► A variability in lateralization morphology of microburins is recorded in the Early Mesolithic of the italian Alps. ► We infer handedness from the shape of these artefacts. ► Prevalence of ...right-handedness has been observed only in an earlier phase of the period. ► In middle and later phases the indirect indicators are essentially equal frequencies of left and right-handedness. ► Economic tasks, actors and social activities are considered for explaining this evidence.
This study discusses the existence of a variability recorded in lateralization indexes of proximal microburins, a by-product of the individual manufacture of microliths, in a sample of Sauveterrian sites from the Italian Eastern Alps. At first glance, such variability may appear to support the existence of customary handling, pertaining perhaps to an ensemble of normalized technical procedures accomplished by the members of the human group regardless of site type, context and economic activities. However, plotting the patterns in lateralization index against the regional Sauveterrian chrono-cultural sequence reveals a diverse correlation emerges and indicates how the early settlement phase involved greater functional differentiation among sites used by selected human groups compared with the successive phases, when this pattern vanishes. This trend may correspond to the decrease in lateralization observed on skeletal markers from the Upper Paleolithic to the Mesolithic, linked to the change in technological models and techniques employed in food gathering. The implications of this research at different levels are also discussed.
In Northern Europe, the Holocene is characterized by climatic and environmental variations. A central question is how hunter-gatherer in different regions coped with these changes. In this article, ...we explore the temporal co-variance between environmental change and transitions in lithic technology during the Mesolithic of southeastern Norway. The empirical starting point comprises technological analysis of lithic assemblages from sites dated between 11 500 and 6000 cal. BP. We focus on two transitions identified in the lithic assemblages: 1) the introduction of the conical core pressure blade technology and ground macro tool technology, c. 10 300–10 100 cal. BP, and 2) the introduction of microblade production on handle cores and changes in the macro tool assemblage, c. 7700-7500 cal. BP. The main objective is to investigate the factors influencing transitions in material culture, and contribute to the discussion of the complexity and diversity of human-environment interactions during the Mesolithic of Northern Europe. The results from this study contribute to an increasing knowledge on the diversity and complexity of hunter-gatherers relation with environmental and climatic variation, and add more insight to the vital question of how we can understand culture change among past populations.
•Relation between lithic technological transitions and environmental change.•Intra-regional environmental change is not detected in archaeological data at local scale.•The complexity and diversity of human-environment interactions is demonstrated.
Detailed knowledge about the interactions between vegetation, climate and land use during the Mesolithic and Neolithic, at the transition from foraging to farming, is still scarce in the Balkans. ...Here we present a palaeoecological study combining pollen, spores and charcoal found in sedimentary cores from Lake Ohrid, Ploča Mičov Grad, North Macedonia, with a particular focus on the vegetation dynamics during the Late Glacial-Holocene and the Mesolithic-Neolithic transitions. Our record begins at ca. 13,500 cal
bp
(11,550 cal
bc
) when partially open vegetation, consisting mainly of
Pinus
,
Abies
and deciduous
Quercus
tree stands grew on the hilly flanks of the bay of Ploča. From 12,650 cal
bp
(cal 10,700
bc
), herbs dominated the record until the onset of the Holocene (ca. 11,700 cal
bp
; 9750 cal
bc
), when increasing temperatures led to the establishment of pine-deciduous oak forests including
Alnus
,
Fraxinus ornus
,
Tilia
,
Ulmus
and
Abies
. These forests persisted until 7,500 cal
bp
(cal 5550
bc
), when deforestation started due to Neolithic land use. This first phase of Neolithic activities in the Ploča Mičov Grad area precedes the earliest archaeological structures so far recorded by almost 1,000 years. Our data suggest two phases of human land use between 7,500 and 6,300 cal
bp
(5550–4350 cal
bc
), when high values of Cerealia type pollen and other cultural indicators indicate intense arable and pastoral farming activities. Once human activities decreased, forests were able to re-establish quickly (within 100–250 years), although the composition changed with disturbance-adapted
Ostrya
type (mostly
Ostrya carpinifolia
) and
Fagus
becoming more important. We conclude that forests were resilient to early human disturbance, despite intensive land use and logging activities gradually leading to forest composition changes. Many of these composition changes can still be seen today, suggesting the legacy of Neolithic farmers is still present in today’s landscape.
