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Personal ornaments have become a key cultural proxy to investigate cognitive evolution, modern human dispersal, and population dynamics. Here, we reassess personal ornaments found at Zhoukoudian Upper Cave and compare them with those from other Late Paleolithic Northern Chinese sites. We reappraise the information provided by Pei Wen Chung on Upper Cave personal ornaments lost during World War II and analyze casts of 17 of them, along with two unpublished objects displayed at the Zhoukoudian Site Museum and three original perforated teeth rediscovered at the Zhoukoudian Site Museum. We apply archeozoological, technological and use-wear analyses to document variation in ornamental practices and their change throughout the site stratigraphy. Badger, fox, red deer, sika deer, marten, and tiger teeth as well as carp bone, bird bone, Anadara shell, limestone beads, and perforated pebble appear to have been the preferred objects used as ornaments by Upper Cave visitors. Multivariate analysis of technological data highlights a correspondence between cultural layers and perforation techniques, with radial incising being typical of layer L2 and bidirectional incising of L4. The three rediscovered badger canines display features suggesting they were sewed on clothing rather than suspended from necklaces or bracelets. Elemental scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectromety and mineralogical (μ-Raman) analyses of red residues adhering to the rediscovered teeth indicate these objects were originally coated with ochre and identify variations that match differences in technology. The two ornaments exhibited at the Zhoukoudian Site Museum are ancient teeth that were recently perforated and should be excluded from the Upper Cave assemblage. A seriation of Late Paleolithic ornaments found at Northern Chinese sites identifies a clear-cut difference in preferred ornament types between western and eastern sites, interpreted as reflecting two long-lasting traditions in garment symbolic codes. acceptedVersion

Opsi untuk Penelitian Arkeologi Bersama, Ethno-Arkeologi dan Antropologi di Papua. Papua memiliki potensi arkeologi yang besar, serta masih dijumpai tradisi prasejarah yang masih berlangsung hingga saat ini. Provinsi Papua dan Papua Barat menawarkan kesempatan yang sangat menarik untuk penelitian interdisipliner di bidang prasejarah dan keragaman budaya. Temuan arkeologis menunjukkan bahwa manusia mendiami bagian timur New Guinea sekitar 40.000-50.000 tahun yang lalu. Karena imigrasi utama kemungkinan besar terjadi dari barat Pulau New Guinea dihuni lebih awal. Penelitian arkeologi dan terkait sejauh ini hanya menetapkan beberapa situs dan bukti-bukti lain dari hunian awal manusia prasejarah di Papua Nugini. Tulisan ini bertujuan menggambarkan potensi penelitian arkeologi, antropologi, etnografi di Papua dan menyebutkan secara khusus penelitian arkeologi dan etnoarkeologi di Kabupaten Pegunungan Bintang, di wilayah suku Mek dan Ok. Metode penelitian dalam tulisan ini yaitu studi pustaka, survei, ekskavasi dan pendekatan etnoarkeologi. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa pegunungan Papua menjadi pusat pertanian awal di dunia. Hingga saat ini masih dijumpai tradisi prasejarah di Papua yaitu pembuatan kapak batu, alat tulang dan tradisi megalitik. Tradisi prasejarah ini dijumpai di wilayah pegunungan dan pesisir. Penelitian, pertanggalan absolut situs dan publikasi arkeologi Papua masih sedikit jika dibandingkan dengan Papua Nugini. Hal ini menjadi potensi ke depan untuk melakukan penelitian dan publikasi bersama. Kata kunci: Etnografi, prasejarah, warisan budaya, rumah peradaban Abstract. With its prehistoric tradition still found to this present day, Papua is considered to have high archaeological potential. Papua and West Papua Provinces offer particularly interesting opportunities for interdisciplinary research in prehistory and cultural diversity. Archaeological findings show that humans inhabited the eastern half of New Guinea (NG) at least 40,000–50,000 years ago. As primary immigration most likely happened from west to east, the western half of the island of NG must have been inhabited even earlier. Archaeological and related research has established only a few sites and other signs of early human occupancy in the Indonesian part of NG. This review describes the potential of archaeological, anthropological, and ethnographic research in the Indonesian Papuan Provinces and specifically discusses recent ethnographic, archaeological, and ethno-archaeological work carried out in the Star Mountain Regency among the Mek and the Ok. The research methods employed in this research were literature review, survey, excavation, and ethnoarchaeological approaches. The findings show that Papuan highlands became one of the earliest centres of horticulture. Until now, there are still prehistoric traditions found in Papua, such as stone adzes, bone tools, and megalithic traditions. These prehistoric traditions are easily found in the highlands and coastal areas. Research sites absolute dating, and archaeological publication related to Papua is still considered low compared to PNG. Many facets of Papuan cultural diversity are still to be discovered for future research and collaborative publication. Keywords: Ethnography, prehistory, cultural heritage, rumah peradaban

In this paper, which is based on anthropological fieldwork in the Province of Papua, and literature research in archaeology and anthropology, we attempt to give an overview over the present status of research in Tanah Papua, with special focus on the prehistory and anthropology of groups in the interior, especially on the little known “Ok-Mek Minisphere” as well as on the potential routes of prehistoric migration to New Guinea and into the Star Mountains. ABSTRAKTulisan didasarkan pada penelitian lapangan antropologi di Papua, dan penelitian kepustakaan arkeologi dan antropologi. Dalam penelitian ini mencoba untuk memberikan gambaran mengenai perkembangan penelitian saat ini di Papua, dengan fokus pada prasejarah dan antropologi di pedalaman, terutama di wilayah “Ok- Mek” yang sangat potensial sebagai jalur migrasi prasejarah ke New Guinea dan masuk ke Pegunungan Bintang.

