石球的定义、分类与功能浅析

石球(Spheriod)是旧石器时代遗址或地点中常见的一种石器类型, 其分类、生产过程和功能一直为国内外学术界所关注。本文对石球的定义、考古发现以及实验研究进行简要综述, 尝试从操作链和动态类型学入手, 根据器物形态的不同, 将石球生产过程划分为备料、球形石、准石球、正石球四个不同阶段。对以往学者提出的石球功能推测进行简要分析, 对石球作为狩猎工具的使用方式进行探讨。     

藏族牧民的抛石绳——"古朵"

民族学的资料常常被视为"社会的化石",为考古成果提供可作对比的例证,从而找到考古实物的恰当的说明.在陕西蓝田、山西襄汾丁村及阳高许家窑等旧石器时代遗址中,曾经出土过许多石球.考古学家认为,这些石球是一种狩猎工具,并以解放前纳西族的飞石素为例证.     

延边地区和龙石人沟发现的旧石器

2004年5月初,在对延边和龙石人沟旧石器遗址的调查中,在山坡台地的黄色亚黏土和含黄色砂质土的角砾层内获得40件黑曜岩石制品,包括石核、石片、细石叶和使用石片、刮削器、雕刻器、琢背小刀等工具。遗址可能属于晚更新世的晚期,即旧石器时代晚期。     

北京猿人怎样制作和使用工具？

众所周知,北京猿人制作和使用过的工具主要是石器,但是考古新发现表明他们也可能使用木器。只是几十万年前的有机质木器很难保留下来,因而在周口店北京猿人遗址中,目前还没有发现木器工具的实物。但不久前考古学家在德国的旧石器时代早期Sch？ningen遗址中发现了距今约40万年前的狩猎木矛的遗物,暗示着在北京猿人的时代,木质工具...     

石球——古老的狩猎工具

在野外从事古人类考察的过程中,我们经常能见到一种较大的石球,或者是小巧的弹丸。这些器物在国内外都有发现,在远古时期是很流行的。它们是做什么用的呢?社会的活化石——民族志资料说明,这些石球是狩猎工具。恩格斯指出:“根据所发现的史前时期的人的遗物来判断,根据最早历史时期的人和现在最不开化的野蛮人的生活方式来判断,最古老的工具是些什么东西呢?是打猎的工具和捕鱼的工具,而前者同时又是     

洛南鸡眼窑绿松石矿业遗址的石锤

陕西洛南河口鸡眼窑洞穴所发现的亚腰形石锤困扰着学者对该遗址性质的判断。为解决该问题,笔者等进行了数次田野调查和实验室分析,发现该处石锤实为古代开采绿松石的工具,而非旧石器时代遗物。所发现的磨石和石球,可能为加工石锤的配套工具。对比国内外资料发现,青铜时代该类石锤基本处于古矿址周边,应是采矿所用,所以采矿石锤可成为判断矿业遗址时代的直接证据。鸡眼窑石锤基本属于青铜时代。与国内外其它矿业遗址出土的石锤相比,鸡眼窑石锤形体小巧窄长,应与绿松石矿脉的特性有关。     

延边和龙石人沟旧石器遗址2005年试掘报告

石人沟遗址于2004年发现, 2005年8、9月间进行试掘,揭露面积52m2。堆积共分6层, 石制品主要出土于第2—4层, 共获得1291件, 其中出自地层者1267件,其余为脱层, 类型包括石核、石片、石叶、细石叶、断块和工具等。原料以黑曜岩为主。工具包括第二类工具(使用石片)和第三类工具(刮削器、雕刻器、琢背小刀、钻), 器型稳定, 加工较为精致。根据其文化特征判断, 该遗址的年代属于晚更新世晚期, 即旧石器时代晚期。     

吉林和龙柳洞2004年发现的旧石器

吉林和龙柳洞旧石器地点于2002年5月发现,2004年5月对其进行了复查。该地点位于图们江流域第2级阶地上,在地表和灰黄色土层中发现石制品142件,包括石核、石片、石叶和工具(石砧、使用石片、刮削器、砍砸器、雕刻器、尖状器和琢背小刀);原料以黑曜岩为主,占93.66%。遗址应属于晚更新世晚期,即旧石器时代晚期。     

