Metin I. Eren

Are Upper Paleolithic blade cores more productive than Middle Paleolithic discoidal cores? A replication experiment

It is widely believed that the change from discoidal flake production to prismatic blade-making during the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe led to enhanced technological efficiency. Specifically, blade-making is thought to promote higher rates of blank production, more efficient and complete reduction of the parent core, and a large increase in the total length of cutting edge per weight of stone. Controlled replication experiments using large samples, computer-assisted measurements, and statistical tests of several different measures failed to support any of these propositions. When resharpened, the use-life of flake edges actually surpasses that of blades of equivalent mass because the narrower blades are more rapidly exhausted by retouch. Our results highlight the need to replace static measurements of edge length that promote an illusion of efficiency with a more dynamic approach that takes the whole reduction sequence into account. An unexpected by-product of our replications was the discovery that real gains in cutting-edge length per weight of stone are linked to surface area. There is now a need to test the proposition that all the perceived advantages currently bestowed upon blades only occurred during the shift from macroblade to bladelet production. If our results are duplicated in further experiments, the notion of economical blades will have to be rejected and alternative explanations sought for their appearance in the early Upper Paleolithic. While Aurignacian bladelet (Dufour) production could signal the advent of composite tool technology (wooden handles or shafts with bladelet inserts), this does not help to explain why macroblades were also produced in large numbers. We may need to reexamine the notion that macroblades were of more symbolic than functional significance to their makers.

MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC SKILL LEVEL AND THE INDIVIDUAL KNAPPER: AN EXPERIMENT

It has been proposed that Paleolithic studies should abandon their focus on groups and turn instead to the individual. If individuals are to emerge from the lithics-dominated Middle Paleolithic record, the best chance of success is to identify the products of learner knappers from those of their mentors. To do so we need a framework of knapping standards by which to measure Middle Paleolithic skill level. Selected measurements on a sequence of 100 subcircular Levallois tortoise core reductions by a knapper of intermediate skill were compared with 25 reductions by his highly experienced instructor. Four measures emerge as potential markers of skill level: total stone consumption during initial core preparation, consumption from the upper and lower core surface, symmetry of the first detached Levallois flake, and failure rate of that detachment by overshooting the cores rim. These markers allow us to discriminate between the work of a modern learner and his mentor, but > 30 percent were misclassified. The learning trajectory is more complex than the mere honing of skills through practice and is punctuated by increasing numbers of mentor-like reductions. It follows that skill-level measures on their own are imperfect discriminators. Personal markers other than those of skill level must be found by which to seek individuals in the Middle Paleolithic record.

Were Bifaces used as Mobile Cores by Clovis Foragers in the North American Lower Great Lakes Region? An Archaeological Test of Experimentally Derived Quantitative Predictions

Abstract The notion that Paleoindians used bifaces as “mobile cores” is widespread in Late Pleistocene lithic research, although it can be difficult to test empirically. Here, we use experimental replication to establish two quantitative predictions that would be indicative of biface-core transport. If bifaces are being used as mobile cores, then we should see among a group of sites of varying toolstone procurement distances (a) a negative relationship between toolstone procurement distance and the mean unifacial tool maximum-thickness value from each site; and (b) a negative relationship between toolstone procurement distance and the variability (standard deviation) of maximum flake thickness values from each site. We then test these predictions against data from six Clovis sites of varying toolstone procurement distance in the Lower Great Lakes region. The results show that both sets of data possess a strong, positive relationship with increasing toolstone procurement distance, which is inconsistent with the notion that biface-cores were transported. Since the Clovis presence in the Lower Great Lakes is widely acknowledged to be a colonization pulse, we conclude that the lack of biface-core transport there is an economizing and risk-mitigating behavior consistent with the models of Kuhn (1994) and Meltzer (2002, 2003, 2004).

Experimental Evaluation of the Levallois “Core Shape Maintenance” Hypothesis

... that the removal of the larger central flakes ... was predominately a core maintenance technique intended to mitigate the problem of the increasing convexity and central mass of the surface of Levallois (and other types of single-surface cores). Unless this tendency is addressed, it will prevent the maintenance of consistent core morphology throughout the course of reduction. (Sandgathe 2004:147).

