Culture History and Convergent Evolution: Can We Detect Populations in Prehistory? (Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology)

This volume brings together diverse contributions from leading archaeologists and palaeoanthropologists, covering various spatial and temporal periods to distinguish convergent evolution from cultural transmission in order to see if we can discover ancient human populations. With a focus on lithic technology, the book analyzes ancient materials and cultures to systematically explore the theoretical and physical aspects of culture, convergence, and populations in human evolution and prehistory. The book will be of interest to academics, students and researchers in archaeology, paleoanthropology, genetics, and palaeontology. The book begins by addressing early prehistory, discussing the convergent evolution of behaviours and the diverse ecological conditions driving the success of different evolutionary paths. Chapters discuss these topics and technology in the context of the Lower Paleolithic/Earlier Stone age and Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age. The book then moves towards a focus on the prehistory of our species over the last 40,000 years. Topics covered include the human evolutionary and dispersal consequences of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic Transition in Western Eurasia. Readers will also learn about the cultural convergences, and divergences, that occurred during the Terminal Pleistocene and Holocene, such as the budding of human societies in the Americas. The book concludes by integrating these various perspectives and theories, and explores different methods of analysis to link technological developments and cultural convergence. Preface 6 Contents 8 Contributors 10 1 Into the Tangled Web of Culture-History and Convergent Evolution 12 Background and Context 12 Archaeology on the Rocks 14 Context and Chronology 15 Converging 16 Population Thinking 17 Diversification 17 The Chapters 18 Conclusion 21 References 21 2 The Unity of Acheulean Culture 24 Abstract 24 Introduction 24 An Anecdotal Experiment of Biface Transmission 25 Acheulean Biface Elongation 26 The First Appearance of the Acheulean 29 The Movius Line 32 Conclusion 33 Acknowledgments 35 References 36 3 Problems and Pitfalls in Understanding the Clactonian 39 Abstract 39 Introduction 39 The Clactonian World and Its Sites 43 What Exactly is the Clactonian? 50 How should we interpret the Clactonian? 58 References 60 4 Culture and Convergence: The Curious Case of the Nubian Complex 64 Abstract 64 Introduction 64 History of the Nubian Complex 72 The Nubian Complex in Northeast Africa 74 Nubian Levallois Technology Elsewhere in Africa 77 The Nubian Complex in Arabia 79 Nubian Levallois Technology in the Levant 84 Nubian Levallois Technology in India 85 Nubian Levallois Technology 86 Conclusion 89 Acknowledgements 91 References 91 5 Lithic Variability and Cultures in the East African Middle Stone Age 96 Abstract 96 Introduction 96 Lithics and Paleolithic Cultures 97 Mechanisms of Culture Change 99 Cultural Transmission Theory 99 Culture as a Biological Adaptation 100 Lithics and Cultures in East Africa 100 Origin of Levallois Technology 103 Origin of Blade and Bladelet Technology 104 Raw Materials Transfer and Territories 106 Towards an Understanding of MSA Human Groups 107 Acknowledgments 108 References 108 6 A Matter of Space and Time: How Frequent Is Convergence in Lithic Technology in the African Archaeological Record over the Last 300 kyr? 112 Abstract 112 Introduction 112 The Phenomenon of Convergence: Definition, Delimitation and Archaeological Expectations 113 What Is at Stake? Tracing and Identifying Past Populations with Stone Tools 116 Approach and Method 117 Space and Time: Convergence in the African MSA and LSA 120 The Small Scale: Site Sequences in South Africa 120 The Regional Scale: Folding Space into Time in Southernmost Africa 122 The Large Scale: The African Continent 124 How Frequent is Convergence? A Matter of Space, Time and Resolution 126 Implications for Identifying Human Populations and Dispersals 127 Acknowledgements 128 References 128 7 Technology and Function of Middle Stone Age Points. Insights from a Combined Approach at Bushman Rock Shelter, South Africa 135 Abstract 135 General Overview of Middle Stone Age Point Production in Sub-Saharan Africa 135 Middle Stone Age Point Functions 136 Tool Use 137 Hafting Adhesives 137 Bushman Rock Shelter MIS 5 Middle Stone Age Points 138 Insights from the Technological Approach 138 Insights from the Use-Wear Approach 139 Insights from Residue Analysis 141 Bushman Rock Shelter in Context 144 Point Production as a Way to Approach Population Patterning 145 Concluding on Points as Equivocal Tools 145 Acknowledgements 146 References 146 8 Raw Material and Regionalization in Stone Age Eastern Africa 150 Abstract 150 Introduction 150 Lithic Raw Material Variability in Eastern Africa 151 Handaxe Variability at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania 151 Size and Retouch Intensity Among MSA Sites in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia 153 Quantifying