Generativity, hierarchical action and recursion in the technology of the acheulean to middle palaeolithic transition: A perspective from patpara, the son valley, India

Journal of Human Evolution

Volumn 65, Issue 2, 2013, Pages 93-108

  Shipton, C ^a   Clarkson, C ^a   Pal, J N ^b   Jones, S C ^c   Roberts, R G ^d   Harris, C ^a   Gupta, M C ^b   Ditchfield, P W ^e   Petraglia, M D ^e  

^a UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND   (Australia)

^b UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD   (India)

^c UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE   (United Kingdom)

^d UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG   (Australia)

^e UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Acheulean; Bifaces; India; Levallois; Middle Palaeolithic; Son Valley

Indexed keywords

ACHEULEAN; HUMAN EVOLUTION; TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE; TOOL USE;

INDIA; SON VALLEY;

ACHEULEAN; ANIMAL; ARCHEOLOGY; ARTICLE; BIFACES; CHRONOLOGY; ENVIRONMENT; EVOLUTION; HOMINID; HUMAN; INDIA; LEVALLOIS; MEMORY; MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC; PHYSIOLOGY; SON VALLEY; TIME;

ACHEULEAN; BIFACES; INDIA; LEVALLOIS; MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC; SON VALLEY;

ANIMALS; ARCHAEOLOGY; BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION; CHRONOLOGY AS TOPIC; ENVIRONMENT; HOMINIDAE; HUMANS; INDIA; MEMORY; TIME FACTORS;

EID: 84881615174     PISSN: 00472484     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.03.007     Document Type: Article

References (87)

