Insights into early lithic technologies from ethnography

Oldowan lithic assemblages are often portrayed as a product of the need to obtain sharp flakes for cutting into animal carcases. However, ethnographic and experimental research indicates that the optimal way to produce flakes for such butchering purposes is via bipolar reduction of small cryptocrystalline pebbles rather than from larger crystalline cores resembling choppers. Ethnographic observations of stone tool-using hunter-gatherers in environments comparable with early hominins indicate that most stone tools (particularly chopper forms and flake tools) were used for making simple shaft tools including spears, digging sticks and throwing sticks. These tools bear strong resemblances to Oldowan stone tools. Bipolar reduction for butchering probably preceded chopper-like core reduction and provides a key link between primate nut-cracking technologies and the emergence of more sophisticated lithic technologies leading to the Oldowan.     

Hominin occupations at the Dmanisi site, Georgia, Southern Caucasus: raw materials and technical behaviours of Europe's first hominins

Dmanisi is the oldest site outside of Africa that records unquestioned hominin occupations as well as the dispersal of hominins in Europe and Asia. The site has yielded large numbers of artefacts from several periods of hominin occupation. This analysis of Dmanisi stone tool technology includes a review of all the pieces recovered during the last 15 years of excavations. This lithic assemblage gives insights into the hominin behaviour at 1.7-1.8 Ma in Eurasia. Dmanisi hominins exploited local rocks derived from either nearby riverbeds or outcrops, and petrographic study provides data on patterns of stone procurement. Recent geological surveys and technological studies of the artefacts illustrate the roles of hominins in composing the assemblage. Dmanisi hominins selected two types of blanks, including cobbles and angular blocks, of basalt, andesite, and tuffs. Many complete cobbles, pebbles, and rolled blocks in basalt were unmodified, and geological analyses and surveys indicate that hominins brought manuports back to the site, suggesting a complex procurement strategy. Cores, flakes and debris show that all stages of flaking activity took place at the site. Numerous unifacial cores suggest that knapping was not very elaborate. Centripetal knapping is observed on some flake-cores. Knapping was influenced by the blank shape and natural angles. Most flaked objects were either cores or chopper-cores. Flakes predominate while flake tools are rare. The Dmanisi lithic assemblage is comparable to Oldowan sites in Africa in terms of reduction sequence, organisation of the removals, platform types, and the lack of retouched flakes. Dmanisi artefacts and may have been produced by the original hominins in Europe and Asia.     

Adaptive Flexibility of Oldowan Hominins: Secondary Use of Flakes at Bizat Ruhama,Israel

The lithic assemblage of the Early Pleistocene site of Bizat Ruhama, Israel demonstrates the earliest evidence for systematic secondary knapping of flakes. The site, dated to the Matuyama chron, is one of the earliest primary context Oldowan occurrences in Eurasia. According to the experimental replication of the stone-tool production sequence, the secondary knapping of flakes was a part of a multi-stage operational sequence targeted at the production of small (<2 cm) flakes. This sequence included four stages: acquisition of chert pebbles, production of flakes, deliberate selection of flakes of specific morphologies, and their secondary knapping by free-hand or bipolar methods. The results suggest that flakes with retouch-like scars that were produced during this sequence and which commonly are interpreted as shaped tools are unintentional waste products of the small flake production. The intentional manufacture of very small flakes at Bizat Ruhama was probably an economic response to the raw material constrains. Systematic secondary knapping of flakes has not yet been reported from other Early Pleistocene sites. Systematic secondary knapping for small flake production became increasingly important only in the lithic industries of the second half of the Middle Pleistocene, almost a million years later. The results from Bizat Ruhama indicate that Oldowan stone-tool production sequence was conceptually more complex than previously suggested and offer a new perspective on the capabilities for invention and the adaptive flexibility of the Oldowan hominins.     

