Explore the vast range of titles available.

The extended period of coexistence between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens in Europe coincided with the emergence of regionally distinctive lithic industries, signalling the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic. The Iberian Peninsula was on the periphery of pioneering Upper Palaeolithic developments, with archaeological remains primarily found in northern territories. We report the discovery of an initial Upper Palaeolithic lithic industry at Cueva Millán in the hinterlands of Iberia. This industry, termed here Arlanzian, not only represents the earliest and southernmost evidence of such industries in Iberia but also lacks a direct counterpart. However, it exhibits chronological and technological parallels with the lithic industries associated with the earliest expansion of Homo sapiens throughout Eurasia. We interpret this as potential evidence of its intrusive nature, but not necessarily associated with a migration event, as more complex scenarios derived from inter-population connectivity must be also considered. The biological identity of the Arlanzian makers remains unknown, but they coexisted with declining Neanderthal groups from neighbouring territories.

The Acheulean materials documented in FLK West dated c. 1.7 Ma. are the focus of the present work. An original techno-functional approach is applied here to analyze the origin of Acheulean tools. According to the results, these tools were employed in different functional contexts in which tasks of different durations that transformed resources with different resistances were carried out. The exploitation of large and resistant resources suggests that the economic mechanism governing the manufacture of these tools was an increase in the demand of the work load. The decision processes underlying the production of these tools have thus an evident functional motivation. However, the presence of a refined handaxe in the studied sample indicates that the design form and production principles of handaxe manufacture were the result of an abrupt emergence rather than a long gradual development. The integration of mechanical and ergonomic investigation in our research has been crucial to explain how a core-and-flake industry gave way to a technology based on the production of large and heavy shaped tools.

The significance of the archaeological record unearthed in the SHK fluvial landscape represents a noteworthy dataset to study in greater detail the expression of inter-assemblage variability during the formally labelled Developed Oldowan/Acheulean interface in Olduvai Gorge. A precise stratigraphic interval, laterally continuous, and preserving fractions of anthropogenic activity at different points of the same fluvial network makes it feasible to identify the variable techno-economic ways in which hominins responded to the local paleo-landscape in a short time unit. In this work we present the results of the comparative techno-economic study of the three lithic collections retrieved from the time unit defined by an isochronous litho-stratigraphic volcanic horizon deposited in the fluvial landscape of SHK Main site and SHK Extension. The combined use of this isochrone plus the archaeo-stratigraphic method to refine time-averaging constraints offers for the first time an assessment of the nature of technological variation within different fractions of the same fluvial landscape at ~ 1.5 Ma in Middle Bed II. The goal of this analysis is to look closely at inter-assemblage variability in a unit of time with a coherent degree of synchronicity and to add new data to the Developed Oldowan/Acheulean gradient.

Recent excavations carried out in several Bed I and Bed II sites have shown that hominins at Olduvai Gorge used both bipolar and freehand knapping methods for quartz reduction. Due to the petrographic nature of quartz and to its heterogeneous response to fracture, the identification of bipolar knapping at any given site can be ambiguous and controversial. This work aims to overcome this problem by developing an experimental referential framework for the recognition of characteristic features of flakes produced through both bipolar and freehand reduction of Naibor Soit quartz cores. The final goal of this work is to use a set of variables related to the response of local Olduvai quartz to freehand and bipolar fracture, obtained through two independent controlled experiments, in order to statistically differentiate the diagnostic technological traits that best indicate bipolar reduction on this raw material type.

In recent years, a “high-resolution” archaeological approach is being successfully applied in a number of Paleolithic intra-site spatial analyses. This perspective encompasses the integration of data provided by a number of sources (such as soil micro-morphology, archaeo-stratigraphy, site formation studies, or lithic conjoining) in order to identify minimal behavioral entities in archaeological palimpsests. To date, this type of approach has been applied to African ESA contexts only cursorily. Here, we present the results of our methodological effort in order to make progress towards meeting some of the basic standards of current high-resolution approaches in the East African ESA record, revolving around the concept of synchronicity. This approach has been applied to the newly discovered site of SHK Extension, adjacent to and pene-contemporaneous with the classical SHK Main site (Olduvai Gorge), where a total area of 30 m 2 has been unearthed. By a detailed archaeo-stratigraphic study of the archaeological sequence, in combination with other procedures focusing on the micro scale of the spatial analysis, we can confidently dissect the different archaeo-units of this anthropogenic aggregate. These archaeo-units must be interpreted as micro-palimpsests showing a level of synchronicity as accurate as possible. In the present work, this methodology constitutes the referential criterion for assemblage grouping and it is the baseline for the subsequent technological study of the different anthropogenic entities identified at SHK Extension.

FLK West (Olduvai Gorge) constitutes one of the most relevant archeological resources for the study of the Acheulean in East Africa. This site presents a number of unique characteristics that make it an exceptional archeological document: a precise chronological framework, a multi-component site with six different archeological units bearing a rich lithic and faunal record, the oldest association of stone tools and processed fauna, and a well-preserved paleoenvironmental context. For these reasons, FLK West constitutes a remarkable opportunity to undertake a micro-spatial analysis at an archaeo-unit level. This work pursues a first approach to the intra-site study of the archeological associations preserved in the densest patches documented in the lowermost levels (L4 to L6) of the FLK West sequence. For this purpose, a variety of analyses will be considered, including archaeo-stratigraphy, a preliminary refitting program and, more specifically, the inspection of spatial horizontal correlations between archeological remains. The most significant spatial patterns observed point to differences in the distribution of diagnostic Acheulean implements with respect to specimens included in knapping categories and faunal remains. These observations open up the possibility to explore the debated functional meaning of large Acheulean tools from a complementary spatial perspective.

