Aurignacian from South-Western France. By comparing data from the personal ornaments with other categories of material found in the Early Aurignacian lower level, a regional contrast appears between raw material procurement strategies and the stylistic affinity of bead type association. Although mainly local raw materials were used for lithic industry on the site, exogenous siliceous raw materials used in the Early Aurignacian lithic industries were imported from the north of the Poitou region. It highlights a geographic contrast between the symbolic and economic spheres developed by the Aurignacians who occupied the site. While the bead-type association may reflect south-western affinities, the economic sphere is developed around a north-eastern area. The marginal position of the site in regard to South-Western France, and the interface that constitutes the Poitou region between two different economic territories highlights the large-scale diffusion of personal ornamentation traditions in Western Europe during the Early Aurignacian. This diffusion appears to be unrelated to the settlement dynamics resulting from subsistence constraints."

- by Sylvain Renou and +4
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- Ornament (Archaeology), Archaeological Fieldwork, Aurignacian, Early Upper Paleolithic technocomplex (Archaeology)

The Kostenki-Borshchevo sites have great potential for high-resolution and robust Upper Palaeolithic chronologies. However, radiocarbon dating the sites has proved problematic: in some cases radiocarbon dates do not align with the geochronological position of layers, and in other cases a wide span of radiocarbon dates is inconsistent with the nature of the archaeological assemblage. One problem now shown to lead to erroneous results is the incomplete removal of exogenous carbon from dated samples. The past two decades have seen renewed efforts to improve this situation, via development of improved sample pretreatment methods. In light of this, two recent Leverhulme-Trust-funded projects have carried out programs of radiocarbon dating of bone from Kostenki at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU). This paper brings together the published results of those projects. This work has significantly improved the chronology of several Kostenki sites, and in doing so has addressed some long-standing chronological questions. This work also highlights ongoing difficulties in radiocarbon dating earlier-Upper-Palaeolithic-age material using standard pretreatment methods.

The paper reports the results of an analysis of surface collections of artifacts made at the Luotuoshi site in
Dzungaria, Xinjiang, northwest China. The site was discovered in 2004 by a joint Chinese-Russian-American
archaeological expedition. A techno-typological analysis of the artifacts was carried out noting aeolian abrasion of
the artifacts’ surfaces. This technocomplex is quite homogenous and is characterized by a combination of Levallois-like
and subprismatic blade-based reduction techniques. Analogs of the Luotuoshi assemblage have been identi􀂿 ed within
the lithic industries of the Altai, the Orkhon-1 and Tolbor-4 sites in Mongolia, and at Shuidonggou in the Ningxia Hui
Autonomous Region in China, all of which have been attributed to the Early Upper Paleolithic. Luotuoshi is the 􀂿 rst
site associated with the blade-based Early Upper Paleolithic discovered in northwest China and its particular features
make it possible to correlate this technocomplex with those from southern Siberia and northern Central Asia.

- by Evgeny Rybin and +1
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- China, Central Asia, Early Upper Paleolithic technocomplex (Archaeology)