Steven Kuhn

Mousterian Lithic Technology: An Ecological Perspective.

Thinking Small: Global Perspectives on Microlithization.

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Transitions before the Transition: Evolution and Stability in the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age.

Culture and Biology at the Crossroads: The Middle Pleistocene Record of Yarımburgaz Cave (Thrace, Turkey).

The Early Upper Paleolithic Beyond Western Europe

Klissoura Cave 1 and the Upper Paleolithic of Southern Greece.

by Mary C Stiner and Steven Kuhn

Klissoura Cave 1 pre serves a long se ries of Mid dle Paleolithic, Up per Paleolithic and Mesolit... more Klissoura Cave 1 pre serves a long se ries of Mid dle Paleolithic, Up per Paleolithic and Mesolithic cul tural lay ers, inter rupted by at least three sig nif i cant ero sional hi a tuses. The sed i men tary fea tures, ar ti facts and an i mal re mains of the Upper Paleolithic though Mesolithic lay ers tes tify a wide range of on-site ac tiv i ties, with com plex cy cles of fea ture con struction and aban don ment. The in dus try of Layer V closely re sem bles Uluzzian as sem blages from south ern It aly. Its age remains un cer tain but al most cer tainly ex ceeds 39 kyrs BP. The most in tense use of the site oc curred dur ing the for ma tion of Aurig na cian lay ers IV and IIIe-g, dis tin guished by many su per im posed plain and clay-lined hearths, and in Layer IV, the rem nants of a small struc ture en vel op ing a dense con cen tra tion of per fo rated shell beads. Fire places were fed mainly with dicotyledonous wood and bark-pro duc ing plants, whereas grass re mains are con cen trated in other parts of the oc cu pied area. Post-dat ing the Aurig na cian are two non-Aurig na cian lay ers, fol lowed by an ephem eral Epipaleolithic oc cu pa tion and sub stan tial Mesolithic oc cu pa tions. The bo tan i cal, fau nal and geo log i cal data iden tify a grad ual trend to ward cli ma tic cool ing through the Up per Paleolithic se quence. Warmer, wet ter con di tions re turned only well af ter MIS 2, dur ing the Mesolithic. Fau nal data in di cate op por tu nis tic hunt ing of a va ri ety of un gu late spe cies, but mainly fal low deer, one or a few an i mals at a time. The pat terns of small game ex ploi ta tion re veal a trend of in creas ing di etary breadth that be gan in the early Up per Paleolithic and in volved pro gres sively greater use of an i mals such as hares and/or birds with time. Land snail ex ploi ta tion be came im por tant in the later Up per Paleolithic phases and peaked in the Mesolithic. Per fo rated shell or naments are pres ent in the Uluzzian layer (V) and in all sub se quent lay ers. The or na ments con sist al most ex clu sively of finished prod ucts, worn from use and lack ing ev i dence of pro duc tion de bris.

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Subsistence, technology, and adaptive variation in Middle Paleolithic Italy.

by Mary C Stiner and Steven Kuhn

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Changes in the ‘Connectedness’ and Resilience of Paleolithic Societies in Mediterranean Ecosystems.

by Steven Kuhn and Mary C Stiner

Human predator<prey relationships changed dramatically in the Mediterranean Basin between 250,000... more Human predator<prey relationships changed dramatically in the Mediterranean Basin between 250,000 and 9,000 years ago. Many of these changes can be linked to increases in Paleolithic human population densities. Small game species are particularly diagnostic of increases in human hunting pressure and are a major source of evidence for demographic change after 40 -45,000 years ago. Biomass-corrected data on prey choice also indicate increasing use of those species that possess higher reproductive efficiencies.

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Early man: A tribute to the late career of F. Clark Howell.

by Steven Kuhn and Mary C Stiner

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The Early Upper Paleolithic occupations at Üçağızlı Cave (Hatay, Turkey).

by Mary C Stiner, Ayşen Açıkkol, and Steven Kuhn

This paper summarizes results from excavations at Ü çagızlı Cave (Hatay, Turkey) between 1999 and... more This paper summarizes results from excavations at Ü çagızlı Cave (Hatay, Turkey) between 1999 and 2002. This collapsed karstic chamber contains a sequence of early Upper Paleolithic deposits that span an interval between roughly 29,000 and 41,000 (uncalibrated) radiocarbon years BP. Lithic assemblages can be assigned to two major chronostratigraphic units. The earliest assemblages correspond with the Initial Upper Paleolithic, whereas the most recent ones fit within the definition of the Ahmarian. Substantial assemblages of stone tools, vertebrate faunal remains, ornaments, osseous artifacts, and other cultural materials provide an unusually varied picture of human behavior during the earliest phases of the Upper Paleolithic in the northern Levant. The sequence at Ü çagızlı Cave documents the technological transition between Initial Upper Paleolithic and Ahmarian, with a high degree of continuity in foraging and technological activities. The sequence also documents major shifts in occupational intensity and mobility.

