Early Human Behaviour in the Global Context: The Rise and Diversity of the Lower Palaeolithic Period (One World Archaeology)

493 Pages·1998·7.92 MB·English

by  M. Petraglia

EARLY HUMAN BEHAVIOUR IN GLOBAL
CONTEXT
ONE WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY
Series Editor: P.J.Ucko
Animals into Art H.Morphy (ed.), vol. 7
Archaeological Approaches to Cultural Identity S.J.Shennan (ed.), vol. 10
Archaeological Heritage Management in the Modern World H.F.Cleere (ed.),
vol. 9
Archaeology and Language I: theoretical and methodological orientations
R.Blench & M.Spriggs (eds), vol. 27
Archaeology and Language II: archaeological data and linguistic hypotheses
R.Blench & M.Spriggs (eds), vol. 28
Archaeology and the Information Age: a global perspective P.Reilly & S.Rahtz
(eds), vol. 21
The Archaeology of Africa: food, metals and towns T.Shaw, P.Sinclair, B.Andah
& A.Okpoko (eds), vol. 20
Centre and Periphery: comparative studies in archaeology T.C.Champion (ed.),
vol. 11
Conflict in the Archaeology of Living Traditions R.Layton (ed.), vol. 8
Domination and Resistance D.Miller, M.J.Rowlands & C.Tilley (eds), vol. 3
The Excluded Past: archaeology in education P.Stone & R.MacKenzie (eds),
vol. 17
Foraging and Farming: the evolution of plant exploitation D.R.Harris &
G.C.Hillman (eds), vol. 13
From the Baltic to the Black Sea: studies in medieval archaeology D.Austin &
L.Alcock (eds), vol. 18
Hunters of the Recent Past L.B.Davis & B.O.K.Reeves (eds), vol. 15
The Meanings of Things: material culture and symbolic expression I.Hodder
(ed.), vol. 6
The Origins of Human Behaviour R.A.Foley (ed), vol. 19
The Politics of the Past P.Gathercole & D.Lowenthal (eds), vol. 12
The Presented Past: heritage, museums and education G.Stone &
B.L.Molyneaux (eds), vol. 25
Sacred Sites, Sacred Places D.L.Carmichael, J.Hubert, B.Reeves & A.Schanche
(eds), vol. 23
iii
Signifying Animals: human meaning in the natural world R.G.Willis (ed.), vol.
16
Social Construction of the Past: representation as power G.C.Bond & A.Gilliam
(eds), vol. 24
State and Society: the emergence and development of social hierarchy and
political centralization J.Gledhill, B.Bender & M.T.Larsen (eds), vol. 4
Time, Process and Structured Transformation in Archaeology S.E.van der Leeuw
& J.McGlade (eds), vol. 26
Tropical Archaeobotany: applications and developments J.G.Hather (ed.), vol.
22
The Walking Larder: patterns of domestication, pastoralism, and predation
J.Glutton-Brock (ed.), vol. 2
What is an Animal? T.Ingold (ed.), vol. 1
What’s New? A closer look at the process of innovation S.E.van der Leeuw &
R.Torrence (eds), vol. 14
Who Needs the Past? Indigenous values and archaeology R.Layton (ed.), vol. 5
EARLY HUMAN
BEHAVIOUR IN GLOBAL
CONTEXT
The Rise and Diversity of the Lower
Palaeolithic Record
Edited by
Michael D.Petraglia and Ravi Korisettar
London and New York
First published 1998
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of
thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
© 1998 selection and editorial matter, Michael D.Petraglia and Ravi Korisettar; individual chapters,
the contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Early human behaviour in global context: the rise and diversity
of the Lower Palaeolithic record/edited by
Michael D.Petraglia and Ravi Korisettar.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Paleolithic period. 2. Human remains (Archaeology)
3. Human evolution. 4. Human behavior. 5. Social evolution.
I.Petraglia, M.D. (Michael D.) II. Korisettar, Ravi.
GN771.E27 1998
930. 12(cid:0) –dc21 97–42581
ISBN 0-203-20327-5 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-26635-8 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-11763-1 (Print Edition)
Contents
List of figures viii
List of tables xii
List of contributors xiv
Preface xvi
1 The archaeology of the Lower Palaeolithic: background and 1
overview
Ravi KorisettarMichael D.Petraglia
2 Techniques for the chronometry of the Palaeolithic: evidence for 24
global colonization
Ashok K.SinghviGünther A.WagnerRavi Korisettar
3 Towards a technological reassessment of East African Plio- 81
Pleistocene lithic assemblages
Brian V.LudwigJ.W.K.Harris
4 The lifeways of Homo erectus inferred from archaeology and 104
evolutionary ecology: a perspective from East Africa
Susan CachelJ.W.K.Harris
5 Raw material as evidence for human behaviour in the Lower 130
Pleistocene: the Olduvai case
Daniel Stiles
6 The earliest South African industries 146
Kathleen Kuman
7 The Lower Palaeolithic settlement of Eurasia, with special 181
reference to Europe
Nicolas Rolland
8 Early colonizations and cultural continuities in the Lower 215
Palaeolithic of western Asia
Ofer Bar-Yosef
vii