We report the results of a detailed analysis of ostrich eggshell (OES) beads derived mainly from Cultural Layer 2 (CL2) of Locality 2 at the Shuidonggou site (SDG2) in North China, which is dated to ca. 31 ka cal BP. The eggshells belong to the extinct ostrich Struthio anderssoni. Based on microscopic examination, morphometric analysis, and experimental replication, we identify clear differences in morphology, size, technology, and style. Results indicate that the technology of bead making is similar to that used in most Middle and Later Stone Age sites in Africa and recorded ethnographically. Both well-made and poorly-crafted OES beads were produced at SDG2. Drilling experiments conducted in the framework of this study show that hafted stone points were probably used to make the perforations. Only occasionally beads were deliberately polished on inner and outer eggshell surfaces. Beads morphology and technology suggest that distinct types of beads were made by different individual craftspeople. This supports the hypothesis that several human groups visited the Shuidonggou site and used OES beads as an information technology about 31 ka cal BP.

International audience; Located in the KwaZulu-Natal, 15 km from the coast, Sibudu has yielded twenty-three marine gastropods, nine of which are perforated. At 70.5 ± 2.0 ka, in a Still Bay Industry, there is a cluster of perforated Afrolittorina africana shells, one of which has red ochre stains. There is also a perforated Mancinella capensis and some unperforated shells of both A. africana and M. capensis. The cluster may represent an area where the shells were processed or where apparel to which shells were attached was lost. In a Howiesons Poort layer, 64.7 ± 1.9 ka, there is a single perforated Afrolittorina africana shell. This shell may be from the Still Bay and may have been dislodged by rock fall. Two Nassarius kraussianus shells, one of them perforated and bearing traces of utilisation as a bead, were found in a late Middle Stone Age layer with an OSL age of 46.6 ± 2.3 ka. N. kraussianus was not found in older layers, even though this taxon occurs in southern Cape sites during the Middle Stone Age. Where the perforations are undamaged and suitable for microscopy, they appear to have been made by punching the shells with a pointed tool made of bone or hard wood. Such perforations have been replicated experimentally. Unlike the Blombos beads, the Sibudu shells from the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort layers bear no compelling evidence of use wear in their perforations. We therefore cannot be certain that they were suspended. However, if the Sibudu shells were beads, the changing use of taxa through time suggests variability in symbolic traditions.

International audience

International audience; The frequency of mollusks, shellfish, fish, seabirds, and marine mammal remains from archaeological sites in the Vasco-Cantabrian region of Northern Spain attests to the relatively intense exploitation of marine resources during the Upper Palaeolithic, Epipalaeolithic, and Mesolithic. These coastal resources were utilised for both technical and symbolic purposes, especially two gastropods (Littorina saxatilis/complexa/arcana and Littorina obtusata) that were almost continuously used for personal ornamentation. The shell accumulation at Praileaitz I, dated to c. 10,000 and 11,500 cal BP, provides new data concerning the interplay between Epipalaeolithic prehistoric hunter–gatherers and coastal environments. We developed a method based on identifying the accumulation's taxonomic diversity combined with a taphonomic, morphometric, and microscopic analysis of the shells in order to characterise the accumulation. The shell assemblage, composed almost exclusively of L. saxatilis/complexa/arcana and L. obtusata, provided no evidence for the shells being suspended as ornaments. Comparisons with modern and archaeological reference collections suggest the shells were collected by humans from a thanatocenosis and that the accumulation is composed only of the smallest shells with a high proportion showing breakage resulting from crab predation. Given the frequent use of these shell species as personal ornaments in the Vasco-Cantabrian region during prehistory, we propose that the accumulation represents discarded raw material considered unsuitable for the manufacture of personal ornaments. Finally, the lack of other archaeological remains of any kind leads us to conclude that the cave's brief occupation was connected to the specialised activity of bead manufacture.

Colour plays an eminent role in beadwork. Colour modifications are reported on early shell beads from Middle Stone Age sites. However, identifying the colouring agent and demonstrating the intentional nature of the colouring process is not straightforward. Here, we provide analytical data on colour and structural modifications observed on Nassarius kraussianus (Nk) collected in modern thanatocoenoses and on shells of the same species experimentally heated in oxidizing and reductive atmospheres. Comparison with Nk shell beads from the 72 ka old Middle Stone Age levels of Blombos Cave, South Africa, and contextual analysis of other malacological remains from the same levels that were not used as ornaments identify the mechanisms responsible for the change of colour in modern Nk thanatocoenoses and heated shells, and show that although some Nk shell beads were heated, intentional heat treatment of shell beads is not demonstrated.

