Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Handbook of Paleoanthropology pp 845–871Cite as

Modeling the Past: Archaeology

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:

Abstract

This chapter looks at the potential explanatory power of archaeology as a paleoanthropological discipline. Through the study of artifacts, archaeology provides insight into human behavior. Five facets of archaeological knowledge can be drawn from the material remains of object-related activities (typological, technological, functional, contextual, and cognitive information), from which other behavioral aspects, like subsistence, settlement, social organization, cultural differences, and the cognitive background, can be derived. Archaeological analyzes face significant constraints, but by integrating results from other disciplines, the limits can be broadened. A brief outline of Paleolithic artifact history shows how this part of the behavior of Homo developed and how it is accessible by archaeological remains. Following the question “What could they do?” the basis of cultural behavior as a crucial aspect in human evolution is traced in its biological, historical-social, and individual dimensions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   949.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   1,099.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adams WY, Adams EW (2008) Archaeological typology and practical reality. A dialectical approach to artifact classification and sorting. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Adovasio JM, Soffer O, Hyland DC, Klíma B, Svoboda J (1998) Perishable technologies and the genesis of the Eastern Gravettian. Anthropologie 36(1–2):43–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Ambrose S (2010) Coevolution of composite-tool technology, constructive memory, and language. Curr Anthrop 51:S135–S147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andrefsky W Jr (1994) Raw-material availability and the organization of technology. Amer Antiq 59(1):21–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arribas A, Palmqvist P (2002) The first human dispersal to Europe: remarks on the archaeological and palaeoanthropological record from Orce (Guadix-Baza basin, southeastern Spain). Hum Evol 17(1–2):55–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arzarello M, Marcolini F, Pavia G, Pavia M, Petronio C, Petrucci M, Rook L, Sardella R (2007) Evidence of earliest human occurrence in Europe: the site of Pirro Nord (Southern Italy). Naturwissenschaften 94:107–112

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Audouze F, Enloe JG (1997) High resolution archaeology at Verberie: limits and interpretation. World Archaeol 29(2):195–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baber C (2003) Cognition and tool use. Forms of engagement in human and animal use of tools. Taylor & Francis, London/New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Balter M (2012) Did Neandertals truly bury their dead? Science 337:1443–1444

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bar-Yosef Mayer DE, Vandermeersch B, Bar-Yosef O (2009) Shells and ochre in Middle Palaeolithic Qafzeh Cave, Israel: indications for modern behaviour. J Hum Evol 56:307–314

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bar-Yosef O, Van Peer P (2009) The chaîne opératoire approach in Middle Paleolithic archaeology. Curr Anthropol 50(1):103–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck BB (1980) Animal tool behavior. The use and manufacture of tools by animals. Garland STPM Press, New York/London

    Google Scholar 

  • Belitzky S, Goren-Inbar N, Werker E (1991) A Middle Pleistocene wooden plank with man-made polish. J Hum Evol 20:349–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berna F, Goldberg P, Horwitz LK, Brink J, Holt S, Bamford M, Chazan M (2012) Microstratigraphic evidence of in situ fire in the Acheulean strata of Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape province, South Africa. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA. Published online before print 2 Apr 2012. doi:10.1073/pnas.1117620109

    Google Scholar 

  • Beyene Y, Katoh S, WoldeGabriel G, Hart WK, Uto K, Sudo M, Kondo M, Hyodo M, Renne PR, Suwa G, Asfaw B (2013) The characteristics and chronology of the earliest Acheulean at Konso, Ethiopia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110(5):1584–1591

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Binford LR (1978) Nunamiut ethnoarchaeology. Academic, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackwell LR, D’Errico F (2001) Evidence of termite foraging by Swartkrans early hominids. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 98(4):1358–1363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blumenschine RJ, Cavallo JA, Capaldo SD (1994) Competition for carcasses and early hominid behavioral ecology: a case study and conceptual framework. J Hum Evol 27:197–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brain CK, Shipman P (1993) The Swartkrans bone tools. In: Brain CK (ed) Swartkrans. A cave’s chronicle of early man, Transvaal Museum monograph no.8. Transvaal Museum, Pretoria, pp 195–215