2004年新疆旧石器考古调查简报

2004年5-6月,中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所和新疆文物考古研究所联合组队,在新疆北部和中部进行了旧石器时代考古调查。发现24个石器地点和数千件石制品,采集和试掘出500余件石制品;绝大多数石制品来自于地表,少数出自原生地层。石制品类型多样,包括普通石核与石片、棱柱状石核、石叶、两面器、细石叶石核、细石叶、勒瓦娄哇石核与石片等;原料种类多样,尺寸、形态、技术变异大。从技术与类型判断,这些不同地点的文化材料时代跨度较大,较早的可能属旧石器时代晚期之初,甚至旧石器时代中期,较晚的则可能属于新石器时代早中期。较早阶段的石制品组合与中亚、西伯利亚阿尔泰地区同期遗址的文化面貌有相似之处,也与我国水洞沟遗址的石叶遗存有一定联系。骆驼石遗址及其丰富的勒瓦娄哇制品及大型石叶制品是本次调查的最大收获。本次调查的成果表明,新疆地区在旧石器时代晚期是人类迁徙和生存演化的活跃地带,留下丰富的文化遗存,对研究当时人类技术、文化特点和适应生存能力提供了重要材料与信息;很多地点具有与欧洲、俄罗斯阿尔泰地区旧石器时代中、晚期相似的文化遗存,对研究当时欧亚大陆古人群的迁徙、融合和文化交流具有重要价值;该地区具有发现更多、更重要的旧石器时代遗址并开展深入的考古发掘与研究的巨大潜力。     

丽江木家桥新发现的旧石器

在丽江木家桥发现为数不多的旧石器材料中石球占大多数,这一发现进一步密切了西南和华北旧石器时代文化的联系。     

Body Size, Weapon Use, and Natural Selection in the European Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic

Evidence for a relationship between hunting strategies and body size is examined for human skeletons dating to the European Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic. Trends for reduced limb size and stature seem to be correlated with improvements in the types of weapons utilized and a shift from aggressive to more docile game. Although some of these observations fit the predictions of Brues concerning the spearman-archer model, it is suggested that selection for reduced metabolic demands is a more plausible explanation for decrease in body size from the Upper Paleolithic to the Mesolithic . [Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic, hunting, body size]     

欧洲旧石器时代晚期石器类型学评介及类型学相关问题探讨

类型学是考古材料描述与分析的基础。近年来,学者们对类型学尤其是旧石器时代石器类型学的反思较多,涉及类型学的理论基础、分类原则、类型学的考古解释能力等各个方面,然而少有中国学者系统介绍西方常用的旧石器考古类型学体系。鉴于此,本文主要介绍D. de Sonneville-Bordes与J. Perrot建立且在欧洲、西亚及北非应用较为普遍的旧石器时代晚期石器类型学,并思考旧石器考古学中类型学应用的相关问题。由于文化的区域多样性,描述中国的旧石器考古学材料时显然不能照搬欧洲的类型学体系,但可参考它并建立适宜于中国旧石器时代考古材料描述的体系。若此,一方面,我们可以更好地将中国的旧石器晚期考古材料与其他地区的相关材料进行对比;另一方面,可以揭示中国旧石器时代晚期石器类型的区域多样化。     

Mousterian technology and settlement dynamics in the site of Hummal (Syria)

The site of Hummal is one of several artesian springs in the El Kowm area (Central Syria) that became the focus of archaeological research at the beginning of the 1980s. The archaeological sequence spans the whole Paleolithic period and the spring is therefore a reference site for the Paleolithic in the interior part of the Levant. Archaeological remains are found in a more than 15 m thick succession of deposits that contain Lower, Middle and Upper Paleolithic assemblages. The present paper addresses archaeological and geological data, which were recovered during recent years’ excavations of Mousterian deposits. With a compiled stratigraphy of over 6 m and more than 30 archaeological levels, the Hummal Mousterian sequence is especially apt for the reconstruction of changing site-use patterns through time. Lithic analysis helps to elucidate technological traditions as well as organization and the changing ways in which mobile foragers used a site in the context of an arid steppe. Results contribute further to existing models of Levantine Middle Paleolithic land-use strategies and demography in the time span of between 130,000 and 50,000 BP, and partly contradict existing interpretations. Two different lithic industries were defined, which correspond to a C- and B-type Levantine Mousterian according to the three-stage Tabun model. The discovery of a C-type Mousterian in the lower deposits further extends the geographical range of this cultural facies into the interior arid part of the Levant. An increasing importance and standardization of Levallois points is observable and thereby supports models that postulate a growing specialization of hunting techniques at the end of the Middle Paleolithic.     

Changes in the ‘Connectedness’ and Resilience of Paleolithic Societies in Mediterranean Ecosystems

