Acheulean Tradition A major facies of the Old World Lower Paleolithic whose

stone tool assemblages include certain large cutting tool types, especially hand axes
and cleavers, the Acheulean Tradition taes its name from !aint"Acheul #Amiens,
$rance%, where it was first recogni&ed during the nineteenth century' Acheulean sites
are widely distributed in the Old World, from (ndia in the east to )ritain in the
northwest, including all of Africa, the *ear +ast, and +urope, especially the western
half' This broad spatial distribution of the Acheulean Tradition #often simply called
,the Acheulean-% is matched by the long period of time over which it persists. The
oldest assemblages date from about /'0 million years ago, while the youngest are
perhaps /11,111 years old' (t is no longer believed, as formerly, that the whole of the
Acheulean was produced by a single human population, which gradually migrated
over much of the Old World' 2ather, it is one version of a general level of
technological achievement, which proved entirely ade3uate to support the needs of
human hunter"gatherers in many regions, over what seems to us a surprisingly long
period of time' (f one examines in detail the Acheulean lithic assemblages of any one
area, it is immediately apparent that there are substantial differences between them,
and also changes and developments, as time passed, in the ways in which the tools
were made' )ut even so, the general stability within the Acheulean Tradition remains
remarable, which is exactly why the term continues to be used'
Acheulean Stone Tools
4and axes, widely regarded as the hallmar of the Acheulean, are large cutting tools,
with various carefully fashioned planforms, the commonest being oval, pear"shaped,
lanceolate, and triangular' The cutting edges, convex, concave, or straight, occupy
much or all of their circumferences' 5any hand axes also have a more or less sharp
point, and some have a heavy hammerlie butt' They are usually wored bifacially,
that is, both main faces have been flaed during the often symmetrical shaping of the
implement' 6leavers are more axlie, with a broad transverse or obli3ue cutting edge
as the main feature and less emphasis on cutting edges at the sides' )ecause hand axes
and cleavers are so readily recogni&able, they tend to dominate our perception of
Acheulean stone tool its, which in fact also contain a considerable range of other
implements, made by retouching simple flaes of suitable si&e to mae points, nives,
and scrapers' 5any flaes were also used without formal retouch'
As for technological changes through time in the Acheulean, it is broadly true that in
the earliest industries the hand axes tend to be thicer and less symmetrical, made by
the removal of relatively few flaes with a hard stone hammer' Later, they are often
flat and elegantly shaped by the use of a softer hammer #of bone, antler, or wood%,
which could remove thin trimming flaes, leaving straight and regular cutting edges'
Later Acheulean nappers also often show awareness of the ,prepared core- flaing
methods, such as Levallois techni3ue, which characteri&e most 5iddle Paleolithic
industries' There is, however, a wide technological range throughout the Acheulean
everywhere, rather than a simple, inviolable progression from ,crude- to ,refined-
industries' The implement types made, and the napping techni3ues used, are always
profoundly influenced by the types of roc locally obtainable, which varied in
hardness, grain si&e, and manner of fracture' $lint and the purer forms of chert are
easiest to wor, but are not available everywhere' (n sub"!aharan Africa, for example,
3uart&ites and many inds of volcanic rocs, especially fine"grained lavas, were
fre3uently used'
Origins and Spread of the Acheulean
The genesis of the Acheulean Tradition certainly lies in sub"!aharan Africa' (ts oldest"
nown occurrences include sites +$"42 and 5L7 in 5iddle )ed (( at Olduvai
Gorge #Tan&ania%, Peninj #Tan&ania, west of Lae *atron%, and 7onso"8ardula
#southern +thiopia%9 dating, mainly by the potassium"argon method, suggests a time
range of /': to /'0 million years' They appear 3uite suddenly, after over a million
years of the Oldowan Tradition, which had only simple tools made from pebbles and
flaes' A major technological difference between the two was the Acheulean worers;
ability to strie large flaes from boulders, as the blans from which their hand axes
and cleavers were fashioned, rather than depending on whole cobbles or pebbles' This
enabled large, broad tools with relatively thin cutting edges to be regularly achieved'
(t may be no coincidence that Acheulean industries first appeared soon after the
emergence of a new hominid type, Homo erectus, larger in both stature and brain than
Homo habilis, widely regarded as the maer of the Oldowan'
)etween about /'< and /': million years ago, the first movement of humans out of
sub"!aharan Africa occurred' The migration was begun by H. erectus humans, but as
time passed, physical evolution and adaptation to new geographical situations brought
these early people to a stage that we refer to generally as Homo sapiens, though
within it there is considerable local variability. $or example, in +urope the early H.
sapiens people developed into the well"nown *eanderthal population=a process
already discernible a 3uarter of a million years ago and complete by about /:1,111
)'P' !ub"!aharan Africa retained its own hominid population during and after the first
human migration to other parts of the Old World, and it was apparently here that the
development too place from H. erectus, via an early H. sapiens stage, to
anatomically modern humans #H. sapiens sapiens%, who, by around /11,111 years
ago, had themselves spread out of Africa and reached the *ear +ast'
The foregoing clearly implies that, over time, several different human types must have
made Acheulean industries' !ome of the people involved in the first Homo erectus
movement out of sub"!aharan Africa were certainly hand"axe maers, since stone tool
manufacture in the mainstream Acheulean Tradition spread during the +arly and
5iddle Pleistocene to *orth Africa and the *ear +ast, into southern and western
+urope, and eastward to the (ndian subcontinent, though arrival dates are not clear
everywhere' There was little penetration of 6entral or northern Asia at this time, and
none of Australasia or the Americas' 6hina and !outheast Asia, however, have many
important Lower Paleolithic sites, but their stone artifacts do not belong to the
Acheulean Tradition as described here' (f the first humans to penetrate east of (ndia
were Acheuleans, they would have found few rocs suitable for hand"axe
manufacture, and would have had to content themselves with stone tools of less
sophisticated design to fulfill the same functions9 other materials, such as bamboo,
could also have provided highly effective points and cutting edges #though without
surviving in the archaeological record%' Accordingly, we need not assume that the
earliest humans of the $ar +ast had a separate ultimate origin from those who spread
the Acheulean Tradition so widely elsewhere. >uite different artifact types could
easily have become and remained the fashion in the $ar +ast, especially since there is
little sign of subse3uent contact with Lower Paleolithic peoples away to the west,
during the 5iddle Pleistocene'
The Acheulean, however, is rarely alone in any area where it occurs. There are often
contemporary lithic assemblages from which the typical hand axes and cleavers are
3uite absent' +xamples of this phenomenon include the !oan Tradition of (ndia, the
later stages of the Oldowan in +ast Africa, the flae"tool industries of central +urope,
and the 6lactonian in )ritain' The explanation need not always be the same' Particular
human groups must often have produced speciali&ed tool its to deal with the many
different activities undertaen by hunter"gatherers, exploiting seasonal resources of
food and raw materials over territorial ranges comprising very variable landscapes.
The classic hand axes and cleavers will not always have been the most advantageous
tools' )ut there also remains the possibility of distinct contemporary human groups,
maintaining their own separate tool"maing traditions, for whatever reasons, with
room enough for all, in any given region'
Acheulean Settlements
Acheulean sites mainly occur as scatters of the typical stone artifacts, associated with
the channels or floodplains of streams and rivers, or with lae margins' +arly humans
favored such locations for settlement, but the traces they left were liable to subse3uent
hydraulic disturbance' !tructures, hearths, and fragile materials lie wood or plant
remains only rarely survive in association with the stone artifacts' At a few sites, such
as Torralba #!pain%, 7alambo $alls #?ambia%, and 8esher )enot @a;a3ov #(srael%,
waterlogging has preserved traces of wored wood' The remains of bone at many
sites, sometimes with cut mars left by stone implements, mae clear that the
Acheulean people exploited the carcasses of large and small animals, whether as
hunters or scavengers' They occasionally used caves or roc shelters as habitations or
woring places, a few examples being 5ontagu 6ave and 6ave of the 4earths #!outh
Africa%, Tabun 6ave #(srael%, La&eret 6ave #southern $rance%, and Pontnewydd 6ave
#northern Wales%' !ometimes they occupied coastal locations, as at )oxgrove #!ussex,
+ngland% or Terra Amata #*ice, $rance%, though there is little evidence for their
exploiting marine fish or shellfish' Occasional finds on higher ground, for example,
the chal downlands of southern +ngland, testify to their use of the land around and
between their main campsites' *o une3uivocal evidence relating to Acheulean beliefs
or ritual has yet been discovered'
The End of the Acheulean Tradition
The late Acheulean lasts into the Apper Pleistocene, but from around /<1,111 )'P' the
late Lower Paleolithic and earlier 5iddle Paleolithic overlap in time and to some
extent blend together, as hand axes and cleavers lose importance in many areas, while
speciali&ed tools and projectile points, made by retouching specially struc flaes,
increase' (n the 5ico3uian industries of central +urope, the Babrudian of the *ear
+ast, and the $auresmith of southern Africa, varying examples of changing tool its
during the passage from a hand"ax"maing Lower Paleolithic to a flae"tool"maing
5iddle Paleolithic can be seen' !uch terminology, however, really only reflects the
efforts of archaeologists to label their current understanding of dynamic and varied
processes of change in human circumstances, for which only parts of the imperishable
segment of the evidence survive'
The final use of the term ,Acheulean Tradition- is for the Moustrien de tradition
acheulenne #5TA%, one of the many different 5iddle Paleolithic industries made by
the *eanderthal population of Atlantic +urope during the early and middle stages of
the last glaciation, about CD,111 to ED,111 years ago' (t includes finely made bifacial
hand axes, of cordiform and subtriangular shapes, whose inspiration may well come
ultimately from the final pure Acheulean industries of the same region and whose
maers must themselves have been Neanderthals' F!ee also Paleolithic: Lower and
iddle Paleolithic'G
!ibliograph"
Here A' 2oe, The Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Periods in Britain #/I</%'
Bohn B' Wymer, The Palaeolithic Age #/I<:%'
Bohn A' B' 8owlett, Ascent to Civilization The Archaeolog! o" #arl! Man #/I<D%'
2ichard 8' 7lein, The Human Career Human Biological and Cultural $rigins
#/I<I%'
Here A' 2oe
Lower and iddle Paleolithic
The immensely long Old !tone Age #Paleolithic Period% has from the early days of
Prehistoric Archaeology been divided into Lower, 5iddle, and Apper sections' 5ost
of the early discoveries were made in western +urope, from the mid"nineteenth
century onward, and these classic divisions naturally reflected the situation there,
though they were tacitly assumed to be of worldwide validity' The Lower Paleolithic,
accordingly, was characteri&ed by the bifacially wored hand axes and other archaic
stone tools found mainly in river gravels associated with +arly or 5iddle Pleistocene
fauna' ,5iddle Paleolithic- referred to the elegant flae tool industries found mostly
in caves and roc shelters, with Apper Pleistocene fauna and *eanderthal hominid
remains' The Apper Paleolithic had fine tools made on blades, bone and ivory
implements, decorative items, and anatomically modern humans'
While the terms continue in use, their meaning has expanded and changed' The
Paleolithic in Western +urope is now perceived as merely one incomplete local
se3uence within the global Paleolithic succession, and scholars; interests have
broadened considerably beyond the mere classification of artifacts, on which the
divisions were originally largely based' Today, many archaeologists prefer to see the
Lower and 5iddle Paleolithic as a single continuous stage of human development,
that is, as an ,+arlier Paleolithic- that started with the first traces of human activity, at
least :'D million years ago, and ended only with the rapid spread over the Old World
of anatomically modern humans, some D1,111 to E1,111 years ago' That spread of
,Advanced Paleolithic- people coincided with striing technological and social
advances, and with the final disappearance of all archaic human types that had
hitherto survived' !ome prehistorians, however, continue to find the separate terms
Lower and 5iddle Paleolithic useful in certain respects' (nsofar as they denote
periods or stages, it must be remembered that these terms include not only
technological and cultural developments, but also much human physical evolution and
a gradual expansion of human territory to cover much of the Old World'
Lower Paleolithic
)y literal definition, the Lower Paleolithic begins with the earliest nown traces of
stone tool manufacture, currently about :'C million years ago at 7ada 8ona, northern
+thiopia' Other traces of human activity, such as upright waling, go bac about a
million years further, as dramatically evidenced by the famous human footprint trails
at Laetoli, Tan&ania #ca' E'J< million years ago%' The hominids of this opening stage
belong to the Australopithecine group, nown only in sub"!aharan Africa' Though
late Australopithecines survived until about one million years ago, the earliest
examples of Homo, including H. habilis, appeared in +ast Africa between :'D and :'1
million years ago, perhaps descended from the gracile Australopithecine
Australopithecus a"arensis' With the emergence of the Homo line, simple stone tool
manufacture became a regular occurrence from ca' /'< million years ago #the
Oldowan Tradition%' Animal bones are fre3uently found together with stone artifacts
at the early sites. the most important locations include Olduvai Gorge #Tan&ania%, the
Turana )asin #mainly 7enya%, and several parts of +thiopia' The $L7 sites at
Olduvai and $xBj D1, +ast Turana, are important excavated examples' The early
humans probably depended more on scavenging than on hunting for themselves'
+vidence for human control of fire at this stage is uncertain' )y : to /'< million years
ago, somewhat more advanced human types had appeared, of which Homo erectus is
the best nown, and by /'< million years ago these new people had begun a migration
out of sub"!aharan Africa that was eventually to reach (ndia, the $ar +ast, the *ear
+ast, *orth Africa, and +urope'
!oon after the emergence of H. erectus in +ast Africa, important new stone tool types
appear there. the hand axes and cleavers #large shaped cutting tools% of the Acheulean
Tradition' Acheulean industries subse3uently spread widely over the Old World
during the +arly and 5iddle Pleistocene, though not to the $ar +ast' Lower
Paleolithic artifacts and fossil remains of H. erectus certainly occur in !outheast Asia
and at numerous sites in 6hina=from about one million years ago= #hou$oudian
near )eijing being the most famous, though a few dates as old as : to /'< million
years are also claimed' The artifacts often have a rather crude appearance, however,
perhaps because of the nature of the local rocs'
%uman T"pes
)y early in the 5iddle Pleistocene, human evolution was passing from the Homo
erectus stage to one that we designate +arly Homo sapiens' Adaptation to so many
new geographical and climatic situations created much local variability within this
taxon' The +uropean +arly Homo sapiens population for instance, progressed to H.
sapiens neanderthalensis, the Neanderthals, present there in a fully developed form
well before /11,111 )'P' (n sub"!aharan Africa, however, evolution had by then
produced the first examples of anatomically modern humans #H. sapiens sapiens%9
examples include finds from &lasies 2iver 5outh #!outh Africa%, and the Omo
7ibish ( individual from southern +thiopia' These new people had spread to the *ear
+ast by ca' /11,111KI1,111 )'P' #>af&eh 6ave and !hul 6ave in (srael%, and this
becomes a crucial area, because *eanderthal hominids also reached it, doubtless from
eastern +urope. examples include finds from 7ebara 6ave and Amud 6ave #(srael%
and !hanidar 6ave #(ra3%' The two human types may have shared the region for up to
01,111 years'
iddle Paleolithic
At the generali&ed +arly Homo sapiens stage, humans made various Lower Paleolithic
industries in different parts of the Old World, the later stages of the Acheulean
Tradition being merely the best nown' (n +urope, early forms of *eanderthals are
also associated with such industries, for example at Atapuerca #!pain% or Pontnewydd
6ave #*orth Wales%' What characteri&ed the subse3uent 5iddle Paleolithic industries
was the virtual disappearance of hand axes and a new emphasis on finely made flae
tools, fashioned on specially struc blans #,prepared core technology-%, featuring
carefully designed scraper and projectile"point types' 5any of these +uropean 5iddle
Paleolithic industries are called ,5ousterian,- after the $rench site of Le 5oustier' (n
other parts of the world, notably southern Africa, the term ,5iddle !tone Age- is used
for the wide range of industries broadly e3uivalent in age and technology to the
+uropean ones just described'
The basis of all 5iddle Paleolithic economies was hunting, gathering, and
scavenging' 4uman geographical distribution expanded, for example, into the cold
steppes of central 2ussia' Open sites occur with dwelling structures partly made from
mammoth bones, with internal hearths, as at 5olodova L #Araine%' 4umans had also
reached Australia by at least DD,111 )'P', arguably a 5iddle Paleolithic event' The
*eanderthals have left some evidence of ritual practices, notably deliberate burial of
the dead, at caves and roc shelters from La $errassie #southwest $rance% to Teshi
Tash #A&beistan% and !hanidar #(ra3%, though at some of their sites human bones
occur as fragments amongst animal bones and occupation debris, as at 7rapina
#6roatia% or L;4ortus #southern $rance%'
Huring the early and middle sections of the Last 8laciation, adaptation to cold
conditions made the +uropean *eanderthals a somewhat speciali&ed population,
continuing to manufacture their 5ousterian industries in habitable parts of the
continent, in some cases as late as the mid"E1,111s )'P' Late developments, such as
the 6hatelperronian industry in southwest $rance, with some more bladelie tools, are
still associated with *eanderthal hominids, as at the !t' 6Msaire roc shelter' The same
is liely to be true of the !&eletian industries of the late 5iddle Paleolithic in 6entral
+urope' (n the *ear +ast, a clear transition can be seen at ca' 0D,111K01,111 )'P' from
5iddle Paleolithic prepared"core technology to the regular manufacture of blades as
tool blans, notably at 7sar Ail #Lebanon% and )oer Tachtit #(srael%' (n +urope, the
end of the 5iddle Paleolithic was abrupt. the *eanderthal population seems to have
been swept away between ca' 0:,111KED,111 )'P' by a rapid incursion of anatomically
modern humans maing Apper Paleolithic blade tool industries'F!ee also Afar9
Africa: Prehistor" of Africa9 Australopithecus and %omo %abilis9 'hina: Stone
Age 'ultures of 'hina9 Europe( the )irst 'oloni*ation Of9 %omo Sapiens(
Archaic9 &oobi )ora9 Olorgesaillie9 Pleistocene9 Torralba+Ambrona'G
!ibliograph"
Bohn A' B' 8owlett, Ascent to Civilization The Archaeolog! o" #arl! Man #/I<0%'
6live 8amble, The Palaeolithic %ettlement o" #urope #/I<J%'
2ichard 8' 7lein, The Human Career Human Biological and Cultural $rigins
#/I<I%'
A' )arbara (saac, ed', The Archaeolog! o" Human $rigins Papers b! &l!nn 'saac
#/II1%'
6hristopher )' !tringer and 6live 8amble, 'n %earch o" the (eanderthals %olving the
Puzzle o" Human $rigins #/IIE%'
Here A' 2oe
,pper Paleolithic
The Apper Paleolithic is the last of the three divisions of the Old !tone Age' (t is a
period of approximately E1,111 years duration, from the final development of the last
glacial cycle 01,111 years ago, through the last glacial maximum and ending with the
improved climatic conditions of the 4olocene approximately /1,111 years ago' The
archaeological record of the Apper Paleolithic is characteri&ed by a number of
features that clearly separate it from the Lower and 5iddle Paleolithic' These include
new techni3ues of stone woring, the use of bone and other nonlithic materials, the
appearance of art, larger and more numerous sites, the presence of sites with a distinct
structure, and speciali&ed animal hunting strategies' These new features, together with
seletal evidence of anatomically modern humans, Homo sapiens sapiens, has led to
the suggestion that the archaeological record of the Apper Paleolithic represents the
first appearance of what has been thought to be fully modern behavior' (t is the
analysis of the specific nature of this behavior and its relationship to the evolution of
Homo sapiens sapiens that forms one of the major interpretive problems of the Apper
Paleolithic'
Technological -evelopments
A new type of stone tool technology appears with the beginning of the Apper
Paleolithic' This is called blade technology and involves the production of blades,
which are struc stone pieces twice as long as they are broad and often with parallel
sides' These blades are then used as the raw material for the production of other tools
of a definite and clear form, such as endscrapers, borers, gravers, projectile points,
and much smaller pieces called icroliths' Hetailed examination of these pieces
indicates that they were often hafted onto wooden, bone, or ivory shafts' 5icroliths
may have been hafted in groups onto a single shaft, resulting in a composite tool' (t
would then have been straightforward to replace the broen stone components of
these tools while preserving the more valuable shafts' Analysis of the raw materials
used for the production of these stone tools #flint in Poland or obsidian in Bapan% have
indicated that groups of hunters and gatherers collected raw materials from a very
wide catchment area, either in the course of a generally nomadic lifestyle or by means
of special purpose trips' !tudies of tool design have revealed distinct assemblages of
stone tools defined on the basis of the appearance #and disappearance% of distinct tool
types, such as scrapers and projectile points' (n +urope, these assemblages have been
called 6hatelperronian, Aurignacian, 8ravettian, !olutrean, and 5agdalenian' They
were at one time thought to represent the material residues from distinct, culturally
differentiated societies of hunters and gatherers, although such a social interpretation
is now much 3uestioned' (n addition to these stone tool assemblages, even broader
groups of stone technologies can be identified' $or example, it is possible to observe a
group of stone tool industries based on the production of microblades from special
cores that appears at around /<,111 )'P' and covers an area stretching from the *ear
+ast across 6entral Asia through 6hina, Bapan, and into *orth America, with
numerous smaller regional variations'
(n addition to stone, there are mared developments in the technological use of other
raw materials as well as the manufacture of new forms' )one, antler, and ivory appear
to have been used for the first time for maing tools and other items' These materials
were first used for the manufacture of projectile points, where their less brittle nature
would have been ideal' At a later date #ca' :/,111 years )'P'%, bone was used for the
manufacture of the first eyed needle, possibly indicating a more elaborate clothing
technology, and also for the manufacture of the first identifiable musical instruments,
which tae the form of flutes made from hollow bird bones'
Artistic E.pression
$rom the beginning of the Apper Paleolithic, there also appears examples of
recogni&able artistic expression in the form of wall paintings and engravings and also
mobiliary carvings' The wall #parietal% art includes both abstract art #lines, s3uares,
net shapes% and representational art depicting animals in both single and multiple
colors' The best nown locations are the cave sites of Lascau. in southern $rance and
Altamira in northern !pain' There are also clay sculptures of bison at the site of Le
Tuc d;Audoubert in $rance' Over the years, interpretations of the meaning of the
parietal art have varied enormously from hunting magic to structuralist interpretations
of the relationship between men and women' 5ore recent interpretations stress the
importance of these representations in the communication of important information
for successful hunting in the light of the unpredictable environmental circumstances
of the time'
The mobiliary art includes bone and antler batons with carved animals such as deer
and birds as well as a number of female figurines with seemingly exaggerated sexual
organs' The similarity in the form of these figurines over an area that encompasses all
of +urope from east to west has been interpreted as an indication of a wide exchange
networ of ,marriage- partners that would have existed at this time of low population
density to ensure a viable breeding population' Another possibility is that these
figurines are self"sculptures by women not brought up within 2enaissance traditions
of perspective and artistic distance' An examination of the engravings on pieces of
bone by Alexander 5arshac has suggested that some of them may be notations,
providing Apper Paleolithic people with some form of calendrical record' There is
also much archaeological evidence for the manufacture of bodily ornamentation'
Where preservation allows, beads are fre3uently found, made from bone, ivory, or
seashell' The species of seashell used indicate contacts over very great distances of
hundreds of miles' As is the case with the use of stone, it is not yet nown whether
these seashells were collected personally or ac3uired through contact with other
groups either by direct contact or longer networs of exchange'
There are also a number of sites, such as 8Nnnersdorf in 8ermany and ParpallO in
!pain, where large numbers of engraved pla3ues have been found' +xamination of
these sites in the broader context of the settlement patterns, as well as the diversity of
stylistic elements within individual sites, has resulted in some being interpreted as
aggregation sites, where a number of smaller bands may have met on a periodic basis,
possibly for the exchange of marriage partners' +vidence from other sites, such as
footprints at the cave of *iaux in $rance, and the isolated location of the art within
cave systems, suggests that these paintings and engravings might not have been
viewed lie paintings hanging on the walls of modern art galleries' 2ather, they were
viewed in the context of structured occasions in which access to the cave might have
been limited for some reason' A ritualistic viewing is a possibility'
Paleolithic Art
The existence of Paleolithic art was first established and accepted through the
discovery of portable decorated objects in a number of caves and roc shelters in
southwest $rance in the early /<J1s' There could be no doubt that the objects were
ancient, being associated with Paleolithic tools and the bones of (ce Age animals'
!ome depicted species #e'g', mammoth% that were extinct or others #e'g', reindeer% that
had long ago deserted this part of the world'
-istribution
These first discoveries triggered a treasure hunt for ancient art objects in caves and
shelters' A small number of people noticed drawings on the cave walls, but thought
little of them' The first real claim for the existence of Paleolithic cave art was that
made in /<<1 for the !panish cave of Altamira by a local landowner, de !autuola'
4is views were treated with septicism by the archaeological establishment, because
nothing similar had previously been reported, and almost all nown portable art had
come from $rance' The rejection of Altamira persisted for twenty years until a
breathrough was made at the cave of La 5outhe #Hordogne% where, in /<ID, the
removal of some fill had exposed an unnown gallery, the walls of which had
engravings including a bison figure' )ecause of Paleolithic deposits in the blocing
fill, it was clear that the pictures must be ancient' $inally, in /I1/, engravings were
found in the cave of Les 6ombarelles #Hordogne% and paintings in the nearby cave of
$ont de 8aume' (n /I1: the existence of cave art was officially recogni&ed by the
archaeological establishment'
Once again, a ind of ,gold rush- ensued, with numerous new sites and galleries
being found' Hiscoveries still continue9 in $rance and !pain, even today, an average
of one new site is found every year=most recently the magnificent 8rotte 6hauvet in
the ArdPche, with its unusually numerous and prominent figures of rhinos and big
cats' !ubse3uently, roc art of similar anti3uity has been discovered in many other
parts of the world as well'
Portable art or art mobilier is found from the (berian Peninsula and *orth Africa to
!iberia, and has notable concentrations in western, central, and eastern +urope'
Thousands of specimens are nown, and though some sites yield few or none, others
contain hundreds or even thousands of items of portable art'
The distribution of cave art #art parital% is e3ually patchy, though it is most abundant
in areas that are also rich in decorated objects. the PMrigord, the $rench Pyrenees, and
6antabrian !pain' Paleolithic decorated caves are found from Portugal and the very
south of !pain to the north of $rance' Traces have been found in southwest 8ermany,
and there are concentrations in (taly and !icily' A handful of caves are also nown in
@ugoslavia, 2omania, and 2ussia' The current total for +urasia is about :<1 sites'
!ome contain only one or a few figures on the walls, whereas others lie Lascau. or
Les Trois $rPres have hundreds' 4owever, in recent years it has become apparent that
Paleolithic people also produced roc art in the open air, where it has survived in
exceptional circumstances. !ix sites have so far been found in !pain, Portugal, and
the $rench Pyrenees with engravings that are Paleolithic in style' !o cave art is not
typical of the period9 caves are merely the places where most art has survived'
ethods of -ating
Hating portable objects is easy, since their position in the stratigraphy of a site,
together with the associated tools, gives some idea of the cultural phase involved, and
radiocarbon dating of organic material from these levels, or even from the art objects
themselves, can give more precise results'
Hating parietal art was, until recently, far more difficult' Where the caves were
bloced during or just after the (ce Age, or where parts of the decorated walls
themselves are covered by datable Paleolithic deposits, a minimum age can be
established' There are also cases where a fragment of decorated wall has fallen and
become stratified in the archaeological layers, though this provides an approximate
date for the art;s fall rather than its execution' !ome caves contain occupation deposits
that may plausibly be lined with art production #e'g', through the presence of
coloring materials%' (f a site with parietal art has also produced stratified portable art,
there are sometimes clear analogies between the two in techni3ue and style, providing
a fairly reliable date for the wall decoration'
$or the many caves without occupation or portable art, it became necessary to see
stylistic comparison with material from other sites and even other regions, which led
inevitably to subjectivity and simplistic schemes of development, since all stylistic
arguments are based on an assumption that figures similar in style or techni3ue were
roughly contemporaneous in their execution'
The first such scheme was put forward by the abbM 4enri !reuil, who based it
primarily on the presence or absence of ,twisted perspective,- a feature he considered
primitive, in which an animal figure in profile still has its horns, antlers, tuss, or
hooves facing to the front' )reuil believed this was an archaic feature, associated with
early phases of cave art, whereas in the 5agdalenian #the last phase of (ce Age
culture% everything was drawn in proper perspective' Anfortunately his scheme was
inconsistent, since twisted hoofs are nown in the 5agdalenian #e'g', on the Altamira
bison%, and true perspective sometimes occurs in early phases'
This scheme was eventually superseded by that of AndrM QLeroi"8ourhan, the $rench
scholar who dominated cave art studies after )reuil;s death' )asing himself on
securely dated figures, he proposed a series of four styles' Lie )reuil, he saw an
overall progression from simple, archaic forms to complex, detailed, accurate figures
of animals' 4owever, it is now generally recogni&ed that Paleolithic art did not have a
single beginning and a single climax9 there must have been many of both' +ach period
probably saw the coexistence of a number of styles and techni3ues, as well as a wide
range of talent and ability'
(n recent years it has become possible to analy&e minute amounts of pigment from
parietal figures and hence learn that many blac figures, thought to be manganese,
actually contain or consist of charcoal' The development of Accelerator 5ass
!pectrometry #A5!% has meant that one can now obtain radiocarbon estimates from
such tiny samples, and a number of figures in several Paleolithic caves have already
been dated in this way #see Altamira%' (n every single case, results suggest that the
accumulation of the figures was more episodic and far more complex than envisaged
by Leroi"8ourhan;s scheme, and sometimes spanned a far longer period than was
believed'
Apart from sporadic occurrences of a variety of non"utilitarian objects in earlier
periods, the first +urasian Paleolithic art apparently occurs in the Aurignacian period,
around E:,111 years ago9 charcoal from two rhinos and a bison in the 6hauvet 6ave,
$rance, have produced results of approximately this date, maing these the earliest
dated parietal paintings in the world' $or the next ten millennia or so, parietal art
seems confined to cave mouths and roc shelters' (t was in the !olutrean and,
especially, the 5agdalenian that deep caves were habitually penetrated and decorated
in areas of total darness, though the 6hauvet cave shows that this sometimes
happened in much earlier periods as well' Paleolithic art seems to wane with the end
of the (ce Age at the close of the 5agdalenian, around //,111 years ago'
Techni/ues and aterials
Portable art comprises a wide variety of materials and forms' The simplest are slightly
modified natural objects=fossils, teeth, shells, or bones that were incised, sawn, or
perforated to form beads or pendants' !ome sites have hundreds of ,pla3uettes- #slabs
of stone with drawings engraved on them%, and a few painted specimens are nown'
+ngravings occur on flat bones, and were also done on bone shafts and on batons of
antler, not only lengthwise but also around the cylinder, maintaining perfect
proportions although the whole figure could not be seen'
(n the 5agdalenian Period, &oomorphic figures and circular discs were cut out of thin
bone' Antler spear"throwers have figures either carved in relief along the shaft, or
carved in the round at the hoo"end, where the triangular area of antler dictates the
posture and si&e of the carving' Within these constraints, the artists produced a wide
variety of images such as fawns, mammoths, or a leaping horse'
A few terra"cotta models have survived in several areas, especially 5oravia, but the
vast majority of Paleolithic statuettes are made of ivory or soft stone' (vory was also
used to produce beads, bracelets, and armlets'
6ave art itself encompasses an astonishing variety and mastery of techni3ues' One
basic approach was the incorporation of natural roc formations. The shapes of cave
walls and stalagmites were employed in countless examples to accentuate or represent
parts of figures' The simplest form of maring cave walls was to leave finger traces in
the soft clay layer' This techni3ue probably spans the whole period, perhaps inspired
by cave"bear claw mars on the walls' (n some caves, the finger lines also include
some definite animal and humanoid figures' +ngraving, as in portable art, is by far the
most common techni3ue on cave walls' The tools used for engraving varied from
robust pics to sharp flint flaes'
Wor in clay was restricted to the Pyrenees9 it ranges from finger holes and tracings to
engravings in the cave floor, and bas"relief figures in artificial clay bans' The famous
clay bison of le d;Audoubert are in haut"relief, and the three"dimensional bear of
5ontespan comprises about /,D0E pounds #C11 g% of clay'
Parietal sculpture is similarly limited in distribution to the PMrigord and 6harente
regions of $rance where the limestone could be shaped' )ut whereas clay figures are
nown only from the dar depths of caves, sculptures are always in roc shelters or
the illuminated front parts of caves' )oth bas"relief and haut"relief are found, the
figures being created with percussion tools' Almost all parietal sculptures have traces
of red pigment and were originally painted, lie much portable art'
The red pigment used on cave walls is iron oxide #hematite or ochre%9 the blac is
manganese or charcoal' The main coloring materials were usually readily available
locally' 2ecent analyses of pigments, particularly at *iaux, have revealed the use of
,recipes- combining paint with extenders lie talc or feldspar' Analyses have detected
traces of animal and plant oils used as binders'
The simplest way to apply paint to walls was with fingers, but normally some ind of
tool was used, though none has survived' Lumps of pigment may have been used as
crayons, but since they do not mar the roc well, they were more liely to be sources
of powder' +xperiments suggest that animal"hair brushes or crushed twigs were the
best tools, though occasionally a pad may have been employed on rough surfaces' $or
hand stencils and some dots and figures, paint was clearly sprayed, either from the
mouth or through a tube'
$igures have been found not only on clay floors and on walls, but also on ceilings'
!ome, lie the Altamira ceiling, were within easy reach, but for others a ladder or
scaffolding was re3uired' At Lascaux, socets cut into the wall of one gallery give
some idea how the scaffolding was constructed'
Light was sometimes provided by hearths, but portable light was necessary in most
cases' !ince only a few do&en stone lamps are nown from the period, it is liely that
burning torches were generally used which left little trace other than a few fragments
of charcoal on the walls'
(n parietal art, unlie portable, there was no great restriction on si&e, and figures range
from the tiny to the enormous #over J feet F: mG% in some cases, with the great
Lascaux bulls exceeding /J feet #D m%' !mall figures are commonly found with large,
and there are no groundlines or landscapes'
T"pes of 0mages
Paleolithic images are normally grouped into three categories. animals, humans, and
non"figurative or abstract #including ,signs-%' The vast majority of animal figures are
adults in profile, most of them recogni&able, although many are incomplete or
ambiguous, and a few are imaginary, lie the Lascaux unicorn'
The animals; age can rarely be estimated, except for the few juveniles nown' Their
sex is sometimes displayed directly, but almost always discreetly, so that secondary
sexual characteristics such as antlers or si&e and proportions often have to be relied
upon' 5any figures seem motionless and animated depictions are rare' !cenes as such
are very hard to identify in Paleolithic art, since it is often impossible to prove
association of figures rather than simple juxtaposition' Only a very few definite
scenes are nown'
One central fact is the overall dominance of the horse and bison among Paleolithic
depictions, although other species #e'g', mammoth or deer% may dominate at particular
sites' 6arnivores are rare9 fish and birds are far more plentiful in portable art than
parietal' (nsects and recogni&able plants are limited to a few examples in portable art'
!o Paleolithic art is neither a simple bestiary nor a random accumulation of artistic
observations of nature' (t has meaning and structure, with different species
predominating in different periods and regions'
Apart from hand stencils, definite humans are scarce in parietal art, unlie portable art
where the best"nown specimens are the poorly named ,Lenus figurines- depicting
females of a wide span of ages and types. they are by no means limited to the handful
of obese specimens that are often claimed to be characteristic' 8enitalia are rarely
depicted, so one usually has to rely on breasts or beards to differentiate the sexes, and
most humans have to be left neutral' 6lothing is rarely clear, and details such as
eyebrows, nostrils, navels, and nipples are extremely uncommon' $ew figures have
hands or fingers drawn in any detail'
(n the past, all composites=figures with elements of both humans and animals=were
unjustifiably called sorcerers and assumed to be a shaman or medicine man in a mas
or animal costume' )ut they could simply be people with bestiali&ed faces, or humans
with animal heads' (n any case, composites #the most famous being the sorcerer of
Les Trois $rPres% are rare, occurring in only about fifteen sites'
*onfigurative mars are far more abundant than figurative, and include a
tremendously wide range of motifs, from a single dot or line to complex
constructions, and to extensive panels of linear mars' !igns can be totally isolated in
a cave, clustered on their own panels, or closely associated with the figurative'
The simpler motifs are abundant and widespread' The more complex forms, however,
show extraordinary variability and are more restricted in space and time, so they have
been seen as ethnic marers, perhaps delineating Paleolithic groups'
)unction and eaning
The first theory attempting to explain this period;s art was that it had no meaning9 it
was simply mindless decoration by hunters with time on their hands' This ,art for art;s
sae- view arose from the first discoveries of portable art, but once parietal art began
to be found it became clear that more was involved. The restricted range of species
depicted, their fre3uent inaccessibility and their associations in caves, the palimpsests
and undecorated panels, the enigmatic signs, the many purposely incomplete or
ambiguous figures, and the caves that were decorated but apparently not inhabited, all
combine to suggest that there is complex meaning behind both the subject matter and
the location of Paleolithic art'
At the beginning of this century, the functional theory of ,!ympathetic 5agic- too
over. (n other words, the depictions of animals were produced in order to control or
influence real animals in some way' 2itual and magic were seen in almost every
aspect of Paleolithic art=breaage of decorated objects, images ,illed- ritually with
images of missiles or even physical attac'
Overall, however, there are very few Paleolithic animal figures with missiles on or
near them, and many caves have no images of this type at all' 5issiles #whatever they
are% also occur on some human figures' There are no clear hunting scenes' 5oreover,
the animal bones found in many decorated caves bear little relation to the species
depicted on the walls, and it is clear that the motivations behind the art were different
from the environmental factors and economic choices that produced the faunal
remains'
Another popular explanation of (ce Age art is that of ,fertility magic-. The artists
depicted animals, hoping they would reproduce and flourish to provide food in the
future' @et few animals have their gender shown, and genitalia are almost always
shown discreetly' As for copulation, in the whole of Paleolithic iconography there are
only a couple of #very dubious% examples'
(t is clear that most Paleolithic art is not about either hunting or sex, at least in an
explicit sense' The next major theoretical advance, however, introduced the notion of
a symbolic sexual element' (n the /ID1s two $rench scholars, Annette Laming"
+mperaire and AndrM Leroi"8ourhan concluded that caves had been decorated
systematically rather than at random' Parietal art was treated as a carefully laidout
composition within each cave9 the animals were not portraits but symbols'
The ey advance was the discovery of repeated associations in the art' The
numerically dominant horses and bovids, concentrated in the central panels, were
thought to represent a basic duality that was assumed to be sexual' Laming"+mperaire
believed the horse to be e3uivalent to the female and the bovids to the male9 for Leroi"
8ourhan it was vice versa' This idea was then extended to the signs, which were
dubbed male #phallic% and female #vulvar%'
The most recent wor on Paleolithic art is splintering in many directions' One
researcher, for example, is seeing detailed and firm criteria by which to recogni&e the
wor of individual artists=we do not, of course, now the gender of Paleolithic
artists, and there is no justification for assuming that the art was all done by and for
men' Others are investigating the acoustics in different parts of the cave, and finding a
clear correspondence between the richest panels and the best acoustics, suggesting
that sound played an important part in whatever ceremonies accompanied the
production of cave art'
*o single explanation can suffice for the whole of Paleolithic art. it comprises at least
two"thirds of nown art history, covering twenty"five millennia and a vast area of the
world'F!ee also Art9 'ro1magnons9 Europe: The European Paleolithic Period9
Notation( Paleolithic9 Paleolithic: ,pper Paleolithic9 2eligion9 3enus )igurines'G
!ibliograph"
+douard Lartet and 4enry 6hristy, )eli*uiae A*uitanicae #/<CD%'
4enri )reuil, +our Hundred Centuries o" Cave Art #/ID:%'
6hristian ?ervos, L,Art de l,#po*ue du )enne en +rance #/IDI%'
Paolo 8ra&iosi, Palaeolithic Art #/IJ1%'
Annette Laming"+mperaire, La %igni"ication de l,Art )upestre Palolithi*ue #/IJ:%'
Peter Aco and AndrMe 2osenfeld, Palaeolithic Cave Art #/IJC%'
AndrM Leroi"8ourhan, The Art o" Prehistoric Man in -estern #urope #/IJ<%'
Alexander 5arshac, The )oots o" Civilization #/IC:%'
AndrM Leroi"8ourhan, The .awn o" #uropean Art #/I<:%'
Paul 8' )ahn and Bean Lertut, 'mages o" the 'ce Age #/I<<%'
Organi*ed Living Space
$rom certain sites there is clear evidence for a structured demarcation of the living
space' The finest example of this is the discovery of dwellings made from mammoth
bones on the central 2ussian plain at sites such as 5e&hirich and 7osteni' Although
such dramatic evidence is exceptional, the evidence from many sites points to the
existence of structures that have either decayed or been carried away' At Pincevent,
for example, the refitting of stone tool manufacturing debris and the general spatial
arrangement of hearths and discarded materials has pointed to the existence of three
huts' !imilar interpretations have been offered for !unagawa in central Bapan' On the
island of 7amchata a number of locations around the Ashi Lae have revealed
evidence of sunen floor dwellings with pronounced entrance passageways and
stonelined hearths' (t is possible on a broad level to interpret the spatial arrangements
in these dwellings as hearth areas, discard areas, and possibly activity areas' At the
site of +tiolles, close to Paris, studies of the technical abilities exhibited by the flint
nappers at the site, based on their discarded debris, have even suggested that one part
of the site was used by inexperienced, possibly apprentice, flint nappers, while other
areas were used by more experienced craft worers'
Subsistence Organi*ation
+xamination of the animal bones at these sites has revealed complex patterns of
decision maing in terms of the animals to be hunted, the season of hunting, and
butchery decisions once animals have been illed' (t is in the Apper Paleolithic that
we first have evidence to suggest that individual animal species were being
preferentially exploited by human groups' There are sites in southwestern $rance,
!pain, 8ermany, and !outh Africa where the bones of a single species constitute as
much as <1 percent or more of the complete faunal assemblage' A reconstruction of
the ages of the animals at the time when they were illed indicates that herds or small
groups of animals may have been illed on single occasions' +vidence for the season
of hunting suggests that they were illed at the time of their annual migrations or their
gathering together for the breeding season' The illing of such large numbers of
animals and the production of large 3uantities of meat perhaps indicate that
techni3ues of efficient storage had already been developed, and stored meat allowed
people to live in groups in otherwise uninhabitable environments'
(n addition to speciali&ation in the targeting of individual species, particular upland
sites and site settlement patterns in areas such as northern !pain indicate that hunting
may have been carried out by small tas groups who would then have brought bac
the spoils of the hunt to a more residential site located elsewhere' )oth this evidence
and that of species speciali&ation points to the existence of planning and organi&ation'
Aspects of odern %uman !ehavior
!uch evidence of the ability to live in difficult environments is provided by the last
major characteristic of Apper Paleolithic archaeology, the coloni&ation of hitherto
unexploited environments such as the northern plains of +urope, the desert and arid
lands of the *ear +ast and Africa, tropical and coniferous forest regions, and the
American continents and Australasia' The evidence for the coloni&ation of all of these
areas postdates the appearance of anatomically modern humans'
The coloni&ation of Australasia provides a fine example of the abilities of modern
humans' Although Australia, Papua *ew 8uinea, and Tasmania would have been
lined together at times of low sea level to form the larger continent of !ahul, there
would have always been water between !ahul and (ndonesia with a channel at least 01
miles #JD m% wide' A mastery of water travel would have been the first necessity for
coloni&ation' The earliest radiocarbon dates for this coloni&ation date to 01,111 years
)'P' and come from the 4uon Peninsula in Papua *ew 8uinea and !wan 2iver near
Perth in southwestern Australia' There are also dates of E:,111 years )'P' for burials
of anatomically modern humans from the Willandra laes site of Lae 5ungo in
southern Australia' $ollowing their arrival in the continent, we also have evidence of
human coloni&ation of the arid lands of central Australia and the rain forests of
Tasmania' The coloni&ation of Australasia was indeed rapid, and too place in a
continent that was completely alien to modern humans in terms of both the plant and
animal communities that they encountered'
The ability to rapidly recoloni&e areas rendered uninhabitable by the advance of
glacial conditions at the time of the last glacial maximum, clearly evident in the
archaeological record from northern +urope, is further testimony to the ability of
human groups at this time to exploit new areas'
Although the Apper Paleolithic was originally defined on the basis of stone tool
technology alone, such a simple technological definition is increasingly problematic
and irrelevant' The variety and characteristics of the evidence from Apper Paleolithic
sites reveal a clearly organi&ed and diverse range of behavior' The ey characteristic
of the Apper Paleolithic is now thought to be the appearance of modern human
behavior throughout the world, associated with the arrival of anatomically modern
humans, although the two do not necessarily appear simultaneously in all places' The
principal characteristics of this behavior can perhaps best be defined as symbolism
and symbolic expression #perhaps including language% and organi&ational planning'
!ymbolism appears in a number of material forms including art, body ornamentation,
styles of material goods, and possibly burial practices' Organi&ational planning is
evident in the development of speciali&ed subsistence practices focusing on the
exploitation of a single species, the appearance of speciali&ed tas groups, the ability
to exploit new environments such as the highlands, and to coloni&e new lands such as
the Americas' This is a pattern of behavior that appears very close to that of
contemporary groups of hunters and gatherers' (ndeed, the evidence has fre3uently
been interpreted in the light of archaeologists; own experiences with such groups,
such as the studies of Lewis )inford among the *unamiut' (t is for this reason that it
has been considered fully modern behavior'
The appearance of anatomically modern humans and of different aspects of modern
behavior are crucial to any discussion of the early Apper Paleolithic, and in particular,
the timing of the beginning of the Apper Paleolithic' 8enetic studies of modern
human populations have been used to argue that anatomically modern humans
evolved in Africa and then radiated outward to other parts of the world' (n so doing
they replaced populations of anatomically premodern humans' This corresponds with
the archaeological evidence from areas such as +urope where there are indications of
sharp discontinuity between the 5iddle and Apper Paleolithic records' There are
those who argue, however, that in certain parts of the world, especially the $ar +ast,
sufficient seletal similarities exist between anatomically pre"modern and
anatomically modern humans to suggest that Homo sapiens sapiens evolved in situ
from the local populations' While most scholars would not agree with this
interpretation, such similarities raise the important 3uestion of the nature of the
relationship between incoming modern populations and existing local populations'
Was there rapid replacement in all areas, or were there periods of coexistence of
varying durationR