En este trabajo presentamos los materiales recuperados en la excavación del abrigo de la Font d’Horta (Vilafranca, Castelló). Las características de estos materiales, entre las que destacan las ...armaduras geométricas (entre ellas un segmento de doble bisel) y la datación obtenida sobre hueso, nos remiten a los momentos de transición entre las últimas poblaciones cazadoras y recolectoras y la llegada de las primeras comunidades neolíticas. La valoración de los datos en el contexto de la zona del Maestrat/Maestrazgo y sus vínculos con el litoral mediterráneo y el valle del Ebro nos permiten discutir su posible vinculación con unas u otras poblaciones, concluyendo que nos encontramos ante una ocupación de las últimas poblaciones mesolíticas de este territorio.
This paper presents new 500 year interval palaeogeographic models for Britain, Ireland and the North West French coast from 11000 cal. BP to present. These models are used to calculate the varying ...rates of inundation for different geographical zones over the study period. This allows for consideration of the differential impact that Holocene sea-level rise had across space and time, and on past societies. In turn, consideration of the limitations of the models helps to foreground profitable areas for future research.
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•New Palaeogeographic models of North West Europe from 11,000 BP to present day at 500 year intervals.•Calculated rates for Holocene inundation across North West Europe.•High rates of change do not necessarily mean catastrophic impacts.•Understanding rates of change and their social implications requires a multi-scalar, multidisciplinary approach to the past.
About 70 years ago, C. S. Coon reported the sudden presence of domesticated animal species following a gap between the Mesolithic/Epi-Paleolithic and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN), based on data ...from excavations of the Hotu and Kamarband (Belt) Caves in the southeastern littoral of the Caspian Sea. Then, the first scientific step towards Neolithization studies in the region was taken by proposing a hypothesis that emphasized the import of Neolithic culture and domestication packages from the eastern wing of the Fertile Crescent, within the framework of diffusion theory. More recently, another hypothesis has been proposed that Neolithization in eastern Mazandaran is due to endogenous factors. These hypotheses were proposed despite serious weaknesses in both field studies and analyses. Lack of reliable evidence of domesticated species, inconsistency of paleo-climatology chronologies and data with archaeological periods, lack of subsistence and settlement data, problems of Mesolithic/Epi-Paleolithic to Neolithic chronology, and weaknesses in processing and analyses of archaeological data, are some of the problems in Neolithization studies in the region. The present paper intends to provide a proper analysis of the Neolithization studies in this region, and proposes the theory of low-level food production as a key component.
Considerable confusion and uncertainty persist on the cultural and chronological contexts of Holocene microlithic assemblages reported from South Asia. The paucity of securely dated sites with ...microlithic remains has compounded the confusion. Evidence from sites securely attributed to the Mesolithic based on a holistic approach (including direct evidence of plant and animal exploitation strategies) is needed to provide a better understanding of Mesolithic lithic tool-kits. This study uses morphometric and statistical methods to assess the nature of the Holocene hunter-gatherer microlithic tools-kit from a radiometrically secured chronological context at Vaharvo Timbo, a recently excavated Mesolithic site in North Gujarat (India). The assemblage is further compared with the nearby contemporary site of Loteshwar to highlight similarities and differences within hunter-gatherer lithic assemblages, understanding which can provide detailed information about subsistence strategies as well as patterns of settlement and mobility. The results show general standardisation between these two sites regarding raw materials and manufacturing technique but variation in the relative abundance of tool types between these two sites, despite their close proximity, indicating diverse strategies of resource exploitation by the Holocene hunter-gatherer groups in western India.
