The Organization Of Lithic Technology In Late Glacial And Early Postglacial Europe

Case-studies which examine the organization of lithic technology in the context of environmental change in the: eastern Pyrenees ( Xavier Terradas ); Basque country ( J. J. I. Estevez & J. E. G. Urquijo ); Portugal ( N. F. Bicho ); south-east Italy ( Sarah Milliken ); Jerxen-Orbke, Detmold, Germany ( C. Kempcke-Richter ); Switzerland ( Marie-Isabelle Cattin ); Paris basin ( Pierre Bodu ); eastern Mediterranean ( N. Goring-Morris, O. Marder, A. Davidson, F. Ibrahim ).

Lithic assemblages have always been an important source of information, sometimes the only source, on human activities in Late Glacial and Early Postglacial Europe. These twelve papers, some of which were given at the 59th Annual SAA meeting in Arnheim in 1994 (here revised) present comparative lithic material from across Europe.

Case-studies which examine the organization of lithic technology in the context of environmental change in the: eastern Pyrenees ( Xavier Terradas ); Basque country ( J. J. I. Estevez & J. E. G. Urquijo ); Portugal ( N. F. Bicho ); south-east Italy ( Sarah Milliken ); Jerxen-Orbke, Detmold, Germany ( C. Kempcke-Richter ); Switzerland ( Marie-Isabelle Cattin ); Paris basin ( Pierre Bodu ); eastern Mediterranean ( N. Goring-Morris, O. Marder, A. Davidson, F. Ibrahim ).

This large volume presents virtually all aspects of the Epipalaeolithic Natufian culture in a series of chapters that cover recent results of field work, analyses of materials and sites, and synthetic or interpretive overviews of various aspects of this important prehistoric culture.

Muge 150th: The 150th Anniversary of the Discovery of Mesolithic Shellmiddens is organized into two volumes. This first volume focuses on the Mesolithic structures of the Muge and Sado Valleys, with a total of 27 chapters. These contributions cover a wide range of archaeological and anthropological themes, including a general synthesis on the current state of specific topics including the use of isotopes in diet determination and migration; settlement and subsistence; technology; plant use; burial practices; social complexity; and research history.

For more than a century, the study of hunting and gathering societies has been central to the development of both archaeology and anthropology as academic disciplines, and has also generated widespread public interest and debate. This book provides a comprehensive review of hunter-gatherer studies to date, including critical engagements with older debates, new theoretical perspectives, and renewed obligations for greater engagement between researchers and indigenous communities.

The original research papers in the volume provide a broad review of current approaches to the study of lithic technology from the Palaeolithic to the present. The contributions address both with analytical techniques and interpretive issues. Collectively, they increase our understanding of issues such as tool function, means of production, raw material sourcing and exchange systems, and the evolution of human cognition, social organization and symbolic behavior.

A comprehensive investigation of household life during the Upper Paleolithic era. What was home and family like in Paleolithic Europe? How did mobile hunter-gatherer families live, work, and play together in the fourteenth millennium BP? What were the functional and spatial constraints and markers of their domesticity—the processes that create and sustain a household? Despite the long recognized absence of comprehensive archaeological data on such ancient homes and hearths, the archaeologists in this volume begin unraveling the domesticity of the Upper Paleolithic by drawing on both an immense trove of new material evidence and comparative site data, and a range of incisive and illuminating ethnographic analogies, theoretical models, and simulations. Five Late Magdalenian sites from the Paris Basin and one later Azilian site provide striking evidence of well-preserved camps of short duration, situated on valley bottoms and buried by gentle floods. Of particular interest and value is the site of Verberie, rich in lithic tools, faunal remains, hearths, and other indicators of spatial organization, which has been excavated continuously for twenty-six years by the same director and provides an unparalleled source of information on Paleolithic domesticity. The first group of essays and reports look at the technology and demographic evidences of domesticity; the second set seeks clues to the spatial patterning of Paleolithic households; while the final essays draw on ethnographic analogies to reconstruct and interpret gendered divisions of labor, perishable technologies, and other activities not directly recognizable from archaeological remains. “[The Magdalenian Household] should be required reading for anyone with an interest in Upper Palaeolithic behaviour and the evolution of the use of space.” — Antiquity “ because of the excellent syntheses of especially the long-term, high-quality research at Verberie, this book should be in the collections of all institutions with serious interests in Upper Paleolithic prehistory.” — Journal of Anthropological Research