Within Africa, examples of anatomically modern humans have been dated to /E1,111
years )'P' at the site of Omo in +ast Africa' (n the *ear +ast anatomically modern
humans have been found at the sites of !hul and >af&eh dating to I:,111 years )'P',
but pre"modern humans # Neanderthals% continued living in this region certainly until
J1,111 years )'P' according to dates from the 7ebara cave at 5t' 6armel' These early
finds of anatomically modern humans have all been associated with a material culture
that is no different than that of the ,contemporary- pre"modern humans' Within
+urope itself, the earliest archaeological evidence associated with incoming modern
humans, the so"called ,Aurignacian,- has been dated to 0:,111 years )'P' in )ulgaria
and to 01,111 years )'P' in !pain' The latest evidence for pre"modern humans
#*eanderthals% dates to EJ,111 years )'P' and is from the site of !t' 6Msaire in $rance'
(nterestingly, the !t' 6Msaire *eanderthal is associated with a material culture #the
6hatelperronian% that has been described as fully Apper Paleolithic, including blade
stone tools and ornaments. in other words, modern' There is, therefore, good evidence
for the overlap of these populations and for abandoning the simple association
between modern human behavior and anatomically modern humans'
Another apparent feature of modern human behavior is the speciali&ed animal hunting
strategy' There are a number of sites where an analysis of the faunal remains suggests
that a single animal species was hunted almost exclusively, and there are also sites
that suggest the presence of small tas groups, such as hunting parties exploiting the
upland areas for the hunting of mountain goats' (n +urope, this evidence appears not
with the first anatomically modern humans but at the time of the last glacial maximum
#:/,111K/C,111 years )'P'% and provides a further indication of the gradual
development of modern human behavior and not the appearance of a complete
pacage'
The appearance of aspects of fully modern behavior and of anatomically modern
humans at different times in different parts of the world must inevitably force a
reassessment of the timing for the beginning of the Apper Paleolithic and its
redefinition in terms of the appearance of anatomically modern humans rather than
aspects of recogni&ably modern human behavior' Within Western +urope the current
date of 01,111 years )'P' would therefore continue as it ties in with both the
appearance of anatomically modern humans and modern human behavior' (n
Australia, however, an earlier date of perhaps J1,111 years )'P' would be more
appropriate as it seems liely that the first coloni&ers of the continent were
anatomically modern humans'
Perhaps the most interesting conse3uence of the appearance of anatomically modern
humans is that the Apper Paleolithic becomes the first period in human history when
we can recogni&e ourselves, modern humans, in the archaeological record' We can
apply direct nowledge of our modern abilities' Our own survival and the demise of
our nearest relatives is the ever"present context for the interpretation of the
archaeology of the Apper Paleolithic'F!ee also Africa: Prehistor" of Africa9 Art9
Australia and New Guinea: )irst Settlement of Sunda and Sahul9 'hina: Stone
Age 'ultures of 'hina9 'ro1magnons9 Europe: The European Paleolithic Period9
%olocene: 0ntroduction9 %omo Sapiens( Archaic9 %umans( odern9 Notation(
Paleolithic9 2oc$ Art: Paleolithic Art9 3enus )igurines'G
!ibliograph"
Peter Aco and Andre 2osenfeld, Palaeolithic Cave Art #/IJ<%'
Alexander 5arshac, The )oots o" Civilisation #/IC:%'
Lewis 2' )inford, (unamiut #thnoarchaeolog! #/IC<%'
Houglas Price and Bames )rown, Comple/ Hunter &atherers The #mergence o"
%ocial Comple/it! #/I<D%'
Olga !offer, The 0pper Paleolithic o" the Central )ussian Plain #/I<D%'
6live 8amble, The Palaeolithic %ettlement o" #urope #/I<J%'
Paul )ahn and Bean Lertut, 'mages o" the 'ce Age #/I<<%'
6live 8amble, Timewal1ers The Prehistor! o" &lobal Colonisation #/IIE%'
%omo Erectus is a species of early human that appeared approximately /'< million
years ago and survived until at least :D1,111 years ago' (t was the first early human to
be found not only in Africa but also in eastern Asia and arguably in +urope' Homo
erectus differed in a number of ways from its australopithecine antecedents' (t was
both heavier and taller than these earlier hominids and had a more linear body form'
(ts legs were longer in relation to its trun length, which suggests, as do other aspects
of its anatomy, that it was more efficient in waling on two legs' There was less
sexual dimorphism, or difference in si&e between males and females, and its brain was
also larger than the australopithecine brain' The average brain si&e, or cranial capacity,
of Homo erectus was D1 cubic inches #<:1 cc%, about midway between that of the
gracile australopithecines #about :C cubic inches, or 001 cc% and that of living modern
humans #about CJ cubic inches, or /:D1 cc%' Homo erectus was also the first early
human to have a projecting nose' The projecting nose has been interpreted as a
condenser to reclaim moisture from exhaled air' This would have been highly
important in maintaining the water balance of these early humans under the relatively
open, hot, and dry conditions of eastern Africa where they are assumed to have
evolved'
Other Homo erectus features included a long, low sull with large brow ridges over
the eyes and a sagittal ridge, or eel, on the top of the cranium' The face was larger
than that of modern humans' (t was also more projecting, and there was no chin on the
mandible' 5any Homo erectus fossils have unusually thic bone not only in their
sulls but also throughout the rest of their seletons' Although they were fully adapted
to upright waling, the Homo erectus pelvis and thigh bone #femur% were different
enough from those of modern humans to suggest a form of bipedal locomotion that
was different from what we see today'Homo erectus in the )ar East
The name Homo erectus did not come into use until the /I01s, when +rnst 5ayr
revised and simplified the classification of early humans' Prior to this time, fossils
that we now recogni&e as Homo erectus were included in a number of taxa among
which the most important were Pithecanthropus erectus from Bava and %inanthropus
pe1inensis from 6hina'
Pithecanthropus erectus was the name given to the first discovered Homo erectus
fossils, which were found by +ugene Hubois in /<I/ and /<I: at the site of Trinil on
the !olo 2iver in Bava' $urther Bavanese discoveries were made between /IEJ and
/I0/ by 8'4'2' von 7oenigswald at the sites of 5odjoerto in eastern Bava and
!angiran near Trinil' Additional fossils came to light between /ID: and /ICD and have
been reported by the (ndonesian scientists !' !artono and T' Bacob' These included a
sull from the locality of !ambungmachan and another from !angiran #!angiran /C%,
one of the most complete Homo erectus sulls nown' (n /IIE another relatively
complete sull #!ull (S%, was recovered from !angiran and reported by !' !artono
and two American anthropologists, 8rover !' 7rant& and Honald +' Tyler'
The age of the Bavanese Homo erectus has always been uncertain' The material comes
from two geological formations, the 7abuh $ormation, which is believed to be
between 1'D and 1'C million years old, and the Pucangan $ormation, which underlies
it and is older' Antil recently, material from this underlying formation has been
assumed to be no older than / million years' )ut recent Potassium1argon -ating of
deposits from the sites of 5odjoerto and !angiran suggests that some of the Homo
erectus fossils may be /'< million years old' This is as old as the earliest nown Homo
erectus fossils from Africa and implies that early humans reached eastern Asia almost
/ million years earlier than previously thought'
Homo erectus may have persisted until relatively recent times in Bava' The eleven
!olo #or *gandong% sulls, recovered by von 7oenigswald between /IE/ and /IEE,
come from the more recent *otopuro $ormation and may be younger than /11,111
years old' (f this date is correct, it suggests not only that Homo erectus existed for
over /'D million years in Bava but also that it was still extant when modern humans
began to appear in the eastern 5editerranean #!hul and >af&ah in (srael% and
possibly also in Africa'
Homo erectus fossils are also nown from 6hina and were originally assigned to the
taxon %inanthropus pe1inensis' The first tooth was found at the site of #hou$oudian
#formerly spelled 6hououtien% in /I:E by Austrian palaeontologist Otto ?dansy' (n
/I:C Havidson )lac, a 6anadian anatomist at the Peing Anion 5edical !chool,
organi&ed large"scale excavations at the site, first under the field direction of )irgir
)ohlin and then under W' 6' Pei' )y /IEC these excavations had resulted in fossils of
an estimated forty individuals' )lac died in /IEE and was succeeded by the 8erman
anatomist $ran& Weidenreich, who produced excellent plaster casts of the specimens
and detailed anatomical descriptions' This was particularly fortunate because all of the
original ?hououdian fossils were lost during the !econd World War' Locality /, the
source of the original Homo erectus fossils from ?hououdian, dates between
approximately D11,111 and :01,111 years old and has produced additional fossils in
more recent years'
!ince /I0I, additional Homo erectus material has also been found at other 6hinese
sites, including 8ongwangling #<D1,111KCD1,111 years ago%, 6henjiawo #formerly
6henchiawo and dating between DI1,111 and D11,111%, and 4exian #:11,111K
/D1,111%' )ased on these presently accepted dates, 4exian is the most recent of the
6hinese Homo erectus sites and suggests that Homo erectus lived at a time when more
modern hominids were beginning to appear in 6hina' These more modern archaic
Homo sapiens include Binniu !han #E11,111K:/1,111%, Hali #:E1,111K/<1,111% and
two sulls from @unxian that are yet to be precisely dated' The dating evidence might
imply that more modern hominids entered 6hina from elsewhere' )ut these dates are
close enough and there is enough error in their determination to leave open the
possibility that Homo erectus evolved into archaic Homo sapiens in the $ar
+ast'Homo erectus in Africa
)y far the most famous Homo erectus sites in sub"!aharan Africa are Olduvai Gorge,
Tan&ania, and &oobi )ora and *ariootome in the Lae Turana region of northern
7enya' (n /IJ1, Louis and 5ary Lea$e" discovered a well"preserved Homo erectus
sull cap at Olduvai 8orge #Olduvai 4ominid I%, which was followed in /IJ: by a
fragmentary cranium #Olduvai 4ominid /:% and in /IC1 by a partial pelvis and femur
shaft #Olduvai 4ominid :<%' Olduvai 4ominid I from Apper )ed two is
approximately /': million years old, while Olduvai 4ominids /: and :< from Apper
)ed (L are between CE1,111 and J:1,111 years old' )etween /ICE and /ICD, 2ichard
Leaey and his team uncovered a partial seleton #7*5"+2 /<1<%, two relatively
complete sulls #7*5"+2 ECEE and E<<E%, and other cranial mandibular and limb
bones at the site of 7oobi $ora on the eastern shore of Lae Turana, northern 7enya'
7*5"+2 ECEE and /<1< are among the oldest of this material, dating to between
about /'< and /'C million years ago'
(n /I<0 Leaey and his team recovered a nearly complete seleton of a Homo erectus
youth #7*5"WT /D111% from the site of *ariootome on the western shore of Lae
Turana' This specimen is about /'J million years old' )ased on its dentition and
stage of seletal growth, it would have been under /D years old at death, and more
probably between about // and /E years old' (ts inferred stature at death would have
been about D feet, E inches #/J1 cm% and it would have been about J feet #/<D cm% tall
if it had lived to adulthood' Buvenile and adult body mass estimates suggest that it
would have had the lean body form characteristic of modern humans living in the hot
and dry east African savannas'
Homo erectus fossils have also been recogni&ed from other sites in both northern and
sub"!aharan Africa' $rom the site of Ternifine, Algeria, in northern Africa, there are
three mandibles and a sull fragment #originally called Atlanthropus mauritanicus%
which probably date between about CE1,111 and J11,111 years' There are also
mandibular fragments from !idi Abderrahman, 5orocco, and a mandible and cranial
fragments from Thomas >uarries, 5orocco, which are more recent, at about D11,111
years' $rom sub"!aharan Africa there is a cranial fragment from 8omborM (( #5ela
7unturM%, +thiopia, dating between /'E and 1'CD million years' There are also a
parietal fragment and temporal fragments from Omo, !hungura $ormation member 7,
+thiopia #/'EK/'0 million years ago%9 teeth and a femoral fragment from Lainyamo,
7enya #C11,111KDJ1,111 years%9 and various bones from !wartrans, !outh Africa
#/'1K1'C million years ago%' (t is perhaps significant that Homo erectus gives way to
more advanced archaic Homo sapiens at least :D1,111 years earlier in Africa than in
the $ar +ast'Homo erectus in Europe
There is no direct fossil evidence that Homo erectus ever occupied +urope' The
earliest specimen that has affinity with Homo erectus is the mandible from Hmanisi in
8eorgia that was found in /II/' The Hmanisi mandible is at least I11,111 years old
and could be as old as /'J million years' )ut its location in 8eorgia, at the far eastern
periphery of +urope, says nothing about human occupation in more western areas'
The earliest fossil hominids from +urope date to C<1,111 years ago and are from the
8ran Holina site at Atapuerca, !pain' There are also archaeological sites,
unfortunately without fossil hominids, at Le Lallonet 6ave and !oleihac in $rance and
at (sernia La Pineta in (taly, and 7Trlich in 8ermany that may document human
occupation in +urope at the beginning of the 5iddle Pleistocene and possibly much
earlier' These sites are controversial in themselves, and there is no way of nowing
whether the maers of the stone tools recovered from these sites were Homo erectus
or another species of hominid'
!lightly more recent in time are a fragmentary tibia from )oxgrove, +ngland, and a
mandible from 5auer, 8ermany' )oth of these date to approximately D11,111 years'
The tibia is a massive bone from a relatively tall individual with an estimated body
mass of about /CJ pounds #<1 g%, but is undiagnostic as to species' The 5auer
mandible is also large and has affinities both with Homo erectus and with archaic
Homo sapiens' The remaining +uropean fossils from the 5iddle Pleistocene Period
come from sites that include Petralona in 8reece, Arago in $rance, LMrtess&NllNs in
4ungary, !il*ingsleben and !teinheim in 8ermany, !wanscombe in +ngland, and
!ima de los 4uesos, Atapuerca, in !pain' All of these sites are more recent in time
than 5auer or )oxgrove, dating between about 011,111 and :11,111 years ago'
Although some of the more fragmentary finds, such as the occipital bone from
LMrtess&NllNs and a frontal bone from )il&ingsleben, have been claimed to be Homo
erectus in the past, this interpretation now seems unliely' There are over C11
specimens belonging to at least :0 individuals that are currently nown from !ierra de
Atapuerca' These fossils show a mixture of features, some of which are found in
Homo erectus and others in the more recent +uropean Neanderthals' The degree of
intrapopulation variation observed in these specimens suggests that the features found
in the more fragmentary +uropean 5iddle Pleistocene material can all be accounted
for in one contemporaneous population that is more advanced than Homo erectus but
still retains some Homo erectus features'The Origin of Homo erectus
The earliest dates for Homo erectus are /'< million years ago for the material from
7oobi $ora, 7enya, and 5odjoerto, Bava' There is a rich hominid fossil record in
Africa that currently extends bac to 0'0 million years #Ardipithecus ramidus%, but
there are no nown earlier hominids in the $ar +ast' )ecause of this, it is most
probable that Homo erectus evolved in Africa and migrated from there to the $ar +ast'
(f the /'< million years date for the infant;s sull from 5odjoerto proves to be
correct, Homo erectus would have had to have departed Africa shortly after its first
appearance' At present, its most liely precursor in Africa is Homo habilis, a hominid
with a brain si&e of about E1'D cubic inches #D11 cc% and an australopithecine"lie
seleton with relatively short legs in relation to arms and inferred body weight' )ut
certain features of its sull, such as the form of its occipital region and of its brow
ridges, foreshadow Homo erectus'
(f Homo erectus did leave Africa sometime before /'< million years ago, this would
explain one of the mysteries surrounding the distribution of the Acheulian, or hand"
axe, tool tradition' This tool tradition is associated with Homo erectus in Africa and is
also found throughout +urope and as far east as (ndia, but it is not found further to the
east in Asia' The Acheulian does not appear until /'0 million years ago in Africa' (f
Homo erectus left Africa sometime prior to /'< million years ago, it would have been
before the appearance of this distinctive tool tradition'
The fact that the Acheulian tradition never spread to the $ar +ast might have one of
two explanations' (t is possible that once the hominids reached the $ar +ast, there was
minimal communication with other hominid populations in the more western areas'
Alternatively, it is also possible that tools e3uivalent to the distinctive Acheulian hand
axe were made of other materials in the +ast, such as bamboo'4uestions about
Homo erectus
There has been considerable debate in recent years over whether or not the African
fossils should be included in the taxon Homo erectus or whether this taxon should be
used to refer only to the fossil material from eastern Asia' )ernard Wood has recently
suggested that the oldest African Homo erectus fossils from 7oobi $ora and
*ariootome, 7enya, should be included in the taxon Homo ergaster and not Homo
erectus' 4e argues that although these fossils have reached the Homo erectus grade of
evolution, they are very primitive in relation to the Asia Homo erectus fossils' The
African fossils lac the very thic bone throughout the seleton that characteri&es the
Asian forms, and they also lac certain details of the sull, such as thic brow ridges
or an angular torus, that have been considered diagnostic of Homo erectus' Other
palaeoanthropologists, such as 6hris !tringer and Peter Andrews, have also argued
that there are such fundamental distinctions between Asian and African Homo erectus
fossils that none of the African forms should be classified as Homo erectus' 2ather,
they suggest that the African forms be called archaic Homo sapiens' This is a minority
opinion, however, and many palaeoanthropologists follow Philip 2ightmire in
suggesting that the type of variation in cranial form that exists between Asian and
African fossils would be expected in such a species as Homo erectus, a species with a
large temporal and geographical distribution'F!ee also Africa: Prehistor" of Africa9
Australopithecus and %omo %abilis9 'hina: Stone Age 'ultures of 'hina9
Europe( the )irst 'oloni*ation Of9 %uman Evolution: )ossil Evidence )or
%uman Evolution9 %umans( odern: Peopling of the Globe9 Paleolithic: Lower
and iddle Paleolithic9 Pleistocene'G
!ibliograph"
2ichard 8' 7lein, The Human Career Human Biological and Cultural $rigins
#/I<I%'
8' Philip 2ightmire, Homo #rectus Comparative Anatomical %tudies o" an #/tinct
Human %pecies #/II1%'
8' Philip 2ightmire, Homo erectus. Ancestor or +volutionary !ide )ranchR
+volutionary Anthropology / #/II:%. pp'0EK0I'
L' Tianyuan and H' A' +tler, *ew 5iddle Pleistocene 4ominid 6rania from @unxian
in 6hina , *ature EDC #/II:%. pp'010K01C'
)' A' Wood, Origin and +volution of the 8enus Homo , *ature EDD #/II:%. pp'C<EK
CI1'
5' )' 2oberts, 6' )' !tringer, and !' A' Parfitt, A 4ominid Tibia from 5iddle
Pleistocene !ediments at )oxgrove, A7 , *ature EJI #/II0%. pp'E//KE/E'
6' 6' !wisher, 8' 4' 6urtis, T' Bacob, A' 8' 8etty, and A' !uprijo, Age of the +arliest
7nown 4ominids in Bava, (ndonesia , !cience :JE #/II0%. pp'///<K//:/'
Neanderthals The *eanderthals of the northwestern Old World are the best"nown
Archaic human group from the Pleistocene' They are represented by the remains of
hundreds of individuals and several do&en partial associated seletons from the last
interglacial #ca' /11,111 )'P'% to the middle of the last glacial #ca' E1,111 )'P'%' They
immediately preceded, or may have coexisted with, early modern humans across their
range' As a result, they provide us with a glimpse into both the biology and the
behavior of Late Archaic humans and the evolutionary processes associated with the
emergence of modern humans'
$ossil human remains referable to the *eanderthals are currently nown from across
+urope and western Asia from 8ibraltar, southern (taly, and (srael in the south to
)elgium and the 6rimea in the north, and from the Atlantic littoral in the west to
A&beistan in the east' They appear to have occupied most of the eco&ones across this
region, with the exception of deserts in the southeast and periglacial tundra to the
north'
(t is difficult to specify the age of the ,oldest- *eanderthals, since they evolved
gradually out of their predecessors across their geographical range' Their origin was
therefore one of subtle shifts in the fre3uencies of traits we recogni&e as
,*eanderthal,- most of which appeared during the later 5iddle Pleistocene #U
/E1,111 )'P'%' (t was only toward the end of the last interglacial, between
approximately /11,111 and CD,111 )'P', that these features reached sufficient
fre3uency and coalesced into the anatomical pattern of the *eanderthals' Their
disappearances were more rapid, occurring between roughly D1,111 )'P' in the *ear
+ast and E1,111 )'P' in Atlantic +urope'
+ven though the term (eanderthal, or (eandertaloid, has been applied generally to
Late Archaic humans, the term is now restricted to the populations of Late Archaic
humans from this geographical region of the northwestern Old World' Their Late
Archaic relatives in Africa, eastern Asia, and Australasia represent a similar grade of
human evolution, but they differ from the *eanderthals in the shape of the face,
features of the braincase, and #apparently% bodily proportions'
Neanderthal Ph"logenetic Status
6onsiderable attention continues to be devoted to sorting out the phylogenetic origins
of early modern humans and the role of the *eanderthals in modern human ancestry'
(ndeed, the discussion has become inappropriately polari&ed into extreme
,2eplacement- versus ,2egional 6ontinuity- scenarios' (n the former, the
*eanderthals would have had little or no role in modern human ancestry, whereas in
the latter most of them would have contributed to later human gene pools' $rom
current paleontological data indicating the degree of anatomical change between
various regional late archaic and early modern human groups and the time frame
available for the changes, combined with the geographical patterns of variation of
early and recent humans, a most probable scenario has emerged' (t appears that early
modern humans #robust versions of modern humanity% emerged from local late
archaic humans somewhere outside of the *eanderthal range, possibly in sub"!aharan
Africa' Those early modern humans then spread geographically, mating with,
absorbing, and occasionally displacing local populations of late archaic humans lie
the *eanderthals' (t is possible that, in areas such as the Levant and western +urope,
the local *eanderthals died out largely without issue' (n other regions, such as central
+urope, they appear to have contributed significantly to the ancestry of early modern
humans' !uch a complex scenario would explain both the relatively rapid spread of
early modern human anatomy across this range #within /DK:1,111 years%, as well as
the current patterns of regional #,racial-% features that are nown to tae long periods
of geological time to become established' (n other words, not all *eanderthal
populations were ancestral to early modern humans across the northwestern Old
World, but most modern people from that region have *eanderthals among their
ancestors'
Neanderthal !iolog" and !ehavior
The behavior and biology of the *eanderthals can be inferred from their fossil
remains, combined with the associated Paleolithic archaeological remains' $or most
of their distribution in time and space, the *eanderthals were associated with a
5iddle Paleolithic #or 5ousterian% technology and related archaeological materials'
The most recent *eanderthals in western +urope, however, are found with early
Apper Paleolithic #6hVtelperronian% tools, and in the *ear +ast the earliest modern
humans were also associated with 5iddle Paleolithic technology' As a result, the
comments here are based on current nowledge of their biology and its behavioral
implications, combined mostly with our nowledge of the usually associated 5iddle
Paleolithic'
Although the *eanderthals represent in many ways the most recent part of an archaic
Homo lineage, leading from Homo habilis through Homo erectus to groups lie the
*eanderthals, they nonetheless had a number of important similarities to modern
humans' $irst and foremost, the configurations of their truns and limbs, and
especially their hands and feet, indicate that they stood, waled, and manipulated
objects in much the same way that we do' There is indeed nothing in their vertebrae,
joint structures, or feet to indicate anything but a fully upright, striding bipedal gait
among them' And their hand joints, especially of the wrist and thumb, imply ranges of
movement, and hence grip positions, comparable to ours'
(n addition, although we cannot determine the internal structures of their brains, the
si&e and proportions of their endocranial cavities, as well as their vertebral spinal
canals, indicate the full range of cognitive and neuromuscular abilities nown for
recent humans' (ndeed, it is with the *eanderthals that we see the full achievement,
for the first time, of the degree of encephali&ation #brain. body si&e ratio% that
characteri&es modern humans' 8iven the developmental and energetic costs of such a
relatively large brain, they must have been using those brains in such a way as to
mae them selectively advantageous'
2elated to their large brains were the first signs of a more complex social networ'
!ome of the earliest intentional human burials are of *eanderthals, even though most
are little more than a body placed in a shallow grave' This indicates a social need for
formal disposal of the dead' Although extremely rare, personal ornamentation
indicating intentional modification of one;s social persona appears in their sites' And
even though we cannot prove its existence, these reflections of social behavior
strongly imply the presence of human language, even if it was relatively rudimentary'
There is certainly nothing in what can be discerned of their vocal tract anatomy that
would preclude fully modern human language' This is especially liely since what is
most important for language is cognitive associational sills and fine neurological
control of the vocal tract, both of which were apparently present, given their modern"
human level of encephali&ation'
These apparent mental abilities are reflected as well in their 5iddle Paleolithic
technology' Although mechanically less efficient than the composite material tools of
the Apper Paleolithic, 5iddle Paleolithic flint"napping reduction se3uences clearly
illustrate the need for #and hence presence of% complex multistep anticipation and
planning' The *eanderthals were also the first humans to permanently occupy mid"
latitude regions through full glacial cold, indicating their ability to deal with the
stresses of cold and with major seasonal fluctuations in resource availability'
*onetheless, there were a number of biological and behavioral contrasts between
these late archaic humans and their early modern human successors' 5any of these
are evident in the multiple contrasts between the 5iddle and Apper Paleolithic
archaeological records #bearing in mind that the earliest modern humans were
associated with 5iddle Paleolithic tools and that the latest *eanderthals made early
Apper Paleolithic toolits%' There was a technological shift, in which there was a
major increase in standardi&ed stone"tool blan forms #usually prismatic blades%,
which in turn permitted elaboration of tools using composite materials' )one and
antler became standard raw materials for the first time, exploited for their particular
mechanical attributes' All of this contributed to a tool it that was mechanically more
effective than the 5iddle Paleolithic one, with greater leverage, more tas specificity,
hence job effectiveness, and the appearance of effective throwing projectiles #rather
than just thrusting spears%'
There was little change in diet and the range of animals eaten' @et early modern
humans appear to have been able to tae game animals more effectively, with less ris
of personal injury' This is reflected in part in a major drop in the fre3uency of
traumatic injuries to the arms and head, injuries that would occur especially in close"
3uarter hunting with thrusting #rather than throwing% spears' +arly modern humans
also were more effective at competing with large carnivores for space and resources'
These technological and subsistence changes were associated with an explosion of
social"role complexity' Personal ornamentation becomes ubi3uitous' )urials become
more complex, with fre3uent grave goods and some indication of differential social
status' Art, consisting of representational forms and clear symbolic forms, combined
with numerous notations on bone, indicates a major increase in the amount of
information being exchanged socially' This is combined with the exchange of raw and
exotic materials over hundreds of miles #m%, probably between se3uences of
neighboring groups' 6lear differential site si&es combine with this to indicate division
of labor according to season or tas' (t is at this time, with early modern humans, that
the full complement of modern human social and organi&ational patterns appears to
have emerged'
The contrasts reflected in the archaeological record have their parallels in human
biology' The *eanderthals, lie all Archaic members of the genus Homo, were
powerfully built' This is reflected in pronounced muscular marings from their necs
to shoulders and hands, and to hips and nees and feet' Their legs in particular show
great strength and endurance, implying fre3uent and prolonged movement across the
landscape carrying large burdens' Their arms and hands also had greater mechanical
advantages for important muscles, with an emphasis on power' Their teeth, which
were otherwise very similar to those of modern humans, show exceptionally rapid
wear of the front teeth down to their roots by the late thirties or early forties9 they
were accomplishing many holding and stripping tass with their teeth and jaws rather
than with their hands and associated tools' These patterns correspond well with the
dearth of mechanically effective implements in their tool its and the apparent rarity
of organi&ational solutions to exploiting diverse resources in the landscape'
+arly modern human limb bones were still, by standards of living humans,
exceptionally strong' @et they had lost the domination of strength and mechanical
advantage that influenced the seletons of Archaic humans lie the *eanderthals' !till
very active and strong, these early modern humans were nonetheless able to
accomplish many more everyday tass through technology and social organi&ation
than through brute strength and endurance'
These behavioral contrasts are reflected in the different levels of wear and tear on the
bodies of these two groups of humans' Among the *eanderthals, over seventy"five
percent had experienced periods of severe stress during development, and all who had
lived to forty years had the scars of at least one physically traumatic experience'
(ndeed, few of them had lived past the fourth decade of life' Their lifestyle and level
of cultural elaboration clearly had its costs, in terms of stress and life expectancy' )ut
the reason we now so much about them and their stress levels is that they survived
many of their injuries, even severely debilitating ones, sometimes for several decades'
+arly modern humans experienced many of the same forms of stress, but the overall
incidence of lesions was lower and life expectancy appears to have increased
maredly'
The *eanderthals therefore represent one regional group of Late Archaic humans'
They carried on the pattern of strength and endurance established early in the genus
Homo, adding to it more sophisticated tools, increased intelligence #and probably
language%, further social cohesion and role definition, and the exploitation of glacial
eco&ones' @et there were a number of social, technological, and organi&ational
changes that allowed the pattern we associate with early modern humans and the
Apper Paleolithic to become the dominant one in a relatively short period of time'
(ndependent of the actual phylogenetic events responsible for the emergence and
spread of early modern humans, their behavioral system and associated biological
changes clearly contained a definite, if subtle, advantage over that of late archaic
humans such as the *eanderthals'F!ee also %omo Sapiens( Archaic9 Paleolithic,
articles on Lower and iddle Paleolithic, ,pper Paleolithic'G
!ibliograph"
Paul 5ellars and 6hris !tringer, eds', The Human )evolution #/I<I%'
+ri Trinaus, ed', The #mergence o" Modern Humans #/I<I%'
6hris !tringer and 6live 8amble, 'n %earch o" the (eanderthals #/IIE%'
+ri Trinaus and Pat !hipment, The (eandertals Changing the 'mage o" Man1ind
#/IIE%'
'ro1magnons are, in informal usage, a group among the late (ce Age peoples of
+urope' The 6ro"5agnons are identified with Homo sapiens sapiens of modern form,
in the time range ca' ED,111K/1,111 )'P', roughly corresponding with the period of the
Apper Paleolithic in archaeology' The term ,6ro"5agnon- has no formal taxonomic
status, since it refers neither to a species or subspecies nor to an archaeological phase
or culture' The name is not commonly encountered in modern professional literature
in +nglish, since authors prefer to tal more generally of anatomically modern
humans' They thus avoid a certain ambiguity in the label ,6ro"5agnon,- which is
sometimes used to refer to all early moderns in +urope #as opposed to the preceding
Neanderthals%, and sometimes to refer to a specific human group that can be
distinguished from other Apper Paleolithic humans in the region' *evertheless, the
term ,6ro"5agnon- is still very commonly used in popular texts, because it maes an
obvious distinction with the *eanderthals, and also refers directly to people, rather
than to the complicated succession of archaeological phases that mae up the Apper
Paleolithic' This evident practical value has prevented archaeologists and human
paleontologists=especially in continental +urope=from dispensing entirely with the
idea of 6ro"5agnons'
The 6ro"5agnons tae their name from a roc shelter in the Le&ere Lalley in the
Hordogne, within the famous village of Les +y&ies de Tayac' When the railway was
being constructed in /<J<, parts of five seletons were found sealed in Pleistocene
deposits, along with hearths and Aurignacian artifacts' !ubse3uently similar finds
were made at sites such as 6ombe 6apelle and Laugerie")asse in the Hordogne, and
5entone and 8rimaldi in (taly' Other specimens found earlier, such as Paviland in
)ritain and +ngis in )elgium could be set in the same group, and it became plain that
their physical maeup contrasted sharply with that of *eanderthals discovered in
other sites' !ufficient data to build up this classic picture accumulated over a period,
but it was brought into sharp focus following the find of a classic *eanderthal at La
6hapelle in /I1<' The early interpretations owe much to the $rench scholars
5arcellin )oule and 4enri Lallois' Later research has extended the geographical
distribution of similar humans and has provided an absolute dating scale for them9
however, later research has also raised many 3uestions about the origins of the 6ro"
5agnons and their status as a coherent group'
Ph"sical 'haracteristics and Adaptation
6ro"5agnons were closely similar to modern humans, but more robust in some
features, especially of the cranium' They meet criteria listed by 5ichael Hay and
6hris !tringer for modern humans, such as a short, high cranium and a discontinuous
supra"orbital torus #brow ridge%' 5any individuals were well above present"day
average in stature, often reaching around CD inches #/I1 cm%' Their limbs were long,
especially in the forearms and lower legs, body proportions suggesting to some
anthropologists that their origins lie in warm climes, rather than (ce Age +urope'
!ignificant variability had already been recogni&ed by )oule, who attributed *egroid
characters to some specimens from 8rimaldi #placing them in a separate race%' A
recent study has found that earlier specimens such as those from 6ro"5agnon and
5ladec in the 6&ech 2epublic are outside modern human range, whereas specimens
later than :J,111 )'P' generally fall within it' +manuel Llce regards the 5ladec (
finds as 6ro"5agnons, but sees features related to the *eanderthals in later 5ladec ((
specimens and ascribes later specimens from Holni Lestonice and Predmosti
specimens to a robust ,)rno 8roup'- !uch findings suggest that the original remains
from 6ro"5agnon are too distinctive to serve as a template of identification for a race
all over +urope' (f any overall trend can be piced out, it is toward greater gracility as
time progressed'
'hronolog"
8iven the rarity of human remains, it is easier to date the onset of the Apper
Paleolithic than the first appearance of people resembling the 6ro"5agnons, which is
not necessarily the same event' *evertheless, dates around 01,111 )'P' seem highly
liely' (t is certain that populations of Homo sapiens sapiens became established
throughout +urope in far less than /1,111 years' !ince the /ID1s the chronology of
these Late Pleistocene human populations has been derived principally from
radiocarbon dating' A late *eanderthal found at !t' 6Msaire in western $rance with a
6hVtelperronian #initial Apper Paleolithic% industry is dated to ca' EJ,111 )'P' by
thermoluminescence #TL%, but the Apper Paleolithic Aurignacian appears earlier in
northern !pain at ca' 0:,111KEI,111 )'P', as shown by radiocarbon and uranium series
dating' (t is widely assumed that the Aurignacian is associated with modern #i'e', 6ro"
5agnon"lie% populations, and that the 6hVtelperronian, though associated with
*eanderthals, may have been triggered by the cultural effects of modern human
presence elsewhere in the region #a so"called bow"wave phenomenon%'
Thereafter the 6ro"5agnons were continuously represented in +urope for :1,111
years or more' (t might be convenient to end the 6ro"5agnons with the glacial
maximum of /<,111 )'P', but in $rance their characteristics persist in 5agdalenian
populations through the later part of the glaciation until about /:,111K/1,111 )'P' At
this stage human populations began to become more gracile'
Geographical -istribution
4uman remains are extremely scarce in relation to the number of archaeological sites'
The earliest Apper Paleolithic in $rance is almost devoid of seletal remains9 finds
such as 6ro"5agnon, Abri Pataud, and 6ombe 6apelle are probably several thousand
years later' These are a minimal sampling of a distribution that archaeological traces
strongly suggest was much wider' Thus there are no early remains of 6ro"5agnons
from !pain, 8reece, or Turey, but populations were probably present' To the north,
Apper Paleolithic human remains have been found in )ritain, represented by Paviland
and 7ent;s 6avern, and in 8ermany, by 4ahnNfersand' $arther east, burials are well
represented in the Apper Paleolithic records of the 6&ech 2epublic, and in 2ussia at
7osteni and !unghir' (n the south numbers of finds are nown from (taly'
'ultural Associations
5ost of the Apper Paleolithic humans are found in deliberate burials, often single but
sometimes in groups, and fre3uently associated with grave goods, such as neclaces
of pierced teeth' !uch finds are nown from a se3uence of archaeological phases
beginning with the Aurignacian #e'g', 6ombe 6apelle or 5ladec%, but the succeeding
8ravettian #ca' :I,111K:1,111 )'P'% is richer in burials #e'g', those of Holni Lestonice
in the 6&ech 2epublic%' (t has yielded fewer specimens in western +urope' (n
southwestern +urope the !olutrean phase is associated with similar populations' They
are found again in the 5agdalenian or +pi"8ravettian' )y this time preserved human
remains are much more numerous, and they are nown from most parts of +urope'
8rave goods sometimes attest to highly developed artistic abilities' The 6ro"5agnons
were responsible for much art, but rarely figured in their own wor'
2elationship with the Neanderthals and Other %ominids
2ecent wor has shown that early modern humans #sometimes called Proto"6ro"
5agnons% first appeared at least /11,111 )'P' They are documented in Africa, but
most specifically on the cave sites of !hul and >af&eh in (srael in the period
/11,111KI1,111 )'P' The 6ro"5agnon specimens of +urope must be derived
ultimately from one of these ancestral populations, but the available finds show no
continuity' (ndeed, by J1,111 )'P' *eanderthals featured in the 5iddle +ast, and the
Proto"6ro"5agnons may have been displaced to the south' (t seems liely that they
returned somewhere around D1,111 )'P' and flowed into +urope, although there is no
documentation in the 5iddle +ast other than a burial at 7sar Ail in Lebanon' There
is also no close similarity, according to most authors, between the Proto"6ro"5agnons
and the 6ro"5agnons' The simplicity of these hypotheses is belied by the complexity
of the scarce data that we do have' Bust as the !t' 6Msaire find in $rance documented a
late *eanderthal and placed constraints on our ideas about the distribution of the early
6ro"5agnons, so one new early 6ro"5agnon discovery could dramatically alter our
view of their origins'F!ee also %umans( odern, articles on Origins of odern
%umans, Peopling the Globe'G
!ibliograph"
5arcellin )oule and 4enri Lallois, +ossil Men #/IDC%'
Paul 5ellars and 6hris !tringer, eds', The Human )evolution #/I<I%'
Paul 5ellars, ed', The #mergence o" Modern Humans #/II1%'
Alan )ilsborough, Human #volution #/II:%'
8unter )rauer and $red 4' !mith, eds', Continuit! or )eplacement Controversies in
Homo sapiens #volution #/II:%'
5artin B' Aiten, 6hristopher )' !tringer, and Paul A' 5ellars, eds', The $rigins o"
Modern Humans and the 'mpact o" Chronometric .ating #/IIE%'
Bohn A'B' 8owlett, Ascent to Civilization, 2nd ed. #/IIE%'
6hris !tringer and 6live 8amble, 'n %earch o" the (eanderthals #/IIE%'
Olduvai Gorge is located in northern Tan&ania close to the 8reat 2ift Lalley' (t
was discovered by 2ec in /I/E, although it was the wor of Louis and 5ary Leaey
especially during the /ID1s and /IJ1s that reali&ed its archaeological potential' The
gorge at Olduvai is ca' I miles #/D m% long and EE1 feet #/11 m% deep, presenting a
series of deposits deriving from lae basin sedimentation, which span a period of
almost : million years' Olduvai provides the most complete se3uence of Pleistocene
materials in Africa and was responsible, through intensive dating studies, for the
establishment of an African origin for humanind' The deposits at Olduvai represent a
range of laeside and streamside localities where hominids were living in the shadow
of a volcano' This volcano erupted periodically and provided the materials for dating
the Olduvai se3uence' Olduvai was the first site to be dated using the potassium"argon
techni3ue' Although referred to as a site, it does in fact comprise a large number of
localities, each of which might be termed a site elsewhere' There are over seventy
such localities in )eds ( and (( alone'
The se3uence begins with )ed ( at the base, dated to /'< million years ago' The
archaeological evidence from this bed shows Oldowan tools, made of cobbles and
flaes, were in use, and importantly, at H7 locality a stone"hut structure was present'
This evidence for human alteration of the environment is confirmed at $L7 where the
distribution of tools and bones suggests the presence of a structure such as a
windbrea'
The Oldowan tool"maing tradition was defined on the basis of finds at Olduvai' $our
forms are nown. Oldowan, Heveloped Oldowan A, Heveloped Oldowan ), and
Heveloped Oldowan 6, with some intermediate assemblages reported' The tradition is
based on direct napping of river cobbles to form a variety of relatively
undifferentiated pebble and flae tools' The different variants show an increase in tool
types and their more regular flaing with time' The importance of stone tools can be
gauged by the fact that some materials were occasionally transported from sources
approximately J': miles #/1 m% away' The Oldowan tradition was replaced by
Acheulean industries prior to /'0 million years ago, in upper )ed ((, but was
contemporary with it until ca' 1'< million years ago in )ed ((('
The fossils found at Olduvai have also been important, the first hominid found being
3in4anthropus boisei #later renamed Australopithecus boisei%, discovered by 5ary
Leaey in /IDI in )ed ( at $L7' !ince that discovery representatives of Homo habilis
and Homo erectus have been discovered' The Oldowan is generally associated with
Homo habilis and the Acheulean with Homo erectus'
The Olduvai localities have been reconstructed as showing complex organi&ation of
hominid behavior across the landscape, with home bases being set up along river
edges and lae shores and specialist camps for butchery, tool maing, caches of
materials, etc' being placed elsewhere' This pattern was then used to argue for an
early date for the sexual division of labor, with male provisioning of the home bases'
!ince its excavation and interpretation, debate has arisen as to the reconstructions
made of hominid behavior at Olduvai' (t has been 3uestioned how far the associations
of tools and bones are a product of hominid behavior as opposed to natural processes
such as washing together in flash floods and carnivores accumulating bones from their
ills' The debate still continues as to whether hominids were hunting game or whether
they were scavenging the leftovers from carnivore ills' 6ertainly, the role of meat in
hominid diet and behavior is one factor that needs further wor'
There is little research activity at Olduvai at present and attention has shifted to earlier
sites elsewhere in +ast Africa'F!ee also Acheulean Tradition9 Africa: Prehistor" of
Africa9 %uman Evolution, articles on )ossil Evidence )or %uman Evolution, The
Archaeolog" of %uman Origins9 &oobi )ora'G
!ibliograph"
5' H' Leaey, $lduvai &orge5 #/cavations in Beds ' and ''5 6789:678; #/IC/%'
2' 4' Tuttle, What;s *ew in African Paleoanthropology , Annual 2eview of
Anthropology /C #/I<<%. pp'EI/K0:J'
(ntroduction to +volution
(ntroduction Lictorian biologist 6harles -arwin pointed to Africa as the cradle of
humanind, because the closest primate relatives of humans lived there' A century and
a half of intensive palaeoanthropological research has shown he was right' The
archaeological record of human activity is longer in tropical Africa than anywhere
else in the world, extending bac more than :'D million years' At present, the evidence
for very early human evolution comes from eastern and southern Africa' Tim White
describes the earliest Australopithecines and hominids from +thiopia, 7enya, and
Tan&ania, an area where the increasingly diverse primate fossil record now extends
bac to 0 million years' )ipedalism dates bac far earlier than the first appearance of
stone artifacts and other protohuman culture, which first appear in archaeological sites
lie those at &oobi )ora on the eastern shore of Lae Turana in northern 7enya
about :'D million years ago' These earliest sites are little more than transitory scatters
of crude stone artifacts and fractured animal bones, located in dry stream beds, where
there was shade and water' (n this section, *icholas Toth and 7athy !chic describe
the stone technology behind this earliest of human tool its, reconstructed from
controlled experiments and replications of the first hominid stoneworing' 5uch of
the evidence for very early human behavior comes from the now"classic sites in )ed (
at Olduvai Gorge in northern Tan&ania, excavated by Louis and 5ary Lea$e"'
Hating to just under : million years ago, these small artifact and bone scatters have
been the subject of much controversy, but they are now regarded not as campsites but
as places where early hominids cached meat and ate flesh scavenged from predator
ills' The earliest human lifeway was much more apelie than human, with Homo
habilis, and probably other hominids, relying heavily on both edible plants and
scavenged game meat'
Homo erectus, a more advanced human, seems to have evolved about /'< million
years ago in Africa from earlier hominid stoc' )y that time, too, some Homo erectus
populations were living in !outheast Asia' !o if these archaic humans evolved in
Africa, they must have radiated rapidly out of Africa into other tropical regions' Leslie
Aiello analy&es what we now about Homo erectus from a very setchy fossil record
and shows that these humans evolved slowly toward more modern forms over a
period of more than /'D million years' Africa provides good evidence for animal
butchery and the domestication of fire by Homo erectus, especially by about CD1,111
years ago, with some experts arguing that fire originated on the +ast African savanna'
To what extent Homo erectus relied on big"game hunting as opposed to scavenging
for meat supplies is a matter for controversy' 4owever, more diverse tool its, some
of them surprisingly lightweight, argue for improved hunting sills throughout Africa,
at a time when humans were adapting to all manner of moist and arid tropical
environments'
5ost authorities also believe that anatomically modern humans evolved in Africa
from a great diversity of archaic Homo sapiens forms, which in turn evolved from
much earlier human populations' As 8unter )raWer points out, two main hypotheses
pit those who believe Africa was the homeland of modern humans against those who
argue for the evolution of Homo sapiens sapiens in Africa, Asia, and other regions
more or less simultaneously' The evidence for an African origin is in large part
derived from mitochondrial H*A, but the fossil record from &lasies 2iver 'ave,
Omo, and other locations provides at least some evidence for anatomically modern
humans as early, if not earlier, than in the *ear +ast' According to the out"of"Africa
hypothesis, modern humans evolved south of the !ahara, then radiated northward
across the desert at a time when it was moister than today, appearing in the *ear +ast
at least /11,111 years ago' )ut, while the case for an African origin for modern
humans is compelling, the actual scientific evidence to support it is still inade3uate'
Huring the last glaciation, the !ahara was extremely dry, effectively isolating the
African tropics from the 5editerranean' Hespite this isolation, Africans developed
sophisticated foraging cultures, adapted not only to grassland and woodland savanna
but to dense rain forest and semiarid and desert conditions' We now little of these
adaptations, except from increasingly speciali&ed tool its, many of them based on
small stone flaes and blades' The ultimate roots of the !tone Age foraging cultures of
relatively recent millennia and centuries lie in the many late !tone Age groups that
flourished throughout tropical Africa for more than /1,111 years, as societies in the
*ear +ast, +urope, and Asia were experimenting with agriculture and animal
domestication' !ome of these Late !tone Age groups, especially the ancestors of the
modern"day !an of southern Africa, are celebrated for their lively cave paintings and
engravings, which, as Havid Lewis"Williams tells us, have deep symbolic meaning'
As !teven )randt and Andrew !mith recount, farming and animal domestication came
to tropical Africa very late in prehistoric times' 6ereal agriculture may have been
introduced into the *ile Lalley by J111 )'6', or crops may have been domesticated
there indigenously, but the 3uestion is still unresolved' At the time, the !ahara Hesert
was still moister than today, supporting scattered groups of cattle herders by D111 )'6'
While ancient +gyptian civili&ation was based on the annual floods of the *ile 2iver,
the !aharans had no such dependable water supplies' As the desert dried up after 0111
)'6', they moved to the margins of the desert, into the *ile Lalley, and onto the West
African !ahel, where both cattle herding and the cultivation of summer rainfall crops
were well established by :111 )'6' About this time, some pastoralist groups also
penetrated on the +ast African highlands' )ut the spread of agriculture and herding
into tropical regions was inhibited by widespread tsetse fly belts and, perhaps, by the
lac of tough"edged axes for forest clearance' (t was not until after /111 )'6' that the
new economies spread from northwest of the ?aire forest and from the southern
!ahara into eastern, central, and southern Africa' These lifeway changes may have
connected with the introduction of ironworing technology, which was well
established in West Africa in the first millennium )'6', having been introduced from
either *orth Africa or the *ile along desert trade routes' Once ironworing spread,
especially through the ?aire forest, agriculture spread rapidly' )y A'H' D11, mixed
farming cultures were well established throughout tropical Africa, except in areas lie
the 7alahari Hesert, where any form of farming or herding was marginal' The rapid
spread of farming may have also coincided, in general terms, with the spread of )antu
languages throughout tropical Africa from somewhere northwest of the ?aire forest'
With the spread of food production throughout tropical Africa, many general patterns
of architecture9 metal, wood, and clay technology9 and subsistence were established
south of the !ahara' These simple farming cultures achieved great elaboration during
the ensuing two millennia, largely as a result of African responses to economic and
political opportunities outside the continent'
Ancient +gyptian civili&ation was one of the earliest and most long"lived of all
preindustrial civili&ations' The *ile Lalley from the 5editerranean !ea to the $irst
6ataract at Aswan was unified under the pharaoh *armer about E/11 )'6', in a state
that had entirely indigenous roots, even if some innovations, lie writing, may have
arrived in +gypt from elsewhere in the *ear +ast' There is no evidence that ancient
