Grant McCall

Revisiting the Individual in Prehistory: Idiosyncratic Engraving Variation and the Neolithic Slate Plaques of the Iberian Peninsula

Experiments in replicating facsimiles of Late Neolithic engraved slate plaques from southwestern Iberia suggest that variation related to fine-motor skills is greater between individual engravers than within the work of a single engraver. This implies that the work of different individuals producing certain classes of material culture may be distinguishable on the basis of repetitive, idiosyncratic traits. These studies also generate otherwise unobtainable information about the experience of plaque making. We examine past and present methodological attempts to differentiate unconscious, individual styles from intentional, culturally mediated styles, and discuss why in some cases it is extremely difficult to separate such variation. We explore the link between individual variation and theoretical notions of the individual, and its implications for understanding the organization, transmission, and shared expression of ancient social practices.

Re-examining the South African Middle-to-Later Stone Age transition: Multivariate analysis of the Umhlatuzana and Rose Cottage Cave stone tool assemblages

This paper explores the nature and timing of the Middle Stone Age/Later Stone Age transition in South Africa and considers some of the potential causes of this technological reorganisation. It uses multivariate statistical methods to re-examine two important case studies: Umhlatuzana in KwaZulu-Natal, described by Kaplan (1989), and Rose Cottage Cave in the Free State, described by Clark (1997). Consistent with these previous analyses, it concludes that the Middle Stone Age/Later Stone Age transition at the sites occurred around 28 kya, involved a pre-Robberg transitional early Later Stone Age (ELSA) industry lasting until around 20 kya, and is defined by a series of secular changes demonstrating broad continuity over time. The paper also seeks to articulate these case studies with other explanations of the MSA/LSA transition, from the perspective of technological organisation and models of forager behavioural ecology. It argues that the microlithic technology seen with the origins of the LSA was a response to increasingly risky environments created by fluctuations in climate around the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and rising human populations. Microlithic technology may have emerged as a strategy for adding value to tools and weapons, increasing both their effectiveness and reliability in the face of riskier environments. It is also possible that new knapping strategies seen during the LSA resulted from restricted access to preferred sources of lithic raw material and were methods of optimising the use of poorer-quality local stone.

Evaluating indices of curation for Archaic North American bifacial projectile points

Abstract This paper addresses the definitions of the term “curation” and the utility of various techniques for its quantification based on morphometric, isometric, and geometric characteristics of bifacial projectile points. The definitions were evaluated through the comparative application of curation indices to a collection of Archaic projectile points from the Southwestern United States. Bifacial projectile points from the Walt Jones Farm site (10Br9), Georgia, were analyzed with the accompanying debitage using curation indices and non-indexical measures. Comparisons of the curation indices with non-indexical measures allow an examination of the utility of the term “curation,” and we argue that indices of curation cannot operate in a vacuum without additional information concerning an assemblage.

The Evolution of Equality: Rethinking Variability and Egalitarianism Among Modern Forager Societies

Abstract Using hunter-gatherer societies as a focus, we argue for a heuristic continuum of egalitarian social systems ranging between relatively strong and weak forms. Weak egalitarianism is characterized by an absence of real political hierarchy, and limited differences between individuals in terms of rank, status, wealth, or power, while strongly egalitarian societies are characterized by these with some combination of powerful sharing and leveling norms, extensive formal networks of reciprocity spanning geographical regions, assertive social mechanisms of norm enforcement, and ritual practices designed to alleviate resulting social tensions. While weak forms of egalitarianism may result from some long-recognized properties of mobile foraging societies, such as group membership flexibility and universal access to both means of economic production and the means of coercion, we argue that strong egalitarianism emerged as a social strategy for coping with foraging risk at larger temporal and spatial scales. We conclude with a synthesis of ethnoarchaeological and archaeological approaches in the examination of the prehistory of egalitarianism, as well as a brief consideration of potential evolutionarily implications.