    Google Scholar 

  • Bridges PS (1995) Skeletal biology and behavior in ancient humans. Evol Anthropol 4(4):112–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown KS, Marean CW, Herries AIR, Jacobs Z, Tribolo C, Braun D, Roberts DL, Meyer MC, Bernatchez J (2009) Fire as an engineering tool of early modern humans. Science 325:859–862

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner E (2010) Morphological differences in the parietal lobes within the human genus. Curr Anthropol 51(S1):S77–S88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carbonell E, Bermúdez de Castro JM, Arsuaga JL, Diez JC, Rosas A, Cuenca-Bescós G, Sala R, Mosquera M, Rodríguez XP (1995) Lower Pleistocene hominids and artifacts from Atapuerca-TD6 (Spain). Science 269:826–830

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conard NJ (2003) Palaeolithic ivory sculptures from southwestern Germany and the origins of figurative art. Nature 426:830–832

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conard NJ (2009) A female figurine from the basal Aurignacian of Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Germany. Nature 459:248–252

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conard NJ, Bolus M (2003) Radiocarbon dating the appearance of modern humans and timing of cultural innovations in Europe: new results and new challenges. J Hum Evol 44:331–371

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conard NJ, Malina M, Münzel SC (2009) New flutes document the earliest musical tradition in southwestern Germany. Nature 460:737–740

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Craig OE, Saul H, Lucquin A, Nishida Y, Taché K, Clarke L, Thompson A, Altoft DT, Uchiyama J, Ajimoto M, Gibbs K, Isaksson S, Heron CP, Jordan P (2013) Earliest evidence for the use of pottery. Nature 496:351–354

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cross I (2001) Music, cognition, culture, and evolution. Ann N Y Acad Sci 930:28–42

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • d‘Errico F, Vanhaeren M, Barton N, Bouzouggar A, Mienis H, Richter D, Hublin J-J, McPherron SP, Lozouet P (2009) Additional evidence on the use of personal ornaments in the Middle Palaeolithic of North Africa. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:16051–16056

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • d’Errico F, Julien M, Liolios D, VanHaren M, Baffier D (2003) Many awls in our argument: bone tool manufacture and use in the Châtelperronien and Aurignacian levels of the Grotte du Renne at Arcy-sur-Cure. In: Zilhão J, d’Errico F (eds) The chronology of the Aurignacian and of the transitional technocomplexes: dating, stratigraphies, cultural implications. Proceedings of Symposium 6.1 of the 14th Congress of the UISPP. Instituto Portugês de Arquelogia, Lisbon, pp 247–270

    Google Scholar 

  • d’Errico F, Nowell A (2000) A new look at the Berekhat Ram figurine: implications for the origins of symbolism. Camb Archaeol J 10(1):123–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • David B, Geneste J-M, Petchey F, Delannoy J-J, Barker B, Eccleston M (2013) How old are Australia’s pictographs? A review of rock art dating. J Archaeol Sci 40(1):3–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson I (2013) Peopling the last new worlds: the first colonisation of Sahul and the Americas. Quat Int 285:1–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Heinzelin J, Clark JD, White T, Hart W, Renne P, WoldeGabriel G, Beyene Y, Vrba E (1999) Environment and behavior of 2.5-million-year-old Bouri hominids. Science 284:625–629

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Lumley H (ed) (1969) Une cabane acheuléenne dans la grotte du Lazaret. Mémoires de la Société Préhistorique Française, vol 7. CNRS, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Delagnes A, Roche H (2005) Late Pliocene hominid knapping skills: the case of Lokalalei 2C, West Turkana, Kenya. J Hum Evol 48:435–472

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Einwögerer T (2000) Die jungpaläolithische Station auf dem Wachtberg in Krems, NÖ. Mitteilungen der Prähistorischen Kommission 34, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien

    Google Scholar 

  • Einwögerer T, Friesinger H, Händel M, Neugebauer-Maresch C, Simon U, Teschler-Nicola M (2006) Upper Palaeolithic infant burials. Nature 444:285

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Enard W, Khaitovich P, Klose J, Zöllner S, Heissig F, Giavalisco P, Niesselt-Struwe K, Muchmore E, Varki A, Ravid R, Doxiadis GM, Bontrop RE, Pääbo S (2002) Intra- and interspecific variation in primate gene expression patterns. Science 296:340–343

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Enquist M, Ghirlanda S, Jarrick A, Wachtmeister CA (2008) Why does human culture increase exponentially? Theor Popul Biol 74:46–55

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Féblot-Augustins J (1999) Raw material transport patterns and settlement systems in the European Lower and Middle Palaeolithic: continuity, change and variability. In: Roebroeks W, Gamble C (eds) The Middle Palaeolithic occupation of Europe. University of Leiden, Leiden, pp 193–214

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferraro JV, Plummer TW, Pobiner BL, Oliver JS, Bishop LC, Braun DR, Ditchfield PW, Seaman JW III, Binetti KM, Seaman JW Jr, Hertel F, Potts R (2013) Earliest archaeological evidence of persistent hominin carnivory. PLoS One 8(4):e62174

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ferring R, Oms O, Agustí J, Berna F, Nioradze M, Shelia T, Tappen M, Vekua A, Zhvania D, Lordkipanidze D (2011) Earliest human occupations at Dmanisi (Georgian Caucasus) dated to 1.85–1.78 Ma. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108:10432–10436

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher SE, Ridley M (2013) Culture, genes, and the human revolution. Science 340:929–930

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Galibert F, Quignon P, Hitte C, Andre C (2011) Toward understanding dog evolutionary and domestication history. C R Biol 334:190–196

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Garofoli D, Haidle MN (2013) Epistemological problems in cognitive archaeology: an anti-relativistic proposal towards methodological uniformity. J Anthropol Sci 91. doi:10.4436/JASS.91003

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg P, Macphail RI (2006) Practical and theoretical geoarchaeology. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldman-Neuman T, Hovers E (2009) Methodological considerations in the study of Oldowan raw material selectivity: insights from A. L. 894 (Hadar, Ethiopia). In: Hovers E, Braun DJ (eds) Interdisciplinary approaches to the Oldowan. Springer, Heidelberg/New York, pp 71–84

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • González-Sainz C, Ruiz-Redondo A, Garate-Maidagan D, Iriarte-Avilés E (2013) Not only Chauvet: dating Aurignacian rock art in Altxerri B Cave (northern Spain). J Hum Evol 65:457–464

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goren-Inbar N, Alperson N, Kislev ME, Simchoni O, Melamed Y, Ben-Nun A, Werker E (2004) Evidence of hominin control of fire at Gesher Benot Ya’akov, Israel. Science 304:725–727

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gott B (2002) Fire-making in Tasmania: absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Curr Anthropol 53:650–656

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hahn J (1993) Erkennen und Bestimmen von Stein- und Knochenartefakten. Einführung in die Artefaktmorphologie, 2nd edn. Archaeologica Venatoria, Tübingen

    Google Scholar 

  • Haidle MN (2012) How to think tools? A comparison of cognitive aspects in tool behavior of animals and during human evolution. Cognitive perspectives in tool behaviour, vol 1. http://tobias-lib.uni-tuebingen.de/frontdoor.php?source_opus=6014

  • Haidle MN, Conard NJ (2011) The nature of culture – summary report on an interdisciplinary symposium held in Tübingen, Germany, 15–18 June 2011. Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 20:65–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardy B, Moncel M-H (2011) Neanderthal use of fish, mammals, birds, starchy plants and wood 125–250,000 years ago. PLoS One 6(8):e23768

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Henshilwood C, d’Errico F, Marean CW, Milo RG, Yates R (2001) An early bone tool industry from the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa: implications for the origins of modern human behaviour, symbolism and language. J Hum Evol 41:631–678