+gypt was a blac African civili&ation, as some scholars have claimed, even if there
was constant interaction between the land of the pharaohs and *ubia, upstream of the
$irst 6ataract, for more than E,111 years' The Old 7ingdom pharaohs explored
*ubian lands for their exotic raw materials' When the +gyptian state passed through a
period of political weaness, *ubian leaders assumed greater control and power over
the vital trade routes that passed through the Land of 7ush' 5iddle and *ew
7ingdom pharaohs con3uered, garrisoned, then coloni&ed 7ush, which survived as a
powerful ingdom in its own right after /111 )'6', reaching the height of its power
when *ubian ings briefly ruled over +gypt in the seventh century )'6' After being
driven from +gypt and chivied as far as their *apatan homeland, the *ubian ings
withdrew far upstream to eroe, where they founded an important ingdom at the
crossroads between !aharan, 2ed !ea, and *ile trade routes' 5eroe became an
important trade center, especially with the domestication of the 'amel in the late first
millennium )'6', also a major center for ironworing, going into decline only in the
fifth century )'6', when it was overthrown by the ings of the rival ingdom Asum
in the +thiopian highlands' Lie 5eroe, Asum prospered off the 2ed !ea trade,
emerging into prominence with the 5editerranean and (ndia' (t reached the height of
its power in the eleventh century )'6', after 6hristianity reached +thiopia'
Two developments had a profound effect on the course of tropical African history' The
first was the domestication of the camel, which opened up the trade routes of the
!ahara Hesert' The second was the discovery by 8ree navigators about the time of
Besus of the 5onsoon winds of the (ndian Ocean' These two developments brought
Africa into the orbit of much larger, and rapidly developing, global economic systems,
which were to lin 6hina, !outheast Asia, Africa, and the 5editerranean and
+uropean worlds into a giant web of interconnectedness'
6amels were not used for !aharan travel in the 2oman colonies in *orth Africa,
although they may have penetrated south of the desert on several occasions' The
!aharan camel trade in gold, salt, and other commodities developed in the first
millennium A'H', especially after the spread of (slam into *orth Africa' (ndigenous
West African ingdoms developed in the !aharan !ahel, at the southern extremities of
the caravan routes, as local leaders exercised close control over the mining and
bartering of gold and other tropical products' )y A'H' /111, (slam was widespread in
the !ahel, and the !ahara, the West African savanna, and the forests to the south were
lined by close economic ties' 8hana, 5ali, and !onghai in turn dominated the
southern end of the !aharan trade between I11 and /D11, during centuries when most
of +urope;s gold came from West Africa' !mall ingdoms also developed in the West
African forest, as the institution of ingship assumed great importance, associated as
it was with long"distance trade, important ancestor cults, and indigenous terra"cotta
and bron&e sculpture and art traditions that flourished long after +uropean contact in
the late fifteenth century'
The monsoon winds lined not only the 2ed !ea and Arabia with (ndia, but the Land
of ?anj, on the +ast African coast, as well' Huring the first millennium, Arabian
merchants visited the villages and towns of the coast regularly, trading gold, ivory, hut
poles, and other products for textiles, porcelain, glass vessels, glass beads, and other
exotic products' )y //11, a series of small ports and towns dotted the coast from
present"day !omalia to 7ilwa in the south' This was a cosmopolitan African
civili&ation, with strong indigenous roots and close ties to Arabia' (ts merchants
obtained gold, ivory, and other interior products from ingdoms far from the coast,
notably from the !hona chiefdoms between the Limpopo and ?ambe&i 2ivers in
southern Africa' Archaeological evidence shows how a series of powerful cattle
ingdoms developed in this highland region, ingdoms that prospered from their
connections with long"distance trade routes that lined them with the port of !ofala
on the 5o&ambi3ue coast' Huring the fifteenth century, Great #imbabwe, the seat of
the 5utapa Hynasty, was at the height of its importance' ?imbabwe;s imposing stone
ruins are among Africa;s most important archaeological sites, for the settlement was
abandoned just before +uropeans landed at the 6ape of 8ood 4ope'
African ingdoms developed out of indigenous roots, especially in areas where local
leaders could control important resources such as gra&ing grass, salt sources, and
copper or gold mines' A series of such chiefdoms flourished south of the ?aire forest
in the 7isale region at the end of the first millennium' 2ichly adorned graves testify to
the great economic power and far"flung trading contacts in the region' 6ultural
influences from these ingdoms spread far and wide over central and southern Africa
before the fifteenth century'
A seminal event in African history came with the Portuguese capture of the important
(slamic trading city of 6euta in 5orocco in /0/D' (n the /0E1s and /001s, Prince
4enry the *avigator of Portugal sent ships on long journeys of exploration down the
West African coast, trying to outflan the (slam"controlled !aharan gold routes' )y
/0<1, the Portuguese were well established along the West African coast, while Lasco
da 8ama rounded the 6ape of 8ood 4ope, explored the +ast African towns, and
crossed the (ndian Ocean to 8oa, opening up a southern route for the spice trade'
+uropean contact with Africa brought new economic opportunities for Africans, who
too full advantage of them' These opportunities were manifested in the Atlantic slave
trade, which began early in the Portuguese exploration of African coasts and reached a
crescendo in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries' 6hristopher He6orse
summari&es the emerging field of historical archaeology, which is documenting not
only the +uropean presence in Africa but some of the cultural interactions resulting
from the slave trade and other developments'F!ee also Afar9 Africa( Origins of )ood
Production 0n9 Anti/uit" of %uman$ind: Anti/uit" of %uman$ind 0n the Old
5orld9 Australopithecus and %omo %abilis9 East Africa9 Eg"pt and Africa9
%olocene: %olocene Environments 0n Africa9 %uman Evolution, articles on
0ntroduction, )ossil Evidence )or %uman Evolution, The Archaeolog" of %uman
Origins9 %umans( odern: Origins of odern %umans9 %unter1gatherers(
African9 Nubia9 Pastoralists( African9 2oc$ Art: 2oc$ Art of Southern Africa9
Trade: African9 5est African )orest &ingdoms9 5est African Savanna
&ingdoms9 5est African Sculpture'G
)rian 5' $agan
Primate Ancestors of %umans 4uman beings belong in the superfamily
4ominoidea, and hominoid origins are generally considered to have been about E1
million years ago in Africa' $ossil apes are nown in some abundance from shortly
after this time until the time of human origins about D million years ago' The earliest
putative human ancestor is Australopithecus ramidus, from 0'D"million"year"old
deposits at Aramis, +thiopia' $ollowing is an account of the fossil apes that predate
this find and may have some bearing on human origins'
The earliest"nown fossil apes are nown from eastern Africa, spanning a period from
:0 to /0 million years ago' This is the family Proconsulidae, and the first specimens
of Proconsul were found by Arthur Tyndall 4opwood of the *atural 4istory 5useum,
London, in /IEE' 4e found just nine fossils from /I"million"year"old deposits at
7oru, 7enya, but subse3uently Louis Lea$e", the well"nown anthropologist from
7enya, found many hundreds of Proconsul specimens from sites such as 2usinga
(sland and !onghor, in western 7enya' 4e described these in collaboration with
Wilfred Le 8ros 6lar of Oxford Aniversity' Leaey recogni&ed the distinctiveness of
these fossils, erecting the family Proconsulidae, but Havid Pilbeam, woring twenty
years later at @ale Aniversity, attempted to group the different Proconsul species into
lineages leading to living apes' This conclusion was discarded soon afterward, with
the description of additional material from 7enya by Peter Andrews, when he put
forward the now generally accepted view that the seven or eight species from the
early 5iocene deposits of 7enya belong to Leaey;s family, Proconsulidae' These
species lac most hominoid characters, but details of the morphology of the elbow
region and the probable lac of a tail indicate that they were primitive apes' The
earliest fossils that can be assigned to the family have been found recently by 5eave
Leaey at Lothido in northern 7enya in deposits dated to about :0K:D million years
ago, and the latest comes from $ort Ternan, also in 7enya, at about /0 million years
ago'
!lightly later in the early 5iocene at +ast Africa, the recently described A"ropithecus
tur1anensis comes from the site of 7alodirr in northern 7enya' (t was found by
2ichard and 5eave Leaey, and it differs from Proconsul by sharing more advanced
hominoid characters with later apes' (n particular, it had massive canines and
premolars, and it had a more robustly built and longer face than was present in the
earlier fossils' The closely related Heliopithecus lea1e!i from Ad Habtiyah, !audi
Arabia, shares many of the same characters' A small collection was made from this
site by 2oger 4amilton and Peter Whybrow of the *atural 4istory 5useum, London,
and additional material is needed to fill in the gap between proconsulids and later
fossil hominoids'
Another fossil ape very similar to the afropithecines is the genus <en!apithecus, an
enigmatic and poorly nown group of fossils from 5iddle 5iocene deposits on
5aboo (sland and $ort Ternan in southern 7enya and *achola in northern 7enya'
5any of these specimens were again found by Louis Leaey, with additional material
coming from excavations at *achola and 5aboo, and all are dated at between /D and
/0 million years ago' (nterpretations range from grouping them all in the same species
to putting them into different tribal groupings, but it is becoming accepted that they
are distinct, either at the generic level or at a still higher taxonomic level'
At this stage of the 5iddle 5iocene, the earliest hominoids outside Africa are
encountered in Turey, at the site of Pasalar, which is dated to about /D million years
ago' The huge collection of fossil hominoids from this site #well in excess of one
thousand specimens% have been collected by myself and )erna Alpagut, of the
Aniversity of Anara, and we conclude that the species &riphopithecus alpani is very
similar to <en!apithecus from $ort Ternan and that the two genera should be grouped
taxonomically' After this period, fossil apes become abundant in +urope and Asia and
extremely rare in Africa, although the reasons for this are not nown' $or instance, the
later fossil record in Africa can be summari&ed as follows. a single tooth from /:"
million"year"old deposits at *gorora9 another single tooth from Lueino, dated at
about < million years ago9 and an upper jaw from !amburu 4ills, not yet named but
clearly a new genus and species probably related to the gorilla' The age of the
!amburu 4ills deposits is between < and 0 million years ago'
One of the most common groups of fossil ape in +urasia, from about /: to C million
years ago, is the lineage leading to the orang utan' Abundant fossils of %ivapithecus
have been found by many field worers from Turey in the west to 6hina in the east,
with the most notable collection being made by Havid Pilbeam and his colleagues,
who have made large collections ranging from over /: to about C million years ago in
sediments on the Potwar Plateau in Paistan' A nearly complete face complements a
partial face from similar"aged deposits in Turey, showing many similarities shared
by %ivapithecus and the orang utan, so this lineage appears to have arisen some time
before /: million years ago' This branching point is fre3uently used today in
calibrating molecular clocs, as is also the divergence date for the whole hominoid
group from E1 million years ago' 5any other fossils from +urope and Asia are now
also put into the orang utan lineage, notably the large collection of sulls, mandibles,
and teeth from Lufeng in southwestern 6hina, Lu"engpithecus'
Two other groups have also been grouped with the orangutan by some archaeologists'
The species .r!opithecus "ontani was the first fossil ape ever described, in the
publication of the first specimens, which preceded Harwin;s $rigin o" %pecies by
more than twenty years' The earliest finds came from /:"million"year"old deposits in
$rance, but more recently better collections have been made in !pain by 5iguel
6rusafont and in 4ungary by 5ilos 7ret&oi' The main !panish site, 6an Llobateres,
is between /1 and I million years old, and it has more recently been excavated by
!alvador 5oya"!ola and 5eie 7ohler from the 6rusafont Palaeontological (nstitute
in !abadell' They have found a sull and parts of the seleton of a single individual of
.r!opithecus that they claim shares characteristics with the orang utan, leading them
to group the fossil ape with %ivapithecus in the orang utan lineage' This view is hotly
contested by Havid )egun and Las&lo 7ordos, who together are woring on the new
collections from 2udabanya, the 4ungarian site' This is the same age as the !panish
sites, and the species of .r!opithecus found there has many similarities to the !panish
species, although clearly they are not the same species' A sull has also been found
recently at 2udabanya, and )egun and 7ordos conclude that the morphology of this
shows that .r!opithecus is first of all a member of the great ape and human clade,
and secondly that it may have some affinities with the African apes as opposed to the
orang utan' (n both cases, there are morphological similarities justifying these
opposing claims, and it is not clear at present which of these are based on homologous
similarities and which are not' 5ore detailed analysis of character polarity is
necessary to resolve this conflict'
The last fossil to be considered is in some ways the most controversial of all' This is a
collection from 8reece, again from similar"aged deposits to 2udabanya and 6an
Llobateres, and the fossils have been named .uranopithecus macedoniensis by Louis
de )onis of the Aniversity of Poitiers in $rance' They are similar to the prior"named
&raecopithecus "re!bergi described by the late 2alph von 7oenigswald, and there is
some disagreement as to which name is correct' A sull has recently been described in
addition to the abundant jaws and teeth, and this shows characters of the nasoalveolar
region and the hafting of the face on the sull that are found in living forms only in
the African apes and humans' The orang utan is distinct in these characters, so de
)onis;s conclusion is that .uranopithecus is part of the African ape and human
lineage' 4e actually goes further and claims that it is directly ancestral to humans on
the basis of reduction in si&e of the canine, but this conclusion is not justified by the
slender evidence' (n particular, it contrasts with the recently discovered
Australopithecus ramidus in characters such as enamel thicness and relative canine
si&e'F!ee also Australopithecus and %omo %abilis9 Genetics 0n Archaeolog"'G
!ibliograph"
$rederic !&alay and +ric Helson, #volutionar! Histor! o" the Primates #/ICI%'
2ussell 6iochon and 2obert 6orruccini, eds', (ew 'nterpretations o" Ape and Human
Ancestr! #/I<E%'
)ernard Wood, Lawrence 5artin, and Peter Andrews, Ma4or Topics in Primate and
Human #volution #/I<J%'
Bohn $leagle, Primate Adaptation and #volution #/I<<%'
(an Tattersall, +ric Helson, and Bohn van 6ouvering, #nc!clopaedia o" Human
#volution and Prehistor! #/I<<%'
Peter Andrews and 6hristopher !tringer, Human #volution5 an 'llustrated &uide
#/I<I%'
)ossil Evidence )or %uman Evolution
Although fossil evidence is our main source of information documenting the course of
human evolution, it is not the only relevant evidence' This is particularly true in
determining the anti3uity of the human line' Analysis of H*A similarities and
differences between humans and living apes suggest that humans separated from our
closest living relatives, the African apes, sometime prior to about J million years ago'
The earliest fossils that have been assigned to the human line are two small fragments
of mandible dating shortly after this time from the sites of Lothagam #approximately
D'D million years ago% and Tabarin #approximately D'1 million years% in 7enya' The
relationship of these fossils to the newly defined basal hominid Ardipithecus ramidus
from Aramis, +thiopia #approximately 0'0 million years ago% is as yet unclear' After
0'D million years, fossils become more numerous and can be divided into two major
groups, the australopithecines and early members of the genus Homo'
Australopithecines
The first australopithecine was discovered at the site of Taung in !outh Africa in /I:0
and was named Australopithecus a"ricanus by 2aymond QHart' !ubse3uently, many
other australopithecine fossils have been found at other sites in southern and eastern
Africa' The genus Australopithecus lasts for over 0 million years' There are currently
six species recogni&ed in the genus. A. anamensis5 A. a"arensis5 A. a"ricanus5 A.
aethiopicus5 A. boisei, and A. robustus' The first three of these species are sometimes
referred to as gracile australopithecines and the last three as robust australopithecines'
!ome researchers emphasi&e the difference between these two groups by putting the
robust australopithecines in their own genus, Paranthropus'
The oldest australopithecine taxon, Australopithecus anamensis, was established by
5eave Leaey and her coworers in /IID for fossils from the Lae Turana region of
7enya' This taxon is approximately 0': to E'I million years old and differs from the
earlier Ardipithecus ramidus in many details of its anatomy, including the thic
enamel on its teeth' (ts teeth are similar in some features to those of earlier
representatives of the slightly later australopithecine species, A a"arensis, but its
postcrania appears to be more modern in form'
A. a"arensis, was established by Hon Bohanson in /IC< and now includes fossils from
4adar, the 5iddle Awash, and Omo in +thiopia, Laetoli in Tan&ania, and &oobi )ora
in 7enya' A. a"arensis spanned a period of almost a million years, from E'I to E'1
million years ago, and occupied a variety of habitats, from relatively forested to open
country' The most well"nown A. a"arensis fossil is a partial seleton called Lucy #AL
:<<"/% that was discovered at 4adar in /IC0' (t shows that these australopithecines
had seletons that were very different from our own, with short legs in relation to
their inferred body si&es and features of the hands, arms, and chest that suggest they
were adept at climbing in trees' )ut features of the pelvis and legs confirm that they
were also capable of bipedal locomotion' The well"preserved E'J"million"year"old
footprint trail discovered by 5ary Leaey at Laetoli, Tan&ania, is also clear evidence
that they waled on two legs when on the ground'
The reasons for the evolution of bipedalism are still unclear' (t has recently been
suggested by Peter Wheeler of the Liverpool Bohn 5oores Aniversity that bipedalism
is a thermoregulatory device' )y waling upright, the australopithecines would have
absorbed J1 percent less heat from the sun during the midday hours' This would have
helped them to eep down their core temperatures, allowing them to forage in open
environments for longer periods of time, while other animals would have had to see
shade' Alternatively, it has also been suggested that bipedalism first evolved as a
feeding adaptation in the forest'
Whereas A. a"arensis and A. anamensis are found only in eastern Africa, the third
gracile australopithecine, A. a"ricanus, is found only in southern Africa, at the sites of
!terfontein, 5aapansgat, Taung, and, more recently, 8ladysvale' (t is slightly more
recent in age and dates to approximately E to :'D million years' A. a"ricanus differs
from A. a"arensis in details of its sull, teeth, and feet9 however, in other aspects they
are so similar that Phillip Tobias of the Aniversity of the Witwatersrand has suggested
in the past that they should only be separated at the subspecific level'
The main difference between these gracile australopithecines and the robust
australopithecines is the large si&e of the jaws and teeth in the robust species' $ossils
that have since been assigned to Australopithecus robustus were discovered by 2obert
)room in the /IE1s at 7romdraai and !wartrans in !outh Africa' (n /IDI, fossils of
a species with even larger teeth and jaws, Australopithecus boisei, were discovered by
Louis and 5ary Lea$e" at Olduvai 8orge, Tan&ania, and have subse3uently been
found at sites such as Lae *atron #Peninj% in Tan&ania and 6hemeron and 7oobi
$ora in 7enya' )oth A. boisei and A. robustus first appear about : million years ago'
The evolutionary relationships of the australopithecines are highly controversial'
4owever morphological features of A. aethiopicus, an early robust australopithecine
discovered by 2ichard Leaey and his team on the western shore of Lae Turana in
7enya in /I<D and dated to about :'D million years, suggest to some authorities an
evolutionary lin between the earlier A. a"arensis and the later A. boisei in eastern
Africa' !ome would also see a lin between A. a"arensis5 A. a"ricanus, and A.
robustus in southern Africa' The relationship between Ardipithecus ramidus and A.
anamensis and these later species is currently unnown'
Earl" Homo
+arly Homo, with larger brains and smaller teeth than the australopithecines, first
appears at about :'D million years ago in Africa, about the same time as the first stone
tools in +thiopia and 7enya' +li&abeth Lrba of @ale Aniversity suggests that the
appearance of early Homo at this time correlates with a period of worldwide climatic
cooling' This is called the Turnover Pulse 4ypothesis' !he argues that as the climate
changed, hominids as well as other animals would have had to adapt to increasingly
arid and open conditions' +arly Homo would have achieved this through the evolution
of tool use, a larger brain, and an arguably more complicated social structure' The
australopithecines would have adapted by alternative means, primarily through larger
teeth and jaws that would have allowed them to process larger 3uantities of food of
relatively low nutritional value' Although this idea is intriguing, Bohn 7ingston of
@ale Aniversity has provided evidence based on stable carbon isotope analysis that the
climate in Africa has not changed substantially throughout this period'
Whatever the reasons behind the evolution of the genus Homo and the diversification
of the australopithecines, it is important to realise that Homo coexisted with the
australopithecines in Africa for a period of more than a million years' There are
currently three recogni&ed species of early Homo Homo habilis5 Homo rudol"ensis,
and Homo ergaster. H. habilis was the first"recogni&ed of these species and dates
between about : and /'D million years ago' This species was established for fossils at
Olduvai 8orge in /IJ0 by Louis Leaey, Bohn *apier, and Phillip Tobias, and is now
recogni&ed at both Olduvai 8orge and 7oobi $ora' Homo habilis has the smallest
brain si&e of any of the early members of the genus Homo and has a seleton that
resembles that of the australopithecines, with relatively short legs as well as other
features suggesting it was still adept in the trees' Homo rudol"ensis appears at about
:'D million years' (t is a larger"brained species and is currently recogni&ed at 7oobi
$ora, 7enya, and Araha, 5alawi' Although it has a larger brain si&e than H. habilis, it
also has larger teeth and a face that retains some australopithecine features'
The third species of early Homo5 Homo ergaster, is the only one that is indisputably
advanced in its morphology over the other Plio"Pleistocene hominids' (t appears about
/'< million years ago and combines a large brain si&e with a humanlie seleton that
lacs any evidence of a continued life in the trees' The best"preserved specimen of
this species is a remarably complete seleton #7*5"+2 /D111% of a ten"to eleven"
year"old youth that was found in /I<0 at the site of *ariootome on the western shore
of Lae Turana by 2ichard Leaey and his team' (t clearly shows humanlie long
legs relative to its inferred body weight and had body proportions similar to those of
modern people who live in hot, dry climates' Homo ergaster is, at present, the most
probable ancestor of the hominids that left Africa and spread into +urope and
Asia'Homo erectus
The first fossils that are now recogni&ed as Homo erectus, a sullcap and femur, were
found in /<I/ and /<I: by the Hutchman +ugene Hubois, at the site of Trinil in Bava'
4e gave the name Pithecanthropus erectus to this material' The sull was thic boned,
with a flat forehead and large brow ridges and a cranial capacity of about DD cubic
inches #I11 cubic cm%' 5any more fossils have been recovered from Bava in
subse3uent years at the sites of 5ojoerto, !angiran, and !ambungmachan' 6arl
!wischer has recently provided new absolute dates of /'</ million years ago for an
infant sullcap from 5ojoerto and of /'JJ million years ago for two specimens from
!angiran' These dates suggest that Homo erectus or its ancestors first reached Bava at
about the same time that Homo ergaster appeared in Africa, almost / million years
earlier than most scientists would have suggested' These new dates also help to put
into context the controversial date of /'0 million years for a Homo erectus mandible
from the site of Hmanisi in 8eorgia, material that was previously considered to be
from the oldest non"African hominid'
(n the /I:1s and /IE1s, fossils similar to Pithecanthropus were found at
#hou$oudian in 6hina' These were originally given the name %inanthropus
pe1inensis' 2ecent thermoluminescence dating has established that ?hououdian was
occupied by hominids between about 011,111 and :D1,111 years )'P' 5ore recently,
similar fossils have been found at a variety of sites throughout 6hina, such as
6henawo, 8ongwangling, Lontandong 6ave, 4exian 6ountry, and @uanmou, Bianshi'
$ossils assigned to Homo erectus have also been found in northern Africa
=Atlanthropus>, !outh Africa =Telanthropus>, Tan&ania #6hellan 5an%, and 8ermany #
!il*ingsleben%' All of these fossils are highly variable, and some scientists have
suggested that they are too variable to represent one interbreeding species' This
interpretation argues that Homo erectus, defined as only those fossils from Bava and
6hina, represents a completely different species than do contemporaneous fossils
nown from Africa and +urope' The more common interpretation is that these fossils
represent one species and their diversity can be explained by the great geographical
and temporal distances separating them'
Other more recently discovered fossils from 6hina suggest that after :D1,111 )'P',
Homo erectus in the $ar +ast begins to change into what is nown as archaic Homo
sapiens' These fossils, from the sites of Binnu !han #Liaoning Province%, @uxian
#4ubei Province%, and Hali #!haanxi%, show various combinations of thinner bone,
larger brain si&es, more rounded sulls, and smaller, more modern faces' The fossils
might indicate the movement of people from elsewhere in the world into 6hina'
Alternatively, they may indicate that Homo erectus in Asia evolved into archaic
Homo sapiens with relatively little genetic contact with other areas in the world'
Archaic Homo sapiens
Archaeological and palaeontological evidence suggests that +urope was occupied by
hominids at least by the beginning of the 5iddle Pleistocene #CD1,111 )'P'% The most
informative +uropean 5iddle Pleistocene site is Atapuerca in northern !pain' This
site has yielded the earliest +uropean fossils #CD1,111 years ago% as well as over C11
hominid fossils representing at least twenty"four individuals from later deposits dating
to about E11,111 years ago' These fossils show an interesting mixture of features,
some of which are found in Homo erectus and others in the more recent +uropean
Neanderthals' They also show a large degree of intrapopulation variation, suggesting
that the features found in other isolated +uropean fossils from this period such as
!teinheim #8ermany%, !wanscombe #+ngland%, Arago #$rance%, and Petralona
#8reece% can all be accounted for in one contemporaneous population' They also
establish that evolution in +urope during the 5iddle Pleistocene was moving toward
the *eanderthals' Anatomically modern Homo sapiens must have arisen elsewhere'
The *eanderthals lived throughout +urope and the Levant from about /E1,111 )'P'
until about E1,111 years ago' They had s3uat bodies and short distal limb segments
that can be interpreted as adaptations to cold, glacial conditions' One of the most
complete *eanderthal seletons was found at the site of 7ebara, (srael, and this
suggests that although *eanderthals waled on two legs, their type of bipedalism
might have been different from that found in modern humans' The 7ebara
*eanderthal also has a fully modern hyoid bone, indicating that it most probably had
a larynx #voice box% that was capable of producing the full range of modern speech
sounds' One of the most recent *eanderthals comes from the site of !aint 6esaire in
$rance and dates to about EJ,111 years ago' Archaeological evidence from other sites
such as +l 6astilla and L;Arbreda 6aves #!pain% suggests that modern humans
appeared in +urope before the *eanderthals disappeared and may have coexisted with
them for perhaps D,111 years' The fate of the *eanderthals is unnown, although it is
liely that they were either replaced by or genetically absorbed into these modern
populations'
+urope is not the only place that the *eanderthals seem to have been
contemporaneous with modern humans' (n the Levant, anatomically modern humans
first appear at about /11,111 )'P' and are nown from the sites of >af&eh and !hul in
(srael' *eanderthals are also nown from this period or possibly earlier, from the site
of Tabun, and are found, in addition, in more recent sites, such as 7ebara and Amud
in (srael and !hanidar in (ra3' There is considerable controversy over whether these
fossils represent two separate and discrete, noninterbreeding species or whether they
represent two populations of humans and show evidence of interbreeding'
The only other area of the world where there are such early dates for modern humans
is Africa' 4ere fossils from sites such as Omo in +thiopia as well as )order 6ave and
&lasies 2iver 'ave in southern Africa are about /11,111 years old and have been
interpreted as modern in form' These fossils appear to be the end of a continuum of
evolution that begins with Homo erectus in the form of Olduvai 4ominid I #6hellan
5an%, which dates to about /': million years ago' )y about 011,111 or E11,111 years
ago, the African hominids are more modern than the earlier Homo erectus fossils,
having larger brains and more rounded sulls' This trend continues through fossils
such as $lorisbad from southern Africa and *galoba from Tan&ania, which may date
between :11,111 and /11,111 years ago and up to the fully modern hominids'
This se3uence suggests that while *eanderthals were occupying +urope, modern
humans were appearing in Africa and the Levant' The evidence seems to be clear that
these modern humans ultimately spread into +urope to replace the *eanderthals' )ut
what happened in the $ar +astR (t is possible that modern humans also spread
eastward to replace Homo erectus in Bava and 6hina' 8enetic evidence tends to
support this idea' The apparent transitional fossils such as Binnu !han and Hali, which
date earlier than the appearance of modern humans in Africa and the Levant, however,
may indicate that the story is more complicated, involving not only population
movement and hybridi&ation but also local continuity and selection throughout the
later part of the 5iddle Pleistocene and the Late Pleistocene periods'F!ee also
Australopithecus and %omo %abilis'G
!ibliograph"
2' 8' 7lein, The Human Career Human Biological and Cultural $rigins' #/I<I%'
)' Wood, Origin and +volution of the 8enus Homo , *ature EDD #/II:%. pp'C<EKCI1'
L' 6' Aiello, 4uman Origins. The $ossil +vidence , American Anthropologist ID
#/IIE%. pp'CEKIJ'
B'"L' Arsuaga, (' 5arXne&, A' 8racia, B'"5' 6arretero, and +' 6arbonell, Three *ew
4uman !ulls from the !ima de los 4uesos 5iddle Pleistocene !ite in !ierra de
Atapuerca, !pain , *ature EJ: #/IIE%. pp'DE0KDEJ'
2' Lewin, Human #volution An 'llustrated 'ntroduction, ;rd ed. #/IIE%'
5' )' 2oberts, 6' )' !tringer, and !' A' Parfitt, A 4ominid Tibia from 5iddle
Pleistocene !ediments at )oxgrove, A7 , *ature EJI #/II0%. pp'E//KE/E'
6' 6' !wisher (((, 8' 4' 6urtis, T' Bacob, A' 8' 8etty, A' !uprijo, and Widiasmoro,
Age of the +arliest 7nown 4ominids in Bava, (ndonesia , !cience :JE #/II0%.
pp'///<K//:/'
The Origins of 4uman )ehavior While humans are distinct in the animal ingdom
through a number of anatomical characteristics, it is their behavior that is most
distinctive and sets the species apart' To some extent there is a high degree of
integration between the anatomical features and the behavioral ones' $or example,
bipedalism allows the hand to become a speciali&ed and highly dextrous organ
capable of very complex manipulation9 the large brain allows for massive levels of
information processing and a wide range of creative and logical thought processes'
$urthermore, the development of biology, especially neurobiology, is increasingly
showing the interactions between cognitive and psychological states and biochemical
activity' )ehavior, therefore, cannot be divorced from the rest of the evolutionary
process'
!uch developments have important implications for the study of the evolution of
human behavior' (t is not the case that there is a replacement of biological evolution,
focusing on hard anatomy, by cultural evolution, concerned with malleable behavior'
8enes play a part in behavior, and therefore the operation of natural selection on
behavior can be expected' The emergence of human behavior is an essential part of
evolutionary biology'
A ey problem is gaining access to information about the evolution of behavior' The
starting point should be the behavior of living apes and moneys, and much insight
has been gained in recent years by the study of primate behavior in the wild' The
primary impact has been to close the apparent gap between human and nonhuman
capacities' Whereas it was once generally held that humans were uni3ue as tool
maers, hunting primates, language users, and social animals, it is now clear that
these characteristics occur in other animals' 6himpan&ees are nown to use tools=
twigs for extracting termites from their nests, stone hammers for cracing open nuts'
They also hunt, both individually and cooperatively, probably obtaining more than
five percent of their food from meat' All anthropoid primates are highly social, living
in a variety of social systems, often held together by bonds of inship' Their cognitive
capacities vary between species and are difficult to assess, but studies and
experiments have shown that some possess rudimentary language #meaning"specific
sounds, context"dependent vocali&ations, and, in chimpan&ees, an ability to
communicate grammatically using sign language%' There also appear to be
considerable abilities to employ innovative behavior, and both maca3ues and
chimpan&ees have been shown to possess ,cultural traditions- within particular
populations'
The behavior of living primate species cannot be applied uncritically to hominids' (t is
probably the case that the detailed behavior of each species is particular to it, and
many errors have been made in the past by applying single"species models to early
hominids' 6himpan&ees, on account of their close relationship to humans, and
baboons, due to their assumed environmental similarity with the australopithecines,
have been extensively used in this way' 4owever, what these studies do provide is an
idea of the baseline from which hominids have developed their own uni3ue
characters' The most important conclusion is that this baseline is not that of a simple,
asocial, and instinctive organism but that of an already highly complex mammal' (n
particular, it is liely that the first hominids lived in social groups, hunted and
scavenged, and used rudimentary tools' 5ore specifically, on account of their
relationships with the African apes, it is liely that they were male"in bonded with
already extensive patterns of parental care'
!uch inferences drawn from the primates need to be placed against the archaeological
and fossil evidence, partly to determine the timing of events and partly to understand
the reasons why certain characters evolved' The particular aspects described here are
bipedalism, tool maing, foraging behavior, and language'
)ipedalism seems to be the fundamental characteristic of the hominids, occurring
earlier than other traits' (t is found in the earliest australopithecines and is probably
the unifying feature of the 4omindae' A number of explanations for the evolution of
bipedalism have been proposed' $reeing the hands for tool maing was -arwin6s
original suggestion, but this seems unliely in view of the later development of stone
tool manufacture' 5ore probable is that bipedalism is an energetically efficient
response to the spread of nonforested environments between /1 and D million years
ago' Apart from its locomotor efficiency in terrestrial environments, it has also been
convincingly argued that it provides a number of clear thermoregulatory advantages in
what would have been considerably hot environments' (t is thus lined to other uni3ue
human traits such as copious sweating and loss of body hair'
As described earlier, chimpan&ees use and mae tools in the wild, and have been
shown in captivity to be capable of maing stone flaes' 4owever, the first clearly
recogni&able stone tools do not appear until shortly before : million years ago, around
the time of the appearance of Homo' An implication is that the early
australopithecines were not consistent manufacturers of stone tools' The presence of
stone tools provides considerable information about the capacities of the hominids. (t
has been suggested that they were predominantly right handed and capable of
sufficient forethought to locate, extract, and modify natural materials' (t is apparent
that some at least were used in animal butchery' (t is also the case that stone tool
practices such as the Acheulean Tradition provide evidence for some form of
cultural inheritance' (n contrast, though, to these inferences of more human behavior,
it should be noted that until the Apper Pleistocene, stone tool traditions show very
little variation and are conservative over enormous geographical areas and time
periods'
+vidence for changes in foraging behavior comes primarily from the archaeological
record, and is therefore dependent upon the presence of stone tools' Additional
information comes also from tooth morphology and wear, and more recently from
chemical analysis of hominid fossil bones' The 3uestion of early hominid foraging has
been one of considerable controversy in recent years' On one side, it has been argued
that stone tools, cut mars on bones, and the association of stones and bones together
is evidence for well"developed hunting behavior from the origins of the genus Homo'
This has been used to support a model for the early appearance of relatively modern
behavior, with only gradual change during the course of the Pleistocene' On the other
side, it has been claimed that such evidence is misleading, that only opportunistic
scavenging and hunting of small prey occurred, and that it was only with the
appearance of modern humans in the last /11,111 years that strategies ain to hunting
and gathering were present' This interpretation has usually been associated with a
model that contrasts maredly the behavior of all archaic hominids with that of
modern %umans, and proposes some form of human revolution in the Apper
Pleistocene associated with cultural, symbolic, or linguistic abilities' A number of
intermediate positions can be held, but it is probably the case that in the past there has
been a tendency to overemphasi&e the humanness of the early hominids'
6losely lined to this controversy has been the problem of language origins' +vidence
for language has been inferred from basi"cranial anatomy, the structure of the brain in
fossil endocasts, and archaeological evidence' Again, some have proposed that
language can be traced bac to earliest Homo, while others have argued that only
Homo sapiens was capable of language, and that the explosion of art, tool maing,
and other cultural characteristics of the Apper Paleolithic are evidence for this'
Hrawing on genetic and modern linguistic evidence, it is probably the case that all
nown languages go bac to a common stoc around /11,111 years ago, and that this
would be the origin of modern languages, but it does not follow that other hominids,
such as Neanderthals, had no language or communicative sills' The fact that these
languages have become extinct is not evidence for absence' $urthermore, it is clear
from the enlargement of the brain that occurred from about : million years ago and
accelerated from 011,111 years ago that archaic hominids were intelligent, social
animals' As indicated earlier, the results of studying living primates shows that the
baseline for hominids was considerable'
(n the past, debates about the origins and evolution of human behavior tended to focus
on alternative single"factor explanations=culture, language, tool maing, and so on'
5ore recently, and with much better chronological control, there has been a much
more concerted effort to loo at the interaction of several factors, and this has led to
further controversy over the timing of particular events' These developments have led
to a more ethnological approach drawn from the study of animal behavior, with less
emphasis on the anthropocentric concept of human culture'F!ee also -arwinian
Theor"9 Genetics 0n Archaeolog"'G
2obert $oley
The Archaeolog" of %uman Origins
)y definition, the prehistoric archaeological record begins when the earliest artifacts
#objects modified through manufacture or use% produced by humans or protohumans
can be recogni&ed' Although a range of organic materials, such as wood, bone, tooth,
and horn may have served as tools by early hominids, it is difficult to identify such
possible implements' Wood, for instance, rarely survives in the prehistoric record, and
bone, tooth, and horn can be modified by a host of other non"hominid agencies, such
as carnivore and rodent gnawing, trampling, and postdepositional breaage, maing it
very difficult to identify unambiguously bones that have been wored or used by early
hominids in the early prehistoric record' $ortunately, hominid"modified stones are
much easier to identify and tend to be fairly indestructible, and therefore serve as
useful marers of early hominid behavior' At present the archaeology of human
origins can be taen bac to about :'D million years ago on the African continent'
Appearance of the )irst %ominids in Africa
Although the postulated time of divergence between the African apes and humans is
estimated to be between six and ten million years ago, the earliest clear evidence for
small"brained, bipedal hominids in the fossil record is between four and three million
years ago and comes from +ast African localities such as 4atar and the 5iddle Awash
in +thiopia and Laetoli in Tan&ania' These fossils are usually assigned to
Australopithecus a"arensis #although some scholars believe that the range of
anatomical variation warrants at least two taxa%' Although upright walers, these
creatures still exhibit apelie features such as relatively long arms and curved
phalanges, interpreted by some as arboreal adaptations' )rain si&e is essentially that of
modern African apes, around /< to :0 cubic inches #E11 to 011 cu cm%' Although
hand bones suggest that Australopithecus a"arensis had a high degree of digit
opposability, no recogni&able stone tools are nown from this period of time'
)etween E and :'D million years ago, two new taxa appear to have emerged from this
ancestral bipedal stoc. Australopithecus a"ricanus in !outh Africa #nown especially
from the cave of !terfontein% and Australopithecus =Paranthropus> aethiopicus from
West Turana, 7enya' Again, no recogni&able archaeological traces are associated
with these forms' The robust Australopithecus aethiopicus sull exhibits a strong
sagittal crest and enlarged premolars and molars that characteri&e later robust
hominids of Africa between :'D and / million years ago. Australopithecus
=Paranthropus> robustus in !outh Africa, found at the cave deposits of !wartrans
and 7romdraai, and Australopithecus =Paranthropus> boisei in +ast Africa, from
localities such as +ast and West Turana, 7enya and Olduvai Gorge in Tan&ania'
These robust austalopithecines exhibit cranial capacities of between :D and E0 cubic
inches #011 and DD1 cu cm%'
)etween :'D and /'< million years ago, larger"brained gracile forms with cranial
capacities of between EC and D1 cubic inches #J11 and <11 cu cm% are nown from
African localities such as +ast Turana in 7enya and Olduvai 8orge in Tan&ania'
These forms have usually been assigned to Homo habilis #some anthropologists have
distinguished between those with a somewhat smaller body and brain si&e as Homo
habilis, and those of a larger body and brain si&e Homo rudol"ensis%'
)eginning about /'< million years ago, a larger"brained hominid emerges in Africa,
Homo erectus #some anthropologists call the earliest African forms Homo ergaster%'
With a cranial capacity of D1 to DD cubic inches #<11 to I11 cu cm% and a larger body
si&e similar to that of modern humans, erectus appears to have spread out of Africa
and into +urasia sometime between /'< and / million years ago' 2ecently it has been
suggested that some of the Bava fossils of Homo erectus, notably one from
5odjoerto, may be as old as /'< million years' (f true, this suggests a migration out
of Africa soon after the emergence of Homo erectus' The robust australopithecines of
+ast and !outh Africa went extinct by one million years ago, leaving the genus Homo
as the only hominid lineage to continue into the 5iddle Pleistocene'
Earliest Archaeological Sites
The earliest recogni&able stone artifacts are in the form of simple flaed and battered
rocs that characteri&e the Oldowan (ndustrial Tradition #named after the locality of
Olduvai 8orge% or 5ode / industries' The oldest of these sites appear to be about :'D
million years old, and a range of sites exhibiting such a technological stage are nown
between :'D and /'D million years ago' !uch sites include the Omo, 8ona, 5ela
7unture, and 8adeb in +thiopia9 West and +ast Turana and 6hesowanja in 7enya9
!wartrans and !terfontein in !outh Africa9 and Ain 4anech in Algeria'
Technolog"
The majority of these early African stone assemblages were dominated by lava,
3uart&, 3uart&ite, or limestone as principal raw materials, usually obtained in the form
of water"worn cobbles or angular chuns' 4ardhammer percussion and sometimes
bipolar techni3ue were the principal techni3ues used' Oldowan core forms are
traditionally classified into types such as choppers, discoids, polyhedrons, and heavy"
duty scrapers9 retouched artifacts #,light"duty tools-% made on flaes include scrapers
and awls' Artifacts showing signs of battering and pitting include hammerstones,
spheroids and subspheroids, and anvils' +xperiments have suggested that many of the
Oldowan core or ,core"tool- forms could simply be by"products of producing sharp,
serviceable flaes, although some of these cores could have been used for wood
chopping or shaping' At Olduvai 8orge, a number of sites in )ed (( have higher
proportions of light"duty tools and spheroids, and have been designated ,Heveloped
Oldowan- by 5ary Leaey'
Around /'D million years ago, after the emergence of Homo erectus in the fossil
record, new elements could be seen at some stone artifact assemblages. largish hand
axes, pics, and cleavers often made of large flaes struc from boulder cores' These
large bifacial forms were the hallmar of the Acheulean Tradition #5ode :
technologies%' +arly Acheulean sites include H7 in )ed (( at Olduvai 8orge and sites
at Peninj, Lae *atron in Tan&ania, and 7onso 8ardula in +thiopia'
)esides typological classificatory studies, a range of other methodological approaches
have been applied to +arly !tone Age sites' +xperimental replicative and functional
studies have been very useful in understanding why recurrent artifact forms are found
at many archaeological sites, and how the roc type, shape, and si&e of a raw material
can affect the resultant products' 5icrowear analysis of fresh, fine"grained siliceous
artifacts can yield valuable clues pertaining to artifact function' And refitting studies
of flaed stone from early archaeological sites can help to show what stages of flaing
are represented at an archaeological site, as well as giving a ,blow"by"blow- se3uence
of flaing events for a given core or retouched form' 2efitting studies can also help to
assess whether a given site has been heavily disturbed by water action or vertical
disturbance from such agencies as roots and burrowing animals'
Environmental Studies
Paleoenvironmental 2econstruction of early archaeological sites has been
approached from a range of different methods, including evidence from fossil faunal
remains, fossil plant remains #normally in the form of pollen and root casts%, and
geological and geochemical analysis #in particular carbon and oxygen isotope
studies%' !uch evidence suggests that major dryingYcooling phases on the African
continent occurred several times, including one period about :'D million years ago'
!ome researchers have suggested that this climatic change may have led to many
extinctions of animal forms as well as the emergence of new forms adapted to new
conditions' The emergence of the genus Homo and Oldowan sites at about this time
could have been a response to such changes'
Social Organi*ation
There is little direct evidence to suggest what types of social organi&ation
characteri&ed early hominids9 patterns observed among nonhuman primates as well as
modern human foragers have often served as partial models in attempts to interpret
social organi&ation and behavior' Prior to the emergence of Homo erectus, it would
appear that early hominids were characteri&ed by a high degree of sexual dimorphism,
suggesting to many anthropologists that there was competition between males for
access to females, and that some sort of nonmonogamous mating pattern existed'
Homo erectus appears to have exhibited a reduced degree of sexual dimorphism,
which may suggest less antagonism among males in competing for females and
dominance' Homo erectus also was characteri&ed by a larger brain and body si&e than
earlier hominids, which may imply a larger home range as well' Limb bones of this
taxa suggest that these creatures were more efficient at long"range bipedal waling
than were earlier hominids, which may in part explain why Homo erectus is the first
hominid form nown to have migrated out of Africa and why Homo erectus had a
larger brain and body si&e than earlier hominid forms'
Theories of Archaeological Site )ormation
)oth hominid and nonhominid forces are involved in the formation of +arly !tone
Age archaeological sites' 5ost of these sites are buried by sediments that have been
carried by river and delta floods or lae transgressions, and such water action may
have affected the distribution of prehistoric materials since the time of hominid
occupation' !cavenging animals may have carried away or further modified bones at
these sites, and trampling and bioturbation by roots or burrowing animals may have
affected the vertical and hori&ontal distribution of the prehistoric materials'
4ow did the concentrations of stone artifacts and sometimes animal bones form in
this early archaeological periodR Theories to explain how these archaeological sites
formed have included a range of interpretations. hydrological jumbles of stone tools
and animal bones swept downstream and reconcentrated, with little behavioral
integrity9 palimpsests of hominid and nonhominid activities at focal points on the
landscape over relatively long periods of time9 central foraging places #home
basesYcamps% where early hominids carried out many subsistence and social activities9
in some models, food sharing is an important part of this adaptive strategy9 secondary
stone caches collected on the landscape as an energy"saving strategy during daily
foraging9 scavenging stations where early hominids brought animal carcasses or parts
of carcasses in order to safely process them with stone tools9 and favored places
where hominid individuals or groups repeatedly visited and carried out tool"maing
and tool"using activities'
(t is liely that a number of these scenarios were involved in the formation of early
archaeological sites' One of the principal tass for researchers interested in the
archaeology of human origins is to build testable models that examine the hominid
and nonhominid agencies that formed these sites'
-iet and Subsistence
The reconstruction of patterns of early hominid diet and subsistence are paramount to
our understanding of the adaptation and evolution of these creatures' )ased upon what
is nown among modern nonhuman primates as well as modern hunter"gatherers in
tropical Africa, it is liely that early hominids in Africa had a diet that was
predominantly plant foods, supplemented by animal food resources' Anfortunately,
plant matter rarely survives in the early archaeological record9 therefore, this
important aspect of early hominid diet is largely conjectural' (t is liely that a range of
berries, nuts, seeds, underground plant foods #roots, tubers, corms%, etc', were
exploited, perhaps with the assistance of technological aids such as stone hammers
and anvils to crac open nuts and hard"shelled fruits, digging stics to uncover
underground foodstuffs, and simple containers #bar tray, hide, tortoise or ostrich
eggshell% to carry or store such foods'
When fossil animal bones are found at early archaeological sites, they may bear
patterns of modification that suggest hominids were feeding on these animals' An
excellent example is the $L7 ?injanthropus site in )ed ( of Olduvai 8orge #ca' /'<
million years ago%' 6ut mars on bone surfaces can usually be distinguished from
mars from nonhominid agencies #carnivore and rodent gnawing, root etching, etc'%
and can show where hominids used stone nives for sinning, dismembering, and
defleshing' $racture patterns of long bones showing percussion flaes and scars, as