Refitting rate as a tool for investigating geological and behavioral aspects of site formation: theoretical and methodological considerations

Abstract This paper presents a comparative approach to lithic refitting research. The paper examines a broad set of refitting studies with the aim ofbuilding frames of reference for making archaeological inferences on the basis of refitting analysis results. The paper looks at some of the methodological problems inherent in constructing these comparative frameworks and settles primarily on refitting rate as a way of making comparisons across excavations of various sizes, densities of artifacts, and various other archaeological characteristics. While far from perfect, this study suggest that (1) systematic refitting considering all aspects of site formation and (2)presentation of refitting rate offer promising avenues in terms of making inferences from various refitting patterns. The paper closes by briefly considering the implications of refitting rate patterns for African Early Stone Age (ESA) sites in terms of theoretical debates concerning early hominin site use.

NEW APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF SURFACE PALEOLITHIC ARTEFACTS: A PILOT PROJECT AT ZEBRA RIVER

The Paleolithic archaeology of Namibia has been neglected compared to other regions of subSaharan Africa. The harsh desert conditions of the Namib Desert, the driest region of Africa, combined with geology that makes stratified sites rare, has made research in the area difficult and few studies have been attempted. What Namibia lacks in buried sites, however, it makes up for with a manifold wealth of surface assemblages, representing hundreds of thousands of years of human occupation of the landscape. It is well known that surface assemblages present huge obstacles for archaeological research, but they also may hold great promise. If we can develop appropriate methodologies and tailor the questions we ask to the data that are available on the surface, such sites may provide valuable information about human activities on very large spatial scales that may be unreachable from the small confines of a test pit. It is for this reason that Hardaker’s recent volume represents such an important contribution to Namibian archaeology and studies of the Pleistocene in Africa in general. Over  − , Hardaker, an amateur archaeologist based in the U.K. and assisted by students primarily from the University of Namibia, conducted an ambitious project to document and describe a large number of surface lithic assemblages in the Zebra River valley of west-central Namibia, on the edge of the Great Escarpment and near the present-day boundary of the hyper-arid Namib Desert. Over the eight years of the project, Hardaker surveyed hundreds of surface scatters and large accumulations. The results of his analysis and interpretation are the basis for this report. In our opinion, this book presents a great deal of tremendously valuable data and some novel methodological approaches. Yet, we also find aspects of the orientation of this project incompletely developed, anachronistic, and speculative. Hardaker begins with an overview of the geology of the Zebra River region, including lithic raw material availability, the depositional and erosional history of the region, as well as the regional fluvial dynamics that influence the movement of clasts and artifacts on the surface. He makes a convincing case for why the area is especially attractive for surface archaeological research, arguing that high ground visibility, lowenergy local fluvial processes, little depositional activity, and a high degree of tectonic stability have led to a low level disturbance of the spatial distribution of artifacts on the surface over long periods of time. While Hardaker’s hypothesis is difficult to prove with absolute certainty, we agree that there is very little reason to doubt the belief that the “big picture” distributions of lithic artifacts in the Zebra Valley have changed relatively little since they were initially dropped by hominins in the past. While some skepticism is warranted in terms of the interpretation of the fine-grained spatial patterning of artifacts, we share Hardaker’s confidence that artifacts within an assemblage have some intrinsic contextual relationship with one another and that these assemblages therefore have a reasonable degree of integrity. The second section consists of a brief review of previous work on Early, Middle, and Later Stone Age sites in Namibia and southern Africa as a whole. While it is brief, Hardaker’s review of earlier work in Namibia is thorough and badly needed in a publication intended for a broad professional audience. Much of the Namibian literature is “gray” and consists of a large number of unpublished works, in addition to articles published in local or regional journals. Synthesizing these studies by itself represents a welcome contribution to the field. The third chapter covers methodological issues. Over the eight-year span of the project, Hardaker’s team employed a number of approaches to locate sites, including studying satellite imagery, pedestrian transects, and more random field walking. At the identified sites, artifacts were

