Dating the Lower to Middle Paleolithic transition in the Levant: A view from Misliya Cave,Mount Carmel,Israel

The transition from the Lower to the Middle Paleolithic in the Levant is a crucial event in human evolution, since it may involve the arrival of a new human population. In the current study, we present thermoluminescence (TL) dates obtained from 32 burnt flints retrieved from the late Lower Paleolithic (Acheulo-Yabrudian) and Early Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) layers of Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel. Early Middle Paleolithic industries rich in Levallois and laminar products were assigned mean ages ranging from ∼250 to ∼160 ka (thousands of years ago), suggesting a production of this industry during MIS 7 and the early part of MIS 6. The mean ages obtained for the samples associated with the Acheulo-Yabrudian (strengthened by an isochron analysis) indicate a production of this cultural complex ∼250 ka ago, at the end of MIS 8. According to the Misliya TL dates, the transition from the Lower to the Middle Paleolithic in the site took place at the limit MIS 8/7 or during the early part of MIS 7. The dates, together with the pronounced differences in lithic technology strongly suggest the arrival of a new population during this period.     

Reassessment of TL age estimates of burnt flints from the Paleolithic site of Tabun Cave, Israel

The stratigraphy of Tabun Cave (Mt. Carmel), which comprises one of the longest sequences of Lower and Middle Paleolithic of the Near East, is widely used as a reference in debates on the evolution of Paleolithic industries and on the origin of modern humans and their relationship to the Neandertals. Considering the methodological improvements during the last ten years, the thermoluminescence (TL) dates of heated flints frequently quoted in the literature require an update. New TL results are discussed and compared with radiometric data recently obtained for this site, in particular by the ESR method, and with those obtained for other Levantine sites. The chronological framework previously proposed for the Paleolithic industries of the area is then re-examined.     

Patterning of the early Middle Paleolithic occupations at Douara Cave and its implications for settlement dynamics in the Palmyra basin,Syria

This paper examines spatial patterning and settlement dynamics of early Middle Paleolithic hominins at Douara Cave, located on the northern edge of the Syrian Desert. The analyzed material came from our 1984 excavations of Horizons IVB–IVD, techno-typologically assigned to the Tabun D-type Levantine Mousterian (ca. 250 to 130 ka). Two findings are reported. One is the existence of spatial organization in the cave interior. Analysis of the field records shows that the occupation floor of the early Middle Paleolithic at Douara was well-organized into specific activity areas with a focal area of intensive activities close to the back wall. This suggests that the organized use of space known at late Middle Paleolithic sites like Tor Faraj, Jordan, is also applicable to the early Middle Paleolithic. Second, this paper discusses the functional role of this cave within the regional settlement system. A range of features characterizing its living floor(s) point to a very low occupational intensity, undoubtedly reflecting adaptation and particular land use patterns in the arid environments of this region. Moreover, this pattern, along with the division of interior space, seems to have remained consistent through multiple early Middle Paleolithic levels (IVB–IVD). These observations suggest that Douara Cave was a short-term camp embedded in a regional settlement system in the arid environments of this period.     

Predetermined Flake Production at the Lower/Middle Paleolithic Boundary: Yabrudian Scraper-Blank Technology

While predetermined débitage technologies are recognized beginning with the middle Acheulian, the Middle Paleolithic is usually associated with a sharp increase in their use. A study of scraper-blank technology from three Yabrudian assemblages retrieved from the early part of the Acheulo-Yabrudian complex of Tabun Cave (ca. 415–320 kyr) demonstrates a calculated and preplanned production, even if it does not show the same complexity and elaboration as in the Levallois technology. These scraper dominated assemblages show an organization of production based on an intensive use of predetermination blank technology already in place at the end of the Lower Paleolithic of the Levant. These results provide a novel perspective on the differences and similarities between the Lower and Middle Paleolithic industries. We suggest that there was a change in the paradigm in the way hominins exploited stone tools: in many Middle Paleolithic assemblages the potential of the stone tools for hafting was a central feature, in the Lower Paleolithic ergonometric considerations of manual prehension were central to the design of blanks and tools.     

