Alexander Gallus

Upper Paleolithic Symbol Systems of the Russian Plain: Cognitive and Comparative Analysis [and Comments and Reply]

A microscopic examination of the engraved and carved artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic of the Russian plain in Soviet collections has revealed the presence of a number of complex symbol systems and modes of symbol use. These systems have not previously been noted or studied. The iconography has been found to be different from that in contemporaneous symbol systems in the Western European Upper Paleolithic, but the basic modes and strategies of symbol use were nevertheless comparable or similar. The data raise a number of profound questions concerning (a) the origin or origins of early Homo sapiens sapiens symbol usage and the possible early dispersal or diffusion of certain cognitive and cultural modes of symbol use, (b) the possible near-iconic nature of the earliest H. sapiens sapiens symbol systems, and (c) the relevance of these evolving systems for those symbolic traditions that persisted and developed in the post-Wurm. It seems that at least some of these systems in the Eastern and Western Upper Paleolithic were aspects of a water-related symbolism and therefore referred to a phenomenological reality as valid and persistent as the realities referred to in Upper Paleolithic images of animals and females.

Behavioral Analysis and the Structure of a Prehistoric Industry [and Comments and Reply]

Assuming that aboriginal behavior was recorded on chipped-stone implements and debitage, and assuming that the analyst can train himself to recognize and interpret that record, then a classification of lithic artifacts based on manufacturing behavior may be considered an inherent classification. Lithic behavioral classification is examined from the perspective of other archaeological classifications as well as from general taxonomic theory. Advantages of behavioral analysis in the examination of change, adaptation, process, systems theory, and the nature of artifact variability are explored. The artifacts of a core-blade reduction strategy excavated from Chalchuapa, El Salvador, a major Maya Highland site, are described to exemplify behavioral classification.

Neanderthal Man and Homo sapiens in Central and Eastern Europe [and Comments and Reply]

This paper is a review of the fossil evidence bearing upon the problem of the origin and evolution of Homo sapiens and his relationship to Neanderthal Man, with special attention to the finds from Central and Eastern Europe, less well-known to the international community than those of Western Europe and elsewhere. Emphasis is placed on new discoveries supplementing the existing network of finds and on the reinterpretation of earlier finds through recent studies. The importance of finds of the remains of several individuals at a single site, which offer valuable insight into the morphological variability of the prehistoric population, is stressed. On the basis of this survey of the evidence, the following conclusions (among others) are drawn: (1) The Neanderthal finds from Central and Eastern Europe display pronounced morphological variability, even within a single site, and this variability is associated with wide variation in cultural inventory. These finds show, to various degrees and in various frequencies, many of the characteristics that we find fully developed and universal in H. sapiens sapiens. Chronologically, they extend into the W 1/2 interstadial, the period to which the oldest finds in this region of Upper Paleolithic Man of the modern type also belong. (2) The Upper Paleolithic fossil man finds and, also, less markedly, those of the Neolithic, include individuals of the so-called primitive sapient type, displaying archaic morphological characteristics, again to various degrees and in various frequencies. Associated with this physical variation is, again, wide variation in culture. (3) The evidence thus seems to demand that we classify Neanderthal Man as H. sapiens neanderthalensis and Upper Paleolithic Man as H. sapiens sapiens.

Toward a New Outline of the Soviet Central Asian Paleolithic [and Comments and Reply]

