Search results for "Knapping"
showing 6 items of 6 documents
Archaeology and ichnology at Gombore II-2, Melka Kunture, Ethiopia: everyday life of a mixed age hominin group 700,000 years ago
2018
AbstractWe report the occurrence at 0.7 million years (Ma) of an ichnological assemblage at Gombore II-2, which is one of several archaeological sites at Melka Kunture in the upper Awash Valley of Ethiopia, 2000 m asl. Adults and children potentially as young as 12 months old left tracks in a silty substrate on the shore of a body of water where ungulates, as well as other mammals and birds, congregated. Furthermore, the same layers contain a rich archaeological and palaeontological record, confirming that knapping was taking place in situ and that stone tools were used for butchering hippo carcasses at the site. The site gives direct information on hominin landscape use at 0.7 Ma and may p…
Not only flint: Levallois on quartzite and limestone at Abrigo de la Quebrada (Valencia, Spain): Implications for neandertal Behavior
2016
This paper investigates the application of the Levallois technique to the knapping of nonflint raw materials (limestone and quartzite) in the upper levels of the Abrigo de la Quebrada rockshelter (Chelva, Valencia, Spain). Besides highlighting the significant flexibility that characterized Neandertal behavior, such an application is of singular interest because goodquality flint—lacking fissures and impurities and presenting a compact and homogeneous texture—is abundant in the site’s immediate vicinity. In other assemblages, the scarcity or poor quality of flint often suffices to explain the recourse to alternatives, but in these Quebrada levels raw material choice must be primarily determi…
Pressure-Knapping Blade Production in the North-Western Mediterranean Region During the Seventh Millennium cal B.C.
2012
A review of selected Mesolithic blade and trapeze complex series in the north-western Mediterranean reinforces the hypothesis of a common use of pressure techniques for bladelet production during the seventh millennium cal B.C. This paper deals with the specificity and variability of these techniques and the consistency of the blade production methods. Mesolithic pressure technique seems to have been quickly diffused within the western Mediterranean basin, earlier than the spread of Early Neolithic communities in the same area. It then proceeded from a regional development, distinct from the Mesopotamian and Anatolian cores.
Diachronic variation in the Middle Paleolithic settlement of Abrigo de la Quebrada (Chelva, Spain)
2017
Abstract This paper compares levels IV and VIII of Abrigo de la Quebrada. The study includes knapping technique, raw material, fauna, and the spatial distribution of lithic and bone remains. Although both levels correspond to cumulative palimpsests, patterns of resource management and use of space that suggest changes in the rhythm of occupation and the functionality of the settlements can be discerned. A change in mobility patterns probably underpins the differences between these two levels of Quebrada, but assessing this hypothesis is made difficult by the lack of comparable documentation for other sites in the region.
The reinterpretation of Cova Negra archaeological and stratigraphical sequence and its implications in the knowledge of the Middle Palaeolithic Iberi…
2020
This paper presents new data from the reinterpretation of the Cova Negra sequence from a chronological and stratigraphic perspective. The primary aim is to reorder the lithic industry from the excavations of the 1950s in light of the stratigraphic sequence, paying particular attention to raw materials, knapping methods and tools. The reconstruction, carried out from a taphonomic perspective, is specified in sectors B, C and F, and the archaeological levels and the included material are adjusted to the stratigraphic levels. Although the number of remains involved in the proposed chronology is reduced in relation to previous work, it is an arrangement that relies on a more precise chronostrat…
Using mechanical experiments to study ground stone tool use: Exploring the formation of percussive and grinding wear traces on limestone tools
2021
Ground Stone Tools (GST) have been identified in several Levantine archaeological sites dating to the Middle Paleolithic. These tools, frequently made of limestone, are often interpreted based on their morphology and damage as having been used for knapping flint, and sometimes for breaking animal bones or processing vegetal materials as well. However, the lack of experimental referential collections on limestone is a major obstacle for the identification of diagnostic traces on these types of tools and raw material. In this sense, the understanding of the specific function of these GST and the association between tool types and activity often remains unknown or merely speculative. Recent di…