1. Aboitz F., Aboitz S., Garcia R. The phonological loop: a key innovation in human evolution. Curr. Anthropol. 2010, 51:S55-S65.
2. Ambrose S.H. Paleolithic technology and human evolution. Science 2001, 291:1748-1753.
3. Andrefsky W. Diffusion and innovation from the perspective of wedge shaped cores in Alaska and Japan. The Organization of Core Technology 1987, 13-44. Westview Press, Boulder. K. Johnson, C.A. Morrow (Eds.).
4. Baddeley A. Cognitive psychology and human memory. Trends Neurosci. 1988, 11:176-181.
5. Barham L. Backed tools in Middle Pleistocene central Africa and their evolutionary significance. J.Hum. Evol. 2002, 43:585-603.
6. Basalla G. The Evolution of Technology 1988, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
7. Blumenschine R.J., Brandt S.A., Clark J.D. Excavations and analysis of Middle Palaeolithic artifacts from Patpara, Madhya Pradesh. Palaeoenvironments and Prehistory in the Middle Son Valley 1983, 39-99. Abinash Prakashan, Allahabad. G.R. Sharma, J.D. Clark (Eds.).
8. Boeda E. Le débitage discoïde et le débitage Levallois récurrent centripède. Bull. Soc. Préhist. Fr. 1993, 90:392-404.
9. Boëda E., Connan J., Dessort D., Muhesen S., Mercier N., Valladas H., Tisnérat N. Bitumen as hafting material of Middle Palaeolithic artefacts. Nature 1996, 380:336-338.
10. Bordes F. Typologie du Paléolithique Ancien et Moyen 1961, Delmas, Bordeaux.
11. Callahan E. The basics of biface knapping in the eastern fluted point tradition: a manual for flintknappers and lithic analysts. Archaeology East. North America 1979, 7:1-172.
12. Clark J.D. Variability in primary and secondary technologies of the Later Acheulian in Africa. AVery Remote Period Indeed: Papers on the Palaeolithic Presented to Derek Roe 2001, 1-18. Oxbow Books, Oxford. S. Milliken, J. Cook (Eds.).
13. Clark J.D., Williams M.A.J. Paleoenvironments and prehistory in North Central India: a preliminary report. Studies in the Archaeology of India and Pakistan 1987, 19-41. Aris and Phillips Ltd, Warminster. J. Jacobsen (Ed.).
14. Clarkson C., Vinicius L., Lahr M.M. Quantifying flake scar patterning on cores using 3D recording techniques. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2006, 33:132-142.
15. Clarkson C., Jones S., Harris C. Continuity and change in the lithic industries of the Jurreru Valley, India, before and after the Toba eruption. Quatern. Int. 2012, 258:165-179.
16. Clarkson C., Haslam M., Harris C. When to retouch, haft, or discard? Experimental examinations of the importance of manufacturing costs and use-maintenance schedules in optimal tool use. Evolutionary Approaches to Lithic Analysis 2012, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. W. Andrefsky, N. Goodale (Eds.).
17. de Beaune S.A. Technical invention in the Palaeolithic: what if the explanation comes from the cognitive and neuropsychological sciences?. Cognitive Archaeology and Human Evolution 2009, 3-14. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. S.A. de Beaune, F.L. Coolidge, T. Wynn (Eds.).
18. DeBono H., Goren-Inbar N. Note of a link between Acheulian handaxes and the Levallois method. J.Isr. Prehist. Soc. 2001, 31:9-23.
19. Edwards S.W. Amodern knapper's assessment of the technical skills of the Late Acheulean biface workers at Kalambo Falls. Kalambo Falls Prehistoric Site 2001, vol. III:605-611. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
20. Eerkens J.W., Bettinger R.L. Techniques for assessing standardization in artifact assemblages: can we scale variability?. Am. Antiq. 2001, 66:493-504.
21. Feltz C.J., Miller G.E. An asymptoptic test for the equality of coefficients of variation from k populations. Stat. Med. 1996, 15:647-658.
22. Foley R.A., Lahr M.M. Mode 3 technologies and the evolution of modern humans. Camb. Archaeol. J. 1997, 7:3-36.
23. Gaillard C., Raju D.R., Misra V.N., Rajaguru S.N. Handaxe assemblages from the Didwana region, Thar Desert, India: a metrical analysis. Proc. Prehist. Soc. 1986, 52:189-214.
24. Galbraith R.F., Roberts R.G. Statistical aspects of equivalent dose and error calculation and display in OSL dating: an overview and some recommendations. Quat. Geochronol. 2012, 11:1-27.
