Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East: A Guide surveys the lithic record for the East Mediterranean Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan, and adjacent territories) from the ...earliest times to 6,500 years ago. It is intended both as an introduction to this lithic evidence for students and as a resource for researchers working with Paleolithic and Neolithic stone tool evidence. Written by a lithic analyst and professional flintknapper, this book systematically examines variation in technology, typology, and industries for the Lower, Middle, and Upper Paleolithic; the Epipaleolithic; and Neolithic periods in the Near East. It is extensively illustrated with drawings of stone tools. In addition to surveying the lithic evidence, the book also considers ways in which archaeological treatment of this evidence could be changed to make it more relevant to major issues in human origins research. A final chapter shows how change in stone tool designs points to increasing human dependence on stone tools across the long sweep of Stone Age prehistory.
The Neanderthal legacy Mellars, Paul A; Mellars, Paul A
1995., 19951222, 1995, 1996, 1996-01-01
eBook
The Neanderthals populated western Europe from nearly 250,000 to 30,000 years ago when they disappeared from the archaeological record. In turn, populations of anatomically modern humans, Homo ...sapiens, came to dominate the area. Seeking to understand the nature of this replacement, which has become a hotly debated issue, Paul Mellars brings together an unprecedented amount of information on the behavior of Neanderthals. His comprehensive overview ranges from the evidence of tool manufacture and related patterns of lithic technology, through the issues of subsistence and settlement patterns, to the more controversial evidence for social organization, cognition, and intelligence. Mellars argues that previous attempts to characterize Neanderthal behavior as either "modern" or "ape-like" are both overstatements. We can better comprehend the replacement of Neanderthals, he maintains, by concentrating on the social and demographic structure of Neanderthal populations and on their specific adaptations to the harsh ecological conditions of the last glaciation.
Mellars's approach to these issues is grounded firmly in his archaeological evidence. He illustrates the implications of these findings by drawing from the methods of comparative socioecology, primate studies, and Pleistocene paleoecology. The book provides a detailed review of the climatic and environmental background to Neanderthal occupation in Europe, and of the currently topical issues of the behavioral and biological transition from Neanderthal to fully "modern" populations.
The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere is a
reclaimed history of the deep past of Indigenous people in North
and South America during the Paleolithic. Paulette F. C. Steeves
mines ...evidence from archaeology sites and Paleolithic environments,
landscapes, and mammalian and human migrations to make the case
that people have been in the Western Hemisphere not only just prior
to Clovis sites (10,200 years ago) but for more than 60,000 years,
and likely more than 100,000 years. Steeves discusses the political
history of American anthropology to focus on why pre-Clovis sites
have been dismissed by the field for nearly a century. She explores
supporting evidence from genetics and linguistic anthropology
regarding First Peoples and time frames of early migrations.
Additionally, she highlights the work and struggles faced by a
small yet vibrant group of American and European archaeologists who
have excavated and reported on numerous pre-Clovis archaeology
sites. In this first book on Paleolithic archaeology of the
Americas written from an Indigenous perspective, The Indigenous
Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere includes Indigenous oral
traditions, archaeological evidence, and a critical and
decolonizing discussion of the development of archaeology in the
Americas.
Over the past decade, evidence has been mounting that our ancestors developed skills to sail across large bodies of water early in prehistory. In this fascinating volume, Alan Simmons summarizes and ...synthesizes the evidence for prehistoric seafaring and island habitation worldwide, then focuses on the Mediterranean. Recent work in Melos, Crete, and elsewhere-- as well as Simmons' own work in Cyprus-- demonstrate that long-distance sailing is a common Paleolithic phenomenon. His comprehensive presentation of the key evidence and findings will be of interest to both those interested in prehistory and those interested in ancient seafaring.
This book examines the first human colonization of Asia and particularly the tropical environments of Southeast Asia during the Upper Pleistocene. In studying the unique character of the Asian ...archaeological record, it reassesses long-accepted propositions about the development of human 'modernity.' Ryan J. Rabett reveals an evolutionary relationship between colonization, the challenges encountered during this process – especially in relation to climatic and environmental change – and the forms of behaviour that emerged. This book argues that human modernity is not something achieved in the remote past in one part of the world, but rather is a diverse, flexible, responsive and ongoing process of adaptation.
In Dhofar, the southern Governorate of the Sultanate of Oman, the deep canyons cutting the Nejd plateau once flowed with perennial rivers, feeding wetland environments, forests, and grasslands across ...the now desiccated interior. The first peoples of Oman flourished along these waterways, drawn to the freshwater springs and abundant game, as well as the myriad chert outcrops with which to fashion their hunting implements and other tools. The landscapes of the Nejd Plateau are a natural museum of human prehistory, covered in carpets of chipped stone debris. The archaeological evidence presented in this work encompasses the cultural remains of over a million years of successive human occupations, from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Late Palaeolithic. Once considered an evolutionary backwater or merely a migratory way station, the archaeology of Dhofar requires a fundamental reconsideration of the role of Southern Arabia in the origin and dispersal of our species.
This book is the first complete synthesis of research undertaken so far on the Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of the Caucasus. It discusses the cultural changes that took place across Upper ...Palaeolithic industries and in the subsistence strategies of modern humans across the entire duration of this period, from approximately 40,000 to 10,000 years ago, in the context of the environmental changes that affected the population in this region. The book views the Upper Palaeolithic of the Caucasus in comparison to various other cultural entities from this period that are known in the extensive surrounding cultural landscape of Western Eurasia.
Man and Bird in the Palaeolithic of Western Europe
considers the nature of the interaction between birds and
hunter-gatherers. It examines aspects of avian behaviour and the
qualities that could be ...(and were) targeted at different periods by
hunter-gatherers, who recognised the utility of the diversity of
avian groups in various applications of daily life and thought. It
is clear from the records of excavated sites in western Europe that
during the evolution of both the Neanderthal period and the
subsequent occupations of Homo sapiens, avian demographics
fluctuated with the climate along with other aspects of both flora
and fauna. Each was required to adapt to these changes. The present
study considers these changes through the interactions of man and
bird as evidenced in the remains attached to Middle and Upper
Palaeolithic occupation sites in western Europe and touches on a
variety of prey/predator relationships across other groups of plant
and animal species. The book describes a range of procurement
strategies that are known from the literature and artistic record
of later cultures to have been used in the trapping, enticement and
hunting of birds for consumption and the manufacture of weapons,
domestic items, clothing, ceremony and cultural activities. It also
explores how bird images and depictions engraved or painted on the
walls of caves or on the objects of daily use during the Upper
Palaeolithic may be perceived as communications of a more profound
significance for the temporal, seasonal or social life of the
members of the group than the simple concept of animal. Certain
bird species have at different times held a special significance in
the everyday consciousness of particular peoples and a group of
Late Glacial, Magdalenian settlements in Aquitaine, France, appear
to be an example of such specialised culling. A case study of the
treatment of snowy owl at Arancou in the Atlantic Pyrenees seems to
illustrate such a specialisation. Discussion of the problems of
reconciling dating and research methods, of the last two hundred
years of Palaeolithic research, and of possible directions for
future research offer an open conclusion to the work.