The ideas about the distribution of the earliest sites in Soviet Central Asia and the character of Paleolithic industries which have been formed by Western archaeologist through the works of Movius, Klein, and Chard are now in need of revision because of the appearance of new material. The increasing possibility of worldwide synchronization of geological and climatological events permits the comparison of the subdivisions of the Soviet Central Asian stratigraphic scheme with those of the Alpine one and the formulation of the following conception of the periodization and chronology of the Paleolithic of Central Asia: The earliest traces of Paleolithic man are from Riss times (this is not to exclude the possibility of an extension of this age with future investigations of the thick loess sections of the southern Tadzhikistan and Pri-Tashkent regions). The existence of a pebble culture resembling the Soan in the interval between 200,000 and 130,000 years B.P. has been established. After the following hiatus of approximately 60,000 years in several regions of Soviet Central Asia, developed Mousterian industries in caves and at open sites have been documented. These Mousterian industries may be divided into five variants or facies: Levallois, Levallois-Mousterian, Typical Mousterian, Mousterian of Soan Tradition, and Denticulate Mousterian. As early as the 1940s, A. P. Okladnikov focused attention on the similarity of the Levallois technique in the Near East to that of Soviet Central Asia, but this similarity is not necessarily the result of a direct migration. The Upper Paleolithic, represented by a small number of sites, by all appearances grew out of a preexisting facies of the Soviet Central Asian Mousterian. The absence of radiocarbon dates for this period, however, makes it difficult to come to final conclusions. The possibility exists of a longer persistence of the Mousterian technique in Soviet Central Asia and a correspondingly later appearance of the Upper Paleolithic modes of working stone. For the following period, the authors distinguish two groups: Mesolithic and Epi-Paleolithic. The first group is characterized by the presence of geometric microliths, predominantly lunates and backed points; in the second group these tools are not found. In general, for the entire extent of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic two technological tendencies existed, one of which can be described in terms employed in the Near East and Europe and the other of which (the pebble industry) cannot. Possible explanations of this situation are examined.

Historical Patterns of Migration [and Comments and Reply]

This article describes the migratory patterns resulting from differential incidence of lethal infections in traditional Eurasian civilizations. Further, it examines how changes in modern communication and public health management have interrupted the traditional patterns of population circulation. The communication of infection influenced the standard mass migration patterns for traditional Eurasian civilization. The rural flow to urban centers and migration to the periphery replaced and replenished populations thinned by infections. This pattern was the standard underpinning of traditional civilization in the temperate zone of Eurasia from 2000 B.C. to A.D. 1750. A second, less massive movement of elites also occurred. Barbarian elites moved against the city, and urban elites-trades, missionaries, refugees-moved to the periphery. While numerically small, this pattern was often of key importance in diffusing ideas, techniques, and specialized skills. The period of Eurasian discovery in the 16th century ...

Bridging Levels of Systemic Organization [and Comments and Reply]

The recent discussion relating the split-brain phenomenon in man to cognitive-behavioral correlates of interest to anthropologists (CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 17 [1-3]) raises a wider issue of profound importance to the growing field of neuro-anthropology. This is the question of how to bridge levels of systemic organization. This paper provides a solution to the problem via a consideration of the constraints placed on this process by one neuroanthropological approach-biogenetic structuralism. The paper sketches a biopsychologically grounded view of science. It then sets forth a minimal set of desiderata for a biopsychologically sophisticated theory of theory reduction. The paper shows that the received view of theory reduction fails to meet these empirical constraints. It proposes that an alternative, extant view of reduction, called reduction by incorporation, may serve as a possible logical infrastructure for the development of a biopsychologically informed view of theory reduction.

The Pleistocene Epoch and the Evolution of Man [and Comments and Reply]

THE CALABRIAN STAGE was defined by Gignoux (1913) as the last stage of the Pliocene Epoch, characterized in the Mediterranean by the presence of Arctica (Cyprina) islandica and a dozen marine mollusks previously restricted to northern waters (North Atlantic, North Sea, and Baltic Sea). Arctica islandica and the associated mollusks belong to a rather shallow facies (less than 150 m., according to Ruggieri 1965) and are supposed to have entered the Mediterranean following a general temperature decrease. In deeper-water facies, the climatic deterioration is evidenced by the sudden and widespread appearance in abundance of the northern benthonic foraminiferal species Hyalinea (Anomalina) baltica (Schroeter). Although this foraminiferal species and the molluscan species Arctica islandica are generally not found together because of their different habitats, Ruggieri (1961, 1965) established that Arctica islandica entered the Mediterranean somewhat earlier than Hyalinea baltica and distinguished a Lower Calabrian characterized by the occurrence of the former and the absence of the latter. The 18th International Geological Congress in London in 1948 removed the Calabrian stage from the Pliocene and redefined it as the first stage of the Pleistocene. Later, the General Assembly of the 7th