关于“中国旧石器时代中期”的探讨

本文探讨了中国旧石器时代中期考古学研究的若干问题,包括研究历史、资料现状、年代学手段、石器技术的特点及发展变化,以及与西方旧石器时代考古学的历史渊源及现状比较。通过对“中国旧石器时代中期”这一术语的来源及其所涵盖的时限及文化内涵的演变,对这一时代界定所采取的原则和方法,以及中国旧石器时代文化特点的考察,作者认为“中国旧石器时代中期”不是一个严格和有意义的学术概念,因而中国旧石器时代考古学应摒弃传统的3期断代模式,而改为早、晚两期的2分法。文章并对中国旧石器时代早期延续时间的长久和晚期出现新的文化内容的动因进行了讨论。     

Hearth-side socioeconomics, hunting and paleoecology during the late Lower Paleolithic at Qesem Cave, Israel

The late Lower Paleolithic archaeofaunas of Qesem Cave in the southern Levant span 400-200 ka and associate with Acheulo-Yabrudian (mainly Amudian) industries. The large mammals are exclusively Eurasian in origin and formed under relatively cool, moist conditions. The zooarchaeological findings testify to large game hunting, hearth-centered carcass processing and meat sharing during the late Lower Paleolithic, not unlike the patterns known from Middle and Upper Paleolithic caves in the region. Well-defined hearth features are rarely preserved in Qesem Cave, but the heterogeneous distributions of burned bones indicate areas of frequent hearth rebuilding throughout the occupation sequence. The hominins delayed consumption of high quality body parts until they could be moved to the cave, where hearths were hubs of processing activities and social interaction. Paradoxically, the cut marks on the Qesem bones are both more abundant and more randomly oriented than those observed in Middle and Upper Paleolithic cases in the Levant. These results suggest that several individuals were directly involved in cutting meat from the bones and that the social mechanics of meat sharing during the late Lower Paleolithic at Qesem Cave differed from those typical of both the Middle and Upper Paleolithic in the region.     

Recent work on the Paleolithic of Central Asia

Central Asia has played an important role in Paleolithic archeology since the discovery of Teshik-Tash in 1938. Since the 1970s, attention has turned to Lower Paleolithic studies following the important discoveries at Kul'dara and other deeply stratified loess sites in southern Tajikistan. The sites, dated to as early as 800,000 years ago, are not the earliest evidence of hominids in Asia, but they do reflect early adaptations to arid mid-latitude environments. The stone-tool industries from these early sites are composed of pebble and flake implements; they do not include bifaces. Along with the archeological material in the loess is an impressive paleoenvironmental record with good chronological control. In other parts of Central Asia, there are reported elements of the Acheulean technocomplex at sites such as Sel'ungur and Yangadazha, but that claim cannot be substantiated. In the Upper Pleistocene, important research questions include the extent and meaning of Middle Paleolithic variability, the relation of Middle to Upper Paleolithic cultures, and the effect of glacial or interglacial climatic oscillations on Paleolithic settlement and adaptation.     

San Bernardino Cave (Italy) and the Appearance of Levallois Technology in Europe: Results of a Radiometric and Technological Reassessment

The introduction of Levallois technology in Europe marked the transition from the Lower to the early Middle Paleolithic. This new method of flake production was accompanied by significant behavioral changes in hominin populations. The emergence of this technological advance is considered homogeneous in the European archaeological record at the Marine isotopic stage (MIS) 9/MIS 8 boundary. In this paper we report a series of combined electron spin resonance/U-series dates on mammal bones and teeth recovered from the lower units of San Bernardino Cave (Italy) and the technological analyses of the lithic assemblages. The San Bernardino Cave has yielded the earliest evidence of Levallois production on the Italian Peninsula recovered to date. In addition to our results and the review of the archaeological record, we describe the chronological and geographical differences between European territories and diversities in terms of technological developments. The belated emergence of Levallois technology in Italy compared to western Europe corresponds to the late Italian Neanderthal speciation event. The new radiometric dates and the technological analyses of San Bernardino Cave raise the issue of the different roles of glacial refugia in the peopling and the spread of innovative flaking strategies in Europe during the late Middle Pleistocene.     