Tool-using strategies by early hominids at bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

This study examines the current prevailing model of Oldowan technology-the opportunistic, least-effort strategy of stone tool making and using by early hominids. The sample includes the MNK chert factory site and three contemporaneous assemblages from Olduvai Gorge, all dated between 1.65 and 1.53 m.y.a. The analysis suggests that early hominids at Olduvai may have been selective, applying distinctive strategies in making and using tools depending on the different types of raw materials available to them. The preponderance of lava cores and near absence of flakes associated with the cores suggest that lava cores at Olduvai did not provide a source of flakes. They were primarily heavy-duty core tools, despite the fact that the majority of Olduvai lava is of excellent quality for flaking. Contrary to this pattern, the abundance of chert flakes and the lack of large chert cores suggest that the production of flakes was the most important strategy applied to chert. Original forms and flaking mechanics of the raw materials may have been important factors in the simultaneous application of the different, complementary strategies. The Oldowan tool-using strategy was dynamic and flexible, in response to changes in raw material availability. The use of chert between 1.65 and 1.53 m.y.a. was apparently related to the drastic decrease in flake production in lava and quartz. Finally, lack of initial reduction episodes of lava material challenges the idea of the stone cache strategy at Olduvai between 1.65 to 1.53 m.y.a.     

Examining time trends in the Oldowan technology at Beds I and II,Olduvai Gorge

The lithic analysis of the Bed I and II assemblages from Olduvai Gorge reveals both static and dynamic time trends in early hominids' technology from 1.8 to 1.2 m.y.a. The Bed I Oldowan (1.87-1.75 m.y.a.) is characterized by the least effort strategy in terms of raw material exploitation and tool production. The inclusion of new raw material, chert, for toolmaking in the following Developed Oldowan A (DOA, 1.65-1.53 m.y.a.) facilitated more distinctive and variable flaking strategies depending on the kind of raw materials. The unique characters of DOA are explainable by this raw material factor, rather than technological development of hominids. The disappearance of chert in the subsequent Developed Oldowan B and Acheulian (1.53-1.2 m.y.a.) necessitated a shift in tool production strategy more similar to that of Bed I Oldowan than DOA. However, the evidence suggests that Bed II hominids might have been more skillful toolmakers, intensive tool-users, and engaged in more active transport of stone tools than the Bed I predecessors. Koobi Fora hominids maintained a more static tool-using behavior than their Olduvai counterparts due mainly to a stable supply of raw materials. They differed from Olduvai hominids in terms of less battering of cores, consistent transport behavior, and few productions of side-struck flakes, indicating a regional variation of toolmaking and using practice. However, they shared with Olduvai hominids a temporal trend toward the production of larger flakes from larger cores after 1.6 m.y.a. Increased intake of animal resources and the expansion of ranging area of Homo ergaster would have led to the development of technological organization. Technological changes in the Oldowan industry are attested at Olduvai Gorge, Koobi Fora, and Sterkfontein, suggesting that it was a pan-African synchronous phenomenon, beginning at 1.5 m.y.a.     

洛南花石浪龙牙洞1995年出土石制品研究

1995─1997年,经过连续3年对洛南盆地花石浪龙牙洞遗址的发掘,获得20余种哺乳动物、鸟类和水生动物化石以及包括人类生活踩踏面、灰烬层、烧石、烧骨和77000余件石制品在内的大量的人类文化遗迹和遗物。本文是1995年度龙牙洞内顶部扰动层及第4层上部出土的18608件各类石制品的阶段性研究成果。研究结果显示石制品是以中小型石片和简单的石片工具为代表的旧石器时代早期文化,而龙牙洞是一处内涵丰富的早期人类居住类型遗址。     

安徽省宁国市安友庄旧石器遗址调查及发掘简报

2003-2004年,安徽省文物考古研究所对地处水阳江流域的宁国安友庄遗址开展野外调查及考古发掘,发掘面积250 m²,调查采集石制品3件,发掘出土石制品49件。石制品原料以中津河（水阳江一级支流）二级阶地底部砾石层中产出的石英岩砾石为主,少量为石英。石制品类型包括石核、石片和石器。石制品均为使用硬锤直接剥片。石制品主要出自中国南方地区常见的网纹红土和均质红土中,根据长江中下游地区第四纪红土风化壳的相关研究结果,初步推断安友庄遗址古人类生存与活动的年代延续中更新世中、晚期一段时间。虽然安友庄遗址发现石制品数量不多,但其中存在模式2技术产品,如剥取大石片的大石核、长度大于或等于10 cm的大石片,以及以手斧、大型石刀等为代表的大型切割石器,特别是比较典型的两面加工手斧在水阳江流域尚不多见。安友庄遗址的发现,为进一步讨论早期人类在长江下游地区的扩散与技术发展具有重要的科学意义。     