Myths about the State of Nature and the Reality of Stateless Societies

Abstract This article argues the following points. The Hobbesian hypothesis, which we define as the claim that all people are better off under state authority than they would be outside of it, is an empirical claim about all stateless societies. It is an essential premise in most contractarian justifications of government sovereignty. Many small- scale societies are stateless. Anthropological evidence from them provides sufficient reason to doubt the truth of the hypothesis, if not to reject it entirely. Therefore, contractarian theory has not done what it claims to do: it has not justified state sovereignty to each person subject to it by demonstrating that they benefit from that authority. To be justified in contractarian terms, states have to do something to improve the living standards of disadvantaged people under their rule.

The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?

Once again, we anthropologists are confronted by the mixed bag that is Jared Diamond’s scholarship. In this most recent effort, Diamond offers his most expansive and wide-ranging discussion yet. The World Until Yesterday ranges from crosscultural social theory building to dieting tips and social engineering tactics. As with much of Diamond’s previous anthropological scholarship, many “big picture” issues are presented plainly and elegantly, with some substantive theoretical insights. Distracting from these insights, however, are the book’s outmoded epistemological bases and the many factual errors with which readers of Diamond are now accustomed. At a point, this book boils down to a list of generalizations about “traditional” societies based on a superficial reading of outdated ethnography and conversations between Diamond and New Guinea porters. Finally, this book contains huge tracts of commentary on modern life that, at best, are boring to read. At worst, many readers may find these sections to be both paternalistic and offensive. This book is based on the premise that traditional societies are organized in fundamentally different ways than modern ones. Diamond goes about explaining how and why such differences emerged through a cross-cultural and ecologically founded examination of a range of small-scale societies. It is my opinion that aspects of this exercise are the strongest points of the book. Diamond presents some compelling accounts of the ways in which environmental, demographic, and economic variables shaped various traditional social structures, practices, and so forth. He also presents cogent discussions of some theoretical issues surrounding cultural adaptation, diffusion, and migration. In hedging that not all cultural practices are ecologically adaptive, Diamond discusses the practice of widow strangling among the Kaulong people of New Britain. I think we can all agree that there is little direct ecological basis for this practice and those who would find some materialist motivation here would have to be extremely creative (perhaps in channeling the spirit of Marvin Harris). At the same time, Diamond is quite effective in showing that many structural aspects of cultural variability, at least at large scales, stem from observable dynamics of geography and ecology. This is not effective or striking because it is particularly new. Rather, it is more the result of the fact that the modern field of anthropology has largely abandoned this approach, which clearly holds virtue. More problematic is the way in which Diamond goes about collecting and organizing his evidence. It is clear, as in his other books, that New Guinea serves as Diamond’s primary frame of reference in terms of what traditional societies are like. Here, Diamond relies mostly on anecdotes and conversations with his porters in the process of studying birds. Diamond also uses ethnographic accounts of other societies, including (but not limited to) the !Kung, Mbuti, Efe, Ache, Siriono, Yanomamo, Nuer, and Trobriand Islanders. As one might guess based on this list, Diamond relies to a great extent on the “classic” ethnographies of early to mid-twentieth century anthropologists, such as Malinowski, Evans-Pritchard, and Turnbull. Accordingly, Diamond falls into the trap of essentializing these societies into static, passive, and voiceless entities, as did the early ethnographers on which so much of his discussion depends. More importantly, Diamond goes to great lengths to frame traditional societies in direct opposition to the modern world. In doing so, he exoticizes and objectifies his subjects, while justifying the practices of modern states in terms of the failings of traditional ones. To clarify, I am not so concerned about this from the perspective of current post-modern anthropological scholarship. Rather, it is clear that this paving under of diversity and variability undermines Diamond’s attempts at theory building. In the absence of any serious attempt at confronting spatial and temporal variability within