The shore displacement and palaeogeography of the Pärnu Bay area, eastern Baltic Sea, during the Stone Age, were reconstructed using sedimentological and archaeological proxies and GIS-based ...landscape modelling. We discovered and studied buried palaeochannel sediments on the coastal lowland and in the shallow offshore of the Pärnu Bay and interpreted these data together with previously published shore displacement evidence. The reconstructed relative shore-level (RSL) curve is based on 78 radiocarbon dates from sediment sequences and archaeological sites in the Pärnu Bay area and reported here using the HOLSEA sea-level database format. The new RSL curve displays regressive water levels at −5.5 and −4 m a.s.l. before the Ancylus Lake and Litorina Sea transgressions, respectively. According to the curve, the total water-level rise during the Ancylus Lake transgression (10.7–10.2 cal. ka BP) was around 18 m, with the average rate of rise about 35 mm per annum, while during the Litorina Sea transgression (8.5–7.3 cal. ka BP), the water level rose around 14 m, with average rate of 12 mm per annum. During the short period around 7.8–7.6 cal. ka BP, the RSL rose in Pärnu, but probably also in Samsø (Denmark), Blekinge (Sweden) and Narva-Luga (NE Estonia–NW Russia), faster than the concurrent eustatic sea level calculated from the far-field sites. The palaeogeographic reconstructions show the settlement patterns of the coastal landscape since the Mesolithic and provide new perspective for looking Mesolithic hunter-fisher-gatherer settlement sites on the banks of the submerged ca. 9000 years old river channel in the bottom of the present-day Pärnu Bay.
Les macro-outils sont très peu décrits pour les industries lithiques mésolithiques du territoire français, malgré leur omniprésence dans les habitats. L’habitat côtier de Beg-er-Vil (Quiberon, ...Morbihan) fouillé entre 2012 et 2018 est une référence particulièrement cohérente d’un point de vue chronologique et stratigraphique pour le septième millénaire avant notre ère. Elle autorise une relecture des autres assemblages lithiques du Mésolithique atlantique, mais également des comparaisons avec les macro-outils du Néolithique récemment étudiés dans la région. Pour un total de 947 objets massifs inventoriés, émerge une série de 130 outils, dont les traces visibles à l’oeil nu ne font aucun doute et 23 outils hypothétiques nécessitant des analyses plus approfondies pour déterminer s’il s’agit de traces d’usage ou non. Neuf types d’outils ont été dégagés, hors fragments, tous divisés en un ou plusieurs sous-types. Le macro-outillage de Beg-er-Vil est très largement dominé par les percuteurs, engagés à l’évidence dans des débitages de matières minérales, mais aussi peut-être dans un concassage de matières dures animales. Suivent en nombre les galets utilisés en pièces intermédiaires très fortement percutées dans un axe longitudinal. Cet article amène à s’interroger sur l’indigence des outils massifs dans le Mésolithique de l’ouest de la France, alors que les ressources minérales adéquates sont particulièrement abondantes sur les estrans. On ne peut plus guère se réfugier derrière de possibles basculement fonctionnels vers d’autres matériaux, puisque les matières animales, bois, os ou coquilles, ne prennent pas le relai, sinon pour fournir des pioches en bois de cerf (à Téviec et Hoedic). Une large comparaison est effectuée avec d’autres zones d’Europe atlantique, à l’évidence mieux pourvues. Les enseignements en termes d’identité technique comme en termes fonctionnels peuvent en être tirés.
Ground stone tools are rarely described for the mesolithic lithic industries of the French territory, despite their omnipresence in the dwellings. Yet elsewhere in Atlantic Europe, pebble tools sometimes play a major role in defining cultural entities, in Scotland with the Obanian, in northern Spain with the Asturian and in Portugal with the Mirian.