25. Goren-Inbar N. Behavioral and cultural origins of Neanderthals: a Levantine perspective. Continuity and Discontinuity in the Peopling of Europe 2011, 89-100. Springer, Dordrecht. C. Condemi, G.-C. Wneiger (Eds.).
26. Green R.E., Krause J., Briggs A.W., Maricic T., Stenzel U., Kircher M., Patterson N., Li H., Zhai W., Fritz M.H.-Y., Hansen N.F., Durand E.Y., Malaspinas A.-S., Jensen J.D., Marques-Bonet T., Alkan C., Prüfer K., Meyer M., Burbano H.A., Good J.M., Schultz R., Aximu-Petri A., Butthof A., Höber B., Höffner B., Siegemund M., Weihmann A., Nusbaum C., Lander E.S., Russ C., Novod N., Affourtit J., Egholm M., Verna C., Rudan P., Brajkovic D., Kucan Z., Gušic I., Doronichev V.B., Golovanova L.V., Lalueza-Fox C., de la Rasilla M., Fortea J., Rosas A., Schmitz R.W., Johnson P.L.F., Eichler E.E., Falush D., Birney E., Mullikin J.C., Slatkin M., Nielsen R., Kelso J., Lachmann M., Reich D., Pääbo S. Adraft sequence of the Neanderthal genome. Science 2010, 328:710-722.
27. Haslam M., Roberts R.G., Shipton C., Pal J.N., Fenwick J., Ditchfield P., Boivin N., Dubey A.K., Gupta M.C., Petraglia M. Late Acheulean hominins at the marine isotope stage 6/5e transition in north-central India. Quatern. Res. 2011, 75:670-682.
28. Herries A.I.R. Achronological perspective on the Acheulian and its transition to the Middle Stone Age in southern Africa: the question of the Fauresmith. Int. J. Evol. Biol. 2011, 10.4061/2011/961401.
29. Hopkinson T. The transition from the Lower to the Middle Palaeolithic in Europe and the incorporation of difference. Antiquity 2007, 81:294-307.
30. Inizan M.-L., Reduron-Ballinger M., Roche H., Tixier J. Technology and terminology of knapped stone. Cercle de Recherches et d'Etudes Prehistoriques, Nanterre 1999, vol. 5.
31. Jacobs Z., Roberts R.G. Advances in optically stimulated luminescence dating of individual grains of quartz from archeological deposits. Evol. Anthropol. 2007, 16:210-223.
32. James H., Petraglia M.D. The Lower to Middle Paleolithic transition in South Asia and its implications for hominin cognition and dispersals. Sourcebook of Paleolithic Transitions 2010, 255-264. Springer, Dordrecht. M. Camps, P. Chauhan (Eds.).
33. Jones S., Pal J.N. The Palaeolithic of the Middle Son Valley, north-central India: changes in hominin lithic technology and behaviour during the Upper Pleistocene. J.Anthropol. Archaeol. 2009, 28:323-341.
34. Kane M.J., Engle R.W. The role of prefrontal cortex in working-memory capacity, executive attention, and general fluid intelligence: an individual differences perspective. Psychon. B. Rev. 2002, 9:637-671.
35. Kenoyer M., Pal J.N. Report on the excavation and analysis of an Upper Acheulean assemblage from Sihawal II. Palaeoenvironments and Prehistory in the Middle Son Valley 1983, 23-38. Abinash Prakashan, Allahabad. G.R. Sharma, J.D. Clark (Eds.).
36. Lahr M.M., Foley R.A. Mode 3, Homo helmei and the pattern of human evolution. Human Roots: Africa and Asia in the Middle Pleistocene 2001, 23-39. Westbury Press, Bristol. L. Barham, K. Robson-Brown (Eds.).
37. Lombard M. Evidence of hunting and hafting during the Middle Stone Age at Sibidu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a multianalytical approach. J.Hum. Evol. 2005, 48:279-300.
38. Lowry, R., 2001. http://vassarstats.net/rdiff.html.
39. Lycett S.J. Why is there a lack of mode 3 Levallois technologies in East Asia? A phylogenetic test of the Movius-Schick hypothesis. J.Anthropol. Archaeol. 2007, 26:541-575.
40. Lycett S.J. Understanding ancient hominin dispersals using artefactual data: a phylogeographic analysis of Acheulean handaxes. Plos One 2009, 4:e7404.
41. Lycett S.J., Gowlett J.A.J. On questions surrounding the Acheulean 'tradition'. World Archaeol. 2008, 40:295-315.
42. Lycett S.J., von Cramon-Taubadel N., Gowlett J.A.J. Acomparative 3D geometric morphometric analysis of Victoria West cores: implications for the origins of Levallois technology. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2010, 37:1110-1117.
43. Madsen B., Goren-Inbar N. Acheulian giant core technology and beyond: an archaeological and experimental case study. Eurasian Prehist. 2004, 2:3-52.
