Philip G. Chase

Middle paleolithic symbolism: A review of current evidence and interpretations

Abstract Identifying the origins of symbolism and of linguistically structured behavior is crucial to our nderstanding of the evolution of modern humanity. A critical survey of the archaeological data indicates that many aspects of modern adaptation—foresight and planning, affection and mutual assistance, and even a sence of esthetics—are clearly apparent by the Middle Paleolithic. However, currently available evidence fails to indicate the presence of symbolic thought or symbolic behavior before the Middle/Upper Paleolithic transition.

Symbols and paleolithic artifacts: Style, standardization, and the imposition of arbitrary form

Abstract One of the main problems in the study of human behavioral evolution is to identify the beginnings of the habitual creation and use of symbols. This study investigates the theoretical issues involved in inferring symboling in a Middle or Lower Paleolithic context from three aspects of artifact manufacture—style, imposition of arbitrary form, and standardization. Because any of these phenomena can result from nonsymbolic behavior, none can be used alone to infer symbolic behavior.

Testing the reality of a living floor with archaeological data

No matter how “pristine” an archaeological assemblage may appear, archaeologists should always be concerned with documenting the degree and nature of possible postdepositional disturbances. This paper outlines a number of tests that can be applied to archaeological, vs. geological, data to assess these effects, and their use is illustrated in an excavation of a Lower Paleolithic site in France. Although this site was originally thought to contain a possible “living floor” reflecting relatively little postdepositional disturbance, the tests applied here clearly show that both the lithic and faunal components in large part reflect secondary deposits and most probably are only coincidentally associated. From a methodological perspective, this study clearly demonstrates the power of these tests for assessing the taphonomic history of any site containing lithic and faunal remains, and the use of this particular example illustrates the need for these kinds of tests to be applied at the time of excavation.

The Question of Ritual Cannibalism at Grotta Guattari [and Comments and Replies]

The Neandertal cranium (Circeo I) from Guattari Cave at Monte Circeo has, in the 50 years since its discovery, become an icon for Neandertal mortuary practices. The isolated nature of the specimen, its basal fragmentation, and its context have led many to conclude that Neandertals practiced mortuary ritual at Monte Circeo in the late Pleistocene. Our work on recent Native American skeletal remains attributed to cannibalism and on an extensive collection of trophy skulls from Melanesia housed at the University of Rome has revealed characteristic signatures of human manipulation. Our study of the original fossil shows that most fracture on the Circeo specimen was prehistoric but that no unambiguous evidence of hominid modification to the Neandertal cranium exists. Observed damage patterns are more typical of nonhuman agents. The hypothesis of ritual cannibalism at Grotta Guattari s unsupported by our findings.

Taphonomy and Zooarchaeology of a Mousterian Faunal Assemblage from La Quina, Charente, France

AbstractThe 1986 excavations at the Mousterian site of La Quina, Charente, France included a witness section left intact by an earlier researcher, Germaine Henri-Martin. Zooarchaeological study of material from this witness section was designed to evaluate the effects of a number of different natural and human factors. This analysis demonstrated that the assemblage was actually the product of a number of different processes, some natural and some human, operating one after the other. The first of these processes was the accumulation offaunal remains by humans, a process that included some damage to the bones and probably some effect on the relative frequencies of different elements. This wasfollowed by damage and probably partial destruction by carnivores, and then by small-scale displacement by stream action. This complex series of events obscured details of the human activities originally responsiblefor the accumulation, although some behavioral information could still be extracted.

On Symbols and the Palaeolithic

G = 0.44, n.s., N = i io]). Given the comparatively arge size of the Gusii and Kikuyu samples (the others range from I IO to 392, X = 25o) it is impossible to determine whether there is indeed a real biological difference between these two societies and the others with respect to the effects of polygyny on sex ratio or whether the difference reflects only the lower statistical power of tests conducted on small samples.4 In sum, Whitings study reveals the important influence of marriage form on human sex ratios and should stimulate much future research. The analyses reported here suggest that to determine more precisely the causes of sex-ratio variation it may now be more appropriate to analyze such effects on a society-by-society basis using samples roughly comparable in size. This is because polygyny is likely to have very different effects on the circumstances of conception in different social contexts. Aggregating studies may ultimately obscure the critical determinants of sex-ratio variation.

New Method for Describing and Analyzing Artifact Shape

A simple, yet objective and replicable method for recording a number of variables of the two-dimensional morphology of artifacts is presented and described. This method permits precise quantification of variables such as artifact shape and area, retouch length along the perimeter of chipped stone tools, measures of convexity or concavity, area and location of cortex, etc. Moreover, it allows for direct comparisons among varied artifact assemblages.

Specialization and the Middle/Upper Paleolithic Transition [and Comments and Reply]

Discussions of the differences between the Middle and the Upper Paleolithic usually oppose them as if they differed in essence and resort to lists of features apparently disconnected among themselves. This approach may be questioned; in fact, we are dealing with successive stages of a continuous evolutionary process, and we ought to be seeking, on a broader geographical and chrono-cultural basis, a unifying principle of which the features considered diagnostic are implications. That principle may be the search for greater efficiency in the interaction with the environment that in the Paleolithic produced a tendency toward specialization. Thus the Upper Paleolithic would include archaeological manifestations that are demonstrably specialized, and the Middle Paleolithic would be viewed as a stage in which the first steps in that direction can be distinguished. The article discusses the conditions that characterize specialization, its conceptualization, and its archaeological identification. This approach also allows one to distinguish different levels of accomplishment within a given stage and to compare the degrees of evolution achieved by Paleolithic groups in different areas and continents before the steps were taken that led to food production.

Illustrating Lithic Artifacts: Information for Scientific Illustrators

AbstractThe illustration of archaeological artifacts in North America tends to be of uneven quality and this is especially true of flaked stone artifacts. In general, this results from the fact that scientific illustrators are not usually specialized in the rendering of archaeological material. This is a major problem in the illustration of lithics, since the conventions are more numerous and perhaps less self-evident than is the case with other materials; and therefore it requires a special knowledge of these artifacts to be able to draw them.