Quartz Variability at Nasera 154 Quartz and the Abundance of Typical Later Stone Age (LSA) Tools 156 Backed Pieces and the Later Stone Age Eburran in Kenya 157 Discussion and Conclusions 159 Acknowledgements 160 References 160 9 The Middle-Upper Paleolithic Transition: A Long-Term Biocultural Effect of Anatomically Modern Human Dispersal 164 Abstract 164 Introduction 164 Background: Continuity and Change in Populations, Technologies and Social Networks 165 The Big Picture: Biocultural Evolution in the MP-UP Transition 167 From Big Picture to Intimate-Scale Biocultural Dynamics 167 Stone Tools, Intimate Social Settings, Cooperation, and Cultural Reproduction 169 Expanding the BACT Framework: From Teaching and Learning to Discourse and Innovation 170 From Intimate and Embodied Contexts to Metapopulation Dynamics and Neanderthal-AMH Admixture 174 Intimate-Scale Decision-Making and Cooperative Innovation: From the Oldowan to the Upper Paleolithic 175 Considering Innovation-Adoption in the MP-UP Transition: The Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) as a Case Study 177 From Theory to Method: Evaluating Innovation and Transmission Patterns in a Mosaic MP-UP Transition 178 Multivariate Statistical Approaches to Conservatism and Innovation in Late Pleistocene Hunter-Gatherer Social Networks 178 Methodological and Sampling Challenges to Chronology-Building 179 Measuring Economic and Socio-political Factors in Innovation Adoption 179 Back to the Initial Upper Paleolithic: Reconsidering Economic and Sociopolitical Factors in the Adoption or Spread of IUP Technologies 182 Conclusion: Why So Much Change Between 50 and 40 ka? 184 Acknowledgments 186 References 186 10 Threading the Weft, Testing the Warp: Population Concepts and the European Upper Paleolithic Chronocultural Framework 194 Abstract 194 Introduction 194 Populations in the European Upper Paleolithic 195 Upper Paleolithic Cultural Taxonomy 196 The European Upper Paleolithic Chronocultural Framework: Warp and Weft 198 Threading the Weft: Comparative Material Culture Study 199 Testing the Warp: The Importance of Chronology 201 Stratigraphy 201 Radiocarbon Chronology 201 Coherence and Convergence 203 Alternative Perspectives 206 A Brief Case Study: Mid Upper Paleolithic Russia 207 Can We Infer the Existence of Past Populations from the Archaeological Record? 208 Comparing Archaeological and Paleogenetic Evidence 211 Conclusions 212 Acknowledgements 213 References 213 11 Communities of Interaction: Tradition and Learning in Stone Tool Production Through the Lens of the Epipaleolithic of Kharaneh IV, Jordan 220 Abstract 220 Introduction 220 The Epipaleolithic Period in Southwest Asia 221 Archaeological Approaches to Technology 223 The Study of Technology in the EP of Southwest Asia 224 Lithic Technology as Social Practice 224 Approaches to Lithic Technology: Chaîne Opératoire, Refitting and Experimental Archaeology 225 The Chaîne Opératoire and Communities of Practice 227 The EP of Southwest Asia 227 Kharaneh IV, Eastern Jordan 228 Analyzing the Kharaneh IV Assemblage 232 Stone Tool Production at EP Kharaneh IV: The Nature of Occupation Over Space and Time 234 Area B and the Early EP 234 Area a and the Middle EP 234 Reconstructing Phases of Occupation 240 Stone Tool Production at EP Kharaneh IV: What to Do with Variability? 240 Raw Material Choice 241 Knowledge, Skill and Learning 242 Style and Function 242 Discussion: What’s the Point? 243 Conclusions: Implications for Understanding Prehistoric Technology Today 244 References 245 12 Toward a Theory of the Point 251 Abstract 251 Typology 253 Describing Points 254 Points as Tools 255 Weapon System 256 Systemic Number S and Uselife L 257 Assemblages 257 Types as Historical Units 258 Time-Space Distributions of Types 258 Properties of Type Floruits 259 Stasis and Sensitivity in Types 260 Diversification: Origins and Fate of Types 260 Broader Disciplinary Context 261 Conclusion 262 Acknowledgments 263 References 263 13 Learning Strategies and Population Dynamics During the Pleistocene Colonization of North America 266 Abstract 266 Introduction 266 Cultural Units, Transmission, and the Problem of Analogy 268 Style and Function: Not a Simple Dichotomy 269 Phylogeny and Cladistics 270 Learning: The Basis of Cultural Transmission 274 Copying 275 A Map of Decision Making 276 Fitness Landscapes 277 Clovis Populations and Patterns of Learning 278 Conclusion 280 Acknowledgments 281 References 281 14 Culture, Environmental Adaptation or Specific Problem Solving? On Convergence and Innovation Dynamics Related to Techniques Used for Stone Heat Treatment 287 Abstract 287 Introduction 287 The Southern African Middle and Later Stone Age 288 The European Upper Paleolithic Solutrean 289 The Mesolithic Beuronian 290 The Neolithic Chassey Culture 290 The Paleo-Indian Evidence for Underground Heating 291 Similarities, Dissimilarities, Convergence? 291 Outlook 293 Acknowledgements 293 References 293 15 Style, Function and Cultural Transmission 295 Abstract 295 Introduction 295 Cultural Evolution and Lithics 296 Artefact Production 297 Building and Testing Models 298 Conclusion 300 References 300 Index 303