Info Vtp
Figure 6.13 Multi-dimensional-scaling analysis of 33 Mousterian assemblages from southwestern France, from Mellars 1967. The assemblages represented are nos 1-4 Pech de l'Aze I layers 4, B, 6, 7 nos 5-6 Hauteroche lower, upper layers nos 7-10 Abri Chadourne layers A, B, C, D no. 11 L'Ermitage nos 12-14 Roc de Marsal layers 6,10,11 no. 15 Mas-Viel nos 16-18 Petit-Puymoyen cave, C2, breccia nos 19-33 Combe Grenal layers 11,14,17, 20, 22, 23, 26, 27, 29, 33,35,38, 50, 52. MTA Type B are separated...
Side scrapers
Side scrapers alternatively known by the French term racloirs have always been seen as one of the most distinctive retouched tool forms in Middle Palaeolithic industries and in the earlier literature were often regarded as a diagnostic feature of these industries e.g. de Mortillet 1883 . In fact, typical side-scraper forms, effectively identical to those encountered in the Mousterian and related industries, are known to occur throughout the greater part of the Lower Palaeolithic sequence...
B 1
Figure 2.7 Vegetational sequence covering the last glacial I inter glacial cycle recorded at Les Echets in the northern Rhone valley eastern France . Correlations with the main stadial and interstadial phases defined in the Grande Pile sequence Fig. 2.6 are shown on the right. After de Beaulieu amp Reille 1984. Figure 2.7 Vegetational sequence covering the last glacial I inter glacial cycle recorded at Les Echets in the northern Rhone valley eastern France . Correlations with the main stadial...
Colonization scenarios
How and why a major episode of population dispersal occurred at this particular point in the Upper Pleistocene has been much discussed e.g. Zubrow 1989 Mellars 1989a, 1992b Kozlowski 1993 Bar-Yosef 1994 Gamble 1993 . It is now clear from recent dating of the large samples of skeletal remains from the sites of Skhul and Qafzeh in Israel that human populations that were essentially modern in most anatomical respects Fig. 13.7 , had become established in the Middle East by around 100,000 BP and...
Info Bwx
Figure 2.21 Pollen succession recorded through the Combe Grenal sequence. After Bordes et al. 1966. birch and pine Bordes et al. 1966 , which suggest that climatic conditions never approached the severity of those recorded during the preceding cold phase of isotope stage 6. The two warm episodes in the sequence in layers 52-50A and 43-41 reflect a dramatic change from these conditions. In these levels overall arboreal pollen ratios rise to between 60 and 70 percent and now include substantial...
Info Qtk
Figure 7.20 Location of the bison-butchery site of Mauran Haute-Garonne , showing its relationship to the Garonne river, and the adjacent steep slope immediately to the south. After Farizy amp Leclerq 1981. remains in relation to associated lithic artefacts and the character of the lithic industries recovered from the sites is similar, with a dominance of notched and denticulated tools, and variable amounts of more heavy-duty choppers or pebble-tool forms Figs 7.28-7.31 . The most enigmatic...
The functional variability Models of Lewis Binford
Few debates had a greater impact on Palaeolithic archaeology during the post-war period than those surrounding the 'func- tional' models of industrial variability proposed in several publications by Lewis Binford initially in collaboration with Sally Binford Binford amp Binford 1966, 1969 Bin-ford 1973, 1983a see also Freeman 1966 . These interpretations were formulated initially during the early years of the 1960s and, as Binford has emphasized, were presented largely as an explicit reaction...
Info Dxh
Figure 8.7 Occurrence of Middle Palaeolithic sites in relation to sources oflithic rata materials, as documented by Duchadeau-Kervazo 1982 in the northern Perigord region. It will be seen that the richest sites in terms of numbers of artefacts show a strong tendency to be associated with raw material outcrops. Figure 8.7 Occurrence of Middle Palaeolithic sites in relation to sources oflithic rata materials, as documented by Duchadeau-Kervazo 1982 in the northern Perigord region. It will be seen...
Southwestern France as a human habitat
One of the most striking and widely recognized features of the archaeological record of the Perigord and adjacent areas of southwestern France is the sheer wealth and abundance of the evidence for Palaeolithic occupation. This pattern is well documented for both the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic periods and is reflected not only in the overall totals of occupied sites - running into several hundred for both the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic see Chapter 8 - but also in the density and...
