Hugues Plisson

Late Mousterian Persistence near the Arctic Circle

Artefacts at a site in the northern Urals dating to about 33,000 years ago suggest a last northern refuge of Neandertals. Palaeolithic sites in Russian high latitudes have been considered as Upper Palaeolithic and thus representing an Arctic expansion of modern humans. Here we show that at Byzovaya, in the western foothills of the Polar Urals, the technological structure of the lithic assemblage makes it directly comparable with Mousterian Middle Palaeolithic industries that so far have been exclusively attributed to the Neandertal populations in Europe. Radiocarbon and optical-stimulated luminescence dates on bones and sand grains indicate that the site was occupied during a short period around 28,500 carbon-14 years before the present (about 31,000 to 34,000 calendar years ago), at the time when only Upper Palaeolithic cultures occupied lower latitudes of Eurasia. Byzovaya may thus represent a late northern refuge for Neandertals, about 1000 km north of earlier known Mousterian sites.

Earliest evidence for ground-edge axes: 35,400±410 cal BP from Jawoyn Country, Arnhem Land

Abstract Evidence for the world’s earliest stone tools dates to 3.4 million years ago and pre-dates the earliest known Homo species in eastern Africa. However ground-edged tools did not appear until the dispersal of cognitively fully modern Homo sapiens sapiens out of Africa. We report on the discovery of the earliest securely dated ground-edge implement in the world at Nawarla Gabarnmang (northern Australia). The fragment of ground-edge axe is sandwiched between four statistically indistinguishable AMS radiocarbon dates of 35,400±410 cal BP, indicating technological innovations by fully modern Homo sapiens sapiens at the eastern end of the Out-of-Africa 2 Southern Arc dispersal route.

Current Analytical Frameworks for Studies of Use-Wear on Ground Stone Tools

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the current frameworks employed in use–wear studies of ground stone tools, and to discuss the objectives and limitations of this approach. It is argued that, along with providing valuable data for assessing the kinetics and materials processed with a tool, use–wear studies also allow for the investigation of the entire life history of an artifact, including manufacture, recycling, and discard phases.

The Origins of Ground-edge Axes: New Findings from Nawarla Gabarnmang, Arnhem Land (Australia) and Global Implications for the Evolution of Fully Modern Humans

The grinding of stone to make sharp cutting edges did not evolve with the emergence of biologically modern humans in Africa, but late in the Pleistocene at the completion or nearcompletion of the Out-of-Africa 2 migration. Here we discuss the earliest securely-dated fragment of ground-edge axe from Australia, dated at 35,500 cal. bp, an age slightly older or comparable to the earliest ages for edge-grinding from the Pacific Oceans western seaboard. In this region ground-edge axes did not evolve with the emergence of agriculture, nor for the clearance of forests, but, rather, as socially mediated technology, part of the development of symbolic storage that is the hallmark of the evolution of cognitively modern humans at the geographical end, during, or following, Out-of-Africa 2.

Thirty Years of Experimental Research on the Breakage Patterns of Stone Age Osseous Points. Overview, Methodological Problems and Current Perspectives

Numerous projectile experiments focusing on the replication and use of Stone Age spearheads and arrowheads made of bone or antler have been undertaken since the early 1980s. A survey of this literature is presented here, focusing on aspects of point resistance and breakage patterns, in order to provide a synthetic view of the experimentally-attested macroscopic use-wear traces on this type of implements. Emerging from this general overview, a consistent discrepancy in the extent of fracture damage between the experimental results and the archeological record is pointed out. A first explanation for this situation is suggested, based on recent experimental results. Finally, several directions for further research on this topic are proposed.