The Unknown Oldowan: ~1.7-Million-Year-Old Standardized Obsidian Small Tools from Garba IV,Melka Kunture,Ethiopia

The Oldowan Industrial Complex has long been thought to have been static, with limited internal variability, embracing techno-complexes essentially focused on small-to-medium flake production. The flakes were rarely modified by retouch to produce small tools, which do not show any standardized pattern. Usually, the manufacture of small standardized tools has been interpreted as a more complex behavior emerging with the Acheulean technology. Here we report on the ~1.7 Ma Oldowan assemblages from Garba IVE-F at Melka Kunture in the Ethiopian highland. This industry is structured by technical criteria shared by the other East African Oldowan assemblages. However, there is also evidence of a specific technical process never recorded before, i.e. the systematic production of standardized small pointed tools strictly linked to the obsidian exploitation. Standardization and raw material selection in the manufacture of small tools disappear at Melka Kunture during the Lower Pleistocene Acheulean. This proves that 1) the emergence of a certain degree of standardization in tool-kits does not reflect in itself a major step in cultural evolution; and that 2) the Oldowan knappers, when driven by functional needs and supported by a highly suitable raw material, were occasionally able to develop specific technical solutions. The small tool production at ~1.7 Ma, at a time when the Acheulean was already emerging elsewhere in East Africa, adds to the growing amount of evidence of Oldowan techno-economic variability and flexibility, further challenging the view that early stone knapping was static over hundreds of thousands of years.     

蔚县盆地2019-2020年旧石器考古调查

作为广义泥河湾盆地的重要组成部分,蔚县盆地也曾是更新世期间古人类生存活动的重要地区。2019-2020年度在蔚县盆地开展了新一轮的旧石器考古调查工作,发现并确认18处旧石器和动物化石地点,获得35件石制品以及少量动物化石。从文化遗存的出露层位来看,泥河湾河湖相地层和黄土堆积是遗物埋藏的主要地貌部位。石制品类型包括石锤、石核(含细石核)、废片和工具;原料以火山岩、燧石和石英岩为主;石核剥片和工具修理均主要采用锤击法。技术类型总体上包含了简单石核石片技术和细石叶技术两套组合。结合相关地貌、地层对比资料以及石制品的类型特征,初步推测新地点的时代分别为中更新世和晚更新世,其中含细石叶技术制品地点的年代应为晚更新世晚期。     

陕西汉中洋县金水河口旧石器遗址出土石制品研究

位于汉水左岸一级支流金水河第四级阶地的金水河口遗址是汉水流域发现较早的一处旧石器遗址。2014年6月~2015年2月,为了配合国家重点建设工程——南水北调西线“引汉济渭”项目的实施,我们对金水流域金水镇附近的3个旧石器遗址进行了正式发掘,金水河口遗址即为其中之一。该遗址发掘面积370m²,出土不同类型石制品1210件。研究显示在金水河口遗址生活的古人类主要选取附近河滩砾石为原料进行剥片及工具加工。石制品的岩性以石英和石英岩为主,硅质灰岩次之,并少量使用了石英砂岩和花岗岩原料。古人类主要使用锤击法剥片。遗址中石核的利用效率较低,近半数石片有直接使用的痕迹。加工工具的毛坯以石片为主。工具类型除了刮削器、凹缺器、石锥等小型工具之外,还有砍砸器、手镐、重型刮削器等重型工具。遗址中碎屑数量很少。石制品组合以刮削器等小型工具为主,也包含少量重型工具。相较于汉中盆地已发现的遗址,金水河口遗址的文化面貌与洛南盆地中更新世的龙牙洞遗址更相似,但是重型工具的比例更高。由于遗址堆积物已超出了钾长石红外后释光测年法（post-IR IRSL）的测年范畴,目前只能给出遗址的埋藏时间下限,即埋藏石制品地层的年代不晚于150 ka。作为汉中盆地有明确测年的中更新世晚期遗址,金水河口遗址为我们系统了解汉江支流金水河流域和秦岭地区的石器工业特点、遗址地层堆积及年代等提供了新的、丰富的材料。     