P Hcr
Figure 9.14 Distribution of small long-bone splinters in the Grotte du Lazaret. After de Lumley et al. 1969. to indicate that the areas immediately adjacent to the hearths served as major centres of industrial and processing activities on the site, involving both the in situ flaking of flint nodules and the deliberate smashing of bones for extraction of marrow. Interestingly, a similar concentration of flint debitage and bone splinters was recorded around the edges of a large stone block at the...
Population dispersal in Europe the archaeological perspective
There is little doubt that many of the current controversies in the interpretation of available genetic and anatomical evidence stem from the attempt to adopt a single, unified view for the emergence of anatomically modern populations which is applicable to all areas of the world, regardless of the character of local geographical and environmental circumstances, or the particular patterns of demographic and evolutionary development within each region. Fortunately, the issues here are simpler...
The archaeological perspective
It soon became clear in planning this book that to attempt a general survey of the archaeological evidence for Neanderthal behaviour across the whole geographical range discussed above - i.e. extending from the Atlantic coast of Europe to the Middle East - would not only be a daunting task in terms of the amount of material and data to be considered, but could become a rather questionable exercise. There are two principal reasons for this. First, there is the problem of knowing exactly where in...
Interstadial Arcy
gt i P p. - y. -.-.' o' . y. . . f gt .'0. . - H Figure 2.28 Stratigraphic and archaeological sequence recorded in the lower shelter at Le Moustier, showing the results of TL dating of burnt flint samples carried out by Valladas et al. 1986 and ESR dating of animal teeth by Mellars amp Gr n 1991 . Note that the ESR dates are calculated according to two different models of uranium uptake in the teeth the 'early-uptake' and 'linear-uptake' models , which yield slightly different results on both...
Raw material patterns in tool production
The question of apparent links or relationships between particular kinds of raw material and particular forms of retouched tools in Middle Palaeolithic contexts has been raised several times in the literature e.g. Tavoso 1984 Geneste 1985 526-37, 1988 460, 487-9 Otte et al 1988 96-8 Dibble 1991a Dibble amp Rolland 1992 Binford 1992 . As yet, only limited attention has been devoted to these patterns and systematic analytical data to support the claimed correlations between tool morphology and...
Behavioural change
A criticism sometimes made against earlier discussions of the character of the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition is that these have relied on very broad characterizations of archaeological evidence from the two periods, in a way which tends to exaggerate the true character of behavioural changes over the period of the hypothetical transition itself e.g. Simek amp Price 1990 243 Clark amp Lindly 1989 634 . Thus, the charge is levelled that proponents of a behavioural 'revolution' at this...
Bifacial tools
Bifacially worked tools in the Middle Palaeolithic make up a broad and heterogeneous group which evidently comprises a number of discrete and sharply differentiated forms. Since these forms have been fully described in earlier literature e.g. Bordes 1961a, 1984 and pose rather fewer interpretative prob lems than some of the other types, they will be discussed here more briefly. Forms conventionally described as 'hand axes' are distinguished essentially by four basic features first, by a...
Info Rca
Betula Pinus Ulmus TFraxinusT Alnus Corylus Taxus TCarpinus Figure 2.3 Typical vegetational succession recorded in pollen sequences spanning the last inter glacial period 'Eemian' interglacial in northern Europe. Similar patterns of vegetational development are recorded over large areas of Europe during this period. The Eemian interglacial is generally agreed to correlate with isotope stage 5e, from ca 126-118,000 BP. After Zagwijn 1990. Figure 2.3 Typical vegetational succession recorded in...
Openair sites
The systematic study of the abundant Middle Palaeolithic open-air sites in southwestern France is still in its infancy. Despite over a century of avid collecting from these sites by amateur and professional archaeologists, it is only during the last twenty years that any serious and controlled attempt has been made to survey and document the sites in any detail Rigaud 1969, 1982 Le Tensorer 1973, 1981 Turq 1977a,b, 1978,1988a, 1989a, 1992b Geneste 1985 Duchadeau-Kervazo 1982, 1986 . Despite the...
Tata Hungary Neanderthal Cross
Figure 12.5 Perforated bones and teeth from the Middle Palaeolithic levels of Repolosthohle, Austria nos 1, 2 the Micoquian levels of Bocksteinschmiede, Germany nos 3, 5 - a wolf metapodium and swans vertebra respectively and the Acheulian levels ofPech de VAzell, France no. 4 . After Bednarik 1992 nos 1, 2 Marshack 1990 nos 3, 5 Bordes 1969 no. 4 . Figure 12.5 Perforated bones and teeth from the Middle Palaeolithic levels of Repolosthohle, Austria nos 1, 2 the Micoquian levels of...