well as abrasion to bone surfaces from hammerstones are typical of hominid marrow
processing'
The interpretations of these patterns of animal"bone modification have varied widely,
however' At one extreme, it has been argued that early hominids appear to have been
efficient predators #or very efficient competitive scavengers% and able to ac3uire the
meaty remains of large mammals before carnivores had modified the bones to any
significant degree9 at the other extreme, others have argued that these modified animal
bones represent marginal scavenging of carnivore leftovers in which only dried, relict
meat and marrow were obtained' (t is liely that a combination of strategies was
employed by opportunistic early hominids, including small"scale predation and
scavenging of larger mammalian taxa'
Other clues that are useful in attempting to infer dietary patterns include wear studies
on fossil hominid teeth, which can indicate how hard or gritty food items that were
eaten were, and chemical analysis of fossil hominid bones #such as strontiumYcalcium
ratios and carbon isotope ratios%, which can indicate the relative abundance of meat in
the diet and the herb and treeYgrass ratios in plant foods' Paleopathologies on bones
and teeth #e'g', hypoplasia, hypervitaminosis% may also suggest nutritional stresses or
an overabundance of certain types of harmful dietary items'
'onclusion
$uture research into the archaeology of human origins will almost certainly focus
upon behavioral and ecological issues such as cognitive capabilities, social
organi&ation, land"use patterns, biogeographical spread, behavioral site"formation
processes, tool function, diet, and competition with other animal taxa' +xplanatory
models for the emergence of tool"using hominids, as well as technological,
behavioral, and evolutionary changes in time and space will be examined in the
context of regional and global environmental changes' 2efined or new dating
techni3ues should also bring a higher resolution to the chronological placement of
hominid fossils, archaeological occurrences, and other evolutionary events'F!ee also
Australopithecus and %omo %abilis'G
!ibliograph"
5ary Leaey, $lduvai &orge5 ?olume ; #/cavations in Beds ' and ''5 6789:678;
#/IC/%'
Bohn W' 7' 4arris, 6ultural )eginnings. Plio"Pleistocene Archaeological Occurrences
from the Afar, +thiopia , The African Archaeological 2eview / #/I<E%. pp'EKE/'
)arbara (saac, ed', The Archaeolog! o" Human $rigins Papers b! &l!nn 'saac
#/I<I%'
B' H' 6lar, ed', Cultural Beginnings Approaches to 0nderstanding #arl! Hominid
Li"e@wa!s in the A"rican %avanna #/II/%'
7athy !chic and *icholas Toth, Ma1ing %ilent %tones %pea1 Human #volution and
the .awn o" Technolog! #/IIE%'
*icholas Toth and 7athy !chic
Pleistocene The Pleistocene epoch spans approximately the last :'0 million years of
geological time' (t represents a time interval of great scientific interest owing to the
numerous fluctuations in climate that too place and because it represents an
important time in hominid evolution' The Pleistocene and 4olocene epochs together
comprise the >uaternary Period' The Pleistocene is formally regarded as having
ended at /1,111 )'P' at the onset of the present 4olocene interglacial' The Pleistocene
is often subdivided into three sections=+arly, 5iddle, and Late' The boundary
between the +arly and 5iddle Pleistocene is usually defined by the prominent
5atuyama")runhes geomagnetic polarity reversal, considered to have occurred near
CI1,111 )'P' The boundary between the 5iddle and Late Pleistocene is generally
regarded as e3uivalent to the beginning of oxygen isotope substage De that represents
the warmest phase of the last interglacial' The age of this boundary, on the basis of
marine oxygen isotope stratigraphy, is considered to be approximately /E1,111 )'P'
The beginning of the Pleistocene was mared by the growth of ice sheets in the
*orthern 4emisphere' The start of glaciation in the !outhern 4emisphere too place
much earlier, however, perhaps as early as twenty million years ago in the Antarctic'
This early phase of cooling was followed by several important geological changes,
including, for example, the uplift of the Tibetan plateau and the closure of the (sthmus
of Panama, both of which exerted a strong influence on climate and ocean circulation'
The progressive cooling of global climate finally gave way at the start of the
Pleistocene to remarable climatic instability' Huring the ensuing time period, ice
sheets waxed and waned, triggering complex changes in sea level' +lsewhere,
grassland replaced forest, tree lines were lowered, and arid conditions were
widespread' These changes too place at the same time as the development of human
culture that began with the use of primitive tools and fire and culminated in the
sophisticated human achievements that have taen place during the present
interglacial' (f the development of human culture is stimulated by the existence of a
stable climate, the appearance of people in the Pleistocene landscape could not have
taen place at a more inopportune time'
Evidence for Pleistocene 'limate 'hange from Ocean Sediments
The longest and most complete records of Pleistocene climate change are derived
from studies of sediments deposited on the floors of the world;s oceans' These
sediments consist mostly of the seletal remains of calcareous and siliceous
microorganisms that have settled out of the water column' +vidence of the former
conditions under which the calcareous microorganisms lived can be determined by the
analysis of the stable isotope ratios of the oxygen in the carbonate seletal remains'
The derived oxygen isotope chronology is considered to indicate past fluctuations in
global ice volume' Although oxygen isotope studies provide valuable information on
the timing of past continental ice sheet growth and decay, however, they cannot
provide any information on where the growth and decay of individual ice sheets too
place' The most significant limitation of oxygen isotope analysis is caused by the
activity of burrowing organisms #bioturbation% on the ocean floor that disturb surface
sediments' These limit the accuracy to which sediments in individual cores can be
used to define sediment age to ZY"D11 years'
Hespite this constraint, Pleistocene oxygen isotope stratigraphy shows that during this
period numerous high"magnitude fluctuations in climate too place and were
associated with the growth and decay of major ice sheets on at least twenty occasions'
$urthermore, many of the periods when global climate switched from glacial to
interglacial appear to have been exceptionally rapid indeed, although the rates at
which these changes too place cannot be determined owing to the effects of sediment
bioturbation' The oxygen isotope curves are also significant in that they demonstrate
that most of the Pleistocene has been characteri&ed by glacial age conditions' Only
very rarely, for around D percent to /1 percent of Pleistocene time, have warm
interglacial conditions prevailed' $urthermore, Pleistocene interglacials have rarely
been associated with air temperatures significantly higher than present' The most
important exception to this pattern was the last interglacial that culminated
approximately /E1,111K//D,111 years ago #oxygen isotope substage De%'
A popular view is that the Pleistocene glacial and interglacial se3uence observed in
the oxygen isotope record was caused principally by changes in the nature of the
+arth;s orbit around the sun' The 5ilanovitch theory of climate changes is based on
the assumption that there has been no absolute annual change in the amount of
incoming solar radiation and that Pleistocene climate changes were the result of long"
term cyclical changes in the distribution of insolation across both hemispheres'
(ndeed, many scientists believe that a well"defined /11,111"year glacialYinterglacial
cycle observed in the oxygen isotope record may be explained by cyclical changes in
the eccentricity of the +arth;s orbit'
The lin between oxygen isotope stratigraphy and ice volume has also permitted
estimates to be made of past changes in global sea level, based on the inferred
volumes of water stored in the world;s oceans' $or the +arly and 5iddle Pleistocene,
it is not possible to convert ocean water volumes to e3uivalent sea levels, since plate
tectonic processes have caused long"term changes in the shape of ocean basins' !uch
processes are considered to have been negligible during the Late Pleistocene,
however, and attempts have accordingly been made to use oxygen isotope analysis to
produce sea"level curves for this time period' These investigations show that during
the culmination of the last interglacial, sea level may have been several meters higher
than present, and that the end of the interglacial was followed by a number of major
climatic oscillations associated with the growth and melting of ice sheets and several
major fluctuations in sea level' !ea level fell to its lowest position of " EI0 feet #" /:1
m% during the culmination of the last glacial maximum ca' /<,111 )'P'
Evidence for Pleistocene 'limate 'hange from 0ce 'ores
Hetailed information on the nature of Late Pleistocene climate change has also been
determined through the study of oxygen isotope ratios in ice cores' The most
significant ice cores are those that have been sampled from the Antarctic and
8reenland ice sheets' (n general, it is possible to calculate the age of ice by counting
annual layers of ice9 annual layers have now been measured as far bac as ca' /0,111
years ago' (n ,old- ice, where annual layers are indistinct, the age of ice at any given
depth is calculated through the use of mathematical models of former ice flow' Antil
recently, the longest ice core record of climate change was that sampled from Losto,
Antarctica, where a /D1,111"year record had been obtained' This record provided, for
the first time, a continuous record of past changes in !outhern 4emisphere air
temperature together with records of past fluctuations in atmospheric 6O
:

concentrations, and rates of snow and dust deposition'
5ore recently, a I,<0J"foot #E,111"m% ice core se3uence has been drilled and sampled
from the central 8reenland ice sheet that appears to provide a continuous record of
past climate change for the last :D1,111 years' (n polar glacier ice, the measured
oxygen isotope ratios enable detailed estimates to be made of former air temperatures'
2emarably, the results of the 8reenland (ce"6ore Project #82(P% show that the last
/1,111 years of the 4olocene interglacial have been characteri&ed by sustained
climate stability' )y contrast, most of Late Pleistocene time as measured in the
8reenland ice cores appears to have been characteri&ed by high"magnitude climate
oscillations that bear a striing similarity to those evident in the Losto Antarctic
record' The causes of the extreme climate changes that were a feature of the Late
Pleistocene are not nown'
One of the most extreme and rapid climatic reversals too place during the @ounger
Hryas, between ca' //,111 and /1,111 radiocarbon years )'P' The climatic
deterioration that accompanied the beginning of this period was associated with large"
scale reorgani&ation of *orthern 4emisphere atmospheric circulation, dramatic
changes in *orth Atlantic ocean circulation lined to the widespread development of
sea ice, extensive ice accumulation in the *orthern 4emisphere, and a mared
decrease in air temperatures' The warming at the end of this period, at the Pleistocene"
4olocene transition, was e3ually dramatic, with ice core studies indicating that in
8reenland there may have been a seven degree #6elsius% warming within about fifty
years' The example of the @ounger Hryas demonstrates clearly that during numerous
critical periods of Pleistocene time, people may have had to adapt to extreme changes
in climate within decades, rather than within millennia as has conventionally been
believed'
A very important discovery arising from the 8reenland ice core research is that very
rapid shifts in temperature also occurred during the last interglacial, between ca'
/ED,111 and //D,111 )'P', most probably reflecting large"scale atmospheric changes
over the *orth Atlantic' The research demonstrates that temperatures may have
fluctuated on several occasions from a warm interglacial state with values about two
degrees #6elsius% higher than present, to severe cold about ten degrees #6elsius% lower
than present within several decades, perhaps even within a single decade=and all of
this within a single interglacial[ (n other words, it is a mistae to use the present
interglacial as a climatic analogue for previous Pleistocene interglacials, and it is also
fallacious to consider interglacial periods as times of relatively uniform warmth and
stable climate' (t is a matter of conjecture how Homo habilis and Homo erectus may
have responded to such rapid and high"magnitude climatic fluctuations'
The 8reenland and Antarctic ice cores also reveal the presence of volcanic ash at
several discrete levels' The influence of large volcanic eruptions on Pleistocene
climate has not been studied in any detail, although there is evidence that some of the
largest eruptions may have led to global cooling' The most explosive of all
Pleistocene eruptions too place in Toba, !umatra, ca' CD,111 )'P', and it has been
suggested that the eruption may have contributed significantly to the onset worldwide
of a major period of Late Pleistocene glaciation'
The Last Glacial a.imum: An Analogue for Pleistocene 0ce Age
'onditions
*umerous reconstructions have been made of the climatic conditions that prevailed
during the last glaciation' The most unified attempt has been in the 6L(5AP Project,
where a detailed reconstruction was made for the +arth;s climate around /<,111 )'P'
5ore recently, several numerical models have been developed to simulate the patterns
of global atmospheric and oceanic circulation that existed during this period' These
general circulation models #865s% represent simulations, based on geological
evidence, of the response of the atmosphere to inferred distributions of sea surface
temperature, the dimensions of former ice sheets, and the former distribution of laes,
sea ice cover, and the lie' The models are then tested by the use of other climatic
parameters not used in the model #e'g', estimates of former land temperatures%' The
various models, when considered together with empirical evidence of past changes in
climate, demonstrate complex regional responses to the onset of a major ice age' $or
example, it is now well nown that most areas of tropical rain forest disappeared
during the last glaciation' (n Africa, a significantly weaer monsoonal circulation led
to decreased rainfall in many regions, although in certain areas, decreased evaporation
rates led to the development of large laes' A similar situation prevailed in !outh
America, where a northward displacement of the (ntertropical 6onvergence ?one led
to the development of a semiarid environment throughout much of Ama&onia' (n Asia
and the (ndian subcontinent, glacial age conditions were principally influenced by
atmospheric changes resulting from the development of the +urasian ice sheet' Thus,
(ce Age conditions were always associated with permanent high pressure over the
continental interior and a weaening of the (ndian monsoon' As a result, arid
conditions prevailed throughout much of !outheast Asia' $arther east, in 6hina, many
areas were affected by increased aridity and by the deposition of large thicnesses of
wind"blown loess as a result of the anchoring of a jet stream between the ice sheet to
the north and the Tibetan plateau to the south'
(n the unglaciated areas south of the large ice sheets in *orth America, +urope, and
2ussia, the development of permafrost was very widespread' (n the southwestern
Anited !tates, lower temperatures, decreased evaporation, and the southward
displacement of mid"latitude cyclones led to the development of many large laes'
!imilar processes affected the 5editerranean region' 4ere, lowering of sea level led
to the virtual separation of the eastern and western 5editerranean basins, while in the
eastern 5editerranean, the *ile delta virtually disappeared as a result of diminished
rainfall over eastern Africa' 2emarably, the Aegean !ea may have received much of
the meltwater from the southern margin of the +urasian ice sheet owing to the
drainage of waters southward through the 6aspian !ea, )lac !ea, and !ea of
5armara'
%uman Evolution and Pleistocene 'limate 'hange
The study of Pleistocene hominid evolution has focused for a long time on whether
evolutionary change too place slowly, or in a stepwise manner, with long periods of
little change punctuated by short periods of very fast evolutionary development' The
recently published ice core record for the last :D1,111 years demonstrates very clearly
that for this time interval, and probably for the whole of the Pleistocene, climate
change was never slow and cyclical but instead was extremely fast and, in many
cases, catastrophic' (t has always been considered that the development of bipedalism
in hominids was related to increased competition between species caused by the
replacement during the 5iocene and Pliocene of vast forested areas by savanna
grasslands' We now also that in low"latitude areas during the last glacial maximum,
most tropical rain forest disappeared, leaving only isolated areas of refugia' (f it is true
that most of the Pleistocene was characteri&ed by cold and cool climate, it may be
reasonable to argue that during the Pleistocene most low"latitude environments were
only rarely characteri&ed by the expansion of rain forest and for the most part were
typified instead by semiarid conditions' The recurrence of such climatic regimes,
together with rapid ,sawtooth- fluctuations in climate, supports the view that such
time intervals may have been associated with considerable stresses and rapid
adaptation of species' Thus it is probably not realistic to envisage hominid
evolutionary stress and adaptation as having taen place against a bacground of
several slow, coldYwarm, interglacialYglacial cycles of climate change but rather
against a much harsher climatic bacground, the hallmar of which were sudden and
high"magnitude oscillations'
A recurring feature that also emerges in any consideration of Pleistocene hominid
evolution is that the artifact assemblages often exhibit negligible change over long
periods of time during which major climate fluctuations have taen place' The hand
axes of Acheulian assemblages, for example, appear to have changed little during the
last million years' Thus, there is great significance in the observation that whereas at
one time the seletal remains of fossil hominids and their artifacts were used to date
>uaternary deposits and events, the reverse is now true'
The study of Paleolithic archaeology has benefited greatly from recent improvements
in dating techni3ues, and the new ice core data now provide a perspective from which
to understand the great Late Pleistocene migrations of Homo sapiens sapiens and
Homo sapiens neanderthalis' (t is now nown, for example, that during the Late
Pleistocene in *orth America and 2ussia, there may have been at least three major
and well"dated periods of ice sheet glaciation separated by lengthy nonglacial
intervals' These climatic events must have influenced profoundly the movement of
people from eastern Asia into the Americas, although it is not clear what effect such
climatic changes may have had on the great egafaunal E.tinctions that too place
at the close of the Pleistocene' (t has been observed that whereas in *orth America the
extinctions coincide with the arrival of human groups, there is no such relationship for
Australia, where human coloni&ation at ca' 01,111 )'P' preceded the main extinctions
between :J,111 and /D,111 )'P' (t may be argued, nonetheless, that even if climatic
and natural habitat changes were the predominant factors in the megafaunal
extinctions at the end of the last glaciation, hominids may have helped deliver the
final coup de grVce to particular species that had already been subject to
environmental stresses'
(t should not be forgotten that our understanding of Pleistocene archaeology and
climate change is ultimately dependent on the application of accurate dating
techni3ues' At present, the accuracy of radiocarbon dating, commonly used in
archaeology, is being called into 3uestion' Whereas the sidereal and radiocarbon time
scales broadly correspond for the majority of the 4olocene, the same is not true for
the Late Pleistocene' As a result, we should not depend too much upon radiocarbon
dating to provide all of the archaeological answers that we re3uire'F!ee also
Australopithecus and %omo %abilis9 'romagnons9 Europe( the )irst
'oloni*ation Of9 %olocene articles on %olocene Environments 0n Europe,
%olocene Environments 0n Africa, %olocene Environments 0n the Americas9
%omo Erectus9 %omo Sapiens( Archaic9 %uman Evolution: 0ntroduction9
%umans( odern9 Neanderthals9 Paleolithic'G
!ibliograph"
6L(5AP Project 5embers, The !urface of (ce"Age +arth , !cience /I/ #/ICJ%.
pp'//E/K//EC'
Havid >' )owen, Auaternar! &eolog! #/IC<%'
*icholas B' !hacleton et al', Oxygen (sotope 6alibration of the Onset of (ce"2afting
and 4istory of 8laciation in the *orth Atlantic 2egion , *ature E1C #/I<0%. pp'J:1K
J:E'
Bohn +' 7ut&bach and 4' +' Wright, !imulation of the 6limate of /<,111 years )'P'9
2esults for the *orth AmericanY*orth AtlanticY+uropean !ector and 6omparison with
the 8eological 2ecord of *orth America , >uaternary !cience 2eviews 0 #/I<D%.
pp'/0CK/<C'
*icholas B' !hacleton, Oxygen (sotopes, (ce Lolume and !ea Level , >uaternary
!cience 2eviews J #/I<C%. pp'/<EK/I1'
Wallace !' )roecer and 8eorge 4' Henton, What Hrives 8lacial 6yclesR !cientific
American Banuary #/II1%. pp'0EKD1'
5artin )ell and 5ichael B' 6' Waler, Late Auaternar! #nvironmental Change
Ph!sical and Human Perspectives #/II:%'
Alastair 8' Hawson, 'ce Age #arth Late Auaternar! &eolog! and Climate #/II:%'
Willi Hansgaard et al', +vidence for 8eneral (nstability of Past 6limate from a :D1"
yr (ce"core 2ecord , *ature EJ0 #/IIE%. pp':/<K::1'
8reenland (ce"6ore Project #82(P% 5embers, 6limate (nstability Huring the Last
(nterglacial Period 2ecorded in the 82(P (ce 6ore , *ature EJ0 #/IIE%. pp':1EK:1C'
Alastair 8' Hawson
Australopithecus and %omo %abilis The African genus Australopithecus
includes several species of early human ancestors and collateral relatives' !ometime
before two million years ago one of these species gave rise to humans via the earliest,
most primitive species of our genus, Homo habilis'
%istor" of -iscover" and 0nterpretation
(n /I:D 2aymond QHart named a new genus and species, Australopithecus a"ricanus'
Hart proposed that the fossili&ed child;s sull from Taung, !outh Africa, represented a
bipedal species ancestral to later humans' Other authorities challenged this
interpretation' 5ore complete cranial and postcranial remains of Australopithecus
a"ricanus were found by paleontologist 2obert )room at !terfontein in the /IE1s
and /I01s' (n /IE<, )room added another species to the genus, recovering a partial
sull with a larger face and jaw from 7romdraai, !outh Africa' )room named it
Paranthropus robustus #most authorities include this species in Australopithecus, and
have dropped the genus name%' (n /I0< )room and Bohn 2obinson began to recover
additional examples of Australopithecus robustus at nearby !wartrans' $or the first
time they demonstrated two contemporary hominid species in Plio"Pleistocene times
=early Homo and robust Australopithecus' 2obinson;s wor on fossils of
Australopithecus a"ricanus and Australopithecus robustus led him to a formulate a
,dietary hypothesis,- whereby the former species had humanlie proportions of front
and bac teeth indicating an omnivorous diet, and the robust species had huge teeth
and jaws indicative of a vegetarian diet'
(n /IDI, after an intermittent search of over twenty"five years, 5ary Leaey, wife of
Louis Leaey, found a hominid cranium at Olduvai Gorge in eastern Africa' Anlie
the difficult"to"interpret, poorly dated Australopithecus"bearing cave infillings in
!outh Africa, Olduvai;s strata were arranged in an orderly fashion, with interbedded
volcanic strata amenable to radiometric dating' )ed (, low in the gorge, yielded the
massive, robust hominid cranium that Leaey named 3in4anthropus boisei' 5ost
worers immediately recogni&ed this specimen as a northern cousin of
Australopithecus robustus, but Louis Leaey insisted that he had found a direct
human ancestor dating to /'< million years ago' $urther excavations in )ed ( revealed
the contemporary fragmentary remains of a juvenile hominid whose larger braincase
and smaller teeth made it a better candidate for human ancestry' Leaey joined Phillip
Tobias and Bohn *apier in naming a new, initially disputed species, Homo habilis, in
/IJ0, relegating Australopithecus boisei to a collateral position'
)eginning with Olduvai, much new wor too place in eastern Africa;s rift' Huring
the late /IJ1s and early /IC1s 6lar 4owell, @ves 6oppens, and colleagues recovered
hominid fossils spanning the period / to E'0 million years from the Omo Lalley of
southern +thiopia' 2ichard Leaey;s wor at &oobi )ora in 7enya established the
validity of Homo habilis as a taxon distinct from Australopithecus a"ricanus' The
wor of 5ary Leaey;s team at Laetoli in Tan&ania, and the efforts of 5aurice Taieb,
Hon Bohanson, and their colleagues in +thiopia;s Afar Triangle at 4adar led to the
discovery of even more ancient fossil hominids' These remains were attributed by
Bohanson, Tim White, and 6oppens to a primitive species of Australopithecus5 A.
a"arensis in /IC<' (n the /I<1s the validity of Australopithecus aethiopicus was
confirmed at West Turana in 7enya' Associated cranial and postcranial remains of
Homo habilis were found at Olduvai' +xcavations at !terfontein yielded a large
sample of hominids and fauna' (n the early /II1s continuing wor by White and his
colleague Hesmond 6lar in the 5iddle Awash resulted in the recovery of fossil
hominids that predate four million years' These fossils, the earliest hominid ancestors,
were placed by T' White, 8en !uwa, and )erhane Asfaw into a new species of
Australopithecus5 Australopithecus ramidus, in /II0, and into a new genus
Ardipithecus in /IID' The earliest species of Australopithecus is A. anamensis, named
in /IID by 5eave Leaey and Alan Waler'
Australopithecus Toda"
Australopithecus appears in the record at about 0 million years ago, but slightly older
jaw and limb fragments may also belong to the genus' The youngest Australopithecus
specimens are from deposits a little beyond one million years ago and are
contemporary with Homo erectus' 6omparisons between the H*A of modern humans
and living great apes of Africa #the chimpan&ees and the gorilla% have shown that
these creatures, the pongids, are our closest living relatives' Australopithecus was
neither an ape nor a human' All Australopithecus species had seletons consistent
with upright, striding bipedalism, and this uni3ue hominid mode of locomotion is
indicated in many parts of the seleton' The fossili&ed Laetoli footprints attributed to
this species are consistent with this interpretation of the seletal anatomy' The genus
is therefore included in our own &oological family, the 4ominidae' Lirtually all bones
of the body are nown for A. a"arensis and A. a"ricanus, but seletal parts for A.
robustus and A. boisei are more poorly nown, and A. aethiopicus is unnown below
the cranium'
There is much body si&e variation in all nown species of Australopithecus, much of
this probably attributable to sexual dimorphism' !ome aspects of early
Australopithecus postcranial seletal anatomy such as long, curved finger and toe
phalanges may be holdovers of primitive traits from an ape ancestor' Alternatively,
some worers consider such traits to indicate semiarboreal existence' The
fundamental musculoseletal differences between Australopithecus and pongids in the
foot, the nee, and the pelvis, however, indicate abandonment of the arboreal
substrate and commitment to terrestrial bipedalism'
All Australopithecus species laced the strongly projecting, pointed canines seen in
great apes' Another generic trait is the large si&e of the teeth relative to the body si&e,
a phenomenon nown as megadontia' This suggests that Australopithecus consumed
low"3uality foods re3uiring heavy chewing' This is particularly true of the extremely
megadont, speciali&ed robust Australopithecus species' *one of the Australopithecus
species had substantially enlarged braincases, and most nown cranial capacities lie
between :D and EC cubic inches #011 and J11 cu cm%=about a third as large as the
braincases of modern people' Australopithecus is therefore a creature whose body had
evolved toward the human condition considerably sooner than its brain did=a good
example of ,mosaic evolution'-
The genus Australopithecus was exclusively African, and intermittent claims for its
presence in 6hina and Bava have usually been based on fragmentary remains
belonging to early Homo. Australopithecus fossils have been found in eastern and
southern Africa but this is not an accurate characteri&ation of genus distribution' Other
parts of Africa have not been so well explored or do not have depositional
environments conducive to the preservation of ancient seletal remains' The earliest
Australopithecus populations were ecologically widespread, from the dry, upland
wooded savannah at Laetoli to the more bushy, highland laeside environment at
4adar' 8iven these wide ecological tolerances, it is liely that even the earliest
Australopithecus populations were very widespread in Africa'
Possibly as a response to his critics; dismissal of Australopithecus a"ricanus as a
hominid ancestor, 2aymond Hart spent much of his career investigating the bones
found intermingled with hominid fossils in !outh African cave breccias'
6oncentrating on the 5aapansgat site, Hart interpreted antelope bone disproportions
and fragmentation as evidence for hominid modification' 4e imagined a prestone"tool
culture for Australopithecus a"ricanus in which bone, teeth, and horn were used for
implements' Hart called this the ,osteodontoeratic- culture, and he described
Australopithecus a"ricanus as an omnivorous hunting species' These ideas have been
tested by actualistic research on modern human and nonhuman carnivore bone
accumulations, and cast into doubt by 6' 7' )rain and others'
Hespite concentrated searches in appropriate contexts, no recogni&able stone or bone
implements, nor any other evidence of materially based cultural activity such as cut
mars on bones, has yet been found with the earliest species of Australopithecus'
5odern chimpan&ees, however, mae and use tools of perishable materials, and this
suggests a sort of minimal baseline against which early Australopithecus cultural
behaviors might be judged' +vidence for material culture in later Australopithecus is
even more clouded by the presence of at least one other contemporary hominid
lineage that evolves into humans' The earliest stone tools in the fossil record are
Oldowan assemblages from about :'J million years ago' This is a period from which
there is evidence of a robust Australopithecus as well as at least one other lineage
leading to Homo habilis in eastern Africa' (t is widely assumed that members of the
latter lineage were authors of the stone tools, but there is anatomically nothing that
would have prevented members of both lineages from maing and using stone tools'
The earliest and most apelie of six widely recogni&ed Australopithecus species is A.
anamensis from 7enya' (t was the ancestor of Australopithecus a"arensis, which is, in
turn, widely considered to be the ancestor of all later hominids' A. anamensis
descended from Ardipithecus ramidus sometime after 0'0 million years ago' One
evolving lineage in eastern Africa lins A. a"arensis with the descendant species A.
aethiopicus #ca' :'EK:'J million years ago F5yrG% and A. boisei #ca' /K: 5yr%' The
latter went extinct' Australopithecus a"ricanus #ca' :'DK:'< 5yr% may have been the
exclusive ancestor to either Homo habilis #ca' /'CK:'E 5yr% or to A. robustus #ca' /'<
5yr%' Alternatively, it might have been a common ancestor to both, or an evolutionary
dead end' !pecies distinctions and phylogenetic reconstructions within
Australopithecus are based on comparisons of the cranial and dental anatomy'
5any controversial issues persist in the study of Australopithecus and Homo habilis'
There is debate over whether the three species A. a"arensis5 A. a"ricanus, and Homo
habilis should each be broen into smaller species because of the large variation in
si&e and morphology seen in each' There is debate over the mode and tempo of
evolution in the various species, and there is heated controversy over the evolutionary
relationships among them' Also unresolved is the 3uestion of which or how many of
these taxa were responsible for manufacturing stone tools, and how the various
species members subsisted and locomoted' !ome of these problems, lie species
recognition, are intrinsic to the fossil record' 5ost of the problems and ongoing
debates result from an inade3uate fossil record, but accelerated fossil recovery has
established the presence of Australopithecus in human ancestry and revealed a more
complex and interesting picture of our origins and evolution than was once thought
possible'F!ee also Africa: Prehistor" of Africa9 Genetics 0n Archaeolog"9 %uman
Evolution'G
!ibliograph"
Lewis 2' )inford, Bone Ancient Men and Modern M!ths #/I</%'
6harles 7' )rain, The Hunters or the HuntedB #/I</%'
Bohn 2eader, Missing Lin1s #/I</%'
+ric Helson, ed', Ancestors The Hard #vidence #/I<D%'
2oger Lewin, Bones o" Contention #/I<C%'
$rederic +' 8rine, +volutionary 4istory of the ,2obust- Australopithecines #/I<<%'
2ichard 8' 7lein, The Human Career #/I<I%'
'ro1magnons are, in informal usage, a group among the late (ce Age peoples of
+urope' The 6ro"5agnons are identified with Homo sapiens sapiens of modern form,
in the time range ca' ED,111K/1,111 )'P', roughly corresponding with the period of the
Apper Paleolithic in archaeology' The term ,6ro"5agnon- has no formal taxonomic
status, since it refers neither to a species or subspecies nor to an archaeological phase
or culture' The name is not commonly encountered in modern professional literature
in +nglish, since authors prefer to tal more generally of anatomically modern
humans' They thus avoid a certain ambiguity in the label ,6ro"5agnon,- which is
sometimes used to refer to all early moderns in +urope #as opposed to the preceding
Neanderthals%, and sometimes to refer to a specific human group that can be
distinguished from other Apper Paleolithic humans in the region' *evertheless, the
term ,6ro"5agnon- is still very commonly used in popular texts, because it maes an
obvious distinction with the *eanderthals, and also refers directly to people, rather
than to the complicated succession of archaeological phases that mae up the Apper
Paleolithic' This evident practical value has prevented archaeologists and human
paleontologists=especially in continental +urope=from dispensing entirely with the
idea of 6ro"5agnons'
The 6ro"5agnons tae their name from a roc shelter in the Le&ere Lalley in the
Hordogne, within the famous village of Les +y&ies de Tayac' When the railway was
being constructed in /<J<, parts of five seletons were found sealed in Pleistocene
deposits, along with hearths and Aurignacian artifacts' !ubse3uently similar finds
were made at sites such as 6ombe 6apelle and Laugerie")asse in the Hordogne, and
5entone and 8rimaldi in (taly' Other specimens found earlier, such as Paviland in
)ritain and +ngis in )elgium could be set in the same group, and it became plain that
their physical maeup contrasted sharply with that of *eanderthals discovered in
other sites' !ufficient data to build up this classic picture accumulated over a period,
but it was brought into sharp focus following the find of a classic *eanderthal at La
6hapelle in /I1<' The early interpretations owe much to the $rench scholars
5arcellin )oule and 4enri Lallois' Later research has extended the geographical
distribution of similar humans and has provided an absolute dating scale for them9
however, later research has also raised many 3uestions about the origins of the 6ro"
5agnons and their status as a coherent group'
Ph"sical 'haracteristics and Adaptation
6ro"5agnons were closely similar to modern humans, but more robust in some
features, especially of the cranium' They meet criteria listed by 5ichael Hay and
6hris !tringer for modern humans, such as a short, high cranium and a discontinuous
supra"orbital torus #brow ridge%' 5any individuals were well above present"day
average in stature, often reaching around CD inches #/I1 cm%' Their limbs were long,
especially in the forearms and lower legs, body proportions suggesting to some
anthropologists that their origins lie in warm climes, rather than (ce Age +urope'
!ignificant variability had already been recogni&ed by )oule, who attributed *egroid
characters to some specimens from 8rimaldi #placing them in a separate race%' A
recent study has found that earlier specimens such as those from 6ro"5agnon and
5ladec in the 6&ech 2epublic are outside modern human range, whereas specimens
later than :J,111 )'P' generally fall within it' +manuel Llce regards the 5ladec (
finds as 6ro"5agnons, but sees features related to the *eanderthals in later 5ladec ((
specimens and ascribes later specimens from Holni Lestonice and Predmosti
specimens to a robust ,)rno 8roup'- !uch findings suggest that the original remains
from 6ro"5agnon are too distinctive to serve as a template of identification for a race
all over +urope' (f any overall trend can be piced out, it is toward greater gracility as
time progressed'
'hronolog"
8iven the rarity of human remains, it is easier to date the onset of the Apper
Paleolithic than the first appearance of people resembling the 6ro"5agnons, which is
not necessarily the same event' *evertheless, dates around 01,111 )'P' seem highly
liely' (t is certain that populations of Homo sapiens sapiens became established
throughout +urope in far less than /1,111 years' !ince the /ID1s the chronology of
these Late Pleistocene human populations has been derived principally from
radiocarbon dating' A late *eanderthal found at !t' 6Msaire in western $rance with a
6hVtelperronian #initial Apper Paleolithic% industry is dated to ca' EJ,111 )'P' by
thermoluminescence #TL%, but the Apper Paleolithic Aurignacian appears earlier in
northern !pain at ca' 0:,111KEI,111 )'P', as shown by radiocarbon and uranium series
dating' (t is widely assumed that the Aurignacian is associated with modern #i'e', 6ro"
5agnon"lie% populations, and that the 6hVtelperronian, though associated with
*eanderthals, may have been triggered by the cultural effects of modern human
presence elsewhere in the region #a so"called bow"wave phenomenon%'
Thereafter the 6ro"5agnons were continuously represented in +urope for :1,111
years or more' (t might be convenient to end the 6ro"5agnons with the glacial
maximum of /<,111 )'P', but in $rance their characteristics persist in 5agdalenian
populations through the later part of the glaciation until about /:,111K/1,111 )'P' At
this stage human populations began to become more gracile'
Geographical -istribution
4uman remains are extremely scarce in relation to the number of archaeological sites'
The earliest Apper Paleolithic in $rance is almost devoid of seletal remains9 finds
such as 6ro"5agnon, Abri Pataud, and 6ombe 6apelle are probably several thousand
years later' These are a minimal sampling of a distribution that archaeological traces
strongly suggest was much wider' Thus there are no early remains of 6ro"5agnons
from !pain, 8reece, or Turey, but populations were probably present' To the north,
Apper Paleolithic human remains have been found in )ritain, represented by Paviland
and 7ent;s 6avern, and in 8ermany, by 4ahnNfersand' $arther east, burials are well
represented in the Apper Paleolithic records of the 6&ech 2epublic, and in 2ussia at
7osteni and !unghir' (n the south numbers of finds are nown from (taly'
'ultural Associations
5ost of the Apper Paleolithic humans are found in deliberate burials, often single but
sometimes in groups, and fre3uently associated with grave goods, such as neclaces
of pierced teeth' !uch finds are nown from a se3uence of archaeological phases
beginning with the Aurignacian #e'g', 6ombe 6apelle or 5ladec%, but the succeeding
8ravettian #ca' :I,111K:1,111 )'P'% is richer in burials #e'g', those of Holni Lestonice
in the 6&ech 2epublic%' (t has yielded fewer specimens in western +urope' (n
southwestern +urope the !olutrean phase is associated with similar populations' They
are found again in the 5agdalenian or +pi"8ravettian' )y this time preserved human
remains are much more numerous, and they are nown from most parts of +urope'
8rave goods sometimes attest to highly developed artistic abilities' The 6ro"5agnons
were responsible for much art, but rarely figured in their own wor'
2elationship with the Neanderthals and Other %ominids
2ecent wor has shown that early modern humans #sometimes called Proto"6ro"
5agnons% first appeared at least /11,111 )'P' They are documented in Africa, but
most specifically on the cave sites of !hul and >af&eh in (srael in the period
/11,111KI1,111 )'P' The 6ro"5agnon specimens of +urope must be derived
ultimately from one of these ancestral populations, but the available finds show no
continuity' (ndeed, by J1,111 )'P' *eanderthals featured in the 5iddle +ast, and the
Proto"6ro"5agnons may have been displaced to the south' (t seems liely that they
returned somewhere around D1,111 )'P' and flowed into +urope, although there is no
documentation in the 5iddle +ast other than a burial at 7sar Ail in Lebanon' There
is also no close similarity, according to most authors, between the Proto"6ro"5agnons
and the 6ro"5agnons' The simplicity of these hypotheses is belied by the complexity
of the scarce data that we do have' Bust as the !t' 6Msaire find in $rance documented a
late *eanderthal and placed constraints on our ideas about the distribution of the early
6ro"5agnons, so one new early 6ro"5agnon discovery could dramatically alter our
view of their origins'F!ee also %umans( odern, articles on Origins of odern
%umans, Peopling the Globe'G
!ibliograph"
5arcellin )oule and 4enri Lallois, +ossil Men #/IDC%'
Paul 5ellars and 6hris !tringer, eds', The Human )evolution #/I<I%'
Paul 5ellars, ed', The #mergence o" Modern Humans #/II1%'
Alan )ilsborough, Human #volution #/II:%'
8unter )rauer and $red 4' !mith, eds', Continuit! or )eplacement Controversies in
Homo sapiens #volution #/II:%'
5artin B' Aiten, 6hristopher )' !tringer, and Paul A' 5ellars, eds', The $rigins o"
Modern Humans and the 'mpact o" Chronometric .ating #/IIE%'
Bohn A'B' 8owlett, Ascent to Civilization, 2nd ed. #/IIE%'
6hris !tringer and 6live 8amble, 'n %earch o" the (eanderthals #/IIE%'
Europe( the )irst 'oloni*ation Of (n archaeology, it has been the traditional
view for decades that humanind arose in Africa, and only spread to other continents
at a comparatively late stage' The human ancestor nown as Homo habilis #handy
man% evolved in Africa by about : million years ago but never spread elsewhere' (t
was the later species, Homo erectus #erect man%, which also appeared first in Africa
around /'< million years ago, that radiated out from that continent into +urope and
elsewhere around / million years ago'
This scenario has been challenged in recent years, not only by some #still contentious%
new dates which place Homo erectus in (ndonesia at /'< million years ago, and which
assign similar ages to stone tools in Paistan and (srael #Abeidiyeh%, but also by a
series of finds and dates in +urope and !iberia that may yet lead to a complete
revision of human prehistory'
At present, the earliest nown human remains in +urope are the recently discovered
#though still somewhat controversial% series of fragments found in the Orce )asin,
northeast of 8ranada in southeast !pain, which, together with stone tools from the
area, are thought to date to about /'J million years ago' Liewise, some collapsed
cave"sites in the !ierra de Atapuerca near )urgos, in northern !pain, have recently
yielded one hundred fragments from five or six individual humans, dating to between
<11,111 and / million years ago, as well as some crude stone tools #associated with
animal bones% from a lower layer estimated to be a million years old'
!uch finds are far more ancient than what was previously thought to be +urope;s
oldest human bone, the 5auer jaw in 8ermany, dating to about D11,111 years ago'
(n sites lacing human remains, the clues to a human presence lie in stone tools' As in
Africa, however, the earliest artifacts tend to be somewhat crude and rudimentary,
maing it often difficult to prove that they are indeed human"wored rather than
products of nature' One site containing what are agreed to be definite tools is the cave
of Lallonnet in the Alpes"5aritimes of southern $rance, which has yielded four flaes
and five pebble tools of limestone and 3uart&ite in its center, while animal bones were
pushed against the walls' The cave had no traces of fire' (ts occupation is dated to
about I11,111 years ago'
Archaic pebble industries are also nown from a number of areas=for example the
high terraces of 6atalonia and 2oussillon #!pain and $rance% and those of the !omme
#$rance%=which are thought to date bac to at least <11,111 years ago'
These remains, however, are young when compared to the claims being made for a
number of sites in the 5assif 6entral, $rance, a crucial region for the investigation of
early occupations since its volcanic layers not only afford good conservation but also
allow accurate dating' The best"nown site is that of 6hilhac, in the upper valley of
the Allier, which is rich in early fauna but which has also yielded a very archaic
pebble industry of choppers, cores, and flaes' Anfortunately its date of /'I million
years has been obtained for the fauna rather than for the industry, but some
researchers believe that the two are contemporaneous'
5ore recently, claims have emerged from the region that +urope may have been
occupied up to :'D million years ago' The principal proponent of this view, the $rench
prehistorian +ugPne )onifay, has discovered what seem to be crude tools of 3uart& at
a site called !aint +ble, located near Langeac at the foot of 5ont 6oupet, an extinct
volcano in the Auvergne region of the 5assif 6entral' !everal hundred flaes and
chuns of 3uart& have been recovered from deposits that lie beneath #and are therefore
older than% animal fossils nown to be around : million years old, and also beneath
debris from the volcano of about the same age'
The crucial 3uestion is whether the flaes and pebbles were wored artificially or are
products of nature' )onifay believes that at least five of the 3uart& pieces are of
un3uestioned human manufacture, though other specialists remain divided on the
issue. some argue that the ,tools- may in fact have been produced by volcanic
eruption'
(f human remains were to be found with the tools, this would be a decisive factor, but
meanwhile sites in other parts of the world are accepted by many specialists simply on
the evidence of stone tools' (n the absence of bones, speculation as to the identity of
these first +uropean tool"maers remains just that, though most assume it was some
form of Homo erectus or perhaps even Homo habilis for the earliest sites'
!ome support for the +uropean claims has also been emerging in northern Asia in
recent years' (n /II/, the complete and very archaic lower jaw of an adult hominid
was found in the republic of 8eorgia, in the city of Hmanisi' (t has been dated to
about /'0 million years ago, and assigned to an early Homo erectus or an even older
hominid' (t was found with archaic stone tools of volcanic tuff and some fractured
faunal remains'
5oreover, in the /I<1s the 2ussian archaeologist @uri 5ochanov discovered a very
early stone"tool industry at the site of Hiring in !iberia which he believes to be at least
/'< million years old, and perhaps even E': million on the basis of
palaeoenvironmental data' The pebble tools are claimed to resemble those from
Olduvai 8orge, Tan&ania, more closely than those from any other +arly Pleistocene
site, and have led him to resurrect the long"ignored theory of a nontropical origin for
humanind' While few researchers agree with 5ochanov;s earliest date, he has
recently found considerable support among American specialists not only for the
claim that the industry is humanly made, but also for a date of at least D11,111 years
ago' (n view of the 8eorgian jaw, a date of /'< million no longer seems preposterous
for a site in !iberia'
(n short, the traditional scenario of a rather late entrance of Homo erectus into +urope
no more than I11,111 years ago is being gradually undermined, not only by
discoveries of stone tools throughout +urope that may be at least twice as old, but also
by the Hmanisi jaw in 8eorgia and the Hiring finds in !iberia which point to a human
presence in northern Asia by at least /'0 million )'P', and perhaps far earlier' The next
few years will undoubtedly produce more such claims and, one hopes, further well"
dated artifacts and hominid remains which will help clarify this new version of events'
F!ee also Europe: The European Paleolithic Period9 %umans( odern: Peopling
of the Globe9 Paleolithic: Lower and iddle Paleolithic'G
!ibliograph"
Les Premiers Habitants de l,#urope 65C995999:6995999 ans' #/I<:%'
+' )onifay and )' Landermeersch, eds', Les Premiers #uropens, Actes du //0e
6ongrPs nat' des !ociMtMs !avantes, Paris /I<I #/II/%'
P' 8' )ahn, Treasure of the !ierra Atapuerca , Archaeology 0I #/% #/IIJ%. pp'0DK0<'
%OLO'ENE
(ntroduction Lictorian biologist 6harles -arwin pointed to Africa as the cradle of
humanind, because the closest primate relatives of humans lived there' A century and
a half of intensive palaeoanthropological research has shown he was right' The
archaeological record of human activity is longer in tropical Africa than anywhere
else in the world, extending bac more than :'D million years' At present, the evidence
for very early human evolution comes from eastern and southern Africa' Tim White
describes the earliest Australopithecines and hominids from +thiopia, 7enya, and
Tan&ania, an area where the increasingly diverse primate fossil record now extends
bac to 0 million years' )ipedalism dates bac far earlier than the first appearance of
stone artifacts and other protohuman culture, which first appear in archaeological sites
lie those at &oobi )ora on the eastern shore of Lae Turana in northern 7enya
about :'D million years ago' These earliest sites are little more than transitory scatters
of crude stone artifacts and fractured animal bones, located in dry stream beds, where
there was shade and water' (n this section, *icholas Toth and 7athy !chic describe
the stone technology behind this earliest of human tool its, reconstructed from
controlled experiments and replications of the first hominid stoneworing' 5uch of
the evidence for very early human behavior comes from the now"classic sites in )ed (
at Olduvai Gorge in northern Tan&ania, excavated by Louis and 5ary Lea$e"'
Hating to just under : million years ago, these small artifact and bone scatters have
been the subject of much controversy, but they are now regarded not as campsites but
as places where early hominids cached meat and ate flesh scavenged from predator
ills' The earliest human lifeway was much more apelie than human, with Homo
habilis, and probably other hominids, relying heavily on both edible plants and
scavenged game meat'
Homo erectus, a more advanced human, seems to have evolved about /'< million
years ago in Africa from earlier hominid stoc' )y that time, too, some Homo erectus
populations were living in !outheast Asia' !o if these archaic humans evolved in
Africa, they must have radiated rapidly out of Africa into other tropical regions' Leslie
Aiello analy&es what we now about Homo erectus from a very setchy fossil record
and shows that these humans evolved slowly toward more modern forms over a
period of more than /'D million years' Africa provides good evidence for animal
butchery and the domestication of fire by Homo erectus, especially by about CD1,111
years ago, with some experts arguing that fire originated on the +ast African savanna'
To what extent Homo erectus relied on big"game hunting as opposed to scavenging
for meat supplies is a matter for controversy' 4owever, more diverse tool its, some
of them surprisingly lightweight, argue for improved hunting sills throughout Africa,
at a time when humans were adapting to all manner of moist and arid tropical
environments'
5ost authorities also believe that anatomically modern humans evolved in Africa
from a great diversity of archaic Homo sapiens forms, which in turn evolved from
much earlier human populations' As 8unter )raWer points out, two main hypotheses
pit those who believe Africa was the homeland of modern humans against those who
argue for the evolution of Homo sapiens sapiens in Africa, Asia, and other regions
more or less simultaneously' The evidence for an African origin is in large part
derived from mitochondrial H*A, but the fossil record from &lasies 2iver 'ave,
Omo, and other locations provides at least some evidence for anatomically modern
humans as early, if not earlier, than in the *ear +ast' According to the out"of"Africa
hypothesis, modern humans evolved south of the !ahara, then radiated northward
across the desert at a time when it was moister than today, appearing in the *ear +ast
at least /11,111 years ago' )ut, while the case for an African origin for modern
humans is compelling, the actual scientific evidence to support it is still inade3uate'
Huring the last glaciation, the !ahara was extremely dry, effectively isolating the
African tropics from the 5editerranean' Hespite this isolation, Africans developed
sophisticated foraging cultures, adapted not only to grassland and woodland savanna
but to dense rain forest and semiarid and desert conditions' We now little of these
adaptations, except from increasingly speciali&ed tool its, many of them based on
small stone flaes and blades' The ultimate roots of the !tone Age foraging cultures of
relatively recent millennia and centuries lie in the many late !tone Age groups that
flourished throughout tropical Africa for more than /1,111 years, as societies in the
*ear +ast, +urope, and Asia were experimenting with agriculture and animal
domestication' !ome of these Late !tone Age groups, especially the ancestors of the
modern"day !an of southern Africa, are celebrated for their lively cave paintings and
engravings, which, as Havid Lewis"Williams tells us, have deep symbolic meaning'