In this article we present an experimental approach focused on bipolar core technology. The main goal is to define the major constraints and parameters faced when identifying the bipolar component of the Early Pleistocene site of Vallparadís (Spain). For these experiments we have used the same varieties of raw materials and blanks as those documented in the archaeological record. The methodological framework applied in the study of the experimental sample is largely based on the most diagnostic parameters recurrently cited in bipolar-related literature: double striking platforms and opposite battering damage. This information has been encoded by grouping blanks, cores and detached elements in morphotechnical types. The results suggest that the reduction process is conditioned by the morphology and fracture consistency of the knapped nodules. Although blank morphology does not categorically determine the final shape of the cores and flakes, there is a clear correlation between them. The most diagnostic parameter for identifying bipolar objects in statistical terms is the presence of opposite battering damage. However, there are many non-diagnostic pieces generated throughout the bipolar knapping process. Hence we consider it pertinent to analyse the archaeological assemblage of Vallparadís according to alternative methodological approaches (e.g. morphotechnical types). Dans cet article nous présentons une approche expérimentale centrée sur la technologie bipolaire de l'enclume. L'objet principal de cette étude est d'identifier les contraintes et les paramètres qui définissent la composante bipolaire du Pléistocène ancien du site de Vallparadís en Espagne. Nous avons utilisé pour ce travail expérimental les mêmes variétés de matières premières et de matrices que celles que l'on retrouve dans le matériel archéologique. Le cadre méthodologique employé dans l’étude de notre échantillon se base surtout sur les éléments diagnostiques les plus fréquemment rencontrés dans la littérature spécialisée concernant les techniques bipolaires : plateformes de percussion doubles et endommagement d'un côté par le percuteur mobile (coup), et de l'autre par le percuteur dormant ou enclume (par contrecoup). Cette information a été catégorisée en groupant les matrices, les nucléi et les éléments détachés en types morphotechniques. Il en ressort que le processus de réduction est conditionné par la morphologie et la consistance de fracture des nodules. Quoique la morphologie des matrices ne définisse pas catégoriquement la forme finale des nuclei et des éclats, on observe une nette corrélation entre eux. La présence d'un endommagement produit sur les plans opposés par le percuteur (coup), et de l'autre par l'enclume (par contrecoup) constitue le paramètre le plus diagnostique pour identifier les artéfacts bipolaires du point de vue statistique Mais il existe de nombreuses pièces non-diagnostiques produites par la taille d'objets bipolaires. Nous pensons donc qu'il est pertinent d'analyser le matériel archéologique de Vallparadís en suivant une méthode alternative, types morphotechniques par exemple). Translation by Madeleine Hummler In diesem Artikel präsentieren wir ein experimentelles Verfahren, das sich auf die bipolare Technologie der Herstellung von Kernen konzentriert. Das Hauptziel ist, die wesentlichsten Bedingungen und Faktoren, die bei der Bestimmung von bipolaren Komponenten des Frühpleistozäns aus Vallparadís in Spanien vorkommt, zu definieren. Für diese Experimente haben wir die gleichen Rohstoffarten und Rohlingen als diejenige des Fundmaterials von Vallparadís verwendet. Der methodologische Rahmen zur Untersuchung unserer Proben beruht weitgehend auf die diagnostischen Eigenheiten, die am meisten vorkommen und die am häufigsten in der Fachliteratur zitiert werden: doppelte Schlagfläche und gegenüberliegende Schlagbeschädigung. Diese Information wurde dann in Typen von Rohlingen, Kernen und Abschlägen eingeteilt. Es ergibt sich, dass das Reduktionsverfahren von der Morphologie und der Bruchkonsistenz des Knollens abhängt. Obschon die Morphologie der Rohlinge nicht unbedingt die endgültige Form der Kerne und der Abschläge bestimmt, ist ein einen deutlicher Zusammenhang zwischen ihnen zu erkennen. Statistisch ist die Anwesenheit von gegenüberliegender Schlagbeschädigung der wichtigste Parameter bei der Bestimmung von bipolaren Artefakten. Es gibt aber auch sehr viele nichtdiagnostische Stücke, die im bipolaren Herstellungsverfahren vorkommen. Deswegen halten wir es als passend, dass der Befund von Vallparadís nach alternativen methodologischen Verfahren (wie morphotechnische Typen) untersucht wird. Translation by Madeleine Hummler

This paper is based on a landscape archaeology project, ongoing since 1996, that is being conducted on the Tertiary limestone plateaus of the Northern Spanish Meseta. The study aims to document the abundant Palaeolithic archaeology of these tablelands adjacent to the river Duero, and to interpret its territorial implications. We provide a synthesis of the chronological context of the discoveries, the extent of the forces of post-depositional disturbance involved in the formation of the various archaeological aggregations, the technological description of the lithic collections, the environmental reconstruction of the locales selected by Palaeolithic human groups in this region and their mobility patterns, based on the intensive field research carried out to date.