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Hayonim Cave: a TL-based chronology for this Levantine Mousterian sequence.

by Mary C Stiner and Steven Kuhn

The thermoluminescence dating method was applied to 77 heated flints from the Mousterian layers o... more The thermoluminescence dating method was applied to 77 heated flints from the Mousterian layers of Hayonim Cave in order to provide a precise TL-based chronology for this important Levantine sequence. A detailed dosimetric study was performed by using 76 dosimeter capsules and revealed strong spatial dose-rate variations. In parallel, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry enabled the identification of various mineral assemblages in the sediments of the cave and to localize the boundaries of these assemblages. By comparing these two data sets, it is shown that low dose-rate values (w500 mGy/a) are systematically recorded in areas where the calcite-dahllite (CD) assemblage is preserved, whereas higher values (up to 1300 mGy/a) are associated with the leucophosphite, montgomeryite, variscite and siliceous aggregates (LMVS) assemblage. The dosimetric and mineralogical information was combined in order to assess, where possible, the dose-rate experienced by each flint during its burial. Some of the flint samples analyzed were too close to mineral assemblage boundaries and were therefore discarded. This rigorous selection led to TL ages ranging from 230 to 140 ka for the lower part of the Mousterian sequence (layers F and Lower E), which contains lithic industries characterized by blade production using the laminar method.

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What’s a mother to do? A hypothesis about the division of labor and modern human origins.

by Mary C Stiner and Steven Kuhn

Recent hunter-gatherers display much uniformity in the division of labor along the lines of gende... more Recent hunter-gatherers display much uniformity in the division of labor along the lines of gender and age. The complementary economic roles for men and women typical of ethnographically documented hunter-gatherers did not appear in Eurasia until the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. The rich archaeological record of Middle Paleolithic cultures in Eurasia suggests that earlier hominins pursued more narrowly focused economies, with women's activities more closely aligned with those of men with respect to schedule and ranging patterns than in recent forager systems. More broadly based economies emerged first in the early Upper Paleolithic in the eastern Mediterranean region and later in the rest of Eurasia. The behavioral changes associated with the Upper Paleolithic record signal a wider range of economic and technological roles in forager societies, and these changes may have provided the expanding populations of Homo sapiens with a demographic advantage over other hominins in Eurasia.

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The earliest Aurignacian of Riparo Mochi (Liguria, Italy).

by Steven Kuhn and Mary C Stiner

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Bone preservation in Hayonim Cave (Israel): a macroscopic and mineralogical study.

by Mary C Stiner, Meignen liliane, Todd Surovell, and Steven Kuhn

Understanding the cause of patchy bone distributions in archaeological sites requires that one di... more Understanding the cause of patchy bone distributions in archaeological sites requires that one distinguish bone decomposition in place from ''empty'' areas where bones were never present. Marked horizontal variations in bone abundance are found in the thick Mousterian layer (E) of Hayonim Cave, a large Paleolithic site in northern Israel. Infra-red analyses of minerals in the sediments identify zones of advanced diagenesis and decomposition alongside zones whose chemistry clearly favoured the preservation of bones and wood ash. These differences adhere closely to the distribution of recognizable bones in the deposits, indicating that spatial variation in bone abundance is essentially a product of differential preservation conditions. However, the few bones present in the bone-poor units are in surprisingly good condition. The higher degree of abrasion damage and more random orientations of these bones indicate that small amounts of recent material were introduced into older layers by small burrowing animals and perhaps localized trampling. The ratio of post-Mousterian to Mousterian artifacts in layer E, and the numeric contrasts in bone abundance among stratigraphic units, indicate that time-averaging from mechanical intrusion was quantitatively unimportant (2-5%) throughout this>2·4 m thick layer. Our findings support suggestion that bone and ash mineral diagenesis in caves follow step-wise rather than gradual transformations in geological time. Good preservation environments can be distinguished from poorer ones on the basis of mineral assemblages in sediments, and deposits that once contained bone and wood ash can be identified long after the visible traces of these materials have disappeared.