河南登封方家沟遗址的石料产地

方家沟遗址主文化层出土了大量石制品,以石片石器工业为特征,年代约在距今5～3万年前。遗址周边是一个石料资源相对丰富的区域,可以通过原料分布、质量和可获性了解当时人类为何选择特定原料。遗址的原料既包括石英砂岩、石英岩和脉石英砾石,又包括脉石英岩块。石料调查显示,遗址附近丘岗顶部的中更新世砾石层可能是砾石原料的来源;西北距遗址约7～11 km处的嵩山东南麓元古宙地层中多见脉石英出露,最有可能是脉石英岩块的采集地。遗址周边区域并不缺乏燧石等质量更好的原料,但极少被当时人类所利用,这说明当地石片石器工业的长期延续不能用缺乏优质原料来解释。     

丹江上游商丹盆地新发现的旧石器及其埋藏黄土地层

2010~2012年在东秦岭丹江上游商丹盆地(商洛-丹凤盆地)第三级阶地顶部黄土堆积地层中新发现9处旷野旧石器地点, 采集石制品211件, 部分石制品直接采自遗址黄土地层剖面上。加工石制品的原料来自于丹江河床的石英质砾石, 其次是石英岩和石英砂岩砾石, 砂岩、火山岩和硅质灰岩等砾石原料偶尔被使用。早期人类主要采取锤击法直接剥片, 砸击法剥片技术也被使用, 碰砧法剥片可能只是在偶尔的情况下才被采用。石核和石片以自然砾石台面者居多。石制品种类有石锤、石核、石片、工具和断块及碎片屑。工具中砍砸器数量最多, 其次是大型石片为毛坯加工而成的重型刮削器与小型刮削器, 石器中还有一定数量的石球、手斧和手镐, 商丹盆地的石制品可视为含阿舍利(Acheulian)器物组合类型的石器工业。根据遗址的黄土-古土壤地层序列, 初步判断商丹盆地丹江第三级阶地旧石器地点埋藏石制品的黄土-古土壤地层时代为中更新世中晚期, 在获得地层绝对测年结果之前, 石制品年代可暂置于旧石器时代早期偏晚阶段。     

周口店第15地点石器原料开发方略与经济形态研究

本文是对周口店第 15地点石器文化系列研究的第 3部分。对石制品原料种类和各种原料的用途、利用率统计及其分布、可用量和质量分析揭示该地点的原料资源具有高含量和低质量的特点 ,对文化面貌和石器技术的发挥有着重要的制约作用。采用加工长度指数和加工深度指数等手段计算石料的消耗率的结果表明该地点石器在从毛坯到成型工具转换的过程中材料的消耗很少 ,这与原料条件息息相关。该文将若干理论和实验模式引入研究之中 ,以期对石器工业特点的成因和原料利用的经济形态、人类适应生存方式做出合理的诠释。     

Le Middle Stone Age de la grotte du Porc-Épic (Dire Dawa, Éthiopie) : gestion des matières premières et comportements techniques

With the emergence of Modern Humans in Africa a new post-Acheulean culture seems to take form: the Middle Stone Age. Although the geo-chronological limits of this period remain unclear, it may however be characterised by behavioural modifications, in particular an important change in the relationship between humans and their environment. Theses changes may partially result from the diversification of stone-tool production techniques, as well as socio-economical conditions. Sites dating of this period show that flake types are more abundant and result from exploitation methods that become gradually more sophisticated from about 300ka.In this context, study of the lithic assemblage from Porc-Epic Cave in Ethiopia contributes to the knowledge about operative methods used during the Middle Stone Age. The combined production of flakes, blades, bladelets and points using various methods, a differential economy towards raw materials and the diversity of tool types produced, underline the large extent of technological variability that the Porc-Epic tool-makers were capable of. We may conclude that, in spite of certain differences concerning raw material acquisition, a chronological homogeneity exists in the production modes and their variability. This apparent homogeneity throughout the stratigraphical sequence underlines the difficulty of attributing a cultural characteristic to stone assemblages of this period.     

