The formation of lithic assemblages

Barton, C. Michael; Riel‐Salvatore, Julien

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2014.03.031

Cited by 108 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Plot of the first two axes of a correspondence analysis of the Nasera fauna. [52,53]. The tool abundance : artefact volumetric density ratio decreases up the stratigraphic sequence (r s ¼ 20.881, p ¼ 0.007) indicating a general decrease in the relative frequency of formal (retouched) tools, and thus increased occupation duration over time.…”

Section: Assessing Changes In Residential Mobilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first is the ratio of the number of retouched tools to artefact volumetric density for each assemblage. As shown through extensive modelling and application to sites in Eurasia and North America, as the time spent at a residential site increases, the relative abundance of retouched tools, some of which are presumably transported from the previous residential sites [50], declines as their numbers become swamped by the large amounts of debris produced during on-site flaking episodes [51][52][53]. This results in a strong, significant negative relationship between retouched tool count and artefact volumetric density.…”

Section: (Ii) Occupation Durationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A demographic perspective on the Middle to Later Stone Age transition from Nasera rockshelter, Tanzania

Tryon

Faith

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Increased population density is among the proposed drivers of the behavioural changes culminating in the Middle to Later Stone Age (MSA–LSA) transition and human dispersals from East Africa, but reliable archaeological measures of demographic change are lacking. We use Late Pleistocene–Holocene lithic and faunal data from Nasera rockshelter (Tanzania) to show progressive declines in residential mobility—a variable linked to population density—and technological shifts, the latter associated with environmental changes. These data suggest that the MSA–LSA transition is part of a long-term pattern of changes in residential mobility and technology that reflect human responses to increased population density, with dispersals potentially marking a complementary response to larger populations. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Major transitions in human evolution’.

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Section: Assessing Changes In Residential Mobilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: (Ii) Occupation Durationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A demographic perspective on the Middle to Later Stone Age transition from Nasera rockshelter, Tanzania

Tryon

Faith

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…As with any simulation of complex behavior, such models are usually too simplified to map directly onto a real system, specifically systems with cultural components (Breitenecker et al 2015;André Costopoulos 2015). Instead, agent-based models provide an environment for experimentation to understand the feasibility of possible hypotheses for the formation of the archaeological record (Barceló and Del Castillo 2016; Barton and Riel-Salvatore 2014;Davies et al 2016;Dean et al 2000;Kowarik 2012;Premo 2006Premo , 2010. Agent-based models simulate the process of creating phenomena emergent in the archaeological record (Crabtree and Kohler 2012).…”

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confidence: 99%

The Effects of Secondary Recycling on the Technological Character of Lithic Assemblages

2020

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Recycling of lithic artifacts, including both lithic scavenging and secondary recycling, is a widely recognized phenomenon in the Paleolithic archaeological record, in some instances creating tools with morphological signatures characteristic of multiple time periods or technological systems. These types of tools often define transitional industries including those at the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition, suggesting a variety of behavioral interpretations for the supposed evolution of Middle Paleolithic toolkits to Upper Paleolithic toolkits. Here we test an alternative hypothesis that transitional assemblages formed via secondary recycling of stone artifacts produced by two technologically divergent populations. Results from the application of an agent-based model indicate how ordered sets of assemblages resembling archaeological transitional sequences can result from the combination of simple recycling behaviors and periods of sediment deposition and erosion. This implies that some transitional assemblages could have formed without the interaction of different populations and/or without technological evolution.

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“…The literature referenced before indicates as the main archeological variables for the definition of the duration of occupation, artifact and tool density(Barton and Riel-Salvatore 2014;Clark and Barton 2017), expressed as retouch frequency and lithic volumetric density (artifacts per cubic meter). Logistically base camps and short-term camps were recognized byClark and Barton (2017) based on the correlation of those two variables, producing a table of reference of material correlates of mobility.…”

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confidence: 99%

Use of Lithic Assemblages for the Definition of Short-Term Occupations in Hunter-Gatherer Prehistory

Cascalheira

Bicho

2020

Short-Term Occupations in Paleolithic Archaeology

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One of the main elements in prehistoric research is the study of settlement patterns. In the last five decades, stemming partially from Binford's research on the topic, the idea of settlement patterns is based on site typology, including the traditional residential and logistic concepts. Both models of land use and exploitation are certainly marked by the notion of short-term occupation. This concept, used freely by many archaeologists, tends to rely on two main ideas: an occupation lasted a short span of time and resulted in a limited amount of material culture. Our aim, based on our results from various archaeological case studies dated to the Upper Paleolithic of Portugal, is to show that neither idea is necessarily correct: e.g. there may be short-term occupations with the production of large amounts of artifacts, such as lithic workshops; there might be very small collections, such as lithic caches, resulting from short occupations but with very long uses of the site; and most times, both are hardly differentiated within complex palimpsests. Our study shows that the common use of lithic volumetric density and retouch frequency is not always sufficient to differentiate between short and long-term occupations. Also, there are other variables that are more sensitive to indicate the duration of occupation of an archaeological context that should be used in the identification of time length. The archaeological use of 'Short-term occupation' Prehistoric archaeology has been fighting hard to understand the archaeological record and how it relates to past human evolution and anthropogenic adaptations to the changing environment. The development of actualistic studies (sensu Binford 1981) in the last half century, including such specialized disciplines as Ethnoarchaeology, Geoarchaeology or Zooarchaeology, have greatly helped us to understand, not only the archaeological material culture, but also site formation processes (e.g. Schiffer 1983, 1987) in a wide and very diversified manner. Nevertheless, archaeologists still endure complex problems for the definition of universally used concepts related to past human adaptations. In some cases, however, archaeologists just freely use those concepts without the necessary careful or proper consideration of their meaning and the impact that they might have in further interpretations of the distant past. The concept of 'shortterm occupation' seems to be such a case. The idea of short-term occupation has been frequently used to succinctly describe site´s or lithic assemblage's characteristics (e.g. Porraz 2009; Rios-Garaizar 2016; Picin 2017). Most times, it is, in one way or another, related to work on settlement patterns, starting with the classic Binford' studies on the Nunamiut settlement system and related discussion of site structuring and intra-site spatial organization (e.g. Binford 1978a,

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The formation of lithic assemblages

Cited by 108 publications

References 65 publications

A demographic perspective on the Middle to Later Stone Age transition from Nasera rockshelter, Tanzania

A demographic perspective on the Middle to Later Stone Age transition from Nasera rockshelter, Tanzania

The Effects of Secondary Recycling on the Technological Character of Lithic Assemblages

Use of Lithic Assemblages for the Definition of Short-Term Occupations in Hunter-Gatherer Prehistory

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