As !teven )randt and Andrew !mith recount, farming and animal domestication came
to tropical Africa very late in prehistoric times' 6ereal agriculture may have been
introduced into the *ile Lalley by J111 )'6', or crops may have been domesticated
there indigenously, but the 3uestion is still unresolved' At the time, the !ahara Hesert
was still moister than today, supporting scattered groups of cattle herders by D111 )'6'
While ancient +gyptian civili&ation was based on the annual floods of the *ile 2iver,
the !aharans had no such dependable water supplies' As the desert dried up after 0111
)'6', they moved to the margins of the desert, into the *ile Lalley, and onto the West
African !ahel, where both cattle herding and the cultivation of summer rainfall crops
were well established by :111 )'6' About this time, some pastoralist groups also
penetrated on the +ast African highlands' )ut the spread of agriculture and herding
into tropical regions was inhibited by widespread tsetse fly belts and, perhaps, by the
lac of tough"edged axes for forest clearance' (t was not until after /111 )'6' that the
new economies spread from northwest of the ?aire forest and from the southern
!ahara into eastern, central, and southern Africa' These lifeway changes may have
connected with the introduction of ironworing technology, which was well
established in West Africa in the first millennium )'6', having been introduced from
either *orth Africa or the *ile along desert trade routes' Once ironworing spread,
especially through the ?aire forest, agriculture spread rapidly' )y A'H' D11, mixed
farming cultures were well established throughout tropical Africa, except in areas lie
the 7alahari Hesert, where any form of farming or herding was marginal' The rapid
spread of farming may have also coincided, in general terms, with the spread of )antu
languages throughout tropical Africa from somewhere northwest of the ?aire forest'
With the spread of food production throughout tropical Africa, many general patterns
of architecture9 metal, wood, and clay technology9 and subsistence were established
south of the !ahara' These simple farming cultures achieved great elaboration during
the ensuing two millennia, largely as a result of African responses to economic and
political opportunities outside the continent'
Ancient +gyptian civili&ation was one of the earliest and most long"lived of all
preindustrial civili&ations' The *ile Lalley from the 5editerranean !ea to the $irst
6ataract at Aswan was unified under the pharaoh *armer about E/11 )'6', in a state
that had entirely indigenous roots, even if some innovations, lie writing, may have
arrived in +gypt from elsewhere in the *ear +ast' There is no evidence that ancient
+gypt was a blac African civili&ation, as some scholars have claimed, even if there
was constant interaction between the land of the pharaohs and *ubia, upstream of the
$irst 6ataract, for more than E,111 years' The Old 7ingdom pharaohs explored
*ubian lands for their exotic raw materials' When the +gyptian state passed through a
period of political weaness, *ubian leaders assumed greater control and power over
the vital trade routes that passed through the Land of 7ush' 5iddle and *ew
7ingdom pharaohs con3uered, garrisoned, then coloni&ed 7ush, which survived as a
powerful ingdom in its own right after /111 )'6', reaching the height of its power
when *ubian ings briefly ruled over +gypt in the seventh century )'6' After being
driven from +gypt and chivied as far as their *apatan homeland, the *ubian ings
withdrew far upstream to eroe, where they founded an important ingdom at the
crossroads between !aharan, 2ed !ea, and *ile trade routes' 5eroe became an
important trade center, especially with the domestication of the 'amel in the late first
millennium )'6', also a major center for ironworing, going into decline only in the
fifth century )'6', when it was overthrown by the ings of the rival ingdom Asum
in the +thiopian highlands' Lie 5eroe, Asum prospered off the 2ed !ea trade,
emerging into prominence with the 5editerranean and (ndia' (t reached the height of
its power in the eleventh century )'6', after 6hristianity reached +thiopia'
Two developments had a profound effect on the course of tropical African history' The
first was the domestication of the camel, which opened up the trade routes of the
!ahara Hesert' The second was the discovery by 8ree navigators about the time of
Besus of the 5onsoon winds of the (ndian Ocean' These two developments brought
Africa into the orbit of much larger, and rapidly developing, global economic systems,
which were to lin 6hina, !outheast Asia, Africa, and the 5editerranean and
+uropean worlds into a giant web of interconnectedness'
6amels were not used for !aharan travel in the 2oman colonies in *orth Africa,
although they may have penetrated south of the desert on several occasions' The
!aharan camel trade in gold, salt, and other commodities developed in the first
millennium A'H', especially after the spread of (slam into *orth Africa' (ndigenous
West African ingdoms developed in the !aharan !ahel, at the southern extremities of
the caravan routes, as local leaders exercised close control over the mining and
bartering of gold and other tropical products' )y A'H' /111, (slam was widespread in
the !ahel, and the !ahara, the West African savanna, and the forests to the south were
lined by close economic ties' 8hana, 5ali, and !onghai in turn dominated the
southern end of the !aharan trade between I11 and /D11, during centuries when most
of +urope;s gold came from West Africa' !mall ingdoms also developed in the West
African forest, as the institution of ingship assumed great importance, associated as
it was with long"distance trade, important ancestor cults, and indigenous terra"cotta
and bron&e sculpture and art traditions that flourished long after +uropean contact in
the late fifteenth century'
The monsoon winds lined not only the 2ed !ea and Arabia with (ndia, but the Land
of ?anj, on the +ast African coast, as well' Huring the first millennium, Arabian
merchants visited the villages and towns of the coast regularly, trading gold, ivory, hut
poles, and other products for textiles, porcelain, glass vessels, glass beads, and other
exotic products' )y //11, a series of small ports and towns dotted the coast from
present"day !omalia to 7ilwa in the south' This was a cosmopolitan African
civili&ation, with strong indigenous roots and close ties to Arabia' (ts merchants
obtained gold, ivory, and other interior products from ingdoms far from the coast,
notably from the !hona chiefdoms between the Limpopo and ?ambe&i 2ivers in
southern Africa' Archaeological evidence shows how a series of powerful cattle
ingdoms developed in this highland region, ingdoms that prospered from their
connections with long"distance trade routes that lined them with the port of !ofala
on the 5o&ambi3ue coast' Huring the fifteenth century, Great #imbabwe, the seat of
the 5utapa Hynasty, was at the height of its importance' ?imbabwe;s imposing stone
ruins are among Africa;s most important archaeological sites, for the settlement was
abandoned just before +uropeans landed at the 6ape of 8ood 4ope'
African ingdoms developed out of indigenous roots, especially in areas where local
leaders could control important resources such as gra&ing grass, salt sources, and
copper or gold mines' A series of such chiefdoms flourished south of the ?aire forest
in the 7isale region at the end of the first millennium' 2ichly adorned graves testify to
the great economic power and far"flung trading contacts in the region' 6ultural
influences from these ingdoms spread far and wide over central and southern Africa
before the fifteenth century'
A seminal event in African history came with the Portuguese capture of the important
(slamic trading city of 6euta in 5orocco in /0/D' (n the /0E1s and /001s, Prince
4enry the *avigator of Portugal sent ships on long journeys of exploration down the
West African coast, trying to outflan the (slam"controlled !aharan gold routes' )y
/0<1, the Portuguese were well established along the West African coast, while Lasco
da 8ama rounded the 6ape of 8ood 4ope, explored the +ast African towns, and
crossed the (ndian Ocean to 8oa, opening up a southern route for the spice trade'
+uropean contact with Africa brought new economic opportunities for Africans, who
too full advantage of them' These opportunities were manifested in the Atlantic slave
trade, which began early in the Portuguese exploration of African coasts and reached a
crescendo in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries' 6hristopher He6orse
summari&es the emerging field of historical archaeology, which is documenting not
only the +uropean presence in Africa but some of the cultural interactions resulting
from the slave trade and other developments'F!ee also Afar9 Africa( Origins of )ood
Production 0n9 Anti/uit" of %uman$ind: Anti/uit" of %uman$ind 0n the Old
5orld9 Australopithecus and %omo %abilis9 East Africa9 Eg"pt and Africa9
%olocene: %olocene Environments 0n Africa9 %uman Evolution, articles on
0ntroduction, )ossil Evidence )or %uman Evolution, The Archaeolog" of %uman
Origins9 %umans( odern: Origins of odern %umans9 %unter1gatherers(
African9 Nubia9 Pastoralists( African9 2oc$ Art: 2oc$ Art of Southern Africa9
Trade: African9 5est African )orest &ingdoms9 5est African Savanna
&ingdoms9 5est African Sculpture'G
)rian 5' $agan
%olocene Environments 0n Africa African environments, ultimately, are
determined primarily by the local climates, in which there were many and profound
changes during the 4olocene' 6limatic changes within and outside the tropics
sometimes seem to have been out of phase, but this may in part result from the
imprecision of the dating' Also, there were important local and regional anomalies
within the overall climatic patterns'
!ince most of Africa lies at low latitudes, temperature changes have not been very
mared' At the beginning of the 4olocene, temperatures were still recovering from
their minima during the Last 8laciation #overall, perhaps I\ $ FD\ 6G lower than
today%' !outhern Africa was warmer than at present between about I111 and 0C11
)'P', but was generally cooler both before and since' (n eastern e3uatorial Africa, in
contrast, modern temperatures were not reached until about JC11 )'P'9 warmer
temperatures are also detectable in western and northern Africa by C111 )'P'
2ainfall is the critical determinant of African environments' 5uch of the continent
witnessed extreme aridity until about /:,D11 )'P', when the tropics became much
wetter' Laes filled closed basins throughout the region, the larger laes reaching
higher levels #sometimes more than EE1 feet F/11 mG higher% than their modern
successors, and some of them overflowing' There was a brief arid phase at about
/1,D11 )'P' #perhaps reflecting the glacial readvance at higher latitudes%, but the laes
seem to have reached their maximal stands between ID11 and <D11 )'P' Lae 6had,
which overflowed, stood /E1 feet #01 m% higher than it does today and covered an
area of some /ED,111 s3uare miles #ED1,111 s3 m%' The *ile, fed by increased
rainfall in its headwaters, began to cut down into its floodplain at about /:,D11 )'P',
even though the level of the 5editerranean was rising, and continued down"cutting
until about J111 )'P'
2eflecting the higher rainfall and temperatures, the rainforests began to expand at /EK
/:,111 )'P', and were at their maximal extent from C111 to ED11 )'P' At this time,
they reached some ::1 miles #ED1 m% north of their present limit, and the Hahomey
8ap #the brea in rainforest distribution in Togo and )enin% was probably closed'
The +arly 4olocene wet phase also involved a northward expansion of the monsoon
belt' 2ains had reached the eastern !ahara by about //,111 )'P', and by ID11 )'P'
affected most of the modern !ahara and !ahel' 2ainfall was not necessarily high. in
the eastern !ahara, it may not have exceeded 0 inches #/11 mm% a year, but this is a
region where no rain had fallen for perhaps D1,111 years and where none falls today'
The !ahelian environment expanded into what is now high desert, and intensive use
of some of the !ahelian plants eventually domesticated in Africa, particularly
sorghum, began at this time' At ID11 )'P', the *iger breached the dune barrier and
flooded the A&awad delta /I1 miles #E11 m% northward' )y <E11 )'P', there were
permanent laes in a steppe parland all across the !ahel and !ahara up to :0\ *,
supporting groups of gatherers and fishers'
The early northward expansion of the monsoon rains across the !ahara was probably
not associated with a southward expansion of the 5editerranean winter rains'
4owever, the monsoons reached as far as southern (srael, so that all of the eastern and
central !ahara received rainfall' (t is possible that northwestern Africa remained arid
somewhat longer' The western !ahara was not populated until about C111 )'P', when
5editerranean faunal elements indicate that the desert had finally, it temporarily,
disappeared'
2ainfall was not consistently high in the tropics' 5ost lae levels fell at about CD11
)'P'9 they had recovered by C111 )'P' but were not so high as before, and in both
eastern and western Africa, rainfall became more seasonal' Aridity had begun to
increase throughout the continent by 0D11 )'P' The eastern !ahara had already been
long abandoned, except for the massifs and the great oases, and even the western
!ahara was unoccupied after 0KE111 )'P' The retreat of the rainforests before the
encroaching savanna, beginning around ED11KE111 )'P', may have been a factor in
the synchronous )antu expansion' There have been later, more humid episodes, but
they have been brief, locali&ed, and comparatively minor'
+nvironmental variations in southern Africa were initially the reverse of those farther
north' Thus, after being more humid during the maximum cold of the Last 8laciation,
southern Africa became drier at about /:,111 )'P', and the major 4olocene wet phase
was not established until about I111 )'P' Thereafter, most of the southern part of the
continent generally was in phase with the rest of Africa, the wet period ending by
about 0111 )'P'F!ee also egafaunal E.tinction9 Paleoenvironmental
2econstruction9 Pleistocene'G
!ibliograph"
B' A' Allan, ed', The %ahara. #cological Change and #arl! #conomic Histor! #/I</%'
$' A' !treet"Perrott and *' 2oberts, $luctuations in 6losed )asin Laes as an (ndicator
of Past Atmospheric 6irculation Patterns, in ?ariations in the &lobal -ater Budget,
ed' $' A' !treet"Perrott, 5' )eran, and 2' 2atcliffe #/I<E%, pp' pp'EE/KE0D'
2ichard 8' 7lein, ed', %outhern A"rican Prehistor! and Palaeoenvironments #/I<0%'
P' H' Tyson, Climatic Change and ?ariabilit! in %outhern A"rica #/I<J%'
A' T' 8rove, Africa;s 6limate in the 4olocene, in The Archaeolog! o" A"rica +ood5
Metals and Towns, ed' Thurstan !haw, Paul !inclair, )assey Andah, and Alex Opoo
#/IIE%, pp' pp'E:K0:'
B' 5aley, The 6limatic and Legetational 4istory of the +3uatorial 2egions of Africa
during the Apper >uaternary, in The Archaeolog! o" A"rica +ood5 Metals and Towns,
ed' Thurstan !haw, Paul !inclair, )assey Andah, and Alex Opoo #/IIE%, pp' pp'0EK
D:'
%olocene Environments 0n Europe The environment of Europe changed
dramatically during the 4olocene due to both natural and human factors, the relative
importance of which varied through time' At the end of the last (ce Age, a large part of
northern +urope was covered by ice sheets, while much of the area further south
experienced cold conditions and supported open herb"dominated vegetation or open
woodlands of birch =Betula> and pine =Pinus>' !ea level was below its present height
because of water held in the ice sheets, and )ritain was joined to the continent by a
land bridge'
The rapid temperature rise at the onset of the 4olocene #/1,111 )'P'% enabled trees to
spread northwards, leading to the development of dense woodland over much of
+urope by ca' <111 )'P' (n northwestern and central +urope this woodland was a
mixture of broad"leaved trees, including ha&el =Cor!lus avellana>, oa =Auercus>, elm
=0lmus>, lime =Tilia>, and alder =Alnus>, while pine, birch, and spruce =Picea> were
dominant in !candinavia and eastern +urope' 2ising sea levels separated )ritain from
the continent by <111 )'P' and the coastline of +urope resembled that of today by ca'
C111 )'P'
These changes presented 5esolithic peoples with a varying resource base, as plant
and animal populations changed and the extent and distribution of coastal resources
shifted' $or example, $ranchthi cave in southern 8reece today lies a few meters above
sea level on a rocy coast, but at the start of the 4olocene the sea was up to : miles
#:KE m% away, and separated from the cave by mudflats' This change in the position
of the coastline is reflected in changes in the type of mollus exploited by the
inhabitants of the cave, from mudflat species to types characteristic of rocy shores at
ca' <111 )'P'
Away from the coast, 5esolithic sites clustered around laes and rivers, enhancing
mobility and providing opportunities for fishing' The +arly 5esolithic #ca' IJ11 )'P'%
site of Star 'arr, northern +ngland, was on the edge of a large lae surrounded by
open birch woodland' 2ed deer =Cervus elaphus>, roe deer =Capreolus capreolus>, el
=Alces alces>, aurochs =Bos primigenius>, and pig =%us scro"a>, were hunted by the
occupants of the site9 birch trees were used for timber and birch bar was collected,
possibly for resin'
4a&el was the dominant tree over much of northwest +urope between ca' ID11 and
CD11 )'P', and at some 5esolithic sites ha&elnuts seem to have been an important part
of the diet' (t has been suggested that the human population may have managed ha&el
by using fire to suppress its competitors, although pollen and charcoal analyses do not
support this' *evertheless, fire may have been used to create small clearings or to
drive game, and there is evidence from some upland areas of northern +ngland that
burning was widespread in the later 5esolithic period'
Agriculture was first introduced into southeast +urope at ca' I111K<111 )'P', and had
spread to the northwest by DD11KD111 )'P' 6ereal cultivation re3uired clearance of
woodland to create fields, and minor clearings, or ,landnam- episodes, appear in
pollen diagrams from this time' The overall extent of woodland was not greatly
reduced, and it continued to be used as a resource' That some woodland may have
been managed is suggested by the uniform poles of wood used in some of the
Somerset Levels tracways in southwest +ngland' Trees, particularly elm and lime,
also provided a source of leaf fodder for cattle, as suggested by the find of leaf hay in
byres at the +arly *eolithic site of Thayngen"Weier in !wit&erland' This type of
exploitation may have been at least partially responsible for the decline of elm in D111
)'P', which is widely recorded in pollen diagrams from northern +urope'
$rom the Late *eolithic and )ron&e Age, human impacts on the environment
increased, as woodland was cleared to provide land for cultivation and pasture, often
leading to the onset of soil erosion' (n upland areas of northwest +urope, the onset of
blanet peat formation seems to have resulted from changes in the water balance
brought about by woodland clearance, while in areas of lower rainfall, heathland
formed on nutrient"impoverished soils' The original woodland of the 5editerranean
area was replaced by thorny gra&ing"resistant shrubs #macchia and garrigue%' The last
four thousand years, therefore, have witnessed a major change in the nature of
+uropean environments, from a substantially wooded landscape to one with a mosaic
of vegetation types, most of which owe their character, directly or indirectly, to human
activity'F!ee also Elm -ecline( European9 egafaunal E.tinction9
Paleoenvironmental 2econstruction9 Pleistocene'G
!ibliograph"
)' 4untley and 4'B')' )irs, An Atlas o" Past and Present Pollen Maps "or #urope
9:6;999 Dears Ago #/I<E%'
)' 4untley and T' Webb (((, ?egetation Histor! #/I<<%'
*eil 2oberts, The Holocene #/I<I%'
%olocene Environments 0n the Americas About /:,111 years ago, prior to the
onset of the 4olocene, there was a general warming trend throughout *orth America'
This decreased the area and thicness of the Laurentide ice sheet' )y /:,111 years
ago, the prevalent anticyclonic winds, which probably dominated the climates of the
western Anited !tates during the glacial maximum, weaened, so that more dominant
westerly winds began to blow across the Anited !tates' 2eduction of the ice sheet and
the accompanying warming trend reduced the spruce forests of the midwestern Anited
!tates and eliminated spruce from southerly regions, such as Texas' (n the western and
southwestern Anited !tates, alpine woodlands that had extended their range
downslope during the glacial maximum were now in full retreat and were soon
restricted to higher elevations' (n the same regions, shallow playa laes dried, and
surface levels in larger laes, such as Lae )onneville, were dropping' (n the
southeastern Anited !tates, mixed deciduous forests were expanding into regions that
had once been dominated by conifer forests of spruce or fir'
)y the beginning of the 4olocene, at /1,111 years ago, an increase in summer
insolation raised temperature averages by as much as EJ to EI\ $ #:K0\ 6% in much of
North America, except in northeastern 6anada, where a smaller and thinner remnant
of the Laurentide ice sheet still existed' *evertheless, the remaining ice sheet
continued to influence the +arly 4olocene climate of *orth America' As the
remaining ice sheet in *orth America and alpine glaciers in !outh America melted,
sea levels rose, causing flooding in many low"lying coastal areas' +arly 4olocene
precipitation levels in *orth America and in tropical regions of 'entral and South
America were higher than present levels9 however, by I,111 years ago there was a
reverse pattern in the southern temperate regions of !outh America, where rainfall
levels decreased' A wea glacial anticyclonic wind pattern was still present in the
eastern regions of *orth America' 4owever, subtropical highs over the Pacific Ocean
strengthened and created a dominant westerly wind pattern across the western and
central portions of *orth America and throughout most of !outh America' )y the
+arly 4olocene, climates in most areas of *orth America were becoming similar to
climates in those regions today' +xceptions were northeastern *orth America and
continental alpine regions, where climatic conditions remained colder than they are at
present due to the effects of remaining ice sheets or alpine glaciers' !outherly, warm,
monsoonal winds began flowing northward from the 8ulf of 5exico during the +arly
4olocene into adjacent regions of 6entral and *orth America' Overall, the improving
climatic conditions throughout the Americas created modern biomes, similar to those
of the present, by <111 years ago' The major exceptions were in some regions of
!outh America, where mesic forests reached their greatest expansion'
(n much of *orth and !outh America, the +arly 4olocene climatic conditions
continued until around J,111 years ago, when precipitation levels began to drop below
presentday levels' !ummer temperatures continued to rise in interior *orth America
and soon reached a maximum average EJKEI\ $ #:K0\ 6% higher than temperatures in
those regions today' The effects of these climatic changes led to elevational rises of
traditional lowland biomes upslope in mountainous regions and led to the formation
of dunes and stream erosion in areas of arid lowlands' !imilar patterns occurred in
!outh America, where lae levels dropped in response to warmer climates and higher
evaporation rates' )y J,111 years ago, the southerly winds from the 8ulf of 5exico
strengthened, while in the west and midwest strong westerlies prevailed' The 5iddle
4olocene rise in summer temperatures, coupled with increased evaporation caused by
the hot, dry westerly winds, reduced the remaining forested and parland areas in the
central part of *orth America and allowed prairies to expand to their maximum si&e'
(n the southern areas of !outh America, warmer conditions during the 5iddle
4olocene reduced the expanse of mesic forests and created an expansion of
grasslands' (n *orth America, the southern boundary of spruce forests receded to its
northernmost latitude and treeline during the 4olocene'
)y the Late 4olocene #ca' E111 )'P'Kpresent%, summer temperatures and evaporation
levels in the interior of *orth and !outh America gradually decreased from their
5iddle 4olocene highs to the levels currently found in these regions today' Huring
this time period, the strength of the westerlies weaened in *orth America, but today
they still blow from essentially the same direction' Along the northern border of the
Anited !tates, spruce forests began moving southward to their present boundary in
these regions of *orth America' The boundaries of the present biomes in the Western
4emisphere were in place by /,111 years ago in almost all regions'F!ee also
egafaunal E.tinction9 Paleoenvironmental 2econstruction9 Pleistocene'G
!ibliograph"
B' 2abassa, Auaternar! o" %outh America and Antarctic Peninsula, vol' / #/I<E%'
L' 5' )ryant and 2' 8' 4olloway, Pollen )ecords o" Late@Auaternar! (orth
American %ediments #/I<D%'
6O45AP 5embers, 6limatic 6hanges of the Last /<,111 @ears. Observations and
5odel !imulations , !cience :0/ #/I<<%. pp'/10EK/1D:'
2eligion is a common if not universal feature of human societies, past and present'
(ts remains, in the form of icons, shrines, temples, and churches, form a conspicuous
part of the archaeological record' (t is recogni&ed as one of the most powerful forces
operating on individuals and societies, one which can stimulate them to acts of great
enterprise or great cruelty' @et much of what we now of early religions is derived not
from archaeology alone, but from the written documents that are associated with it' (n
a prehistoric context, where textual evidence is unavailable, the archaeologist is faced
with the very difficult tas of endeavoring to infer religious beliefs from material
remains' Thus the archaeological study of religion may properly be divided into two
parts. #/% in early historic societies, where archaeology provides valuable information
that can be used in association with textual records to provide a richly textured and
multidimensional picture of religious beliefs and practices9 and #:% in prehistoric
contexts, where archaeology may be able to tell us relatively little about specific
religious belie"s, but can document religious practices, insofar as these have left
material traces'
2eligion may be defined as the belief in, worship of, or obedience to a supernatural
power or powers considered to be divine or to have control of human destiny' )ut
while belief lies at the basis of religion, it is the institutionali&ed expression of that
belief which gives religion its form and substance' 5ost religions involve ceremonies
or ritual that tae place in specified places, some of which may be specially
constructed buildings, although natural features such as rocs and springs are also
fre3uently endowed with religious significance' Wherever regular religious practices
are performed, there is the potential for archaeologists to identify and interpret the
traces of these activities' This is all the more the case where there are intentional
modifications of the landscape such as roc paintings, monuments, or shrines'
Earl" Evidence for 2eligious !elief
Hespite claims for linguistic competence in chimpan&ees, there has been no serious
suggestion that these or any other animal species hold beliefs that could be described
as religious' The development of religious belief is most liely associated with the
cognitive changes involved in the evolution of modern humans' (t is difficult to locate
the origin of religion in simple chronological terms' We do not now whether it
emerged suddenly once a particular cognitive threshold was reached, or whether it
formed through a more gradual process as human intellect developed stage by stage'
The controversy here parallels the argument over the origin of language, where some
argue for a sudden ac3uisition of language sills within the last /11,111 years, while
others prefer to envisage a gradual refinement of modern human language from more
primitive forms of communication used by early hominids'
The earliest hard information on the religious dimension to human behavior comes
from two categories of archaeological evidence from the 5iddle and Apper
Paleolithic. artistic representations and burial practices' )oth are ha&ardous to
interpret'
Paleolithic art includes both portable objects, such as anthropomorphous figurines,
and paintings or engravings on the walls of caves or roc shelters' There are claims
for early examples of portable Paleolithic art dating bac to before /11,111 years ago,
but most of the evidence for both portable and mobiliary art comes from within the
last D1,111 years' 4ere are included the so"called 3enus )igurines #female figurines%
from +urope, painted stone pla3ues from southern Africa, early engravings at roc
shelters in Australia, and the famous Paleolithic decorated caves of western +urope' (t
is widely accepted that much of this art has religious significance, but the precise
nature of that significance is unclear' The Lenus figurines have been interpreted as
evidence of a cult of human fertility, although they depict the entire spectrum of
female anatomical development from young girls through puberty to pregnancy and
beyond' Only a few have the distended bellies which might be taen to indicate
pregnant individuals'
The cave art of western +urope has most fre3uently been viewed as a ind of hunting
magic, since hunted animals such as bison and horses figure conspicuously among the
subjects depicted' A few may even have missiles drawn on them along with mars
that may represent wounds' Others, conversely, have interpreted the art in structuralist
terms, the different species representing male and female principles, or as a metaphor
for human social organi&ation, with particular species serving as the symbols of
individual social groups'
Whether the +uropean cave art was the focus for religious ceremonies is uncertain,
though there is indeed some evidence which points in that direction' !tudies have
shown that the places chosen for the most vivid images were often those with
particular acoustic properties, suggesting that music or chanting could have played a
part in whatever rituals were practiced' On the other hand, it must be recogni&ed that
the art is also found in secluded niches and other more private places within the caves
which would not have been suitable for group ceremonies'
The second category of Paleolithic evidence relating to religious belief is funerary'
The earliest human burials are those from the >af&eh cave in (srael, where at least
three humans of modern type #Homo sapiens sapiens% were laid to rest in shallow pits
around /11,111 years ago' $urther burials are associated with *eanderthal remains in
+urope and the *ear +ast' The act of burial may in itself be considered to have
religious significance, although it does not necessarily imply belief in a life after
death' These early burials are all inhumations9 the first cremation, from the south
Australian site of Lae 5ungo, dates to around :J,111 )'6' (n many cultures,
cremation is believed to be necessary in order to free the soul of the deceased from the
dead body' Whether the people who cremated their dead at Lae 5ungo shared this
belief we cannot determine'
Shamanism and 2oc$ Art
Anthropology provides an alternative route for the study of early religious beliefs'
The wor of 5ircea +liade and others has shown that among hunter"gatherers, the
commonest form of religious expression is shamanism' !hamans are ritual specialists
who are possessed of special powers and who act as intermediaries between humans
and the shadowy world of spirits and the supernatural' (n order to communicate with
the spirit world the shaman has to enter a trance, sometimes induced by narcotics or
hypnotic dance, in order to experience visions or hallucinations'
$rom ethnographic evidence we now that shamanism may sometimes be directly
associated with roc art' The connection has been demonstrated clearly in the case of
the roc art of western *orth America, where the motifs painted on roc faces can be
matched specifically with shamanistic beliefs nown from the ethnographic literature
of the region' (n cases such as this, the archaeologist can have reasonable confidence
that there has been continuity in belief and religious practice over a period of
hundreds, if not thousands, of years' (ndividual sites and objects can then be
interpreted in the light of these ethnographically documented belief systems' A
striing example is the appearance in Australian roc art of figures identifiable from
current aboriginal beliefs, such as the rainbow serpent 8orrondolmi and his wife
depicted at the J,111"year"old site of Wirlin"8unyang'
The problem of interpretation becomes much more difficult where there is no directly
connected ethnographic information' (t has been argued, for instance, that the cave art
of the western +uropean Paleolithic also relates to a pattern of shamanistic beliefs
concerned with hunting magic' This interpretation has not as yet found general
acceptance among cave art specialists'
Shrines and Temples
Among the most obvious material traces of religious activity are the remains of
shrines and other specially demarcated areas or buildings intended specifically for
religious practice' 4ere we may distinguish between human"made structures and the
concept of the numinous landscape=where natural features such as springs, trees, or
rocs are held to have particular religious significance' Australian aborigines, for
example, regard particular natural features as some of their most sacred sites' (t is
only those who have nowledge of these features who can identify them9 to those
without this nowledge they appear simply as natural features' As an intermediate
category between such sites and human"made shrines and temples we may consider
natural features that have been intentionally modified as a result of their special
significance' $amous examples include the natural cave beneath the Pyramid of the
!un at Teotihuac7n in 5exico, which made the city a center of pilgrimage for the
whole region9 or the most recent cave"shrine of Lourdes in the $rench Pyrenees,
associated with the 6hristian cult of the Lirgin 5ary'
The oldest human"built structures intended for ritual activity date bac less than
/1,111 years' The recognition of individual ritual sites does however re3uire two
major assumptions on the part of the archaeologist. first, that we are correctly
recogni&ing in these sites the traces of ritual behavior9 and second, that the nature of
these sites was such that they can justifiably be described as largely or exclusively
ritual' The whole division of human behavior into a series of subsystems, such as
economic, technological, or religious, is a heuristic device made by archaeologists for
the sae of convenience' (n everyday life, there are no sharp divisions between these
different categories of behavior, and many ordinary dwelling houses will contain
items or features relating to ritual or religious belief, such as statues or icons' Where
we are faced with a major monument such as a 5esopotamian &iggurat or a
5esoamerican temple"pyramid the identification as a shrine may be relatively
straightforward' Where a less distinctive structure is concerned, however, it may be
difficult to determine with confidence whether it is a shrine'
A good example of this difficulty is provided by the site of 8atal %9"9$ in southern
Turey' +xcavations at this large *eolithic tell site occupied around J111 )'6'
exposed a closely paced settlement in which houses were built up against each other,
leaving only occasional courtyards open to the sy' Within the complex, almost one
third of the rooms had mural decoration or benches suggestive of ritual function' One
of the rooms had a wall painting showing a scene of vultures devouring headless
corpses9 in another was a mural sculpture of a goddess giving birth to a ram' These
rooms may have been shrines, implying a very high percentage of ritual space in the
settlement as a whole9 or they may simply have been richly decorated domestic
dwellings in which ritual played a prominent role'
With the emergence of state formations we are on somewhat firmer ground, since
most state"level societies devoted considerable effort to the construction of impressive
religious monuments' (n early 5esopotamia, the city"states were each dedicated to a
particular deity or pair of deities, under whose special protection the city was
considered to lie' The city of ,r, for example, was dedicated to the mood god *anna
and his female consort, and it was to *anna that the famous &iggurat built at Ar
around :/11 )'6' was dedicated'
The resources of the state lay behind great building projects such as this, and the
temple itself was a wealthy and powerful institution in the early state societies of
5esoamerica, the *ear +ast, and +gypt' The temple was closely associated with the
secular power of the ruler, who was also usually high priest, and in some societies was
himself regarded as a living god' The division between religious and secular authority
was merged in a system where each supported the other' !tate cults, as well as
attracting popular adherents, can also be tools used by secular rulers for propaganda
purposes'
)eneath the level of institutionali&ed state religion, however, lesser cults retained their
popularity among the ordinary people, who might leave offerings at small wayside
altars or domestic shrines' +xcavations at ancient city sites have sometimes enabled
archaeologists to document the popularity of these lesser cults in the form of figurines
or other toens' These may be related to beliefs or deities about which the ancient
texts are silent' Archaeology is thus able to provide a counterbalance to the emphasis
in surviving texts on established state"sponsored cults' The same is true of African
religious beliefs, which survived, often in secrecy, alongside official 6hristianity on
*orth American slave plantations'
'osmolog" and 2eligions
(n a world without electric lights, and in regions where cloudless sies are common,
the night sy would have made a powerful impression on people;s understanding of
their place in the cosmos' This is borne out by evidence which shows that
astronomical observations played a crucial part in the religious beliefs of many early
societies' (t has long been established that many important ritual or religious
monuments were carefully aligned on solar, lunar, or stellar events, often to an
astonishingly high degree of accuracy' The P"ramids of Gi*a in +gypt, for example,
were carefully aligned according to cardinal points, since one version of +gyptian
mythology held that the ing ascended after death to the circumpolar stars9 the shaft
from the burial chamber exited in the middle of the pyramid;s northern face' 6laims
for an important astronomical lin have also been made with respect to the stone
circles of northwestern +urope' According to Alexander Thom and his followers these
were carefully constructed so as to include alignments directed toward the rising and
setting of the sun, moon, and major stars' *ot everybody accepts the postulated lunar
and stellar alignments, but the solar alignment is clearly in evidence at some sites'
+ven today, many people gather at Stonehenge in southern +ngland at the time of the
summer solstice to watch the dawn sun rising above the 4eel !tone on the main axis
of the stone circle'
Astronomical alignments such as these are probably evidence of a particular set of
beliefs concerning human origins and the place of humanind in the whole order of
things' This area of belief is closely ain to religion but usually goes under the name
of cosmology' (n archaeological contexts, cosmology can be inferred=with caution=
from the orientation of buildings' This is seen very striingly in the planning of
historical 6hinese cities, where rectangular plans were preferred with the principal
streets oriented according to the cardinal points' The 6hinese view was that, properly
organi&ed, earth and heaven formed a geometric and harmonious whole'
6osmological considerations were also very prominent in urban societies of 6entral
America, and especially in that of the 5aya' (t has long been nown that 5aya
astronomy was highly sophisticated' 2ecent wor has emphasi&ed how closely this
was lined with their mythology' 5aya texts tell the mythical story of the creation in
terms of stars and constellations visible in the night sy' $or example, they believed
that the 5ily Way as it is visible on August /: was a vast canoe, paddled by gods
who used it to ferry $irst $ather #the mai&e god% to the place where he would be
reborn from the three ,hearthstones,- which are popularly nown today as Orion;s
belt' $igures from this story from the night sy were regularly depicted in 5aya art,
but it is only with the aid of the texts and the understanding of 5aya cosmology that
these can be understood'
0conograph"
2eligious observances fre3uently focus on an image or symbol of the supernatural
power that is the subject of worship' $urthermore, religious mythology often features
prominently in artistic depictions' Together, these tendencies may result in a rich
corpus of religious iconography that is open to the archaeologist to study and
interpret' Where texts are available, it may be possible to say which being or power is
represented9 it is most convenient of all where, as in many +gyptian scenes from
tombs or temples, the name of the god or goddess is written alongside the depiction'
(n other cases, detailed studies of the iconography allow a pantheon of deities to be
recogni&ed, even though no names can be attached'
The discovery of religious iconography is one of the ey categories of evidence that
enables archaeologists to identify a room or building as a shrine or temple' (n +urope
and the *ear +ast, the focus of worship was often a cult image that served as
substitute for the deity itself9 one of the most splendid examples was the cult statue of
?eus which was made for the temple of the god at Olympia in 8reece, home of the
original Olympic 8ames' The seated statue, made of gold and ivory, rose to a height
of 0E feet #/E m% in the shadowy rear part of the temple9 light from the main door was
reflected onto it by a shallow pool of oil at its foot'
(n other cases, it may not be so easy to distinguish between divine and human forms'
At Tell Asmar in (ra3, a cache of ten alabaster statues was found beneath the floor of a
temple' The statues were similar in style and manufacture, and most were interpreted
as substitute"figures of worshipers, designed to remind the god of their needs even
when they themselves were busy elsewhere' Two of the group were larger, however,
and on grounds of their si&e and of the symbols carved on their bases it was suggested
that they might be cult statues of the god and goddess themselves' Others have argued
that these too are simply representations of worshipers' This case illustrates once
again the difficulty of interpreting religious evidence' *onetheless, in many religious
scenes supernatural figures are carefully distinguished from ordinary mortals by si&e,
by coloring, by the addition of special attributes #such as horns in 5esopotamia, or
wings in the 6hristian tradition%, or by their depiction in nonhuman or only partly
human guise'
)unerar" !eliefs
A final and highly important category of religious evidence is that from burials' One
of the major themes of religion is the destiny of humans after death' 5ost societies
possess some belief in a life after death, and this finds reflection in burial rites and
cemetery evidence' An extreme case is that of ancient +gypt, where the literal nature
of the belief led to extensive efforts to preserve the body of the deceased by
mummification' (f the body were not preserved, then, according to +gyptian belief,
the chances of an afterlife were seriously impaired'
The +gyptian evidence also shows clearly how the form of the burial monument itself
can be a powerful religious symbol' The pyramid form beloved of +gyptian rulers
during the Old and 5iddle 7ingdoms is thought to have represented the slanting rays
of the sun, and indicates the importance of the cult of the sun in the religious beliefs
associated with ingship' The Pyramid Texts, magical spells inscribed on the walls of
the later Old 7ingdom pyramids, suggest that the pyramid was to be seen as a
material representation of the sun;s rays, on which the dead ing would ascend to
heaven'
A more contentious subject is the purpose of grave goods left with the dead' Where
these tae the form of food remains and feasting e3uipment, it can be argued that the
grave goods were needed for the corpse;s sustenance after death' The same applies to
burial places that were built to resemble houses, and were presumably regarded as the
dwelling place of the dead person;s spirit' 5any funerary mythologies incorporate the
concept of a journey, and here again food or money might be left with the dead people
to support them on their journey' A related practice is the placement in the grave of
objects signifying the person;s ran in society, the intention being to ensure their
admission to the correct social ran in the afterlife' At this point, however,
interpretation becomes ha&ardous, since death is an emotive event for those left alive
and showing respect to the dead need by no means imply belief in a life after death'
'onclusion
A short account such as this cannot fully do justice to the great diversity of religious
belief and the many ways in which it may be manifest in the archaeological record'
Where ade3uate information exists, it is without doubt one of the most fascinating
aspects of human behavior' This is particularly the case for more recent, historical
periods, where texts and archaeology together form a powerful and mutually
reinforcing combination for the study of religious beliefs and practices' (t is only
archaeology, however, that can document the silent millennia in the early history of
religion, stretching bac, deep into the prehistoric past'F!ee also Art9 Astronom"9
'hristianit"( Earl"9 -ead Sea Scrolls9 0deolog" and Archaeolog"9 0nca
'ivili*ation: 0nca 2eligion9 0slamic 'ivili*ation9 a"a 'ivili*ation: a"a
P"ramids and Temples9 2oc$ Art: 0ntroduction9 3enus )igurines'G
!ibliograph"
4' $ranfort, 4' A' $ranfort, B' A' Wilson, and T' Bacobsen, Be"ore Philosoph!
#/I0J%'
('+'!' +dwards, The P!ramids o" #g!pt #/IJ/%'
5' +liade, %hamanism Archaic Techni*ues o" #cstas! #/IJ0%'
P' Wheatley, The Pivot o" the +our Auarters #/IC/%'
L' +' !ullivan, 'canchu,s .rum An $rientation to Meaning in %outh American
)eligions #/I<<%'
H' !' Whitley, !hamanism and 2oc Art in $ar Western *orth America , 6ambridge
Archaeological Bournal : #/II:%. pp'<IK//E'
H' $riedel, L' !chele, and B' Parer, Ma!a Cosmos Three Thousand Dears on the
%haman,s Path #/IIE%'
6' +' Orser, The Archaeology of African"American !lave 2eligion in the Antebellum
!outh , 6ambridge Archaeological Bournal 0 #/II0%. pp'EEK0D'
3enus )igurines The class of artifacts nown as Lenus figurines comprises an
extremely heterogeneous body of artifactual material from +urasia, dating to the
Apper Paleolithic Period' Lenus figurines include, on the one hand, small and easily
transportable three"dimensional artifacts or images incised on portable supports, and
on the other hand, two"dimensional images deeply carved, light incised, andYor
painted onto fixed surfaces such as cave or roc"shelter walls' They range in height
from E cm to 01 cm or more' While some researchers include in this class abstract
images #so"called ,vulvae- and forms resembling an elongated ,!- or upside"down
,P-%, these are not discussed here'
The best"studied and most oft"pictured specimens in the ,Lenus figurine- category are
the realistically rendered and almost voluptuous images of the female body, but these
are not representative of the class as a whole' There are also clear portrayals of the
male body #e'g', from )rassempouy, Laussel, and HolnX L stonice% as well as
numerous generali&ed anthropomorphs #e'g', examples from !ireuil, Tursac, 8rimaldi,
HolnX L stonice, and 5alt;a%' 5any specimens appear to be purposefully
androgynous, and those with only faces cannot be sexed at all #e'g', specimens from
)rassempouy, 5as d;A&il, )Mdeilhac, and HolnX L stonice%' !ome may be no
more than incomplete rough"outs #or bauches%, and a rare few appear to be
composite images of anthropomorphs and animals #i'e', 8rimaldi, Laussel,
4ohlenstein"!tTdel%' There are examples with detailed facial features #e'g', from
5alt;a, )uret, and HolnX L stonice%, pronounced coiffures but no facial details
#e'g', )rassempouy and Willendorf%, and many more with neither face, hair, hands,
nor feet rendered in any detail' !ome specimens, mostly from the Araine and !iberia,
have body elaboration interpreted as clothing, belts, andYor tattoos #e'g', especially
from the 7osteni group and )uret%'
)eyond superficial morphology these artifacts have been wored from many different
raw materials, each possessing uni3ue physical 3ualities that were liely selected for
their different attributes of worability, availability, andYor overall surface appearance'
Lenus figurines were made from ivory, serpentine, schist, limestone, hematite, lignite,
calcite, fired clay, steatite, and a few of bone or antler' While they have been the
subject of scholarly attention for more than a century, a detailed understanding of the
se3uence of techni3ues employed to fabricate them #in all their diversity% has been
sorely lacing' Wor has only recently been started to study the relationship between
raw materials, techni3ues of fabrication, morphological appearance, and prehistoric
significance'
5ost coffee"table art boos and many well"nown studies highlight only what are
considered to be the most visually striing specimens' @et Lenus figurines include flat
and apparently pre"pubescent female subjects, images interpreted to be in various
stages of pregnancy or of the general female life cycle, as well as several obviously
male specimens' The preference in allowing such a heterogeneous class of artifacts to
be represented by the most voluptuous examples perhaps says more about the analysts
than it does about the artifacts' (t betrays their extraordinary diversity in morphology,
raw materials, technologies of production, and archaeological contexts through time
and space' !ome theories to explain their prehistoric significance are now 3uestioned
because they have overemphasi&ed specimens representing only one side of the
morphological system'
Temporal and Spatial -istribution
Lenus figurines date to three periods of the Apper Paleolithic' They appear in the
archaeological record between approximately E/,111 and I111 )'P', but chronometric
dating is problematic on several counts' Their distribution through both time and
space is episodic' -estern #urope the earliest examples here date to the 8ravettian
#ca' :J,111 to :/,111 )'P'% and the 5agdalenian #ca' /:,E11 to I111 )'P'%, with most
specimens associated with cave and roc shelter sites' #The earliest renderings from
the $rench Aurignacian, ca' E/,111 to :<,111 )'P', are the problematic so"called
,vulvae- forms not discussed here'% Central #urope specimens are primarily
associated with the Pavlovian #ca' E/,111 to :0,111 )'P'%9 01raine anthropomorphic
imagery is found throughout the 7osteni"Avdeevo culture period #ca' :J,111 to
/:,D11 )'P'%, and comes almost exclusively from open"air occupation sites9 %iberian
images date to the so"called +astern 8ravettian #primarily ca' :/,111 to /I,111 )'P'%'
!ignificantly, some regions with well"established records of Apper Paleolithic human
occupation have no evidence of anthropomorphic imagery, including the 6antabrian
region of northern !pain and the 5editerranean region of southwestern +urope #with
the sole exception of (taly%'
E.planator" Theories
5ost explanatory theories treat Lenus figurines as a homogeneous class of data and
collapse together more than :1,111 years of varied production' Portable and immobile
specimens are lumped together, and what may be significant regional and temporal
differences in technologies, raw materials, and styles are often ignored' 6ontextual
differences between those specimens found at open"air sites, in cave andYor roc
shelters, and other geographic locales are typically underestimated'Functionalist
Accounts
Today it is generally thought that Apper Paleolithic visual imagery, including Lenus
figurines, transmitted through stylistic means ecological andYor social information
necessary to group survival' One of the primary explanatory accounts for the
appearance and geographic distribution of Lenus figurines focuses on ecological
stress associated with the ice sheets advancing well into northern +urope :1,111 to
/J,111 years ago' According to this account, as resources became more difficult to
obtain, areas remaining occupied would have been able to sustain only low population
densities' Alliance networs forged by the exchange of marriage partners could have
counter"balanced these problems, and some researchers believe that Lenus figurines
played an important role in symboli&ing and communicating information related to
mating alliances' The geographically widespread production of Lenus figurines as part
of a system of information exchange could have permitted small groups of prehistoric
hunter"gatherers to remain in areas that, without alliance connections, they might
otherwise have had to abandon'
A second and far more 3uestionable set of functionalist interpretations derives from
sociobiology' According to several authors, these are representations of female
biology that were fabricated and used for erotic and sexual reasons by males and for
male gratification andYor education' While some of these explanations highlight the
sensuality of the voluptuous three"dimensional images and argue that they were used
as prehistoric sex toys or educational aids, others suggest that they served as trophies
to mar ,brave- acts of rape, idnapping, and possibly murder' A genetic #and thus
evolutionary% advantage was supposedly conferred upon the maersYusers, either by
teaching and practicing lovemaing sills or by publici&ing physical prowess and
thereby gaining social advantage among one;s peers' The inherently androcentric and
heterosexist bias in assumptions underpinning these accounts has now come under
close scrutiny and they are today considered far less plausible than when originally
proposed'Gynecological Accounts.