Here we report on newly identified beads recovered from four Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave and, in particular, on a cluster of 24 perforated Nassarius kraussianus shells that probably originate from a single beadwork. Contextual information, morphometric, technological and use-wear analysis of the 68 published beads and those recently found, coupled with experimental reproduction of wear patterns, allow us to reconstruct the most probable way in which the N. kraussianus shells were strung. The results reveal unexpected regularities but also variability through the various levels that we interpret as resulting from changes in beadwork manufacture and design over time. The Blombos Cave beads may document one of the first examples of changes in social norms affecting the production and design of symbolic material culture.

International audience; We report the discovery and present a detailed analysis of a freshwater bivalve from Shuidonggou Locality 2, layer CL3. This layer is located c. 40 cm below layer CL2, which has yielded numerous ostrich eggshell beads. The shell is identified as the valve of a Corbicula fluminea. Data on the occurrence of this species in the Shuidonggou region during Marine Isotope Stage 3 and taphonomic analysis, conducted in the framework of this study, of a modern biocoenosis and thanatocoenosis suggest that the archeological specimen was collected at one of the numerous fossil or sub-fossil outcrops where valves of this species were available at the time of occupation of level CL3. Experimental grinding and microscopic analysis of modern shells of the same species indicate that the Shuidonggou shell was most probably ground on coarse sandstone to open a hole on its umbo, attach a thread, and use the valve as a personal ornament. Experimental engraving of freshwater shells and microscopic analysis identify an incision crossing the archaeological valve outer surface as possible deliberate engraving. Reappraisal of the site chronology in the light of available radiocarbon evidence suggests an age of at least 34-33 cal kyr BP for layer CL3. Such estimate makes the C. fluminea recovered from CL3 one of the earliest instances of personal ornamentation and the earliest example of a shell bead from China.

Les objets de parure occupent une place importante dans le debat sur l’emergence de la pensee symbolique et l’evolution des capacites cognitives de nos ancetres. Ils pourraient egalement offrir des informations de premier plan sur l’organisation sociale et le role des individus dans les societes du Paleolithique superieur. Dans les societes traditionnelles, les objets de parure remplissent plusieurs fonctions differentes et souvent multiples. Ici, nous proposons une strategie qui adapte les methodes et les referentiels au potentiel de chaque contexte archeologique, pour tenter d’identifier les fonctions de la parure dans les societes paleolithiques et de comprendre le role de ces objets dans les plus anciennes cultures et constructions symboliques. L’application de cette approche a quelques cas d’etude suggere que les raisons qui ont pousse les individus a parer leur corps ont ete differentes selon les circonstances. Les plus anciennes parures africaines, datees du Middle Stone Age et du debut du Later Stone Age, semblent avoir principalement entretenu des reseaux d’echange. En Eurasie, au Paleolithique superieur, les parures semblent plutot avoir ete utilisees comme des marqueurs individuels, sociaux et ethnoculturels.

Las excavaciones en la Quebrada de los Burros, en el litoral de Tacna (Perú), han descubierto un campamento de pescadores y recolectores de moluscos (QlB) ocupado entre 10.000 y 6.000 a.p., durante el Holoceno Temprano y Medio. seis niveles sucesivos de ocupación han sido excavados por decapado, cada uno contando con aterrazamientos del piso, fogones, áreas de actividad diversas y acumulaciones de desechos alimenticios marinos, mezclados con restos de fauna terrestre. El conjunto de estos desperdicios demuestra que, desde el inicio de la ocupación, los ocupantes dominaban perfectamente el medio marítimo pero explotaban también las lomas. los instrumentos de piedra y hueso atestiguan un ajuar muy sofisticado de pesca, recolección y caza. dos fases de ocupación fueron singularizadas, la primera durante el Holoceno Temprano (ca. 10.000 a 7.000 a.p.), la segunda durante el Holoceno Medio (ca. 7.000 a 6.000 a.p.). los análisis efectuados sugieren para la primera fase una sucesión de ocupaciones breves y posibles contactos con las tierras altas y, al contrario, una ocupación más intensa y casi permanente a lo largo del año para la segunda fase, durante la cual las materias primas líticas proceden todas de sectores cercanos. una estrecha relación con sitios chilenos Chinchorro está confirmada.

The prehistoric site of Franchthi Cave yielded an exceptionally rich collection of personal ornaments. A reassessment of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ornaments from the site led to the hypothesis that a variable fraction of at least one type of personal ornaments, i.e. marine shell beads belonging to the species Cyclope neritea, may have been intentionally heated to change their natural whitish color to black. The limited conditions in which blackening can occur through heating, as well as comparison with the percentage of burnt land snails, animal bones, fish bones, and marine molluscan food remains in the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sequence, supports a special heat treatment for Cyclope neritea shells at Franchthi Cave.