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Henshilwood CS, d’Errico F, Watts I (2009) Engraved ochres from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa. J Hum Evol 57:27–47

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hohmann G, Fruth B (2003) Culture in bonobos? Between-species and within-species variation in behavior. Curr Anthropol 44(4):563–571

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hou Y, Potts R, Yuan B, Guo Z, Deino A, Wang W, Clark J, Xie G, Huang W (2000) Mid Pleistocene Acheulean-like stone technology of the Bose Basin, South China. Science 287:1622–1626

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hovers E, Belfer-Cohen A (2006) “Now you see it, now you don’t” – modern human behaviour in the Middle Palaeolithic. In: Hovers E, Kuhn S (eds) Transitions before the transition. Evolution and stability in the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age. Springer, Heidelberg/New York, pp 295–304

    Google Scholar 

  • Hovers E, Belfer-Cohen A (2013) Insights into early mortuary practices of Homo. In: Tarlow S, Stutz LN (eds) Archaeology of death and burial. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 631–642

    Google Scholar 

  • Jelinek J (1992) New upper palaeolithic burials from Dolní Věstonice. Eraul 56:207–228

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones R (1995) Tasmanian archaeology: establishing the sequences. Annu Rev Anthropol 24:423–446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimura Y (1997) The MNK chert factory site: the chert-using strategy by early hominids at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Afr Stud Monogr 18(1):1–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Kimura Y (1999) Tool-using strategies by early hominids at Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. J Hum Evol 37:807–831

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kitahara-Frisch J (1993) The origin of secondary tools. In: Berthelet A, Chavaillon J (eds) The use of tools by human and non-human primates, A Fyssen Foundation Symposium. Clarendon, Oxford, pp 239–246

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Klíma B (1988) A triple burial from the Upper Paleolithic of Dolní Věstonice. J Hum Evol 16:831–835

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klíma B (1991) Die jungpaläolithischen Mammutjägersiedlungen Dolní Věstonice und Pavlov in Südmähren – ČSFR. Archäologie und Museum 23, Berichte aus der Arbeit des Amtes für Museen und Archäologie des Kantons Baselland, Liestal/Schweiz

    Google Scholar 

  • Ledón-Rettig CC, Richards CL, Martin LB (2013) Epigenetics for behavioral ecologists. Behav Ecol 24(2):311–324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee S-H, Wolpoff MH (2003) The pattern of evolution in Pleistocene human brain size. Paleobiology 29(2):186–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leonard JA, Wyane RK, Wheeler J, Valadez R, Guillén S, Vilà C (2002) Ancient DNA evidence for Old World origin of New World dogs. Science 298:1613–1616

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lepre CJ, Roche H, Kent DV, Harmand S, Quinn RL, Brugal J-P, Texier P-J, Lenoble A, Feibel CS (2011) An earlier origin for the Acheulian. Nature 477:82–85

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu L, Bestel S, Shi J, Song Y, Che X (2013) Paleolithic human exploitation of plant foods during the last glacial maximum in North China. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110(14):5380–5385

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lombard M (2011) Quartz-tipped arrows older than 60 ka: further use-trace evidence from Sibudu, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. J Archaeol Sci 38:1918–1930

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lombard M (2012) Thinking through the Middle Stone Age of sub-Saharan Africa. Quat Int 270:140–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lombard M, Haidle MN (2012) Thinking a bow-and-arrow: cognitive implications of Middle Stone Age bow and stone-tipped arrow technology. Camb Archaeol J 22(2):237–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lombard M, Parsons I (2011) What happened to the human mind after the Howiesons Poort? Antiquity 85:1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Lycett SJ, von Cramon Taubadel N (2008) Acheulean variability and hominin dispersals: a model-bound approach. J Archaeol Sci 35(3):553–562