According to some, different Lenus figurines literally depict physiological processes
associated with pregnancy andYor childbirth or else signify the entire female life cycle'
!ome researchers note that aspects of parturition are well represented, while still
others stress that the subject matter is womanhood and not just motherhood' (n some
ways these #and other related% contemporary theories build on, but also challenge the
simplicity of, turn"of"the"century notions that they were symbols of female fertility
and magic #hence in part explaining their original appellation=Lenus%'
)uture -irections for 2esearch
The use of multiple lines of evidence is a time"honored way to understand the
significance of prehistoric material culture' Attention to different inds of site'
context, detailed understanding of various techni3ues of fabrication, recognition of
their diverse morphologies and raw material, site"specific spatial information, and
consideration of other classes of artifacts with which Lenus figurines were discovered
may all help turn attention away from what is compelling today and toward whatever
might have made them compelling in prehistory'F!ee also Europe: The European
Paleolithic Period9 Paleolithic: ,pper Paleolithic9 2oc$ Art: Paleolithic Art'G
!ibliograph"
?' A' Abramova, Palaeolithic Art in the A!!2 , Arctic Anthropology 0 #/IJC%. pp'/K
/CI'
Hesmond 6ollins and Bohn Onians, The Origins of Art , Art 4istory / #/IC<%. pp'/K
:D'
2andall +aton, The +volution of Trophy 4unting , 6arnivore / #/IC<%. pp'//1K/:/'
2andall +aton, 5ediations on the Origin of Art as Trophyism , 6arnivore : #/ICI%.
pp'JK<'
Patricia 2ice, Prehistoric Lenuses. !ymbols of 5otherhood or WomanhoodR Bournal
of Anthropological Archaeology EC #/I</%. pp'01:K0/0'
5arija 8imbutas, The &oddesses and &ods o" $ld #urope #/I<:%'
2' Hale 8uthrie, +thological Observations $rom Palaeolithic Art, in La Contribution
de la 3oologie et de l,#thologie E l,'nterprtation de l, Art des Peuples Chasseurs
Prhistori*ues, eds' 4ans"8eorg )andi, et al' #/I<0%, pp' pp'EDKC0'
5ariana 8vo&dover, $emale (magery in the Palaeolithic , !oviet Anthropology and
Archaeology :C #/I<I%. pp'<KI0'
!arah *elson, Hiversity of the Apper Palaeolithic ]Lenus^ $igurines and
Archaeological 5ythology, in Powers o" $bservation Alternative ?iews in
Archaeolog!, eds' !arah *elson and Alice 7ehoe #/II1%, pp' pp'//K::'
6live 8amble, The !ocial 6ontext for +uropean Paleolithic Art , Proceedings of the
Prehistoric !ociety DC #/II/%. pp'EK/D'
5arcia"Anne Hobres, 2e"Presentations of Palaeolithic Lisual (magery. !imulacra and
Their Alternatives , 7roeber Anthropological !ociety Papers CEKC0 #/II:%. pp'/K:D'
5arcia"Anne Hobres, 2econsidering Lenus $igurines. A $eminist (nspired 2e"
analysis, in Ancient 'mages5 Ancient Thought The Archaeolog! o" 'deolog!, eds' A'
!ean 8oldsmith, et al' #/II:%, pp' pp':0DK:J:'
4enri Helporte, L,'mage de la +emme dans l,Art Prhistori*ue #2nd #dition, /IIE%'
4enri Helporte, 8ravettian $emale $igurines. A 2egional !urvey, in Be"ore Lascau/
The Comple/ )ecord o" the #arl! 0pper Palaeolithic, eds' 4eidi 7necht, et al'
#/IIE%, pp' pp':0EK:DC'
Bean"Pierre Huhard, )eFlisme de l,'mage +minine Palolithi*ue #/IIE%'
'ultural Ecolog" Theor" has been a fundamental perspective of American
archaeology and anthropology since World War ((' (ts origin and development are
most directly associated with Bulian !teward, an anthropologist whose interests
incorporated both ethnography and archaeology' !teward succinctly defined cultural
ecology as ,the study of the processes by which a society adapts to its environment-
#/IJ<%' The term ,environment- here is conceived in its broadest sense, including, for
example, other social groups' As the word ,adaptation- implies, cultural ecology is
related conceptually to cultural evolution, and specifically to !teward;s own concept
of multilinear evolution, which stressed the search for regularities in independent
se3uences of evolutionary change'
6entral to cultural ecology was !teward;s idea of the culture core, those cultural
features that mediate most directly between humans and their environments and that
are essential to subsistence and other basic economic activities' !uch features might
include technological, social, political, or ideological elements of culture' 6ore
features are most heavily determined by environmental constraints and interactions,
while others not as directly lined to the core are determined by cultural"historical
factors such as -iffusion or random innovation' 4uman culture is inextricably lined
to the larger systems of the natural world'
!teward advocated cultural ecology both as a theory concerning the nature of 'ulture
and its transformation and as a set of research methods for investigating cultural
phenomena' Theoretically, the most powerful explanations of evolutionary change
were to be found in the environmentYculture core interaction9 methodologically,
research should identify and investigate core attributes of culture such as technology,
subsistence, economy, the organi&ation of wor, landholding, and inheritance, since
these are situated most directly at the interface between environment and culture'
!teward believed that ecological analysis yielded the most powerful and
straightforward results when applied to simple small"scale cultures that are
technologically unsophisticated and not buffered from nature by complex
supracommunity institutions' This conviction is reflected in his own predilection for
the study of hunter"gatherers, particularly his classic The #conomic and %ocial Basis
o" Primitive Bands #/IEJ% and Basin@Plateau Aboriginal %ociopolitical &roups
#/IE<%'
The development of cultural ecology was partly a reaction against the atheoretical,
particularistic, culturalogical, and cultural"historical approaches that dominated
American anthropology and archaeology before World War ((' While eschewing the
environmental determinism and e3ually sterile ,possibilism- advocated by some
human geographers, !teward championed the search for causation of sociocultural
phenomena, adopting an explicitly natural science perspective' 4e thus was among
the very first materialists in American anthropology' 4is formulation of cultural
ecology was also influenced by the wor of Oswald !pengler, 5ax Weber, and Arnold
Toynbee, as well as 7arl Wittfogel, and in turn helped shape Wittfogel;s theory of
hydraulic civili&ation'
6ultural ecology had an enormous accelerating influence on archaeology beginning in
the late /I01s' Antil that time American archaeology had remained largely aloof from
the strong tradition of ecological, Environmental, and Economic Archaeolog" long
established in +urope' Lined much more closely to anthropology than its +uropean
counterparts, archaeology was seen by most anthropologists as the poor handmaiden
of ethnography, incapable of a robust identity of its own'
+cological perspectives helped to alter this situation dramatically beginning in the late
/I01s' )y encouraging 8ordon Willey to undertae the settlement pattern component
of the archaeological investigation of the Liru Lalley in /I0J, !teward helped pioneer
the emergence of a strong tradition of Settlement Archaeolog" that later included the
wor of William T' !anders and 2obert 5c6ormic Adams' This methodological
innovation stimulated the extension of ecological and materialist perspectives to the
comparative study of the evolution of complex societies' Partly under the stimulus of
!teward;s ideas, 2obert )raidwood began his research into the origins of agriculture
in the *ear +ast, utili&ing a team of natural scientists who could effectively augment
the sills and interpretations of archaeologists' The issues of the agricultural
transformation and the evolution of sociocultural complexity have since been
dominant themes of American archaeological research'
6ultural ecology also helped to form strong linages with scholars in related fields
who developed their own interests in archaeology, most notably the geographer 7arl
)ut&er'
!everal of the basic precepts of the ,*ew Archaeology- of the /IJ1s had roots in
earlier formulations of cultural ecology' These include the idea of the fundamental
adaptive, evolutionary functions of culture, the search for causation and explanation
using overtly scientific research models, the interdependence of the archaeological
and ethnographic records, and the relevance of biological anthropology'
+cological perspectives especially dominated American archaeology between /IDD
and /I<1, although they increasingly diverged from the original cultural ecology
perspective in important ways' *ew elements included sophisticated 3uantification,
adoption of formal models from the biological sciences #e'g', energy flow%, and
human geography #e'g', locational analysis%, as well as concern with agronomy,
human fertility, demography, and nutrition' (n addition, largely because of the
explanatory power of settlement research, ecological investigations of complex
societies have become commonplace' !teward himself had emphasi&ed the cultural
rather than ecological dimensions of cultural ecology, but by the /IC1s ecological
perspectives and methods were much more obtrusive, and remain so today'
6riticisms of cultural ecology focus both on !teward;s original formulation and on its
derived, more explicitly ecological approaches' Among the former are that !teward
emphasi&ed 3ualitative rather than 3uantitative data, and that the culture core concept
is a muddled reinvention or rediscovery of much older, more useful principles devised
by 7arl 5arx' 5ore generally, cultural ecological research is characteri&ed as
deterministic, overly reductionist, tautological, dehumani&ing, and just plain boring'
!uch criticisms originate most fre3uently from structuralists, mentalists, humanists,
culture historians, and post"processual archaeologists' *one of these ,schools- or
approaches is necessarily antithetical to ecological perspectives' 2evealingly, many of
those who offer such criticisms themselves conduct research that has fundamental
adaptive, evolutionary, ecological implications'
Archaeology, particularly in the Anited !tates, has always been prone to intellectual
fashion' Today, many scholars who would not characteri&e themselves as cultural
ecologists in the !tewardian mold, or perhaps not even ecologists or materialists at all,
have nevertheless been heavily influenced by the cultural ecology tradition begun by
!teward' +cological perspectives continue to thrive, providing a strong theoretical,
scientific, and methodological core of ongoing research' !een as a pervasive and
dynamic point of view rather than an identifiable discipline or school, cultural
ecology;s legacy includes the convictions that humans and their cultures are integral
parts of larger, natural systems, that causal, scientific explanations of cultural
phenomena are possible, and that the enterprise of archaeology re3uires strong
linages not only with the other subfields of anthropology, but with the hard sciences
as well'F!ee also 'ritical Theor"9 'ulture %istorical Theor"9 General S"stems
Theor"9 ar.ist Theor"9 Post1processual Theor"9 Processual Theor"9
Structuralism9 Theor" 0n Archaeolog"'G
!ibliograph"
Bulian !teward, Cultural #colog! #/IJ<%'
Prehistory of Africa Africa occupies a uni3ue place in world prehistory' (ts
archaeological se3uence is of unparalleled length, for the simple reason that it was
almost certainly in this continent that hominids and their distinctive behavior first
evolved' (n the sub"!aharan regions, because literacy has been restricted to the last
few centuries, archaeology is a prime source of information about even comparatively
recent periods' The great environmental diversity of the African continent, ranging
from snow"capped glaciated mountains, to torrid rain forests, to arid deserts totally
devoid of vegetation, provides an unparalleled opportunity to observe human
ingenuity and adaptation through time' These environments have, in many instances,
survived into modern times comparatively unmodified by large"scale industriali&ation
or mechani&ed cultivation' Thus, continuing traditional African lifestyles can provide
exceptionally informative guidelines to the interpretation of the archaeological record'
The significance of African archaeology extends far beyond Africa, yet it is hardly
surprising that research in this field can rarely be a high priority for the developing
nations of that continent' Hespite their huge potential and importance, archaeological
researches in many parts of Africa remain in their infancy' While intensive
investigations have been carried out in several areas, major regions remain almost
completely unexplored archaeologically'
Hiscoveries relating to the earliest periods of human activity have been made in
eastern Africa #from +thiopia southward to Tan&ania and inland as far as the western
branch of the 2ift Lalley% and in !outh Africa' 6onditions in these areas have been
favorable not only to the preservation of the earliest hominids; bones and of the stone
tools that they made, but also to their subse3uent exposure for discovery whether by
natural erosion or by 3uarrying' The concentrations of archaeological discoveries thus
do not necessarily mean that the earliest hominids were restricted to these particular
parts of Africa, and it seems liely that their ranges in the east and in the south were
continuous' 4owever, environmental conditions in this general region were probably
better suited to these creatures; lives and activities than those farther to the west'
2ecognition in the archaeological record of the earliest evidence for humanity
involves a degree of necessarily arbitrary definition' (n evolving populations whose
scanty representations in the fossil record display a wide range of physical variation,
where does one choose to recogni&e the transition to human statusR 8iven the
difficulties in interpreting the simplest and most ancient traces of technology, which
survive only in the form of unstandardi&ed stone tools, archaeologists have
increasingly sought evidence for human behavioral traits, such as social cooperation,
planning, and food sharing' 2ecent research, especially in +ast Africa, has made some
progress in elucidating these aspects of the past'
5ore intensive use of particular foodstuffs, both plant and animal, led eventually to
the seasonal exploitation of different environments' !uch, indeed, may have been the
practice in very early times, but its clear attestation in the archaeological record
re3uires the preservation of organic material such as is provided by cave deposits and
water"logged occurrences' !tudy of prehistoric resource exploitation on a regional
basis has enabled archaeologists to demonstrate shifting reliance on, for example,
marine foods, plants, and land animals at differing seasons of the year'
(n Africa, as in many other parts of the world, a tendency toward reduced tool si&e is
apparent through all periods of prehistory before the invention of metallurgy' This led
ultimately to the appearance in virtually all parts of the continent of microliths=
implements so tiny that they must have been used hafted, often several together, as
composite tools' A variety of cutting and scraping tools were formed in this way, but
most characteristic were pointed and barbed arrows9 probably the bow and arrow was
an African invention' These microliths, with their characteristic steep retouch, were
widespread in Africa by about :1,111 )'P', but had first appeared in !outh Africa
significantly earlier, perhaps as much as /11,111 years ago'
Two overall trends in stone"tool technology may thus be discerned through the
immensely long duration of the African !tone Age' There was a progressive increase
in speciali&ation, indicated by the production of more different standardi&ed tools for
particular purposes9 and there was a steadily more economical use of more carefully
selected raw material'
The African microlithic industries were the wor of people who were fully modern in
the anatomical sense. Homo sapiens sapiens' Precisely where and when such people
first evolved is not yet nown, but it is significant that the oldest nown fossils
generally accepted as being of this type come from sites in !outh Africa, where they
seem to date to about /11,111 years ago' These, if correctly attributed, are the most
ancient remains of fully modern people anywhere in the world, and they support
genetic evidence that, although controversial, suggests that it may have been in sub"
!aharan Africa that Homo sapiens sapiens first developed'
As people became more adaptable and speciali&ed, they were able to respond more
readily to changing environmental opportunities' A particularly significant instance of
this, and one which had far"reaching conse3uences, occurred in what is now the
southern !ahara and in parts of +ast Africa during the period /1,111 to J111 )'6' This
period, which corresponded with the final retreat of the northern"hemisphere ice
sheets and conse3uent worldwide adjustments in sea level, saw the establishment of
laes and rivers in a region that was previously #as again today% too arid to support
regular human habitation' )eside these waters, previously nomadic groups established
semipermanent habitations that were supported by the rich year"round supplies of fish
that the laes provided, supplemented by hunting for meat and by collecting wild
vegetable foods' !ites of these settled peoples are characteri&ed by the barbed"bone
heads of the harpoons with which they fished and by the pottery of which their settled
lifestyle enabled them to mae use'
)etween D111 and E111 )'6' the climate in the southern !ahara once again
deteriorated' !ources of fish became depleted, many wild animal herds moved
southward to better"watered regions, and plant foods were fewer and less reliable' (t
was at this general time that we find the first evidence that people in this part of
Africa were taing steps to control the plants and animals upon which they depended
=steps that led ultimately to the development of farming'
The extent to which the domestication of animals and plants was an indigenous
African development, rather than one due to stimuli from outside that continent, has
for long been a matter of controversy' The 3uestion may be clarified, if not finally
resolved, by considering the different species involved and the geographical
distributions of their wild forms' Of the continent;s most important domestic animals,
sheep and goats are not nown to have occurred wild in Africa, and they were
presumably introduced already domesticated from the *ear +ast' Wild cattle, on the
other hand, were common in much of the !ahara during the period of high lae levels
noted above' (n the case of plants, a maredly contrasting situation is apparent' Wheat
and barley, probably of ultimate *ear +astern origin, were grown in *orth Africa and
+thiopia, but virtually all the cereals traditionally cultivated south of the !ahara are of
species that occur wild in what is now the southern !ahara and the !ahel' Other crops
are of highland +thiopian origin or, as in the case of yams, from the northern fringes
of the e3uatorial forest'
6onvincing archaeological evidence for the initial stages of African farming is scanty,
but what there is tends to confirm the geographical conclusions summari&ed above'
2oc paintings in the !ahara, tentatively dated between C111 and E111 )'6', provide
numerous representations of domestic cattle, indicating, among other features, the
importance that was attached to body marings and the configuration of horns' Later
art in the *ile Lalley, and undated examples in the eastern !ahara, show that attempts
were made to constrain or tame many other species, including giraffe and ostrich, that
were never successfully domesticated' )ones of domestic cattle come from several
sites, notably in Libya, Algeria, *iger, and !udan, dated mostly the fifth or fourth
millennia )'6' $irm data about the cultivation of plants are much more rarely
available' Large numbers of heavily used grindstones on fourth"millennium")'6' sites
in the !udanese *ile Lalley probably indicate use of cereals, but actual remains of the
grains themselves are rarely preserved, and the extent to which they were formally
cultivated is still uncertain' 4owever, by /:11 )'6', if not before, bulrush millet was
intensively cultivated in the western !ahara of 5auritania'
The initial stages of African farming development thus almost certainly too place in
the same general area as was occupied by the harpoon fishers, and at the time when
these peoples; established lifestyle was subject to considerable stress through the
lowering of water levels' (t is easy to visuali&e how, in such circumstances, settled
people would have exercised control over the herds of formerly wild cattle and begun
to protect, to care for, and then to cultivate plant foods in order to maintain their
supplies in the face of reduced availability of fish' Hata are not yet available for
+thiopia and the forest fringes. we do not now whether farming began in these areas
at the same general period as it did in the southern !ahara' (t is, however, important to
emphasi&e that, other than in a very restricted area of the +ast African highlands, there
is no evidence from any part of Africa south of the e3uator for the practice of any
form of farming prior to the start of ironworing late in the last millennium )'6'F!ee
also Africa( Origins of )ood Production 0n9 %uman Evolution: The Archaeolog"
of %uman Origins9 %umans( odern: Origins of odern %umans'G
!ibliograph"
B' Hesmond 6lar, ed', The Cambridge Histor! o" A"rica5 ?ol. 6 #/I<:%'
B' Hesmond 6lar and !teven A' )randt, eds', +rom Hunters to +armers The Causes
and Conse*uences o" +ood Production in A"rica #/I<0%'
Havid W' Phillipson, A"rican Archaeolog! #/I<D9 2nd ed., /IIE%'
Origins of 5odern 4umans (n the context of the long course of human
evolutionary history, the origin of modern humans is a relatively recent event' $ossils
of modern humans first appear in Africa and the Levant between about /E1,111 and
C1,111 )'P' (mportant fossils are Omo ( from the Omo 7ibish $ormation, +thiopia
#/E1,111 )'P'%, )order 6ave ( from southern Africa #<1,111KC1,111 )'P'%, the
numerous fragmentary fossils from &lasies 2iver 'ave, southern Africa #the oldest
of which date to greater than I1,111 )'P'%, and the seletons from >af&eh and !hul,
(srael #about /11,111 )'P'%'
All of these fossils are controversial' +ither the dating has been 3uestioned #e'g',
)order 6ave, Omo (% or the fossils themselves have been interpreted as archaic rather
than fully modern #e'g', 7lasies 2iver 6ave, >af&eh, !hul%' $urthermore, none of
these early fossils have been found associated with the advanced stone tool traditions
that occur with indisputably modern humans after about 01,111 )'P' (n the Levant
they are rather associated with the 5ousterian tool tradition that is also found with the
Neanderthals, while in Africa they are associated with the similar 5iddle !tone Age
tradition that occurs with premodern African hominids #archaic Homo sapiens%' (t is
only the later, more advanced traditions, the Apper Paleolithic in +urope and the
Levant and the Late !tone Age in Africa, that have been interpreted to reflect fully
developed modern human culture with cognition and symbolic language'
One of the main controversies surrounding the origin of modern humans is whether
the earliest fossils in Africa and the Levant are fully modern and, if so, whether they
indicate that modern humans first evolved in this region and then spread out from
there, displacing the premodern indigenous populations in +urope and the $ar +ast'
This has come to be nown as the Out"of"Africa, or African 2eplacement,
4ypothesis, and is primarily associated with paleoanthropologist 6hris !tringer and
geneticists 2ebecca 6ann and Alan Wilson' The major alternative explanation, the
5ultiregional 4ypothesis, denies the fully modern status of the controversial early
fossils and suggests that premodern populations in Africa, as well as in +urope and
Asia, evolved into modern humans in their specific geographic regions' An important
corollary of this hypothesis is that hominids are not fully modern unless they are
accompanied by archaeological remains that can also be interpreted as fully modern'
The 5ultiregional 4ypothesis grew out of the wor of $ran& Weidenreich in the
/IE1s and /I01s and is today associated primarily with the paleoanthropologists
5ilford Wolpoff and Alan Thorne' (t argues that there was considerable gene flow
between the major population groups in Africa, +urope, and Asia but denies that
modern humans evolved earlier in any one of these areas than in the others'
These two major schools of thought use different evidence to support their opposing
views of modern human evolution' The 5ultiregional 4ypothesis is based primarily
on the recognition of anatomical traits in the sulls of modern Australians and
6hinese that are also found in the earlier Homo erectus populations of Bava and
6hina' These features, such as the form of the chee bones or of the bridge of the
nose, are interpreted to represent a direct genetic lin between the fossil and modern
populations' Opponents of the 5ultiregional 4ypothesis argue that these features are
inconclusive because #/% some of them are found with greater fre3uency in modern
populations elsewhere in the world, #:% some merely reflect robusticity, and #E% early
modern fossils in 6hina, such as Apper 6ave / from #hou$oudian, lac any
evidence of the contiguity traits, thereby confounding the inferred genetic connection'
The Out"of"Africa 4ypothesis is based on the argument that the controversial fossils
from Africa and the Levant are anatomically modern and that they significantly
predate similar modern people elsewhere in the world' There is no doubt that the early
moderns from Omo, 7lasies 2iver 6ave, >af&eh, and !hul variably retain primitive
features such as brow ridges, relatively large teeth, and a considerable degree of si&e
and robusticity dimorphism between males and females' 4owever, supporters of the
Out"of"Africa 4ypothesis argue that they have modern features in the sull and also
in the postcranial seleton that fundamentally distinguish them from contemporary
archaic humans elsewhere in the world and align them with living humans'
There is also genetic support for the Out"of"Africa 4ypothesis, which derives
primarily from the fact that both nuclear H*A and mitochondrial H*A show a greater
diversity among living Africans than among human populations elsewhere in the
world' (f that diversity can be e3uated with anti3uity, it would suggest that human
populations have been evolving longer on the African continent than elsewhere in the
world' This implies a greater anti3uity for modern humans in Africa than elsewhere'
Antil recently it was also suggested that mitochondrial H*A indicated that all living
humans could trace their ancestry to a single female who lived in Africa
approximately :11,111 years ago' Although the analyses upon which this conclusion
was based have been shown to be seriously flawed, new analyses of mtH*A diversity
by 4enry 4arpending and his colleagues provide a model for the evolution of modern
humans that is consistent with a single, locali&ed origin' Arguing from the degree of
mtH*A variation in people today, these authors suggest that the population giving rise
to modern humans could not have been larger than D,111KD1,111 people #/,111K
/1,111 effective females%' )ecause this number is significantly smaller than the total
population si&e inferred for Homo sapiens in Africa, +urope, and Asia during the
5iddle Pleistocene, the magnitude of mtH*A diversity in people today would be
incompatible with the 5ultiregional 4ypothesis, which assumes that the total Homo
erectus population was ancestral to modern humans'
$urthermore, the pattern and magnitude of mtH*A diversity within and between
living populations suggests two things' $irst, +uropeans most probably arose from
African ancestors' !econd, between"population diversity in mtH*A is greater than
within"population diversity, suggesting an initial spread of people from a locali&ed
origin followed by a period of relative genetic isolation of the migrating people' This
would allow the interpopulational variation to develop' Only later in time would there
be a rapid increase in population si&e in the different geographical areas followed by a
higher level of gene flow between populations'
This new genetic model for the origin of modern humans implies that the factors
involved in the initial evolution and spread of modern human populations were not
the same factors that were associated with the subse3uent rapid increase in population
numbers of these people' (t also fits relatively well with what is nown from the fossil
and archaeological records' 5odern human populations from Africa could have
spread through the Levant and eastward into Asia sometime around /11,111 years
ago, occupying these regions in relatively low density and perhaps interbreeding to
some extent with the indigenous populations' At this stage their migration westward
into +urope would have been bloced by the *eanderthals' The ultimate spread of
modern humans into +urope correlates with the development of the Apper Paleolithic,
which appears between about 0D,111 and 01,111 years ago not only in +urope but
also in the Levant and in !iberia' (t would be fair to assume that the cultural advances
represented by the Apper Paleolithic were fundamentally associated with the ability of
modern humans to displace the *eanderthals and also with the rapid population
increase experienced by modern humans in +urope and elsewhere'
(t has been argued that some major biological change associated with the evolution of
modern humans, such as the evolution of fully developed human cognition and
symbolic language, underlies the development of the Apper Paleolithic in +urasia and
the Late !tone Age in Africa' 4owever, there is minimal, if any, evidence for such a
biological change' (t is now accepted that *eanderthals were functionally capable of
producing the full range of modern human speech sounds' $urthermore, there is also
behavioral evidence suggesting that they had at least basic symbolic capacity' The
important 3uestion is why *eanderthals and other premodern humans did not develop
the Apper Paleolithic #or the Late !tone Age% and conversely why it too the early
modern humans represented by !hul, >af&eh, Omo, and 7lasies 2iver 6ave more
than D1,111 years before they did'
The answer to this 3uestion may be simply that at this stage of evolution it was
culture, rather than biological evolution involving intelligence or cognitive capability,
that was the driving force of change' The factors underlying the evolution of human
language, underlying the rapid and virtually simultaneous appearance of the Apper
Paleolithic and the Late !tone Age in +urasia and Africa, and underlying the
apparently associated rapid expansion of human populations may better be seen to
include fundamental changes in the social organi&ation of the hominids involving
economic division of labor, food sharing, greater paternal investment in the offspring,
as well as ritual behavior associated with these fundamental changes'F!ee also 'ro1
magnons9 Genetics 0n Archaeolog"'G
!ibliograph"
P' 5ellars and 6' !tringer, The Human )evolution Behavioural and Biological
Perspectives on the $rigins o" Modern Humans #/I<I%'
6' )' !tringer, The +mergence of 5odern 4umans , !cientific American #Hecember
/II1%. pp'J<KC0'
8' )raWer and $' 4' !mith, Continuit! or )eplacementB Controversies in Homo
sapiens #volution #/II:%'
A' 8' Thorne and 5' 4' Wolpoff, The 5ultiregional +volution of 4umans , !cientific
American #April /II:%. pp':<KEE'
A' 6' Wilson and 2' L' 6ann, The 2ecent African 8enesis of 4umans , !cientific
America #April /II:%. pp'::K:C'
4' 6' 4arpending et al', The 8enetic !tructure of Ancient 4uman Populations ,
6urrent Anthropology E0 #/IIE%. pp'0<EK0IJ'
5' !toneing, H*A and 2ecent 4uman +volution , +volutionary Anthropology :
#/IIE%. pp'J1KCE'
Prehistory and +arly 4istory of !outh Asia The earliest settlement of humans in
!outh Asia is not well defined' (t is nown that important evidence of human
evolution is documented by the appearance of large apelie #hominoid% creatures in
the 5iocene of the !iwali 4ills' $or the past twenty years research has been
conducted in Paistan, 7ashmir, and 4ari Talyanagar' $ossil apes are of the genus
%ivapithecus and )amapithecus, a subgroup of the %ivapithicines' They are closely
related to the modern gibbon and can be considered a form of .r!opithecus.
&igantopithecus sometimes occurs, also' These fossils date to a period between about
//'< million years )'P' and C': million years )'P'
Pleistocene finds have been well summari&ed by 7'A'2' 7ennedy #/ICE%' The best"
documented fossil human is an Archaic Homo sapiens from the bed of the *armada
2iver' A second hominid fossil was found in Afghanistan at Hara"i 7ur in association
with a 5iddle Palaeolithic stone tool assemblage, probably Homo sapiens sapiens'
The abundance of Lower Palaeolithic artifacts in !outh Asia contrast sharply with the
spotty human fossil record' There are hundreds of sites that contain core bifaces,
choppers, and chopping tools' Lower Palaeolithic tools are reported from most of the
major regions of !outh Asia9 the exceptions are !outhern !ind, )aluchistan,
)angladesh and !ri Lana' Tools dating to two million years )'P' are reported at
2iwat on the Potwar Plateau, a claim being clarified by continuing research'
!ystematic excavations at 6hiri and Paisra have unearthed, in situ, living and
woring floors' 2esearch at Hidwana in 2ajasthan produced environmental data, plus
masses of artifacts'
+astern (ndia has evidence that %oabinhian tool maing extended into the
!ubcontinent'
The !outh Asian 5iddle Paleolithic is abundantly documented by sites but there is no
association with human fossils, except for the Hara"( 7ur find' This is a flae industry,
with limited evidence for the Levallois techni3ue' 5iddle Paleolithic sites are nown
from most major regions of !outh Asia' The exceptions are )aluchistan and the
+astern (ndian !tates' There is considerable topological diversity in this body of
material'
The Apper Palaeolithic of !outh Asia is not as well documented as the 5iddle
Paleolithic' !ites appear in some numbers in 8ujarat, 2ajasthan, the hilly tracts of
central and eastern (ndia, and on the Potwar Plateau of Paistan, most notably at
!anghao 6ave' !ome contain long, narrow blades taen from prismatic cores' At other
sites, !anghao 6ave for example, the artifacts consist of small irregular flaes' A
series of radiocarbon dates from this cave, run by Oxford, yielded consistent results
and dated the deeply stratified deposits between about :1,111 and 01,111 years )'P',
which overlaps the dates for microlithic tool technology in !ri Lana'
The !outh Asian 5esolithic has been documented best in !ri Lana where a series of
thirty"two radiocarbon dates from the sites of )atadomba Lena 6ave and )eli"lena
7itulgala date a microlithic chipped stone tool industry to around :<,D11 to /1,111
)'P' The earliest anatomically modern Homo sapiens in !outh Asia comes from
)atadomba Lena 6ave and is associated with the levels dated to around :<,D11 )'P'
There are also early dates for human fossils from $a 4ien 6ave in !ri Lana that
could push this date bac to E/,111 )'P'
The !outh Asian 5esolithic assemblages include microblades, lunates, crescents,
triangles, trape&es, and the rest of the microlithic tool it' !ome come from sites of
hunter"gathering peoples, contemporary with the end of the last glacial period and the
early 4olocene' The microlithic tool it, used by many peoples who were not just
hunter"gatherers, has a long history in the !ubcontinent' )y the sixth millennium )'P'
microlithic tool users were herding cattle, sheep, and goats'
Adaptive strategies are apparent at sites with microlithic technology. herding, hunting
and gathering, primitive cultivation, and the eeping of domesticated animals' There
are assemblages that suggest a symbiotic relationship of !outh Asian hunter"gatherers
with nearby settled, agricultural and herding communities' *ot all sties with
microlithic assemblages and adaptive strategies can be considered ,5esolithic'-
The !eginnings of )ood Production
The food"producing economy associated with Paistan and much of (ndia today,
originated in the uplands of the (ranian Plateau and Afghanistan and is based on the
wheatYbarley and sheepYgoatYcattle constellation of domesticated plants and animals'
This is clearly related to the *ear +astern pattern of early food production' (t was this
complex of plants and animals on which the 4arappan and 5esopotamian
civili&ations were based' The earliest manifestation of this tradition in !outh Asia
comes from the site of ehrgarh, on the 7achi Plains of the (ndus Lalley in
Paistan'
Period (A at 5ehrgarh is an aceramic *eolithic with mud bric houses' There is a
rich, complex collection of palaeobotanical remains, most of which is from thousands
of impressions in the mud brics of the period' The dominant plant of Period ( is
domesticated naed six"row barley #Hordeum vulgare subspecies vulgare variety
nudum% representing I1 percent of identified plant remains' Homesticated hulled six"
row and two"row barley and domesticated einorn, emmer, and hard wheat were also
there'
(n Period (A the animal economy was dominated by twelve species of large ungulates.
ga&elle, swamp deer, nilgai, blacbuc, onager, chital, water buffalo, wild sheep, wild
goat, wild cattle, wild pig, and elephant' 2ichard 5eadow taes this to indicate that
the first inhabitants of aceramic 5ehrgarh ( exploited the 7achi Plain and the
surrounding hills' )y the end of the aceramic period the faunal assemblage is
different' 2emains are from sheep, goat, or cattle, domestic animals of great
importance in the 5iddle +ast and !outh Asia today'
The radiocarbon determinations for 5ehrgarh ( are inconsistent' The best estimate for
its beginnings is around C111 )'6' 5ehrgarh ( compares well in cultural development
with sites in the *ear +ast'
There is a second food"producing cultural tradition in the northern regions of the
!ubcontinent that is called the *orthern *eolithic, dating to around E111 )'6' 5ost of
the sites are found in 7ashmir, but there are also settlements on the plains, as at !arai
7hola, near Taxila' These sites have cord"impressed pottery, ground stone nives and
ring stones, a rich bone tool industry, dog burials, and semisubterranian houses' They
represent the southernmost expression of a *orth Asian complex with a cultural
tradition that has its roots in inner Asia'
A third cultural tradition of early food producers is found in eastern (ndia, and
probably )angladesh' (t relates to !outheast Asian traditions found at places lie
Spirit 'ave in northwestern Thailand and the Padah Lin 6aves in )urma' These
archaeological assemblages may be early, around <111 to C111 )'6'
$inally, there is the !outhern *eolithic of peninsular (ndia' The antecedents of these
farmers and herders are not entirely clear, but the sites appear to date to the late third
and early second millennia )'6' These peoples used two forms of gram as well as
millets, and were cattle herders' There is evidence for eeping domesticated sheep and
goats, whose derivations are in the (ndus Lalley and the (ranian Plateau'
)y about :D11 )'6' the (ndus or 4arappan civili&ation emerged from the food"
producing communities of the (ndus Lalley and surrounding areas' +xcavations at the
great cities of ohen:o1daro and %arappa have demonstrated that some of these
people were literate, were craft specialists, lived in cities with a complex society, and
engaged in long"distance trade' The 0ndus 'ivili*ation covered an immense area9
over one million s3uare ilometers' The 5ature or Arban 4arappan, lasted only about
D11 years #ca' :D11K:111 )'6'%' Although the (ndus civili&ation was different from the
archaic states of the *ear +ast there were shared traits' Plants and animals used in the
subsistence systems are largely the same' They all made extensive use of bric in their
buildings, most of which are rectilinear' Wheel"thrown pottery, usually fired in an
oxidi&ing atmosphere producing red to buff in color, was made' A substantial portion
was slipped or decorated with mineral paints applied prior to firing' Walter $airservis
#/IJ/% noted that the (ndus civili&ation reached the eastern limits for the practical
cultivation of wheat and barley' These observations suggest that the (ndus civili&ation
is the easternmost expression of a very large, heterogeneous pattern of ancient
urbani&ation that stretches from northwestern (ndia, through Paistan to the
5editerranean !ea' An interaction sphere of considerable proportions that involved
overland and maritime trade, commerce, and diplomacy, was probably embodied
across the entire area'
The cities of the (ndus civili&ation were abandoned as functioning urban centers
around :111 )'6' The reasons are unclear, but invading Aryan tribes or the natural
damming of the (ndus 2iver were probably not factors' There is also cultural
continuity between the (ndus civili&ation and succeeding +arly (ron Age of the
Painted 8rey Ware in northern (ndia, as documented at )hagwanpura in 4aryana and
other sites in the region' There are still gaps in the se3uences in 8ujarat, !ind, and the
West Punjab, which no doubt will be filled in once systematic exploration and
excavation are completed'
6entral (ndia, in :111 )'6', was home to diverse peoples, documented best by
distinctive pottery styles such as Ahar, 7ayatha, 5alwa, and Borwe' They were wheat
and millet farmers who herded cattle, sheep, and goats' There is continuity in 6entral
(ndia and !outhern (ndia between the earliest farmingYherding peoples #5alwa"Borwe
and the !outhern *eolithic% and the succeeding +arly (ron Age of the Peninsular
(ndian 5egalithic 6omplex'
There is evidence, though infre3uent, for the occurrence of smelted iron in the !outh
Asian )ron&e Age at several sites' The widespread use of iron occurs in !outh Asia at
about /111 )'6', which is close to the beginnings of the (ron Age in a broad band of
regions stretching from the 5editerranean !ea to !outheast Asia and 6hina' There is
considerable regionali&ation in the +arly (ron Age in (ndia'
The earliest texts in ancient (ndia are the so"called Ledas, consisting of four boos,
each a collection of hymns' The first is the 2gveda, composed and codified to enable
Ledic priests to perform the sacrificial rite necessary for the proper ordering of the life
of the Aryan people' The other texts are the !amaveda, the @ajurveda, and the
Atharvaveda' The date of the 2gveda is not clear, although the relative chronological
se3uence for the composition of the texts seems certain. 2gvedaY!amaveda, the
@ajurveda, and finally the Atharvaveda' The date is based on an analysis of the
!ansrit employed in the texts' The best estimate is that the 2gveda was codified
between /:11 and <11 )'6' 5ost western scholars favor the later date'
There is some geographical information in the 2gveda that has been relatively well
studied' 2ivers mentioned in the text can be e3uated with modern streams of the
Punjab #(ndus, Bhelum, 6henab, 2avi, !utlej%' !ome, lie the ancient !arasvati, are
now largely dry' The people who composed these hymns were familiar with the
Punjab, which they called, ,land of the seven rivers'- This is the territory from the
(ndus in the west to the @amuna in the east and from the mountains of the north to the
panjnad in the south' !indh, the 8anges Lalley, and Peninsular (ndia were almost
unnown to them'
2eferences are made to gold, silver, lead, copper, and probably bron&e, but not iron'
4owever, iron was nown by the time of the Atharvaveda which suggests that the
2gveda was codified prior to the widespread use of iron in northern (ndia and
Paistan and that the Atharvaveda was written after /111 )'6'
The peoples of the 2gveda were cattle pastoralists who engaged in some farming'
They were a tribal people whose only specialists were chiefs and priests' There are no
archaeological sites that can be lined to the Ledic texts, but if the dating is correct,
the Painted 8rey Ware sites of the Punjab and 4aryana would have been occupied by
someone of that time'
Other bodies of ancient writing called the )rahmanas, Aryanaas, and Apanishads
form the balance of the literature that is called ,Ledic'- These and other texts reveal a
great deal about the growing complexity of ancient (ndian society with the emergence
of the !econd Arbani&ation on the Plains of the 8anges by about D11 )'6' The
geographical focus of the literature gradually moves east, down the 8anges, and there
are increasing references to !ind in Paistan and Peninsular (ndia' Archaic states are
mentioned9 Latsa, Avanti, 7alinga of modern Orissa, 7asi, now )eneres or Laranasi,
and 5agada in southern )ihar with its famous city of Pataliputra, modern Patna' They
tell of ings, states with elaborate bureaucracies, armies, taxes, and law codes' (n this
context )uddhism and Bainism were born and spread into !outheast Asia, 6hina, and
Bapan' Widespread writing returned to !outh Asia in the fourth century )'6', with the
edicts of the first great 7ing, Asoa' Two scripts were employed, 7haroshti in the
west, a derivative of Aramaic writing, and )rahmi in the east, thought to be related to
Aramaic, but a more doubtful association than 7haroshti'
The archaeology of the second urbani&ation of northern !outh Asia is documented by
excavations at a number of early cities. Taxila, 6harsada, 4astinapura, Ahichchhatra,
and !isulpulgarh' The subject has been brought together by 8hosh #/ICE%, +rdosy
#/I<C%, and $' 2' Allchin #/II1%'
(t is surprising that !ind and )aluchistan are mentioned infre3uently in the ancient
literature of !outh Asia, but the Heccan and !outh (ndia were not neglected, although
urbani&ation and sociocultural complexity were relatively late there' Literacy is
associated with the so"called Tamil")rahmi inscriptions of the early centuries )'6'
These and other texts note ings, states, and political conflicts' The era coincides
generally with the reopening of sea trade between !outh Asia and the west, and
eventually 2ome' There is an implication that this economic stimulation and
competition is intimately involved with the growth of sociocultural complexity in
!outh (ndia'
The archaeological study of !outh (ndia at the time of 6hrist involves a consideration
of the latest (ron Age 5egalithic burials and settlements, and the great coastal ports
lie Ariamedu and 7auveripattinam' 2oman coins in 5egalithic burials and the
presence of terra sigillata and amphorae in many sites mae a strong case for
commerce' There is also a robust set of documents that guide archaeological research,
especially L' 6asson;s The Periplus o" the #r!thraean %ea #/I<I%'F!ee also
Anuradhapura9 Asia( Origins of )ood Production 0n: Origins of )ood
Production 0n South Asia9 Nindowari9 3i:a"angara'G
!ibliograph"
Walter A' $ariservis, Br', The 4arappan 6ivili&ation. *ew +vidence and 5ore
Theory , *ovitates *o' :1DD #/IJ/%'
Arthur L' )asham, The -onder That -as 'ndia, ;rd ed. #/IJC%'
6hester 8orman, +xcavations at !pirit 6ave, *orth Thailand , Asian Perspectives /E
#/IC1%. pp'CIK/1C'
A' 8hosh, The Cit! in #arl! Historical 'ndia #/ICE%'
7enneth A' 2' 7ennedy, The !earch for $ossil 5an in (ndia, in Ph!sical
Anthropolog! and 'ts #/panding Horizons Pro"essor %. %. %ar1ar Memorial ?olume,
ed' A' )asu #/ICE%. pp':DK00'
Walter A' $airservis, Br', The )oots o" Ancient 'ndia, 2nd ed. #/ICD%'
6hester 8orman, A Priori 5odels and Thai Prehistory. A 2econsideration of the
)eginnings of Agriculture in !outheastern Asia, in $rigins o" Agriculture, ed' 6' A'
2eed #/ICC%. pp'E:/KEDD'
8regory L' Possehl and 7enneth A' 2' 7ennedy, 4unter"gathererYAgriculturalist
+xchange in Pre"history. An (ndian +xample , 6urrent Anthropology :1 #/ICI%.
pp'DI:KDIE'
Bim 8' !haffer, )ron&e Age (ron from Afghanistan. (ts (mplications for !outh Asian
Protohistory, in %tudies in the Archaeolog! and Palaeoanthropolog! o" %outh Asia,
eds' 7'A'2' 7ennedy and 8' L' Possehl #/I<0%. pp'0/KJ:'
B' 6' )arry, A 2eview of the 6hronology of the !iwali 4ominoids, in Primate
#volution, eds' B' 8' +lse and P' 6' Lee #/I<J%. pp'IEK/1D'
8eorge +rdosy, +arly 4istoric 6ities in (ndia , !outh Asian !tudies E #/I<C%. pp'/K:E'
2' W' Hennell, 4' 2endell, and +' 4ailwood, +arly Tool"5aing in Asia. Two"
million"year Old Artefacts in Paistan , Anti3uity J: #/I<<%. pp'I<K/10'
L' 6asson, The Periplus Maris #r!thraei #/I<I%'
7enneth A' 2' 7ennedy, $ossil 2emains of :<,111"year"old 4ominids from !ri Lana
, 6urrent Anthropology E1 #/I<I%. pp'EI0KEII'
$' 2' Allchin, Patterns of 6ity $ormation in +arly 4istoric !outh Asia , !outh Asian
!tudies J #/II1%. pp'/JEK/C0'
Arthur L' )asham, The $rigins and .evelopment o" Classical Hinduism #/II1%'
Hilip 7' 6harabarti, The #arl! 0se o" 'ron in 'ndia #/II:%'
%arappa one of the best"nown cities of the (ndian )ron&e Age, is located in
Punjab Province of Paistan on the southern, or left ban, of the 2avi 2iver' (t is the
type of 4arappan or 0ndus 'ivili*ation site that flourished on the plains of Paistan
and western (ndia from about :D11 to :111 )'6' ohen:o1daro lies 011 miles #J0D
m% to the southwest' These cities were once thought of as twin capitals of a vast
4arappan empire, but that is no longer a valid perspective' 2ecent discovery of a third
4arappan city at 8anweriwala in 6holistan, midway between 4arappa and 5ohenjo"
daro, is the most powerful reason to reject that notion' *o one nows how the
4arappan polity operated or the role urban centers played'
4arappa was first recogni&ed as an archaeological site by 6harles 5asson, a deserter
from the )ritish army, in /<:J' (t came under systematic excavation in the winter field
season of /I:1 to /I:/ by 2ai )ahadur Haya 2am !ahni of the Archaeological
!urvey of (ndia' +xcavation continued through the /I:1s and /IE1s' The ey report
for this wor is 5' !' Lats #/I01%' !ir 5ortimer 5heeler conducted one season of
wor in /I0J and 8eorge $' Hales renewed wor there in /I<J' Wor continues today
under the direction of 2ichard 5eadow'
The apparent si&e of 4arappa, taen from the mounded area and associated artifact
scatter, is approximately :D1 acres #/11 ha%' )ut, archaeological deposits dating to the
5ature phase of the 4arappan 6ulture Tradition have been found under alluvium
around the city, and no one is certain of its exact si&e, but it is perhaps as large as 0ID
acres #:11 ha%' With a population density of about :11 people per hectare, and all :D1
acres #/11 ha% settled at one time, total population would have been about :1,111'
2ecent wor at the site has defined five phases of occupation. Period L #6emetery 4,
Post"urban 4arappan, ca' /I11K/D11 )'6'%9 Period (L #Transition from 5ature
4arappan to Post"urban, ca' :111K/I11 )'6'%9 Period ((( #5ature 4arappan, ca' :D11K
:111 )'6'%9 Period (( #Transition from +arly to 5ature 4arappan, ca' :J11K:D11
)'6'%9 and Period ( #+arly 4arappan, ca' E:11K:J11 )'6'%' Periods have been defined
stratigraphically' Absolute chronology is based on calibrated radiocarbon dates'
There is an imposing high area on the west surrounded by substantial bric walls' (t is
generally called the AK) 5ound' Wheeler labeled it a ,citadel,- another archaic
thought about the city' A large building on 5ound $ at the northern end has sets of
parallel walls laid precisely on either side of a central road or corridor and is thought
of as a granary, although this has never been confirmed by charred grain, storage
vessels, or other collateral evidence' There are, however, a series of circular threshing
platforms to the south of the ,granary- building' Their function has been determined
through careful excavation of the wooden mortars in their centers, associated with
grain huss'
Two cemeteries, one designated 2"EC, the largest nown place of interment at that
time is associated with Period (((9 cemetery 4 is a burial ground for Period L' There
was diversity in the treatment of the dead, although seletons have been found in an
extended, supine position inside wooden coffins'
Artifacts from the 5ature 4arappan period include the usual s3uare stamp seals,
blac"on"red painted pottery, and carnelian beads, some of which were etched' There
is extensive use of baed bric, a distinctive feature of the 4arappan civili&ation'F!ee
also Asia: Prehistor" and Earl" %istor" of South Asia'G
!ibliograph"
5ado !arup Lats, #/cavations at Harappa, : vols' #/I01%'
2' +ric 5ortimer Wheeler, 4arappa /I0J. The Hefenses and 6emetery 2"EC , Ancient
(ndia E #/I0C%. pp'D<K/E1'
8eorge L' Possehl, Hiscovering Ancient (ndia;s +arliest 6ities. The $irst Phase of
2esearch, in Harappan Civilization A Contemporar! Perspective, ed' 8regory L'
Possehl #/I<:%, pp' pp'01DK/E'
Bonathan 5ar 7enoyer, Arban Processes in the (ndus Tradition. A Preliminary
5odel from 4arappa, in Harappa #/cavations 67G8:6779 A Multidisciplinar!
