Implications of Recycled Bifaces and Shifting Hunting Strategies at Le Moustier by Neandertals

MTA-B or not to be? Recycled bifaces and shifting hunting strategies at Le Moustier and their implication for the late Middle Palaeolithic in southwestern France

Authors:

Gravina et al

Abstract:

Explaining late Middle Palaeolithic industrial variability remains a topic of great interest for researchers focusing on aspects of Neanderthal behavioural complexity and the so-called Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic ‘transition.’ Several sites in southwestern France figure prominently in these discussions, including the eponymous site of Le Moustier (Dordogne, France), one of the ‘key’ sequences used in larger anthropological models. Here we present a re-assessment of this important site based on a technological and taphonomic re-evaluation of previously studied collections combined with an analysis of unpublished archaeological material, which includes both lithic and faunal components. Our study produces a very different interpretation of the 'classic' Le Moustier sequence, challenging previous cultural attributions in a way that significantly impacts current debates surrounding the proposed Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition (MTA) – Châtelperronian affiliation. This new interpretation highlights independent changes in lithic technology and subsistence strategies that were previously undetected as well as a novel aspect of Neanderthal raw material use. Finally, we discuss how this new vision has important ramifications for broader issues connected to the definition of late Mousterian techno-complexes, such as the MTA, and the identification of relationships between technology, subsistence, and mobility strategies.

Acheulean Style Stone Tools From Pleistocene Quaternary China

Middle Pleistocene hominin occupation in the Danjiangkou Reservoir Region, Central China: studies of formation processes and stone technology of Maling 2A site

Authors:

Pei et al

Abstract:

Danjiangkou Reservoir Region (DRR) is one of the areas where Acheulean-like stone technology (Mode 2) was reported in central and south China. It is located at the end of the upper reaches of the Hanshui River (the largest tributary of the Yangtze River). Systematic field investigations documented more than ninety Paleolithic sites along the fluvial terraces of the Hanshui and Danjiang Rivers (the latter a tributary of the upper reach of the Hanshui River). Subsequent excavations at more than 30 sites led to the discovery of a large number of Paleolithic stone artifacts in the past decade, showing that early hominins lived in the region at least by the early part of the Middle Pleistocene. However, little is known from the archaeological record about the context of the sites and their formation processes, the technological characteristics of the stone artifact assemblages, and whether they truly belong to Mode 2 technology or just to core and flake technology, and the overall hominin behavioral patterns and adaptation during the Middle to Late Pleistocene.

Maling locality 2A (ML2A) is buried in the front edge of the third alluvial terrace of the Danjiang River. Archaeological excavations, undertaken at the site in 2011, recovered 1026 stone artifacts from a red clay deposit. Preliminary OSL dating and geomorphological comparisons between the terraces in the Hanshui River system suggest that the site is dated to the late Middle Pleistocene. Patterns of artifact concentration suggest that the site was buried in secondary context where the stone artifacts were transported by water from a relatively higher location nearby. The artifacts, primarily made on quartzite and quartz cobbles, include cores, whole flakes, various fragments, retouched pieces, two bifaces and a hammerstone. All flaking is by direct hard hammer without core preparation. The majority of flakes in the early stages of core reduction indicate that the cores are not extensively reduced. Choppers are the predominant core category, together with discoids, polyhedrons, and core scrapers. It should be noted that two bifacially flaked cobbles can classed as mode 2 implements. Eleven retouched pieces are recognized, and they were casually modified by direct hammer percussion. Although only two bifaces were excavated from this site, many more are recorded in the larger study area. The ML2A artifact assemblage may be considered as a Chinese variant of an Acheulean-like (Mode 2) industry. It can be deduced that Homo erectus was likely the responsible for manufacturing the stone artifacts.

Acheulean Stone Tools Recovered From Pleistocene Quaternary China

The Middle Pleistocene handaxe site of Shuangshu in the Danjiangkou Reservoir Region, central China

Authors:

Li et al

Abstract:

The presence of Acheulean tool types (e.g. handaxes and cleavers) in East Asia has recently attracted considerable attention. They challenge the long lasting concept that the Early Palaeolithic in East Asia is characterized only by Mode 1 technology, and they reflect the diversity and complexity of Palaeolithic culture during hundreds of thousands of years. In this paper, we present a detailed technological analysis of the in situ artifact assemblage at the Shuangshu site (Danjiangkou Reservoir Region, central China), as well as intra- and inter-regional comparisons of some characteristic traits used to test the difference between handaxes in the East and the West. The results show that there are two reduction sequences taking place. One is expressed in the predominant use of quartz in the production the small-to-medium sized artifacts, which is an expedient technology that dominates the whole assemblage, and the other is represented by the predominant use of quartz phyllite and trachyte in the production of Large Cutting Tools (LCTs). The latter displays the technical criteria characteristic of Acheulean technology, although its origins are much debated. In addition, the number of LCTs and total artifacts is generally low for the size of the excavation area, which probably is a result of relatively small population size and the high mobility of hominids. The thickness of handaxes has been shown not to be a reliable variable in demonstrating the difference between the East and the West.