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Machado J, Hernández CM, Mallol C, Galván B (2013) Lithic production, site formation and Middle Palaeolithic palimpsest analysis: in search of human occupation episodes at Abric del Pastor Stratigraphic Unit IV (Alicante, Spain). J Archaeol Sci 40:2254–2273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mackay A, Welz A (2008) Engraved ochre from a Middle Stone Age context at Klein Kliphuis in the Western Cape of South Africa. J Archaeol Sci 35:1521–1532.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malafouris L (2010) Metaplasticity and the human becoming: principles of neuroarchaeology. J Anthropol Sci 88:49–72

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mania D (1983) Autochthone Lagerplatzstrukturen im altpaläolithischen Fundhorizont auf der Steinrinne bei Bilzingsleben. Ethnographisch-Archäologische Zeitschrift 24:296–303

    Google Scholar 

  • Mania D, Mania U (1988) Deliberate engravings on bone artifacts of Homo erectus. Rock Art Res 5:91–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Mania D, Mania U (1998) Geräte aus Holz von der altpaläolithischen Fundstelle bei Bilzingsleben. Praehistorica Thuringica 2:32–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Maricic T, Günther V, Georgiev O, Gehre S, Ćurlin M, Schreiweis C, Naumann R, Burbano HA, Meyer M, Lalueza-Fox C, de la Rasilla M, Rosas A, Gajović S, Kelso J, Enard W, Schaffner W, Pääbo S (2013) A recent evolutionary change affects a regulatory element in the human FOXP2 gene. Mol Biol Evol 30(4):844–852

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mazza PPA, Martini F, Sala B, Magi M, Colombini MP, Giachi G, Landucci F, Lemorini C, Modugno F, Ribechini E (2006) A new Palaeolithic discovery: tar-hafted stone tools in a European Mid-Pleistocene bone-bearing bed. J Archaeol Sci 33:1310–1318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCall GS (2012) Ethnoarchaeology and the organization of lithic technology. J Archaeol Res 20(2):157–203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGrew WC (1992) Chimpanzee material culture. Implications for human evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McHenry HM, Coffing K (2000) Australopithecus to Homo: transformations in body and mind. Annu Rev Anthropol 29:125–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McPherron SP, Alemseged Z, Marean CW, Wynn JG, Reed D, Geraads D, Bobe R, Béarat HA (2010) Evidence for stone-tool-assisted consumption of animal tissues before 3.39 million years ago at Dikika, Ethiopia. Nature 446:857–860

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Meignen L, Bar-Yosef O, Goldberg P, Weiner S (2000) Le feu au Paléolithque moyen: recherches sur les structures de combustion et le statut des foyers. L’exemple du Proche-Orient. Paléorient 26(2):9–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mercader J, Barton H, Gillespie J, Harris J, Kuhn S, Tyler R, Boesch C (2007) 4,300-Year-old chimpanzee sites and the origins of percussive stone technology. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:3043–3048

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Movius HL (1949) The Lower Palaeolithic cultures of Southern and Eastern Asia. Trans Am Philos Soc NS 38(4):330–420

    Google Scholar 

  • Münzel S, Seeberger F, Hein W (2002) The Geißenklösterle flute – discovery, experiments, reconstruction. In: Hickmann E, Kilmer AD, Eichmann R (eds) Studien zur Musikarchäologie III. Verlag Marie Leidorf, Rhaden/Westfalen, pp 107–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Neugebauer-Maresch C (1989) Zum Neufund einer weiblichen Statuette bei den Rettungsgrabungen an der Aurignacien-Station Stratzing, Krems/Rehberg, Niederösterreich. Germania 67:551–559

    Google Scholar 

  • Norton CJ, Bae K, Harris JWK, Lee H (2006) Middle Pleistocene handaxes from the Korean Peninsula. J Hum Evol 51:527–536

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connell JF, Allen J (2004) Dating the colonization of Sahul (Pleistocene Australia – New Guinea): a review of recent research. J Archaeol Sci 31:835–853

