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Are Lithics and Fauna a Match Made in (Prehistoric) Heaven?

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Abstract

Lithic artifacts and animal bones form the bulk of the material remains of the Paleolithic. This has led archeologists to interpret these two types of finds as tethered components of subsistence systems. Differences observed through time and space in the lithic repertoire were considered as functional adjustments, designed to maximize gains from a diverse faunal resource base. While we do not challenge the general notion that lithic artifacts were used (also) for exploiting faunal (and other) resources, we note that significant lithic technological breakthroughs, clearly directed towards higher efficiency of procurement of faunal resources (e.g., hafting, projectile weapons), are few and far-apart in the evolution of material culture. Based on case studies from the Levantine Middle Paleolithic (MP), we question the degree to which fauna-based subsistence determined lithic variability. Current research focus on functional relationship between lithics and fauna may preclude consideration of other causes for lithic typo-technological diversity. These may include technological traditions, differences in cultural transmission processes, or the level of within- and between-group connectivity, various combinations of which may have operated in the MP.

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Notes

  1. Here, we follow Rots and Plisson (2013) and use the term “armature” as a general designation of pointed morphotypes.

  2. The dates (ca. 500 ka) assigned to the pointed artifacts from layer 4a, Kathu Pan 1 (Wilkins et al. 2012) are exceptionally old. This Fauresmith assemblage may represent an early MSA occurrence (ibid.), albeit based on current data it is a rather isolated one.

  3. Evidence for earlier hafting was reported from the early Middle Pleistocene Acheulian in the Levant and from the late Middle Pleistocene in Italy (Alperson-Afil and Goren-Inbar 2016; Mazza et al. 2006), but to date, these are sporadic occurrences.

  4. When the preferred method of obtaining meat was intercept hunting, investment in the making and using (i.e., transporting, hafting) of stone armatures was deemed more advantageous. Among less mobile groups, where encounter hunting was more common, such investment was disadvantageous (Shea 1998).

  5. Whether stone tool use by extant non-human primates simulates a plausible precursor for hominin technological behavior (as some would argue about chimpanzee stone-assisted nut-cracking; e.g., Panger et al. 2002) or an evolutionary convergence (as is the case with capuchin monkeys stone-toolmaking; e.g., Falótico and Ottoni 2016; Proffitt et al., 2016) is not relevant for the current discussion.

  6. Archeologically, this has been recognized only in the MSA record (e.g., Lombard 2007).

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Acknowledgements

We thank Tamara Dogandžić, Geoff Smith, Karen Ruebens, and Teresa Steele for inviting us to participate in the session “Connecting Middle Paleolithic datasets: the interplay of zooarchaeological and lithic data for unravelling Neanderthal behavior” in the 82 SAA annual meeting, and for their invitation to contribute to this special issue. We are grateful to Yehuda Cohen for his critical reading of the manuscript and his helpful suggestions.

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  1. The Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91905, Jerusalem, Israel

    Erella Hovers & Anna Belfer-Cohen

  2. International Research Affiliate, Instittue of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Erella Hovers

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  1. Erella Hovers
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Hovers, E., Belfer-Cohen, A. Are Lithics and Fauna a Match Made in (Prehistoric) Heaven?. J Paleo Arch 3, 108–125 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-018-0007-9

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