Connecting Middle Paleolithic Datasets: The Interplay of Zooarchaeological and Lithic Data for Unraveling Neanderthal Behavior
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)
Stone tools and butchered animal bones are the two main categories of archaeological remains from Middle Palaeolithic sites. Both provide distinctive insights into Neanderthal behaviour. The aim of this session is to explore the interplay of these datasets; how can they inform on each other and in what ways can they be integrated?
Firstly, we invite presentations with a strong methodological focus, assessing how faunal remains can directly inform on lithic technology and vice versa (e.g. cut mark morphology, damage signatures, use wear). Secondly, we would like to discuss new and existing taphonomic and behavioural models that have been based on the integration of faunal and lithic data, including theoretical constructs, archaeological applications, site-based and regional studies. Suggested topics include, but are not limited, to:
- Taphonomy (e.g. spatial distributions, fragmentation, weathering, artefact condition)
- Site use, occupation duration and exploitation intensity
- Linking lithic and faunal diversity, mortality and seasonality (incl. prey choice, hunting technology, carcass processing)
- Mobility patterns (e.g. isotopes, raw material sourcing)
- Identifying region-, time- or environment-specific behaviour
We want to provide a forum to discuss ideas, approaches and models that can then be further developed to be published in a special journal volume.
Other Keywords
Neanderthal •
Middle Paleolithic •
Lithic •
Zooarchaeology •
Human Ecology •
Experimental Archaeology •
Stone Artifact Analysis •
Mobility •
Taphonomy •
Cutmarks
Geographic Keywords
Republic of Turkey (Country) •
Republic of Armenia (Country) •
Georgia (Country) •
Kingdom of Sweden (Country) •
Kingdom of Norway (Country) •
French Republic (Country) •
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nort (Country) •
Ireland (Country) •
Isle of Man (Country) •
Kingdom of Belgium (Country)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-9 of 9)
- Documents (9)
-
Are Lithics and Fauna a Match made in Prehistoric Heaven? (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Lithic artifacts and animal bones form the bulk of the material remains of the Paleolithic. This has led archaeologists to interpret these two types of finds as tethered components of subsistence systems. Differences observed through time and space in the lithic repertoire were considered as functional adjustments, designed to maximize gains from a diverse faunal resource base. While we do not challenge the general notion that lithic artifacts were used (also) for exploiting faunal (and other)...
-
Cutmark Orientation and the Identification of Skill in Experimental and Middle Paleolithic Contexts (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The process of skill accumulation can reveal a great deal about learning, cultural transmission, and the value ascribed by societies to particular tasks or behaviors. Such information is of great interest to Paleolithic archaeologists who are charged with reconstructing these behaviors over vast expanses of space and time. Zooarchaeological remains, and the butchery marks that appear on them, are a potentially rich source of information on skill. Here, we present experimental data on cutmark...
-
Integrating Faunal and Lithic Data to examine Neandertal Subsistence at the Late Mousterian Site of Abri Peyrony, France (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
New excavations at the late Middle Paleolithic site of Abri Peyrony (also Haut de Combe-Capelle) in France yielded rich lithic and faunal assemblages, as well as pieces of manganese dioxide, bone tools, and much needed information about the site’s formation and antiquity. The site preserved only Mousterian material, which derives from three main layers of sediments. The site is best known for its Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition (MTA) assemblages, and Level L-3A can be attributed to the MTA....
-
Integrating Faunal and Lithic Evidence from Quina Mousterian Contexts in Southwestern France to Investigate Neandertal Subsistence Strategies and Mobility (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The interpretation of Middle Paleolithic archaeological assemblages has been the subject of spirited debates among researchers of Neandertal behavior for over half a century. While these debates have classically centered on analyses of lithic assemblages (e.g., the "Bordes-Binford debate"), it is important to recognize the value of incorporating the associated faunal records in our approach to these questions. Differences in lithic assemblages may be affected by factors like mobility, which may...
-
Les Cottés Sequence: A New Lens for Investigating the Cultural Changes Occurring during the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic Transition. (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
During the transition from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic in Europe, the replacement of Neanderthal populations by Anatomically Modern Human ones is concomitant of major cultural transformations. Progressively, human population incorporated new raw materials in their personal gear cumulating into an explosion of the cultural material diversity. Les Cottés in France preserves a detailed sequence with levels attributed to the late Mousterian, Chatelperronian, ProtoAurignacian and Early...
-
Spatial Differences in Site Use at the Middle Paleolithic site of Lakonis (Peloponnese, Greece) (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Lakonis is a Middle Paleolithic rockshelter on the coast of the Mani Peninsula of southern Greece. It is well-known for the preservation of a Neandertal tooth in the late Middle Paleolithic layers, which is one of the few Pleistocene hominin remains from Greece. The site preserves several occupation areas spanning 120,000-40,000 BP. Lithic and faunal remains are abundant, though the faunas are highly fragmented due to heavy concretion of the sediments. During excavation, researchers defined at...
-
Tool-kits, Subsistence, and Land-use Patterns: The Neanderthal Ecology Revisited across a Dense Cultural Sequence in the Alpine chain (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Studies of the way Neanderthal groups used knapping technologies and organized their economy and land-use are sparse in Europe and even scantier in the Alps, so only in some regions can cyclical and seasonal residential movements be inferred from data on the exploitation of ungulates with variable levels of migratory behavior. Two of the most widespread methods used in stone knapping were the Discoidal and Levallois. However, analyses of these lithic artifacts are not yet sufficiently integrated...
-
Unraveling a Neanderthal Palimpsest from a Zooarcheological and Lithic Perspective: Abrigo de la Quebrada level IV (Valencia, Spain) (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Excavations at Abrigo de la Quebrada (Chelva, Valencia) have revealed 9 archaeological levels belonging to Neanderthal occupations. Level IV, characterised by a high density of lithic (>18,000) and bone (>100,000) remains, has been dated with AMS between 43,930±750 BP (Beta-244002) and >50.8 ka BP (OxA-24855). Human presence in the shelter has been favoured by its location, giving rise to a kind of natural trap where hunting animals would be feasible. The immediate environment is varied (abrupt...
-
When Lithics Hit Bones: Evaluating the Potential of a Multifaceted Experimental Protocol to Illuminate Middle Palaeolithic Weapon Technology (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Recent zooarchaeological and isotope analyses have largely settled the debate surrounding Neanderthal hunting capacity. The vast numbers of Middle Palaeolithic sites containing the butchered remains of large ungulates demonstrates the ability to obtain and, often, highly process these carcasses. Nevertheless, evidence for the effectiveness and ubiquity of Neanderthal hunting technology, specifically composite hafted tools, has not been illustrated across either their entire spatial or temporal...