Recent excavations at Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, uncovered an Iron Age horizon below which is a complex 3 m thick Middle Stone Age sequence with post-Howiesons Poort, Howiesons Poort, Still Bay and pre-Still Bay layers. Available OSL ages indicate that the Howiesons Poort occupation is older than 60 ky and the Still Bay older than 70 ky. Here we present the archaeological context and the taphonomic analysis of six Afrolittorina africana, three of which bear perforations, from the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort layers of this site. The single specimen from the latter cultural horizon comes from the lowermost layer attributed to this technocomplex. This and the depositional context of this layer suggest that this shell derives, as do the other five, from the Still Bay occupation layers. Taphonomic analysis of the archaeological specimens based on present day Afrolittorina africana biocoenoses, microscopic examination, morphometry, experimental perforation of modern shells, and a review of the natural agents that may accumulate marine shells at inland sites, indicate probable human involvement in the collection, transport, modification, and abandonment of Afrolittorina africana in Sibudu. If confirmed by future discoveries these shells would corroborate the use of personal ornaments, already attested at Blombos Cave, Western Cape Province, by Still Bay populations. The apparent absence of ornaments at Howiesons Poort sites raises the question of the mechanisms that have led to cultural modernity since it seems to contradict the scenario according to which cultural innovations recorded at Middle Stone Age sites reflect a process of continuous accretion and elaboration interpreted as the behavioural corollary of the emergence of anatomically modern humans.

A high degree of structuring is seen in the spatial distribution of symbolic artefact types associated with the Aurignacian culture in Upper Palaeolithic Europe, particularly the degree of sharing of ornament types across archaeological sites. Multivariate analyses of these distributions have been interpreted as indicating ethno-linguistic differentiation (Vanhaeren and d’Errico 2006), although simpler explanations such as isolation-by-distance have not been formally discounted. In this study we have developed a spatiotemporally explicit cultural transmission simulation model that generates expectations of a range of spatial statistics describing the distribution of shared ornament types. We compare these simulated spatial statistics to those observed from archaeological data for Aurignacian Europe—using Approximate Bayesian Computation—in order to test and compare a range of hypotheses concerning group interaction dynamics for the period. Among the set of hypotheses examined, we include ones where material culture does or does not drive group interaction dynamics.

Our knowledge of the migration routes of the first anatomically modern populations colonising the European territory at the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic, of their degree of biological, linguistic, and cultural diversity, and of the nature of their contacts with local Neanderthals, is still vague. Ethnographic studies indicate that of the different components of the material culture that survive in the archaeological record, personal ornaments are among those that best reflect the ethno-linguistic diversity of human groups. The ethnic dimension of beadwork is conveyed through the use of distinct bead types as well as by particular combinations and arrangements on the body of bead types shared with one or more neighbouring groups. One would expect these variants to leave detectable traces in the archaeological record. To explore the potential of this approach, we recorded the occurrence of 157 bead types at 98 European Aurignacian sites. Seriation, correspondence, and GIS analyses of this database identify a definite cline sweeping counter-clockwise from the Northern Plains to the Eastern Alps via Western and Southern Europe through fourteen geographically cohesive sets of sites. The sets most distant from each other include Aurignacian sites from the Rhoˆne valley, Italy, Greece and Austria on the one hand, and sites from Northern Europe, on the other. These two macro-sets do not share any bead types. Both are characterised by particular bead types and share personal ornaments with the intermediate macro-set, composed of sites from Western France, Spain, and Southern France. We argue that this pattern, which is not explained by chronological differences between sites or by differences in raw material availability, reflects the ethnolinguistic diversity of the earliest Upper Palaeolithic populations of Europe.

Perforated marine gastropod shells at the western Asian site of Skhul and the North African site of Oued Djebbana indicate the early use of beads by modern humans in these regions. The remoteness of these sites from the seashore and a comparison of the shells to natural shell assemblages indicate deliberate selection and transport by humans for symbolic use. Elemental and chemical analyses of sediment matrix adhered to one Nassarius gibbosulus from Skhul indicate that the shell bead comes from a layer containing 10 human fossils and dating to 100,000 to 135,000 years ago, about 25,000 years earlier than previous evidence for personal decoration by modern humans in South Africa.

International audience; Research conducted by Newell et al. (1990) has lead to propose that during the Mesolithic, the Upper Danube region was inhabited by a "Fish Teeth Band", characterized by the use of carp fish teeth and exogenous fossil shells as ornaments. However, technological data on these personal ornaments drastically lacked and especially for the fish teeth associated to the Mesolithic burial of Hohlenstein-Stadel that remained completely undescribed until now. The aim of this paper is to establish how the carp teeth from HohlensteinStadel were modified and worn before being deposited in the burial. High-resolution microscopic analysis identifies usewear traces and a red compound adhering to the surface of the teeth. Structural and elemental analysis of the residue combining light and scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and Raman analysis identify a suspension technique that uses an adhesive composed of an organic binder mixed with charcoal and minerals including hematite, dolomite, and quartz. Ethnological inquiry reveals that this system of suspension, commonly used in traditional societies, is for the first time documented, at Hohlenstein-Stadel, in an archaeological context.

Archaeozoological and technological analyses of the grave goods associated with the Saint-Germain-la-Riviere burial (15,570 ± 200 B.P.) and their comparison with ornaments and faunal assemblages from contemporary Magdalenian sites and burials reveal the exceptional character of this inhumation. The great number of perforated red deer canines and the preference for teeth from young stags contrast with the virtual absence of red deer in southwestern French faunal assemblages dated to the same period as the burial. The rarity and probable exotic origin of these teeth, the small number of paired canines, and the technological and morphological homogeneity of the collection suggest that the teeth were obtained through long-distance trade and represented prestige items. As observed in a number of hunter–gatherer populations and contrary to the supposed egalitarian character of Upper Palaeolithic societies, these items may have materialized the integration of this individual into a privileged social group. Results suggest that application of the integrated approach followed in this study to the remainder of Upper Palaeolithic burials may be useful in identifying other societies in which prestige items represented the tangible expression of social inequality.