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oakley KP, Andrews P, Keeley LH, Clark JD (1977) A reappraisal of the Clacton spearpoint. Proc Prehist Soc 43:13–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paddayya K (1977) An Acheulian occupation site at Hunsgi, Peninsular India: a summary of the results of two seasons of excavation (1975–6). World Archaeol 8(3):342–355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parés JM, Arnold L, Duval M, Demuro M, Pérez-González A, Bermúdez de Castro JM, Carbonell E, Arsuaga JL (2013) Reassessing the age of Atapuerca-TD6 (Spain): new paleomagnetic results. J Archaeol Sci 40:4586–4595

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parfitt SA, Barendregt RW, Breda M, Candy I, Collins MJ, Coope GR, Durbidge P, Field MH, Lee JR, Lister AM, Mutch R, Penkman KEH, Preece RC, Rose J, Stringer CB, Symmons R, Whittaker JE, Wymer JJ, Stuart AJ (2005) The earliest record of human activity in northern Europe. Nature 438:1008–1012

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Parfitt SA, Ashton NM, Lewis SG, Abel RL, Coope GR, Field MH, Gale R, Hoare P, Larkin NR, Lewis MD, Karloukovski V, Maher BA, Peglar SM, Preece RC, Whittaker JE, Stringer CB (2010) Early Pleistocene human occupation at the edge of the boreal zone in northwest Europe. Nature 466:229–233

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pavlov P, Roebroeks W, Svendsen JI (2004) The Pleistocene colonization of northeastern Europe: a report on recent research. J Hum Evol 47(1):3–17

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pawlik AF, Thissen JP (2011) Hafted armatures and multi-component tool design at the Micoquian site of Inden-Altdorf, Germany. J Archaeol Sci 38:1699–1708

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pélégrin J, Karlin C, Bodu P (1988) “Chaînes opératoires”: un outil pour le préhistorien. In: Tixier J (ed) Technologie lithique. Notes et Monographies Techniques No. 25. CNRS, Paris, pp 55–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Peresani M, Vanhaeren M, Quaggiotto E, Queffele A, d’Errico F (2013) An ochered fossil marine shell from the mousterian of fumane cave, Italy. PLoS One 8(7):e68572

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peretz I (2006) The nature of music from a biological perspective. Cognition 100:1–32

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Petanjek Z, Kostović I (2012) Epigenetic regulation of fetal brain development and neurocognitive outcome. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109(28):11062–11063

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pettitt PB, Bader NO (2000) Direct AMS radiocarbon dates for the Sungir mid Upper Palaeolithic burials. Antiquity 74:269–270

    Google Scholar 

  • Pigeot N (1990) Technical and social actors. Flint knapping specialists and apprentices at Magdalenian Etiolles. Archaeol Rev Camb 9(1):126–141

    Google Scholar 

  • Piperno DR, Weiss E, Holst I, Nadel D (2004) Processing of wild cereal grains in the Upper Palaeolithic revealed by starch grain analysis. Nature 430:670–673

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pitulko VV, Nikolsky PA, Girya EY, Basilyan AE, Tumskoy VE, Koulakov SA, Astakhov SN, Pavlova EY, Anisimov MA (2004) The Yana RHS site: humans in the Arctic before the last glacial maximum. Science 303:52–56

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ploux S (1989) Approche archéologique de la variabilité des comportements techniques individuels: l’exemple de quelques tailleurs magdaléniens de Pincevent. Université de Paris X, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Plumet P (2006) L’homme préhistorique dans le Grand Nord. C R Palevol 5:329–342

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rendell L, Whitehead H (2001) Culture in whales and dolphins. Behav Brain Sci 24:309–382

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rieder H (2003) Der große Wurf der frühen Jäger: Nachbau altsteinzeitlicher Speere. Biologie in unserer Zeit 33(3):156–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts MB, Parfitt SA (1999) Boxgrove. A Middle Pleistocene hominid site art Eartham Quarry, Boxgrove, West Sussex. English heritage archaeological report 17, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers EM (1995) Diffusion of innovations. Free Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Rots V (2013) Insights into early Middle Palaeolithic tool use and hafting in Western Europe. The functional analysis of level IIa of the early Middle Palaeolithic site of Biache-Saint-Vaast (France). J Archaeol Sci 40(1):497–506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rots V, Van Peer P (2006) Early evidence of complexity in lithic economy: core-axe production, hafting and use at Late Middle Pleistocene site 8-B-11, Sai Island (Sudan). J Archaeol Sci 33:360–371

