The Technological Behaviours of Homo antecessor: Core Management and Reduction Intensity at Gran Dolina-TD6.2 (Atapuerca, Spain)

Abstract

The ability of early hominins to overcome the constraints imposed by the characteristics of raw materials used for stone tool production is a key topic on the discussion about the evolution of hominin cognitive capabilities and technical behaviours. Thus, technological variability has been the centrepiece on this debate. However, the variability of lithic assemblages cannot be correctly interpreted without understanding site occupational models and function and considering that individual tools represent specific discard moments in a continuous reduction process. In Europe, the earliest technological record is represented by the scarce and scattered Mode 1 technologies, often deriving from occasional occupations or restricted activity areas yielding unrepresentative assemblages. In this paper, we approach the technological behaviours exhibited by Lower Palaeolithic hominins from the subunit TD6.2 of the Gran Dolina site (Atapuerca, Burgos) by including the perspective of reduction intensity studies on the analysis of technological variability. Gran Dolina TD6.2 is a unique and extremely significant archaeological context, as it represents the oldest multi-layered unit of domestic hominin occupations in the Early Pleistocene of Europe. We use the Volumetric Reconstruction Method (VRM) to estimate the original volume of the blanks and quantify the reduction intensity of each core individually to characterise the reduction distribution patterns using Weibull probability distribution functions. Our results suggest differential raw material management in terms of reduction intensity, according to the characteristics of each lithology. This could reflect a solid understanding of raw material qualities and a certain degree of planning. Altogether, the continuity between knapping strategies through reduction denotes constant adaptation to raw material constraints as well as particular knapping conditions, rather than specific compartmentalised mental schemes. In conclusion, Homo antecessor toolmakers would have been situational knappers whose technological behaviour would be highly adaptive. This research constitutes the first reduction approach for the European Early Pleistocene assemblages that will lead to a referential framework for other European Early Pleistocene sites.

The earliest European Acheulean: new insights into the large shaped tools from the late Early Pleistocene site of Barranc de la Boella (Tarragona, Spain)

“…So far, there is no evidence of any transitional feature pointing to a local evolution from an older and simpler Mode 1 technology. In the north-east of Iberia, such assemblages are scarce, and the ones with similar chronology, for example, Gran Dolina-TD6 in Atapuerca, show very different characteristics from what is documented at Barranc de la Boella (Mosquera et al, 2018;Lombao et al, 2022). In this sense, future work at the lower levels of Unit II at La Mina could provide interesting clues.…”

“…Additional attention is paid to the large flakes (>100 mm, n = 2). To provide a comprehensive description of this collection, we performed technological analysis using the logic analytic system following other recent papers (e.g., Ollé et al, 2013;de Lombera-Hermida et al, 2020), which was complemented with different techno-typological, volumetric, and geometric morphometrical analyses (Lombao et al, 2020;Lombao et al, 2022;García-Medrano et al, 2022;García-Medrano et al, 2023). Detailed graphic information is provided by means of systematic photography and 3D scanning with diacritic interpretation.…”

Woodstock Rocks: From Acheulean to Iron Age in the Waterberg, Limpopo Province, South Africa

“…Surprisingly, an even younger OSL age estimate of 222±31 ka has been obtained for the final Acheulean occupation (layer 21) in Montagu Cave where side-struck flakes from quartzite boulder cores were used to manufacture LCTs (Archer et al 2023). Not only was the Acheulean long lasting, it was also geographically widespread, occurring, for example, from the southernmost tip of South Africa to Atapuerca, Spain (Lombao et al 2023), India (Petraglia et al 1999;Mitchell 2002) and China (Kuman et al 2016).…”

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

“…For the same reason, it is also challenging to quantify the number of convergences between flaking surfaces. As for the Volumetric Reconstruction Method (VRM) (Lombao et al, 2020), its original application was not aimed at quantifying reduction intensity in laminar technological systems of the Upper Paleolithic, but it rather focused on less standardized technologies typical of the Lower Paleolithic (Cueva-Temprana et al, 2022;Lombao et al, 2023c). Moreover, its application was centered on cobbles with ellipsoidal morphologies, thus excluding those raw materials characterized by irregular morphologies, such as blocks and chunks.…”

“…As in previous studies (Cueva-Temprana et al, 2022;Lombao et al, 2020Lombao et al, , 2023c, we excluded cores on flake from the VRM analysis. This type of core likely requires additional and/or significant modifications to the original version of the VRM and further experimental activities.…”