The Early Glacial period ca BP
It is now clear that the earlier stages of the last glacial period were characterized by a complex but clearly defined pattern of climatic oscillations. In the isotope records of deep-sea cores Fig. 2.1 this period comprised four main stages, of which two, stages 5d and 5b, were quite clearly glacial in character while the other two, 5c and 5a, were much warmer 'interstadial' episodes marked by a sharp increase in world-wide temperature conditions and a corresponding reduction in the overall...
NonLevallois techniques
Levallois techniques were only one of the major strategies of primary flake production employed by Middle Palaeolithic groups. The existence of many alternative flaking strategies has been recognized since the earliest stages of research into the Middle Palaeolithic e.g. Bourlon 1906, 1910, 1911 , and it is now evident that these alternative techniques were often employed alongside Levallois methods or, in some cases, to the total exclusion of Levallois techniques. The special case of blade...
Symbolism and style in tool manufacture
The possibility that evidence for symbolism may be reflected in the morphology and patterns of manufacture of stone tools has also been much discussed. Holloway 1969, 1983 argued that the mere existence of clearly differentiated forms of stone tools at Olduvai Gorge and elsewhere could be taken as reasonable evidence for the existence of essentially linguistic mental concepts two million years ago. The same idea has been repeated in many other publications Isaac 1969 Parker amp Gibson 1979...
Info Gme
Layers 35 32- 27 26 23- 21- 17-33 25 22 19 Layers 35 32- 27 26 23- 21- 17-33 25 22 19 els and Roc-en-Pail three main levels Mel-lars 1969, 1988 Rolland 1988b . As shown in Fig. 6.17, in all these sites it is possible to observe a simple pattern of gradual, step-by-step decrease in the Levallois index of the assemblages between the lower and upper levels in the sequences. Significantly, these patterns can be seen not only between the main blocks of Ferrassie and Quina assemblages at Combe...
Introduction
The Neanderthals have always been something of an enigma. Since their initial discovery in the middle of the last century opinions have tended to polarize between two extremes between those who saw the Neanderthals as standing directly astride the main course of human evolution, only slightly different in either their physical or mental capabilities from modern populations and those who saw them, by contrast, as much more primitive figures, with behavioural and physical capacities radically...
Info Uep
Figure 7,27 Comparison of relative frequencies of different skeletal elements of bovids including both Bos and Bison represented in the faunal assemblages from Mauran, La Borde, and Combe Grenal layers 11-35 After David amp Farizy 1994 Slott-Moller 1990 Chase 1986a. consumption in another location. While this could possibly account for the relative under-representation of some of the upper limb bones e.g. femur, pelvis, humerus etc. , it is difficult to see how it could explain the dramatic...
Discussion 1
The impression which emerges is that Middle Palaeolithic sites are by no means lacking in certain kinds of internal organization, or even clear 'structure7, when viewed in spatial terms. The patterns documented at the Grotte du Lazaret, Grotte Vaufrey, Les Canalettes, Arcy-sur-Cure etc. leave no doubt that the various economic, technological and social activities carried out on Middle Palaeolithic sites were patterned and regulated in various ways by certain spatial constraints which, despite...
Info Jfz
Figure 2.14 Fluctuating oxygen-isotope 180 16 lt 0 ratios recorded through the recent'GRIP Summit' ice core from Greenland. The various ' inter stadials' recognized in the sequence are indicated by numbers in the central column , and correlated tentatively with those recognized in pollen and other stratigraphic sequences in northwestern Europe. After Dansgaard et al. 1993. N.B. More recent work on the core has cast doubt on the reality of the apparent climatic fluctuations during the period of...
Info Eew
100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 Distance of transport km Figure 5.18 Comparison of the distances over which raw materials were transported in Middle Palaeolithic sites in southwestern France left compared with central Europe right . After Feblot-Augustins 1993. Distances of transport greater than 100 km are only found in the central European sites. sites in central and eastern Europe. Here, as both Roebroeks et ah 1988 and Feblot-Augustins 1993 have pointed out, it is possible to...
Info Sbh
Figure 9.20 Distribution of retouched tools upper and cores lower in layer 2 ofLes Canalettes. After Meignen 1993. Meignen suggest that these parts of the potential occupation surface may perhaps have been deliberately avoided by the occupants because of the very stony deposits in this part of the site. The alternative would be to see this as a more general feature of the occupation pattern, possibly reflecting the location of sleeping areas in this heavily sheltered part of the site broadly...