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Kaletepe (Dere 3)

Economies de matèria primera lítica, proveïment tecnològic i dinàmiques socials

Aquest article sintetitza els resultats obtinguts en estudis arqueolbgics sobre provei'ment tecno... more Aquest article sintetitza els resultats obtinguts en estudis arqueolbgics sobre provei'ment tecnolbgic i economia de materies primeres lítiques, sobre qui: ens han aportat i, el que és més important, sobre qui: podrien arribar a dir-nos de la dinhmica social a la prehistbria. L'kmfasi es posa més en les aplicacions potencials que no pas en les que s'han produi't. Al llarg dels darrers 25 anys hi ha hagut avenCos metodolbgics im- BAMFORTH, D. (1990). ~Settlement, raw material and lithic procurement in rhe Central Mojave Desert)). JournalofAnthropological Archaeology, 9, BAMFORTH, D.; BLEED, P. (1997). ~Technology, flaked stone technology and riskr. Dins: C.M. BARTON; G.A. CLARK (ed.).

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Klissoura Cave 1 and the Upper Paleolithic of Southern Greece in Cultural and Ecological Contexts

Klissoura Cave 1 pre serves a long se ries of Mid dle Paleolithic, Up per Paleolithic and Mesolit... more Klissoura Cave 1 pre serves a long se ries of Mid dle Paleolithic, Up per Paleolithic and Mesolithic cul tural lay ers, inter rupted by at least three sig nif i cant ero sional hi a tuses. The sed i men tary fea tures, ar ti facts and an i mal re mains of the Upper Paleolithic though Mesolithic lay ers tes tify a wide range of on-site ac tiv i ties, with com plex cy cles of fea ture con struction and aban don ment. The in dus try of Layer V closely re sem bles Uluzzian as sem blages from south ern It aly. Its age remains un cer tain but al most cer tainly ex ceeds 39 kyrs BP. The most in tense use of the site oc curred dur ing the for ma tion of Aurig na cian lay ers IV and IIIe-g, dis tin guished by many su per im posed plain and clay-lined hearths, and in Layer IV, the rem nants of a small struc ture en vel op ing a dense con cen tra tion of per fo rated shell beads. Fire places were fed mainly with dicotyledonous wood and bark-pro duc ing plants, whereas grass re mains are con cen trated in other parts of the oc cu pied area. Post-dat ing the Aurig na cian are two non-Aurig na cian lay ers, fol lowed by an ephem eral Epipaleolithic oc cu pa tion and sub stan tial Mesolithic oc cu pa tions. The bo tan i cal, fau nal and geo log i cal data iden tify a grad ual trend to ward cli ma tic cool ing through the Up per Paleolithic se quence. Warmer, wet ter con di tions re turned only well af ter MIS 2, dur ing the Mesolithic. Fau nal data in di cate op por tu nis tic hunt ing of a va ri ety of un gu late spe cies, but mainly fal low deer, one or a few an i mals at a time. The pat terns of small game ex ploi ta tion re veal a trend of in creas ing di etary breadth that be gan in the early Up per Paleolithic and in volved pro gres sively greater use of an i mals such as hares and/or birds with time. Land snail ex ploi ta tion be came im por tant in the later Up per Paleolithic phases and peaked in the Mesolithic. Per fo rated shell or naments are pres ent in the Uluzzian layer (V) and in all sub se quent lay ers. The or na ments con sist al most ex clu sively of finished prod ucts, worn from use and lack ing ev i dence of pro duc tion de bris.

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Radiocarbon Dating Results fro the Early Upper Palaeolithic of Klissoura 1 Cave

This chap ter re ports on 29 ra dio car bon dates from Mid dle and Up per Paleolithic lay ers at ... more This chap ter re ports on 29 ra dio car bon dates from Mid dle and Up per Paleolithic lay ers at Klissoura 1 Cave. All but two of the dates were ob tained from ma te rial iden ti fied as wood char coal. Both stan dard ABA and more strin gent ABOX pre-treat ment pro to cols were used for char coal sam ples. The ra dio car bon dates from the Aurig na cian of lay ers IIIe-g and IV show gen eral strati graphic con sis tency, and fit with pub lished ages from other Aurig na cian as sem blages in the Balkans. Age es ti mates for layer V, as so ci ated with the early Up per Paleolithic Uluzzian as sem blage, are am big u ous. Sev eral sam ples de rived from this layer pro vide an oma lously re cent ages. One ra dio car bon de ter mi na tion, along the pres ence of (as yet uncharacterized) vol ca nic tephras in layer IV sug gest that it could date to 40 kyrs BP or ear lier. Dates on ABOX pretreated sam ples from Mous terian lay ers in di cate that lay ers XVIII and XX date to 60-62 kyrs BP, al though these should be con sid ered min i mum ages.

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Apport des analyses minéralogiques (en spectrométrie infra-rouge Transformation de Fourier) à l’interprétation des structures anthropiques : les concentrations osseuses dans les niveaux moustériens des grottes de Kébara et Hayonim (Israël)

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New perspectives on the initial upper Paleolithic: The View from Üçaǧizli Cave, Turkey

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