While the identification of the source of shells used as personal ornaments is crucial for determining home range and exchange networks of prehistoric hunter-gatherers, it is often difficult to identify the coastal versus fossil origin of the shells as most genera used as beads were available both at beaches and fossil outcrops. Here we present the first application of 87Sr/86Sr isotope dating to identify the origin of Upper Palaeolithic shell beads. We analysed four out of a collection of one thousand Dentalium shells associated to the La Madeleine child burial dated to 10,190±100 BP and one Dentalium from the occupation layers of this site. 87Sr/86Sr ratios indicate that shells were collected by Late Upper Palaeolithic beadworkers on far away beaches rather than at nearer Miocene outcrops. This may be due to the narrowness of Miocene Dentalium shells, incompatible with the size of bone needles used to sew these shell beads on clothes.

In recent years, there has been a tendency to correlate the origin of modern culture and language with that of anatomically modern humans. Here we discuss this correlation in the light of results provided by our first hand analysis of ancient and recently discovered relevant archaeological and paleontological material from Africa and Europe. We focus in particular on the evolutionary significance of lithic and bone technology, the emergence of symbolism, Neandertal behavioral patterns, the identification of early mortuary practices, the anatomical evidence for the acquisition of language, the development of conscious symbolic storage, the emergence of musical traditions, and the archaeological evidence for the diversification of languages during the Upper Paleolithic. This critical reappraisal contradicts the hypothesis of a symbolic revolution coinciding with the arrival of anatomically modern humans in Europe some 40,000 years ago, but also highlights inconsistencies in the anatomically–culturally modern equation and the potential contribution of anatomically “pre-modern” human populations to the emergence of these abilities. No firm evidence of conscious symbolic storage and musical traditions are found before the Upper Paleolithic. However, the oldest known European objects that testify to these practices already show a high degree of complexity and geographic variability suggestive of possible earlier, and still unrecorded, phases of development.

A Pincevent, les ultimes traces du passage des Magdaleniens ont ete decouvertes sur le niveau IV0. Ce niveau est situe au sommet de la sequence des limons d’inondation sur lesquels les Magdaleniens sont revenus etablir leurs campements plus d’une quinzaine de fois, sans doute au cours du Dryas II. Bien que seulement distantes d’une vingtaine de metres, les deux unites d’occupation du niveau IV0 n'entretiennent aucune relation explicite et elles different totalement par l’extension des sols d’occupation et la densite des vestiges. Elles ont toutefois en commun d'avoir livre des restes de cheval. L’unite Y127 n’a livre qu’une carcasse partielle de cheval a proximite d’un foyer entoure seulement de quelques temoins d’activites, alors que l’unite T125, qui s’etend sur plus de 200 m2, revele une intense occupation de l’espace autour d’un abri circulaire centre sur le foyer T125, selon une organisation sans equivalent dans les autres niveaux de Pincevent. La masse considerable de pierres chauffees et de silex ainsi que l’abondance des objets de parure sont egalement exceptionnelles. Enfin, par rapport aux occupations precedentes liees a la chasse aux rennes au cours de la migration du debut de l’automne, l’originalite la plus frappante concerne le choix du gibier et la saison de chasse. En effet, on a retrouve dans l’unite T125 les restes de 9 chevaux et 10 rennes, certains abattus pendant l’hiver. Cet article evalue donc les parts de continuite et de changement dans les traditions et le comportement des chasseurs magdaleniens de Pincevent. On se demande alors si les specificites du niveau IV0 correspondent a une adaptation circonstancielle ou si elles temoignent d’une evolution irreversible due a des modifications climatiques entrainant eventuellement le retrait des rennes vers des contrees plus septentrionales.

Gasteropode marin, egalement connu sous le synonyme de Arcularia gibbosula (Pallary 1912) ou sous le nom commun de « Nasse bossue », il peut etre confondu avec l’espece sympatrique Nassarius circumcinctus (Adams A. 1852 : Nassa). Adaptee a des eaux peu profondes a substrat sableux, cette espece est presente actuellement en Mediterranee orientale et centrale, du Proche Orient au Golfe de Gabes, en Tunisie. Pendant le dernier interglaciaire, elle etait egalement presente sur le littoral nord-af...