ON THE INFERRED AGE AND ORIGIN OF LITHIC BI-POINTS FROM THE EASTERN SEABOARD AND THEIR RELEVANCE TO THE PLEIS - TOCENE PEOPLING OF NORTH AMERICA

Abstract Recently, advocates of an “older -than- Clovis” occupation of eastern North America have suggested that bi-pointed leaf-shaped lanceolate stone bifaces provide definitive evidence of human culture on the eastern seaboard prior to the Late Glacial Maximum. This argument hinges on two suppositions : first, that points of this form are exceedingly rare in the East and second, that all known occurrences of these point forms are from landforms or depositionaI environments dating to some time before the late Pleistocene. Neither of these suppositions is supported by the archaeological record. Bi-pointed leaf shaped blades have been recoveredfrom throughout the Middle Atlantic and Northeast, where they have been repeatedly dated, either radiometrically or by association with diagnostic artifacts, to between the Late Archaic and the Early Woodland. Statistical analysis of supposed “older-than-Clovis” leaf-shaped blades demonstrates that there are no significant differences in morphology between them and unequivocally Middle Holocene leaf-shaped blades. Until such time as evidence demonstrates otherwise, there is no reason to accept that these leaf-shaped bifaces are diagnostic of a Pleistocene, much less pre-Late Glacial Maximum, occupation in eastern North America.

Dynamic Approaches to Teaching Lithic Technology

Abstract Anthropology departments in universities and museums do not always have a staff member trained in flintknapping. This can be problematic because aspects of flaked stone technology can be difficult to illustrate to students and the public without replicative demonstrations. Fortunately, there has been a recent florescence of flintknapping videos on the website www. YouTube.com. This phenomenon allows educators to expand, cost-free, their pedagogical arsenal by bringing flintknappers of all skill-levels into the classroom. Here we describe the advantages and disadvantages of using YouTube flintknapping videos in an educational setting. While there are ethical issues to consider, YouTube ultimately offers unique possibilities to enrich and enliven the teaching of prehistoric lithic technologies.

AN ASSESSMENT OF STONE WEAPON TIP STANDARDIZATION DURING THE CLOVIS–FOLSOM TRANSITION IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES

It has long been assumed that Folsom points are more standardized than Clovis points, although an adequate test of this proposition has yet to be undertaken. Here, we address that deficiency by using data from a sample of Folsom and Clovis points recovered from sites across the western United States. We used geometric morphometric techniques to capture point shape and then conducted statistical analyses of variability associated with Clovis and Folsom point bases and blades. Our results demonstrate that Folsom bases and blades are less variable than those on earlier Clovis points, indicating an increase in point standardization during the Early Paleoindian period. In addition, despite published claims to the contrary, Clovis and Folsom point bases are no more variable than blades. Based on these results, we conducted additional analyses to examine the modularity and size of Clovis and Folsom points. The results suggest Clovis points have more integrated base and blade segments than Folsom points. We suggest that several classes of Clovis points—intended for different functions—might have been in use during the Clovis period and that the later Folsom points might have served only as weapon tips, the shape of which were constrained by the fluting process. Durante mucho tiempo, se ha supuesto que las puntas de proyectil Folsom son más estandarizadas que las puntas Clovis; sin embargo, hasta la fecha no se había llevado a cabo una prueba adecuada de esta propuesta. Aquí se aborda este asunto usando datos de una muestra de puntas Folsom y Clovis recuperadas en sitios del oeste de Estados Unidos. Se utilizaron técnicas de morfometría geométrica para analizar la forma de las puntas y se llevaron a cabo análisis estadísticos de la variabilidad asociada con las bases y los bordes de las puntas Clovis y Folsom. Nuestros resultados demuestran que las bases y los bordes de las puntas de proyectil Folsom son menos variables que los de las puntas Clovis. También demostramos que tanto para las puntas Clovis como para las puntas Folsom, las bases no son más variables que los bordes. Los primeros resultados indican un aumento en la estandarización de las puntas de proyectil durante el período Paleoindio temprano. Los resultados sugieren que la hipótesis de que el retoque aumenta la variación de forma asociada con los bordes en relación con las bases carece de fundamento. Con base en estos resultados llevamos a cabo análisis adicionales para examinar la modularidad y el tamaño de las puntas de proyectil Clovis y Folsom. Los resultados sugieren que las puntas Clovis, que son más variables en forma y longitud que las puntas Folsom, poseen segmentos de base y de borde más integrados que las puntas Folsom. Sugerimos que varias clases de puntas Clovis —destinadas para diferentes funciones— pudieron haber estado en uso durante el período Clovis y que las puntas Folsom pudieron haber servido solo como puntas de armas. Parece que la estandarización y el uso especializado de las puntas Folsom evolucionaron conjuntamente en un circuito de retroalimentación resultante tanto de las limitaciones del acanalamiento Folsom como de los beneficios para la función de la punta que pueden haber resultado del mismo acanalamiento.