The Binford model
Recently, a stark alternative to the idea of essentially modern patterns of social organization among Neanderthal and earlier populations has been argued forcefully in the publications of Lewis Binford, based largely on his studies of the detailed spatial organization of the various occupation levels at Combe Grenal Binford 1992, and personal communication . In essence, Binford believes that it is possible to identify several clear and repeated patterns in the spatial distribution of hearths,...
M T A
Figure 6.16 Stratigraphie distribution of Ferrassie, Quina and MTA industries within the Mousterian succession at Combe Grenal, according to Bordes 1961b 1972 etc. The industries from layers 28-31 were classified in Bordes' original publication of the site 1955a as representing an 'attenuated Ferrassie' variant, but were later reclassified as 'Typical Mousterian enriched in radons'. 2. Further support for the stratigraphie patterns documented at Combe Grenal is provided by all other sites in...
Stone Tool Technology
Studies of stone-tool technology have always occupied a central position in approaches to the Middle Palaeolithic. The reasons for this are evident. Here, as in the rest of the Palaeolithic, stone-tool assemblages provide by far the most durable and complete record of human development with a degree of continuity and fine-scale resolution which is much better than that of the associated faunal assemblages and far more complete than that of the skeletal remains of the populations involved. Not...
Blade technology
One of the most significant developments over the past few years has been the recognition that the repertoire of primary flaking techniques employed in the European Middle Palaeolithic involved not only the conventional forms of Levallois or non-Levallois flake production but a surprisingly strong component of deliberate and highly specialized blade production. This has been recognized for more than 40 years in the Middle Palaeolithic sequence of the Near East notably in the various occurrences...
Burial practices
The long-debated topic of Middle Palaeolithic burials and associated burial rituals raise issues similar to those discussed above. Is the archaeological evidence reliable If it is, what can we legitimately infer from it about the symbolic or other nature of the behaviour represented The issue of Middle Palaeolithic burial practices has been discussed at length in a Current Anthropology review article by Robert Gargett 1989 . Gargett sets out the case systematically against the acceptance of...
Hunting strategies
Finally, what evidence do we have for the actual techniques or strategies of hunting in Middle Palaeolithic contexts The evidence is admittedly limited, but may provide some critical insights into behavioural patterns. 1. First, there is now strong evidence for the use of some forms of heavy-duty thrusting or penetrating spears in certain Middle Palaeolithic contexts, and apparently even from the later stages of the Lower Palaeolithic. The best documented examples are the yew-wood spear with a...
The Big Transition
Perhaps the most intriguing and enigmatic aspects of the Middle Palaeolithic period is how and why it came to an end, after a period of around 200,000 years of remarkable stability. From the preceding chapters it has emerged that while there were significant shifts in the precise morphology and technology of stone tool production, subsistence patterns, site distributions etc. at different stages of the Middle Palaeolithic, very few if any of these seem to reflect any radical reorganization or...
Character of openair sites
Any attempt to identify the activities carried out in open-air sites is inevitably beset by the various problems outlined earlier - especially by the lack of organic remains from all except a small handful of sites and the lack of information from controlled excavations on the overall extent, size and internal spatial organization of sites. Some of the clearer and apparently well documented patterns which have emerged from recent work can be summarized as follows 1. The feature which has been...
Mauran Bison Profile
Figure 7.24 Estimated age distribution of the remains of aurochs from La Borde upper and remains of Bison from Mauran lower , based on crown-height measurements of molar teeth. Allowing for the selective destruction of the youngest and most fragile teeth, both patterns seem to reflect a 'catastophic age profile, similar to that to be expected in a living herd. After Slott-Moller 1990 and David amp Farizy 1994. 1. There can be no doubt that the composition of the faunal assemblages recovered...
M Xjj
Figure 9.5 Distribution of unworked river cobbles in layer VIII of the Grotte Vaufrey. After Rigaud amp Geneste 1988. occasional use of the cave as a carnivore den, there is considerable debate about how much this has contributed to the faunal assemblage. From a study of various taphonomic aspects of the bones, Binford 1988 has suggested that most of the faunal remains recov ered from the main area of industrial activity along the southern wall of the cave probably derive from carnivore...
