Search

The ability of early hominins to overcome the constraints imposed by the characteristics of raw materials used for stone tool production is a key topic on the discussion about the evolution of hominin cognitive capabilities and technical behaviours. Thus, technological variability has been the centrepiece on this debate. However, the variability of lithic assemblages cannot be correctly interpreted without understanding site occupational models and function and considering that individual tools represent specific discard moments in a continuous reduction process. In Europe, the earliest technological record is represented by the scarce and scattered Mode 1 technologies, often deriving from occasional occupations or restricted activity areas yielding unrepresentative assemblages. In this paper, we approach the technological behaviours exhibited by Lower Palaeolithic hominins from the subunit TD6.2 of the Gran Dolina site (Atapuerca, Burgos) by including the perspective of reduction intensity studies on the analysis of technological variability. Gran Dolina TD6.2 is a unique and extremely significant archaeological context, as it represents the oldest multi-layered unit of domestic hominin occupations in the Early Pleistocene of Europe. We use the Volumetric Reconstruction Method (VRM) to estimate the original volume of the blanks and quantify the reduction intensity of each core individually to characterise the reduction distribution patterns using Weibull probability distribution functions. Our results suggest differential raw material management in terms of reduction intensity, according to the characteristics of each lithology. This could reflect a solid understanding of raw material qualities and a certain degree of planning. Altogether, the continuity between knapping strategies through reduction denotes constant adaptation to raw material constraints as well as particular knapping conditions, rather than specific compartmentalised mental schemes. In conclusion, Homo antecessor toolmakers would have been situational knappers whose technological behaviour would be highly adaptive. This research constitutes the first reduction approach for the European Early Pleistocene assemblages that will lead to a referential framework for other European Early Pleistocene sites. Open access funding provided by Universitat Rovira i Virgili. This work has been carried out with the financial support of the Generalitat de Catalunya, AGAUR agency (2017SGR1040 Research Group), the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (2021PFR-URV-126), and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICINN/FEDER project PGC2018-093925-B-C32). The Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA) has received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the “María de Maeztu” programme for Units of Excellence (CEX2019-000945-M). JRR is a beneficiary of a Margarita Salas postdoctoral fellowship (MARSALAS21-22) funded by the European Union-Next Generation EU, the Spanish Ministry of Universities, and the University of Alicante. The research of J.I.M. was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the “María de Maeztu” excellence accreditation (CEX2019-000945-M).

The intensity of reduction on lithic assemblages has implications in the understanding of hominin behaviors such as mobility patterns, type and intensity of occupations, raw material management and cognitive abilities, as well as in the formation of lithic assemblages. In the last decades, numerous methodological proposals have been developed aimed at estimating the reduction intensity in retouched tools and cores. Regarding the analysis of the reduction in cores, several studies have focused on technical parameters, in many cases without considering the different reduction strategies used. In this paper, we present the results of a sequential experimental program aimed at evaluating the effect of two different reduction strategies (unifacial unipolar and bifacial multipolar centripetal), as well as the size of the original nodules, in the estimation of the intensity of reduction on cores. Our results show that both, the core reduction strategies and the size of the nodules, affect the estimation of reduction intensity. Therefore, we pose the necessity of considering a series of aspects, such as the perimetric development and faciality of the exploitation, as well as the size of nodules, to more accurately infer the intensity of reduction in cores.

Understanding the evolution of technological complexity is a major goal in the study of prehistoric lithic industries. This has led to the development of different methods to examine both archaeological items and their production processes. These methods have attempted to segment the actions that form an operational sequence, usually with the aim of quantifying the complexity involved in lithic knapping. However, to date, no study has been capable of cataloguing these actions to the point of characterizing the elements that comprise them. In this work, we propose an approach to identify the smallest unit of any knapping action: the manual gesture. Our goal is to provide a homogeneous language allowing the characterization and quantification of 1) the variability between lithic industries, and 2) the evolution of technological complexity, from both synchronic and diachronic view. As a proof-of-concept, we designed a pilot experiment to characterize the manual gestures involved in making choppers, chopping-tools and handaxes. Our results confirm the reliability of this approach. In addition, it points to the existence of a gestural primordial core that lasted throughout the Oldowan and the Acheulean –as knapping sequences increased in complexity- and the potential to identify some specific traits of the individual knappers

Knowing to what extent lithic cores have been reduced through knapping is an important step toward understanding the technological variability of lithic assemblages and disentangling the formation processes of archaeological assemblages. In addition, it is a good complement to more developed studies of reduction intensity in retouched tools, and can provide information on raw material management or site occupation dynamics. This paper presents a new methodology for estimating the intensity of reduction in cores and tools on cobbles, the Volumetric Reconstruction Method (VRM). This method is based on a correction of the dimensions (length, width, and thickness) of each core from an assemblage. The mean values of thickness and platform thickness of the assemblage’s flakes are used as corrections for the cores’ original dimensions, after its diacritic analysis. Then, based on these new dimensions, the volume or mass of the original blank are reconstructed using the ellipsoid volume formula. The accuracy of this method was experimentally tested, reproducing a variety of possible archaeological scenarios. The experimental results demonstrate a high inferential potential of the VRM, both in estimating the original volume or mass of the original blanks, and in inferring the individual percentage of reduction for each core. The results of random resampling demonstrate the applicability of VRM to non size-biased archaeological contexts. Introduction Methods - The Volumetric Reconstruction Method - Experimental design - Statistical procedures - Resamples Results - Geometric formulas - Reduction strategy and size - Resampling (randomly biased record) - Resampling (size bias) - Measuring the effect of number of generations Discussion and conclusions