9 Grasslands, tool making and the hominid colonization of 273
southern Asia: a reconsideration
Robin W.Dennell
10 Quaternary stratigraphy, palaeoclimate and the Lower 298
Palaeolithic of India
Ravi KorisettarS.N.Rajaguru
11 The Lower Palaeolithic of India and its bearing on the Asian 339
record
Michael D.Petraglia
12 Lower Palaeolithic occupations in Nepal in relation to South Asia 386
Gudrun Corvinus
13 Early Palaeolithic quartz industries in China 407
Jian Leng
14 The Early Palaeolithic of the eastern region of the Old World in 425
comparison to the West
J.Desmond Clark
15 Concluding remarks: archaeology’s fifth big question 439
Clive Gamble
Index 458
Figures
2.1 Alternative evolutionary scenarios of hominid evolution 25
2.2 The stratigraphic units lithozone, biozone and chronozone are 27
based on palaeontological, lithological and chronometric criteria
respectively
2.3 Upper: The conceptual basis of age determination. Lower: A 29
typical time evolution function for the decay of radioactive species
2.4 The carbon exchange reservoir 30
2.5 Carbon cycle in nature 31
2.6 A plot of radiocarbon ages with calendar ages on tree-rings in oak 32
and pine
2.7 (A) Schematic presentation of a typical crystal structure and the 33
lattice defects. (B) The luminescence induction process in the
energy band formalism of the crystal structure. (C) Growth of
luminescence signal with dose
2.8 Scheme of the thermoluminescence TL and optically stimulated 36
luminescence OSL
2.9 Various geological and archaeological events datable by 36
luminescence
2.10 Schematic presentation of the two magnetic energy levels of a 40
single ‘electronic’ magnet placed in a magnetic field
2.11 Induced fission-tracks in glass shard from Banks Island tephra, 41
Canada
2.12 Range of applicability of fission-track dating for various minerals 43
2.13 Radioactive decay-series of 238U and 235U 46
2.14 A radioactive system in equilibrium has a daughter (D) to parent (P) 46
ratio ((D)/(P)) of unity
2.15 The stratigraphic sequence at the Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania 51
2.16 Scheme of cosmogenic nuclides produced by the interaction of 52
cosmic rays with rocks on the earth’s surface
2.17 Schematic acquisition of remanent magnetism by sediments 53
2.18 Geomagnetic polarity scale of the last 2.8 myr 54
2.19 Selected palaeomagnetic sections with branching events in primate 54
evolution
2.20 Chemical profile through the weathering crust of a chert from 55
Florida
ix
2.21 Experimental determination of hydration rates for two chemically 58
different obsidian samples from Kenya
2.22 The calibration curve for cation ratio 59
2.23 Fluorine to phosphate ratios in fossil skeletal samples from Europe 60
plotted against stratigraphic age
2.24 Diagentic reactions commonly used in amino-acid geochronology 62
2.25 Contour plot of amino acid ratios of the fossil mollusc Glycymeris 63
2.26 The TL flint chronology of selected Near Eastern and west 67
European sites
2.27 Possible scenarios of migration of Homo erectus 71
2.28 Summary of the landmarks in the evolution of hominids 71
3.1 Map of East Africa showing the locations of sites included in this 83
study
3.2 Exhausted quartz bipolar cores from BK and Senga 93
3.3 ‘Diminutive’ quartz cores from MNK Main 93
3.4 Heavily reduced single platform cores produced on large basalt 97
flakes from FxJj 18 GSL
3.5 Minimally reduced single platform cores produced on large basalt 97
flakes from FxJj 63
5.1 Stratigraphical relationship between MNK CFS and HWK E 3–4 133
5.2 Location of MNK CFS (88a), HWK E 3–4 (43), FLK N (45a), 134
SHK (91) and Locality 202
5.3 Frequency distribution of flake length at MNK CFS and HWK E 3– 136
4
5.4 Frequency distribution of flake thickness at MNK CFS and HWK E 136
3–4
5.5 Proportions of chert, lava and quartz/quartzite raw materials in the 137
debitage at HWK E 3–4
5.6 The locations of various sources of raw materials found in the 142
artefacts of HWK E 3–4
6.1 The Sterkfontein site, with the grid over Members 4 and 5 154
6.2 Bipolar-flaked cores and chunks from the Sterkfontein Oldowan, 158
Member 5
6.3 Polyhedral cores from the Sterkfontein Oldowan, Member 5 161
6.4 Polyhedral and irregular polyhedral cores in quartz from the 162
Sterkfontein Oldowan, Member 5
6.5 Chopper-cores from the Sterkfontein Oldowan, Member 5 162
6.6 Casual cores in quartz from the Sterkfontein Oldowan, Member 5 164
6.7 Two core-forms from the Sterkfontein Oldowan, Member 5 165
6.8 Diagnostic Acheulian types from Sterkfontein, Member 5 East 167
6.9 Diagnostic Acheulian types from Sterkfontein, Member 5 East 167
6.10 Core forms from the Member 5 West breccia currently being 170
excavated
6.11 A quartzite cleaver from solid breccia in Member 5 West 171