44. Mauldin R.P., Amick D.S. Investigating patterning in debitage from experimental bifacial core reduction. Experiments in Lithic Technology 1989, 67-88. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford. D.S. Amick (Ed.).
45. Marder O., Milevski I., Matskevich Z. The handaxes of Revadim Quarry: typo-technological considerations and aspects of intra-site variability. Axe Age: Acheulian Toolmaking from Quarry to Discard 2006, 223-242. Equinox, London. N. Goren-Inbar, G. Sharon (Eds.).
46. Mazza P.P.A., Martini F., Sala B., Magi M., Colombini M.P., Giachi G., Landucci F., Lemorini C., Modugno F., Ribechini E. Anew Palaeolithic discovery: tar-hafted stone tools in a European Mid-Pleistocene bone-bearing bed. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2006, 33:1310-1318.
47. McBrearty S., Tryon C.A. From Acheulian to Middle Stone Age in the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya. Transitions Before the Transition 2005, 257-277. Springer, New York. E. Hovers, S. Kuhn (Eds.).
48. McPherron S.P. What typology can tell us about Acheulian handaxe production. Axe Age: Acheulian Toolmaking from Quarry to Discard 2006, 267-286. Equinox, London. N. Goren-Inbar, G. Sharon (Eds.).
49. Mishra S. The Indian Lower Palaeolithic. Bull. Deccan Coll. Post-graduate Res. Inst. 2007, 66-67:47-94.
50. Misra V.N. The Acheulian industry of rock shelter IIIF-23 at Bhimbetka, Central India - a preliminary study. Aust. Archaeol. 1978, 8:63-106.
51. Misra V.D. Lower and Middle Palaeolithic cultures of northern Vindhyas. Indian Prehistory 1997, 74. University of Allahabad, Allahabad. V.D. Misra, J.N. Pal (Eds.).
52. Misra V.D., Rana R.S., Clark J.D., Blumenschine R.J. Preliminary excavations at the Son River section at Nakjhar Khurd. Palaeoenvironments and Prehistory in the Middle Son Valley 1983, 101-115. Abinash Prakashan, Allahabad. G.R. Sharma, J.D. Clark (Eds.).
53. Monnier G. The Lower/Middle Palaeolithic periodization in Western Europe: an evaluation. Curr. Anthropol. 2006, 47:709-744.
54. Moore M.W. Grammars of action and stone flaking design space. Stone Tools and the Evolution of Human Cognition 2010, 13-43. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. A. Nowell, I. Davidson (Eds.).
55. Paddayya K. Evolution within the Acheulian in India: a case study from the Hunsgi and Baichbal Valleys, Karnataka. Bull. Deccan Coll. Post-Graduate Res. Inst. 2007, 66-67:95-111.
56. Pal J.N., Williams M., Jaiswal M., Singhvi A.K. Infra red stimulated luminescence ages for prehistoric cultures in the Son and Belan Valleys, north central India. J.Interdiscip. Stud. Hist. Archaeol. 2005, 1:51-62.
57. Pappu R.S. Pleistocene Studies in the Upper Krishna Basin 1974, Deccan College, Pune.
58. Pelegrin J. Cognition and the emergence of language: a contribution from lithic technology. Cognitive Archaeology and Human Evolution 2009, 95-108. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. S.A. de Beaune, F.L. Coolidge, T. Wynn (Eds.).
59. Petraglia M.D., Shipton C., Paddayya K. Life and mind in the Acheulean: a case study from India. The Hominid Individual in Context: Archaeological Investigations of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Landscapes, Locales and Artefacts 2005, 197-219. Routledge, London. C. Gamble, M. Porr (Eds.).
60. Petraglia M.D., Korisettar R., Boivin N., Clarkson C., Ditchfield P., Jones S., Koshy J., Lahr M.M., Oppenheimer C., Pyle D., Roberts R., Schwenniger J.-L., Arnold L., White K. Middle Palaeolithic assemblages from the Indian subcontinent before and after the Toba super-eruption. Science 2007, 317:114-116.
61. Petraglia M.D., Ditchfield P., Jones S., Korisettar R., Pal J.N. The Toba volcanic super-eruption, environmental change, and hominin occupation history in India over the last 140,000 years. Quatern. Int. 2012, 258:119-134.
62. Raju D.R. Handaxe assemblages from the Gunjana Valley, Andrha-Pradesh: a metrical analysis. Bull. Indo-Pac. Pre. Hi. 1986, 6:10-26.
63. Reuland E. Imagination and recursion: issues in the emergence of language. Cognitive Archaeology and Human Evolution 2009, 129-144. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. S.A. de Beaune, F.L. Coolidge, T. Wynn (Eds.).