Human predator‐prey relationships changed dramatically in the Mediterranean Basin between 250,000 and 9,000 years ago. Many of these changes can be linked to increases in Paleolithic human population densities. Small game species are particularly diagnostic of increases in human hunting pressure and are a major source of evidence for demographic change after 40–45,000 years ago. Biomass-corrected data on prey choice also indicate increasing use of those species that possess higher reproductive efficiencies. Step-wise, apparently irreversible shifts in human predatory niche are apparent in the Mediterranean Basin, beginning with the earliest Upper Paleolithic in the east and spreading westward. Evidence of demographic pressure and greater use of resilient prey populations is followed by technological innovations to exploit these animals more efficiently. The zooarchaeological findings suggest that Middle and Lower Paleolithic reproductive units probably were not robust at the micropopulation scale, due to the rather narrow set of behavioral responses that characterized social groups at the time, and thus localized extinctions at the micropopulation level were likely to have been common. Upper Paleolithic groups were the quintessential colonizers and, in addition, uniquely good at holding on to habitat gained. Upper Paleolithic archaeological “cultures” had shorter histories of existence than those of earlier periods, but they were even more widespread geographically. The demographic robustness of the Upper Paleolithic systems may stem from wholesale strategies for evening-out or sharing risk and volatility in technology. Micropopulations were larger and often denser on landscapes, more connected via cooperative ties, and thus more robust.     

The Big Deal about Blades: Laminar Technologies and Human Evolution

Despite the rapid expansion of archaeological knowledge of the Paleolithic over the past several decades, some generalized interpretive frameworks inherited from previous generations of researchers are remarkably tenacious. One of the most persistent of these is the assumed correlation between blade technologies, Upper Paleolithic industries, and anatomically (and behaviorally) modern humans. In this paper, we review some of the evidence for the production of early blade technologies in Eurasia and Africa dating to the late Lower and the Middle Paleolithic. The basic techniques for blade production appeared thousands of years before the Upper Paleolithic, and there is no justification for linking blades per se to any particular aspect of hominid anatomy or to any major change in the behavioral capacities of hominids. It is true that blades came to dominate the archaeological records of western Eurasia and Africa after 40,000 years ago, perhaps as a consequence of increasing reliance on complex composite tools during the Upper Paleolithic. At the same time, evidence from other regions of the world demonstrates that evolutionary trends in Pleistocene Eurasia were historically contingent and not universal. [Middle Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic, blade technology, human evolution, hominid behavior and capacities]     

垩质年轮法在旧石器时代动物考古学中的应用

在旧石器时代考古遗址研究中,动物的死亡年龄往往能够反映古人类的生存能力及猎物选择趋向;死亡季节则是研究古人类人口数量变化、聚居模式等生存适应问题的重要途径。牙齿垩质切片研究表明,垩质的沉积与树木年轮的生长相似,具有较强的季节规律性和终生生长的特点,可被用于同时推断动物的死亡年龄与季节。垩质年轮法在国外已经有不少较为成功的应用范例,但由于其自身局限及我国旧石器时代动物考古学的发展状况,这一方法至今并未得到较好的应用。本文主要介绍垩质年轮法原理及其在旧石器时代考古学研究中的应用实例,并对该方法在国内遗址相关研究中的应用前景做出展望。     

泥河湾盆地旧石器中晚期石制品原料初步分析

本文通过对泥河湾盆地旧石器时代中晚期诸遗址中石料产地的调查和石制品颜色、质地及表面状况的分析后认为：泥河湾盆地旧石器中晚期人类选择石料方式变化主要发生在旧石器晚期的早段和晚段之间,在此之前的旧石器时代中期,人类选择石料主要在遗址附近,各遗址的石料表现出强烈的地方色彩,但遗址中的一些优质石料可能来源于10多公里之外的地区;而在旧石器晚期早段,在基本继承这一特点的前提下,仅有很少量的石料输送距离达数10km;石料被带到遗址之前一般并不进行粗选,多是直接进行打片。在此之后,人类对石料的选择则表现出刻意的追求,优质石料大量被输送到数10公里之外,而且石料在输入到遗址之前一般要经过精心选择,与前一阶段形成鲜明对照。     

Sexual dimorphism and cultural evolution in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene of Europe

Dental, cranial and body size data are reviewed for European Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic males and females. Over these three periods there is a substantial decrease in the level of sexual dimorphism. From separate analysis of trends occurring between males and females, it is shown that the major cause for this decrease in sexual dimorphism is gracilization of the males between the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic. Reduction in males is related to shifting technological patterns associated with hunting and changes in the types of animals hunted. Further reduction in sexual dimorphism between the Mesolithic and Neolithic and from the Neolithic to modern European populations is shown to be more closely tied to changes occurring among females. Analysis of changing patterns of sexual dimorphism in Late Pleistocene and Holocene populations of Europe suggests an interrelationship between cultural and biological evolution.     

黑龙江省甘南县旧石器地点发现的新材料

黑龙江省的旧石器考古发掘与研究始于上世纪30年代,迄今为止已有正式报道或发表的遗址和地点100余处,分布在黑龙江省境内各处,年代上均属于旧石器时代晚期.2017年初,根据齐齐哈尔市查哈阳农场群众提供的线索,笔者等在甘南县环太平湖水库周边发现多处旧石器地点以及原料产地.经对该地区的踏勘调查和对一处地点的小规模剖面清理发现...