In 2004, after more than a century of research on the site of Solutré, a preventive excavation was conducted within the Aurignacian layers located next to the excavations carried out by J. Combier in the 1970s and 80s. Two archaeological units consisting of small, broken limestone slabs were excavated on a 160 sq. ft. surface. Layer 2, presented in this paper, is dated between 27,000 and 30,000 BP. With nearly 48,000 pieces, mainly Horse and Reindeer, it is particularly rich in faunal remains. These animals were slaughtered and then dismembered in the immediate vicinity, all year round, but in greater numbers in late autumn and in the winter. Animal processing was varied (butchering, cutting of raw material, production of bone objects) but took place on the site for the most part. The associated lithic assemblage mainly consists of retouched tools and a few debris closely related to animal processing. A bone industry composed of retouchers and a smoother is also represented, illustrating diversified activities. Lastly, three worn ornaments were found. Given current knowledge, two of them indicate that the Aurignacian groups of Solutré are related to a wide territory encompassing Western Europe, from south-west France to north-west Europe., En 2004, après plus d’un siècle de recherches sur le site de Solutré, une fouille préventive s’est déroulée dans les couches aurignaciennes jouxtant les fouilles des années 1970 1980 de J. Combier. Deux ensembles archéologiques constitués d’éboulis de dallettes calcaires ont été fouillés sur 15 m ² . La couche 2, objet du présent article, est datée entre 27 000 et 30 000 BP. Elle est particulièrement riche en vestiges fauniques, avec près de 48 000 restes dominés par le cheval puis le renne. Ces animaux ont été dépecés à proximité immédiate de leur lieu d’abattage, tout au long de l’année, avec une plus forte proportion à la fin de l’automne et en hiver. Les traitements des animaux ont été variés (boucherie, prélèvement de matière première, fabrication d’objets en os) et ont eu lieu en grande partie sur le site. L’assemblage lithique associé se compose principalement d’outils retouchés et de quelques déchets, en relation étroite avec le traitement des animaux. Une industrie osseuse comprenant des retouchoirs et un lissoir est également présente, illustrant une certaine diversification des activités. Enfin, trois objets de parure, usés, ont été découverts. En l’état des connaissances, deux de ces éléments de parure rattachent les groupes aurignaciens de Solutré à un vaste territoire correspondant à tout l’ouest européen, du sud-ouest de la France au nord-ouest de l’Europe., Connet Nelly, Bayle Grégory, Bémilli Céline, Kervazo Bertrand, Konik Stéphane, Julien Michèle, Vanhaeren Marian, Boitard Eve, Molez Danièle. Stratégies de subsistance des Aurignaciens de Solutré (Saône-et-Loire). Les apports de la fouille préventive de 2004. In: Gallia préhistoire, tome 54, 2012. pp. 33-65.

National audience

L’analyse archéozoologique et technologique du mobilier funéraire de la Dame de Saint-Germain-la-Rivière (15 570 ± 200 BP) et sa comparaison avec les objets de parure et la faune découverts dans ce même gisement ainsi que dans les sites et sépultures contemporains révèlent le caractère exceptionnel de cette inhumation. Le grand nombre de craches perforées et la préférence pour des craches de jeunes cerfs mâles qui caractérisent le mobilier de la sépulture contrastent avec l’extrême rareté de cette espèce dans les sites contemporains du Sud-Ouest de la France. La rareté et l’origine probablement exotique des craches, le faible nombre de craches appariées et l’homogénéité technique et morphologique de la collection suggèrent que ces dents ont été acquises par échange sur longue distance et qu’elles devaient représenter des objets de prestige. A l’instar de ce que l’on observe chez certaines populations de chasseurs-cueilleurs et en contradiction avec le caractère supposé égalitaire des sociétés paléolithiques, ces objets pourraient avoir été utilisés pour marquer l’appartenance de cette femme à un groupe social privilégié. Archaeozoological and technological analysis of the grave goods associated to the Saint-Germain-la-Rivière burial (15 570 ± 200 BP) and their comparison with ornaments and faunal assemblages from contemporary Magdalenian sites and burials reveal the exceptional character of this inhumation. The great number of perforated red deer canines and the preference for teeth from young stags contrast with the virtual absence of red deer in south-western France faunal assemblages dated to the same period as the burial. The rarity and probable exotic origin of these teeth, the small number of paired canines, and the technological and morphological homogeneity of the collection suggest that the teeth were obtained through long distance trade and represented prestige items. As observed in a number of hunter-gatherer populations and in disagreement with the supposed egalitarian character of Upper Palaeolithic societies, these items may have materialised the integration of this individual into a privileged social group.

L’analyse taphonomique, technique et morphométrique des objets de parure de la sépulture de l’enfant de La Madeleine (Tursac, Dordogne) permet de reconstituer les techniques de fabrication, les modes d’assemblage et le degré d’utilisation de ces objets. Les dentales ont été tronçonnés par flexion et sciage pour produire des tubes de 6-7 mm de longueur et au moins 1,8 mm de diamètre. La morphométrie des aiguilles découvertes dans les couches d’habitat et la présence de fractures et usures caractéristiques sur les dentales indiquent que ces derniers ont été brodés à l’aide d’aiguilles fines sur l’habit de l’enfant et portés de son vivant. La petite taille des tronçons de dentales et des autres objets de parure en coquillage (turritelles, néritines, cyclopes et Glycymeris), significativement différente de celle des mêmes espèces découvertes dans les sites d’habitat et dans les sépultures contemporaines, démontre que cette ornementation a été spécialement conçue pour l’enfant et semble indiquer que cette classe d’âge jouissait d’un statut social propre dans les sociétés de la fin du Paléolithique supérieur. Le grand nombre d’objets impliqués et le grand investissement de temps nécessaire à la réalisation de cette parure évoquent une motivation qui dépasse l’affection parentale et pourraient constituer l’indice d’une stratification sociale à base héréditaire. Malgré la date tardive récemment obtenue pour cette sépulture (10 190 ± 100 BP), son mobilier funéraire s’enracine dans le monde magdalénien, comme ceci est démontré par la comparaison avec le mobilier issu des couches d’habitat. Taphonomic, technological and morphometric analysis of the ornaments associated to the La Madeleine child burial, Dordogne region, is used to reconstruct bead manufacturing techniques, arrangements and use wear. Dentalium shells were snapped or sawed to produce similar tubular beads which are 6-7 mm long by 1.8 mm wide. Dentalium breakage patterns and use wear suggest that these beads were embroided on the child cloths and worn during his/her life. Some needles found at the site have a width compatible with this work. The size of the Dentalium and other shell (Turritella, Neritina, Cyclope, Glycymeris) ornaments, significantly smaller than that of the shells of the same speciesfound at contemporary sites, indicates that these ornaments were especially made for the child and suggests that this age class was considered as a distinct social group in late Upper Palaeolithic societies. The large number of ornaments and the substantial investment of time needed for their production may reflect more than parental care and could rather be attributed to the child’s integration into an hereditary ranking system. In spite of the relatively recent 14C AMS date obtained for this skeleton (10,190 ± 100 BP), the associated grave goods are similar to those found at late Magdalenian sites, suggesting an attribution to this technocomplex.

