The Uluzzian is a stone tool industry found stratigraphically between the late Mousterian and the early Upper Palaeolithic at sites in Italy and Greece. It’s a flake-based industry with lunates, crescent-shaped backed pieces, as type fossil. Alongside these lithic types bone points, perforated shell beads and mineral pigments are found. Only at one site, Cavallo…
The use of organic materials, such as bone, wood and antler, has been identified throughout various Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic contexts. Through detailed archaeological investigations and experimental approaches it is has been demonstrated that these objects were frequently used to shape and retouch lithic artefacts. New research published in Quaternary International provides the first…
The presence of cultural patterns among artefact types has been a key topic among Palaeolithic archaeologists. Schemes based on typology and linear progression are now generally abandoned, in favor of process-driven explanations, incorporating raw material, tool use and resharpening. This is also the case for the British record, where especially river gravels have delivered a…
The use of fire is generally seen as an important step in human evolution. However, physical evidence for early fire use is very sporadic. In Europe, traces of habitual fire use do not occur until about 400,000 to 300,000 years ago. Furthermore, a distinction needs to be made between fire users and actual fire producers.…
The site of Orgnac 3 (Central France) is known for its 11 metres thick stratigraphic sequence that encompasses the appearance of Levallois debitage. Originally a cave, the site gradually became a rock shelter and eventually an open-air site. 50,000 stone tools were found, alongside abundant faunal remains and a series of Homo heidelbergensis teeth (from…
Research regarding Neanderthal groups in Italy has been making the headlines with claims for structured organisation of space. Such organisation has previously been argued to be a trait that only modern humans, i.e. us, were capable or willing to do. Thus, if these new findings are to be taken seriously then it is another point…
Stone tools are frequently examined microscopically to locate, identify and interpret use-wear traces. Since the 1970s lithic assemblages have been studied this way by various labs, using different microscopic techniques to reconstruct their functions. However, the objective nature of these analyses can be, and have been, questioned and a recent paper by Adrian Evans stresses…
The earliest occupation of Europe is generally seen as having had two main phases. The first one relates to sites with simple core and flake assemblages (Mode 1) with no handaxes or other bifacial technologies (e.g. Pakefield, Orce, Pirro-Nord). The second phase relates to the spread of the Acheulean handaxe technology, seen as having reached…
New research, by Stout et al in the Journal of Archaeological Science, is seeking to challenge the idea of conservatism within the Acheulean. The authors focus exclusively on the large handaxe record from the British Lower Palaeolithic site of Boxgrove. They utilise experimental knappers with varying levels of experience (expert, novice, inexperienced) and compare their…
The Middle Palaeolithic record from the Netherlands is rather poor, especially compared to neighbouring countries like Belgium and Germany. The Dutch Middle Palaeolithic is mainly represented by surface collections, some containing just one handaxe or leaf point, others having a wider array of tools, flakes and cores. There are only a handful contextualised sites, the…
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