NonLevallois blade techniques
This final strategy of blade production is categorized by Boeda as entirely 'non-Leval-lois' in character, and is regarded by him in most respects as almost identical to that documented in fully Upper Palaeolithic industries. The best documented example discussed by Boeda is from the site of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme where a small but closely associated series of conjoining flakes Figs 3.23, 3.24 was recovered from deposits provisionally and rather tenuously attributed to the early or middle...
Critique of the Binford model
Binford's model for the Combe Grenal occupations - and by implication for the social organization of Neanderthal groups in general - has all the classic Binfordian hallmarks of originality, ingenuity and radical creativity, and in the final analysis of course he could be right. The difficulties of identifying the sexual composition of social groups from the character and organization of occupation residues are self-evident - and indeed from this perspective we might well be pessimistic of ever...
Combe Grenal Rgz
The classic excavations of Fran ois Bordes at the site of Combe Grenal have already been referred to at several points in earlier chapters. The site at present consists of a small cave, preceded by a rock overhang, located on the south-facing slope of a small dry valley only one kilometre to the south of its confluence with the main Dordogne valley. Excavations carried out by Fran ois Bordes between 1953 and 1965 revealed a sequence of almost 13 metres of rich archaeological deposits,...
Eastern Micoquian
lt 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 lt 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 lt 1.8 1.8 2.1 2.4 2.7 3.0 3.3 3.6 Figure 4.23 Length-over-breadth ratios of bifaces recorded for various MTA industries from southwestern French sites, compared with those for the earlier 'Acheulian industries from La Micoque and La Chaise. The graph shows that elongated, pointed hand-axe forms are effectively lacking from the MTA industries. From Mellars 1967. Figure 4.24 Breadth-over-thickness ratios of bifaces recorded...
Social and mobility implications of raw material distributions
The most valuable aspect of raw material procurement studies is the insight they provide into patterns of mobility of Neanderthal groups and on their possible social or territorial relationships with other groups. Problems in this context should not be minimized, however. We still have extremely limited information on seasonal occupation in different sites and in the absence of this evidence any speculation on annual movement must remain very tentative. However, a number of patterns which...
Levallois techniques
Levallois techniques have been recognized as one of the most distinctive hallmarks of Middle Palaeolithic technology since the original definition of the Mousterian by Gabriel de Mortillet in the late nineteenth century de Mortillet 1883 240, 255 see also Commont 1909 122 . The central and diagnostic feature of these techniques has always been seen as the attempt to control or predetermine the overall shape and size of the intended flakes by means of careful preparation of one face of the...
Lineal Levallois techniques
In terms of Bo da's definition lineal Levallois techniques are strategies designed essentially for production of only a single major flake removal from the prepared core surface. In this sense the definition coincides with the classic definition of Levallois flakes presented in most of the earlier textbooks Fig. 3.3 . In Bo da's research, these techniques were best represented at the site of Bagarre Pas-de-Calais in northern France which appears to date from a stage of the penultimate...
Industrial Taxonomy and Chronology
The challenge of documenting, analysing and ultimately explaining the bewildering array of technical and typological variation within the Middle Palaeolithic industries of Western Europe has largely dominated research for the past 40 years. The endless debates which have arisen over the interpretation of this variation will be discussed in Chapter 10. It may be useful to focus here on the more pragmatic issues of the overall scale and character of this patterning and to review some of the...
Classical Levallois blade technology
The fact that certain forms of essentially typical Levallois cores were intended for the production of elongated, blade-like flakes has been recognized sporadically in the literature throughout the present century e.g. Commont 1909, 1913 Breuil amp Kozlowski 1932 Bordes 1961a 72 . The distinctively Levallois aspect of these cores lies in the deliberate preparation of a continuous striking platform extending around the circumference of the core, from which a series of initial, preparatory flakes...
Recurrent techniques
The definition of 'recurrent' Levallois techniques in Bo da's terms lies in the clear intention, from the initial stages of core preparation, to produce not one but a repeated succession of flakes of predetermined shape and size from the same, carefully prepared upper face of the core Bo da 1988a e.g. Fig. 3.9 . In this sense they are more economical in terms of flaking effort than the lineal techniques described above, requiring much less systematic reshaping or modification of the core...
Backed knives
Typical backed knives provide a fourth distinctive category of retouched tool forms in the Middle Palaeolithic. The basic technological features are clear cut first, one sharp, regular and normally unretouched edge running along one lateral margin and second, the presence of steep, abrupt retouch applied to much of the opposite edge Fig. 4.19 . The general functional orientation of the tools seems equally clear the unretouched, sharp edge of the flake is generally assumed to represent a knife...