Two sites of the Neandertal-associated Middle Paleolithic of Iberia, dated to as early as approximately 50,000 years ago, yielded perforated and pigment-stained marine shells. At Cueva de los Aviones, three umbo-perforated valves of Acanthocardia and Glycymeris were found alongside lumps of yellow and red colorants, and residues preserved inside a Spondylus shell consist of a red lepidocrocite base mixed with ground, dark red-to-black fragments of hematite and pyrite. A perforated Pecten shell, painted on its external, white side with an orange mix of goethite and hematite, was abandoned after breakage at Cueva Antón, 60 km inland. Comparable early modern human-associated material from Africa and the Near East is widely accepted as evidence for body ornamentation, implying behavioral modernity. The Iberian finds show that European Neandertals were no different from coeval Africans in this regard, countering genetic/cognitive explanations for the emergence of symbolism and strengthening demographic/social ones.

Recent investigations into the origins of symbolism indicate that personal ornaments in the form of perforated marine shell beads were used in the Near East, North Africa, and SubSaharan Africa at least 35 ka earlier than any personal ornaments in Europe. Together with instances of pigment use, engravings, and formal bone tools, personal ornaments are used to support an early emergence of behavioral modernity in Africa, associated with the origin of our species and significantly predating the timing for its dispersal out of Africa. Criticisms have been leveled at the low numbers of recovered shells, the lack of secure dating evidence, and the fact that documented examples were not deliberately shaped. In this paper, we report on 25 additional shell beads from four Moroccan Middle Paleolithic sites. We review their stratigraphic and chronological contexts and address the issue of these shells having been deliberately modified and used. We detail the results of comparative analyses of modern, fossil, and archaeological assemblages and microscopic examinations of the Moroccan material. We conclude that Nassarius shells were consistently used for personal ornamentation in this region at the end of the last interglacial. Absence of ornaments at Middle Paleolithic sites postdating Marine Isotope Stage 5 raises the question of the possible role of climatic changes in the disappearance of this hallmark of symbolic behavior before its reinvention 40 ka ago. Our results suggest that further inquiry is necessary into the mechanisms of cultural transmission within early Homo sapiens populations.

The view that Aurignacian technologies and their associated symbolic manifestations represent the archaeologicalproxy for the spread of Anatomically Modern Humans into Europe, is supported by few diagnostic human remains, including those from the Aurignacian site of Les Rois in south-western France. Here we reassess the taxonomic attribution of the human remains, their cultural affiliation, and provide five new radiocarbon dates for the site. Patterns of tooth growth along with the morphological and morphometric analysis of the human remains indicate that a juvenile mandible showing cutmarks presents some Neandertal features, whereas another mandible is attributed to Anatomically Modern Humans. Reappraisal of the archaeological sequence demonstrates that human remains derive from two layers dated to 28-30 kyr BP attributed to the Aurignacian, the only cultural tradition detected at the site. Three possible explanations may account for this unexpected evidence. The first one is that the Aurignacian was exclusively produced by AMH and that the child mandible from unit A2 represents evidence for consumption or, more likely, symbolic use of a Neandertal child by Aurignacian AMH The second possible explanation is that Aurignacian technologies were produced at Les Rois by human groups bearing both AMH and Neandertal features. Human remains from Les Rois would be in this case the first evidence of a biological contact between the two human groups. The third possibility is that all human remains from Les Rois represent an AMH population with conserved plesiomorphic characters suggesting a larger variation in modern humans from the Upper Palaeolithic.