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rots V, Williamson BS (2004) Microwear and residue analyzes in perspective: the contribution of ethnoarchaeological evidence. J Archaeol Sci 31:1287–1299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sandgathe DM, Dibble HL, Goldberg P, McPherron SP, Turq A, Niven L, Hodgkin J (2011) Timing of the appearance of habitual fire use. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108:E298

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sandgathe DM, Dibble HL, Goldberg P, McPherron SP (2012) The Roc de Marsal Neandertal child: a reassessment of its status as a deliberate burial. J Hum Evol 61(3):243–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schiffer MB (2013) Contributions of ethnoarchaeology. In: The archaeology of science. Manuals in archaeological method, theory and technique. Vol. 9. Springer: Heidelberg/New York, pp 53–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlanger N (1994) Mindful technology: unleashing the chaîne opératoire for an archaeology of mind. In: Renfrew C, Zubrow EBW (eds) The ancient mind. Elements of cognitive archaeology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 143–151

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz GT (2012) Growth, development, and life history throughout the evolution of Homo. Curr Anthropol 53(S6):S395–S408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Semaw S, Rogers MJ, Quade J, Renne PR, Butler RF, Dominguez-Rodrigo M, Stout D, Hart WS, Pickering T, Simpson SW (2003) 2.6-Million-year-old stone tools and associated bones from OGS-6 and OGS-7, Gona, Afar, Ethiopia. J Hum Evol 45:169–177

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Slimak L, Svendsen JI, Mangerud J, Plisson H, Heggen HP, Brugère A, Pavlov PY (2011) Late Mousterian persistence near the Arctic Circle. Science 332:841–845

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Soffer O (2004) Recovering perishable technologies through use wear on tools: preliminary evidence for Upper Paleolithic weaving and net making. Curr Anthropol 45(3):407–413

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Speth JD (2004) News flash: negative evidence convicts Neanderthals of gross mental incompetence. World Archaeol 36(4):519–526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Speth JD, Meignen L, Bar-Yosef O, Goldberg P (2012) Spatial organization of Middle Paleolithic occupation X in Kebara Cave (Israel): Concentrations of animal bones. Quat Int 247:85–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stapert D (2007) Youngsters knapping flint near the campfire: an alternative view of site K at Maastricht-Belvédère (the Netherlands). Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 37:19–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens NE, Harro DR, Hicklin A (2010) Practical quantitative lithic use-wear analysis using multiple classifiers. J Archaeol Sci 37(10):2671–2678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stiles D (1991) Early hominid behaviour and culture tradition: raw material studies in Bed II, Olduvai Gorge. Afr Archaeol Rev 9:1–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stout D, Quade J, Semaw S, Rogers MJ, Levin NE (2005) Raw material selectivity of the earliest stone toolmakers at Gona, Afar, Ethiopia. J Hum Evol 48:365–380

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stout D, Toth N, Schick K, Chaminade T (2008) Neural correlates of Early Stone Age toolmaking: technology, language and cognition in human evolution. Philos Trans R Soc B 363:1939–1949

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Street M, Jöris O, Turner E (2012) Magdalenian settlement in the German Rhineland – An update. Quat Int 272–273:231–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Susman RL (1991) Who made the Oldowan tools? Fossil evidence for tool behavior in Plio-Pleistocene hominids. J Anthropol Res 47:129–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Takashi T (2012) MIS3 edge-ground axes and the arrival of the first Homo sapiens in the Japanese archipelago. Quat Int 248:70–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Texier P-J, Porraz G, Parkington J, Rigaud J-P, Poggenpoel C, Tribolo C (2013) The context, form and significance of the MSA engraved ostrich eggshell collection from Diepkloof Rock Shelter, Western Cape, South Africa. J Archaeol Sci 40(9):3412–3431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thieme H (1997) Lower Paleolithic hunting spears from Germany. Nature 385:807–810