This obvious lack of interest in mesolithic macro-tools deprives us of crucial information on technical phylums that are evolving at a different rate from other techniques. What are the standards and practices of use of these tools compared to other material culture ranges? How have they been disseminated in the landscapes through individual or collective mobility practices? What "stylistic territories" do they help us to draw? How can we think of their very slow morphological evolution over time in relation to other tools? Macro-tools thus hold a particular potential for action on matter, different from other tools; discussing their uses or, unlike their non-use, thinking about human engagement with the physical world and seeking a key to understanding their being in the world.
The coastal habitat of Beg-er-Vil (Quiberon, Morbihan) excavated between 2012 and 2018 is a particularly coherent reference from a chronological and stratigraphic point of view for the seventh millennium BC. It allows a re-reading of other lithic assemblages of the Atlantic Mesolithic, but also comparisons with the Neolithic ground stone tools recently studied in the region. This coastal position has at least four implications for the availability and use of these tools: 1/ abundance of raw materials on the foreshores, 2/ exploitation of two very different ecosystems (maritime and continental), 3/ very diversified domestic activities on the habitat, 4/ need for tools to dig pits. The distribution of tools on site and the study of structures do not make it possible to highlight specific areas of activity within the habitat.
For a total of 947 massive objects inventoried, a series of 130 tools emerged, whose traces visible to the naked eye are beyond doubt and 23 hypothetical tools requiring further analysis to determine whether they have use-wear or not. There are also 470 fragments of pebbles used. The classification of the ground stone tools was based on specific criteria, the first being the type of traces visible on the surfaces, voluntary or involuntary removal, and finally the fragmentation processes in use. Nine types of tools were identified, excluding fragments, all divided into one or more subtypes. The hammers obviously dominate (64%). The intermediate elements are 8% of the entire tools, to which 54 fragments must be added and probably many longitudinally fragment. In all these cases, it should be noted that the stigma of use is relatively undeveloped when compared with equivalent Neolithic tools. There are only four tools more involved than the others: a circular hammer (type A5), two chopping-tools (D2) and a peak (D3). Concerning the types of rocks used, two of them differ considerably from the corpus, quartz for mainly active tools, as well as granite for the largest objects, whether passive or not.
This article raises questions about the paucity of ground stone tools in the Mesolithic period in western France, while suitable mineral resources are particularly abundant on foreshores. The lithic assemblages of the Early Mesolithic show a slightly broader register than those of the Late Mesolithic, all things considered. Finally, a broad comparison is made with other areas of Atlantic Europe (France, Spain, Portugal, Scotland), which are obviously better equipped. The paucity of mesolithic macro-tools in Atlantic France reflects a general organization of technical systems that do not use massive tools to interact with the rest of the physical world. It is no longer possible to take refuge behind possible functional shifts to other materials, since animal materials, antlers, bones or shells, do not take over, except to provide deer antler picks (in Téviec and Hoedic).
This first classification approach was intended to put a spotlight on a part of the mesolithic technical system that is usually left in the shadows. Our approach was intended to be functional, lato sensu, i.e. the representation of this range of tools can only be judged by integrating all the activities and functions that can be detected in the habitat, by examining combustion structures, cut tools, or organic remains. It is obvious that experimentation is now essential to determine the functions of these tools on central mass, which are not very well transformed.
Examining the technical transfers from generation to generation is difficult for the period preceding the Mesolithic. Indeed, there is still very little to say about the Upper and Late Paleolithic of Western France, especially since its maritime declination is currently inaccessible. With regard to the transformations during the Holocene, we thought we saw a possible regression of typological diversity during the Mesolithic period in Atlantic France, but we must remain very cautious due to the lack of sufficient lithic assemblages. It will be much less so if we talk about the real break with the Neolithic from the beginning, whether in the West or more generally in the North of France. New functions and much less collective mobility explain this major contrast in the use of macro-tools, but this break must also be placed in an ontological register.
The paucity of mesolithic macro-tools in Atlantic France reflects a general organization of technical systems that do not use massive tools to interact with the rest of the physical world. This absence is a cultural choice; it also reflects a discreet, obviously resilient human imprint, a way of being in the world that shapes subsequent practices.
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