Approach to Third Millennium 0rbanism, ed' 2ichard 4' 5eadow #/II/%, pp' pp':IK
J1'
0ndus 'ivili*ation The (ndus, or 4arappan, civili&ation rose on the plains of the
8reater (ndus Lalley of Paistan and northwestern (ndia in the middle of the third
millennium )'6' The civili&ation is now dated to :D11 to :111 )'6' This period is also
called the 5ature 4arappan' (t was the time when the great cities of ohen:o1daro
and %arappa were functioning urban centers' They were inhabited by a population
ac3uainted with the art of writing, and there is abundant evidence for social
stratification and craft and career speciali&ation'
Anlie the 5esopotamian civili&ation and Hynastic +gypt, the (ndus civili&ation was
not part of the ancient literature of the (ndian subcontinent' +vidence for both of the
western civili&ations was preserved in the )ible and other lore nown to the scholarly
world' The standing monuments of Hynastic +gypt that survive to the present day
were also testimony to the )ron&e Age civili&ation of north"eastern Africa' )ut the
Ledic texts of ancient (ndia, the earliest of the subcontinents; historical literature,
contain no direct reference to the 4arappan civili&ation' The same is true for the
)rahmanas, Aryanaas, and Apanishads, which form the balance of the large body of
literature that is called ,Ledic'- Archaeologists employed by the )ritish colonial
government of (ndia had no hint that there was a vast civili&ation of the third
millennium, and it was an act of pure archaeological discovery that brought it to light'
The story of discovery begins in the nineteenth century, when the distinctive s3uare
stamp seals were found at the site of 4arappa on the bans of the 2avi 2iver in the
west Punjab of Paistan' The writing on them was unnown to epigraphers of the age,
which gave an importance to these objects and a constant, but low"eyed interest in
the site' $or this reason !ir Bohn 5arshall, the Hirector 8eneral of the Archaeological
!urvey of (ndia, sent his colleague 2ai )ahadur Haya 2am !ahni to excavate there in
the winter field season of /I:1 to /I:/' !ahni found more seals, but still had nothing
to connect them' A year earlier 2aal Has )anerji, the !uperintending Archaeologist
of the Western 6ircle of the Archaeological !urvey of (ndia, had visited 5ohenjo"
daro, 011 miles #J00 m% to the southeast of 4arappa, on the bans of the great (ndus
2iver of !ind Province' The site had been first recorded in /I// to /I/:, but its
significance had not been recogni&ed' )anerji seems to have been a man with sharp
intuition and he conducted a small"scale excavation at 5ohenjo"daro with his own
modest field funds' 4is wor also produced the s3uare stamp seals with the unnown
script on them and he recogni&ed the parallels with the seals published from 4arappa'
The next year #/I:EK/I:0% there were teams digging at both sites, with the full
blessings of the Hirector 8eneral;s office of the !urvey' 5arshall made a public
announcement of the discovery of a new civili&ation in the same year'
Archaeology in +gypt, the *ear +ast, and !outh Asia was prospering in the /I:1s' (t
was the era during which Tutan$hamun6s tomb was discovered, and the )ritish
5useum and The Aniversity 5useum, Philadelphia, excavated at Ar where they
discovered the famous ,2oyal 8raves'- +xcavation at 5ohenjo"daro continued on a
very large scale until /IE/, when the 8reat Hepression forced the termination of wor
there'
The chronology of the 5ature 4arappan civili&ation is based on radiocarbon dates,
with one reasonably good, if general, cross"tie to the Aadian Period of
5esopotamia' There are /1D radiocarbon dates for the 5ature 4arappan that have a
wide range but average around ::<: )'6' The best range for the 5ature, Arban
4arappan can be taen to be roughly :D11K:111 )'6' This correlates well with the
date for the Aadian Period in 5esopotamia' A fairly large number of 4arappan
artifacts, including (ndus stamp seals, etched carnelian beads, and other iconography
have been found in these contexts' There are also 5esopotamian texts with the
personal name ,5eluhha,- which has been identified as the 5esopotamian name for
the (ndus civili&ation' The objects with citations to people from ancient (ndia and
Paistan, resident in 5esopotamia, support the general dating of the (ndus civili&ation
very well'
Geograph"
!ettlements of the 5ature 4arappan Period are found over a very large area,
exceeding one million s3uare ilometers' The most westerly of these settlements is a
fortified site called !utagen"dor, near the border between Paistan and (ran near the
Arabian !ea' This was once thought to be a port, but that idea is no longer
contemplated' The site of Lothal in 8ujarat anchors the southwestern point of the
5ature 4arappan' The northeastern sites are found in the upper portion of the 8anga"
@amuna 2iver Hoab, mostly in !aharanpur Histrict of Attar Pradesh' There is one
settlement at 5anda in Bammu #(ndia%, near 2opar on the upper !utlej 2iver' The
greatest concentration of sites is in 6holistan #Hesert 6ountry% of )ahawalpur and
2ahimyar 7han Histricts of Paistan, with one hundred eighty"five closely spaced
around the terminal drainage of the ancient !arasvati, or 4ara 2iver' The most
northern of the sites is !hortughai on the Oxus 2iver in northern Afghanistan' This
was almost certainly a trading center' (t is distantly removed from other 5ature
4arappan settlements and therefore not used in the calculation of the total area'
,rban Origins
The beginnings of the 5ature 4arappan are still not well understood' There was a
widespread +arly 4arappan period with no cities, or even particularly large
settlements' There is little sign of social stratification in the +arly 4arappan and craft
speciali&ation is not developed to a mared degree' There appears to have been a
period of rapid culture change at about :J11 to :D11 )'6' during which most of the
distinctly urban or complex sociocultural institutions of the (ndus civili&ation came
together'
a:or Settlements
The major settlements of the 4arappan civili&ation are 5ohenjo"daro and 4arappa'
There is a third city, 8anweriwala, which is approximately /I< acres #<1 ha% in si&e in
6holistan' (t has not been excavated' Other major sites are 6hanhu"daro, Lothal,
Hholavira, and 7alibangan'
6hanhu"daro, located C1 miles #//E m% south of 5ohenjodaro, a 5ature 4arappan
town, was important for the presence of a worshop and for understanding the
stratigraphic relationship between the 5ature 4arappan and succeeding cultures'
Lothal, located in 8ujarat at the head of the 8ulf of 7hambhat #6ambay% provides an
understanding of 5ature 4arappan trade and artisanry and the stratigraphic
relationship between the 5ature 4arappan trade and the Post"5ature 4arappan in the
region' The large bric"lined enclosure at the site, which was once described as a
docyard, probably does not fit that description'
Hholavira, located in 7utch, midway between 6hanhudaro and Lothal is a /0D"acre
#J1 ha% site under excavation' (t is fortified and has a stratigraphic succession from the
+arly or Pre"4arappan to the 5ature 4arappan and succeeding cultures'
7alibangan is very close to the present border between (ndia and Paistan on a now
dry river, nown today as the 8haggar"4ara and in anti3uity as the !arasvati' (t is a
good example of a regional center of the (ndus civili&ation and has a well"documented
stratigraphic succession from the +arly to the 5ature 4arappan'
5riting
(n spite of many claims to the contrary, the (ndus script remains undeciphered'
Subsistence
The peoples of the (ndus civili&ation were farmers and herders, with hunting, fishing,
and gathering as subsidiary activities' The chief food grains were barley and wheat, in
that order of importance' They also cultivated at least two forms of seed plants, the
chicpea, field pea, mustard, and sesame' The evidence for the cultivation of rice
during the 5ature 4arappan is ambiguous, but possible' The 4arappans used grapes,
but their status as a domesticated plant is unnown' They engaged in some gathering
of wild plants, the most common of which is the (ndian jujube' !urotada, a 5ature
4arappan site in 7utch Histrict of (ndia, has produced a diverse set of wild plants that
all seem to have been gathered for their seeds' Twenty"five species or genera were
found, including well"nown plants such as .ichanthium5 Panicum sp', Care/ sp',
Amaranthus sp', and #uphorbia sp' Hate seeds are also part of the 5ature 4arappan
palaeobotanical sample'
The earliest cotton in the Old World was found at 5ohenjo"daro' !everal examples of
this material exist, all being preserved in the corrosion product of metallic objects'
One patch of cloth was preserved from the bag used to hold a silver vessel hidden in a
floor' A line used for fishing was preserved when it was wrapped around a copper
hoo' 6otton seeds may be present at the site of ehrgarh in Period (('
The peoples of the (ndus civili&ation were cattle eepers on a grand scale' One of the
consistent patterns in 4arappan archaeology is that cattle remains are usually above
D1 percent of the faunal assemblage, often much more' This observation and the cattle
imagery in art mae it clear that this was the premier animal in their culture, and that
it is highly liely that it may have been the principal form of wealth' The 4arappans
also ept substantial numbers of water buffalo, sheep, goats, and pigs' They ept
domesticated dogs and the figurines show that some of them wore collars, and that
there were breeds. some with curved tails over the bac, one that looed something
lie a bulldog, and a thinner, more gracile breed that resembles the modern Afghan'
The chicen was domesticated from the wild 2ed (ndian Bungle $owl, the earliest
remains of which are found at 5ohenjo"daro'
These people were also fish eaters' 5ost river sites have the remains of the local
freshwater fish, especially a variety of carp' 2ecent excavations at 4arappa have
revealed the presence of marine fish, indicating some form of commerce in dried or
salted fish' The 5ature 4arappan occupation at )alaot, a site near the Arabian !ea
just to the east of 7arachi, had sufficient remains from marine animals, especially a
grub, to roughly estimate that maritime food resources contributed about half of the
dietary intae from all fauna, with most of this coming from fish'
Trade and 'rafts
The peoples of the 5ature 4arappan were wide"ranging traders, within their
territories of Paistan and northwestern (ndia, and in more distant places, including
Afghanistan, 6entral Asia, the (ranian Plateau, and 5esopotamia'
The internal trade and commerce involved subsistence materials, such as the
aforementioned fish' (t extended to the following raw materials. copper #abundant
resources in )aluchistan and the 7etri )elt of 2ajasthan%9 gold #placer and dust
available in the (ndus 2iver, 7ashmir, and other places%9 silver #southern 7hetri )elt,
7ashmir%9 chert #abundant resources in the 2ohri 4ills of northern !ind%9 soft gray
stone or ,steatite- #widely available in )aluchistan, *orthwest $rontier, and
2ajasthan%9 chalcedony and other semiprecious stones #in 8ujarat, 7utch, Western
8hats, and )aluchistan%9 lapis la&uli, an important rich blue stone #available in the
6hagai 4ills of )aluchistan as well as the better"nown Afghan source in
)adahshan%9 shell #the species used broadly available from the maritime coast%9 and
timber #in the 4imalayas%'
The roots of artisanry for the (ndus civili&ation are historically deep, going bac to
Period ((( at 5ehrgarh, which dates to the middle of the fifth millennium )'6' (t is in
these contexts that one sees the beginnings of copper"based metallurgy, the
development of wheel"turned pottery, and the firing of hard red wares, as well as the
development of the bead"maing technology for which the 4arappans are so famous'
The 4arappan artisans too these materials and others and turned them into a wide
range of products' 5ajor craft centers have been found at the sites of 6hanhu"daro,
Lothal, and 5ohenjo"daro'
4arappan foreign commerce is a vast topic' The trade and interaction with 6entral
Asia is covered in wors by Ahmad 4asan Hani #/II1% and 4enri"Paul $rancfort
#/II:%' This interaction has deep roots and began much earlier than the 5ature
4arappan, as demonstrated by an examination of the ceramics of the two regions,
especially the so"called >uetta Ware, and female figurines with distinctive long,
joined legs, stretching to the front' (t seems to be rooted in the pastoral nomadism that
lins 6entral Asia with the Punjab and (ndus Lalley' The interaction with the (ranian
Plateau is not well documented, but one of the best sources in +nglish is Aso
Parpola;s piece in %outh Asian Archaeolog! 67G6 #/I<0%'
The trade with 5esopotamia, which for the most part seems to have been maritime
trade, is well documented, with boo"length treatments by !hereen 2atnagar #/I</%
and Haniel T' Potts #/II1%' A hypothesis about the beginnings of this maritime trade
appears in Possehl;s <ulli #/I<J%' The merchandise that appears most prominently in
the textual references to products of 5eluhha includes. carnelian, lapis la&uli, pearls,
a thorn tree of 5eluhha, mesu wood, fresh dates, a bird of 5eluhha #D as figurines%, a
dog of 5eluhha, a cat of 5eluhha, copper, and gold' The products traded to 5eluhha
are not as clearly documented, but included food products, oils, cloth, and the lie'
There are many 4arappan artifacts in 5esopotamia, including seals, etched carnelian
beads, and ceramics' The 5esopotamian products found in 4arappan contexts at
(ndus sites are very few and there is a considerable disparity in the archaeological
record of this subject'
2eligion
The best discussion of the religion of the 4arappan peoples remains the essay by !ir
Bohn 5arshall #/IE/%, although the notion that there is a ,Proto"!hiva- on the famous
seal from 5ohenjo"daro is not part of contemporary thought' The central theme of
4arappan religion as it comes from the archaeological record is the combined male"
female deity, symboli&ed by animal horns and the broad, curving plant motifs' This is
a very broadly defined set of images that reflects an e3ually broad set of ideas about
the principal 4arappan deity, although there seems to be no image of this entity' What
is seen is a male, horned animal god, generally associated with the water buffalo, and
a female plant deity represented as either a plant motif or a human figure standing in
or under a plant'
The imagery for these two gods is clearly cognate with the broad, sweeping curve of
the buffalo horns found in the plant designs' This relationship was there for some
purpose and it is reasonable to speculate that it was to convey the sense that what one
sees as two is, in fact, a single, unseen entity or idea' (t would have been an
androgynous being, combining the features of both male and female and obviously
not sexually neuter' This is a feature of gods in the 4indu pantheon, as exemplified by
Ardhanarisvara, the manifestation of !iva, who is half man and half woman' (t also
carries a sense of synthesis for the dualism of what came to be called sa1tism that !ir
Bohn 5arshall noted in his early essay on 4arappan religion' This imagery is
proposed here, but it should be considered a hypothetical extension of what is seen
3uite clearly=the dualism of maleYfemale and animalYplant'
All of the plant and animal worship discussed by 5arshall can be seen as specific
aspects of the great duality of the 4arappan 8reat Tradition' The multiheaded
animals, ,unicorns- with elephant truns, perhaps ,unicorns- themselves as in the
terracotta figurines from 6hanhu"daro, are all themes appropriate to &oolatry' !o are
the tigers with bull horns and half human"half 3uadrupeds seen on the seals, such as
on the cylinder from 7alibangan' These are proposed here to be only an elaboration of
the animal themes supremely portrayed by the )uffalo Heity on seal number 0:1 and
earlier on the )uffalo Heity pot from 7ot Hiji' The abundant plant motif, especially as
pictured on sealings and painted designs on pottery, is an analogous elaboration of the
principal theme seen, for example, on the seal of Hivine Adoration #number 0E1%, or
the painted motifs on pottery from 7alibangan or 5undiga'
The place of water in (ndus ritual, or the 4arappan civili&ation generally, seems to be
prominent' There is abundant evidence that the 4arappan affinity for cleanliness
#household and civic drainage, bathing facilities in many if not most houses% was
simply a microcosm of the 8reat )ath' !een from this perspective the 8reat )ath was
the civic"level facility for water ritual, bathing, and cleanliness, that too place in the
homes of ordinary citi&ens on a regular basis' The importance of water for the growth
of plants and the crops that sustained the 4arappan peoples would suggest that the
water ritual was affiliated with the femaleYplant side of the duality in the 4arappan
8reat Tradition'
$ire worship, if the evidence from 7alibangan is accepted, is somewhat more
difficult' (t plays an important role, at times with water, in the religious life of many
peoples and would not be unexpected in 4arappan life' There is a temptation to see
fire as the opposite of water and to place it on the maleYanimal side of the great
4arappan duality' This should be considered a tentative suggestion, since it builds on
logic that has already been 3ualified'
!een from this perspective the religion of the 4arappan civili&ation can be perceived
as a single institution, with perhaps two different aspects in the personae of the
maleYanimal deity and the femaleYplant goddess' The possibility that various domains,
settlements, or peoples claimed to be devotees of one or the other of these gods has
been suggested, along with the thought that older, diverse parts of the +arly 4arappan
systems of belief were practiced in 5ature 4arappan times as well' The parallels to
these observations found in later 4induism are in some respects 3uite striing'
The Eclipse of the Ancient 'ities of the 0ndus
The excavations at 5ohenjo"daro between /I:: and /IE/ demonstrated conclusively
that this ancient city was largely abandoned at the end of the 5ature 4arappan' There
is a very small amount of pottery associated with the so"called Bhuar 6ulture' The
distribution of this pottery at 5ohenjo"daro is not well understood, nor is its
development out of the wares of 5ature 4arappan' (t may indicate that there was a
small community of people living in some probably restricted parts of 5ohenjo"daro
in the early second millennium' There is also a later )uddhist monastery and stupa on
the 5ound of the 8reat )ath' $or all intents and purposes, it is fair to say that the city
had been dead as an urban center since the opening decades of the second millennium
)'6'
!imilar evidence was gained through the excavations at 4arappa, although the early
second millennium there, called 6emetery 4 after the excavation area where it was
first observed, is somewhat larger and more apparent than the Bhuar occupation of
5ohenjo"daro' The situation at 8anweriwala is less clear since there has been no
excavation there, but surface prospecting indicates that the occupation was limited to
5ature 4arappan times'
The evidence from the three urban centers, as well as regional surveys, indicates that
!ind and the west Punjab experienced the widespread abandonment of 5ature
4arappan settlements at the opening of the second millennium' There was either a
migration out of these areas or a shift in the system of settlement and subsistence to an
area that left very little archaeological trace, since site counts drop in a precipitous
way. from sixty"six 5ature 4arappan sites in !ind down to just nine in the Bhuar era,
and from one hundred ninety 5ature 4arappan sites in the west Punjab down to forty"
seven in 6emetery 4 times'
The same is not true everywhere' (n 8ujarat, site counts are about half the 5ature
4arappan in the Post"Arban Phase of the second millennium' 2ojdi, an important site
in central !aurashtra, underwent a major rebuilding in the opening centuries of the
second millennium that expanded its total si&e by half' (n the (ndian Punjab, 4aryana,
northern 2ajasthan, and western Attar Pradesh, there are two hundred sixteen nown
5ature 4arappan settlements' The opening centuries of the second millennium see
this number increase to eight hundred fifty"nine, a fourfold rise' *o one nows for
sure the full meaning of these observations, but it does seem to indicate that the
eclipse of the 5ature 4arappan was a regional phenomenon that did not strie all
parts of the 4arappan world in the same way'
Older theories which hold that the cities and civili&ation were destroyed by invading
Aryan tribes, as depicted in the 2ig Leda, mae very little sense' This is in part
because there is no evidence for the sacing of any of the 5ature 4arappan
settlements, nor is there chronological agreement between the date of the Ledic texts
and the changes seen so graphically at 5ohenjo"daro and 4arappa'
The proposition that a natural dam formed across the (ndus 2iver in !ind and flooded
out the civili&ation has been widely criti3ued and is not a viable proposition'
'onclusion
There is still much to be learned about the (ndus civili&ation' We now of the
grandeur of its cities with early grid town planning and a mastery of civic drainages,
of its wide"ranging contacts and technological sophistication' )ut many things elude
us about these people. their social and political organi&ations, the details of their
religion, the manner in which their cities were governed, the nature of warfare #if
present%, and the place of writing in their culture' There is a great deal to be done to
clarify and expand our nowledge of the ancient city dwellers of (ndia and Paistan'
F!ee also Anuradhapura9 Asia: Prehistor" and Earl" %istor" of South Asia9
Nindowari9 3i:a"angara'G
!ibliograph"
!ir Bohn 5arshall, 2eligion, in Mohen4o@daro and the 'ndus Civilization, E vols, ed'
!ir Bohn 5arshall #/IE/%. pp'0<KC<'
!ir 5ortimer Wheeler, The 'ndus Civilization, ;rd ed. #/IJ<%'
)' 7' Thapar, *ew Traits of the (ndus 6ivili&ation at 7alibangan. An Appraisal, in
%outh Asian Archaeolog! ed' *orman 4ammond #/ICE%. pp'<DK/10'
Walter A' $airservis, Br', The )oots o" Ancient 'ndia, 2nd ed. #/ICD%'
8regory L' Possehl, ed', Ancient Cities o" the 'ndus #/ICI%'
!hereen 2atnagar, #ncounters The -esterl! Trade o" the Harappa Civilization
#/I</%'
Aso Parpola, *ew 6orrespondences )etween 4arappan and *ear +astern 8lyptic
Art, in %outh Asian Archaeolog! 67G6, ed' )ridget Alchin #/I<0%. pp'/CJKID'
8regory L' Possehl, <ulli An #/ploration o" Ancient Civilization in %outh Asia
#/I<J%'
2' B' Wasson, The !edimentological )asis of the 5ohenjo"daro $lood 4ypothesis=A
$urther 6omment , 5an and +nvironment // #/I<C%. pp'/::KE'
Ahmad 4asan Hani, 6entral Asia and Paistan Through the Ages , Lahore 5useum
Bournal E./ #/II1%. pp'/K/E'
8regory L' Possehl, 2evolution in the Arban 2evolution. The +mergence of (ndus
Arbani&ation , Annual 2eview of Anthropology /I #/II1%. pp':J/K<:'
Haniel T' Potts, The Arabian &ul" in Anti*uit!, : vols' #/II1%'
4enri"Paul $rancfort, *ew Hata (llustrating the +arly 6ontact )etween 6entral Asia
and the *orth"West of the !ubcontinent , !outh Asian Archaeology /I<I, ed'
6atherine Barrige #/II:%. pp'ICK/1:'
8regory L' Possehl, ed' Harappan Civilization A )ecent Perspective, :nd rev' ed'
#/IIE%'
ohen:o1daro, ,5ound of the Head 5en,- is one of the most famous )ron&e Age
cities of the world' (t is located in !ind Province of Paistan on the western, or right
ban of the (ndus 2iver at :C\/<; north latitude, JC\1C; east longitude' 5ohenjo"daro
and %arappa, 011 miles #J0E m% to the northeast, are the two principal excavated
cities of the (ndus or 4arappan civili&ation' They prospered on the plains of Paistan
and western (ndia from around :D11 to :111 )'6' !tuart Piggott #/ID1% proposed that
they were twin capitals of a vast 4arappan empire, but this is not part of current
theory' The discovery of a 4arappan city at 8anweriwala in 6holistan, midway
between 4arappa and 5ohenjo"daro, is a strong reason to dismiss Piggott;s twin
capitals notion' (t is not nown how 4arappan polity operated or the role played by
large urban places'
5ohenjo"daro was first visited by an archaeologist, H' 2' )handarer, in /I// to
/I/:' +xcavation began in the winter field season of /I:: to /I:E, just after
excavation had taen place at 4arappa' The similarity between the remains from these
sites led archaeologists to continue to excavate but the discovery of the 0ndus
'ivili*ation was not announced until /I:0' (ntensive excavation continued at
5ohenjo"daro until /IE/, when the 8reat Hepression forced the end of the large"scale
wor which was published in two substantial reports #5arshall /IE/ and 5acay
/IECKE<%' !maller excavations continued through the /IE1s but not on a yearly basis'
!ir 5ortimer 5heeler undertoo one season of wor there in /ID1 and 8eorge $'
Hales did the same in /IJ0' A team of architects and archaeologists headed by Hr'
5ichael Bansen has been woring at the site since /ICI, mapping the remains,
conducting intensive surface surveys, and producing general documentation'
5ohenjo"daro appears to have been occupied during the 5ature, Arban Phase
4arappan of the 4arappan 6ultural Tradition #:D11K:111 )'6'%' There is a later
)uddhist stupa and associated monastery of the early centuries A'H', but it is small'
The lowest levels of the site have never been revealed in a substantial way because of
the high groundwater table of the (ndus Lalley, and the beginnings of the city are
obscure' There is no evidence for an +arly 4arappan or pre"Arban Phase occupation'
5ichael Bansen has proposed that it may be a ,founder;s city- planned in the 5ature,
Arban Phase 4arappan prior to its construction, lie the Alexandrias that were built by
Alexander the 8reat'
There are two parts to the city' A high mound to the west, with the so"called 8reat
)ath, is separated from the Lower Town to the east by an empty space that has been
shown, through excavation, never to have been settled' The 5ound of the 8reat )ath
is the site of speciali&ed architecture' The 8reat )ath itself is an open 3uadrangle with
verandas on four sides' There is architectural evidence for a second floor' A long
gallery on the south has a small room in each corner9 on the east, a single range of
small chambers, including one with a well' (n the center of the enclosed 3uadrangle is
a large bath approximately thirty"nine feet long by twenty"three feet #/: m by C m%
wide and sunen eight feet #:'D m% below the surrounding paving of the court' (t has a
flight of steps at either end' The bath was waterproofed with a lining of bitumen
below the outer courses of baed bric' (ts function, insofar as it contained water, is
not in doubt' Hirectly adjacent to the bath is a series of bric foundations that !ir
5ortimer Wheeler suggested was a granary' )ut, just as at 4arappa, there is no
collateral evidence for this function, maing it doubtful' The so"called Assembly 4all
and 6ollege of Priests are also areas of the 5ound of the 8reat )ath that may not as
such be truly functional' The 5ound of the 8reat )ath as a whole is elevated and
separated from the living area of the city of 5ohenjo"daro and because of this, seems
liely to have been the abode of an elite segment of the population'
5ohenjo"daro is famous for many things' The two most prominent are its grid plan
and the extensive internal drainage system that was integrated into the town plan' The
grid town plan has been proved through excavation with two northKsouth streets #$irst
and !econd !treets% and two eastKwest thoroughfares #6entral and +ast !treets%'
These divide the Lower Town into at least nine blocs, the internal structure of which
does not necessarily conform to the grid town plan' 5ost houses were provided with
trash chutes, sumps, andYor refuse collection bins' !ome of these are integrated into a
system of street drains, with sumps, manholes, and the lie' These are not large"scale
sewers, but functioned more lie the 4ube, features of streets in (ran, Afghanistan, and
parts of Paistan' The rainfall around 5ohenjo"daro is less than 0 inches #/11 mm%'
!ince rainfall in the area is thought to be about the same today as in the third
millennium, contrary to some opinion, the drainage system would not have been
justified by the rainfall'
The combined si&e of the mounds at 5ohenjo"daro is approximately :D1 acres #/11
ha%, about the same as for 4arappa' )ut, extensive remains have been found under the
alluvium to the north and east of the mounds at 5ohenjo"daro and the city might have
been much larger, perhaps II1 or even /:E1 acres #011 or D11 ha%' (f all :D1 acres
#/11 ha% of 5ohenjo"daro were settled at one time, with a population density of
approximately :11 people per :'D acres #/ ha%, the population of the city would have
been about :1,111'
The people of 5ohenjo"daro seem to have been engaged in craft production.
copperYbron&e metallurgy, stone tool manufacture, faience production, shell woring,
bead manufacturing, seal production, and the lie' They were also farmers #barley,
some wheat, cotton, and a wide range of other plants% and herders' 6attle are
especially prominent in the archaeological record, both as faunal remains and
artifacts, and it is clear that the ownership of these animals was almost certainly a
principal way in which wealth was expressed' There is abundant evidence for long"
distance trade, with contacts reaching 5esopotamia via the sea lanes through the
Arabian 8ulf, as well as overland to northern Afghanistan, central Asia to the north,
and peninsular (ndia to the south and east'
5ohenjo"daro was abandoned at about :111 )'6' The reasons for this are not yet
nown9 however, it was not invading Aryans' 5any other settlements in the area
surrounding 5ohenjo"daro in !ind were also abandoned at this time and something
similar too place at 4arappa and in its hinterland' The other domains of the (ndus
civili&ation seem to have been unaffected, and there is abundant evidence for cultural
continuity into the second millennium' (n 8ujarat and the (ndian Punjab and 4aryana
there is even an increase in the number of settlements, some of which underwent
extensive rebuilding at the point when 5ohenjo"daro was being abandoned' There
seems to be good reason to revise the notion of an eclipse or collapse of the (ndus
civili&ation other than in !ind and the west Punjab' There was certainly no
discontinuity in the cultural tradition' 2ecent wor by Bagat Pati Boshi of the
Archaeological !urvey of (ndia has documented continuity from the 5ature, Arban
Phase 4arappan into the +arly (ron Age in Punjab and 4aryana #Boshi /IC<%'F!ee also
Asia: Prehistor" and Earl" %istor" of South Asia'G
!ibliograph"
!ir Bohn 5arshall, ed', Mohen4o@.aro and the 'ndus Civilization, E vols' #/IE/%'
+rnest B' 4' 5acay, +urther #/cavations at Mohen4o@daro, : vols' #/IECK/IE<%'
Han !tanislawsi, The Origin and !pread of the 8rid"pattern Town, &eographical
)eview EJ. pp'/1DK:1'
!tuart Piggott, Prehistoric 'ndia to 6999 B.C. #/ID1%'
!ir 5ortimer Wheeler, The 'ndus Civilization, ;rd ed. #/IJ<%'
Bagat Pati Boshi, (nterlocing of Late 4arappa 6ulture and Painted 8rey War 6ulture
in the Light of 2ecent +xcavations , 5an and +nvironment : #/IC<%. pp'I<K/1/'
8regory L' Possehl, Hiscovering Ancient (ndia;s +arliest 6ities. The $irst Phase of
2esearch, in Harappan Civilization A Contemporar! Perspective, ed' 8regory L'
Possehl #/I<:%. pp'01DK0/E'
5ichael Bansen and 8unter Arban, eds', )eports on +ield -or1 Carried $ut at
Mohen4o@.aro5 Pa1istan5 67G2:G8 b! the 'smeo@Aachen 0niversit! Mission 'nterim
)eports, vols' /, :, #/I<E, /I<C%'
8eorge $' Hales, and B' 5ar 7enoyer, #/cavations at Mohen4o .aro5 Pa1istan The
Potter! #/I<J%'
5ichael Bansen and 5auri&io Tosi, eds', )eports on +ield -or1 Carried $ut at
Mohen4o@.aro5 Pa1istan5 67G;:G8 b! the 'smeo@Aachen 0niversit! Mission 'nterim
)eports, vol' E #/I<<%'
8regory L' Possehl
egalithic Tombs are one of the most widespread and conspicuous landscape
monuments of the western +uropean *eolithic' The term ,megalithic- itself is derived
from the 8ree words ,lithos- meaning stone and ,megas- or ,large'- They are thus
in essence large stone monuments, but by extension ,megalithic tomb- is often used
to refer to all *eolithic chambered tombs of western +urope, including those where
construction was in dry"stone walling or timber' 2ecent excavations at 4addenham in
6ambridgeshire showed that the timber elements in nonstone chambered tombs could
themselves be of great si&e, and the term ,megaxylic- #,large timber-% was proposed
to refer to these, but so far this has not found general acceptance in the archaeological
literature'
The variety of monuments comprised within the category of megalithic tombs is
enormous, ranging from simple box"lie burial chambers beneath small circular
mounds to enormous mounds with multiple passages and chambers such as 7nowth in
(reland or )arnene& in )rittany' $urthermore, the tombs form part of a larger tradition
of western +uropean prehistoric monuments, which also includes standing stones,
stone circles, and in )ritain, henges and cursus monuments' This monumentalism is a
ey feature of the western +uropean *eolithic and suggests some conscious attempt
on the part of these early societies to create a cultural landscape of conspicuously
visible humanly made structures'
Among the immense variability of megalithic tombs a number of ey types have been
identified' One of the earliest and most widespread is the passage grave, where the
burial chamber under its covering mound of earth or stones is reached by a passage
starting from the edge of the mound' This design allowed continued access to the
chamber long after the mound was completed, although in many cases the passage
was low and narrow and could be negotiated only by crawling through it' +xamples of
the passage grave type are found in most of the regions where megalithic tombs were
built, including (beria, $rance, the )ritish (sles, and southern !candinavia, but in
addition to the passage graves each region possesses other types of megalithic tomb'
(n $rance, there are the alles couvertes, or gallery graves, consisting of an elongated
burial chamber reached by a short vestibule' (n (reland, there are court cairns, where
long curved arms extend from one end of the mound to enclose an unroofed
courtyard' (n northern +urope, there are the d!sser, in which the chamber is a simple
stone compartment beneath the mound, without any means of entry from the outside'
(n most regions there are additionally other inds of *eolithic mounded tomb such as
the unchambered long mound or round mound9 these unchambered monuments,
properly speaing, fall outside the category of megalithic tombs, although it is clear
they are a related phenomenon'
One of the most interesting findings from wor on megalithic tombs over the past
fifty years has been the reali&ation that most are not single"phase structures of unitary
design but the result of many separate episodes of building, modification, and
addition' The form of the monument as it appears today is often the final outcome of a
process extending over several centuries' A good example of this is the tomb nown
as Wayland;s !mithy in southern )ritain' This is a megalithic tomb with a burial
chamber of cruciform plan at one end of an elongated mound' The entrance to the
passage leading to the burial chamber is in the center of one end of the mound,
flaned by large upright stones that create a ceremonial facade' This associated facade
is the most conspicuous of the surviving structures but represents only the latest phase
of the monument' The original structure consisted of a timber mortuary house
containing the bones of fourteen to seventeen individuals' !ubse3uently, the mortuary
house was allowed to decay and the remains covered by an oval mound' At a later
stage this was incorporated in the monument that we see today, the oval mound being
entirely hidden within the long mound and a separate megalithic passage grave built
at one end'
Origins and 'hronolog"
Antil the advent of radiocarbon dating in the /ID1s conventional wisdom placed most
megalithic tombs in the late third or early second millennium )'6', or in some cases
even later9 in the /I:1s, the alle couverte of TressM in *ormandy was attributed by
its excavator to the (ron Age #first millennium )'6'%' At that time, many prehistorians
considered megalithic tombs to be derived from the eastern 5editerranean or Aegean
region, and the corbel vaults of *ewgrange in (reland and 5aes 4owe in !cotland
were traced bac to 5ycenaean forebears such as the famous Treasury of Atreus at
5ycenae itself'
The first radiocarbon dates 3uicly demonstrated that the western +uropean
megalithic tombs were much older than their supposed Aegean antecedents, and the
hypothesis of an eastern 5editerranean origin was replaced by theories of
independent development' These new dates placed the earliest megalithic tombs in the
fourth millennium )'6', and with the calibration of the radiocarbon chronology the
oldest dates have been pushed bac to around 0<11 )'6' in calendar years' This maes
them the oldest monumental architecture in the world' 2adiocarbon dates have also
enabled the chronology of the different varieties of megalithic tomb to be fixed, and
have shown that megalithic tombs were still being built and used around :D11 )'6' in
(reland and certain regions of $rance' The use of megalithic tombs has thus been
shown to extend over a period of more than :,111 years'
The earliest reliably dated tombs are the passage graves of northwestern $rance,
although it is liely that megalithic tombs in certain regions of Portugal belong to
approximately the same period' 5ost theories of origin place particular emphasis on
the geographical distribution of the tombs, especially that of apparently early types
such as passage graves' Their distribution along the Atlantic margin of +urope
suggests that maritime contacts, perhaps between sea"fishing communities, may have
played a part in the genesis and dissemination of the concept' This idea gains support
from the discovery of collective graves containing the seletons of up to six
individuals in the mesolithic shell middens of TMviec and 4o_dic off the southern
coast of )rittany' The practice of collective burial, which is such a widespread feature
of western +uropean chambered tombs, could well have arisen from such modest
mesolithic origins'
The concept of the mound may have been a response to the social changes connected
with the adoption of a new economy or ideology at the beginning of the *eolithic
Period' (t has been argued that pressure from farming groups spreading across
northern $rance from the east could, in turn, have led to pressure on land and
resources in )rittany, stimulating the construction of monumental tombs that acted as
territorial marers' Other arguments place the emphasis not on economic change but
on the ideology of the longhouse' Longhouses of massive timber construction were a
ey feature of early framing communities in central +urope, and are thought to have
been translated into long mounds for burials by the early farming communities of
northern and northwestern +urope' Long mounds are found in northern $rance as far
west as )rittany, and some have argued that it was from these long mounds that all
other varieties of mounded tomb, including the passage graves, were derived' This
hypothesis fails to account for the early development of megalithic tombs in (beria,
however, where neither long mounds nor longhouses were present' $or this reason it
remains probably that megalithic tombs derived their origin, in part at least, from
local 5esolithic burial traditions'
,sage and eaning
5egalithic tombs consist of two principal components. the burial chamber and the
covering mound, or barrow' A third element sometimes found is a court or forecourt'
There is some evidence to suggest how these elements were used, although usage
must have varied considerably from generation to generation and from one region to
another'
The principal burial place was the chamber, although burials sometimes were also
placed in the passage' At the 4a&leton long mound in southern )ritain burials had
been placed in the passage only after access to the chamber beyond had been bloced
by collapse, so in this case the passage appears to have served as an overflow' The
predominant practice in megalithic tombs was that of collective burial, in which
remains of up to ED1 individuals were placed together in the same tomb' 8rave goods
were usually few, and most of the bones had become disarticulated' (n some tombs
there was evidence that the bodies had first been buried or exposed elsewhere, and it
was only the cleaned and disarticulated bones that were placed in the chamber9 in
other cases, entire bodies were introduced, and any disarticulation was the result of
later disturbance after they had decomposed'
The presence of an entrance or passage was clearly designed to allow repeated access
to the burial chamber over a period of decades or centuries, and evidence shows that
earlier burials were sometimes displayed to mae way for new interments' There are
also indications that in some tombs the bones had been sorted into categories, such as
long bones or sulls, which were grouped together in particular areas of the chamber'
This suggests that not only may new burials have been introduced via the passage, but
selected bones from existing interments may have been extracted for use in cults or
ceremonies' !uch ceremonies, perhaps involving offerings to the dead, may have
taen place in the courts or forecourts'
The monumentality of the tombs suggests that the bodies placed in them were of great
importance to the communities that built the tombs' A suggestion that has gained
broad acceptance is that the tombs drew their significance from being the resting
place of the ancestors' (n many small"scale societies an individual derives the right to
use of the land from his or her lineal descent from the ancestors' The burial mounds
may therefore have symboli&ed ancestral right to land, and this line of reasoning can
help to explain why the burial mound is often much larger than would be needed
simply to cover the burial chamber itself'
Social 'onte.t
A number of exercises, both paper and practical, have attempted to calculate the wor
effort involved in the construction of a megalithic tomb' This includes 3uarrying and
transport of the stone, construction of the chamber and other structures on site, and
completion of the mound' These exercises have shown that it would have been within
the capability of a small"scale community of some few do&en persons to build one of
the smaller tombs, but that construction of a large tomb such as 7nowth, in (reland,
where there are two long and heavily decorated passage graves beneath a mound over
:11 feet #J1 m% in diameter, would have re3uired the cooperation of a large number of
individuals, from several different communities' The fact that, in general, the larger
tombs belong to the later stages of megalithic tombs could be related to the
development of increasingly hierarchical societies, where power was concentrated
more and more in the hands of a ruling elite' Thus what we may be witnessing is a
transition from a landscape of relatively egalitarian communities, each with their
ancestral monument, to a more hierarchical organi&ation where burial mounds are
fewer, larger, and concentrated in emerging centers of power, such as the !o"ne
3alle" or Orney mainland'
*ot all regions exhibit such a hierarchical progression, however, and there is evidence
that even in the third millennium )'6' some of the tombs were still being shared by a
small number of families who chose to bury their dead in a communal burial place'
The alle couverte of La 6haussMe"Tirancourt in northeastern $rance contains two
distinct layers of burial separated by an intentional deposit of chal' 8enetic
abnormalities in the bones show that the same families were burying in particular
areas within the tomb in both layers' This suggests that these families retained rights
to their own specific part of the chamber throughout the life of the tomb'
egalithic Art
An intriguing feature of some megalithic tombs is the presence of designs carved into
the surface of the stones' These designs, nown as ,5egalithic art,- are found in
tombs along the Atlantic margin of +urope from (beria to the Orney (slands but are
especially common in (reland' (n the great )oyne Lalley tombs such as 7nowth and
*ewgrange, decorated stones occur both in the slab"built curbs that encircle the base
of the burial mounds and on the stones of the passage and chamber' (n addition to
peced designs, traces of painted decoration have been found on certain Portuguese
tombs' (t is unclear whether this ind of decoration is a local Portuguese phenomenon,
or whether it was originally much more widespread and survived only in the warmer
Portuguese climate'
A wide variety of motifs, both representational and abstract, are present in 5egalithic
art' They may be divided chronologically into three principal phases' (n the first phase
#ca' 0<11K0111 )'6'%, the art appears to be restricted to )rittany and consists of motifs
that are schematic but representational rather than purely abstract, as in later phases'
5otifs include axes, hafted axes, croos, and crosses' They are found on menhirs and
on simple passages graves' #%ee Statue1enhirs'%
The second phase coincides with the period when the classic passage graves were
being built #0111KED11 )'6' or possibly as late as E:11 )'6'%' The art is now more
widespread, being found in (beria, $rance, and the )ritish (sles, and in contrast to the
preceding period the principal art motifs are nonrepresentational, consisting of
abstract curves, circles, spirals, and meanders, often in closely spaced concentric
patterns' This ind of art is represented most spectacularly at 8avrinis, a passage
grave on a small island in the 8ulf of 5orbihan in southern )rittany, but by far the
greatest number is found in the passage graves of the )oyne Lalley'
$inally, the third phase is mared by a return to a greater regional variation in
5egalithic art' The best"nown examples are from northern $rance, where
representational elements become dominant once more' 6ertain of the motifs seem to
be anthropomorphic. neclaces and paired breasts in )rittany and anthropomorphic
outlines on the walls of roc"cut tombs in the 5arne region' These might be the first
representations of spirits or supernatural beings in northwestern +urope since the end
of the last (ce Age'
The presence of 5egalithic art in different regions suggests some measure of
interregional contact and cultural sharing' Ander certain circumstances, however,
identical artistic motifs may be developed by different societies entirely in isolation'
This is the alternative possibility presented by recent writers seeing to demonstrate
the entoptic nature of the designs involved' +ntoptic motifs are a universal product of
the human psyche in certain altered states of consciousness, such as trances induced
by narcotics or other intoxicants' The abstract patterns that are seen in these
circumstances are the same irrespective of cultural or social bacground' (f it is
accepted that some megalithic art consists of entoptic motifs, then we need not expect
to find direct cultural contacts between the regions using this art' Any specific
parallels would be indicative not of cultural contact between these regions, but would
stem instead from the origin of these motifs in universal characteristics of the human
psyche'
The possibility that trance"inducing substances were used in these societies is
strengthened by the discovery in a number of $rench *eolithic burial chambers of
fragments of ceramic incense burners' These may have been designed for the
inhalation of a narcotic such as opium' Together with the evidence of sorting and
manipulation of the bones this provides tantali&ing indications of the inds of ritual
practiced in and around megalithic tombs'
egaliths 5orldwide
Although the best"nown 5egalithic tombs are those in +urope, it should be noted
that monuments of a similar character and construction are found in other parts of the
world, including southern (ndia, the 6aucasus, 5adagascar, and parts of !outh
America' The use of large stone blocs to create a tomb chamber appears thus to have
been adopted independently by a number of human societies at different times in the
past'F!ee also !ritish 0sles: Prehistor" of the !ritish 0sles9 !urial and Tombs9
Europe: The European Neolithic Period9 Stone 'ircles and Alignments'G
-ating the Past 6entral to the process of doing archaeology is the necessity of
understanding the chronological se3uencing of archaeological entities and past events'
Without a firm grasp of this se3uencing, archaeologists would not be able to deal with
issues of behavioral process and evolution' Archaeology as a discipline would be
reduced to a dry cataloging of artifacts and monuments with little hope of
understanding the mechanisms and rates of change in past human cultures' $or this
reason, dating the past has been one of the most crucial methodological problems
facing archaeologists' $ortunately, the past hundred years; wor on this problem has
yielded a wide array of methods and techni3ues to allow archaeologists to extrapolate
the fourth dimension #time% from the three physical dimensions #latitude, longitude,
and elevation% of archaeological sites' These techni3ues fall into two categories=
relative chronology and absolute chronology'
2elative chronology is based on the simple stratigraphic principle that older materials
will be found lower in an archaeological deposit than newer materials=the law of
superposition' $or example, a stone tool dropped on a cave floor in /111 )'6' will
eventually be covered by deposits and possibly later human construction' Another
stone tool dropped in that cave in A'H' /111 will fall on a floor that is higher than the
original floor' An archaeologist excavating that cave in /IID will uncover the tool
dropped in A'H' /111 first because it is higher in the stratigraphic se3uence'
!ubse3uent excavation will uncover the tool dropped in /111 )'6' in a lower level'
!imply on the basis of the vertical relationship between the two tools, the
archaeologist could determine that the tool found on the lower level was deposited
some time before the tool found on the upper level' The archaeologist would not
now when either of the two tools were deposited' *or would he or she now how
much time elapsed between the deposition of the two tools' *evertheless, the
archaeologist would be able to develop a relative chronology of the cave deposits that
would accurately portray the relative se3uence of depositional events that occurred in
the cave' This is the first, and simplest, tool that archaeologists have for determining
the temporal relationships between occupation events in archaeological sites' $or
many years this was the only tool that archaeologists had available to them' There are,
of course, a range of human and nonhuman factors and processes that can obscure and
even reverse that simple relationship, and field archaeologists must be very careful to
determine what postdepositional processes have affected their deposits and adjust
their relative chronologies accordingly'
Another techni3ue of relative dating is Seriation' !eriation is based on the principle
that artifacts will change in decorative style and form over time and that each style or
form will follow a similar trajectory of early limited use, acceptance and increased
popularity, and eventual decline in popularity tapering to final disuse' A graphical
representation of this trajectory with popularity, as measured by the fre3uency of
occurrences in a stratigraphic level, plotted as hori&ontal bars centered on a vertical
axis representing time forms, is called a battleship curve' )y plotting battleship curves
for several artifact styles #usually, but not necessarily, pottery types% within a site,
archaeologists can develop a relative chronology for the site' $or many years prior to
the development of techni3ues for absolute dating, seriation was the principal tool that
archaeologists had for developing refined chronologies' The drawbac, of course, was
that this techni3ue did not provide archaeologists with actual dates9 nor did it allow
archaeologists to now how long or short a period of time was represented by a
battleship curve'
The great breathrough for archaeologists came with the development of techni3ues
of absolute dating' Absolute dating techni3ues allow archaeologists to assign specific
calendar dates to deposits within sites and, by extension, sites within regions' The
simplest of these techni3ues uses artifacts of nown age' These are artifacts that have
a date inscribed on them or artifacts for which historical records indicate the time
period when they first came into use and eventually went out of use' While a valuable
tool in areas such as the 6lassical editerranean 5orld, where dated or datable
coins, toens, jewelry, and historical records were available, the techni3ue was simply
not applicable in most of the rest of the world'
(n the early part of the twentieth century in the American !outhwest and later in
northern +urope, archaeologists began exploring the use of tree rings to determine the
age of site deposits' Thus was born the science of -endrochronolog", or tree"ring
dating' Hendrochronology was a brea"through for archaeologists woring in the
American !outhwest, where wood was preserved by the aridity, and for those woring
in northern +urope, where wood was preserved in bogs and marshes, but was of little
or no use in most other parts of the world'
The real explosion in the development of techni3ues of absolute dating began in the
/ID1s and /IJ1s' (n /ID: 2adiocarbon -ating was developed, and for the first time
a techni3ue offered archaeologists in almost all parts of the world a way to accurately
determine the actual age of the carboni&ed wood and bone in the deposits of their
sites' 2adiocarbon dating revolutioni&ed archaeology worldwide and in large part