International audience; Excavations at Acheulean sites in northern Europe at the end of the 19th century have yielded fossil sponges belonging to the Late Cretaceous species Porosphaera globularis. The spherical morphology of these fossils, their small size, and the presence of a natural complete perforation in their center have led some archaeologists to interpret them as the oldest known beads. Others argue that the presence of these fossils at archaeological sites is due to natural processes. Re-examination of material collected during the 19th century has recently revived the bead interpretation. We tested the bead hypothesis by analyzing 13 samples of Porosphaera from nine sites in Britain and France. We conducted morphometric and microscopic analyses on specimens recovered from archaeological sites (n ¼ 349), a natural geological sample, which was collected directly from Cretaceous strata (n ¼ 352), and a sample from a Bronze Age burial (n ¼ 43). Reappraisal of contextual data shows that the association of these finds with Acheulean artifacts is uncertain. Our results show that archaeological specimens are significantly different in size and perforation pattern from those of the natural geological sample. This may be due to size-sorting caused by sedimentary processes, size-selection by Palaeolithic people or by 19th century collectors. Modifications of the fossils' natural shape were detected on a few specimens in the form of localized abrasions and microchipping along the hole margins. A single specimen displays a facet close to the hole produced by grinding. The surfaces of these features exhibit a hue lighter than that observed on the remainder of the specimens indicating that they may be recent in origin and due to post-excavation and preservation treatment. However, this seems contradicted, for some specimens from Bedford, by the fact that according to Smith, W.G. [1884. On a Palaeolithic floor at North-East London. Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 13, 357–384] the specimens bearing microchipping and abrasions were found by him and ‘‘not touched or manipulated by the workmen''. We conclude that new excavations of these sites, involving systematic screening of sediments, are needed in order to attempt to solve the Porosphaera ‘‘mystery''.

Chez les Rois est un gisement de référence de l'Aurignacien charentais et un des rares gisements aurignaciens européens à avoir livré des restes humains en place. Fouillé entre 1930 et 1939 par Potut et entre 1948 et 1952 par Mouton et Joffroy (1958), ce gisement a fait l'objet d'un sondage en 2005 et d'une fouille programmée entre 2006 et 2008 (d'Errico et Vanhaeren 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008). Cette opération de terrain a fait suite à la reprise de l'étude des restes humains et du matériel archéologique issus des fouilles Mouton et Joffroy ainsi qu'à sa datation (Ramirez Rozzi et al. sous presse). L'objectif des nouvelles fouilles était de préciser l'attribution culturelle des assemblages, la chronologie et nature de l'occupation aurignacienne ainsi que l'affiliation taxinomique des groupes humains qui ont fréquenté le site.

Recent investigations into the origins of symbolism indicate that personal ornaments in the form of perforated marine shell beads were used in the Near East, North Africa, and SubSaharan Africa at least 35 ka earlier than any personal ornaments in Europe. Together with instances of pigment use, engravings, and formal bone tools, personal ornaments are used to support an early emergence of behavioral modernity in Africa, associated with the origin of our species and significantly predating the timing for its dispersal out of Africa. Criticisms have been leveled at the low numbers of recovered shells, the lack of secure dating evidence, and the fact that documented examples were not deliberately shaped. In this paper, we report on 25 additional shell beads from four Moroccan Middle Paleolithic sites. We review their stratigraphic and chronological contexts and address the issue of these shells having been deliberately modified and used. We detail the results of comparative analyses of modern, fossil, and archaeological assemblages and microscopic examinations of the Moroccan material. We conclude that Nassarius shells were consistently used for personal ornamentation in this region at the end of the last interglacial. Absence of ornaments at Middle Paleolithic sites postdating Marine Isotope Stage 5 raises the question of the possible role of climatic changes in the disappearance of this hallmark of symbolic behavior before its reinvention 40 ka ago. Our results suggest that further inquiry is necessary into the mechanisms of cultural transmission within early Homo sapiens populations.

International audience; We apply eco-cultural niche modeling (ECNM), an heuristic approach adapted from the biodiversity sciences, to identify habitable portions of the European territory for Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherers during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), circumscribe potential geographic extents of the Solutrean and Epigravettian technocomplexes, evaluate environmental and adaptive factors that influenced their distributions, and discuss this method's potential to illuminate past humaneenvironment interaction. Our ECNM approach employed the Genetic Algorithm for Rule-Set Prediction (GARP) and used as input a combination of archaeological and geographic data, in conjunction with high-resolution paleoclimatic simulations for this time frame. The archaeological data consist of geographic coordinates of sites dated by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry to the LGM and attributed to the Solutrean and Epigravettian technocomplexes. The areas predicted by ECNM consistently outline the northern boundary of human presence at 22,000e20,000 cal BP. This boundary is mainly determined by climatic constraints and corresponds well to known southern limits of periglacial environments and permafrost conditions during the LGM. Differences between predicted ecological niches and known ranges of the Solutrean and Epigravettian technocomplexes are interpreted as Solutrean populations being adapted to colder and more humid environments and as reflecting influences of ecological risk on geographic distributions of cultures.

The first appearance of explicitly symbolic objects in the archaeological record marks a fundamental stage in the emergence of modern social behavior in Homo . Ornaments such as shell beads represent some of the earliest objects of this kind. We report on examples of perforated Nassarius gibbosulus shell beads from Grotte des Pigeons (Taforalt, Morocco), North Africa. These marine shells come from archaeological levels dated by luminescence and uranium-series techniques to ≈82,000 years ago. They confirm evidence of similar ornaments from other less well dated sites in North Africa and adjacent areas of southwest Asia. The shells are of the same genus as shell beads from slightly younger levels at Blombos Cave in South Africa. Wear patterns on the shells imply that some of them were suspended, and, as at Blombos, they were covered in red ochre. These findings imply an early distribution of bead-making in Africa and southwest Asia at least 40 millennia before the appearance of similar cultural manifestations in Europe.