Lower Paleolithic hominin ecology at the fringe of the desert: Faunal remains from Bizat Ruhama and Nahal Hesi, Northern Negev, Israel

The Southern Levant is a pivotal area for the study of hominin paleoecology during the Lower Paleolithic, because of its location on the out-of-Africa dispersal route and its significant ecological diversity. Important information has been gained by archaeofaunal studies, which usually reveal that exploitation of diverse Mediterranean environments with woodlands, marshes and lake margins, represents a dominant subsistence strategy for Lower Paleolithic hominins. Here, we present new taxonomic and taphonomic data from two sites in the southern coastal plain of the Southern Levant, at the fringe of the Negev Desert: Bizat Ruhama (Early Pleistocene) and Nahal Hesi (Middle Pleistocene). The sites preserve anthropogenic faunas, with the former signaling a marrow-exploitation strategy, perhaps related to scavenging from carnivore kills, and the latter showing evidence for primary access to fleshed ungulate carcasses. The species composition of these Northern Negev sites is unique for the Levantine Lower Paleolithic in that these sites lack typical woodland and riparian species, probably indicating an open, relatively uniform environment with patchy water sources and trees, much like this semiarid region today. Bizat Ruhama and Nahal Hesi are among the only Levantine Lower Paleolithic faunas associated with such a setting, thereby widening the known spectrum of environments exploited by hominins in the region. It is suggested that the two sites, coupled with the nearby Late Pleistocene evidence, reflect a largely stable semiarid environment on the northwestern fringe of the Negev Desert throughout much of the Pleistocene.     

Les relations entre l’Extrême-Orient eurasien et le nord de l’archipel du Japon au Paléolithique

The aim of this paper is to present a review of current knowledge concerning the Paleolithic records and the related natural environmental setting in the Eurasian Far East and Hokkaido, located at the northern tip of the Japanese islands. At present, it is quite difficult to answer whether the archaic humans dispersed from Siberia and northern China across the Amur River basin and Sakhalin into Hokkaido or not, because there is no reliable evidence indicating the Lower and Middle Paleolithic in Hokkaido. We demonstrate that the Upper Paleolithic assemblages in Hokkaido can be divided into at least three phases such as the early Upper Paleolithic (EUP), the middle Upper Paleolithic (MUP), and the late Upper Paleolithic (LUP), based on a synthesis of available radiocarbon dates and the techno-typological characteristics of lithic assemblages. It is reasonable to suggest that the lithic assemblage from the Rubenosawa site, located in northern Hokkaido, and some of lithic assemblages at the transition from the Middle to Upper Paleolithic or the initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) in Siberia share the relative similarities of techno-typological attributes in the reduction sequences, although the reliable radiocarbon dates have not been obtained from the Rubenosawa site unfortunately. Also, the emergence of microblade technology at the MUP in Hokkaido, such as represented by the microblade assemblage recovered from the Kashiwadai-1 site, central Hokkaido, indicates a close interaction between the Eurasian Far East and Hokkaido. As a result, the comparison of archaeological evidence in these regions provides us with a suggestion that the appearance and development of the Upper Paleolithic assemblages in Hokkaido were sometimes associated with the human dispersions and the mutual contacts crossing between the Eurasian Far East and Hokkaido.     

Development of early human culture in northern Asia

An archeological complex in the Pleistocene deposits of the Altai Mountains currently provides the most complete information about early human occupation in northern and Central Asia. It is best represented in studies of multilayered Paleolithic sites in the Anui River valley in the northwestern part of the Altai Mountains. The general stratigraphic profile, which includes Middle and Upper Pleistocene deposits, has been defined based on the data obtained from a number of sites in this region. Available information reflects the development of early human culture and environmental fluctuations from the early to the late stages of the Paleolithic.     

Early Upper Paleolithic Man and Late Middle Paleolithic Tools

The appearance of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in Europe, the Near East, and Africa must represent either an in situ evolution of Neandertals or a migration. Those who suggest the latter claim a sudden replacement of Neandertals by anatomically modern Homo sapiens. However, the "evidence" actually cited claims only the sudden replacement of Middle by Upper Paleolithic industries. We criticize the migration explanation on two grounds. (1) There is no "sudden replacement" of Middle Paleolithic by Upper Paleolithic industries, but rather a gradual change in the frequencies of already present tools. Numerous sites in these areas exhibit transitional industries. (2) Concomitantly, there is no morphological evidence indicating a "sudden replacement" of hominids. There is no absolute association between anatomically modern Homo sapiens and Upper Paleolithic industries. Instead, the evidence clearly shows that early anatomically modern Homo sapiens is a late Middle Paleolithic local phenomenon .     

