From Hafting to Retooling: Miniaturization as Tolerance Control in Paleolithic and Neolithic Blade Production

Kuhn, Steven L.; Shimelmitz, Ron

doi:10.1007/s10816-022-09575-5

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Despite raw material selection and transport remaining relatively stable at Castelcivita, the gic – ars assemblages are characterized by a marked miniaturization 128 across all components of lithic technology. This strategy might have resulted in a more economical use of raw materials 129 . In Italy, carinated technology is more markedly associated with regions where foragers relied on low-quality raw materials and/or small-sized pebbles 38 , 119 , 130 , suggesting that inter-regional differences in the frequency of carinated cores may also be influenced by the quality and abundance of raw materials.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A pre-Campanian Ignimbrite techno-cultural shift in the Aurignacian sequence of Grotta di Castelcivita, southern Italy

Falcucci,

Arrighi,

Spagnolo

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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The Aurignacian is the first European technocomplex assigned to Homo sapiens recognized across a wide geographic extent. Although archaeologists have identified marked chrono-cultural shifts within the Aurignacian mostly by examining the techno-typological variations of stone and osseous tools, unraveling the underlying processes driving these changes remains a significant scientific challenge. Scholars have, for instance, hypothesized that the Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) super-eruption and the climatic deterioration associated with the onset of Heinrich Event 4 had a substantial impact on European foraging groups. The technological shift from the Protoaurignacian to the Early Aurignacian is regarded as an archaeological manifestation of adaptation to changing environments. However, some of the most crucial regions and stratigraphic sequences for testing these scenarios have been overlooked. In this study, we delve into the high-resolution stratigraphic sequence of Grotta di Castelcivita in southern Italy. Here, the Uluzzian is followed by three Aurignacian layers, sealed by the eruptive units of the CI. Employing a comprehensive range of quantitative methods—encompassing attribute analysis, 3D model analysis, and geometric morphometrics—we demonstrate that the key technological feature commonly associated with the Early Aurignacian developed well before the deposition of the CI tephra. Our study provides thus the first direct evidence that the volcanic super-eruption played no role in this cultural process. Furthermore, we show that local paleo-environmental proxies do not correlate with the identified patterns of cultural continuity and discontinuity. Consequently, we propose alternative research paths to explore the role of demography and regional trajectories in the development of the Upper Paleolithic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A pre-Campanian Ignimbrite techno-cultural shift in the Aurignacian sequence of Grotta di Castelcivita, southern Italy

Falcucci,

Arrighi,

Spagnolo

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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“…Indeed, impact damage suggests that unretouched quartz pieces from the Howiesons Poort were sometimes hafted as barbs (de la Peña et al 2018). Experimental evidence shows that when it comes to replacing inserts in compound tools, it is the absolute rather than relative size variation that determines whether a replacement will fit; so the smaller the inserts, the easier they will be to repair, again suggesting miniaturization may be a correlate of compound tools (Kuhn and Shimelmitz 2022). Direct archaeological evidence for compound tools is exceedingly rare as it requires extraordinary levels of preservation, but we should entertain the possibility that compound tools were more common than the record allows us to see, and they may explain at least some of the miniaturized lithics of the African LSA.…”

Section: Utilitarian Miniaturizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Miniaturization and Abstraction in the Later Stone Age

Shipton

2023

Biol Theory

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This article offers some hypotheses to explain Later Stone Age lithic miniaturization: the systematic creation of small stone flakes on the finest-grained materials. Fundamentally, this phenomenon appears to represent the prioritization of stone tool sharpness over longevity, and a disposable mode of using stone tools. Ethnographic evidence from Australasia, the Andaman Islands, and Africa is used to suggest some specific functions for miniaturized lithics, as well as their relationship to other aspects of Later Stone Age material culture, including ochre crayons, shell beads, and notched bones. Miniaturized lithic functions are hypothesized to have a common basis in the cognitive capacity for abstraction: having ideas about ideas. The technological and social affordances of abstraction may have given later Homo sapiens significant adaptive advantages over other members of our genus.

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“…The growing body of evidence suggests that throughout the Upper Paleolithic, there was an increase in lithic miniaturization. This phenomenon is closely related to human strategies for adapting to changing environments, as well as the mobility and settlement dynamics of highly mobile foraging groups (Kuhn, 2020;Kuhn and Shimelmitz, 2023;Pargeter and Shea, 2019).…”

Section: Blank Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unravelling technological behaviors through core reduction intensity. The case of the early Protoaurignacian assemblage from Fumane Cave.

Lombao,

Falcucci,

Moos

et al. 2023

Preprint

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This paper investigates core reduction intensity in the early Protoaurignacian lithic assemblage from Fumane Cave in northeastern Italy. Here, reduction intensity was used as a means to characterize blank selection strategies and raw material management, explore the variability of knapping strategies throughout the reduction sequence by reconstructing the operatory field of core assemblages, and finally address the relationship between blades and bladelets. The latter aspect was particularly important to gain insights into the behavioral and chrono-cultural significance of laminar productions in the framework of the Aurignacian technocomplex. To meet these goals, experimental work was conducted thanks to 3D scanning technology to compare different methods and variables for measuring reduction intensity, including the percentage of non-cortical surface, the Scar Density Index (SDI), and a novel adaptation of the Volumetric Reconstruction Method (VRM). Results demonstrate the effectiveness and potential of adapting VRM for studying reduction intensity in Upper Paleolithic laminar cores, and the provided R scripts and datasets will enable this method to be applied to other contexts with little or no modification of the workflow. The reduction intensity measures applied to the Protoaurignacian assemblage from Fumane Cave reveal slight variations depending on the abundance and proximity of available raw materials selected for blank production. Not surprisingly, the most abundant raw material variety – the Maiolica – has the largest number of less reduced cores, although reduction is fairly high across all cores discarded at the site. The observed variability in the operatory field and the interrelation between blade and bladelet productions underscore the complexity and flexibility of Protoaurignacian human behavior, which also complicate a definitive separation between the operatory fields of blade and bladelet productions. These findings are particularly important to emphasize the importance of considering reduction intensity when examining technological variability and human behavior in Aurignacian studies. We hope that the proposed adaptation of the VRM and the effective combination with other measures of reduction will allow future studies to rightfully incorporate reduction intensity as a temporal component in studies on stone tool production to enhance our understanding of the adaptive behaviors of Homo sapiens in diverse ecological settings and better frame the development of the Upper Paleolithic.

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From Hafting to Retooling: Miniaturization as Tolerance Control in Paleolithic and Neolithic Blade Production

Cited by 7 publications

References 76 publications

A pre-Campanian Ignimbrite techno-cultural shift in the Aurignacian sequence of Grotta di Castelcivita, southern Italy

A pre-Campanian Ignimbrite techno-cultural shift in the Aurignacian sequence of Grotta di Castelcivita, southern Italy

Miniaturization and Abstraction in the Later Stone Age

Unravelling technological behaviors through core reduction intensity. The case of the early Protoaurignacian assemblage from Fumane Cave.

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