Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T07:19:32.177Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Running ahead of time’ in the development of Palaeolithic industries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2015

L. B. Vishnyatsky
L. B. Vishnyatsky*
Affiliation:
Institute of the History of Material Culture, Dvortsoraya emb. 18, St Petersburg 191065, Russia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Palaeolithic people could foresee their technological future no more, or even less, than we are able to. They never said, ‘The Middle Palaeolithic has gone on quite long enough — now we'd better get on with a transition to the Upper.’ So what is one to make of those precocious lithic industries which prefigure key features of later innovations, the industries which ‘run ahead’ of their own time?

Type
Notes
Information
Antiquity , Volume 68 , Issue 258 , March 1994 , pp. 134 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambrose, S.N. & Lorenz, K.G. 1990. Social and ecological models for the Middle Stone Age in Southern Africa, in Mellars 1990: 3–33.Google Scholar
Bahn, P.G. 1978. Palaeolithic pottery: the history of an anomaly, Anthropos 197: 98–110.Google Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O. 1989. Geochronology of the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic, in Mellars & Stringer 1989a: 589–610.Google Scholar
Beaumont, P.B., De Villiers, H. & Vogel, J.C. 1978. Modern man in sub-Saharan Africa prior to 49,000 years BP, a review and evaluation with particular reference to Border Cave, South African Journal of Science 74: 409–19.Google Scholar
Bergman, C. & Onhuma, K. 1983. Technological notes and some blades from Hummal la, El-Kowm, Syria, Quartar 33/34: 171–80.Google Scholar
Besançon, J. Copeland, L. Hours, F. Muhesen, S. & Sanlaville, P. 1981. Le Paléolithique d’El-Kowm: rapport préliminaire, Paléorient 7: 33–55.Google Scholar
Bordes, F.H. 1960a. Evolution in the Paleolithic cultures, in Tax, S. (ed.), Evolution after Darwin 2: The evolution of man: 99–110. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bordes, F.H. 1960b. Le Pré-aurignacien de Yabrud (Syrie) et son incidence sur la Chronologie du Quaternaire au Moyen Orient, Bulletin of Research Council of Israel 69: 91–103.Google Scholar
Bordes, F.H. 1977. Que sont le Pré-aurignacien et l’Iabroudien?, Eretz-Israel 13: 49–55.Google Scholar
Clark, J.D. 1989. The origins and spread of modern humans: the African evidence, in Mellars & Stringer 1989a: 565–88.Google Scholar
Cohen, M.N. 1977. The food crisis in prehistory: overpopulation and the origins of agriculture. New Haven (CT): Yale University Press Google Scholar
Copeland, L. 1975. The Middle and Upper Paleolithic industries of the Lebanon and Syria in the light of recent research, in Wendorf, F. & Marks, A. (ed.), Problems in prehistory: North Africa and the Levant: 317–50. Dallas (TX): Southern Methodist University Press.Google Scholar
Copeland, L. 1978. The Middle Paleolithic of Aldun and Ras el Kelb (Lebanon): first results from a study of the flint industry, Paléorient 4: 33–57.Google Scholar
Copeland, L. 1985. The pointed tools of Hummal la (El Kowm, Syria), Cahiers de l’Euphrate 4: 177–89.Google Scholar
Deacon, H.J. 1989. Late Pleistocene palaeoecology and archaeology in the Southern Cape, South Africa, in Mellars&Stringer 1989a: 547–64.Google Scholar
Deacon, H.J. 1992. Southern Africa and modern human origins, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London series B 337: 177–83.Google ScholarPubMed
Deacon, H.J. & Geleijnse, V.B. 1988. The stratigraphy and sedimentology of the main site sequence, Klasies River, South Africa, South African Archaeological Bulletin 43: 5–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deacon, H.J. et al. 1986. Late Pleistocene cave deposits in the southern Cape: current research at Klasies River, South Africa, Palaeoecology of Africa 17: 31-–7.Google Scholar