IN THE EASTERN FLUTED POINT TRADITION

The late Pleistocene archaeological record of Eastern North America has — and will continue to — shed light on a number of issues directly relevant to the peopling of North America, as well as on the broader anthropological issues of (uf644) how humans colonize new and unfamiliar landscapes, (uf645) how climatic and environmental changes influence behavior and technology, and (uf646) how sparse populations of hunter-gatherers use the landscape and its resources for survival. Gingerich’s (In review, uf645uf643uf644uf647) In the Eastern Fluted Point Tradition is a strong addition to an excellent tradition of volumes, both old (e.g. Ellis and Lothrop’s [uf644uf64cuf64buf64c] Eastern Paleoindian Lithic Resource Use; Isaac and Tankersley’s [uf644uf64cuf64cuf643] Early Paleoindian Economics of Eastern North America) and new (Chapdelaine’s [uf645uf643uf644uf645] Late Pleistocene Archaeology and Ecology in the Far Northeast), that broadly examine late Pleistocene Eastern North America. The papers contained within Eastern Fluted Point Tradition are varied from specific artifact studies to broad investigations of regional records, but all have wide relevance. This stems from an emphasis on empirical data, especially field data, that is explicitly present throughout the volume. While there is some data analysis (sensu Lycett and Chauhan uf645uf643uf644uf643) communicated, there is far more data reporting, inventory, and description. There is also a tremendous amount of research history that is covered, which can be useful when one wishes to get up to speed on a particular site but does not necessarily need (or want!) to find and read obscure site reports. Overall, this is a book that nicely balances Boyer’s (uf645uf643uf644uf645) positive Science and Erudition modes of scholarship, but in this reviewer’s opinion leans more towards the latter. Miller and Gingerich (Chapter uf644), McWeeney (Chapter uf645), and Halligan (Chapter uf646) set the stage with discussions of chronology and environment. In addition to discussions of fluted projectile point chronology and the relationship between time and basal concavity, Miller and Gingerich provide a useful uf64a-page table of radiocarbon dates from Paleoindian sites across Eastern North America. McWeeney and Halligan broadly summarize the paleoenvironments of northern and southern Eastern North America, respectively, and touch upon all the usual suspects: pollen, phytoliths, phosphate analyses, glacial studies, and other geological and biotic records (e.g., fauna). There are uf644uf643 chapters that comprise the bulk of the volume. These chapters provide a nice balance of new and old data, literature review, and research history. New fieldwork, initiated at well known sites such as Shoop (Carr et al., Chapter uf647) and Shawnee Minisink (Gingerich, Chapter uf64c), is reported and integrated nicely with previous research. Fresh assemblage analyses on older (Plenge, Gingerich Chapter uf649; Wells Creek, Chapter uf64a) and newer (Higgins, Blong, Chapter uf644uf643; Topper, Smallwood et al., Chapter uf644uf644) sites alike provide valuable clues to site-level Paleoindian behavior, as well as an abundance of data, that, when integrated into regional analyses, will be useful for answering broader questions and developing several new ones. Robinson and Ort (Chapter uf648) continue their ongoing investigation into the Bull Brook site, piecing together clues from artifact studies and historical records. Broster et al. (Chapter uf644uf645) succinctly review the Paleoindian record of Tennessee, synthesizing all the work of those authors and others into some interesting hypotheses linking the reorganization of mobility strategies with an early emergence of regionalized social groups. Of the uf644uf643 central chapters, which are all strong, two in particular deserved special mention. Carr et al. (Chapter uf64b) present a uf649uf644-page beast on the Flint Run Complex in northern Virginia. The tremendous amount of work the authors put into assembling this chapter resulted not only in an excellent synthesis of the research history and vast literature dedicated to this area, but a lucid picture of late Pleistocene human behavior on the eastern seaboard. The other chapter deserving

Southeastern Mediterranean Peoples Between 130,000 and 10,000 Years Ago, by Elena A.A. Garcea (Editor)

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