Excavations at Koonalda Cave, South Australia

Fig. 1. Heavy flake-chopper, side tongued: struck from side. Continuing excavations at Koonalda Cave (cf. CA 5:127) have recently uncovered an early flake industry of considerable typological interest. In addition to flakes of primitive Levalloisoid cleavage, with wide, mostly high-angled, non-facetted, Clactonianlike platforms (Figs. 1, 2b and c), the industry contains tools of late Pleistocene morphology: burins (Fig. 2), steep-nosed end-scrapers (Fig. 3b), and crested nucleus-scrapers (Fig. 4). These

Transition From Mousterian to Perigordian: Skeletal and Industrial [and Comments and Replies]

At the terminal period of the Mousterian, the Upper Palaeolithic artifacts became more abundant in a number of beds. Some deposits present a tool assemblage dominated by small, odd, worn flakes, more or less denticulated either intentionally, through wear, or because of geological phenomenon. ost horizons, however, are marked by polymorphism and are evidence of a trend towards the longer blade. At the Audi rock-shelter, we find that the heavy Mousterian-backed knife is refined and reshaped, in a modification tending towards de Chatelperron from. The most highly evolved Mousterian standard is found at Fontmaure. We lack an evolutionary series of skeletons to match the transformation of the tool industry. The morphological transition between Neanderthal Man and Upper Palaeolithic Man is not demonstrated by the teeth from the sites at Arcy-sur-Cure or by the skeletal material from Mount Carmel. At this stage of our knowledge, we may advance 2 hypotheses. Either Neanderthal Man evolved both in France and in Palestine (the intermediate forms remain to be specified) or Homo sapiens, coming from elsewhere, progressively invaded the regions occupied by Neanderthals. Working with this 2nd hypothesis, it seems likely that the passage of man from the Mousterian to the Upper Palaeolithic would have taken place in a region with mild climate, such as that found in Asia. Unfortunately, the evidence to support this hypothesis is missing. Little Lower Perigordian material has been discovered between Asia and France or in the Near East. The challenge to us lies in the Near East.

Two Australian Stratigraphic Sequences

There are now two stratigraphic -sequences available for further study as a result of my field researches between 1949-63 in Australia: 1) Koonalda Cave, Nullarbor Plain, South Australia. Depth 2 yards (bottom of human occupation not yet reached). Industry I: A primitive flake and scraper industry using, however, polyhedric burins. Age-Post-Pleistocene. Knowrn only from surface finds. Industry II: An evolved Patjitan-like industry, with Protohandaxes, Choppers and Chopping Tools, and a large number of side scrappers (racloirs) and arched flakes. Industry III: A facies displaying nucleus scrapers and a few Gravettian-like knifes. Industry IV: Not yet well explored. It seems to contain a true Patjitanian with huge, crude choppers. 2) Stratigraphy, Maribyrnong River, Keilor Plains, Victoria. Post-Pleistocene industries. Industries I-II: In the top earth of the second terrace of the Maribyrnong River System (Keilor Terrace) primitive pebble tools and a flake industry, resembling Industry I, Nullarbor Plains, Koonalda Cave. Underlain immediately by a so called Geometric Industry. III: Under the so called diastem in the Keilor Terrace the well known Keilor Skull. Industry IV: In the basic gravels of Keilor Terrace a fine blade industry. Industry V: In the top earth of the red brown clay Arundel terrace (Third Terrace) picklike Protohandaxes and crude flakes. Industry VI: In the basic gravels of the Arundel Terrace a typical chopper culture strongly resembling Patjitanian. Age of terraces: The finds are in the Lower reaches of the Maribyrnong River and the terraces are to be regarded as Thalassostatic, they begin in a glacial (pluvial) and end in a warmer period. Thus the second terrace originates in the Last Glacial period (pluvial) and end in the Postpleistocene; whereas Arundel Terrace might begin in the last Interglacial (Interpluvial). Both terraces have been traced under present sea level and are referable to two different low sea levels. For further information see Gill, E. Report. Victoria. A.N.Z.A.A.S. Committee for the Investigation of Quaternary Strandline Changes (Sections C and P). A.N.Z.A.A.S. Meeting -Sydney, August 20-24, 1962. Reported by ALEXANDER GALLUS