Farizy, M. (ed.) 1990. Paléolithique moyen récent et Paléolithique supérieur anclen en Europe. Nemours: Musée de Préhistoire d’Ile-de-France.Google Scholar
Farrand, W. 1979. Chronology and paleoenvironment of Levantine prehistoric sites as seen from sediment studies, Journal of Archaeological Science 6: 369–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garrod, D. 1956. Acheuléo-yabrudien et ‘Pré-Aurignacien’ de la Grotte de Taboun (Mount Carmel): étude stratigraphique et chronologique, Quaternaria 3: 39–59.Google Scholar
Garrod, D. & Kirkbride, D. 1961. Excavation of the Abri Zumoffen, a paleolithic rock-shelter near Aldun, South Lebanon, Bulletin Musée Beyrouth 16: 7–48.Google Scholar
Goren-lNBAR, N. 1988. Notes on ‘decision making’ by Lower and Middle Palaeolithic hominids, Paleorient 14: 99–108.Google Scholar
Gowlett, J. 1984. Mental abilities of early man: a look at some hard evidence, in Foley, R. (ed.), Hominid evolution and community ecology: 167–92. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Grün, R. & Stringer, C.B. 1991. Electron spin resonance dating and the evolution of modern humans, Archaeometry 33: 153–99.Google Scholar
Grigoriev, G.P. 1977. The Paleolithic of Africa. Leningrad: Nauka. In Russian.Google Scholar
Hennig, G.J. & Hours, F. 1982. Dates pour le passage entre l’Acheuléen et le Levalloiso-Mousterien, Paléorient 8: 81–3.Google Scholar
Hours, F. 1982. Une nouvelle industrie en Syrie entre l’Acheuléen superieur et le Levalloiso-Mousterien, Archéologie au Levant, CMO 12, Archäologie 9: 33–46.Google Scholar
Jelinek, A.J. 1982. The Middle Paleolithic in the Southern Levant with comments on the appearance of modern man (Homo sapiens), in Ronen: 57–101.Google Scholar
Jelinek, A.J. 1988. Technology, typology and culture in the Middle Paleolithic, in Dibble, H. (ed.), Upper Pleistocene prehistory of western Eurasia: 199–212. Philadelphia (PA): University Museum.Google Scholar
Jelinek, A.J. 1990. The Amudian in the context of the Mugharan Tradition of Tabun Cave (Mount Carmel), Israel, in Mellars (1990): 81–90.Google Scholar
Jelinek, J. 1988. New realities, preadaptations and communication in biocultural evolution, Anthropologie (Brno) 26: 97–8.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G. 1989. Biological and behavioural perspectives on modern human origins in Southern Africa, in Mellars & Stringer 1989a: 531–46.Google Scholar
Korobkov, I.I. 1978. Palaeolithic of the Eastern Mediterranean area, Paleolit Blijnegoisrednego Vostoka: 9–185. Leningrad: Nauka. [In Russian.]Google Scholar
Lamdan, M. & Ronen, A. 1989. Middle and Upper Palaeolithic blades in the Levant, in Israel Herkovitz, (ed.), People and culture in change: 29–36. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. International series S508.Google Scholar
Mcburney, C.B.M. 1967. The Haua Fteah (Cyrenaica) and the Stone Age of the south-east Mediterranean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Malan, B.D. 1949. Magosian and Howieson’s Poort, South African Archaeological Bulletin 4: 34–6.Google Scholar
Masters, P.M. 1982. An amino acid racemization chronology of Tabun, in Ronen (1982): 43–54.Google Scholar
Mellars, P. (ed.), 1990. The emergence of modern humans. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Mellars, P. 1991. Comments, Current Anthropology 31: 246–7.Google Scholar
Mellars, P. & Stringer, C.B. 1989a. The human revolution: behavioral and biological perspectives of the origins of modern humans. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Mellars, P. 1989b. Introduction, in Mellars&Stringer 1989a: 1–14.Google Scholar
Muhesen, S. 1988. Le Paléolithique inférieur de Syrie, L’Anthropologie 92: 863–82.Google Scholar