This paper details the fieldwork and multi-disciplinary studies carried out at the site Balma de la Vall (Montblanc, Tarragona). The first interventions, dating from the early 80’s, identified different occupational levels related to Final Upper Palaeolithic. From 2011 to 2013 research recommenced to re-define the archaeo-stratigraphic succession, obtain absolute dates, and characterize the occupational patterns generating the archaeological assemblages. The revised sequence comprises three archaeological levels, dated to the 15th millenium calibrated BP, and therefore associated to the Final Upper Magdalenian. The raw materials exploited, the assemblage composition and reduction sequences, define the occupational pattern as short duration or low intensity one. Balma de la Vall represents one of the first examples of human occupation of the Catalan Prelittoral Range., Este artículo presenta los trabajos realizados en el yacimiento de la Balma de la Vall (Montblanc, Tarragona). Las primeras excavaciones, a inicios de los 1980, identificaron distintos niveles de ocupación humana relacionados con el Paleolítico superior final. Entre los años 2011-2013 la excavación se reemprendió con los objetivos de definir la sucesión arqueo-estratigráfica, obtener dataciones absolutas, y caracterizar el tipo de ocupaciones que generaron los conjuntos arqueológicos. De esta forma, hemos identificado una secuencia que comprende tres niveles arqueológicos, con dataciones que los asocian al XV milenio cal BP, y por tanto al Magdaleniense superior final. Los análisis de las materias primas líticas empleadas, la composición de los conjuntos y las secuencias de reducción permiten definir las ocupaciones como cortas o de baja intensidad. La Balma de la Vall constituye así una de las primeras evidencias de ocupación humana de la Cordillera Prelitoral Catalana.

The relationship between lithic technology, learning and language is a topic of growing interest in human evolution studies, and has therefore been the subject of numerous scientific papers in recent years. To evaluate the role of language in the social transmission of lithic technology, we designed and developed an experimental protocol through which we compared the acquisition of knapping skills in thirty non-experts in the early stages of learning, by means of three mechanisms of social transmission: imitation-emulation, gestural communication, and verbal communication. All the apprentice knappers carried out the experimental task with blanks that were equal in shape and size, and were requested to replicate what the expert knapper was doing: the alternating method, a sufficiently simple, but systematic technique for detaching flakes from a core. We analysed each participant’s actions, including those of the master knapper, the final products (flakes and cores), and the knapping sequences, by analysing the refits. Our results show that the apprentices improved their knapping skills in teaching conditions -both gestural and verbal communication-, and specially through the latter. In conclusion, our study supports the hypothesis of co-evolution between lithic technology and social learning, which could have favoured the emergence of verbal language.

Over the last years, functional analyses and projectile fracture analyses on non-chert tools are becoming widespread and are drawing more attention in the archaeological literature. The actual tendencies of conducting holistic studies of the archaeological sites and their materials is allowing to obtain a better quality of data and a better understanding of the subsistence patterns of hunter-gatherer societies. In this way, rock crystal and other types of minerals and rocks of the quartzose group are getting a significant presence in the literature. In this paper, we intend to address a comprehensive approach, both macroscopic and microscopic, to an assemblage of experimental rock crystal projectiles to shed light on the identification of the diagnostic features of the use of small rock crystal pieces as projectile points. Aiming to avoid misidentifications, we did not only follow a sequential experiment design, but also carried out a comparative analysis between impact fractures and knapping fractures, marks from bipolar knapping on an anvil, and intentional bending fractures. Besides, in the elaboration of the experimental projectile assemblage we used different sets of targets to document possible differences in the quantity and disposition of the wear impact traces. This research is framed in the PGC2018-093925-B-C32 (MICINN-FEDER), the 2017SGR1040 and 2017SGR836 (AGAUR) and the 2018PFR-URV-B2-91 (URV) projects. Research at IPHES is framed in the CERCA program. J.L.F.M. is beneficiary of PhD research fellowship FPI MINECO/FSE (BES-2015-074931) associated with the MINECO project HAR2014-55131. D.L. is a beneficiary of PhD research fellowship AGAUR/FSE “L’ FSE inverteix en el teu futur” (2020 FI_B2 00164). R.H. is a beneficiary of a PhD research fellowship URV-Martí-Franquès Research Grant (2019PMF-PIPF-59). I.C. is beneficiary of a PEJ grant (PEJ2018-005226-P) funded by the Spanish National System of Garantía Juvenil and the European Social Fund.