Sourcebook of Paleolithic Transitions

Methods, Theories, and Interpretations
2009
ISBN: 978-0-387-76478-8
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 574 Seiten, Format (B × H): 198 mm x 266 mm, Gewicht: 1453 g

As the study of Palaeolithic technologies moves towards a more analytical approach, it is necessary to determine a consistent procedural framework. The contributions to this timely and comprehensive volume do just that. This volume incorporates a broad chronological and geographical range of Palaeolithic material from the Lower to Upper Palaeolithic. The focus of this volume is to provide an analysis of Palaeolithic technologies from a quantitative, empirical perspective.

As new techniques, particularly quantitative methods, for analyzing Palaeolithic technologies gain popularity, this work provides case studies particularly showcasing these new techniques.
Employing diverse case studies, and utilizing multivariate approaches, morphometrics, model-based approaches, phylogenetics, cultural transmission studies, and experimentation, this volume provides insights from international contributors at the forefront of recent methodological advances.

Zielgruppe

Graduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Chauhan, Parth

Camps, Marta

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Vor- und Frühgeschichte, prähistorische Archäologie
• Geowissenschaften Geologie Paläontologie, Taphonomie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Archäologie: Theorie und Methoden

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contributors

Acknowledgements

Preface

Foreword

Introduction

PART I: METHODOLOGICAL & THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

Lycett, Stephen: Quantifying transitions: morphometric approaches to Palaeolithic variability and technological change

Blackwell, Bonnie: ESR dating at hominid and archaeological sites during the Plio-Pleistocene

Bar-Yosef, Ofer: Revolutions and Transitions in Prehistory

Soffer, Olga: The Politics of Rubicons And The Imagined Pasts

Straus, Lawrence: Has the notion of "transitions" in Paleolithic prehistory outlived its usefulness?

Gowlett, John: The long gradient of human evolution in relation to transitions in archaeology: proxy evidence, biological classification and unintended effects

Clark, Geoff: Accidents of History

Haynes, Gary: Between the Transitions

Chauhan, Parth R.: Assessing Palaeolithic Transitions in the Indian Subcontinent: Implications and Limitations

Korisettar, Ravi: Geologic and Geomorphic Perspectives on Hominin Dispersal into South Asia: an inquiry into the dispersal routes and patterns of settlement

Discussion

PART II: CHANGES WITHIN THE LOWER PALEOLITHIC

Rogers, Mike et al.: From Nothing to Something: The Earliest Archaeological Record

Semaw, Sileshi: Early Acheulian at Gona: insights on the Oldowan-Acheulian technological transition

Harris, Jack W.K.: A reevaluation of the Oldowan to Acheulian transition against the background of the evolutionary changes seen in the emergence of Homo ergaster/early Homo erectus

Braun, David: Technological Change in the Early Stone Age: Evidence from the Koobi Fora Formation

Burdukiewicz, J.M.: Lower Palaeolithic transitions in northern latitudes of Eurasia

Belmaker, Miriam: The oak and the reed: Hominin adaptability and patterns of environmental change in the Lower Pleistocene of the Levant

Discussion

PART III: LOWER TO MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC TRANSITIONS

Chazan, Michael: Assessing the Lower to Middle Paleolithic Transition

Vishnyatsky, Leonid: Cultural dynamics in the Middle Paleolithic: gradual evolution, series of transitions, or undirected fluctuation?

Monnier, Gilliane: A closer look at typological trends across the Lower/Middle Paleolithic transition in Western Europe

Close, Angela: Forced and Unforced Transitions in Northern Africa

Brooks, Alison & Yellen, J.: From Acheulian to Middle Stone Age in Eastern Africa

Tryon, Christian: Is it the Middle Stone Age yet? An eastern African perspective on the Early to Middle Stone Age transition

Ajitprasad, P.: Developmental Trends and the Transition of the Middle Palaeolithic Assemblage in the Sukhi Valley, Gujarat

Norton, Christopher: Chinese Middle – Late Pleistocene Transition Reexamined: Behavioural Perspectives

Williams, Martin A.J.: The impact of the Toba super-eruption on hominin populations

Discussion

Postscript: M. Camps & P. Chauhan

PART IV: MIDDLE TO UPPER PALAEOLITHIC TRANSITIONS

Bednarik, Robert: The Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition revisited

Harrold, Francis: Historical Perspectives on the Transition from Middle to Upper Paleolithic

Zilhao, Joao: Issues of sample association in the dating of the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe

Adams, Brian: The Bükk Mountain Szeletian: Old and New Views on "Transitional" material from the Eponymous site of the Szeletian

Arrizabalaga, A.: Through the Looking-Glass. The most recent years of Cantabrian Research in Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition

Bernaldo de Quiros, F.: Middle to Upper Paleolithic at Cantabrian Spain

Camps, Marta: Past and Present: The Mid-Upper Paleolithic Transition in SW Europe

Feblot-Augustins, J: Lithic raw material provenance studies in western and central Europe: a Paleolithic perspective

Karanavic, I & Patou-Mathis, M.: Middle/Upper Paleolithic interface at Vindija cave (Croatia): new resu

Über Autor(innen)

Stephen Lycett is Lecturer in Human Evolution at the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK. He gained his PhD from the University of Cambridge (2006) and his MSc from University College London (2003). His research traverses the boundaries of Palaeolithic Archaeology, Palaeoanthropology and Biological Anthropology. He has published on a broad range of research questions including cultural evolution in hominins and nonhuman primates, morphometrics, lithic analysis, hominin dispersals, hominid phylogenetics and species identification in the fossil record. He is particularly interested in cultural transmission theory and how this approach can help shed light on the evolution of material culture. Parth R. Chauhan is an Indian-American Research Associate with the Stone Age Institute (Indiana, USA). He obtained his PhD from the University of Sheffield (UK) in 2005 and his MA from Deccan College Postgraduate Research Institute (Pune, India) in 1998. His research interests include Old World prehistory, Palaeolithic archaeology, hominin dispersals, Asian paleoanthropology, vertebrate paleontology and taphonomy and lithic technology. He is currently carrying out research on early human technological and environmental adaptations during the Quaternary of India and Yemen.