Nishiaki, Y. 1989. Early blade industries of the Levant: the placement of Douara IV industry in the context of the Levantine early Middle Paleolithic, Paléorient 15: 215–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Opperman, H. & Heydenrych, B. 1990. A 32,000 year-old Middle Stone Age camp site with plant food remains from the north eastern Cape, South African Archaeological Bulletin 45: 93–9.Google Scholar
Otte, M. 1990. Le processus de transition du Paléolithique moyen au superieur, in Farizy (1990): 145–9.Google Scholar
Parkington, J. 1991. A critique of the consensus view on the age of Howieson’s Poort assemblages in South Africa, in Mellars (1990): 34–55.Google Scholar
Pavlov, A.P. 1901. Le Crétacé inférieur de la Russe et sa faune, Nouvelles Mémoires de la Société Naturelle Moskou 16: 1–87.Google Scholar
Praslov, N.D. 1991. On the Paleolithic ceramics, Drevnie cul’turi i arkheologhicheskie izyskaniya: 47–50. St Petersburg: Nauka. [In Russian.]Google Scholar
Renfrew, C. 1978. The anatomy of innovation, in Green, D. Haselgrove, C. & Spriggs, M. (ed.), Social organization and settlement: 89–117. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. International series S47(l).Google Scholar
Rogachev, A.N. 1955. Kostenki IV – an Old Stone Age site on the Don, Materiali i issledovaniya po arkheologii SSSR 45.Google Scholar
Ronen, A. (ed.), 1982. The transition from Lower to Middle Paleolithic and the origin of modern man. Oxford: British Archeological Reports. International series S151.Google Scholar
Rust, A. 1950. Die Hohlenfunde von Jabrud, Syrien. Neumünster: Karl Wachholtz Google Scholar
Rust, A. 1958. £ber Kulturen der Neanderthales in Nahen Osten, in, Hundert jahre Neanderthaler Köln-Graz.Google Scholar
Singer, R. & Wymer, J. 1982. The Middle Stone Age at Klasies River Mouth in South Africa. Chicago (IL): Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Soffer, O., Vand1Ver, P. Klima, B. & Svoboda, J. The pyrotechnology of performance art: Moravian Venuses and wolverines, in White, R. & Pike-Tay, A. (ed.), Before Lascaux. The complex record of the early Upper Palaeolithic: 259–75. Boca Raton (LA): CRC Press.Google Scholar
Stapleton, P. & Hewitt, J. 1927. Stone implements from a rocksheiter at Howieson’s Poort near Grahamstown, South African Journal of Science 24: 574–87.Google Scholar
Thackeray, J.F. 1988. Molluscen fauna from Klasies River, South Africa, South African Archaeological Bulletin 43: 27–32.Google Scholar
Tuffreau, A. 1990. Le Paléolithique moyen recent dans le nord de la France, in Farizy (1990): 159–65.Google Scholar
Tuffreau, A., et al. 1985. Le gisement Paléolithique moyen de Seclin (Nord, France), Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 15: 131–8.Google Scholar
Tuffreau, A. 1991. La fouille de sauvetage du gisement Paléolithique moyen de Riencourt-les-Bapaume (Pas-de-Calais): premiers résultats, Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Frangaise 88: 202–9.Google Scholar
Wadley, L. 1991. Rose Cottage Cave: background and a preliminary report on the recent excavations, South African Archaeological Bulletin 46: 125–30.Google Scholar
White, L. 1959. The evolution of culture: the development of civilization to the fall of Rome. New York (NY): McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Wobst, M. Palaeolithic archaeology – some problems with form, space and time, in Bailey, G.N. (ed.), Hunter-gatherer economies in prehistory. 220–25. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wynn, T. 1979. The intelligence of later Acheulean hominids, Man 14: 371–91.Google Scholar
Wynn, T. 1981. The intelligence of Oldowan hominids, Journal of Human Evolution 10: 529–41.Google Scholar
Wynn, T. 1985. Piaget, stone tools and the evolution of human intelligence, World Archaeology 17: 32–43.Google Scholar