Historique des études sur le paléolithique de l’Archipel du Japon

Paleolithic studies on the Japanese Archipelago started from the excavation of the Iwajuku Site in 1949. In 2000, research efforts were damaged by a forgery incident, which was concerned with the Lower/Middle Paleolithic period. After completing the investigation on the incident, the presence of the Lower/Middle Paleolithic remains unsolved. However, we have entered a new stage of research on the Upper Paleolithic for which over ten thousand sites were discovered. The new research framework places, at the heart, tephra-based lithic chronology, site structure analysis that investigates a site's formation process through conjoined pieces and parent rock analysis, and obsidian archaeology in which diachronic research is conducted on obsidian source exploitation and circulation range. Now unique characteristics of Japanese Paleolithic culture are coming to light, beginning with the migration from the neighboring continent, connecting East Asia through the Paleolithic Cultural Corridor around the Sea of Japan and the Obsidian Road, and nurturing the unique traditions of lithic production.     

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]     

Études du Paléolithique du Japon à partir des téphras

Many studies and discussions have been made on the problem of when the earliest human beings appeared in Japan. In general, hominid fossils in the latest Pleistocene are not preserved except for coralline limestone sequence in Ryukyu islands, but earlier Paleolithic tools were excavated from volcanic ash soil with a ¹⁴C age of about 30,000–35,000 yr. BP or younger at several archeological sites in almost all Japan. Recent studies, however, show a need for revision and refinement of these ages because calibration techniques have progressed from conventional to calendar ages and high-resolution oxygen isotope chronology has given a global standard sequence. Aïra-Tn tephra (AT), the most important time-marker of the Paleolithic age in Japan, was formerly dated at 21,000–22,000 yr ¹⁴C BP by conventional radiocarbon methods but was dated again at ca. 24,500 yr ¹⁴C BP by accelerated mass spectrometry radiocarbon methods. However, it has been further calibrated to a high-resolution calendar age of 30,000 cal yr. by varve chronology of lake sediments of Suigetsu of central Japan, well matched with combined date between oxygen isotope dates based and calibration from AMS radiocarbon dates. As the earliest Paleolithic tools in south Kanto are found in volcanic ash soil significantly below AT ash and above Sambe-Ikeda ash (SI, ca.46 ka), just above the oxygen isotopic stage 3.3, they are estimated to be dated slightly older than 40 ka. Palaeo-environment at that time is estimated mild to cool climate and relatively low sea level after the oxygen isotope stage 3.3. Sill land bridges between Japan islands and continents have not been formed at major straits. We have not yet obtained useful data for calibration older than ca. 45 ka. Also, correlation of oxygen isotopic fluctuation with the terrestrial sequences is incomplete in Stage 3.     

Animal resources and subsistence strategies

Several faunal assemblages excavated in deposits of different antiquity (from Lower Paleolithic to Bronze Age), located in Northern, Central and Southern Italy, were studied from the archeozoological and taphonomic point of view. Data obtained by different Authors allow reconstruction of subsistence strategies adopted by prehistoric humans in these areas and through time, in particular as far as the exploitation of animal resources is concerned. The following assemblages were considered: Isernia La Pineta (Molise; Lower Paleolithic), Grotta Breuil (Latium; Middle Paleolithic), Grotta della Ghiacciaia (Verona; Middle Paleolithic), Riparo di Fumane and Riparo Tagliente (Verona; Middle and Upper Paleolithic), Riparo Mochi (Liguria; Upper Paleolithic), Grotta della Continenza (L'Aquila; Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic), Grotta dell'Edera (Trieste; Mesolithic and Neolithic), Grotta della Cala at Marina di Camerota (Salerno; Eneolithic), Contraguda (Sassari; Neolithic), Castellaro Lagusello (Mantova; Bronze Age). Exploitation of the vegetal resources has been analyzed in the Neolithic sites of Colle Santo Stefano (Fucino), Settefonti (L'Aquila) and Catignano (Pescara).     