泥河湾盆地西白马营旧石器遗址新材料

西白马营遗址是泥河湾盆地旧石器时代晚期的一处重要遗址。本文报道的87件石制品均发现于西白马营遗址同一文化层,类型有石核、石器和废片等,其中废片包括完整石片、破碎石片、碎片与断块等。石制品原料以燧石、石英以及硅质白云岩为主,个体以小型居多,剥片技术主要为硬锤锤击法,偶用砸击法。刮削器是石器的主要类型,修理采用硬锤锤击法。文化面貌属于华北小型石片石器工业传统。     

陕西洛南盆地延岭旧石器地点发掘报告

延岭地点处于东秦岭洛南盆地南洛河第二级阶地上,属盆地西部“四十里梁塬”中部,紧邻支流县河。2012年10～11月对该地点进行发掘,揭露面积251 m²,在地表耕土层和平整土地扰动层、原生黄土和古土壤层出土石料、石核、石片、各类修理的石器、断块、碎屑等不同类型石制品856件。延岭地点加工石制品的主要原料为附近河流阶地砾石堆积中的砾石,以石英为主,石英岩次之,石英砂岩、砂岩、火成岩、硅质岩等偶有使用。剥片方式主要为锤击法,偶见砸击法。石制品以小型为主。石器组合包括刮削器、尖状器、石锥、凹缺器、薄刃斧和手镐。遗址地层光释光年代学研究显示该地点埋藏石制品的地层形成于中更新世晚期至晚更新世早期,其中距今12～7万年之间的晚更新世早期为石制品埋藏最为丰富的时段。     

陕西洋县绿豆梁旧石器遗址出土的石制品

洋县绿豆梁遗址位于汉水北部一级支流金水河左岸的第四级阶地上。为了配合国家重点工程项目——南水北调西线“引汉济渭”工程的建设,2014～2015年对该地点进行了发掘,揭露面积126 m2,出土和采集不同类型的石制品656件。研究显示,早期人类加工石制品的原料来自于河漫滩或阶地古老砾石层中的砾石,岩性包括石英、石英岩、硅质灰岩、石英砂岩、花岗岩等。硬锤打击法是最主要的剥片方式。石制品包含石锤、石核、石片、石器、断块和碎屑等类型。遗址石器组合中既包括刮削器、尖状器、石钻等尺寸较小的轻型石器,也包含重型刮削器、砍砸器等重型石器。通过与位于相同阶地部位、相距2 km的金水河口遗址的测年数据和地层堆积序列对比,绿豆梁遗址的年代属于中更新世时期或更早的时段。     

The stone tools of capuchins (Cebus apella)

We examined the production of stone took by capuchins (Cebus apella). Eleven subjects used five reduction techniques to produce 346 stone tools (48 cores and 298 flakes). They produced a sharp edge on 83% of the cores and largest flakes. Three monkeys later used a sample of these objects as cutting tools. These results demonstrate that monkeys produce lithic tools analogous to those produced by Oldowan hominids.     

从技术组织论视角阐释中国古人类石器技术的多样性

石器的演化历史与早期人类技术活动的投入成本密切相关,也在一定程度上受制于可获取的原料与利用的动植物资源。克拉克有关早期人类的石器技术演化的5种技术模式,在解释旧大陆古人类技术演化具有深远的影响。然而,生活在东亚特别是中国北方地区的古人类,石制品文化面貌在约40 ka BP一直以石核-石片技术体系占据主导地位。学术界一般以中国本土旧石器文化传统根深蒂固,与西方文化交流有限为原因,解释这种石器技术发展的不平衡现象。本文以石制品生产技术组织的研究理念为出发点,强调精致加工代表人群的高投入技术与行为,在中国境内以模式2、3为代表,其产品可在一定程度上作为文化标识反映了外来人群的扩散,体现了东、西方文化有限交流;而权宜技术则多为低投入的技术与行为活动,以石核-石片技术体系为代表,随时间推移不断继承发展。同时,石核-石片技术体系在中国盛行的现象,表明本地古人类对一种比较成功的适应策略的坚持和继承,分布区域局限、内在技术变异程度相对较低的模式2、3技术,更有可能是欧亚大陆西侧和非洲规模有限的人群扩散或技术传播的结果。