64. Reuland E. Imagination, planning and working memory: the emergence of language. Curr. Anthropol. 2010, 51:S99-S110.
65. Rezek Z., Lin S., Iovita R., Dibble H.L. The relative effects of core surface morphology on flake shape and other attributes. J.Archaeol. Sci. 2011, 38:1346-1359.
66. Roberts M.B., Parfitt S.A. Boxgrove: a Middle Pleistocene Hominid Site at Eartham Quarry, Boxgrove, West Sussex 1999, English Heritage, London.
67. Roche H. From simple flaking to shaping: stone-knapping evolution among early hominins. Stone Knapping: The Necessary Conditions for a Uniquely Hominin Behaviour 2005, 35-48. McDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge. V. Roux, B. Bril (Eds.).
68. Rolland N. Levallois technique emergence: single or multiple? A review of the Euro-African record. The Definition and Interpretation of Levallois Technology 1995, 333-359. Prehistory Press, Madison. H.L.. Dibble, O. Bar-Yosef (Eds.).
69. Sankhyan A.R., Badam G.L., Dewangan L.N., Chakraborty S., Prabha S., Kundu S., Chakravarty R. New postcranial hominin fossils from the central Narmada Valley, India. Adv. Anthropol. 2012, 2:125-131.
70. Sharma G.R., Clark J.D. Palaeo-environments and prehistory in the Middle Son Valley, northern Madhya Pradesh. Man. Environ. 1982, 6:56-62.
71. Sharma G.R., Clark J.D. Palaeoenvironments and Prehistory in the Middle Son Valley 1983, Abinash Prakashan, Allahabad.
72. Sharon G. Acheulian giant-core technology: a worldwide perspective. Curr. Anthropol. 2009, 50:335-367.
73. Sharon G., Beaumont P. Victoria West: a highly standardized prepared core technology. Axe Age: Acheulian Toolmaking from Quarry to Discard 2006, 181-200. Equinox, London. N. Goren-Inbar, G. Sharon (Eds.).
74. Shea J.J. Middle Paleolithic spear point technology. Projectile Technology 1997, 79-106. Plenum Press, New York. H. Knecht (Ed.).
75. Shipton C. Cognition and Sociality in the Acheulean 2008, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Cambridge.
76. Shipton C. Taphonomy and behaviour at the Acheulean site of Kariandusi. Afr. Archaeol. Rev. 2011, 28:141-155.
77. Shipton C. AMillion Years of Hominin Sociality and Cognition: Acheulean Bifaces in the Hunsgi-baichbal Valley, India 2013, British Archaeological Reports, Archaeopress, Oxford.
78. Shipton C., Petraglia M.D., Paddayya K. Stone tool experiments and reduction methods at the Acheulean site of Isampur Quarry, India. Antiquity 2009, 83:769-785.
79. Shipton, C., Mishra, S., Paddayya, K., Deo, S., Pal, J.N., Roseboom, N., Gaillard, C., Gupta, M.C., Hou, Y. Temporal Variation in the Indian Acheulean. Man and Environment, in preparation.
80. Tryon C.A., McBrearty S., Texier J.-P. Levallois lithic technology from the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya: Acheulian origin and middle stone age diversity. Afr. Archaeol. Rev. 2005, 22:200-229.
81. Tuffreau A. L'Acheuleen de l'Homo erectus à l'Homme de Neandertal 2004, La Maison des Roches, Paris.
82. Wadley L. Compound-adhesive manufacture as behavioural proxy for complex cognition in the Middle Stone Age. Curr. Anthropol 2010, 51:S111-S119.
83. White M.J., Ashton N.M. Lower Palaeolithic core technology and the origins of the Levallois method in NW Europe. Curr. Anthropol. 2003, 44:598-609.
84. Williams M., Clarke M.F. Quaternary Geology and Prehistoric Environments in the Son and Belan Valleys, North Central India. Quaternary Environments and Geoarchaeology of India 1995, 282-308. Geological Society of India, Bangalore. S. Wadia, R. Korisettar, V.S. Kale (Eds.).
85. Williams M.A.J., Royce K. Alluvial history of the Middle Son Valley, north central India. Palaeoenvironments and Prehistory in the Middle Son Valley 1983, 9-21. Abinash Prakashan, Allahabad. G.R. Sharma, J.D. Clark (Eds.).
86. Williams M.A.J., Pal J.N., Jaiswal M., Singhvi A.K. River response to Quaternary climatic fluctuations: evidence from the Son and Belan valleys, north-central India. Quatern. Sci. Rev. 2006, 25:2619-2631.
87. Wynn T., Coolidge F.L. How Levallois reduction is similar to, and not similar to, playing chess. Stone Tools and the Evolution of Human Cognition 2010, 83-104. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. A. Nowell, I. Davidson (Eds.).