Kaletepe Deresi 3 (Turkey): archaeological evidence for early human settlement in Central Anatolia

Located in the Central Anatolian Volcanic Province, Kaletepe Deresi 3 was discovered in the summer of 2000 and has been under investigation since that time. Volcanic activity in the region generated a number of obsidian intrusions that have attracted humans to the area throughout prehistory. The stratigraphic sequence at Kaletepe Deresi 3, more than 7 m in depth, presents a series of archaeological horizons representing the Lower and Middle Paleolithic. The site contains the longest open-air Paleolithic sequence excavated in Turkey, as well as the first in situ Acheulean industry documented in Anatolia. Tephras in the upper Middle Paleolithic horizons and the rhyolithic bedrock bracket the timespan represented at Kaletepe Deresi 3. The lithic industry at the site illustrates a wide range of technological behaviors and documents changes in raw-material exploitation and artifact manufacture through the Lower and Middle Paleolithic.     

Dating the demise: neandertal extinction and the establishment of modern humans in the southern Caucasus

This paper considers the recent radiometric dating (¹⁴C-AMS, TL, ESR) of 76 late Middle and early Upper Paleolithic samples from Ortvale Klde Rockshelter, located in the Republic of Georgia. We present a critical evaluation of each date based on its stratigraphic and archaeological context, its pretreatment and contamination history, and its resulting accuracy and precision, the goal being to establish a sound chronology for the site. Only by systematically identifying aberrant dates within a data set and isolating them from further analysis can we hope to understand cultural and biological phenomena on an accurate temporal scale. Based on the strict discard protocol outlined here, we omit 25% of the dated samples from the analysis. The remaining data speak to the lengthy tenure of Neandertals in the region, but also to their relatively rapid demise and the establishment of modern human populations ∼38-34 ka ¹⁴C BP (42-39 ka cal BP_Hulu). We compare these chronometric data with those from the neighboring sites of Bronze and Dzudzuana caves, as well as Mezmaiskaya Cave, located in the northern Caucasus. While the lack of key contextual information limit our ability to subject these other data sets to the same critical evaluation procedure, they provide the first interregional temporal assessment of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic “transition,” the results of which suggest an initial expansion of modern humans into the southern Caucasus followed by expansion along the Black Sea coast and into the northern Caucasus.     

河南南水北调水源地旧石器时代遗址的发现与研究

南水北调中线工程的水源地是位于河南、湖北交界处的丹江口水库,这一区域是南北方人类迁徙和文化交流的重要生态廊道。为配合南水北调工程建设,从上世纪90年代开始,文物部门组织对丹江口水库淹没区进行了系统考古调查,仅在河南淅川境内就发现了30多处旧石器时代中晚期遗址和化石地点。2009年以来,中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所与中国科学院大学等单位对其中20余处遗址和地点进行了抢救性发掘,发掘面积超1万平方米,发现石制品2万多件。本文重点介绍了丹江口水库（河南）淹没区旧石器时代遗址的发现和主要研究成果：1）该区域广域的、持续性的人类活动表明本地区是早期人类活动的密集区;2）出土石器特征同时具备南方砾石石器工业和北方石片石器工业的特点,有明显的南北方石器加工技术相互融合的现象;3）石器残留物分析,为了解遗址附近环境和先民植物利用提供了线索;4）遗址年代从距今约50万年到1万年左右,大致相当于旧石器时代早期晚段至旧石器时代晚期,是旧石器考古的关键时期;5）个别遗址发现的陶器残片、烧土类遗存以及燧石石叶等文化因素,为解决中国石叶技术源流和新、旧石器过渡提供了重要资料。     

Études géoarchéologiques pluridisciplinaires des sites du Paléolithique moyen de la Plaine Russe

The paper presents some preliminary results of comprehensive geoarcheological researches of Middle Paleolithic open-air sites, situated at the different regions of the Russian plain, which had been continued after a short pause. Our issue focused on the main key-sites from Upper Desna (Khotylevo I and Betovo) to the Lower Volga (Suhaya Mechetka), Northern Azovian sea-coast (Rojok I and Nosovo I), Middle (Shlyah) and Lower (Birjuchaya Balka 2) Don regions. Those studies conducted at a new methodological level during the last five years have allowed us to obtain new information on the chronological and lithologic-stratigraphic positions of sites, the degree of preservation of Cultural layers and the peculiar features of those assemblages. A table with series of uncalibrated radiocarbon dates demonstrates the variants of correlation of complexes in the interval from the second half of the middle (MIS-3) to the beginning of the later (MIS-2) part of the Valdaï period.