made possible the ,new- or ,processual- archaeology of the /IJ1s and /IC1s' *ot
only were archaeologists able to accurately date events but they could also start
looing at things lie the rates of cultural change, and not just on a regional basis, but
on a global scale, because finally everyone was able to tal about time using the same
calendar scale'
Hevelopment of new techni3ues to address both the temporal limitations of
radiocarbon dating and the inapplicability of radiocarbon dating to certain areas or
contexts blossomed in the /IJ1s and /IC1s' Today archaeologists can loo to )ission1
trac$ and Potassium1argon -ating for dating extremely old deposits #on the order of
millions of years% and Obsidian %"dration -ating, thermoluminescence dating, and
archaeomagnetic dating for determining the age of deposits or sites where radiocarbon
dating is not an option'
(n addition to expanding the number of options that archaeologists have for dating
their sites, techni3ues have also been developed for refining the precision of those
date estimates' A variety of techni3ues for doing Seasonalit" Studies, discussed
elsewhere, can allow the archaeologist to determine not only the approximate year or
years that a site was occupied, but the actual season or seasons of occupation'
$inally, all of these techni3ues can be used in conjunction through a techni3ue nown
as cross"dating' (n cross"dating, stratigraphic or assemblage similarities between sites
within a region can be used #much in the same way that tree rings are matched% to
extend nown dates from one or more sites to sites where chronometric techni3ues
might not wor, allowing archaeologists to develop cohesive chronologies for
exploring regional social and cultural evolution over time'
8eorge 5ichaels
-endrochronolog" is the scientific study of the chronological and environmental
information contained in the annual growth layers of trees' The method uses
accurately dated tree"ring se3uences for placing past events in time and for
reconstructing environmental conditions that prevailed when the rings were grown'
)oth aspects of this science are relevant to archaeology, the first to the exact dating of
archaeological features, the second to understanding the effects of environmental
variability on human societies'
Hendrochronology was created early in the twentieth century by Andrew +llicott
Houglass, an astronomer with the Lowell Observatory in $lagstaff, Ari&ona, as an out"
growth of his study of the effects of sunspots on terrestrial climate' Lacing weather
records long enough to be tested for correlation with the twenty"two"year sunspot
cycle, Houglass turned to the rings of coniferous trees in this semiarid area as
potential proxy climatic indicators that could be related to sunspot activity' )uilding
on his discovery that these trees possessed identical se3uences of wide and narrow
rings, he developed a continuous 0D1"year record of the ring"width variability
common to the trees of the area and demonstrated that this variability was highly
correlated with the precipitation of the winter preceding the growth year'
Archaeologists 3uicly recogni&ed the potential of Houglass;s method for dating
abundant wood and charcoal remains in the ruins of the Southwest' 4is discovery, in
/I/C, that archaeological samples exhibited common patterns of ring"width
variability, stimulated an intensive effort to lin the undated prehistoric ring se3uence
with the dated living"tree se3uence' Twelve years; wor produced a D<D"year
prehistoric ring series that did not overlap with the dated se3uence' (n /I:I, the rings
in a charred log from a site near !how Low, Ari&ona, connected the two se3uences
and, for the first time in *orth American archaeology, allowed calendar dates to be
assigned to prehistoric sites' Thus, dendrochronology became the first of many
independent dating techni3ues used in archaeology' !ince that time, nearly D1,111
tree"ring dates from nearly D,111 sites in the !outhwest have produced the finest
prehistoric chronological controls available in the world'
Houglass;s success spared the immediate adoption of tree"ring dating in other
regions, notably Alasa, the *orth American 8reat Plains, and southern 8ermany' The
Aniversity of Ari&ona recogni&ed Houglass;s achievement by creating the Laboratory
of Tree"2ing 2esearch in /IEC9 it remains the world;s largest and most comprehensive
dendrochronological research and teaching facility' After /IJ1, tree"ring programs
were begun in virtually every area of the globe' Archaeological dating is now widely
practiced in *orth America and +urope, and other applications of the method are
pursued throughout the world'
The fundamental principle of dendrochronology is crossdating, the matching of
identical patterns of variation in ring morphology among trees in a particular area'
Although several ring attributes #density, trace element content, stable isotope
composition, intra"annual growth bands, and others% can be used for this purpose,
crossdating most commonly is expressed in the covariation of ring widths' Whether
established visually, graphically, or statistically, une3uivocal crossdating is the
essential element of dendrochronology' The si&e of the area encompassed by a
particular crossdating pattern varies from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of
s3uare ilometers and must be determined empirically in each case'
6hronology building is the process of averaging the annual ring widths of many
crossdated samples into composite se3uences of ring"si&e variability with each ring
dated to the year in which it was grown' )y incorporating overlapping ring records of
varying lengths and ages, this procedure produces ring chronologies that are longer
than any of their individual components' Thus, the chronology for the !outhwest has
been extended bac to E:: )'6' by adding progressively older archaeological samples
to the living"tree se3uence' (n addition, chronology building reduces individual tree
effects and maximi&es the variability common to all the trees, that is, the variability
caused by largescale external factors, primarily climate' Thousands of chronologies
have been built in many regions of the world, the longest of which are an <,C11"year
bristlecone pine se3uence from 6alifornia and a /1,111"year se3uence from central
+urope' 6omposite chronologies serve as standards for dating samples of unnown
age, as records of past climatic variability, and as referents for calibrating
2adiocarbon and other time scales'
Archaeological tree"ring collections yield three inds of information. chronological,
behavioral, and environmental' Hating remains dendrochronology;s primary
contribution to archaeology' A tree"ring date is determined by finding the uni3ue point
at which the ring"width se3uence of a sample matches the pattern of a dated
chronology' Tree"ring dates have two notable attributes. accuracy to the calendar year
and no associated statistical error' When a sample;s outer ring is the final ring grown
by the tree, the date specifies the year in which the tree died, usually the year that the
tree was cut for use by humans' When complicating factors can be controlled by
evaluating detailed data on the provenance, function, and physical attributes of the
wooden artifact from which the sample is taen, the date can be applied to the
construction of features associated with the artifact' Analyses such as these produce
une3ualed levels of chronological control at site, locality, and regional scales'
)ehavioral information results from treating tree"ring samples as artifacts rather than
just sources of dates' Analy&ing wooden elements in this fashion illuminates a
prehistoric people;s treatment of trees as a natural resource and wood as a raw
material' (nformation on the season of tree cutting, distance of wood transport, species
preferences, tree"felling and woodworing tools and techni3ues, dead wood use,
stocpiling, beam reuse, structure repair, element shaping, and other behaviors can be
ac3uired in this way'
+nvironmental information comes from two sources' When differential use of tree
species by a site;s inhabitants can be controlled, differences between the species
assemblage of the site and the modern flora of the area can indicate major
environmental changes since the site;s occupation' The chief source of environmental
information is variation in ring widths, which records several aspects of climatic
variability' Hendroclimatology is the branch of dendrochronology concerned with
environment"tree growth relationships' Hendroclimatic reconstructions are produced
by establishing mathematical relationships between ring widths and climate data for
the period of overlap between these two records and then using the resulting e3uations
to reconstruct past climatic variability from the longer tree"ring record' These
operations reconstruct past climate in terms of standard measures, such as millimeters
of precipitation or degrees of temperature, at time scales ranging from seasons to
centuries and at spatial scales ranging from localities to continents' Hendroclimatic
analyses of climate"sensitive archaeological tree"ring chronologies produce accurate
reconstructions of prehistoric climatic variability that can be related to past human
behavior' 6ombining high"fre3uency dendroclimatic reconstructions with other
paleoenvironmental indicators reveals a broad spectrum of environmental variability
that would have affected prehistoric and historic human populations'
!ince its creation by Houglass, dendrochronology has made important contributions
to archaeology in many areas of the world' (t is safe to predict that, as global interest
continues to grow, archaeological applications and the spatial coverage of the method
will continue to expand'F!ee also -ating the Past9 Paleoenvironmental
2econstruction9 2adiocarbon -ating'G
!ibliograph"
)ryant )annister, Hendrochronology, in %cience in Archaeolog!, ed' Hon )rothwell
and +ric 4iggs #/IJE%, pp' pp'/J/K/CJ' 4' 6' $ritts, Tree@)ings and Climate #/ICJ%'
5artin 2' 2ose, Beffrey !' Hean, and William B' 2obinson, The Past 6limate of
Arroyo 4ondo, *ew 5exico, 2econstructed from Tree"2ings , Arroyo 4ondo
Archaeological !eries 0 #/I</%'
5' 8' L' )aillie, Tree@)ing .ating and Archaeolog! #/I<:%'
Beffrey !' Hean, Hendrochronology, in .ating and Age .etermination o" Biological
Materials, ed' 5ichael 2' ?immerman and B' Lawrence Angel #/I<J%, pp' pp'/:JK
/JD' $rit& 4ans !chweingruber, Tree )ings Basics and Applications o"
.endrochronolog! #/I<<%'
Beffrey !' Hean
)ission1trac$ -ating is a method of absolute age determination based on the
microscopic counting of micrometer"si&ed damage tracs that are created by the
spontaneous fission of uranium #A
:E<
% atoms and that accumulate with time in
minerals and glasses containing uranium in minor concentrations' The method was
developed in /IJEK/IJ0 by three A'!' physicists #P' )' Price, 2' 5' Waler, and 2' L'
$leischer%' Observation of the tracs under an optical microscope is possible only
after special preparation of the sample #polishing and etching%' The number of tracs
counted per unit of surface in a mineral or glass sample is a function of its age and
uranium content' (n order to determine the age, a determination of the uranium
content is therefore also re3uired' This is performed by irradiating the sample with a
calibrated dose of slow neutrons in a nuclear reactor, an operation that induces new
#A
:ED
% fission tracs, the number of which is proportional to the uranium content'
$ission tracs are thermally unstable, meaning that they fade, to disappear completely
at high temperature, a process that is called trac annealing' Hifferent materials have
different sensitivities with respect to trac annealing, glass being more sensitive than
minerals, and the annealing process depends not only upon the temperature but also
upon the duration of heating' Partially annealed tracs are distinguished from fresh
tracs by their smaller si&e'
(n the geological sciences, fission"trac dating has evolved to the point where an
acnowledged chronometer is applied not only to determine the age of minerals #and
of the rocs of which they are constituents% but also, and even more often, to study
their temperature evolution with time' (n archeology, fission"trac dating has
remained of rather limited importance' The limitations are mainly related to the low
number of fission tracs accumulated in the relatively young archaeological samples
compared to the half"life of <': ` /1
/D
years for A
:E<
spontaneous fission' !amples of
large si&e or relatively high uranium content are re3uired, and one is often confronted
with lengthy counting procedures of low surface trac densities, with a considerable
bacground of spurious traclie etch pits, deteriorating both precision and accuracy'
$ission"trac dating can therefore not be considered competitive with radiocarbon or
thermoluminescence dating' *evertheless, the method proved to be well suited for
studying specific materials and problems'
One of the favorite materials fission"trac dating has been applied to is obsidian'
Artifacts such as nives and arrowheads made of natural obsidian glass found in
+urope and !outh America can be dated if they were fired by ancient humans' The
condition is that heating was sufficiently strong to completely anneal all previously
stored ,geological- tracs so that all tracs that are counted result from uranium
fission reactions that too place after the firing' This can be checed by trac si&e
analysis' $issiontrac age determinations on artifacts that were not heated normally
yield the geological age of the obsidian lava flow the obsidian was extracted from' A
comparison of fission"trac age determinations on obsidian tools found at different
localities with those of nown outcrops of obsidian lava flows in (taly, 8reece, and
Turey allowed researchers to determine the geographic provenance of the tools and
to reconstruct in this way the ancient obsidian trade routes in the editerranean
5orld'
$ission"trac dating has also been applied to man"made glass' !tudies of this ind
were performed on gla&e covering 011" to D11"year"old Bapanese bowls' Another
example is a glass shard originating from a 8allo"2oman bath near Limoges, $rance'
A correct result of A'H' /D1 was found for the age of the bath, with a precision,
however, as poor as twenty percent' The fluorescent green uranium"rich glassware
produced in )ohemia #central +urope% during the nineteenth century has, on the other
hand, been dated 3uite precisely'
Occasionally, pottery has been dated, if it contained suitable inclusions such as flaes
of obsidian or &ircon grains' 4ere too, all geological tracs are supposed to be erased
in these inclusions during the baing process' !imilar studies were carried out on fired
stones and baed earth' 2emarable success was achieved in the age determination of
the Homo erectus pe1inensis' )ased on ca' /11 suitable grains of sphene found in
firing ashes in two layers containing human remains in the #hou$oudian cave near
Peing, fission"trac ages of E1J a DJ and 0J: a 0D thousand years )'P' were
obtained'
!ome of the very early hominid sites aged around : million years )'P' in eastern
Africa #Tan&ania, +thiopia, 7enya% have also been dated with fission tracs,
supplementing potassium"argon age determinations that were often found to be
problematic' Ase was made of glass shards or uranium"rich mineral grains, such as
&ircons extracted from the volcanic tuff layers that are intercalated between the
sedimentary se3uences containing the hominid remains'F!ee also Archaeo1
paleomagnetic -ating9 -ating the Past9 -endrochronolog"9 Luminescence
-ating9 Obsidian %"dration -ating9 Potassium1argon -ating9 2adiocarbon
-ating9 Seriation9 Stratigraph"'G
!ibliograph"
2obert L' $leischer, P' )uford Price, and 2obert 5' Waler, (uclear Trac1s in %olidsH
Principles and Applications #/ICD%'
8Wnther A' Wagner, Archaeological Applications of $ission"Trac Hating , *uclear
Trac Hetection : #/IC<%. pp'D/KJE'
8Wnther A' Wagner and Peter Lan den haute, +ission@Trac1 .ating #/II:%'
$rans He 6orte and Peter Lan den haute
Obsidian %"dration -ating (n many regions of the ancient world, obsidian, a
volcanic glass, was the preferred material for stone"tool production' $racturing
obsidian exposes fresh surfaces, on which hydration rinds may form' The thicness of
a rind increases with the age of the artifact' 2ind thicnesses, measured using
powerful microscopes, can be used to date the production of artifacts'
The reactions involved in the production of a rind are complex' 2ecent studies
indicate that four processes are involved. the leaching of alali ions from the glass
into solution, the replacement of these ions by 4
Z
or 4
E
O
Z
, the surface dissolution of
the silica networ of the glass, and the precipitation of reaction products' $actors
related to these reactions affect the rate at which rinds form on obsidian artifacts'
These include the chemical composition of the glass and solution, effective hydration
temperature #+4T%, p4, relative humidity, artifact shape, solution"flow rate, and
exposure time'
4ydration measurements can be used for relative or absolute dating, with an accuracy
dependent on control of these variables' Theoretically, hydration dating has no
absolute temporal limitations, but rinds tend to crumble when they reach a thicness
of D1 microns, maing it difficult to date artifacts of great anti3uity' $urthermore,
several centuries must pass before a measurable rind forms' Although radiocarbon,
thermoluminescence, and archaeomagnetic dating can be used to date 4olocene sites,
hydration dating is inexpensive and re3uires only rudimentary microscopy sills'
4ydration measurements are used in two fundamentally different ways to calculate
the age of artifacts' The first method calibrates rind measurements with other temporal
data, such as radiocarbon dates or even ceramic phases' Once a calibration curve is
established, rind measurements from other contexts can be compared to the curve and
absolute or relative dates can be determined' The advantage of this techni3ue is that it
is based on empirical in vivo measurements and does not re3uire in vitro experiments
under unnatural conditions' A disadvantage is that variation in local environmental
conditions is not taen into account, increasing error'
Anlie the calibration approach, the induction method relies on laboratory
experiments' 4ydration is induced by exposing fresh obsidian to water vapor or li3uid
water' (n order to increase the reaction rate, high temperatures and pressures are used'
Ander these artificial conditions, rind formation can be accurately modelled as a
diffusion process, allowing the calculation of +4T"dependent hydration rates' (n order
to calculate absolute dates from obsidian artifacts, paleo"+4Ts must be estimated'
6ontemporary +4Ts can be measured using thermal cells or estimated using weather
station data and extrapolated to the past' Although the experimental induction method
is 3uite promising, it has serious flaws' $irst, in vivo rind formation is far more
complex than laboratory"induced diffusion' !econd, the e3uations used to model
diffusion depend only on time and +4T, although field studies and induction
experiments have demonstrated that relative humidity, p4, and other variables also
affect rind"formation rates'
The earliest attempts to use hydration measurements to date artifacts were made by
(rving $riedman and 2obert !mith #,A *ew 5ethod Asing Obsidian Hating. Part (,-
American Anti*uit! :D #/IJ1%. 0CJKD::%' !ince then, hydration dating has been used
widely, with particular success in 6alifornia and the 8reat )asin of the Anited !tates'
(n this area, numerous regional chronologies have been constructed using the
calibration method'
(n esoamerica, obsidian hydration dating has usually been used to supplement
more traditional chronological data' Two important projects, however, have used
hydration dating to form the bacbone of the chronology' At 7aminaljuyu,
8uatemala, Boseph 5ichels =The Penns!lvania %tate 0niversit! <aminal4u!u Pro4ect
I6787:67J9 %easons5 Part ' Mound #/cavations, Aniversity Par, /ICE% used the
calibration method to produce E,111 obsidian hydration dates that proved to be
inaccurate' An unfortunate result has been that 5aya archaeologists are now reluctant
to use hydration dating' 5ore recently, the experimental induction techni3ue has been
used in an attempt to fine"tune the chronology of 'op7n, a 6lassic 5aya site in
4onduras' Although most of the :,:11 dates are consistent with other temporal data,
several hundred are very late' Havid Webster and Ann6orinne $reter #,!ettlement
4istory and the 6lassic 6ollapse at 6opan. A 2edefined 6hronological Perspective,-
Latin American Anti*uit! / #/II1%. JJK<D% have used these dates to argue that a
substantial population continued to occupy 6opbn until A'H' //D1' Other
archaeologists 3uestion this conclusion, because very few Post"classic ceramics have
been found at the site' $urthermore, there are no radiocarbon or archaeomagnetic
dates later than A'H' ID1' Antil independent chronological evidence is found, it seems
unliely that a substantial Postclassic occupation will be accepted'
The 6opbn dates demonstrate that estimating error is a serious problem with the
techni3ue' Although current environmental conditions can be measured, an
unmeasurable error is introduced when these conditions are extrapolated to the past' A
shift in +4T of just / 7, for example, can lead to dates that err by centuries' $or this
reason, hydration dating must still be considered a relatively inaccurate independent
chronometric techni3ue'F!ee also Archaeo1paleomagnetic -ating9 -ating the Past9
-endrochronolog"9 )ission1trac$ -ating9 Luminescence -ating9 Potassium1
argon -ating9 2adiocarbon -ating9 Seriation9 Stratigraph"'G
!ibliograph"
2' +' Taylor, ed', Advances in $bsidian &lass %tudies #/ICJ%'
6lement W' 5eighan and Banet L' !calise, $bsidian .ates '? #/I<<%'
+' L' !ayre, P' Landiver, B' Hru&i, and 6' !tevenson, eds', Materials 'ssues in Art
and Archaeolog! #/I<<%'
B' B' 5a&er, 6' 5' !tevenson, W' L' +bert, and B' 7' )ates, The +xperimental
4ydration of Obsidian as a $unction of 2elative 4umidity and Temperature ,
American Anti3uity DJ #/II/%. pp'D10KD/E'
2osanna 2idings, Obsidian 4ydration Hating. The +ffects of 5ean +xponential
8round Temperature and Hepth of Artifact 2ecovery , Bournal of $ield Archaeology
/< #/II/%. pp'CCK<D'
8eoffrey +' )raswell, Obsidian"4ydration Hating, the 6oner Phase, and 2evisionist
6hronology at 6opbn, 4onduras , Latin American Anti3uity E #/II:%. pp'/E1K/0C'
8eoffrey +' )raswell
Potassium1argon -ating 8eologists use the potassium"argon techni3ue to date
rocs as much as : billion years old and as little as D1,111 years old' The potassium"
argon method is one of the few viable ways of dating archaeological sites earlier than
/11,111 years old, and has allowed paleoanthropologists to develop an outline
chronology for early human evolution and human origins' Potassium #7% is one of the
most abundant elements in the earth;s crust and is present in nearly every mineral' (n
its natural form, potassium contains a small proportion of radioactive potassium 01
atoms' $or every hundred potassium 01 atoms that decay, eleven become argon 01, an
inactive gas that can easily escape from its material by diffusion when lava and other
igneous rocs are formed' As volcanic roc forms by crystalli&ation, the concentration
of argon 01 drops to almost nothing' )ut regular and reasonable decay of potassium
01 will continue, with a half"life of /'E billion years' (t is possible, then, to measure
with a spectrometer the concentration of argon 01 that has accumulated since the roc
formed' )ecause many archaeological sites were occupied during a period when
extensive volcanic activity occurred, especially in +ast Africa, it is possible to date
them by associations of lava with human settlements'
Potassium"argon dates have been obtained from many igneous minerals, of which the
most resistant to later argon diffusion are biotite, muscovite, and sanidine'
5icroscopic examination of the roc is essential to eliminate the possibility of
contamination by recrystalli&ation and other processes' (n the standard techni3ue, the
samples are processed by crushing the roc, concentrating it, and treating it with
hydrofluoric acid to remove any atmospheric argon' The various gases are then
removed from the sample and the argon gas is isolated and subjected to mass
spectrographic analysis' The age of the sample is then calculated using the argon 01
and potassium 01 content and a standard formula' The resulting date is 3uoted with a
large standard deviation=for Lower Pleistocene sites, on the order of a 3uarter of a
million years' (n recent years, computeri&ed argon laser fusion has become the
techni3ue of choice' )y steering a laser beam over a single irradiated grain of
volcanic ash, a potassium"argon specialist can date a lae bed layer, and even a small
scatter of tools and animal bones left by an early hominid' The grain glows white hot,
gives up a gas, which is purified, and then charged by an electron beam' A powerful
magnet accelerates the charged gas and hurls it against a device that counts its argon
atoms' )y measuring the relative amounts of two isotopes of the element, researchers
can calculate the amount of time that has elapsed since the lava cooled and the
crystals formed' Potassium"argon dates can be taen only from volcanic rocs,
preferably from actual volcanic flows, so the geological associations of fossils and
artifacts must be carefully recorded'
$ortunately, many early human settlements in the Old World are found in volcanic
areas, where such deposits as lava flows and tuffs are found in profusion' The first
archaeological date obtained from this method came from Olduvai Gorge, Tan&ania,
where in /IDI Louis and 5ary Lea$e" found a robust australopithecine sull,
3in4anthropus boisei, stone tools, and animal bones in a Lower Pleistocene lae bed
of unnown age' Lava samples from the site were dated to about /'CD million years,
doubling the then"assumed date for early humans' !tone flaes and chopping tools of
undoubted human manufacture have come from 7oobi $ora in northern 7enya, dated
to about :'D million years, the earliest date for human artifacts' !till earlier
Australopithecus fossils have been dated at 4adar in +thiopia to between E million
and 0 million years ago' Potassium"argon samples have dated the appearance of
Homo erectus in Africa to about /'< million years ago or even earlier' Antil recently,
paleoanthropologists believed H. erectus radiated out of Africa about a million to
C11,111 years ago' )ut a team of )ereley scientists have used laser fusion to date H.
erectus"bearing levels at 5odjoerto in !outheast Asia to /'< million years ago,
pushing the radiation date bac three 3uarters of a million years'F!ee also -ating the
Past9 %uman Evolution: )ossil Evidence )or %uman Evolution'G
!ibliograph"
8' )' Halrymple and 5' A' Lamphere, Potassium Argon .ating #/IC1%'
B' W' 5ichels, .ating Methods in Archaeolog! #/ICE%'
!' B' $leming, .ating in Archaeolog! #/ICJ%'
)rian 5' $agan
2adiocarbon -ating is an isotopic or nuclear decay method of inferring age for
organic materials' The radiocarbon #6
/0
% method provides a common chronometric
time scale of worldwide applicability for the Late Pleistocene and 4olocene'
2adiocarbon measurements can be obtained on a wide spectrum of carbon"containing
samples including charcoal, wood, marine and freshwater shell, bone and antler, peat
and organic"bearing sediments, as well as carbonate deposits such as marl, tufa, and
caliche' With a half"life of approximately D,C11 years, the 6
/0
method can be routinely
employed in the age range of about E11 to between 01,111 to D1,111 years for sample
si&es in the range of /K/1 grams of carbon using conventional decay or beta counting'
With isotopic enrichment and larger sample si&es, ages up to CD,111 years have been
measured' Accelerator mass spectrometry #A5!% for direct or ion counting of 6
/0

permits measurements to be obtained routinely on samples of /K: milligrams of
carbon=and with additional effort on as little as D1K/11 micrograms of carbon=with
ages up to between 01,111 and D1,111 years' The use of A5! technology may in the
future permit a significant extension of the 6
/0
time frame to as much as <1,111 to
I1,111 years if stringent re3uirements for the exclusion of microcontamination in
samples can be achieved' The 6
/0
dating techni3ue was developed at the Aniversity of
6hicago immediately following World War (( by Willard $' Libby #/I1<K/I<1% and
his collaborators Bames 2' Arnold and +rnest 6' Anderson' Libby received the *obel
Pri&e in chemistry in /IJ1 for the development of the method'
The natural production of 6
/0
is a secondary effect of cosmic"ray bombardment in the
upper atmosphere' $ollowing production, 6
/0
is oxidi&ed to form 6
/0
O
:
' (n this form,
6
/0
is distributed throughout the earth;s atmosphere' 5ost of it is absorbed in the
oceans, while a small percentage becomes part of the terrestrial biosphere primarily
by means of photosynthesis combined with the distribution of carbon compounds
through the different pathways of the carbon cycle' (n living organisms, metabolic
processes maintain the 6
/0
content in e3uilibrium with atmospheric 6
/0
' 4owever,
once metabolic processes cease=as at the death of an animal or a plant=the amount
of 6
/0
will begin to decrease by nuclear decay at a rate measured by the 6
/0
half"life'
The radiocarbon age of a sample is based on measurement of its residual 6
/0
content'
$or a 6
/0
age to be e3uivalent to its actual or calendar age at a reasonable level of
precision, a set of assumptions must hold within relatively narrow limits' These
assumptions include #/% the concentration of 6
/0
in each carbon reservoir has
remained essentially constant over the 6
/0
time scale, #:% there has been complete and
relatively rapid mixing of 6
/0
throughout the various carbon reservoirs on a
worldwide basis, #E% carbon isotope ratios in samples have not been altered except by
6
/0
decay since these sample materials ceased to be an active part of one of the carbon
reservoirs=as at the death of an organism, #0% the half"life of 6
/0
is accurately nown
with a reasonable precision, and #D% natural levels of 6
/0
can be measured to
appropriate levels of accuracy and precision'
2adiocarbon age estimates are generally expressed in terms of a set of widely
accepted parameters that define a conventional radiocarbon age' These parameters
include #/% the use of D,DJ< #D,DC1% years as the 6
/0
half"life even though the actual
value is probably closer to D,CE1 years, #:% to define ,&ero- 6
/0
age, the use of
specially prepared oxalic acid or sucrose contemporary standards or a modern
standard with a nown relationship to the primary standards, #E% the use of A'H' /ID1
as the &ero point from which to count 6
/0
time, #0% a normali&ation of 6
/0
in all
samples to a common 6
/E
Y6
/:
value to compensate for fractionation effects, and #D% an
assumption that 6
/0
in all reservoirs has remained constant over the 6
/0
time scale'
2adiocarbon ages are typically cited in ,radiocarbon years )P- where )P #or
sometimes )'P'% indicates ,before present- or more specifically ,before A'H' /ID1'- (n
addition, a conventional understanding is that each 6
/0
determination should be
accompanied by an expression that provides an estimate of the experimental or
analytical uncertainty' !ince statistical constraints associated with the measurement of
6
/0
is usually the dominant component of the experimental uncertainty, this value is
sometimes informally referred to as the ,statistical error'- This ,a- term is suffixed to
all appropriately documented 6
/0
age estimates' Typically, a laboratory sample
number designation is also included when a 6
/0
age is cited'
$or most time periods, conventional radiocarbon ages deviate from ,real-=that is,
calendar, historical, or sidereal=time' A calibrated radiocarbon age taes into
consideration the fact that 6
/0
activity in living organisms has not remained constant
over the 6
/0
time scale' Tests of the validity of the assumption of constant 6
/0

concentration in living organics over time initially focused on the analyses of the 6
/0

activity of a series of historically and dendrochronologically dated samples'
2adiocarbon determinations on several species of tree"ring"dated wood from both
*orth America and +urope have documented a long"term trend and shorter, high"
fre3uency variations in the 6
/0
activity over time' $or the +arly and 5iddle 4olocene,
the amount of correction re3uired to ,calibrate- a 6
/0
date, that is, to bring a
conventional 6
/0
age determination into alignment with calendar time, does not
exceed /,111 years' $or the pre"4olocene period, radiocarbon ages compared with
uranium"series ages from marine cores suggest deviations in 6
/0
ages for the Late
Pleistocene of as much as E,111 years' The 6
/0
Ytree"ring data also documents shorter"
term, higher"fre3uency variations in 6
/0
activity over time superimposed over the
long"term trend' These shorter"term variations, which appear as wiggles, ins, or
windings in the calibration curve, add further complexity to the process of calibrating
the 6
/0
time scale'
$or samples from some carbon reservoirs, conventional contemporary standards may
not define a &ero 6
/0
age' A reservoir"corrected radiocarbon age can sometimes be
calculated by documenting the apparent age exhibited in nown"age control samples
and correcting for the observed deviation' 2eservoir effects occur when initial 6
/0

activities in samples of identical age but from different carbon reservoirs exhibit
significantly different 6
/0
concentrations' (n some cases, living samples from some
environments exhibit apparent 6
/0
,ages- due to the fact that a significant percentage
of the 6
/0
in these samples do not draw their carbon directly from the atmosphere'
2eservoir effects can occur in mollus and other shell materials in both fresh water
and marine environments' +xamples of other samples influenced by reservoir effects
include wood and plant materials growing adjacent to active volcanic fumarole vents
or where magmatic fossil 6O
:
is being injected directly into lae waters and where
plants growing in these lae waters derive all or most of their carbon from the lae
waters' 2eservoir effects can range from a few hundred to a few thousand years
depending upon specific circumstances'
(n the first decade following its introduction, 6
/0
dating documented the geologically
late beginning of the postglacial period at about /1,111 6
/0
years )'P' and the
anti3uity of agriculture and sedentary village societies in southwestern Asia in the
eighth"seventh millennium )'6' Applications of A5! 6
/0
technology has permitted
the dating of human seletons from various sites in the Western 4emisphere that had
previously been assigned ages in the range of :1,111KC1,111 years on the basis of
previous 6
/0
analysis or the application of other dating techni3ues such as the amino
acid racemi&ation method' A5! 6
/0
results on well"characteri&ed organic extracts
indicate that the age of all of the human seletons examined to date do not exceed
//,111 6
/0
years' A5! 6
/0
measurements have also been crucial in clarifying
controversial age assignments of early domesticated or cultivated plants in both the
Old and *ew World as well as documenting that the ,!hroud of Turin- was a
medieval artifact'F!ee also Archaeo1paleomagnetic -ating9 -ating the Past9
-endrochronolog"9 )ission1trac$ -ating9 Luminescence -ating9 Obsidian
%"dration -ating9 Potassium1argon -ating9 Seriation9 Stratigraph"'G
!ibliograph"
W' 8' 5oo and 4' T' Waterbol, eds', C
6K
and Archaeolog! #/I<E%'
2' 8illespie, )adiocarbon 0ser,s Handboo1 #/I<0%'
W' 8' 5oo and 4' T' Waterbol, )adiocarbon .ating, 4andboos for
Archaeologists, *o' E #/I<D%'
B'A'B' 8owlett and 2'+'5' 4edges, eds', Archaeological )esults "rom Accelerator
.ating #/I<J%'
2' +' Taylor, )adiocarbon .ating An Archaeological Perspective #/I<C%'
H' Polach, )adiocarbon .ating Literature The +irst 26 Dears5 67KJ:678G #/I<<%'
5artin B' Aiten, %cience@Based .ating in Archaeolog!, 6hapters E and 0 #/II1%'
!' )owman, )adiocarbon .ating #/II1%'
2' +' Taylor, A' Long, and 2' !' 7ra, eds', )adiocarbon A"ter +our .ecades An
'nterdisciplinar! Perspective #/II:%'
2' +' Taylor
Seriation includes a number of relative dating techni3ues, the first of which was
developed in the early /I11s, before the advent of chronometric dating' These
techni3ues are based on a reconstruction of typological or stylistic changes in material
culture through time' 6eramics will be used to illustrate the techni3ues discussed here,
but other classes of material can be used as well'
To construct the seriation for an area, stratified sites usually are examined' )y
examining typological or stylistic shifts from the different strata, these changes can be
placed in a relative chronological order' Once the seriation of an area is unraveled at a
single or several stratified sites, it can be used to place other sites into a regional
temporal ordering through ceramic cross"dating' The following hypothetical example
uses three sites, the Heep site, the !hallow site, and the *ew site, to illustrate' The
first site investigated in the region is the Heep site, which contains five strata, the
lowest containing ceramic type A, the next type ), and so on to the highest level with
type +' *ext, the !hallow site is excavated' (t has one strata containing ceramic type
A' )ased on our previous research we can say that the !hallow site is
contemporaneous with the earliest occupation at the Heep site' +xcavations at the
*ew site reveal two strata with ceramic type + in the lower level and $ in the higher
level' )ecause type + is found only at the highest levels of the Heep site we can say
that the *ew site was founded while the Heep site was still being occupied and
continued to be occupied after the Heep site was abandoned' Additionally, the *ew
site was occupied after the !hallow site' (f chronometric dates can be obtained from
the deposits containing ceramics at the Heep site, a date can be assigned to the
!hallow and *ew sites' $or example, if the A strata at the Heep site dates to A'H' I11,
the !hallow site also dates to A'H' I11'
!eriation can also be undertaen using excavated or surface collections from single
component sites' This process assumes that the production of artifact types follows a
battleship curve distribution through time' That is, the percentage of the assemblage a
type represents is small at the beginning of its production span, widens in the middle
as it becomes popular, and is small again at the end as it loses popularity and is
eclipsed by another type' The seriation can be determined using a graphical display' (n
the graph, each site is represented by a line, and the percentage of each ceramic type
found at that site is represented by a scaled bar' The lines are rearranged until the bars
form battleship curves for each type in the overall display'
(n addition to the graphical method, a number of 3uantitative methods are used to
seriate sites' One of the earliest used was the )rainerd"2obinson method, which
computes indexes for each unit #either sites or features within a site% and then orders
the units based on these indexes' The index is a measure of similarity between two
units, computed as the sum of the absolute value of the differences in percentages of
each type between units' This figure is then subtracted from :11' The more similar the
units, the smaller the differences in percentage of each type and the closer to :11 the
index is9 the greater the difference between the units, the farther from :11 the index is'
A similarity matrix of the indexes is then constructed' The sites are reordered until the
highest indexes are on the diagonal and the values decrease consistently with distance
from the diagonal' The resulting ordering of the units reflects their chronological
ordering'
Today, statistical techni3ues, such as multidimensional scaling, factor analysis, and
cluster analysis, are used in conjunction with computers to determine the correct
ordering of the units' Additionally, finer time"scale resolution has been achieved by
examining shifts in stylistic elements and motifs in ceramic assemblages rather than
types, resulting in a microseriation' The finer resolution of the microseriation is due to
the fact that stylistic elements shift through time within a type, and are, therefore,
more sensitive to short"term seriations'
)oth factor analysis and multidimensional scaling rely on similarity matrices related
to the correlation of the ceramic type or stylistic element in the assemblage as a
whole' These correlations are used to create new variables representing ceramic or
stylistic complexes' +ach unit is then scored for these new variables and ordered, with
units having similar scores on the new variables being close to each other in the
seriation' What these techni3ues allow the archaeologist to do is loo at a large group
of variables, which are temporally sensitive, and reduce them to a small set of new
variables #the typological or stylistic complexes% that represent the interaction of a
number of the original variables' This reduction procedure simplifies the data into a
few dimensions on which the units can be sorted'
6luster analysis uses the similarities and differences between artifact assemblages to
group units into chronological periods' 6luster analysis techni3ues treat each ceramic
type or stylistic element as a dimension and the number of sherds of that type, or
possessing that element, present in the unit is a measurement on that dimension' This
is similar to the way distance is used as a measurement on the dimension of length' (f
ten types are present, the assemblage can be seen in ten"dimensional space, just as
length, width, and height represent three"dimensional space' The closer in space two
units are, the more similar their artifact assemblages' 6luster analysis then groups the
units that are closest together into temporal periods'
A number of factors can greatly hinder the seriation process, due to their impact on
the material culture on which the seriations are based' Aside from obvious problems
presented by disturbance, deposit mixing, and inaccurate contextual information,
aspects of prehistoric behavior can have an impact' One of the most devastating is the
presence of a production curve that does not correspond to a battleship curve' (f the
production span of a ceramic type or style has more than one period of popularity, or
mode on the curve, relative temporal ordering will be confused because it will be
unclear as to which mode the unit belongs' The more types or styles this
multimodality is present in, the greater the chance of error'
Three additional factors also can affect the seriation' $irst, if the units of time that
correspond to shifts in ceramic production are of very different lengths, the seriation
will suffer' !econd, if the units are functionally different, the types of artifacts present
may vary considerably' (f this is the case the ordering or grouping of sites may
represent functional similarity rather than temporal relationships' $inally, if the
practice of heirlooming objects over long periods of time occurred, the time periods in
which the objects were produced and disposed of may not be correlated' (f this is true,
the similarity matrices and distances used to order or group the units may be
inaccurate'F!ee also Archaeo1paleomagnetic -ating9 Artifact -istribution
Anal"sis9 -ating the Past9 -endrochronolog"9 )ission1trac$ -ating9
Luminescence -ating9 Obsidian %"dration -ating9 2adiocarbon -ating9
Statistical Anal"sis9 Stratigraph"9 T"pological Anal"sis'G
!ibliograph"
2obert Hunnell, !eriation 5ethod and (ts +valuation , American Anti3uity ED #/IC1%.
pp'E1DKE/I'
Anna O' !hepard, Ceramics "or the Archaeologist #/ICJ%'
William 5ar3uardt, Advances in Archaeological !eriation, in Advances in
Archaeological Method and Theor!, vol' /, ed' 5ichael )' !chiffer #/IC<%, pp'
pp':DCKE/0'
Prudence 2ice, Potter! Anal!sis5 a %ourceboo1 #/I<C%'
Stratigraph" Archaeological stratigraphy is the study of stratification, which is the
physical deposits and other stratigraphic events, such as a pits or post holes, by which
a site is composed through time' !tratification is an unintentional result of human
behavior and thus an unbiased record of past activities' $or societies without written
records, the study of archaeological stratification, by the excavation, recording, and
analysis of strata, features, and portable artifacts, is the only method by which their
history can be recovered' +ven for peoples with written records, the study of
archaeological stratification provides a uni3ue four"dimensional history of a site that
cannot be obtained from documentary sources' Archaeologists have a great
responsibility to decipher and record for posterity the latent history of each site as
encapsulated in its stratification' As the philosopher Loltaire once stated. ,We owe the
dead nothing but the truth'- (n archaeological excavation, the truth about the past can
only be obtained by adherence to stratigraphic principles and methods'
Archaeological stratigraphy evolved from geological practices in the last century, but
was little refined for some time' The publication of archaeological textboos by Hame
7athleen 7enyon and !ir 5ortimer 5heeler in the early /ID1s underlined the
importance of stratigraphy in archaeology' The /IC1s saw the establishment of the
separate discipline of archaeological stratigraphy, since stratification made by people
is different from that formed by natural forces' The first textboo on archaeological
stratigraphy appeared in /ICI'
'onstructing the Stratigraphic Se/uence
While several laws of archaeological stratigraphy were then proposed, the Law of
!uperposition is paramount' (t states that ,in a series of layers and interfacial features,
as originally created, the upper units of stratification are younger and the lower are
older, for each must have been deposited on, or created by the removal of, a pre"
existing mass of archaeological stratification'- This law gives a chronological
direction to a body of stratification #generally, early at the bottom and late at the top%,
and it is the reason for the 3uestion always ased about any two contiguous
stratigraphic units. Which came firstR )y attention to the Law of !uperposition during
an excavation, the units of stratification can be placed in se3uential order in relative
time, one after the other'
Asing the stratigraphic method, a site is excavated by the removal of its deposits
according to their uni3ue shapes, and in the reverse order to that in which they were
made' +ach deposit is given a uni3ue number, which is also assigned to all portable
objects taen from it, be they coins, sherds of pottery, animal bones, or samples of soil
for pollen analysis' (t is axiomatic that each deposit, with its artifacts, is a uni3ue
capsule of chronological, cultural, and environmental data, and occupies a uni3ue
position in the stratigraphic se3uence of a site'
The archaeologist must consider both stratigraphic, or relative, time, by which one
event gives way to another, and absolute time, or calendar time, which gives a date in
years to stratigraphic data' !tratigraphic time can be ascertained by stratigraphic
excavation and recording without any reference to artifacts. a site may contain no
artifacts at all, but its stratigraphic se3uence can be obtained nonetheless' The basic
principles of archaeological stratigraphy are of universal application because they
relate to the uniform characteristics of stratification and not to the cultural artifacts
found within the deposits' The study of artifacts may assign a calendar date to
stratification and thus fix its relative stratigraphic se3uence in absolute time' 5any
artifact specialists will be needed to arrive at such conclusions, but it is the excavating
archaeologist who bears the responsibility for the construction of the stratigraphic
se3uence of the site'
!tratification is a three"dimensional body of archaeological deposits and features,
from which a fourth dimension of relative time may be inferred' A stratigraphic
se3uence is the order, in relative time, of the deposition of layers and the creation of
interfacial features, such as pits, through the life of a site' To illustrate such a calendar
of relative time, the stratigraphic data is translated into abstract diagrams, with each
unit shown in a standardi&ed format' +ach unit is placed in its stratigraphic position
relative to deposits above and below it, and the box for each unit is connected with
lines indicating the order of superposition or correlation' This is the essence of the
4arris 5atrix system, introduced in /ICE, by which the stratigraphic se3uence of any
site can be illustrated completely in a single diagram' Asing this very simple method,
which is of universal application, the stratigraphic se3uence of any archaeological site
can be developed during the course of excavation'
The stratigraphic se3uence, not the stratification, is the independent testing pattern
against which other analyses of the site, from a reconstruction of its landscape to the
study of pottery or pollen, must be proven' Any site that can be excavated is stratified,
and its stratigraphic se3uence must be demonstrated by such a diagram, as it is not the
same as the three"dimensional aspects of stratification shown in profile and plan
drawings' The profile drawing is a plane view of the vertical dimensions of
stratification, while the plan or map drawing records its surfaces' !uch sections
illustrate the superimposed pattern of the stratification along the line at which the
profile was cut' Plan drawings are records of the surfaces of the stratification and
show the hori&ontal extent of each unit' 5odern practice re3uires single"layer
planning, by which each unit is drawn on a separate sheet of tracing paper' Ased in
conjunction with the stratigraphic se3uence of the site, such single"layer plans can be
laid down in their order of superimposition, and form one of the most powerful
analytical tools in archaeological stratigraphy'
The site notes are another way in which the stratigraphic record of a site can be
preserved in a documentary form' !uch entries will record the stratigraphic
relationships of each unit, the composition of its soil, and related data' !ection
drawings, plans, and the site notes are all complementary parts of the stratigraphic
archive' Ased with the stratigraphic se3uence, the archaeologist is able to carry out
the postexcavation analyses of the portable materials taen from the site'
-ating the -eposits
!tratification is made up partly of deposits with objects that can be taen away for
study and preservation' These objects help the archaeologist to fix the stratigraphic
se3uence in terms of years and centuries' Asing the stratigraphic se3uence as the
testing framewor, the objects found within each deposit are analy&ed and a
determination is made about the date at which the deposit was made' )ased upon the
date of latest object in the deposit, it is assumed that the stratum could not have been
formed any earlier than that date' A date before which the deposit was made may be
found by comparing the unit with others in stratigraphic order' Only when a consistent
chronological order can be seen throughout the length of the stratigraphic se3uence
can a final determination of the date of each deposit be made'
The analyses of the artifacts is of paramount importance in obtaining a date in years
for units of stratification that are not in superposition, for they cannot be
chronologically associated by any other means' This is true not only within a site but
applies to comparisons between stratigraphic events of disparate sites, due to the very
limited area of most units of stratification'
4aving carried out successful analyses of the artifacts, the archaeologist taes up the
last stratigraphic tas of any archaeological project' This is the reconstruction of the
development of the landscape of the site through the course of absolute, or calendar,
time #see Landscape Archaeolog"%' 4aving determined the stratigraphic se3uence of
the site and nowing through artifact data which disparate units or groups of units
may be associated, the site can be rebuilt, layer by layer, using the single"layer plans'
The -ual Nature of Stratigraph"
This final process demonstrates the duality of archaeological stratification' 5aterials
are made into deposits, which account for the physical accumulation of stratification
on the site, an accretion best viewed in a section drawing' The deposits mae surfaces
on which people lived, while other surfaces, such as a ditch, were formed by
destroying preexisting stratification, thereby significantly changing the stratigraphic
se3uence' +ach deposit has a surface, but some surfaces are without deposits9 thus the
interfacial, or immaterial, aspects of stratification usually comprise more than half the
stratigraphic record' Without the deposits, the surfaces could not be dated in absolute
time' Without the surfaces, or breas in the stratigraphic record, there would be no
stratigraphic se3uences of relative time on any archaeological site' )y applying
stratigraphic methods, the archaeologist recovers both aspects of the stratigraphic
history of the site, from which the truth about some of its past may be ascertained'
F!ee also Archaeo1paleomagnetic -ating9 -ating the Past9 -endrochronolog"9
E.cavation: 0ntroduction9 )ission1trac$ -ating9 Luminescence -ating9 Obsidian
%"dration -ating9 Potassium1argon -ating9 2adiocarbon -ating9 Seriation'G
!ibliograph"
7athleen 5' 7enyon, Beginning in Archaeolog! #/ID:%'
5ortimer Wheeler, Archaeolog! "rom the #arth #/ID0%'
Philip )arer, Techni*ues o" Archaeological #/cavation #/ICC%'
+dward 6' 4arris, Principles o" Archaeological %tratigraph! #/ICI9 2nd ed., /I<I%'
5ichael )' !chiffer, +ormation Processes o" the Archaeological )ecord #/I<C%'
+dward 6' 4arris, 5arley 2' )rown (((, and 8regory B' )rown, Practices o"
Archaeological %tratigraph! #/IIE%'
+dward 6ecil 4arris