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas G (2013) Experimental archaeology. Routledge, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M (1999) The cultural origins of human cognition. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Toth N (1985) The Oldowan reassessed: a close look at early Stone Age artefacts. J Archaeol Sci 12:101–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valladas H, Clottes J, Geneste J-M, Garcia MA, Arnold M, Cachier H, Tisnérat-Laborde N (2001) Evolution of prehistoric cave art. Nature 413:479

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van Schaik CP, Ancrenaz M, Borgen G, Galdikas B, Knott CD, Singleton I, Suzuki A, Utami SS, Merill M (2003) Orangutan cultures and the evolution of material culture. Science 299:102–105

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • VanDerwarker A, Peres TM (eds) (2010) Integrating zooarchaeology and paleoethnobotany. A consideration of issues, methods, and cases. Springer, Heidelberg/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanhaeren M, d’Errico F, Stringer C, James SL, Todd JA, Mienis HK (2006) Middle Paleolithic shell beads in Israel and Algeria. Science 312:1785–1788

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vanhaeren M, d’Errico F, van Niekerk KL, Henshilwood CS, Erasmus RM (2013) Thinking strings: additional evidence for personal ornament use in the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa. J Hum Evol 64(6):500–517

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Villa P, d’Errico F (2001) Bone and ivory points in the Lower and Middle Paleolithic of Europe. J Hum Evol 41:69–112

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wadley L, Sievers C, Bamford M, Goldberg P, Berna F, Miller C (2011) Middle Stone Age bedding construction and settlement patterns at Sibudu, South Africa. Science 334:1388–1391

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weiner S, Xu Q, Goldberg P, Liu J, Bar-Yosef O (1998) Evidence for the use of fire at Zhoukoudian, China. Science 281:251–253

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • White MJ (2000) The Clactonian question: on the interpretation of core-and-flake assemblages in the British Lower Paleolithic. J World Prehist 14(1):1–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whiten A, Goodall J, McGrew WC, Nishida T, Reynolds V, Sugiyama Y, Tutin CEG, Wrangham RW, Boesch C (1999) Cultures in chimpanzees. Nature 399:682–685

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkins J, Schoville BJ, Brown KS, Chazan M (2012) Evidence for early hafted hunting technology. Science 338:942–946

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Woollett K, Maguire EA (2011) Acquiring “the knowledge” of London’s layout drives structural brain changes. Curr Biol 21:2109–2114

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wu X, Zhang C, Goldberg P, Cohen D, Pan Y, Arpin I, Bar-Yosef O (2012) Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China. Science 336: 1696–1700

    Google Scholar 

  • Wynn T, Coolidge FL (eds) (2010) Working memory: beyond language and symbolism. Curr Anthropol;51/S1:S1–S199

    Google Scholar 

  • Zilhão J, Angelucci DE, Badal-García E, d’Errico F, Daniel F, Dayet L, Douka K, Higham TFG, Martínez-Sánchez MJ, Montes-Bernárdez R, Murcia-Mascarós S, Pérez-Sirvent C, Roldán-García C, Vanhaeren M, Villaverde V, Wood R, Zapata J (2010) Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian Neandertals. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107:1023–1028

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center “The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans”, of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Senckenberg Research Institute, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

    Miriam N. Haidle

Authors
  1. Miriam N. Haidle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miriam N. Haidle .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Anthropologie, Johannes-Gutenberg Universität, Mainz, Germany

    Winfried Henke

  2. Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, USA

    Ian Tattersall

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this entry

Cite this entry

Haidle, M.N. (2015). Modeling the Past: Archaeology. In: Henke, W., Tattersall, I. (eds) Handbook of Paleoanthropology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39979-4_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation